IT2006

Protocols and Switching Switching

Network protocols are sets of established rules that dictate how to format, transmit, and receive data so computer
network devices can communicate regardless of the differences in their underlying infrastructures, designs, or standards.
The support for network protocols can be built into software, hardware, or both.

Common Network Protocols (White, 2015)

• Internet Protocol (IP) provides a connectionless data transfer service over heterogeneous networks by passing
and routing IP datagrams.
o IPv4 Datagram Format
▪ IPv4 addresses are 32 bits in length.
• Example:1000 0000.1001 1100.0000 1110.0000 0111
▪ This dotted-decimal notation is created by converting each 8-bit string in the 32-bit IP
address into its decimal equivalent. Thus, the IP address above becomes 128.156.14.7.

(White, 2015)
o IPv6 Datagram Format
▪ IPv6 calls for addresses to be 128 bits long. A 128-bit address gives us virtually unlimited
addresses.

(White, 2015)

▪ IPv6 addresses are 128 bits in length. For example, they are usually written in hexadecimal form,
where each four-bit quantity is replaced by a hexadecimal digit from 0 to F.
o Example:
6A3E : BA91 : 7221 : 0000 : OIFC : 922C : 877B : FFEF
o If there are four hex 0s in a row, as above, we can save a little typing and incorporate a
small abbreviation:
6A3E : BA91 : 7221 : 0 : OlFC : 922C : 877B : FFEF
▪ Longer strings of 0s can be abbreviated further. For example:
6A3E : BA91 : 0 : 0 : 0 : 0 : 877B : FFEF
o It can be abbreviated as:
6A3E : BA91 : : 877B : FFEF

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• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) primary function is to turn an unreliable network into a reliable network
that is free from lost and duplicate packets. The role of TCP essentially fills in some holes created by IP.
o TCP performs the following six functions:
• Create a connection - The TCP header includes a port address that indicates a particular
application on a machine. When TCP creates a connection, it uses a port number to identify the
particular application's connection.
• Release a connection - The TCP software can also dissolve a connection after all the data has
been sent and received.
• Implement flow control - To make sure the sending station does not overwhelm the receiving
station with too much data, the TCP header includes a field called the Window value, that allows
the receiver to tell the sender to slow down.
• Establish multiplexing - This multiplexing can be done by creating a different connection that has
a port number different from a previous connection.
• Perform error recovery - TCP numbers each byte for transmission with a sequence number. As
the packets of bytes arrive at the destination site, the receiving TCP software checks these
sequence numbers for continuity.
• Establish priority - If the sender has to transmit data of a higher priority, such as an error
condition, TCP can set a value in a field (the Urgent Pointer) that indicates that all or a portion of
the enclosed data.
o TCP Datagram Format - The information in this header is used by the TCP layer at the receiving
workstation to perform one or more of the six transport functions.

(White, 2015)

• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) performs error reporting for the Internet Protocol and is commonly
used by routers.
• All ICMP messages contain at least three (3) fields:
▪ A type is simply a number from 0 to n that uniquely identifies the kind of ICMP message,
such as invalid port number or invalid IP address.
▪ A code is a value that provides further information about the message type.
▪ The first eight bytes of the IP datagram caused the ICMP message to be generated.

• User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a no-frills transport protocol that does not establish connections, does not
attempt to keep data packets in sequence, and does not watch for datagrams that have existed for too long.
• Its header contains only four fields:
▪ Source Port, Destination Port, Length, and Checksum.
• It is used by a small number of network services, such as DNS, that do not need to establish a
connection before sending data.

• Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is another small but important protocol that is used to support TCP/IP
networks. This takes an IP address in an IP datagram and translates it into the appropriate medium access
control layer address for delivery on a local area network.

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• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is the most popular protocol that handles dynamic assignment.
• Two basic methods are used to assign an IP address to a workstation: static assignment and
dynamic assignment.
• Functions:
▪ When a workstation running the DHCP client software needs to connect to the Internet,
the protocol issues an IP request, which prompts the DHCP server to look in a static table
of IP addresses.
▪ DHCP server selects an IP address from an available pool of addresses and assigns it to
the workstation.
• The IP address assignment is temporary, with the default time limit being one hour. DHCP clients
may negotiate for a renewal of the assignment if the workstation is still accessing the Internet
when the temporary assignment is nearing expiration.

• Network Address Translation (NAT) is another protocol that is used to assign IP addresses. More precisely,
NAT lets a router represent an entire local area network to the Internet as a single IP address.
• Function:
▪ When a user workstation on a company local area network sends a packet out to the
Internet, NAT replaces the IP address of the user workstation with a corporate global IP
address.
▪ All packets that leave the corporate network contain this global IP address.
▪ The only IP address that anyone sees outside of the corporate network is the one global
IP address.

• Tunneling Protocols and Virtual Private Networks

• Whenever a transmission is performed, it is susceptible to interception. Retailers have solved
part of the problem by using encryption techniques to secure transactions dealing with private
information.
▪ Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a data network connection that makes use of the
public telecommunications infrastructure but maintains privacy through the use of a
tunneling protocol and security procedures.
▪ Tunneling Protocol is the command set that allows an organization to create secure
connections using public resources such as the Internet. Example: Point-to-Point
Tunneling Protocol (PPTP).

Network Switching (Forouzan, 2013)

A switched network consists of a series of interlinked nodes, called switches. Switches are devices capable of creating
temporary connections between two or more devices linked to the switch. In a switched network, some of these nodes
are connected to the end systems (computers or telephones, for example).

Packet Switching
In data communications, we need to send messages from one end system to another. If the message is going to pass
through a packet-switched network, it needs to be divided into packets of fixed or variable size. The size of the packet
is determined by the network and the governing protocol. In layman’s term, it serves as a reservation at a restaurant.
Without the reservation, it may cause delays.

Types of Packet-Switched Networks

• Datagram Networks - each packet is treated independently of all others. Packets in this approach are referred
to as datagrams. Datagram switching is normally done at the network layer. The datagram networks are
sometimes referred to as connectionless networks. The term connectionless here means that the switch (packet
switch) does not keep information about the connection state.

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(Forouzan, 2013)

o Routing Table - In this type of network, each switch (or packet switch) has a routing table that is
based on the destination address. The routing tables are dynamic and are updated periodically. The
destination addresses and the corresponding forwarding output ports are recorded in the tables.
o Destination Address - Every packet in a datagram network carries a header that contains, among
other information, the destination address of the packet. When the switch receives the packet, this
destination address is examined; the routing table is consulted to find the corresponding port through
which the packet should be forwarded.
o Efficiency - The efficiency of a datagram network is better than that of a circuit-switched network;
resources are allocated only when there are packets to be transferred.
o Delay There may be a greater delay in a datagram network than in a virtual-circuit network. Although
there are no setup and teardown phases, each packet may experience a wait at a switch before it is
forwarded.

• Virtual-Circuit Networks - is a cross between a circuit-switched network and a datagram network. A virtual-
circuit network is normally implemented in the data-link layer, while a circuit-switched network is
implemented in the physical layer and a datagram network in the network layer.

(Forouzan, 2013)

o Addressing - In a virtual-circuit network, two (2) types of addressing are involved:

a. Global Addressing - A source or a destination needs to have a global address—an address that
can be unique in the scope of the network or internationally if the network is part of an
international network.
b. Virtual-Circuit Identifier - The identifier that is actually used for data transfer is called the
virtual-circuit identifier (VCI) or the label. A VCI, unlike a global address, is a small number that
has only switch scope; it is used by a frame between two switches.

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Structure Of A Switch
We use switches in circuit-switched and packet-switched networks.

Source: https://datacommandnet.blogspot.com/p/structure-of-switch.html

• Space-Division Switch
In space-division switching, the paths in the circuit are separated from one another spatially. Example:
Crossbar Switch & Multistage Switch
• Time-Division Switch
Time-division switching uses time-division multiplexing (TDM) inside a switch. The most popular technology is
called the time-slot interchange (TSI).
• Time- and Space-Division Switch Combinations
It combines the two (2) results in switches that are optimized both physically (the number of crosspoints) and
temporally (the amount of delay). Multistage switches of this sort can be designed as time-space-time (TST)
switches.

Structure of Packet Switches

A switch used in a packet-switched network has a different structure from a switch used in a circuit-switched network.

Source: https://datacommandnet.blogspot.com/p/structure-of-switch.html

• Input Ports
An input port performs the physical and data-link functions of the packet switch. The bits are constructed from
the received signal. The packet is decapsulated from the frame. Errors are detected and corrected. The packet
is now ready to be routed by the network layer.
• Output Port
The output port performs the same functions as the input port but in the reverse order. First, the outgoing
packets are queued, then the packet is encapsulated in a frame, and finally, the physical-layer functions are
applied to the frame to create the signal to be sent on the line.

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• Routing Processor
The routing processor performs the functions of the network layer. The destination address is used to find the
address of the next hop and, at the same time, the output port number from which the packet is sent out. This
activity is sometimes referred to as table lookup because the routing processor searches the routing table.
• Switching Fabrics
The most difficult task in a packet switch is to move the packet from the input queue to the output queue. The
speed with which this is done affects the size of the input/output queue and the overall delay in packet
delivery.
o Crossbar Switch - The simplest type of switching fabric is the crossbar switch.
o Banyan Switch (named after the banyan tree) is a multistage switch with microswitches at each stage
that route the packets based on the output port represented as a binary string.
o Batcher-Banyan Switch: The problem with the banyan switch is the possibility of internal collision
even when two packets are not heading for the same output port. The sorting switch uses hardware
merging techniques, but we do not discuss the details here. Normally, another hardware module
called a trap is added between the Batcher switch and the banyan switch.

References:
Forouzan, B. (2013). Data communications and network. McGraw-Hill.
Ibe, O. (2018). Fundamentals of data communication networks (1st ed.). Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kurose, F., & Ross, K. (2017). Computer networking: A top-down approach (7th ed.). Pearson.
TechTarget Network. (n.d.). Network Protocols. Retrieved from https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/protocol.
Sklar, B. (2017). Digital communication: Fundamentals and applications (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall.
Speidel, J. (2019). Introduction to digital communications. Springer Nature.
White, C. (2015). Data communications and computer networks - A business user's approach. Cengage.

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