Date and Time: 5:00 – 8:00pm (Tuesdays)

Austin Amaechi, PhD

Token Passing Local Area Networks

 What Is a Token Ring?

 Standards for Token Ring LAN...........

 Media Access Control in Token Ring LAN..........

 MAC Addresses (DA/SA) in Token Ring LAN..........

 Priority Management in Token Ring LAN...........

 Ring Management in Token Ring LAN..........

 Token Bus LAN...........

 Fibre Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)...........

 Media Access Control in FDDI...........

Token Passing Local Area Networks
Token Passing Local Area Networks

 Private ownership
◦ freedom from regulatory constraints of WANs

 Short distance (~1km) between computers imply

◦ low cost
◦ very high-speed, relatively error-free communication
◦ complex error control unnecessary

 Machines are constantly moved

◦ Simply give each machine a unique address
◦ Broadcast all messages to all machines in the LAN

 Need a medium access control protocol

Token Passing Local Area Networks

 A number of nodes (computers and network devices) are interconnected by a shared

transmission medium

 Nodes are connected to the cabling system through a network interface card (NIC) or
LAN adapter card

 Nodes can be arranged in bus, ring, or star topology

5
Token Passing Local Area Networks

IEEE 802 OSI

Network layer Network layer

LLC 802.2 Logical link control

Data link
layer
802.3 802.5 802.11 Other
MAC
CSMA-CD Token Ring Wireless LANs
LAN

Fiber, twisted pairs, coax, wireless Physical

Physical
layer
layer

6
Token Passing Local Area Networks

 Coordinate access to medium

 Connectionless frame transfer service

 Machines identified by MAC/physical address

 Broadcast frames with MAC addresses

7
Token Passing Local Area Networks

 Networks can be divided into two categories:

those using point-to-point connections and those using broadcast channels.

 In any broadcast network, the key issue is how to determine who gets to use the
channel when there is competition for it.

 The protocols used to determine who goes next on a multiaccess channel belong
to a sublayer of the data link layer (DLL) called the MAC (Medium Access
Control) sublayer. The MAC sublayer is especially important in LANs, many of
which use a multiaccess channel as the basis for communication. WANs, in
contrast, use point-to-point links, except for satellite networks.

 Technically said, the MAC sublayer is the bottom part of the

8
Network Architecture

 Developed by IBM during the 1980s as an alternative to Ethernet, token

ring is a data link technology for local area networks (LANs) in which
devices are connected in a star or ring topology. It operates at layer 2 of
the OSI model.
Network Architecture

 A token ring is not same as a ring topology.

 A ring topology in the physical sense consists of a circular arrangement of

computers. Each net participant is connected to its neighbours to the left and right,
so that the network is a closed ring. As soon as a computer within the LAN fails or
a connection is otherwise disconnected, the whole network breaks down, and the
connection is lost. If another computer wants to participate in the network, the LAN
must be interrupted for at least a short moment.
Network Architecture

 A token ring is not same as a ring topology.

 A token ring network is a local area network (LAN) in which all computers are
connected in a ring or star topology and pass one or more logical tokens from
host to host. Only a host that holds a token can send data, and tokens are
released when receipt of the data is confirmed
Network Architecture

A token ring typology

 The token ring topology uses Multistation Access Units (MAUs), which allow a
star-shaped connection of the connections involved.

 The distributor is a node that is connected to all computers on the network.

 There is no direct connection between the individual computers.

 Nevertheless there is still a logical ring involved, which is due to the physical star
structure, because the data transmission takes the form of a ring – on an abstract
level.

 Although the data is repeatedly transported to the MAU, it is not sent from there to
a specified subscriber, but simply to the next computer in the fixed sequence.
Network Architecture

All stations in a token ring are connected in a star shape, but

data packets are still sent from computer to computer in a ring
Network Architecture

Token passing

 To avoid chaos, the token passing procedure is used.

 This method ensures that not all participants send data to the network at
the same time.
 Only computers that are currently in possession of the token have the right
to send data packets to the network.
 This token is passed on in a ring – even if no participant requires a
transmission permit, the token continues to circulate.
 Unidirectional ring network

 4 Mbps and 16 Mbps on twisted pair

 Token passing protocol provides access

 Fairness
 Access priorities
 Breaks in ring bring entire network down

 Reliability can be improved by using star topology

 Relatively low speed

16
Local Area Network Management

What is Token Ring protocol?

How does a Token Ring LAN operates?

What access method does Token Ring use?

Network Architecture

General Token-Ring Operation

 Token-Ring transmission is unidirectional, with each device always receiving
from its upstream neighbor and sending to its downstream neighbor.
 It is a token-passing ring topology that passes frames with no collision risk
because only one device can transmit at a time.
 Devices can, however, access the medium and transmit upon reception of a free
token, which is a 3-byte signal that propagates around the ring.

The following are Token-Ring's most important characteristics:

 All devices connect serially, transmitting a signal in one direction.

 Each device's transmit pair connects through to its downstream neighbor's

receive pair.
 Signal transmission is unidirectional.

 Each device directly connects in a physical star formation through central hubs
known as Multi-Station Access Units (MSAUs)
Network Architecture

Token-Ring operation.
 Each device's network card operates as a fully functional unidirectional repeater,
completely regenerating the signal and bit repeating it on.
 It can operate at either 4Mbps or 16Mbps, but not both, as determined by the
configuration of the network card.
 All devices must agree on the speed of the ring.
 Token-Ring technology employs one device as an Active Monitor, watching
every other device and keeping the ring operational. All other devices are
Standby Monitors, waiting for the opportunity to assume the Active Monitor's
role if it is either gone or fails in its duties. You can think of the operation as an
extremely paranoid society with Big Brother making sure everything functions
correctly—until Big Brother himself malfunctions.
Network Architecture

Responsibilities of the Active Monitor include:

 Guaranteeing a good frame or token exists on the ring at all times

 Maintaining the master clock for the ring

 Removing endlessly circulating frames

 Kicking off a ring poll process every seven seconds for neighbor identification
Network Architecture

 Channel Access Method

 Token-Ring devices access the channel using a token-passing method. When a

device has information to transmit, it must wait for a free token, a 3-byte frame
that traverses the ring and provides access to the medium. When it receives a
token, it can convert it to a frame.

 Stations send their frames around the ring hoping to find the destination host. All
other devices on the ring check the destination address of the frame to
determine whether it is for them, and then bit repeat the signal on. Each network
interface card acts as a repeater, amplifying, retiming, and bit repeating the
signal. The responsibility of stripping its frame and releasing a new token
belongs to the sending device.
Network Architecture

Ring Poll Process

 Ring recovery restores the ring to operational status every seven seconds to
facilitate ring recovery after new stations have inserted into or left the ring. Then,
a process known as Ring Poll or Neighbor Notification begins. For
communication on the ring to occur, devices must be capable of identifying and
synchronizing to their upstream neighbor's signal.

 The ring poll process is begun by the Active Monitor, which sends out a frame
identifying its presence and its upstream neighbor's address.

 All other stations participate until all devices on the ring have identified
themselves and their Nearest Active Upstream Neighbor (NAUN).
Network Architecture

 Beaconing

 Beaconing is a problem-signaling process that occurs as the result of a failure or

other problem on the ring. Failures can range from those that can be solved
automatically at the chipset level through auto-configuration and recovery
methods to those so severe that they require human intervention, such as a
cable break.

 When a ring is in beacon mode, devices are incapable of sending data until the
ring has resolved the condition. Beacon frames identify the problem area,
known as the fault domain
Network Architecture

Beaconing automatically occurs and takes place when

1. A device detects a serious problem on the ring.
2. The device sends out a Beacon MAC layer frame identifying its address and
the address of its upstream neighbor.
3. The beacon frame alerts the downstream neighbor of a broken line or signaling
problem on the ring that originates at the upstream neighbor.
4. The beaconing device identifies the fault domain as being somewhere between
its receive port and its upstream neighbor's transmit port, including all cabling
and devices in between.

 After a network administrator determines the fault domain through beaconing,

troubleshooting the problem is relatively easy. Because the fault domain exists
only between the upstream and downstream neighbor, the troubleshooter can
isolate the failure to one of these devices or intervening hardware components
Network Architecture

 When a station wishes to transmit, it must wait for token to pass by and seize the
token.
◦ One approach: change one bit in token which transforms it into a “start-of-frame
sequence” and appends frame for transmission.
◦ Second approach: station claims token by removing it from the ring.

 Frame circles the ring and is removed by the transmitting station.

 Each station interrogates passing frame, if destined for station, it copies the frame
into local buffer. {Normally, there is a one bit delay as the frame passes through a
station.}
Local Area Network Management

 Token Ring is formed by the nodes connected in ring format as shown in the diagram
below. The principle used in the token ring network is that a token is circulating in the
ring and whichever node grabs that token will have right to transmit the data.

 Whenever a station wants to transmit a frame it inverts a single bit of the 3-byte token
which instantaneously changes it into a normal data packet. Because there is only
one token, there can atmost be one transmission at a time.
Local Area Network Management

 Since the token rotates in the ring it is guaranteed that every node gets the token
with in some specified time. So there is an upper bound on the time of waiting to grab
the token so that starvation is avoided.

 There is also an upper limit of 250 on the number of nodes in the network.

 To distinguish the normal data packets from token (control packet) a special
sequence is assigned to the token packet. When any node gets the token it first
sends the data it wants to send, then recirculates the token.
Local Area Network Management

 If a node transmits the token and nobody wants to send the data the token comes
back to the sender. If the first bit of the token reaches the sender before the
transmission of the last bit, then error situation araises.

 So to avoid this we should have:

propogation delay + transmission of n-bits (1-bit delay in each node ) >
transmission of the token time
 A station may hold the token for the token-holding time. which is 10 ms unless the
installation sets a different value. If there is enough time left after the first frame has
been transmitted to send more frames, then these frames may be sent as well. After
all pending frames have been transmitted or the transmission frame would exceed
the token-holding time, the station regenerates the 3-byte token frame and puts it
back on the ring.
Local Area Network Management

 Ring interface can be in one of three states:

 – Listen State
 – Transmit State
 – Bypass State

1. Listen Mode: In this mode the node listens to the data and transmits the data to
the next node. In this mode there is a one-bit delay associated with the
transmission.
Local Area Network Management

 Transmit Mode: In this mode the node just discards the any data and puts the data
onto the network

Write data to the ring

Local Area Network Management

 By-pass Mode: In this mode reached when the node is down. Any
data is just bypassed. There is no one-bit delay in this mode.
Idle station does not incur bit-delay


Local Area Network Management

 One problem with a ring network is that if the cable breaks somewhere, the ring dies

 How is this massive problem solved?

Local Area Network Management

Token Ring Using Ring Concentrator

 This problem is elegantly addressed by using a ring concentrator. A Token Ring

concentrator simply changes the topology from a physical ring to a star wired ring. But the
network still remains a ring logically.

 Physically, each station is connected to the ring concentrator (wire center) by a cable
containing at least two twisted pairs, one for data to the station and one for data from the
station
Local Area Network Management

Token Ring Using Ring Concentrator

 The Token still circulates around the network and is still controlled in the same manner,
however, using a hub or a switch greatly improves reliability because the hub can
automatically bypass any ports that are disconnected or have a cabling fault.

 This is done by having bypass relays inside the concentrator that are energized by current
from the stations. If the ring breaks or station goes down, loss of the drive current will
release the relay and bypass the station. The ring can then continue operation with the bad
segment bypassed.

 Who should remove the packet from the ring ?

Local Area Network Management

Token Ring Using Ring Concentrator

 Who should remove the packet from the ring ?

There are 3 possibilities-

1. The source itself removes the packet after one full round in the ring.
2. The destination removes it after accepting it: This has two potential problems. Firstly, the solution
won't work for broadcast or multicast, and secondly, there would be no way to acknowledge the sender
about the receipt of the packet.
3. Have a specialized node only to discard packets: This is a bad solution as the specialized node
would know that the packet has been received by the destination only when it receives the packet the
second time and by that time the packet may have actually made about one and half (or almost two in
the worst case) rounds in the ring.
 Thus the first solution is adopted with the source itself removing the packet from the ring after a full one
round. With this scheme, broadcasting and multicasting can be handled as well as the destination can
acknowledge the source about the receipt of the packet (or can tell the source about some error).
Local Area Network Management

 The length of a ring LAN, measured in bits, gives the total number of bits
which are can be in transmission on the ring at a time
 The token is the shortest frame transmitted (24 bit)
MSB (Most Significant Bit) is always transmitted first - as opposed to Ethernet

 Tokens are 3 bytes in length and consist of a start delimiter, an access control byte,
and an end delimiter.
 Note: Frame size is not limited to the “length” of the ring since entire frame
may not appear on the ring at one time.
 Bit length = propagation speed · length of ring · data rate ++ No. of
stations · bit delay at repeater

 Remember: 8 bits = 1 byte

Local Area Network Management

 SDACED

 SD = Starting Delimiter (1 Octet)

 AC = Access Control (1 Octet)

 ED = Ending Delimiter (1 Octet)

Starting Delimiter Format:

JKOJKOOO
J = Code Violation
K = Code Violation
Local Area Network Management

 Access Control Format:

 PPPTMRRR
 T=Token
T = 0 for Token
T = 1 for Frame
When a station with a Frame to transmit detects a token which has a priority equal to or less than
the Frame to be transmitted, it may change the token to a start-of-frame sequence and transmit
the Frame
P = Priority
Priority Bits indicate tokens priority, and therefore, which stations are allowed to use it. Station can
transmit if its priority as at least as high as that of the token.
M = Monitor
The monitor bit is used to prevent a token whose priority is greater than 0 or any frame from
continuously circulating on the ring. If an active monitor detects a frame or a high priority token
with the monitor bit equal to 1, the frame or token is aborted. This bit shall be transmitted as 0 in
all frame and tokens. The active monitor inspects and modifies this bit. All other stations shall
repeat this bit as received.
 R = Reserved bits
The reserved bits allow station with high priority Frames to request that the next token be issued
at the requested priority.
Local Area Network Management

 Ending Delimiter Format:

 JK1JK11E

 J = Code Violation
K = Code Violation
I = Intermediate Frame Bit
E = Error Detected Bit
Local Area Network Management

 Token Ring networks use a sophisticated priority system that permits certain user-
designated, high-priority stations to use the network more frequently.

 Token Ring frames have two fields that control priority: the priority field and the
reservation field

 Only stations with a priority equal to or higher than the priority value contained in a token
can seize that token.

 After the token is seized and changed to an information frame, only stations with a priority
value higher than that of the transmitting station can reserve the token for the next pass
around the network.

 When the next token is generated, it includes the higher priority of the reserving station.
Stations that raise a token's priority level must reinstate the previous priority after their
transmission is complete.
Local Area Network Management

 Each token ring has a monitor that oversees the ring.

 Among the monitor's responsibilities are seeing that the token is not lost, taking
action when the ring breaks, cleaning the ring when garbled frames appear and
watching out for orphan frames.

 An orphan frame occurs when a station transmits a short frame in it's entirety onto a
long ring and then crashes or is powered down before the frame can be removed. If
nothing is done, the frame circulates indefinitely.
Local Area Network Management

 Detection of orphan frames: The monitor detects orphan frames by setting the
monitor bit in the Access Control byte whenever it passes through. If an incoming
frame has this bit set, something is wrong since the same frame has passed the
monitor twice. Evidently it was not removed by the source, so the monitor drains it.

 Lost Tokens: The monitor has a timer that is set to the longest possible tokenless
interval : when each node transmits for the full token holding time. If this timer goes
off, the monitor drains the ring and issues a fresh token.

 Garbled frames: The monitor can detect such frames by their invalid format or
checksum, drain the ring and issue a fresh token.
Local Area Network Management

The token ring control frames for maintenance are:

Control field Name Meaning

Test if two stations have the same
00000000 Duplicate address test
address
00000010 Beacon Used to locate breaks in the ring
00000011 Claim token Attempt to become monitor
00000100 Purge Reinitialize the ring
00000101 Active monitor present Issued periodically by the monitor
Announces the presence of potential
00000110 Standby monitor present
monitors
Local Area Network Management

 The monitor periodically issues a message "Active Monitor Present" informing all
nodes of its presence. When this message is not received for a specific time interval,
the nodes detect a monitor failure. Each node that believes it can function as a
monitor broadcasts a "Standby Monitor Present" message at regular intervals,
indicating that it is ready to take on the monitor's job. Any node that detects failure of
a monitor issues a "Claim" token.

 There are 3 possible outcomes :

1. If the issuing node gets back its own claim token, then it becomes the monitor.
2. If a packet different from a claim token is received, apparently a wrong guess of
monitor failure was made. In this case on receipt of our own claim token, we discard
it. Note that our claim token may have been removed by some other node which has
detected this error.
3. If some other node has also issued a claim token, then the node with the larger
address becomes the monitor.
Local Area Network Management

 In order to resolve errors of duplicate addresses, whenever a node comes up it

sends a "Duplicate Address Detection" message (with the destination = source)
across the network. If the address recognize bit has been set on receipt of the
message, the issuing node realizes a duplicate address and goes to standby mode.

 A node informs other nodes of removal of a packet from the ring through a "Purge"
message. One maintenance function that the monitor cannot handle is locating
breaks in the ring.

 If there is no activity detected in the ring (e.g. Failure of monitor to issue the Active
Monitor Present token...) , the usual procedures of sending a claim token are
followed. If the claim token itself is not received besides packets of any other kind,
the node then sends "Beacons" at regular intervals until a message is received
indicating that the broken ring has been repaired.
46
Local Area Network Management

FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) is a set of ANSI and ISO standards for data
transmission on fiber optic lines in a local area network That can extend in range up to
200km(or far more depending on the available infrastructure). The FDDI protocol is
based on the token ring protocol. In addition to being large geographically, an FDDI LAN
can support thousands of users. FDDI is frequently used on the backbone for WAN.

 An FDDI network contains two token rings, one for possible backup in case the
primary ring fails.

 The primary ring offers up to 100Mbps capacity. If the secondary ring is not needed
for backup, it can also carry data, extending capacity to 200Mbps.

 FDDI is an expensive technology to set up because the network devices require a

special network card and also fiber-optic cabling is required, which is more expensive
than twisted-pair cable
Local Area Network Management

FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) is a set of ANSI and ISO standards (American
National Standards Committee & Open Systems Interconnection.

 FDDI operates in the physical and medium access control of the OSI network model

 FDDI is used by single and multi-mode fiber optic, which have different
communication mechanisms. Multi-mode fiber optic uses a lead generation device,
whereas single-mode fiber optic uses laser for data transmission only.

 Like token ring, FDDI also has error-detection and correction capabilities.in a
normally operating FDDI ring, the token passes by each network device fast.

 If the token is not seen within the maximum amount of time that it takes to circulate
the largest ring, it indicates a network problem.
 Token ring protocol for LAN/MAN

 100 Mbps on optical fiber

 Up to 200 km diameter, up to 500 stations

 FDDI has option to operate in multitoken mode

 Counter-rotating dual ring topology

A

X
E
B

C D
Dual ring becomes a single ring
49
Network Architecture

 A FDDI network can have a maximum of 500 stations. There are two types of
optical fiber that can be used to interconnect the stations: Single-Mode and
Multimode.

 When Single-Mode fiber is used the stations can be as much as 60 kilometers

apart. With Multimode the stations must be no more than 2 kilometers apart

 FDDI uses a ring topology of multimode or single mode optical fiber

transmission links Employs dual counter-rotating rings.

 16 and 48-bit addresses are allowed.

 In FDDI, token is absorbed by station and released as soon as it completes the

frame transmission {release after transmission}.
Network Architecture

Some Facts:

 FDDI is a high-speed token ring

 Fiber-optic (dual redundant counter rotating) ring LAN

 Multimode fiber

 Standardized by ANSI and ISO X3T9.5 committee

 100 Mbps data rate

 Maximum frame size is 4500 bytes

 Allows up to 1000 connected stations

 Maximum ring circumference 200 km

Network Architecture

 One of the unique characteristics of FDDI is that multiple ways actually exist by which to
connect FDDI devices. FDDI defines four types of devices: single-attachment station (SAS),
dualattachment station (DAS), single-attached concentrator (SAC), and dual-attached
concentrator (DAC).

 An SAS attaches to only one ring (the primary) through a concentrator. One of the primary
advantages of connecting devices with SAS attachments is that the devices will not have
any effect on the FDDI ring if they are disconnected or powered off.

 Each FDDI DAS has two ports, designated A and B. These ports connect the DAS to the
dual FDDI ring. Therefore, each port provides a connection for both the primary and the
secondary rings.
Network Architecture
Network Architecture

FDDI distinguishes 4 Service Classes:

 Asynchronous

 Synchronous

 Immediate (for monitor and control)

 Isochronous (only in FDDI-II)

FDDI notable Characteristics

 The fibre exhibits less loss (attenuation) than copper over the same length.

 Fibre has less dispersion (distortion) than copper which allows for higher data
rates to be achieved.

 Fibre is less prone to external electromagnetic interference than copper and

also does not itself generate such interference.
Network Architecture

 To accommodate a mixture of stream and bursty traffic, FDDI is designed to

handle two types of traffic:
◦ Synchronous frames that typically have tighter delay requirements (e.g.,
voice and video)
◦ Asynchronous frames have greater delay tolerances (e.g., data traffic)

 FDDI uses TTRT (Target Token Rotation Time) to ensure that token rotation time
is less than some value.
Network Architecture

Much of FDDI is built on the 802.5 Token Ring standards. Differences are:

 There‘s a Claim Token process in FDDI but it doesn‘t result in the election of an
Active Monitor.

 Instead, the winner simply generates a new token. All stations are peers with
regard to the MAC layer; there isn‘t an ―Active Monitor / Standby Monitor‖
hierarchy as there is in an 802.5 Token Ring.
Network Architecture

 Another difference is in the way frames are removed from the FDDI ring. In 802.5/Token
Ring the originating station strips its own frame without evaluating the source address.
When an 802.5 station begins transmitting it simultaneously begins stripping. It simply
continues to strip bits off the ring until it sees an ending delimiter. Since the token protocol
guarantees that only one station is transmitting at a time, the station is guaranteed to strip
its own frame and not someone else‘s.

 In FDDI, however, each station evaluates the source address in each frame and, in this way,
a station strips its own frame. Interestingly, it isn‘t able to begin stripping bits until after it
sees the source address (which is several bytes into the frame).
Network Architecture

 At the bottom of the FDDI discussion lies the physical cable that is used to carry the frames
from one station to another. characteristics which are dependent on the physical medium
being used. For example, there are several types of optical fiber that may carry a light signal
generated from a simple Light Emitting Diode (LED) or from a more powerful (ie: burn the
retina of your eye if you stare at it) LASER light source.

 FDDI frames may be encoded using electrical, instead of optical, signals. In this case the
network is

 sometimes referred to as CDDI (Copper Distributed Data Interface) and

 sometimes referred as SDDI (Shielded Distributed Data Interface) and

 sometimes referred to as TPDDI (Twisted Pair Distributed Data Interface).

 There is even an implementation of FDDI frames over coaxial cable.

Network Architecture

Explain how data is transmitted along a fibre optic cable.

Network Architecture

Data Transmission

 Data is transmitted along a fibre optic cable as light using either a laser or LED.
 The fibre core is made of a very thin strand of high purity glass.
 The fibre core is surrounded by a cladding.
Network Architecture

Data Transmission

 Light entering the core is reflected internally by the cladding and passes along
the core with very little loss.

 The outer layer simply provides protection for the core and plays no part in the
transmission of signals.

 A fibre that uses only one wavelength of light is in effect a single channel.

 Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is a technique used in fibre optics in

which different wavelengths of light are transmitted along the same fibre.
Network Architecture

Connecting Stations To Each Other

 The most straightforward connection between stations is to arrange them in a
circle and plug fiber-optic cable from one to the next. The ring would look like
this picture.
Network Architecture

Each adapter card in this scenario would require two separate optical ports;
one for transmitting the light signal and one for receiving the signal. The
card would be wired as shown in the following picture
Network Architecture

The interface connector port on the adapter card has two fiber optic cables
attached to it. One comes in from the Upstream Neighbor supplying a
received light source. The other transmits a repeated copy of the incoming
signal to the Downstream Neighbor.

There is one fundamental problem with this design theme. If one station
were to fail (or, simply, be powered down!) the whole ring stops operating.
This, obviously, can’t happen. This situation points up one of the
fundamental functions of PHY – to protect the ring in the event of a failure
or power-down condition.
Network Architecture

To provide PHY with a way to protect the ring from a failure, a second ring is added to
the design. Each adapter is now provided with a second port which attaches to the
second ring.

 The interconnection between two adapters has a pair of fiber optic cables (inside a
single cable sheath — it looks like one cable but it has two separate fiber optic cables
inside it.)
 One fiber optic link implements a Primary Ring (also called the Main Ring or Main
Ring Trunk) and the second one implements a Secondary Ring (sometimes called
the Secondary Ring Trunk).

 The secondary ring provides a backup path in the event that PHY detects a problem
as needs to wrap the ring around the fault.
Network Architecture

Here‘s how we‘re going to implement the ring.

Network Architecture

 The top port on each adapter in our picture is called an ‗A‘ port.

 The bottom port is the ‗B‘ port. The picture shows that each station has its A Port
connected to the B Port on the next station.

 This forms a ring: A-to-B, A-to-B, and so on.

 But, notice that each connection involves TWO pieces of fiber optic cable. This
makes each connection into a BI-DIRECTIONAL link.

 One cable carries data in one direction, and the other is able to carry data back.

 So, while the transmitter on the A Port is connected to the receiver on the B
Port, the transmitter on the B port is connected to the receiver on the A Port.

 A more representative picture of the configuration may be realized by the

following logical diagram of a FDDI ring.
Network Architecture

 Study the picture below. Do you see that each A port is connected to a B port. Notice further
that each port has two fiber optic connections. These two pieces of fiber optic cable have a
very small physical diameter and the two pieces run next to each other inside a single
sheath. They are attached to the port with a special connector that guarantees the proper
alignment of the cables.
Network Architecture

The connector has a tab on it so that an A port can only connect to a B port (that is, assuming
that the cable connector is properly configured). It is the configuration that is described as a
pair of Counter-Rotating Rings (because one ring transmits data in a clockwise direction
while the other ring transmits data in a counter-clockwise direction.)
Network Architecture

 We can summarize the operation of the A and B ports as follows:

 PORT A: The receiver side of the port connects to the primary ring. The
transmitter side of the port connects to the secondary ring.
 PORT B: The receiver side of the port connects to the secondary ring. The
transmitter side of the port connects to the primary ring.

 When you are troubleshooting a FDDI implementation you are going to have to
remember the roles of an A and B port when you interconnect equipment.

 The devices that are attached in this manner are referred to as being Dual
Attachment Stations.
.
Network Architecture

Relationship Between FDDI Layer Processes

the Station Management (SMT) process and PHY can be thought of as department managers in a company.
They work together and they talk to each other. Sometimes SMT in one station needs to talk to SMT in another
station (like the department manager in manufacturing calling the department manager at a vendors sales
office – different companies; different computers). Now, SMT has a number of ―employees‖ that work for it.
Together they form the management department inside a FDDI device. Each employee in the SMT
department has a specific job description:

 RMT (FDDI Ring Management) is responsible for the MAC circuitry.

 CMT (Connection Management) supervises three other employees in a departmental work group.
These three are:
 ECM – Entity Coordination Management
 PCM – Physical Connection Management
 CEM – Configuration Element Management
Network Architecture

A Conceptual Model of an FDDI Station

 ECM (Entity Coordination Management) controls an Optical Bypass circuit which allows a
station to stop repeating bits and simply make a direct optical connection between the input
and output sides of a port. When a station is powered down (and if that station supports an
optical bypass mode; not all stations have this feature), the optical bypass allows the ring
to remain operational. ECM starts and stops the PCM (Physical Connection
Management) process.

 PCM (Physical Connection Management) is started (and stopped) by ECM and controls
the initialization of port-to- port connections. PCM is the entity that is going to realize that a
connection has failed and that the port needs to be wrapped. The reason ECM may stop
PCM is that ECM may have a need to put the port into optical bypass mode and, hence,
PCM must be told to go on holiday (stop).
 CEM (Configuration Element Management) controls the internal data paths inside the
FDDI device.
 An SMT Agent stands at the front door and receives, interprets, and responds to requests
that have been received from other management functions on the network. A network
management system would talk to the various SMT Agents in the various devices to provide
configuration, control, and monitoring of the devices.
Network Architecture

A Conceptual Model of an FDDI Station

 The NNT (Neighbor Notification Transmitter) keeps track of this stations upstream and
downstream neighbor address.

 A SRF (Status Report Frame) process notifies network management devices when a
change occurs in the ring. The SMT variables that are tracked in the device are described in
a MIB (Management Information Base) which is a data description structure loaded (or
stored in ROM) into a device.
Network Architecture

The Processes that Work Together to Make an FDDI Ring Interface

 SMT has many workers! They are divided into two categories called frame
services and state machines.

 Frame Services
1) Interact with the frames on the network
2) Perform neighbor notification
3) Send status information about this station
4) Allow remote configuration of the device

 Machines
1) Initialize the port-to-port connections
2) Oversee the internal configuration of the device
3) Detect faults in the ring
4) Monitor error rates in the repeated data stream
5) Manage the device hardware
Network Architecture

A Conceptual Model of an FDDI Station

 Here‘s how the layers of FDDI functionality relate to one another.

.
As you see from the diagram, the various
components of the FDDI ring interface
interact to provide all the possible
behaviors in the communications process.

When you design, implement, configure,

troubleshoot, or optimize an FDDI
environment you are dealing with these
individual components; sometimes in a
grand scale, sometimes specifically.
Network Architecture

 What is meant by the term peer to peer protocol?

 The data link layer in the IEEE standard is divided into two sublayers: LLC and
MAC. Indicate the functions performed by each sublayer.

 Explain how data is transmitted along a fibre optic cable.

 Identify three physical characteristics of fibre optic cables that make them more
suitable for high speed digital data transmission than copper cables.