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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 : FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING I..........................1-1
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 Introduction........................................................................................................................1-2 Functional Components of a Computer Network.............................................................1-2 Major Tansmission Function..............................................................................................1-3 Signal Power......................................................................................................................1-4 Signalling Rate...................................................................................................................1-4 Bit Rate Vs. Baud...............................................................................................................1-6 Serial Transmission............................................................................................................1-6 Parallel Transmission.........................................................................................................1-7 Serial Vs. Parallel Transmission........................................................................................1-7 Simplex, Half-Duplex and Full-Duplex Transmission......................................................1-8 Asynchronous and Synchronous Tansmission...................................................................1-8 Asnchronous Vs Synchronous Tansmission......................................................................1-9 1.12.1 Asychronous Character Format.............................................................................1-9 1.12.2 Synchronous Message Format.............................................................................1-10 Interfacing........................................................................................................................1-11 Review Questions.............................................................................................................1-13
1.13 1.14
2.3 2.4
2.5 2.6
3.2
3.3
3.1.4 Optical Fibre..........................................................................................................3-4 3.1.5 Terrestrial Microwave...........................................................................................3-6 3.1.6 Satellite Microwave...............................................................................................3-7 Switching Techniques........................................................................................................3-8 3.2.1 Circuit Switching...................................................................................................3-9 3.2.2 Message Switching..............................................................................................3-10 3.2.3 Packet Switching.................................................................................................3-11 Review Questions.............................................................................................................3-14
4.3
4.8
5.5.5
1.1
Introduction
A computer network is defined as an interconnection of network components that allow movement of information between the users. The users may be the end-users or service providers. The types of information that are carried by a computer network has significantly changed over the years. In the 1970's this information was mostly voice with very small amount of data. This has changed in present decade and will keep on changing in the years to come. Now the information includes voice, text, data, video and images. Each of these types of information places different requirements on the network. The speed at which this information needs to be moved varies from 100 bits/sec (for telemetry types of application) to 100 m bits/sec (for high resolution TV application).
1.2
Network components
Figure 1-1
Services provided by a data communication network are provided by two major categories of components; customer premises component and the network components.
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CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING I The customer premises components include all the terminals and other communication equipment that reside in customer premises. The most common one is, of course, the telephone set. It also includes PC's and work stations etc. On the other hand network components will provide connectivity functions so that the terminals can communicate effectively. Network components include transmission links, switching nodes, signalling links etc. Network components provide four major services and they are: Transmission Switching Signalling Network Management
In this particular subject we will be concentrating on customer premises equipment and the technology behind them. Some of the underlying technologies behind transmission will be discussed in this and subsequent chapters for a better understanding.
1.3
Medium
Medium
Figure 1-2
Coding / Decoding Coding is a technique that defines quantized signals into a predetermined binary sequence for transmission on a digital system. At the receiving end the signal is decoded. This technique is used for better synchronisation and error detection. Multiplexing / Demultiplexing Multiplexing is a technique that enables a number of communication channels to be combined and transmitted over a common broadband channel. At the receiving end, demultiplexing of the broadband channel separates and recovers the original channels. The primary purpose of multiplexing is to make efficient use of transmission facilities bandwidth capability to achieve a low transmission cost.
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Signal amplification or regeneration As signals travel through the transmission media, the strength of the signal decreases with distance because of losses. These signals must be amplified (analog) or regenerated (digital) in order to have acceptable levels at the receiving end.
Synchronisation Synchronisation is required in a network for accurate frequency and stable time signals to co-ordinate numerous analog and digital transmission. In a digital system, synchronisation is especially important.
1.4
Signal Power
Signal power is a very important parameter in a transmission system. When signal travels through the transmission media, the strength of a signal attenuates with distance. It is important to know the signal power at various points along the transmission path. Each signal possesses a unique power which is conventionally expressed in terms of watts, mw, uw, nw and pw. But there are times that signal power at various points of a transmission network are too small to be expressed in conventional units. The unit dBm becomes handy. Expression of dBm from mw to dBb P (dBm) = 10 log P(mw)
Example: Express the transmitted and the received signal powers in dBm. Students should be aware of the numerical distinction between the conventional power unit and dBm. Tanjong Pagar 1 watt Solution: Transmitted power Received power = 1 watt = 10 3 = 10log103 = 1 mw = 10 log 100 = 30dBm = 100 mw = 0dBm Dhoby Ghaut 1 mw
1.5
Signalling Rate
The rate of transmission in data communication systems is expressed in terms of number of bits sent per second or the number of signalling elements sent per second. Depending on the application, both measures are important. The signalling rate is expressed as the number of signalling elements per second or baud. A 1600 baud transmission then, is one that sends 1600 signalling elements per second.
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Amplitude
Time 1 second
Signaling rate = 6 baud
Figure 1-3
The definition of a signalling element will depend on the transmission scheme used. In the example shown above, pulses are defined as signalling elements. Different signalling elements within a transmission might have different duration. Typically baud is calculated based upon the signalling element of the shortest length. Thus if the shortest signalling element last y seconds, the band is 1/y.
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Amplitude
6 4 2 0
Time
.833 milliseconds
Signalling Rate = 1/(.833 X 10 -3) = 1,200 baud Bit Rate = 1,200 X 2 = 2400 bits per second
1.7
Serial Transmission
In serial transmission, data bits of a character are transmitted serially one bit after another. Typically the least significant bit of a character is transmitted first. Serial transmission is slow as the bits are sent one at a time on a single path. Consequently to transmit a character which consists of 8 bits, 8 bit-times is required for transmission.
Signal
Figure 1-4
1.8
Parallel Transmission
In parallel transmission a dedicated path is allocated to each bit position in the character. Consequently 8 paths need to be available to transmit a 8 bit character. In the example shown below the most significant bit is transmitted on the top path where as the least significant bit is transmitted on the bottom path.
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Receiver
Transmitter msb
lsb clock
Figure 1-5
For parallel transmission an explicit clock signal is required which is critical. It is a requirements that all bits of a character are transmitted at the same time so that they can be correctly received by the receiver. The rate of transmission is controlled by the clock. The clock signal informs the receiver when it should record or sample all of its inputs simultaneously. One major problem in parallel transmission is skew. The transmitter to send all bits of a character at the same time uses the clock signal. Over large distances (above 100 feet), the bits can lose the relative timing relationship. The arrival of the bits from the same character at different times at the receiver is called skew. Skew occurs because the propagation delay is not identical for all transmission paths. Increase in distance will cause increase in skew implying a proportional relationship. Significant skew will cause the bits to be received wrongly at the receiving end which will mean receiving wrong character. One way to reduce skew is to reduce the transmission distance. Recommended transmission distance ranges from fifty to seventy five feet.
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CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING I consistent with machines internal architecture and it provides high speed data transmission. One disadvantages of parallel transmission is that it is expensive because of the number of transmission paths. It also requires transmission and receiving equipment to have 8-bit internal architecture. The cost increases with the distance of transmission. On the other hand serial transmission is typically used for long distance, computer to computer communication. Serial connections can cover large distances at a comparatively low cost and are relatively easy to build. Serial communication has a low data throughput compared to its parallel counterpart. Furthermore, there is an additional overhead due to serial/parallel conversion that needs to be performed.
1001101 0 1
0100 1 1 0
Framing lsb
msb Framing
Figure 1-6
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Synchronous:
1001101010100110
lsb
msb
Figure 1-7
Synchronous transmission means that all characters in a message are transmitted one after another contiguously. Framing characters indicate the beginning and end of the message block. The ratio of framing characters to data characters is low. Consequently line efficiency in excess of 99 percent can be maintained. Synchronous transmission is commonly used for computer communication. Computers can take advantage of the high line efficiency since they typically maintain a high transmission speed and send blocks of characters at a time.
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CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING I The next "N" bit-times will be comprised off the data bits, where there are "N" bits in each character. In practice, the most common value for N is eight. Note that the LSB of the character is most commonly sent first. If parity is used, it will be typically placed in the most significant (MSB) position.
Stop Interval
Idle Line
Figure 1-8
The character is followed by a STOP interval, which must last for at least 1, 1.5 or 2 bit times. The STOP interval always returns the line to the MARK state. This ensures that if two asynchronous characters are sent contiguously, the MARK-to-SPACE transition will still occur when the START bit presents itself. A long STOP interval is required for those devices that need additional time to reset after receiving a character. The transmitter and receiver must agree upon a number of parameters in order to have successful communication. These parameters include the number of bits per character, the length of a bit time (i.e. the transmission speed), the number of STOP bits, electrical signal levels, the order of bit transmission, and the character code.
SYNC char
Message Header
Data
Message Trailer
Figure 1-9
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Synchronous Characters These characters indicate to the receiver that a message is about to be received. Further more, they define eight-bit blocks so that the individual characters can be correctly interpreted
Message Header Beginning-of-message framing, which may include the sequence number of the block (or frame)
Message Trailer End-of-message framing, which may include error detection information
Successful synchronisation transmission will depend upon the agreement of several parameters in asynchronous transmission. These parameters include Length of a bit time (data rate) Signal levels SYNC characters Size and content of the message header and trailer
1.13 Interfacing
Digital devices generate digital signals and they are not capable of transmitting this digital data to a longer distance. So typically digital devices are not tied to the transmission facility directly. Computers and terminals are termed as Data Terminal Equipment (DTE). The device which helps DTE for data communication is known as Data circuitterminating equipment (DCE) and it sits between the DTE and the transmission media. Modem is one example of DCE. On the transmission side, DCE receives data from DTE and transmits data over the transmission media. On the receiver end, the DCE receives data from transmission media and passes it to the DTE.
RS-232C PC Modem Modem PC
DTE
DCE
DCE
DTE
Figure 1-10
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CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING I In order to standardise the interface between DTE and DCE, the Electronics Industries Association in the United States has come out with a interface standard known as RS232C. This RS-232 interface standard is described by means of mechanical, electrical, functional and procedural specifications. Mechanical specification deals with the physical connection of DTE and DCE whereas the electrical specification deals with voltage levels and timing of voltage changes. Functional specifications specify the functions that are performed by different circuits. Procedural specification specifies the protocol between DTE and DCE .
RS232-C RS232-C standard is specified in terms of the four specifications mentioned above and they are: Mechanical Specification RS232-C is a 25 pin connector where the pins are organised into two rows. Pins numbered 1-13 are in the top row where as the pins numbered 14-25 are in the bottom row. All other mechanical dimensions are specified in this specification. Electrical Specification In RS-232C standard, voltage greater than +4 volt is considered as logical 0 and voltage smaller than -3 volt is considered as logical 1. The cable length between two RS-232C connector can range a maximum of 15 meters and it can support a data rate of 20 kbps. Functional Specification Although RS-232C is a 25 pins connector, only 9 of the pins are always used in practice. Functional specification says that the circuits connected to the pins can be grouped into four groups i.e. data, control, ground and timing. Data groups include transmit and receive signals which are connected to pin 2 and 3 respectively. Whenever the PC wants to transmit data to the modem, it uses the transmit line and it uses the receive line to get data from modem. Control group include control signals like Request To Send (RTS) and Clear To Send (CTS) lines which are connected to pin 4 and 5 respectively. PC uses RTS signal to inform the modem that it wants to transmit data. The modem sends CTS signal to the PC to inform that the modem is ready to receive data from the PC. Timing group includes clock signals which are used for synchronous transmission. Ground group is the set of circuits used for grounding. Procedural Specification The procedural specification for RS-232C specifies the sequence of events that occur between DCE and DTE in order to transmit data.
Computer
(20) Data terminal ready (8) Carrier Detect (7) Signal Ground (6) Data Set Ready (5) Clear To Send (4) Request To Send (3) Receive (2) Transmit (1) Shield
Modem
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CHAPTER 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING I The sequence of events that occur between computer and modem during communication are listed below: 1. When the computer is powered up, it sends a Data Terminal Ready signal to the modem. 2. Whenever the modem powers up, it sends a Data Set Ready signal to the PC. Transmit
3. Whenever the PC wants to transmits data, it sends Request To Send signal to the modem. 4. In response, the modem transmit a carrier frequency on telephone line and sends Clear To Send signal to the PC to indicate that it is ready to receive data from the computer. 5. i) In response to DCE signal, the computer transmits data over the transmit line. Receive
Whenever the modem detects a carrier frequency on the transmission line, it means that the remote modem is transmitting. So, modem sends a carrier detect signal to the computer. ii) In response PC receives the incoming data over the Receive line.
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2.1
Modulation
Modulation is a signal process which shifts the signal from one frequency range to another so that the signal can be transmitted properly. The signal is encoded into a carrier signal with frequency that is compatible with the transmission medium being used.
Input signal
X
carrier signal
Modulated signal
Figure 2-1
The input signal is called the modulating signal or baseband signal which can be either analog or digital. The output signal is called the modulated signal. There are 3 types of modulation: Amplitude Modulation (AM) The amplitude of the carrier signal changes according to the variation of the input signal.
Figure 2-2
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Frequency Modulation(FM) The frequency of the carrier signal changes according to the variation of the input signal
2.2
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2.2.1
Figure 2-5
In the diagram above two-level coding has been demonstrated where the analog signal has two different amplitude levels representing either a `1' or a `0'. In the figure above higher amplitude signal represents a `1' and low amplitude represents a `0'. The frequency and phase of the signal remains unchanged. ASK can be expanded to carry additional bits by defining additional amplitude levels. Because of the susceptibility to interference from noise, ASK techniques are rarely used in modems.
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2.2.2
Figure 2-6
The above diagram shows two-level coding where the higher frequency represents a `1' and lower frequency represents `0'. The amplitude and phase of the analog signal remains unchanged. Similar to ASK, FSK can be expanded to carry additional frequency levels. FSK techniques are commonly used in inexpensive, low speed modems (1200 bps and below).
2.2.3
Figure 2-7
PSK techniques is commonly used in modems.
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2.3
2.4
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2.4.1
Multiplexing
In multiplexing several low speed lines are combined into a high speed line for long distance, high speed transmission. Generally there is a point at which a long distance high-speed transmission facility is cheaper than some number of lower speed lines whose combined capacity is equivalent to the high speed link. So it is sensible to use multiplexers in certain telecommunication networks. 2.4.1.1 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
Figure 2-8
In this multiplexing scheme, the total frequency of the communication channel is divided among K users, where each user is given a fixed portion of the frequency spectrum. In the figure below, each of the four devices are assigned a free fixed frequency channel. Some bandwidth between each channel is allocated to provide a guard band. The guard band provides adequate separation between the frequency allocation of each channel. TV and radio stations share the frequency spectrum on the air using FDM. 2.4.1.2 Time Division Multiplexing
Figure 2-9
In digital environment, time on the channel is shared rather than the frequency. This technique is known as Time Division Multiplexing(TDM). In this scheme, a station gets access to all of the channels bandwidth for some period of time. There are two types of TDM scheme and they are:
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CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING II Synchronous TDM In this type of TDM, every user is given a time slot on a scheduled basis. In the example below, four stations are connected to a multiplexer that samples each station in turn. Each station is allocated a fixed time slot on a scheduled basis i.e. a station is granted a time slice whether it has anything to transmit or not. The composite line data will be at least equal to the sum of all of the input lines.
Figure 2-10
Thus the composite link will have data rate of at least 4,800bps. Synchronous TDM is a fair algorithm and easy to implement. How ever this technique will be inefficient if the stations have low utilisation due to the fact that many time slots will go unused. In the case of bursty transmission, one station may have many transmission queued up waiting for its time slot while all other devices are idle and their time slots will go to waste. Statistical Time Division Multiplexing In synchronous TDM, time slices may be wasted when a given station has nothing to transmit during its time slice, thus making the scheme inefficient. These unused time slices could be assigned to active stations to increase the efficiency of line usage. Some header information must now be included in the data stream to identify a particular station that owns the time slice. This technique is called Statistical Time Division multiplexing or statistical multiplexer and Statmux is the device used for the purpose. Synchronous TDM Statistical TDM
T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3 T1
Figure 2-12
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T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3 T1 T2 T3 T1
Figure 2-11
The performance of a Statmux may be below that of an ordinary time division multiplexer if all the attached stations use the line frequently. However data transmission is typically bursty and so, in the usual case, the statistical approach is superior. Statmux assigns a time slot to a station only when the station has something to transmit. Older statmuxes assigns a fixed time slot if a time slot is needed where as newer statmuxes assign a variable length time slot to user. The data rate of the composite link out from a statmux may be less than the sum of all of the input data rates. This is possible since each station will not usually be transmitting at a rate that uses the entire available capacity of its line to statmux. Consequently it is possible that twelve 1200bps terminal could share a stamux that has a composite line rate of only 4800bps. Where as Synchronous TDM multiplexer will require a composite link rate of 14,400bps. Statmuxes are more efficient than synchronous TDM scheme although there are some overheads of addressing. In synchronous TDM scheme, if there are K channels, some station j owns every kth time slot. Consequently a time slot only needs to contain data; the relative position of the slot in time implies the station address. But this concept does not apply to Statmux. Hence address must be explicitly included as part of the transmission.
2.4.2
Polling
In broadcast type of network allocation of shared communication facility is achieved by means of polling. In polling there is a central controller which gives each of the stations control of the communication facility according to the same strategy. However the bursty nature of most computer communications makes this technique inappropriate. Most of the stations polled will have nothing to transmit. Those stations who want to transmit will have a great deal of data to transmit and be unhappy if they have to wait for the entire polling cycle between transmission. The design of a "local" broadcast network is an issue when more than two machines share a link. This is called a multipoint, or multidrop, environment. When multiple machines share the link, some algorithm must exist so that the machine can all have orderly access to the channel. There are two approaches to this - the balanced and unbalanced approach.
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Case 1
Case 2
Figure 13
Case 1 shows an unbalanced configuration, which is an example of centralised polling. On an unbalanced link, one machine is designated as the primary (P) station; all other stations are called secondary (S). It is the primarys responsibility to poll each secondary to determine if the secondary wishes to transmit or is ready to receive. For the case examined here, all communication on the link is between some secondaries and the primary. Control of this system is centralised since one station controls the access to the link for all other stations. As an example, IBM's BISYNC is typically used in unbalanced configuration. Case 2 shows the balanced approach. On a balanced link, each station is called a combined (C) station. The reason for using this term is that all stations are peers and may communicate with each other, thus having attributes in common with "primary" and "secondary" devices. Control of this communication link is distributed since every station has an equal role in determining which station gains access to the line. All LANs use a balanced approach.
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CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING II The following diagram shows an example of changing a free token to a busy token. In this example, when the station sees the incoming free token, it can change it into a busy token merely by inverting the last bit. IEE 802.4 token bus standard uses this polling mechanism.
Figure 2-14
2.5
Contention
Another approach for sharing communication facility in a broadcast environment is Contention. In this scheme stations will transmit whenever they want to. If a collision occurs, the stations have to back off and try later again. Some mechanism must be provided to randomise the back off period or else an infinite string of collisions will occur. Most bus, or shared media networks control access via some form of contention. When people talk to each other, they share a medium; namely the air. When one person wants to speak, he or she speaks. If two or more people want to speak, some algorithm is used so that only one does so. If more than one person talks at the same time, "collisions" occur that destroy all of the words. The algorithms that people use can not be easily adopted by computer. People may defer to each other utilising politeness or seniority; optionally, the loudest voice may win (utilising a rudeness protocol). In any case, the people standing around talking to each other have more information about their network than the stations on the bus.
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CHAPTER 2: FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORKING II The following diagram illustrates a pure contention, a station starts to transmit its frame as soon as it is ready. As shown, station 1 becomes ready and transmits. Some time after 1 is finished, station 2 becomes ready and it transmits. While station 2 is transmitting, station 3 becomes ready and it too, starts to transmit. Since the end of station 2's frame collides with the beginning of station 3's frame, both the frames are destroyed. The collision scheme described here is called Pure Aloha, named for ALOHANET.
Figure 2-15
2.6
Review Questions
11. Why do we need to modulate a signal? 12. What is modulation? Describe different techniques used to modulate an analog signal into a analog system. 13. What are the different modulation techniques used to modulate a digital signal into an analog system? 14. What is the role of modem in data communication? 15. What is multiplexing? Describe different types of multiplexing scheme. 16. When would you use Statmux in place of synchronous time division multiplexing. 17. Describe how a communication facility is shared in broadcast type of environment? Why do we need to share a communication facility?
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3.1
Transmission Media
The nature of transmission media determines the quality and characteristics of data transmission. For guided transmission media, the medium itself plays an important role in determining the transmission limitation. However for unguided media, the medium itself does not have a very big impact in determining transmission characteristics. In this case the frequency band of the signal produced by the transmitting device plays an important role. In this chapter, we will take a look into different types of guided and unguided media. 3.1.1 Twisted Pair Twisted pair is composed of wood-pulp or plastic insulated wires twisted together into pairs. In some cables, many twisted pairs are stranded into a rope-like form called a binder group. Several binder groups are, in turn, twisted together around a common axis to form the cable core and a protective sheath is wrapped around the core. Twisted pair is manufactured in a number of standard sizes and may contain from six to 3,600 wire pairs. The electromagnetic interference between the individual pairs are minimised by twisting them together. Twisted pair can be used to transmit both analog or digital signals. Repeater distance for analog signals is 5-6 km where as for digital signals, the repeater distance is 2-3 kms. Twisted pair is the least expensive media for a number of reasons. It uses the minimum amount of raw cable material, it is easy to make, and is readily available. One of the problems of twisted pair is that it acts like an antenna, it has high susceptibility to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). Twisted pair has a large bandwidth. A good estimate will be 250 KHz . At distances of 1.5 km, bit rates of 2.048 Mbps can be maintained; 56 kbps can be maintained up to distances of 5 km. Unfortunately its error rate is high and security of transmission is low. The main application of
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twisted pair is in local loop (transmission link between user telephone local exchange) and exchange areas. 3.1.2 Coaxial Cable Coaxial cables contain a number of (typically from 4 to 24) coaxial units called tubes. Each tube consists of an inner conductor and a cylindrical outer conductor separated by insulating disks. In addition to coaxial tubes, coaxial cable contains a small number of twisted pair wire pairs and single pairs for maintenance and alarm functions. Similar to twisted pair, coaxial cable can transmit both analog and digital signals. Repeaters needs to be used every few kilometres for a long distance analog signal transmission. In case of long distance digital transmission, repeaters are required every kilometre or so. Although coaxial cable provides shielding against EMI and RFI due to the arrangement of its conductors, it still has low transmission security. The shielding and cable structure adds to the cost of material and manufacturing. The coaxial cable can yield data rates of 10 to 15 Mbps. Large diameter coaxial cable can yield larger data rates. A good estimate for the bandwidth of a coaxial cable is 350 MHz . Coaxial cable is enjoying increasing utilisation in a wide variety of applications and it is perhaps the most versatile transmission media. Coaxial cables are used primarily on intercity routes in the long-haul network or in undersea cable systems. Other applications include television transmission and distribution, Local area networks and Short-run system links.
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Figure 3-1
3.1.3
Wave Guides
A wave guide is a rectangular or circular copper pipe that confines and guides radio waves between two locations. It's main advantage is low attenuation at microwave frequencies. The application of wave guide is limited because it must be manufactured to extreme uniformity and extreme care is required during installation to minimise sharp bends.
3.1.4
Optical Fibre
Due to the advantages of optical fibre technology such as wide bandwidth interference immunity and so on, Fibre is obviously the transmission medium of choice. The constantly growing need for large bandwidth services lead to the advanced development of optical fibre system. Interference to optical fibre system is negligible, compared with other systems such as coaxial, radio or satellite. A typical Optical Fibre link is shown below.
Figure 3-2
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The signal source can be voice, data or video and the signal can be analog or digital. In other words, an optical fibre system can be used to transmit analog or digital signals. The driver is required because optical devices, such as light source, require different voltages and currents from the conventional electronic devices. The structure of an optical fibre varies from one manufacturer to
Figure 3-3 another. But, the four-layer structure gradually became the industry standard. Functions of :
Fibre core : signal transmission, that is, it serves as the transmission medium. Fibre cladding : to guide the light so that it will travel within the fibre core to serve as a protection layer for the core. Protection layers Protect the fibre from extra forces. Protect from moisture Strengthen the fibre Prevent the penetration of outside material.
Optical fibre guides a beam of light (signal encoded) by means of total internal reflection. Any transparent medium that has a higher index of refraction than the surrounding medium can have total internal reflection. Consequently optical fibre acts as a wave guide for frequencies. Depending on the size of the fibre, there are two different kinds of optical fibre i.e. singlemode fibre and multimedia fibre. For a multimedia fibre when light from a source enters the
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plastic core, rays at shallow angles are reflected and propagated along the fibre and other rays are absorbed by the surrounding material. For multimode fibre, the maximum data rate that can be achieved is limited. This is because multiple propagation paths exist in a multimode transmission causing the signal elements to take different paths and hence different time. This problem however does not exist in a single mode fibre where the fibre core radius is reduced to the order of a wavelength. Consequently only a single angle or mode can pass, the axial ray. Since there is a single transmission path, signal elements can not spread out in time like multimode fibre. Singlemode fibre has superior performance than multimode fibre and the data rate can reach up to 1.6 Gbps. Typically standard multimode fibres have a core diameter of 50 um where as single mode fibre has a core diameter of 5 um or less.
Figure 3-4
Signals travelling in optical fibre can be attenuated because of the following reasons:
fibres. The light coupling from the light source to the fibre is not 100%. The splicing of the fibre causes reflection of light and misalignment of
The signal will alternate due to the splicing. Glass absorbs light
External / geometric effects of the following can cause signal attenuation Absorption by impurity or OH ions Microbending from surface distortion Diameter variation. Bubble penetrating the core.
There are three types of light source that is used for optical fibre transmission and they are
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i.
ii. Laser diode (LD) iii. Single mode or single frequency laser diode (LD)
These are semiconductor devices that emits light when a voltage is applied. LD's can sustain larger data rates than LED. 3.1.5 Terrestrial Microwave Microwave radio transmission is widely used as an alternative to coaxial cable for long distance communication. Microwave antennas are parabolic and the diameter is typically 10 ft. Transmitting antenna focuses a narrow beam to achieve line-ofsight transmission to the receiving antenna. Microwave antennas are mounted on towers which have a substantial height. The tower height is required to extend the range between antennas and to be able to transmit over intervening obstacles. The higher the tower, the greater the range. A substantial portion of the frequency spectrum is covered by microwave. Transmission frequencies range from 2 to 40 GHz resulting in higher potential data rate for transmission. Attenuation in microwave transmission is caused by rainfall. Another source of impairment for microwave is interference which is caused by overlap transmission areas. Terrestrial microwave is used for long-haul telecommunication service. Compared to coaxial cable, microwave facility requires fewer repeaters. Another application of microwave includes voice and television transmission. 3.1.6 Satellite Microwave Within the last 25 years, communication satellites have become the dominant carrier of international communication. The first commercial satellite INTESAT (or Early Bird) was launched on April 5, 1965. The International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation (Intelsat) has grown at a rate of 20 percent per year since 1965. Satellite communications are more effective than any other means of communication:
When the nodes or sites, which require services, are scattered over a wide area When the nodes are in motion or portable. Besides radio system, satellite communication becomes the only solution for adequate services. When a great many receivers are at one location, to keep the cost of communication low. Satellite communications are the ultimate means of service provisions.
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The customer to a satellite communication can be voice frequency signal, data, video or fax. Satellite communications can be viewed as a microwave radio tower in the sky. A satellite is used to link to two or more ground based microwave transmitter /receiver, known as earth stations. The satellite receives transmission on one frequency band called uplink, amplifies or repeats the signal, and transmits it on another frequency called downlink. There are two
Figure 3-5
common uses of communication satellite and they are depicted in the figure below
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Figure 3-6 In the first figure, satellite provides a point-to-point link between two distant ground-based antennas whereas in the second figure the satellite provides a transmission link between one ground-based transmitter and a number of ground based receivers. A satellite needs to be within the line-of-sight of its earth stations at all times. This requires the satellite to remain stationary with respect to its position over earth. In order to remain stationary, the satellite must have a period of rotation equal to the earth's period of rotation. This match occurs at a height of 35,784 km. For satellite transmission, optimum frequency ranges from 1 to 10 GHz. Below 1GHz, there is significant noise from natural sources, including solar, atmospheric and human-made interference from various electric devices. Above 10 GHz the signal is severely attenuated by atmospheric absorption. For most satellites providing point to point communication, uplink frequency ranges from 5.925 to 6.425 GHz where as down link frequency ranges from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz. This combination is referred to as C band or 4/6 GHz band. Among the most important applications for satellites are Television distribution, Long distance transmission and private business network.
3.2
Switching Techniques
There are three basic types of switching networks for transmitting information and they are:
i. Circuit switching ii. Message switching and
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Figure below shows a generic switching network which consists of a set of nodes connected by transmission media. The nodes can be computers, telephones, terminals or other data communicating devices. Data entering the network from a station are routed to the destination by being switched from node to node. For example, data from station b, intended for station d, can be sent by routes 2-3-5 or 2-4-3-5. The classification as to whether the network is circuit, message or packet depends on the way nodes switch data from one link between the source and destination. 3.2.1 Circuit Switching In this kind of switching, a single path between two nodes is exclusively dedicated to customers. For example if customer with access to station b wants to transmit / receive data to/from another customer attached to station d, he has to do the following:
i. Call set up
Customer with access to station b dials up customer with access to station d. If customer at station d is ready to communicate, a dedicated path will be established between customer at b and customer at d. ii) Data transfer
Figure 3-7
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Once the dedicated path is established, data transfer between customer at b and customer at d can continue. iii) Call termination Once the data transmission is over and both the parties agree to terminate the session, the call will be terminated. Once the call is terminated, the dedicated path will be released and can be used by somebody else. Telephone conversation can be one good example of circuit switching. Circuit switching can be inefficient, since the path is dedicated to the customers even when no information is being transmitted. For a voice connection, utilisation is high although not 100% (conversations, in general, do not have long periods of silence). Also note that while sending data, error control can be performed only on an end-to-end basis, after the complete message has been sent. In this kind of switching, after the connection is established, the network is transparent to the customer. That is, the network becomes a conduit for whatever kind of information the customer wants to send. As a result of this transparent conduit, the network and the customer do not have to agree on a common format when data is being transmitted. For message and packet switching however, customer and network must agree on formats. 3.2.2 Message Switching Message switching is generally used for exchange of digital data such as computer to computer communications or sending a telegram. This technique however does not require a dedicated path between two communicating nodes. The switching node is designed to have the capability to store the message in a buffer until a link to the next node between the two customers is available. Referring to figure 3-7, assume that station b corresponds to a computer that is sending information to another computer at station d. Node 1 is accessed and information is stored in a buffer until a line from either 1 to 3 or 1 to 2 becomes available. Assuming that message switching node 2 becomes available first, the information is then transferred over the 1-2 link. Then it is stored in a buffer at node 2, where it will be transferred to node 4 and then to the computer at station d. Thus, the computer at d will receive the information from the computer at station b. Any ensuing delay depends on the message length and the time it takes for the intervening switches to become available. In a message-switched network, the message in a given switch is stored and subsequently forwarded to the next switch when a link becomes available. Thus, the message-switched network is also referred to as a store-and-forward network. Similarly, a packet3 - 36
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switched network is also a store-and-forward network. The message storage capability at the switches makes the network appear to be non-blocking, since if the path to the next node is busy, the message switch may still accept the message, depending on the switch buffer size. Potential blocking at the switch is translated into a potential delay. However, being delayed is far less serious than being blocked. Messages can be statistically multiplexed and transmitted when the path to the next node becomes available. The tendency to fill in the gaps between messages on the path leads to extremely high efficiency of network resources as well as high utilisation of the inter-switch connection channels. Even when no message is blocked, the delay through the network can be long with a high variance (depending on the message length). This delay is a major disadvantage, and message switching is not well suited for real-time traffic (e.g. digital voice) and specially interactive communication (e.g. airline reservation). Another disadvantage is that the message switch requires large buffers for long messages. The hardware in these buffers is wasted when short messages are received. Even if a path to the next node is available, a switch node can not begin to relay the message until the entire message has been received. Finally, because complete messages are stored in full at the message switches, security can be a problem. Personnel working at these switching centres would have access to this information. The network and the customer now need to agree on a common message format. This brings up the need for agreements between the network provider and the manufacturer of customer equipment. Such agreements are called rules or protocols.
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3.2.3
Packet Switching Data transmission, including digital voice, is bursty, since there are periods of time when no transmission occurs. The packet switching technique uses this burstiness to combine the advantages of message and circuit switching while minimising the disadvantages associated with those approaches. In this switching scheme network delay is reduced and line efficiency is increased. Information is broken into packets, and these small messages are transmitted packet by packet. As in message switching, described above, each packet must be stored in buffers at the switching nodes. Different packets of the same message may follow different paths during the same time period. Delay is reduced, since packets are short in length, have a short transmission time, and require a small amount of buffer space. Referring to figure 3-7, assume that station b corresponds to a computer that is transmitting data to another computer at station d. Assume, further, that the message consists of three packets, x, y, and z. The basic transmission operation will be described for packet switching using figure 3-7. An actual transmission involves packets, composed of bits, inserted into frames that contain additional control information bits. In this simple description, we do not distinguish between bits, frames, and packets. The flow of the message is initiated by the transmission of packet x to switching node 1. After the packet is completely stored in the buffer of node 1, the switch (following a set of routing rules) will transmit packet x toward its destination by sending it, in this case, to packet switch 3. (It is assumed for the moment that switch 2 is not available). In the mean time, packet y is moving into the buffer in switch 1. During this time, the conditions in the network change (for instance, a large amount of traffic from end office c arrives at switch 3), so the second packet, y, of the message is routed from b to d via switch 2. The third packet of the message, z , arriving at switch 1 soon after the second packet, y, is similarly routed via switch 2. Any information that is properly received is acknowledged by the receiving switch. Thus, in figure 3-7, switch 3 has sent a short acknowledgement, designated as ACKx, back to switch 1, informing the original sender that the packet was received without error by the next switch. The acknowledgement is the key to the error mechanism, which ensures the integrity and accuracy of the transmitted data packet. If an acknowledgement is not received within a certain predefined time period, the time out period, the sending switch presumes that the packet was received erroneously and re-transmits that packet. Returning to our example, packet x is successfully transmitted to switch 4. After being received correctly by switch 2, packet y is
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transmitted to the destination switch, switch 4. But during that transmission, an error occurs. When switch 4 receives packet y, the error mechanism determines the existence of the error. This error can be either within the packet or within the control bits sent along with the packet. Since, switch 4 does not know where the error is, the packet is discarded. The error mechanism detects only the presence of errors, not the location of errors within the packet or control bits. Switch 4 can not request retransmission of the damaged packet, y, since the control bits could be in error. However, switch 4 knows the number called a sequence number, of the next expected packet from switch 2. This sequence number is contained within the control bits that are sent along with each packet. The error mechanism requests a retransmission when the next error-free frame from switch 2 arrives. This procedure is illustrated in figure 3-7 where the packet z is shown arriving at switch 4, behind packet y, with no errors. (If packet z contained errors, it would appear that switch 4 has no way of communicating to switch 2 that packet z contains errors. The time out mechanism avoids any problem. Switch 2 would retransmit packet y after the timeout period etc.). Once it is determined that packet z contains no errors, switch 4 examines the sequence number within the control bits sent along with packet z. Since this number does not equal the expected sequence number stored within the memory of switch 4, packet z is also discarded. However, a negative acknowledgement is sent to switch 2 requesting a retransmission of all packets starting with the sequence number of packet y. This procedure is illustrated in figure 3-7 by the negative acknowledgement NACKy. Switches keep copies of all transmitted packets until packets are successfully acknowledged. The buffer within switch 4 is shown. These packets are delivered to the computer at d in the correct sequence - x, y, z. As noted earlier, packet switching is also store-and-forward system, because it permits different packets from a single message to arrive at the destination by different routes and with different delays. (Of course, this method does not preclude packets arriving by the same route). It also permits the received packets to be in different order than the original transmission. The process of sequencing the packets may be performed at the receiving switch (packet switch 4 in figure 3-7 ) using packet sequence information that accompanies the user data through the network. Or it may be done by the customer at station d, depending on the kind of service provided to the customer. Each message in a circuit switching, message switching, or packet switching must include not only the information bits, but additional bits referred to as overhead information. Overhead information contains both packet - specific information (a packet header) and
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link - specific information (the frame bits which surround the packet header and packet data bits). Frame bits contain the control information necessary for error-free transmission between the communicating switches (refer to figure 3-7 ). Within the packet header, the overhead bits can identify the destination of a message, or packet, so that each switching centre will know how to further route the information. Overhead bits also can specify the source of the message or packet, so that acknowledgement is possible, and the user identification, so that the user can be charged for services. Synchronisation bits are part of the switch overhead and must be included to identify the beginning and end of a frame containing the message or packet. The packet header also can contain numbers to allow reassembly in proper sequence. In a message-switched system, the overhead information is appended to each message, where as in packet switching, each packet is accompanied by overhead bits. Thus, if there is more than one packet / message, the packetized message has more overhead. Accordingly, with respect to message switching, packet switching has two disadvantages:
18. To transmit a given amount of information per unit time, packet switching requires that bits be transmitted at a more rapid rate than is required in message switching. 19. The switching hardware needed to packetize, add overhead, depacketize, and reassemble is more complicated and must operate more rapidly than the corresponding hardware needed in message switching.
Even though packet switching requires more overhead bits, a packet switching system will transmit a give amount of information with less delay than message switching. This feature results from the fact that a switching computer can not begin to retransmit a message (relatively long) or a packet (relatively short) until the entire message or packet has been received. With packet switching, the long message is broken into smaller packets so that the buffering delay at the switches is reduced.
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Note again, in a manner similar to message switching, that the packet-switching network and the customer must agree on a common packet format. Agreements (rules or protocols) must be met between the packet network provider and the manufacturer of customer equipment. The X.25 protocol is an example of such an agreement. 3.2.3.1 Packet Switching Concepts There are two kinds of rules, or protocols, for transmitting packets. One is based on the processing rules within the network and is referred to as internal processing; the other is based on the processing rules between the customers and the network and is called external processing. The techniques for internal processing are called datagram and virtual circuit.
Datagram Technique In the datagram approach, the internal packet switching network treats each packet independently, just as the post office treats the mailing of letters. Occasional packets will be lost, and the customer may or may not know this unless there is some acknowledgement from the recipient. For example, if a bill is paid and gets lost in the mail, you can be sure that the party owed the money will be in touch. On the other hand, if you request information about a product by filing out an information post card which is subsequently mailed and lost, you probably will not be notified since the mailing was not expected (there is also no economic impact from this loss).
Thus, in this approach, packets from a single message can arrive at the customer by different routes, with different delays, and out of order. The customer has the responsibility to determine that the packets are out of sequence and to reorder them.
Virtual-Circuit Technique In the virtual-circuit approach, a logical connection is established before any packets are sent. It is similar to the call setup, such as making a telephone call where a route must be selected and equipment is dedicated to the call. The set-up procedure for the virtual-circuit approach establishes the route between the caller and the receiver. It uses software to make entries into tables stored within each switching node along the route. A table specifies the addresses of adjacent switches for the call. Once the set-up is complete, information is directed over the same route by the appropriate table within each packet-switching node. The packet format after call set-up does not require complete addressing information since the virtual circuit directs the packets to their destination. The virtual-circuit is "phone-like" because there is a specific route between the caller and receiver through the networks for the duration of the call. With datagrams, routing may be different for each piece of data. However, it does not mean that there is
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dedicated path, as in circuit switching. Data frames will be buffered if the flow of traffic at a switch becomes too high and queued for transmission over the established route. Transmission begins when lines become available. When two stations exchange large files, which can take a long time, there are certain advantages for employing the virtual-circuit approach, all related to relieving the stations of unnecessary communications-processing function. All packets for a specified virtual circuit follow the same route and arrive in sequence.
3.3
Review Questions
20. What is a co-axial cable? What is the difference between Baseband and Broadband co-axial cable? 21. "Optical Fibre is the medium of choice", Comment on this statement. 22. What is the advantage of using satellite microwave transmission? 23. Where would you use terrestrial microwave as a transmission media? 24. What is circuit switching? What are the disadvantages of circuit switching? 25. Why packet switching is more efficient than message switching? What are the typical applications of message switching? 26. Describe in detail, the difference between the datagram and virtual circuit techniques 27.
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4.1
Introduction
For a computer network, security is of utmost importance. This is because the network is used as a highway of information movement. The failure and success of many companies depend on the integrity of the information transmitted. Because of this security is one of the prime considerations of network design. Network security is concerned with protecting the network from faults or from human interference with the network. Faults might occur within the network itself or it may be caused by natural disaster or human error. On the other hand, human can interfere with the network to corrupt the data or retrieve valuable information. Network faults are minimized by designing the network in such a way so that it can overcome the problem inherent into a computer network. On the other hand, different protective measures are taken to prevent human beings from interfering the network. The technique and measures for network security is discussed here in detail.
4.2
Network Faults
Most of the network faults are caused by transmission impairment, which means that the received signal differs significantly from the transmitted signal because of some random variations and degradation of signal quality. There are essentially three parameters that is attributed to this impairment and they are:
Attenuation Delay Distortion Noise
4.2.1
Attenuation
As the transmission distance increases, the signal strength decreases. There are mainly three aspects of attenuation and they are:
Received signal should be strong enough so that the receiving end can detect and interpret the signal. The signal level should be above the noise level so that the transmitted signal can be received without error.
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The first and second issue is addressed by using amplifier or regenerators. Amplifiers or regenerators are used on the transmission links to boost up the weak signal. The number of amplifiers or regenerators to be used for a particular transmission link depends on the transmission media. The third issue is caused because of imperfect amplitude frequency response. This can be avoided if all frequencies within the pass band are subjected to exactly same loss or gain. 4.2.2 Delay Distortion Propagation velocity of a signal through a guided medium varies with frequency. The velocity tends to be greater near the centre frequency of a band limited signal and velocity decreases towards the edges of the band. This causes different components of a signal to arrive at the destination at different times causing delay distortion. This phenomenon is very critical for digital transmission. This type of distortion can be avoided by equalising the velocity of signal across the band. 4.2.3 Noise Noise consists of any undesired signal in a communication circuit. Noise happens to be the major limiting factor in system performance. There are four major categories of noise and they are: 4.2.3.1 Thermal noise Thermal noise occurs in all transmissions media and all communication equipment. It arises from random electron motion, and is a function of temperature. This is also referred to as white noise and is uniformly distributed across the frequency band. Thermal noise places an upper bound on any communication system performance and it cannot be eliminated. 4.2.3.2 Inter-modulation Noise If two signals with frequencies F1 and F2 as passed through a non linear device or medium, the result will be intermodulation product that are spurious frequency components (F1+F2). These components may be present either inside or outside of the band of interest for the device. These components interfere with a signal at the frequency F1+F2.
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4.2.3.3 Crosstalk Cross talk occurs when there is electrical coupling between nearby twisted pair or coaxial cable carrying multiple signals. Another kind of cross talk happens when microwave antennas pickup unwanted signal. While using telephone, one can experience crosstalk when he can listen to another conversation. 4.2.3.4 Impulse noise Impulse noise is non-continuous, consisting of irregular pulses or noise spikes of short and of relatively high amplitude. These spikes are often called "hits". Impulse noise degrades voice telephony only marginally. However it may seriously degrade error rate on data or other digital circuits.
4.3
There are many error control codes but only few of them are discussed below: 4.3.1 Even/ odd Parity This is the simplest error control code where one extra bit is added to the character being transmitted. For even parity this bit is set such that the total number of 1's in each character is always even. On the other hand, for odd parity this bit is set so that the total number of 1's in each character is always odd. Even /odd parity scheme can only detect error but cannot correct them. Example:
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Apply even parity to every two names: Dole, Baer, Fan, Bush, Chen, Cole, Hart, king. Also discuss error detection/correction capability, using the given received bit stream 0000011 0100110 1001011 1101111. Information: 000001 110111 I Parity insertion:1 Transmitted signal: I 1 010011 I 1 100101 I 1
Error detection/correction capability: Received signal: 000001 1 010011 0 100101 1 110111 1 Parity Checking: First name: 1 + 1 = Even number of 1's Second name: 1 + 1 + 1 + 0 = Odd number of 1's Third name : 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = Even number of 1's Fourth name : 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = Even number of 1's So from parity checking, we can see that second name is in error. 4.3.2 Longitudinal Redundancy Check (LRC) and Vertical Redundancy Check (VRC) The simplest error detecting scheme is one dimensional parity checking where an extra bit is added to each character to make the total number of 1 bits in the character even (for even parity) or odd (for odd parity). The one-dimensional procedure is known as Vertical Redundancy Checking (VRC). This technique is effective if a substantial number of the errors that occur in transmission are single bit errors. VRC is clearly defeated by an error that affects any even number of bits. An additional parity check can be performed on the columns, called longitudinal redundancy check (LRC). The terms vertical and longitudinal refer to paper tape systems in which these techniques where developed. The VRC/LRC combination is an effective error-detecting scheme. But this scheme can be defeated by certain types of multiple bit errors. An important thing to note is that VRC is also applied to the parity check character.
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The following example illustrates the methods, and notes some situation in which they fail to detect an error. Example Apply odd parity, LRC and VRC to the ASCII "It's a bird!". Discuss error detection / correction capability if the received signal is given as shown. ASCII code (in octal) I = 111; t = 164; ' = 47; s = 163; Space = 40; a =141; b = 142; I = 151; r = 162d = 144; ! = 41 Received signal (each character plus its VRC is transmitted following another character plus its VRC .) 11010010 11101001 01001111 11100110 01000000 11000010 01000000 1100010011010011 11100101 11001000 01000011 10010100 Solution: Transmitted signal verification I 10010010 t: 11101001 ': 01001111 s: 11100110 Space: 01000000 a: 11000010 Space: 01000000 b: 11000100 i: 11010011 r: 11100101 d: 11001000 !: 01000011 Check char: 10010100 10010100 VRC OK ||||||||| onoooooo kgkkkkkk ng = no good Received signal 11010010 11101001 01001111 11100110 01000000 11000010 01000000 11000100 11010011 11100101 11001000 01000011 VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC VRC Parity NG OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
LRC verification
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VRC verification OK NG No error or even erroneous bits in one character Odd erroneous bits in one character
LRC verification OK : No error or even erroneous bits among all the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, , bits of all characters (parity check character included) NG : Odd erroneous bits, instead
If the channel has a good performance record, that is, one bit in error in thousands of bits transmitted, we can assume that one error in at most may occur in transmitting this sentence: "It's a bird!". Then from the matrix, one can conclude that the first received 11010010 = i will be detected as an erroneous character and corrected as 10010010 = I
4.4
Or
Transmit sufficient extra bits with the message so that the receiver can detect and correct most errors with high probability. This might lower the efficiency of transmission because a relatively large number of non-information bits are sent with every transmission.
The characteristic of the communication facility determines the efficiency of the first approach. If the probability of error is low enough, the efficiency of this method exceeds that of the "error correcting" method because relatively few non-information bits are sent. If the probability of error is high then efficiency will be low. Error detection is the preferred choice since the communication channels are reasonably error-free and the bandwidth costs for the correction overhead are not always economical.
4.5
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CHAPTER 4 : NETWORK SECURITY acknowledgements arrive on a return channel. Some means of identifying the block being acknowledged or rejected must be provided.
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4.6
Flow Control
In a transmission scenario, the transmitting and receiving end may not operate at the same speed and the transmitter can transmit data faster than the receiver can receive. Typically the receiver has a buffer area where data is stored and processed before the buffer area is cleared. Consequently, if the receiver is not fast enough to clear the data buffer, the buffer will be overwritten by the incoming data causing overflow problem. Some sort of flow control mechanism must be in place between the transmitter and receiver. Simplest kind of flow control mechanism is known as Stop-and-wait flow control mechanism. This scheme works as follows: transmitter transmits one frame and waits for and acknowledgement from the receiver; once the receiver receives the frame successfully assuming error free transmission, it sends back an acknowledgement; frame. upon receiving the acknowledgement, transmitter transmits the next
This scheme works fine when messages are transmitted in few large frames. This is because there will be fewer re-transmissions required if necessary, making an efficient use of the transmission bandwidth. But in practice messages are not transmitted in large frames, as they are more susceptible to error. Other reasons include limited buffer size at the receiving end and large frames monopolise the transmission links. So in practice, message is transmitted in smaller frames. So if we use this scheme for flow control, it may not be efficient because of the number of re-transmissions.
Another more efficient scheme is known as Sliding Window Protocol. In this scheme the transmitter and the receiver is considered to have a window. The maximum allowable size of the transmitter window is the number of blocks the receiver is prepared to accept at any time. Each time the receiver acknowledges a block, the transmitter window rotates by one and the transmitter is permitted to send one more block. (This rotating of the window results in the concept of the "sliding window"). 4.6.1 ARQ Sliding Window Protocol Let us assume that every out bound block contains a sequence number in the range (0, 2n -1). 2n is called the modulus of the protocol. The sender is required to keep a list of all blocks that have been sent but not yet acknowledged. This structure is called transmitter window. Likewise the receiver keeps a list of blocks that it can accept. The receiver's window, as it is called, is of constant size, while the transmitters window may grow to a maximum size agreed to by both parties. Note that the window size is a flow control parameter. If for example, the transmitter window size is restricted to 1, we have a stop-and-wait protocol, while if the transmitter window size is large, a substantial number of blocks can be sent in short order. Thus by adjusting this window size, the receiver can protect itself from being overrun by a zealous transmitter.
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If the receiver gets a block that is not in its window, the block is discarded without comment. If the block is the one at lower edge of the window, it is acknowledged and the window is rotated. The following diagram illustrates the idea with a transmitter window size of 2 and a receiver window size of 1.
Figure 4-1 Normal sliding window interchange. Transmitter (top row) has window size = 2, receiver window size=1 (1) Sender transmits block 0, receiver waits 0. (2) Sender transmits block 1. It must now wait until an acknowledgement is received, Receiver gets 0, sends ACK and advances window. (3) Sender gets ACK(0), sends block 2. Receiver gets block 1, sends ACK (1) and advances window. (4) (5) Blocks sent and received normally.
4.7
Human Interference
It is very important to protect the network from hackers who may copy or corrupt the information. some of the techniques that can be used to prevent humans from doing so are discussed below. 4.7.1 Authentication Typically authentication is achieved by means of identifying the user, user terminal and the level of authorisation. But these techniques cannot guarantee that this authentication information will not be tapped by a hacker. This problem can be avoided by introducing a public key which will be known to the user and the host system only. Whenever the user tries to establish a session with the host system, the host picks a random number, encrypts it with the public key and sends it to the user. The user is suppose to decrypt the data using the public key and send it back to the host. As the user is the only person who knows the public key, the user can be quite safe. The hacker may try to record the data traffic and
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retransmit during another session. But he will be unsuccessful as the random number will be different. Besides the public key, the host might require the user to attach additional authentication information with the message. This authentication information could be a sequence number, secret password or time information of transmission. All these additional authentication information makes it difficult for the hacker to record the data traffic and play it back at a later time during another session. 4.7.2 Encryption Encryption involves the use of a key to process the original character string to produce a cryptogram which is transmitted over the medium. The receiver, knowing the key, can decrypt the message to get back original character string.
Figure 4-2 The message to be encrypted is known as "text". Encryption process output is known as Cipher text or Cryptogram which is transmitted over the medium. Key K is a parameter to the function which convert the text to Cipher text. Once the message is encrypted, it becomes difficult for the hacker to decrypt it as they don't have the key. There are two standard categories of encryption techniques and they are
Substitution Cipher
In this kind of encryption, a letter or a group of letters is substituted by another letter or group of letters. One example of substitution cipher is shown below Text : Informatics Each character in the text is substituted by a character which is shifted by n =5 letters then the cyphertext becomes
Cyphertext : Nsktwrfynhx
In transposition cipher the order of letters is changed but the letters remain unchanged. This is unlike substitution cipher where the order of plain text symbols are preserved. For this kind of cipher,
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there will a key which will typically be a word without containing any repeated letters. All the letters in the key are assigned numbers according to their alphabetical order. The letter closer to the beginning of alphabet is assigned number 1. These numbers are used to number the columns. The text to be encrypted is written down having as many columns as there are numbers in the key. Then all the columns are written down horizontally starting with column 1. Example: Text: thissentenceisgoingtobeencryptedusingsubstitutioncipher Key: KEYWORD K 3 t t g b p n i c E 2 h e o e t g t i Y 7 i n i e e s u p W 6 s c n n d u t h O 4 s e g c u b i e R 5 e i t r s s o r D 1 n s o y i t n a
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Ciphertext:
nsoyitnaheoetgtittgbpnicsegcubieeitrssorscnnduthinieesup Typically the transposition cipher is more difficult to break than substitution cipher. 4.7.3 Data Compression In data communication, data compression technique is used to utilise the communication channel efficiently. This compression technique also acts as a form of encryption against hackers. There are different ways of achieving data compression depending on the application. For example think about a scenario where a departmental store communicates to its head office using a communication software. At the end of the day, the departmental store needs to send a report to the head office listing all the items that are in demand. Assuming there are 1000 items with each item name being 10 characters long, 1000*10=10,000 characters needs to be transmitted for the item names only. The situation can be improved if we represent the items by a sequence number. So we can achieve data compression by transmitting sequence number instead of names. Another way to achieve data compression is by encoding the symbols in text depending on their frequency of occurrence. It is quite apparent that some symbols occur more frequently than consonants. Keeping this fact in mind, more frequently occurring symbols are encoded using smaller number of bits compared to other symbols. Number of bits that will be used to encode a symbol depends on the probability of occurrence. Greater probability of occurrence will mean lesser number of bits to encode the symbol. Encoding symbols this way helps in achieving data compression compared to the scheme where each symbol is represented using same number of bits.
4.8
Review Questions
28. What is noise? Describe different types of noise. 29. How error is detected during data transmission? Once error is detected, what are the different ways in which the error can be corrected? 30. Why is flow control is required in data communication? Describe different techniques used to control the flow of data transmission. 31. Describe what is sliding window protocol. 32. What is encryption? Why is encryption required? 33. Describe what computer crime is. 34. Why do we need authentication? What are the different types of authentication?
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5.1
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but also with interconnection aspects of co-operation between systems which includes activities such as inter-process communication.
Figure 5-1
5.2
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Figure 5-2
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5.3
Figure 5-3
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5.4
Figure 5-4
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5.5
Figure 5-5
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5.5.1
Physical Layer
Physical layer is responsible for the transparent transmission of information across the physical medium. The data unit at the physical layer is a bit. The standards of this layer include EIA-232-C, EIA-232-D and X.21.
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5.5.1.2 Functions Performed by the Physical Layer The following functions are performed by the Physical Layer which are independent of the actual physical medium used.
Establishment, maintenance and release of connections: Activates, maintains and deactivates physical connections for bit transmission between Data Link entities possibly through intermediate system, each relaying bit transmission within the physical layer. Transmission: The transmission of bit streams, which can be in full duplex or half-duplex, synchronous or asynchronous. Management: The Physical Layer protocol deals with some aspects of the management activities in the layer.
5.5.2
Data Link Layer The data link layer shields the higher layer from the characteristics of the physical transmission medium and provides a reliable and error free data link connection. Within the data link layer, the physical layer data streams are arranged into blocks of data called "frames". Synchronization of the bits within the frame, error detection, error correction (by re-transmission of frame), and flow control are all data link layer functions. Some of the existing standards of this layer are:
ISO HDLC, which is a superset of several classes of data link protocols IEEE 802.2, for local area network
5.5.2.1 Services Provided to the Network Layer The following are some of the services provided by the Data Link Layer to the Network layer:
Data link connection:
The provision of one or more data link connection between two network entities
Error notification: Sequencing:
Maintaining the frames of data in the correct sequence If an unrecoverable error is detected, the Network layer is notified
Flow control:
The Network Layer can dynamically control the rate at which it receives frames of data.
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5.5.2.2 Functions Performed by the Data Link Layer The following are some of the functions performed by the Data Link Layer:
Establishment and release:
This is essentially the framing function which organises bits into frames. Within the Data Link Layer, the Physical Layer bit streams are arranged into blocks of data called "frames". Synchronisation of the bits within the frame is maintained.
Sequence control:
This function detects transmission, format and operational errors, usually by re-transmission of frames.
Error recovery:
The flow control function is done by turning frame transmission on and off according to the state of the receiving system.
Control of data circuit interconnection:
This function conveys to the Network Layer the information necessary to control the interconnection of data circuits within the physical layer.
Management:
The Data Link Layer protocols deal with some management activities of the layer. 5.5.3 Network Layer A practical requirement for a network is to allow multiple users to have access to multiple applications. The essential functions of the Network Layer is to provide the transparent transmission of data from a Transport Layer in one system (e.g. in a user terminal) to a transport layer in another system (e.g. an application host computer). In complex network, the transport layer communicating entities need not be adjacent to each other but are connected via one or more intermediate systems which perform a relaying function. In some cases the network layer provides
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routing functions. Each intermediate system may be a network, and a set of one or more intermediate system used for a connection is termed a "sub-network". A practical example might be the interconnection of a public data network, a private data network and a local area network. Network addresses are used to identify Transport layer entities to the network layer. The data unit in the Network layer is known as packet. One example of network layer protocol is CCITT X.25, the packet layer protocol. 5.5.3.1 Services Provided to the Transport Layer Following are some of the services provided by the Network Layer:
Network Addresses. Network addresses are provided by the network layer and are used by transport entities to uniquely identify other transport entities. Network connections: Network connections provide the means of transferring data between transport entities. Network connection end-point identifiers: The network layer provides to the transport entities an identifier which identifies the network connection end-point uniquely with the associated network address. Error notification: Unrecoverable errors detected by the network layer are reported to the transport layer. Sequencing: The network layer may provide sequenced delivery of packets over a given network connection. Flow control: A transport entity which is receiving at one end of a network connection can cause the network service to stop sending data units. This flow control condition may or may not be propagated to the other end of the network connection. Release: A transport entity may request release of a network connection.
5.5.3.2 Functions Performed by the Network Layer Network layer functions provide a wide variety of configuration from point-to-point connections to complex combinations of sub-network with different characteristics. Following are some of the functions performed:
Routing and relaying: Network connections are provided by network entities in end systems but may involve intermediate systems which provide relaying. Routing functions determine an appropriate route between network addresses. Congestion control: The objective of this function is to maintain the number of packets with the network below the level at which performance falls off dramatically. Network connections: This function provides network connection between transport entities, making use of data link connections provided by the data link layer. Segmenting and blocking: The network layer may segment and/or form into blocks the Network service data units for the purpose of facilitating the transfer. Error detection: This function is used to check that the quality of service provided over a network connection is maintained. Error detection in the network layer uses error notification from the data link layer.
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CHAPTER 5: OSI MODEL AND TCP/IP Error recovery: This function provides for recovery from detected errors and may vary depending on the quality of the network service provided. Sequence delivery: Sequencing provides for the sequenced delivery of packets over a given network connection. Flow control: A transport entity which is receiving at end of a network connection can cause the network service to stop sending data units. This flow control condition may or may not be propagated to the other end of the network connection.
5.5.4
Transport Layer The transport layer provides the functions necessary to bridge the gap between the services available from the network layer and those required by the layers above. The four lower layers provide the user with a transport service, the transport layer role is to complement the underlying network so as to ensure that the required quality of service is made available to the user. Transport functions are concerned with cost optimisation, error control, flow control, sequencing and multiplexing. The transport layer can also check for lost or duplicated information. If the network connection is temporarily broken, the transport connection may be held until the network connection is restored. Transport layer protocols are designed to cope with a variety of different networks of varying quality of service. The data unit at the transport layers and the layers above it are a message. One example of Transport Layer protocol is United States Department of Defence (DOD) Transmission control Protocol(TCP) used in AR PANET. 5.5.4.1 Services Provided to the Session Layer The transport layer uniquely identifies each session entity by its transport address. The transport service provides the means to establish, maintain and release transport connections between a pair of transport addresses. The connections are full duplex and more that one connection can be established between the same pair of addresses. Following services are provided by the transport layer:
Transport connection establishment: Transport connections are established between session entities identified by transport addresses. The quality of service of the connection is negotiated between the session entities and the Transport Service. Data transfer: Provides data transfer in accordance with the agreed quality of service. Transport connection release: Provides the means by which either session entity can release a transport connection.
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Establishment phase: During this phase the following functions are performed Obtains a network connection which matches the requirements of the session entity taking into account cost and quality of service Establish as optimum transport packet size Selects the function which will be operational during data transfer Maps transport addresses onto network addresses Provides identification of transport addresses Transfers data
Data transfer phase: This is achieved by the transmission of packets and the following services : Sequencing Blocking Concatenation Segmenting Flow control Error detection Error recovery Expedited data transfer Transport connection identification
Release phase: Release phase includes the following functions. Notification of reason for release Identification of transport connection released Transfer of data
5.5.5
Session Layer
Lower four layers of the OSI model are concerned with providing end-to-end connection. The upper three layers deal with user-oriented services. More specifically, the session layer solves the problem of dialogue discipline for application process-to-application process communication and provide value. The session service is provided by the session protocol making use of the services available from the transport layer. The session service provides the means for organised and synchronised exchange of data between operating session services users.
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CHAPTER 5: OSI MODEL AND TCP/IP Normal data exchange: Allows a sending presentation entity to transfer a session service data unit to a receiving presentation entity. Interaction management: Allows the presentation entities to control explicitly whose turn it is to exercise certain control functions. The following types of interaction are defined: (i) two way simultaneous, (ii) two way alternative, (iii) one way. Exception reporting: Permits the presentation entities to be notified of exceptional situations not covered by other services.
5.5.6
Presentation Layer
Computers may use their own way of representing data internally. Examples of differences include: Character sets: ASCII vs. EBCDIC Integers: binary vs. Binary coded decimal one's complement vs. Two's complement Word size: 16 bit vs. 32 bit Bit order: left to right vs. Right to left Byte order: left to right vs. Right to left
The question is, `ahow can the information be transferred and still preserve the meaning?' Agreements and conversions are needed to ensure that different computers can understand one another. So the Presentation Layer will :
Encode structured data from the internal format used in the sending machine to a suitable pattern for transmission Decode the data to the required representation at the receiving machine Two things are needed: A system independent presentation of data, i.e., abstract syntax A common syntax between the syntax for exchange, i.e., transfer syntax
5.5.6.1 Purpose of Presentation Layer This layer is responsible for ensuring that information is presented to the eventual user in a meaningful way. This
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layer is concerned with the way the data is represented and the data structures employed in the representation. This layer is concerned only with syntax and not with semantics. One example of Presentation Layer is ISO 8822: Connection-Oriented Presentation Service Definition. 5.5.7 Application Layer The purpose of the application layer is to provide a window for correspondent application processes to communicate via an OSI environment. Application processes exchange information by means of application entities, application protocols and presentation service 5.5.7.1 Services Provided to Application Process In addition to information transfer, these may include:
Identification of communication partners by name, address, and description. Determination of the availability of the desired communication partners. Establishment of the authority to communicate. Authentication of intended communication partners. Determination of cost allocation methodology. Determination of adequacy of resources. Determination of acceptable quality of service. Synchronisation of applications. Selection of dialogue discipline. Agreement on the responsibility for error recovery. Agreement on procedures for control of data integrity. Identification of constraints on data syntax.
5.5.7.2 Functions Performed by Application Layer The application layer contains all functions which are required for communication between open system not provided by the lower layers. Communication between application processes takes place via application entities in the Application layer. These entities are divided into user elements and application service elements. The latter are categorised as:
Common Application Service Elements (CASE) Specific Application Service Elements (SASE)
5.6
Introduction to TCP/IP
Transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) is best described as a suite of protocols that offers host-host communication for users
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connected to diverse networks. The networks could be Public Data Networks, Department of Defence (DoD) ARPANET or high-speed local networks. DoD uses the terminology "Internet" referring to their collection of networks such as LANs, Long Haul and satellite nets. However, we will use the term in the less restricted sense as applied to any linked set of networks. In 1969 the defence department (DARPA or Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) established a four-node store-and-forward packet network. By 1972 the network included research and university sites whose hosts had implemented several protocols for end-end communication. The evolution of the protocol proceeded and by 1982 a suite of protocols had been refined into what we call transmission control protocol (TCP) and the internet protocol (IP). 5.6.1 Internetworking and TCP/IP TCP/IP is called a suite of protocols because it allows hosts on different networks to communicate with one another. The term Internet is also used to describe any collection of linked networks. TCP/IP can be viewed as the best current alternative to the ISO stack for interoperability between machines. Most manufacturers have not implemented ISO protocols yet, but have access to TCP/IP. Three major advantages of TCP/IP are:
Interoperability between hosts Internetworking capability Simplicity Different networks are linked together by bridges and gateways. Bridges are two-layer devices that interconnect local area networks that differ at the medium access control (MAC) layer. Gateways in the internet world are three-layer devices. More correctly they should be called routers.
As an example, Host X wants to use the services of Host Y. Host X opens TCP connection through the internet to the host. In addition, Host Z needs a file stored on Host X. Another TCP connection is then established to a file server on X.
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Figure 5-6 5.6.2 TCP/IP vs. ISO Model Although developed before the definition of the ISO model, TCP/IP and its services fit closely into this architecture. This model allows the communication software to be broken into modules as follows: Layer 7: Application Layer Layer 6: Layer 5: Layer 4: Layer 3: Layer 2: Layer 1: Presentation Layer Session Layer Transport Layer Network Layer Data Link Layer Physical Layer
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Figure 5-7 All layers are integrated to accomplish information transfer. In the same way, each layer of the TCP/IP model:
Builds or adds functionality for its own use from the services of the lower layers Provides a service to the overall network, which allows standard interfaces and protocols to be placed into the appropriate layers Is independent and is defined by function Can be changed without affecting the other layers
5.6.3
File Transfer Protocol and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol The internet protocol suite has a file transfer protocol (FTP). FTP allows users to log onto a remote host, list remote directories, and obtain help with remote machines file syntax. FTP also can convert between file formats, e.g. EBCDIC to/from ASCII. FTP allows a user to access multiple machines in a single session. It maintains separate TCP connections for control and data transfer. FTP is a sophisticated protocol that does more than transfer files from one system to another (from a server to client). It can for example, handle third party transfers. It should also be mentioned that another file transfer protocol exists that does not provide all the expense and sophistication of FTP called trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP). TFTP does not use a reliable service like TCP; instead it uses another unreliable packet delivery system. It is restricted to transferring small files.
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The simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) is a standard for sending mail between hosts. The protocol does not specify how the mail system accepts mail or how the user interface presents the user with incoming mail, nor does it specify how mail is stored. Once communication has been established between users, the sender can transmit one or more mail messages or even make a request that the roles of sender and receiver be reversed so messages can flow the other way. SMTP attempts reliable operation but does not guarantee recover from hosts that drop files. While the main features are concerned with message transfer there are some functions that deal with destination verification and handling.
5.7
Review Questions
35. "OSI Reference model enables open systems to communicate" explain. 36. Define the terms layer, interface, protocol, entity and primitives and give examples of each. 37. Explain the difference in flow control performed at the data link layer and flow control performed in the Network layer. 38. What are the functions performed by the presentation layer? 39. Why do we need a layered architecture in a networking environment? 40. Reliability in data transmission is of prime importance. What are the layers that contribute to a reliable data transfer? 41. What is the commonality between OSI model and TCP/IP protocol suite? 42. Describe how FTP makes use of TCP/IP.
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6.1
LAN Evolution
In the 1960s, computing needs were handled by a central computer with batch processing and time sharing capabilities. Dumb terminals were connected via low-speed transmission facilities to a central computer. Time sharing provided a dramatic improvement over the old batch systems, but had its own set of inherent difficulties. Central processor systems had to have the capability to perform large, compute-bound jobs and hence were far from optimal for interactive tasks. By the 1970s, minicomputers were commonly used as a means of off-loading the central facility. Such machines were generally located close to the user groups utilising them. This allowed simpler, less costly connection methods. In addition, the machines offered better price/performance statistics for many types of application. Of course, the multiple minicomputer approach to computing is not without its own set of problems. Some jobs require more power than can be provided on a single machine of this size. Locally generated data bases often contain information of value to other departments that may use a different system. Thus, the next evolutionary step involved the interconnection of multiple minicomputers into a network. Generally speaking, these networks utilised the same philosophy as the long haul networks, despite the fact that the distances involved were usually relatively small. The explosive growth of intelligent office equipment in the 1980s (e.g. word processors, typesetters, and copiers) coupled with ever increasing number of intelligent terminals, has created a situation where literally hundreds of computers can be found in many business settings. This equipment give local computing control to the user but does, however, lack some of the facilities offered by a mainframe computer. Indeed, the requirement for inter-machine communication is greater than ever before. Since it is most cost effective to store files and programs on large rotating disk drives, the personal computer terminal must be able to download needed information and/or programs onto small floppy disk systems. Word processors must be able to communicate directly with typesetting machines for maximum efficiency. Larger line printers provide better price/performance ratio in outputting voluminous material than the dot matrix devices found on the typical personal computer terminal. Extensive
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communication capability must be provided in order to make the most efficient use of the personal computer terminal. As we have observed, wide are network (WAN) technology was commonly used in the early stages of local area networking. This was a consequence of the availability of the software and hardware products necessary to structure such networks, rather than because such a approach is optimal in the local environment. However, the long haul approach is completely inappropriate, when hundreds or even thousands of microprocessor-based systems require communication services. A new communication system was needed to deal with the personal computer environment and the LAN evolved to satisfy the need.
6.2
Characteristics of a LAN
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) defines a LAN as follows: "A data communication system allowing a number of independent devices to communicate directly with each other, within a moderately sized geographic area over a physical communications channel of moderate data rates."
The following characteristics can be seen in a typical LAN: Limited geographical communication area In a LAN, the communication takes place within a moderately sized geographic area, between 0.5 km to 10 km in diameter. This is one of the things that distinguish it from wide area networks (WANs). LANs are typically confined to a single building or group of building that are close together.
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Data rate on the LAN The physical communication channel supports moderate data rates, ranging from 1 to 10 Mbps. These rate are between the very high-speed rates of links between computers and peripheral devices (> 20 Mbps) and the rates supported by the wide area network (9.6 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps).
Dedicated physical communication channel A LAN communicates over a physical communications channel, such as a dedicated cable or other communications medium that is used to hook all the devices together. This physical channel can be baseband transmission on a coaxial cable, unshielded twisted pair, shielded twisted pair or optical fibre, or broadband transmission on optical fibre or coaxial cable.
Peer-to-peer communication A LAN allows a number of independent devices, such as any combination of terminals, PCs, workstations, printers, storage devices, and computers, to communicate directly with each other. Therefore in a LAN, all communicating devices have the same status and communicate as peers. In other words, no one device controls the network. Users select only the data addressed to them over the network and each user has equal opportunity to gain access to the network.
Low error rate Typically, the error rate is less than 1 bit error in 108 bits since the LAN uses a common physical channel and signals are usually in digital form.
LAN ownership LANs are generally owned and operated by a single entity, i.e. the user organisation, individual, or company. Public telecommunication companies are not allowed.
6.3
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Gateways/Bridges Gateways connect LANs to other networks with different protocols acting as a form of protocol converter. This would include connections to WANs or other LANs. Bridges are used to connect two or more LANs with common protocol.
Protocols and topology will be covered in this chapter. Cabling has been covered in chapter 3 and Gateways and Bridges have been covered in chapter 8.
6.4
LAN Topology
LAN topology represents the physical or logical arrangement of network stations in relation to each other. For example, in the token bus LAN, the physical topology is a bus but it behaves logically like a ring. In close association with the topology is the concept of transmission control for the interconnections of these stations, primarily whether it is distributed control or centralised control. There are three basic network topologies: star; ring; and bus/tree. In implementation, the topologies each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes a hybrid of these topologies may be used (e.g., ring-star). 6.4.1 Ring The ring topology consists of a series of nodes connected by unidirectional transmission link to form a closed path. It can be viewed as a series of point-to-point links with each node as an active tap listening for bits transmitted to it from a preceding node and regenerating (or repeating) them bit by bit to the next node. It can only do this in one direction on the ring so that the nodes, or repeaters, have only the simple task of sequentially relaying the information through the links. A node identifies a message on the ring as belonging to it by recognising its own identifier or address in the message. Usually the source that sends the message on the ring will remove the repeated message circulated back to it from the preceding section. However, there is the possibility of unattended data or data fragments indefinitely circulating round the network due to the closed loop nature of the ring. This can be controlled by the procedure in the access control mechanism. The rings transmission control can be either distributed or centralised. In the distributes control, the sending node can determine on its own when it may begin transmitting based on the status of the ring at that time. In this way, every node participates in the procedure to control access to the shared channel provided by the ring (e.g. token access control scheme). In the centralised control, one master station is responsible for initiating all data transfers (e.g. IBM 8100 communication loop). Here, the master node polls the nodes around the loop, allowing each of them in turn
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to send data if they have been waiting when they are polled. In this case the loop acts similar to a star in logical operation. The advantages of ring topology are:
all wiring is point-to-point. This permits mixed media type of implementations, especially optical fibres connections; simplicity in its connectivity and maintenance;
messages are regenerated at each node, giving a longer distance of transmission as well as minimising transmission errors.
The physical media used with ring topology are twisted pair and baseband coaxial cable. It is also well suited for optical fibre implementation.
Active Taps
Figure 6-1
6.4.2
Star The star topology uses a central controller node as the hub of the network; all other nodes are wired directly to the hub in a radial or star-like manner. Point-to-point communication schemes enabling each node to exchange data with the hub are used. All communication between the nodes passes through the hub. The star topology easily lends itself to centralised control of the communication whereby the hub will be responsible for managing and controlling all communication that exists between all nodes. It can also have distributed control in the sense that end-stations can make a request connection to the central hub or another station. In this case, the hub behaves like a switch providing the physical connections between two stations upon request from one of the stations (e.g. PBX-LANs).
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In the star topology, the central hub can be complex and the endstations need only possess simple communication requirements. It is well suited for communication systems with terminal intensive requirements. The reliance on the central hub by the whole network may pose the danger of single point of failure. In addition, it may be costly to install due to the fact that many connections are needed from each end-station. The physical medium used for the link is usually shielded or unshielded twisted pair.
Figure 6-2
6.4.3
Bus/Tree The communication network in the bus/tree topology is simply the transmission media i.e., no switches as in the star topology or repeaters as in the ring topology. All stations are passively attached through appropriate hardware interfacing, directly to a linear transmission medium, or bus, in a multipoint or broadcast manner. Information signals propagate away from the transmitting station in both directions on the bus to the terminated ends of the bus. Each node is tapped into the bus and copies the message as it passes that point in the transmission medium. The stations will identify the messages meant for them by recognising the addresses on each message. The bus is a special case of the tree topology with only one trunk and no branches. Bus/tree generally uses distributed control e.g. via a contention mechanism such as CSMA/CD or by token control scheme. Centralised control is also possible by having a polling mechanism on a multidrop-bus configuration where a master controller polls each node to initiate data transfers. The Bus/tree topology is well suited for broadband networking techniques as well as those of the baseband techniques. In this way it allows maximum channel utilisation. It is both simple and flexible to insert or remove a station into or out of the network without service interruption as passive interfacing components are used between the stations and the bus.
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The media used in baseband bus networks are shielded or unshielded twisted pair and baseband coaxial cable. For a broadband bus/tree network, broadband coaxial cable is used. Research is currently in progress to make the optical fibre economically feasible as the broadband medium for the bus/tree network.
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Bus
Tree
Figure 6-3
6.5
Channel Allocation
Channel allocation is another area of interest to LAN . It is the procedure for dividing the communication resources, the channel capacity, with the maximum efficiency. The channel refers to the physical medium used for transmission. The allocation procedure is independent of the access control mechanism used for the channel. The access control mechanism is the way by which access to the channel created by the allocation procedure is controlled. For example, we may allocate a channel by dividing it into frequency bands, but how these bands are used will be determined by the access control mechanism. We may allow a master node to determine which node pairs will own a given band or, alternatively, we may allow nodes to contend for a given band. The concept of the access control mechanism will be discussed later in this chapter. We have two ways of looking at channel allocation: by the allocation techniques used, i.e. space division multiplex (SDM), time division multiplex (TDM), frequency division multiplex (FDM), or a hybrid of these; and by signalling methods for transmission used in the network, especially those with bus/tree topology. The signalling methods can be either baseband or broadband signalling, which gives rise to the names of networks such as broadband and baseband networks. In these methods, the digital information to be transmitted over the medium must first be encoded such that the bits are distinguishable at the receiving node(s). The rate at which the encoded bit information is applied to the medium by a sending node is referred to as the transmission speed expressed in bits per second.
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6.5.1
The signal meant for a given user is assigned with an identification code which can be a distinct sequence (pattern) of +1 or -1s for DS modulation or a distinct sequence or frequencies for FH modulation that only user's receiver recognises. The receiver knows in advance how the transmitter will spread the frequency spectrum and acquires the signal and continues to track the transmitted pattern. For example user1 gets sequence S1, user2 gets sequence S2, and so forth.
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CHAPTER 6 : INTRODUCTION TO LAN When a receiver wants to listen to user 1, it follows S1 i.e., it sees all user 1's energy but only a small fraction of the others' energy. CDM offers advantages in better privacy in transmission, less fading problems in built up areas, lesser vulnerability to jamming of the signal, flexibility in that it does not need precise time co-ordination between transmitters as in the TDM, and potentially it can handle higher capacity than FDM and TDM. It however has increasing error rates as the number of data users increases. One of the area in which CDM is used in is the wireless LANs implementations.
6.5.2
Baseband Network
The baseband network uses basement signalling techniques for transmission, i.e., transmitting and receiving unmodulated signals. The encoded signal is directly applied to the medium either as a continuos stream of voltage transitions on a copper medium or as a stream of light pulses on an optical fibre medium. Unlike the signals in broadband network, baseband signals travel in both directions on the medium, implying that only a single piece of the medium is needed . Since baseband signals from each station are usually digital in nature, it uses the entire physical channel bandwidth. This requires the network to use some form of TDM methods to allocate the resource among the stations. Time on the channel may be allocated via one of several procedures. Devices may be polled by some central "authority" or, alternatively, may own specific time slots. Yet another interesting alternative is having devices contend for the use of the channel. An important variable to be considered when discussing baseband networks is the allocated time interval. Time intervals can be of fixed length, in which case the amount of data which a device can transmit during its ownership of the channel is directly related to the speed of transmission. A second possibility is to allow the device to transmit a specified amount of data during its time slot. If the data unit is of fixed length, there is obviously no distinction between this approach and the fixed-time method. Baseband data rates exceeding 100 Mbps are possible (e.g. FDDI networks). However, practical limitations in some transmission media (e.g. twisted pair) result in typical baseband network rates of up to 16 Mbps. Baseband signals must be periodically repeated over a long distance to avoid data loss or interference due to signal degradation.
6.5.3
Broadband Networks
Networks that transmit and receive modulated signals are known as broadband networks. The physical channel bandwidth can be divided into frequency-band channels. Different devices can then employ different carrier frequencies and multiple signals can simultaneously reside on the transmission medium. Of course, the different frequency channels can themselves be time division multiplexed, thus providing an additional degree of sharing. LANs using modulation and FDM are called broadband LANs. These are invariably bus/tree topology. Transmission on the medium is only in one direction. Any broadband system requires two channels on which data must move. An outbound channel is used for traffic leaving the headend. The system's headend is simply a signal processor that takes an in-bound signal and upconverts it to an outbound
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CHAPTER 6 : INTRODUCTION TO LAN channel. When a device transmits, it always does so on the in-bound channel and listens and receives on the outbound channel. Both channels can reside on a signal cable or can, as with Wang's broadband system, use two cables - one for inbound traffic and, the other for outbound traffic. Now the full range of frequencies offered by the medium is available, but the cost of the system is increased by the two-cable requirement and the necessity of having two taps at every node. The transmission medium is typically cable television (CATV) coaxial cable. With the availability of multiple sub-channels in a broadcast network, different channels can be used to satisfy different requirements. There are three kinds of subchannel allocations for these requirements : Dedicated service type - a portion of cable bandwidth is reserved for exclusive use by two devices. Switched service type - this requires the use of a number of frequency bands. Devices are attached to a "frequency agile" modems which can be accessed in a way similar to a dial-up line. Multi-access service type - this is the most common and allows a number of attached devices to be supported at the same frequency. As with baseband, it needs some form of access control mechanism to enable distributed, peer communications among the devices.
6.5.4
6.6
Access Control
Access control deals with how to regulate the use of a shared medium and is a key technical issue for LAN. Access control is exercised at two main areas: Centralised Control - whereby a designated controller has the authority to grant access to the network. A station wishing to transmit must wait until it receives permission from the controller.
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CHAPTER 6 : INTRODUCTION TO LAN Distribute control - whereby the stations collectively perform a medium access control function to dynamically determine the order in which stations transmit. Advantages of centralised control are: fewer problems in co-ordinating the activities of multiple devices;
greater access control in terms of priorities, overrides, and guaranteed bandwidth to each station; and less intelligence in individual devices, thus simplifying their network interfaces. Disadvantages of centralised control are: higher risk of single point of failure affecting the entire network; reduced efficiency if the control point becomes a bottleneck; and overhead may be unacceptable if propagation delay is high.
The pros and cons for distributed control are mirror images of the previously discussed points. The access control can be exercised by the following access control techniques: Synchronous techniques - a specific capacity is dedicated to a connection (e.g. in digital PBX). Such techniques are not optimal in a broadcast network because the needs of the stations are generally unpredictable. Asynchronous techniques - where the capacity of the channel is allocated more or less in response to immediate needs. This is the more preferred technique. Contention and round robin schemes fall under this category.
6.6.1
Round Robin
Token-passing Ring
A small frame or free token is circulated round the ring when all stations are idle. A station wishing to transmit must wait until it detects a passing token. When a station receives a token, it seizes it by changing one bit in the token, and transforming it into a busy token, which is actually a start-of-frame sequence for a frame. The station then appends and transmits the remainder of the fields needed to construct a frame. The transmitting station inserts a new token on the ring when both of the following conditions are met:
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the station has completed transmission of its frame; and the leading edge of its transmitted frame has returned (after making a complete circle of the ring) to the station.
When the transmitting station releases a new free token, the next downstream station with data to send will be able to seize the token and transmit. The use of the token guarantees that only one station at a time may transmit. The token passing ring scheme may also be used in buses with ordering of nodes.
Collision avoidance
The collision avoidance scheme uses the distributed round robin technique. A specific collision avoidance scheme is the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) method. Each station listens to the carrier while a transmission is in progress. After the transmission ends, each station waits for a specific period of time, based on its position in a logical list of stations. If no other station has started transmitting by the time a particular station's time has elapsed, it may begin transmission.An example of the collision avoidance scheme is the ISDN's Basic Rate Interface (BRI), whereby a passive bus is used for connecting multiple ISDN terminals to the Network Termination (NT) device. 6.6.2 Contention In this scheme, no control is exercised to determine whose turn it is. The applied traffic is non-deterministic and many stations may simultaneously seek to access the medium. All stations randomly contend for time on the medium, transmitting whenever the transmission medium is available. Their principal advantage is that they are simple to implement and efficient, under light to moderate load. Contention techniques are usually appropriate for bursty traffic. CSMA/CD is one example of contention technique. Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) CSMA/CD with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) is the most commonly used contention scheme. CSMA/CD consists of two parts: the carrier sense multiple access part in which the station uses the listen-before-talk scheme; and the collision detect (CD) part which uses the listen-while-talking scheme. In this scheme, a station wishing to transmit listens to the medium to determine whether another transmission is in progress. If the medium is idle, the station may transmit. Otherwise, the stations back off for some period of time and try again. A station continues to listen to the medium while it is transmitting. If a collision is detected during transmission, the station immediately ceases transmitting the message and transmits a brief jamming signal to ensure all stations know that there has been a collision. After transmitting the signal,
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the station waits for a random amount of time and then attempts to transmit again.
6.7
Review Questions
43. What are the typical characteristics of a LAN? 44. What are the typical components of LAN? 45. What are the advantages of the ring topology compared to the star topology? 46. Describe different channel allocation techniques. 47. What is the difference between channel allocation and access control? 48. Why do we need a access control mechanism in LAN? Describe the access control mechanism in token ring network. 49. What is the difference between CSMA/CA and CSMA/CD? 50.
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Chapter Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to : plan for a Local Area Network implementation; make the right decisions about hardware and software; learn the installation and configuration of network software and hardware components; administer a Local Area Network.
7.1
7.1.1
Making Up User Groups The initial consideration for making up a user group is to determine what the makeup of the workgroup will be. Who will be working together? You need to know this to determine who will need remote access, or perhaps an independent server. The workflow among users will determine how you set up workgroups and assign workgroup managers. The workgroup requirements will determine what kind of application software or Network Operating System you need, and also gives you preliminary idea of printer set-up, menu design, and user communication. The number of users who will have access to the network and how they will use it will be a determining factor in your decision about which network software and hardware to purchase. This information is essential to avoid having to immediately upgrade the
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network or justify having 100 or 50 extra user licenses that go unused. 7.1.2 Selecting Workstation Hardware You should select hardware for the network based on the needs of the application and the scenario for growth of the organisation. The older and less powerful workstations can be connected with a network to allow sharing of file and application. With the abilities provided by the network operating system, their work life can be extended.
In the selection process for network components, you must answer many questions concerning how will various machine, applications meet the needs of the network. Often the best start is beginning with the most basic considerations, such as : What are the goals for the organisation that the network installation is supposed to support? How many people will need network access today; how many next year; how many in the next five years? What are your goals in expanding your business and your employee base? Will users need remote access? How important is security to your organisation? Who needs access to critical information and who does not? How many of the existing computer hardware can be incorporated into the new system.
Question such as these will lead to more specific ones concerning the actual use of the individual workstations in the network. 7.1.3 Selecting Network Hardware Local Area Networks run on a system of cables, hubs, routers, servers and other peripherals. Different topologies and different methodologies may require different network hardware and cabling.
Local Area Networks normally are connected by one of the four types of cable : Coaxial Cable It is relatively immune to noise (Electromagnetic Interface) and is common choice in areas where the environment is noisy. It is most often used in Ethernet and ARCnet topologies.
Unshielded Twisted-Pair (UTP) It can be used in nearly every situation, except those requiring fibre-optic cable installation. UTP comes in several grades and depending on the type of network, some attention must be paid to grade.
Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP) It is noise resistant and capable of carrying signals over a longer distance than UTP.
Optical Fibre
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Optical fibre is the most efficient option and the most expensive. If you need very high-speed transmission, practical immunity to electromagnetic interference and environmental hazards, and send signals over long distance (100 KM), then this is the best choice. Because of its large base of installed fibre, the telephone company might be the best choice for information and possible installation. Your selection of a network topology will be a guiding factor in choosing which media will best suit the needs of the network. The choice may also be influenced by what type of cabling is already installed. Network design can be an important factor in eliminating the need for hubs and concentrators, which can be a real saving in effort and money.
7.1.4
Selection of Network Topology The topology you select for the network will have an impact on how the workstations, servers, and other network components are arrayed. You should consider the distance limitations for routing different type of media. There will be a increased costs for the addition of concentrators and hubs and additional signalmanagement equipment to serve workstations over longer distances. The concept of the right tool for the right job is important to consider.
The selection of network topology also depends on the same three factors : people, process and organisation. Below are the some factors to consider in defining network topology selection : Physical location of the user Type and amount of network usage Presently available facilities to the organisation Level of reliability required for network operation Special requirement such as large data storage capacity, security and need for remote access, or inter networking Future requirements such as to adopt the network to faster backbone networks with fibre optics or other high bandwidth transmission media Maintenance support required to ensure that the network is managed and maintained
7.1.5
Physical Location of Network Planning the physical location of workstations, servers, and the peripherals is an important part of the design of the network. The physical location of components must allow for maintenance, security, and access and also provide a location with adequate ventilation to keep the machines from overheating. Workstations The physical location and configuration of the workstation and its attached components; the monitor, keyboard, mouse, digitiser and so on - are determined by considerations of user needs, comfort and available workplace. The decisions you make about cabling determine the distance the workstation; may be from server or hub
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and what options are available for routing the cable. The selection of a workspace for the user will be more of a factor then the length of the cable attaching the workstation to the network. The workstation should be ergonomically situated to facilitate a good physical working environment for the user and to support workgroup logistics. Server The server is the heart of a Local Area Network. The Network Operating System (NOS) and network application programs reside in it. If the server is down, the network is down. Server performance will be better and it will have a longer life if you take care in planning its location. You must provide a clean environment free of dust with good ventilation for cooling. You also need enough space for maintenance to be performed easily, a clean stable power supply, and a lockable door to protect the server from any tampering. A major consideration for the location of the server is security. In practice, the server operation is so mission critical to organisations it should be kept in a "restricted room". This stops unauthorised personnel from turning it off or tampering with it in other ways, costing the organisation time and money. Network Printers and Other Peripherals Network printer and other peripherals such as plotters, should be located in area accessible to users. If they are attached to the server, they should be closed to it. Parallel cabling should not exceed 25 feet. If they cannot be located that close to the server, then other method of attachment will be necessary such as connecting directly to the LAN or to a dedicated workstation and let the workstation serve as print server. The characteristics of the printer selected, the type and size of the network, the capabilities of the server, the needs of users, the job to be done, and the budget constraints of the organisation should all be considered. 7.1.6 Selecting Network Operating System The Network Operating System (NOS) resides in the server and provides the connectivity that completes the networking system and creates the environment in which the network operates. The selection of Network Operating System does depend on many factors. Some of the important factors and guidelines are : Platform Support and Broad Functionality A facility for the implementation of technologies across multivendor computing platform is one of the important advantages of Local Area Networking. The Network Operating System must support a wide variety of hardware and software to effectively
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provide a seamless connection, one that makes the user interface consistent across multivendor hardware, diverse Operating Systems, and even different networks. The Network Operating System must be able to exploit the existing hardware and software to provide needed capacity and functionality for a distributed processing environment. A Consistent and Intuitive User Interface An interface that looks the same across the network will help keep user productive and reduce confusion. There are some instances where a migration to Local Area Networking is prompted mainly by a desire for a more intuitive, user-friendly interface. Ease of Installation and Configuration Most business cannot afford to disrupt operations for very long. The easier the software is to install, configure, and learn to use the less time your operation will lose. Competitive and Flexible Pricing There are simple, inexpensive implementations of Network Operating System and there are also complex, expensive ones. The solution for your needs will have to be something that fits within your budget constraints. Be prepared to negotiate for price versus performance. Application Scalability It is the key to keeping your network at it's highest level of performance. The application that you choose needs to be adaptable to future needs. They need to be portable to different operating systems and platforms. You must be able to expand them and provide for adding of more users, dealing with changes in available computing platforms and upgrading network components for increased performance. Modular Component Options The NOS should be able to provide a scaleable solution for networks. If you can buy what you need for now and still plug in what you buy later to do more of the job, then you will be able to pick and choose just those functions that you need for your situation. Single-point Monitoring A Single-point monitoring makes it possible for whole network to be watched for problems from one console. It facilitates security and it also provides data to be analysed by a protocol analyser or network monitor. Conflict-free Systems Coexistence
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Conflict-free systems coexistence for the system already installed and operating on your network is important. Backward compatibility is another aspect of network that you can exploit to enhance the usage and lifetime of components. Security Management A single interface security management should be defined, audited, and maintained so that complete control of security can be managed by policy administration. Event Management
Event management is a facility that responds to system events on a network and is administered from a single point. Depending on a predefined event policy, the Event Manager can take a number of actions: Respond to messages Suppress messages Launch programs or scripts Forward messages to other platform Initiate execution of other platforms Establish database alerting
Problem Management This facility allow you to maintain asset information, such as warranty information, maintenance details concerning hardware and software, and a log of trouble tickets that can be used to monitor fault patterns. Storage Management Mainframe standard storage management should be maintained across the network. You should have automated archive facility that can define retention policies and monitor the media and the statistics on tapes and drive errors. Resource Accounting Enables you to monitor resource usage on the network for budgeting and charge back. The CPU usage can be monitored along with disk spaces and processes. Performance Monitoring Monitoring CPU usage and I/O rates will provide you with valuable information on system performance.
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Standard
Standard must be a part of the design to allow operation in diverse environments on different computing platforms. You will need to consider implementing the following standards in your network : SNMP ( Simple Network Management Protocol) for network interoperability SQL (Standard Query Language) for database access OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), an RPC for application interoperability CORBA (Common Object Request Broken Architecture), an RPC locator for application interoperability TCP/IP, IPX/SPX (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), (Internet Packet Exchange / Sequenced Packed Exchange) for heterogeneous communications.
7.2
Installing the LAN hardware is one of the most difficult tasks of installing a LAN environment. It often involves hiring outside contractors for cable installation and requires some knowledge about how the PC works internally. The types of tasks involved are :
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Configuring and installing LAN adapter cards for each PC and server that will be part of the LAN. Installing cabling between PCs, servers, and other hardware such as hubs and adapters. Installing one or more servers with hard disks and attached shared printers. Installing proper power supply and power conditions.
processor
Hardware Requirements for File Server CPU A PC (or PC compatible) Pentium running more than 166 MHz.
RAM Servers are always hungry for memory. The more you have, the faster the operation and better the performance of the network. Recommendation is 128 MB of RAM. HARD DISK for your NIC CABLING 10 Base MODEM management to page you if a CD-ROM facility in and if required to access ROM stored data. BACKUP UNIT safeguard against A hard disk with sufficient storage network. One Network Interface Card. Network cabling (Ethernet, ARCnet, T, Token Ring etc.) Install a Modem to allow server software with remote paging problem arises. A CD-ROM drive will provide installing software CDInstall a Backup Unit to data damage.
Configuration and Installation of a Network Interface Card (NIC) Read carefully the installation instructions for the NICs before attempting to install them. Stick to the exact cable specified by the manufacturer of the NICs. Using the wrong cable can prevent the network from operating at all or, cause intermittent problems that may be very difficult to trace back to the cable. Before you can begin the installation process, you will have to take off the covers of all your machines. You will have to find out what kind of adapter cards are already installed and if these cards use IRQs or DMA. Then you have to configure each LAN adapter
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cards for the machine it will go into. You should record this information on a worksheet. Although NICs are preconfigured at the factory, in many cases you cannot use the defaults settings. First you have to change the DIP switches by moving shorting blocks around different sets of pins on the LAN adapter boards. Then you have to change the following settings if necessary.
Interrupt Request Signal (IRQ) line Direct Memory Access (DMA) channel Base I/O Address Connector / Cable type Remote Reset Station Number or Node Address Base Memory Address Cable Mediums and Cable Topology
Three types of cable are used in LANs today: Twisted-Pair, Coaxial Cable and Fibre Optics. The cable used is determined by the manufacturer of the LAN adapter card hardware. In most LANs, these mediums are not interchangeable. Each type of cable has a different cost and different transmission characteristics that affect LAN performance and the size of the LAN. Topology is the scheme used to interconnect the PCs on the LAN. The topology used is determined by the LAN adapter manufacturer. The major topologies are bus, star, ring and tree. The topology can influence the ease of installation of the LAN. In general, bus and tree topology are the simplest in both cases; and star and ring are the more difficult. Difficulties in installation and expansion are also affected by the size of the physical facilities in which the LAN is being installed. Hard Disk The file server must contain at least one hard disk drive. This contains the Network Operating System's files and utilities as well as the application software and data. The hard disk is prepared with Network OS own format routine as part of the installation. To protect data from the hard disk controller failure if you want to duplicate data over one or more hard disk, you need an extra hard disk. Ensure Proper Power Supply and Power Conditions 1. Check the operating environment and power requirement for network equipment in the following areas:
Temperature / Humidity Power Consumption
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Power Frequency Heat Dissipation Maximum Altitude Power Source Power Requirements
2. Use dedicated power lines and grounded outlets to connect network components only. 3. Use power-conditioning equipment:
Use Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) to protect server hardware from power fluctuations with a regulating UPS. In addition to protecting server hardware from damage caused by power surges and voltage spikes a UPS protects data held in RAM during a power failure. If using a UPS is not feasible, try to equip network hardware with power conditioning devices such as Line-surge suppressers or Ferroresonant isolation transformers. Connect network hardware through at least one of these devices to protect them from minor power surge. Protect network equipment from static electricity by taking following protective measures : Treat carpets with anti-static chemicals. Use protective covers for carpets such as anti-static type. Ground equipment through a one meg. Ohm resister to bleed off the static slowly. Make sure that the personnel working on open equipment chassis take precautionary measures such as wearing grounded wrist straps.
Documentation
After installation and configuration of hardware, record the following hardware information for future reference : File server : name, make and model RAM : Memory size Non-network boards : type and setting Network boards : associated LAN drivers, network number, I/O address, memory address, interrupt, and station address. Floppy disk drives : diskette size and storage size Internal disks : make, model and storage size Disk coprocessor boards : DCB drivers and I/O address Disk subsystems : number of drives, drive type, storage size, number of heads and cylinders Mirrored disks
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7.2.2
Loading and Configuration of Network Operating System The network operating system provides a platform for network services that combines network access with operating system software. This is usually not application software but rather an integrated operating system. The Network Operating System (NOS) runs in the file server and controls system resources and information processing for the network. The most popular Network Operating System is Novell's NetWare (more than 70 percent) but there are other manufacturers of NOSs. The major NOS are :
Novell's NetWare Banyan VINES IBM LAN Server Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server
The following is the procedure for Installing of Network Operating System (NOS) for Novell's NetWare which is most popular. Fulfil the hardware requirement Ensure proper power supply and power condition Set up hardware Make working copies if NOS comes in diskettes Decide file server booting method Run installation program for NOS Create and format DOS partition Name the file server Assign an IPX internal network number Load appropriate disk driver Create network disk partition table Mirror or duplex the disk (optional) Create and mount volumes Copy SYSTEM and PUBLIC files to the hard disk Load LAN driver with appropriate frame type Create file server boot files
7.2.3
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Install workstation client software Load appropriate LAN driver Install necessary files needed to connect to the network Customise network connection by editing configuration files Login to the network
7.3
Network Administration
The job of network administration - maintaining and operating the network, falls to the Network Administrator. This is the person tasked with overseeing the present needs of the organisation, predicting the future, enhancing the network and administering day-to-day network operations. The network administrator's job begins with the initial set-up of the network and configuration of the hardware and software components to operate as a network. The configuration of the network operating system (NOS) is one of the first important steps in creating user environment. 7.3.1 Creating Directory Structure The network administrator should establish and maintain a workable directory structure. A server's disk is divided into hierarchy of directories and files. The directory has a system of access and function to promote the best utilization of the resources by the users on the network. This organisation of the directory system is important. It needs to not only to be logical for the user but it must facilitate best use of the hardware and data resources as well.
During the installation process, NOS creates four system directories : LOGIN, SYSTEM, PUBLIC and MAIL.
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7.3.2
Setting Up User Accounts Its a good idea to set up accounts with corresponding access rights. The system default, created in the initial phase of setting up of the network, that will apply to the majority of users on the network. Default setting will apply to new users added to the network later and facilitate the granting of rights and access to directories and application and data files. You must also configure for access to network peripherals.
7.3.3
Network administrator of the network have access and rights that none of the users may have. These rights are required to perform the following file management tasks : Adding, deleting or making other changes to the directory Creating sub-directories Defining directory and file ownership Naming trustee Modifying files
7.3.4
You also need to allocate disk space for applications and users. Here are some suggestion to consider : Group your network application together. Group your utility program together. Be stingy with allocating user access and rights. Create public directories for network data files. Then restrict access to those files so that only those users who have access to the application files can use those data files. Make a place in the structure for user to keep private files. Allocate disk space to users to promote better storage housekeeping.
7.3.5
Making Backups Making backups is the process of creating duplicate copies of data to protect against data loss. A network contains many system and data files that need to be backed up. As a network administrator, you are responsible for developing a backup strategy that is appropriate for your particular situation.
7.3.6
Establish Routines
As the network administrator, you must establish daily and weekly maintenance routines. Tasks that should be done : Adding new users Cleaning up hard drives Installing upgrades
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Doing backup and archiving Restoring damaged or lost files and data Monitoring the network's traffic flow Troubleshooting Collecting data for accounting and optimisation Generating reports for management
7.3.7
7.3.8
Passwords and file/directory rights and access controls will provide a level of protection from intruders into the network, but attention must be given to physical security of the network components as well. The network file server and other network components such as bridges, routers, terminal connectors and UPS system should be locked in a room and access given only to the network administrator and maintenance personnel. The best way to ensure server security is to practice good configuration management by observing the following : Load the file server only from authorised distributed software Make only authorised changes to configuration Maintain a copy of the current LAN configuration worksheet Periodically review device configurations Maintain a backup of the server software Test software before introducing it into network
7.3.9
In addition to the preceding jobs, the person who is responsible for the management of the LAN must keep abreast of new technology and be able to respond to an ever-increasing user demand for the network. His attention must be focused toward: Increasing network performance Assessing new hardware and software products Expanding network services Connecting with other networks
7.4
Review Questions
51. Why is planning important for the implementation of a Local Area Network? Describe the steps in the planning process for the implementation of a LAN.
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53. When you design the physical layout of a LAN, what are the factors that you must consider? 54. Describe the detailed procedures for the installation and configuration of a LAN. 55. Describe the role of a network administrator during the installation and configuration of a LAN. 56. Describe the responsibilities of a network administrator in the postimplementation of a LAN. 57. Is network topology important in the implementation plan? If yes, then explain the reasons. 58. How do you safeguard your network equipment against damages from power disturbances or from intruders? 59. What are the security measures you should apply in a LAN environment? 60. Describe the hardware and software requirement for the file server and workstation.
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8.1
Figure 8-1
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Network (ISDN), where voice and data service (either private or public) may be integrated by means of standardized interfaces.
8.2
Providers
Typically telecommunication service providers offer a wide range of services which include telephone as well as data communication related services. Some of the typical services provided are discussed below: The user can use a modem for data communication using this service. This digital leased line service is specially engineered for private data communication networks. Its applications are wide ranging- voice cum data communication, disaster recovery networks, high-speed remote printing and digital PBX network. Digital leased line can support different speed for the users which can range from 2,400 bps to 140 Mbps or more. When the subscriber subscribes to this service, he has to install a digital interface unit which is the interface between the subscribers computer and the digital leased line. Once a subscriber subscribes to this service, the line becomes a dedicated link and no modem is required for data communication. Typically these line will be subscribed by companies who want to have their own network of computers. For this type of service, service providers charge the following:
Installation charge of digital interface unit; Monthly rental; Monthly access charge.
Analog leased line services are similar to digital leased line services. The only difference is that the subscriber needs to use modem for data communication. Subscribers will be charged based on monthly rental and monthly access. Typically these sorts of services will be used by companies where transmission speed required is minimal.
Packet Switch Service
Typically the service provider will have a packet switched network. Access to this packet switched network is via leased circuit (up to 64 Kbps) or dial-up(2.4 Kbps). A subscriber to this type of packet switched network can have the following types of connection:
Public Dial-up Access:
The subscriber is connected to the packet switched network exchange via the public switched telephone network (PSTN). For connection, the subscriber needs to simply dial the public port number of the packet switched network. Each subscriber is given a confidential user name known as Network User Identity. It serves as a password for access.
Private Dial-up Access:
Similar to the public dial-up access except that the subscribers are given a dedicated port number to dial in. The number is exclusive for their use.
Dedicated Access:
The subscriber is connected to the packet switched network exchange by a leased line. The subscriber occupies a dedicated port of the packet switch network which is known as Network User Address. This is to facilitate receiving calls from others.
Telex Access:
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The subscriber establishes a connection to the packet switched network by calling the telex access port using a telex machine. Similar to the public dial-up access, the subscriber requires a Network User Identity.
The subscriber to the packet switched network typically needs to pay for the following: Monthly subscription charge (depends on the type of connection) Usage charge (includes volume and duration) Line rental charge (includes line installation and monthly rental)
8.3
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Figure 8-2
Bridges are commonly used to interconnect LANs of same type (e.g. all coax Ethernets) or to break up a large single LAN into a number of smaller interconnected LANs that are all of the same type. The break up of a single LAN into interconnected LANs is often desirable for the following reasons: The performance of a single LAN deteriorates rapidly when the total network traffic increases beyond a certain level. By breaking up the LAN into smaller LANs in which the major traffic is within each smaller LAN with some traffic between LANs, as a result delay and throughput of each individual LAN and the performance of the network for the user can be significantly improved. Bridges are the main vehicles used for interconnecting the individual smaller LANs (all of the same type) in such cases. A group of interconnected smaller LANs is less vulnerable to failures than a single LAN. If a component LAN fails, the rest of the internet can continue to function, perhaps at a decreased level of effectiveness whereas a failure in the case of a single larger LAN spanning the whole organisation can bring the operation of the whole organisation to a halt. Many organisations are wary of sensitive information such as personnel or financial information, being placed on the LAN. Isolating such information on smaller LANs and providing interconnection to other LANs through bridges makes the security issue more manageable. The bridges can ensure that only authorised users have access to sensitive information on the LANs to which they are connected.
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Figure 8-3 Consider a bridge connecting LAN X and LAN Y. When the bridge receives a frame from LAN X, it either forwards the frame to LAN Y (i.e. allows to pass through) or filters it (i.e. does not allow it to pass through). A bridge must therefore make a decision on whether to forward/filter a frame. When a bridge is connected to more than two LANs, it must also decide to which LAN or LANs the frame will be forwarded if the frame is not filtered.
There are two methods commonly used for making such decisions. These are: Transparent bridging method
In this approach the bridges of the internet carry the required "intelligence" to make the decision about forwarding a frame. The forwarding mechanism is thus transparent to the communicating stations. The bridge has a greater processing responsibility in this method and the stations have an easier task since they need not concern themselves with the bridges' decisions.
Source routing method
In this approach the source station makes the decision as on how to route the frames through the bridges. The bridges merely carry out the routing determined by the source. Thus in this method the processing responsibility on the source station is increased while the task of the bridges is simpler. 8.3.2 ROUTERS
In many cases, an organization may need to access devices on various networks. For instance, LANs may have a hierarchical architecture. There may also be a need to access devices on a WAN over a public or private switched network, for example, to access public databases. For such purposes, a suitable internet working device is a router.
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System X
Router
System Y
Figure 8-4
A router is a device operating at the OSI network layer (i.e. layer three) and can be used to provide internetworking among dissimilar networks. The routers can accommodate several differences among the networks that they can interconnect. Some of those are listed below: Different addressing schemes: Since bridges generally use a flat addressing scheme, they need a global addressing scheme for the entire internet. In contrast, typically routers use a hierarchical addressing scheme. In the simplest scheme, the address of a station of the internet with routers is a pair of the form (subnetwork, address within subnetwork). Thus the subnetworks can use different addressing schemes as long as there is a global way of identifying the subnetworks. Different maximum packet sizes: Different subnetworks have different restrictions on the maximum packet sizes they can handle. Thus, the router must break up packets from one subnetwork into smaller packets for another subnetwork. This process is referred to as segmentation. At the destination, packets that have been segmented will have to be reassembled by the network layer before it can be passed to the higher layer.
A router must share a common network protocol with the stations and routers that are directly attached to it. In addition, for successful communication between end stations, the stations must share the same protocols above the network layer. 8.3.3 Gateways Gateways are devices that may operate at all seven layers of OSI. They may be responsible for connecting incompatible proprietary networks, electronic mail systems, converting and transferring files from one system to another, or enabling interoperability between dissimilar operating systems or database management systems.
Some sample gateway products are: Gateways between networks such as SNA and DECnet, or between SNA and TCP/IP; and
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CHAPTER 8 : TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES AND NETWORK PRODUCTS LANs in different organisation or even within the same organisation may be using different e-mail systems such as cc:Mail, uucp and EasyLink. These systems have differences in the formats, addressing schemes, routing, etc. In order to provide transparent connectivity between such dissimilar e-mail systems, e-mail gateway products such as SoftSwitch Central have been developed. Protocol standards such as X.400 help in the conversion process.
8.4
LAN Products
Figure 8-5
StarLAN
10StarLAN 10 is a local area network with a star wiring topology in which each computer is connected to a central hub. The advantage of this topology is that it is simple to install. Also, if one network device fails, the rest of the network is unaffected. The network hardware is supported with software. Thus meeting the requirements for quick and easy access to shared information and resource. The platform is built on standard that combine the strengths of UNIX and MS-DOS to support integrated, portable applications on an open multivendor architecture. AT&T offers two versions of StarLAN Network hardware: a 1Mbps version for smaller configuration and a 10Mbps version for larger networks and higher traffic volume. The 10Mbps version also operates over optical fibre and is compatible with Ethernet systems. The discussion will be based on StarLAN 10.
Features and Application The StarLAN network offers a complete solution with the hardware, networking, and application software. The StarLAN 10 network can connect up to 12 devices. Fibre optics is used for distant connections and to address security concerns. Network users may access resources such as applications software and files up to 15.9 Gbytes through UNIX operating system services. Asynchronous communication facilities and terminal emulation software allow users to access both on-net and off-net hosts. StarLAN 10 network gives a wide range of connectivity options for implementing networking strategies. Users may access the network from a remote PC. Networks may be bridged to one another, linked to computer networks, or able to access remote networks via X.25 facilities. The networks are compatible with Ethernet. Applications and Communication software and Network Management package are other features offered with the StarLAN 10 network. IBM Token-Ring Network IBM Token-Ring network is IBM's major entry into the LAN market and a critical element in their overall data communications strategy. It will serve as one of the major building blocks of IBM Networks in the next couple of decades.
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CS260 used.
CHAPTER 8 : TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES AND NETWORK PRODUCTS The token-Ring is a star-wired ring topology. The protocol it uses is the token passing protocol of the IEEE 802.5 standard. It utilises shielded or unshielded twisted pair, or optical fibre. It uses baseband signalling and can operate at either 4MB or 16 MB depending on the type of adapter card It will support 72 stations on unshielded wire pair or 260 stations on shielded pair on a single LAN.
PC LAN program in the DOS environment and the OS/2 Server/Requester software on OS/2 stations are the main software packages used with the Token-Ring to handle the client/server functions. The LAN Manager program is used for the network management functions.
A network station can serve as a bridge to another token ring using IBM Token-Ring network bridge program. Several LANs can be joined with a backbone LAN using bridges.
8.5
Review Questions
61. 62. 63. 64. Describe the different types of telecommunication networks. What are the typical services provided by telecommunication service providers? Why is a bridge used in a network? What is the difference between transparent bridging and source routing method? 66. What is the difference between a bridge and a router? 67. Why do we need a Gateway? 68. Write down some of the features of the IBM Token Ring network. 69. What are some of the considerations for choosing a particular LAN?
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