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EE 122: Switching and Forwarding: Kevin Lai September 23, 2002

This document discusses switching and forwarding techniques in computer networks. It compares direct link networks to switched networks, which can connect more hosts over larger physical areas and with higher aggregate bandwidth. The main forwarding techniques covered are packet switching, source routing, virtual circuit switching, and circuit switching. Packet switching forwards packets independently, while the others require establishing connections. Routing techniques for updating forwarding tables include manual configuration, learning bridges, and spanning trees for multiple bridges.

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38 views26 pages

EE 122: Switching and Forwarding: Kevin Lai September 23, 2002

This document discusses switching and forwarding techniques in computer networks. It compares direct link networks to switched networks, which can connect more hosts over larger physical areas and with higher aggregate bandwidth. The main forwarding techniques covered are packet switching, source routing, virtual circuit switching, and circuit switching. Packet switching forwards packets independently, while the others require establishing connections. Routing techniques for updating forwarding tables include manual configuration, learning bridges, and spanning trees for multiple bridges.

Uploaded by

Zena Bezabih
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EE 122: Switching and

Forwarding
Kevin Lai
September 23, 2002

Direct Link Network Review

Data link layer presents a single media (e.g., single wire)


network model
Problem and solutions
- Framing
character stuffing, byte counting, bit stuffing, clocked
framing
- Error detection
parity, checksum, CRC
- Reliability
stop and go, sliding window
- solutions also apply to similar problems in higher layers
problems can not be completely solved at data link layer
only implemented in data link layer as optimization
[email protected]

Limitations of Direct Link Networks

distance
- distance increases propagation delay
- large propagation delay causes large coordination delay
- e.g., Ethernet collision detection requires 2*prop_delay

number of hosts
- More hosts increases the probability of collisions
- collisions decrease efficiency of link

bandwidth
- bandwidth of link is shared among all connected nodes

single media type


- different media (e.g., fiber, Ethernet, wireless) have
different tradeoffs for performance, cost, etc.
[email protected]

Direct Link Networks v.s. Switching


n links
Single
link
Switch

Direct Link Network

Emulates
clique

Switched Network

[email protected]

Definitions

switch (aka bridge)


- does switching
- operates at data link layer
- router also does switching, but at network layer

switching consists of
- forwarding
read data from input links,
decide which output link to forward on, and

examine packet header or incoming circuit, and


look up in forwarding table

transmit it on one of the output links (unicast)


- routing
how the switch/router builds up its forwarding table

[email protected]

Properties

spans larger physical area than direct link


network (DLN)
- can connect multiple switches together

supports more hosts than DLN


- hosts on separate links can transmit at same time

higher aggregate bandwidth than DLN


- approaches (n/2)*b instead of b, n = number of
switched links, b = bandwidth of one link

supports more than one media type


- more expensive for bridge than router

[email protected]

Bridge/Router Comparison

Router interconnects different link layer protocols


more easily
Router

Switch
Ethernet

E-to-E

Ethernet

Ethernet E-to-IP

IP-to-E

Ethernet

802.11b

E-to-8

802.11b

802.11b

8-to-IP

IP-to-8

802.11b

ATM A-to-IP

IP-to-A

ATM

IP-to-S

SONET

ATM
SONET

E-t
o-

Eto-

ATM
SONET

SONET

O(n2) converters
n = different link types
[email protected]

S-to-IP

O(n) converters
7

Forwarding Techniques

packet switching
- aka [packet|datagram|connectionless]
[switching|forwarding]

source routing
virtual circuit switching
- aka virtual circuit forwarding

circuit switching
despite names, all ways for switch to decide
which output port to forward data

[email protected]

Packet Switching

Data is separated into packets


Each packet is forwarded independently of
previous packets
- packets between two hosts can follow different paths

On link failure, adjoining switches select new


route and continue forwarding packets
Statistical multiplexing
- any one host may use 100% of a links bandwidth

[email protected]

Statistical Multiplexing v.s.


Resource Reservations
Advantage

Problem

Statistical
Multiplexing

10Mb/s
10Mb/s
...

H0

Resource
Reservations

H9

.
.
.

10Mb/s / 10Mb/s

...

10Mb/s

1Mb/s...
H0
.
.
1Mb/s .
1Mb/s...
H9

10Mb/s
10Mb/s
...
H0
.
.
10Mb/s .
10Mb/s
...
H9

10Mb/s / 10Mb/s
congestion,
packet loss

10Mb/s

10Mb/s / 10Mb/s

1Mb/s...
H0
.
.
0Mb/s .
1Mb/s...
H9

low utilization

1Mb/s / 10Mb/s

Reserve explicit amount of resources (e.g., bandwidth)


- get exactly that amount

Statistical multiplexing: get whatever is available


[email protected]

10

Packet Switching Operation

Each switch maintains a forwarding table


- forwarding entry: (address, output port)

Upon packet arrival


- input port forwards the packet to the output port
whose address matches packets destination
address
12.82.100.101
exact match

longest prefix match

128.16.120.111
12.xxx.xxx.xxx
12.82.xxx.xxx

128.16.120.111

- forwarding entry: (address prefix, output port)


- forward packet to the output port whose address
matches packets destination address in the
longest number of bits
[email protected]

1
1
2

11

Packet Switching Properties

Expensive forwarding
- forwarding table size depends on number of different
destinations
- must lookup in forwarding table for every packet

Robust
- link and router failure may be transparent for end-hosts

High bandwidth utilization


- statistical multiplexing

No service guarantees
- Network allows hosts to send more packets than
available bandwidth congestion dropped packets
[email protected]

12

Source Routing

Each packet specifies the sequence of routers, or


alternatively the sequence of output ports, from
source to destination

source

4 3 4

1
2
3
4

1
2
3
4

1
2
3
4

4 3 4

1
2
3
4

1
2
3
4

[email protected]

1
2
3
4

4 3 4

13

Source Routing (contd)

Gives the source control of the path


Not scalable
- Packet overhead proportional to the number of routers
- Typically, require variable header length which is harder
to implement

Hard for source to have complete information


Loose source routing sender specifies only a
subset of routers along the path

[email protected]

14

Virtual Circuit (VC) Switching

Packets not switched independently


- establish virtual circuit before sending data

Forwarding table entry


- (input port, input VCI, output port, output VCI)
- VCI Virtual Circuit Identifier

Each packet carries a VCI in its header


Upon a packet arrival at interface i
- Input port uses i and the packets VCI v to find the routing entry (i,
v, i, v)
- Replaces v with v in the packet header
- Forwards packet to output port i
[email protected]

15

VC Forwarding: Example
in in-VCI out out-VCI

in in-VCI out out-VCI


source

1
2
3
4

1
2
3
4

destination

11

1
2
3
4

1
2
3
4

11
1
2
3
4

1
2
3
4

in in-VCI out out-VCI

11

[email protected]

16

VC Forwarding (contd)

A signaling protocol is required to set up the state


for each VC in the routing table
- A source needs to wait for one RTT (round trip time)
before sending the first data packet

Can provide per-VC QoS


- When we set the VC, we can also reserve bandwidth
and buffer resources along the path

[email protected]

17

Virtual Circuit Switching Properties

Less expensive forwarding


- forwarding table size depends on number of different
circuits
- must lookup in forwarding table for every packet

Much higher delay for short flows


- 1 RTT delay for connection setup

Less Robust
- end host must spend 1 RTT to establish new
connection after link and router failure

Flexible service guarantees


- either statistical multiplexing or resource reservations
[email protected]

18

Circuit Switching

Packets not switched independently


- establish circuit before sending data

Circuit is a dedicated path from source to


destination
- e.g., old style telephone switchboard, where
establishing circuit means connecting wires in all the
switches along path
- e.g., modern dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)
form of optical networking, where establishing circuit
means reserving an optical wavelength in all switches
along path

No forwarding table
[email protected]

19

Circuit Switching Properties

Cheap forwarding
- no table lookup

Much higher delay for short flows


- 1 RTT delay for connection setup

Less robust
- end host must spend 1 RTT to establish new
connection after link and router failure

Must use resource reservations

[email protected]

20

Forwarding Comparison

forwarding
cost
bandwidth
utilization

pure
packet
switching
high

virtual
circuit
switching
low

circuit
switching

high

flexible

low

flexible

yes

low

low

resource
none
reservations
robustness high

[email protected]

none

21

Routing

Update forwarding/routing tables


Manual configuration
- simple, error prone, work for administrator

Learning bridges
- all that is needed for single bridge

Spanning Tree
- necessary for multiple bridges

Described in internetworking section


- Distance Vector
- Link State

[email protected]

22

Learning Bridges
Host

Port

AC BA
1

A B
2

A B

C A
3

[email protected]

23

Learning Bridge Problem


H1 H0
H1

Host

Port

Host

Port

H1

H1

B0

2
2

H1 H0

B1
0

H1 H0

Host

Port

H1

B2

H1 H0 H1 H0

H1 H0

H0

0
0
1

Host

Port

H1

0
1

B3

H1 H0
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24

Spanning Tree
Root

Dist

Port

B0

H1

Host

Port

Host

Port

Root

Dist

Port

H1

H1

B1
B0

0
1

2
-

B0

B1/2 is root
1

Host

Port

H1

H0

1
B1

As if. I am

Get out. I am.

H1 H0

Im root

Uh, no. B0/1 is.

Im root

B1/2 is root
0

B2

B1/1 is root

Root

Dist

B2
B1

0
2

Cha. B0/3 is.

Host

Port

H1

Root

Dist

B3
B1
B0

0
1
2

0
1

B3

B1/1 is root
[email protected]

25

Summary

Switching
- overcome limitations of direct link networks

Forwarding techniques
-

packet switching
source routing
virtual circuit switching
circuit switching

Routing techniques

[email protected]

26

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