Lecture Outline

• Introduction
• Networking Equipment
BIT 1305 – Computer Networks – Repeaters
– Hub
– Bridges
Networking Devices – Switches
(Network Electronics) • Internetworking Equipment
– Routers
Lecture 6
– Brouters
– Gateways
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Networks Peripherals (Hardware) Networks Peripherals (Hardware)

• Network Interface Card (NIC) • Network Interface Card (NIC) - Functions
• NIC provides the physical interface between computer
and cabling. • Prepare data from the computer for the network
• It prepares data, sends data, and controls the flow of data. cable.
It can also receive and translate data into bytes for the
CPU to understand. • Send the data to another computer.
• The following factors should be taken into consideration • Control the flow of data between the computer
when choosing a NIC:
• Configuration and the cabling system.
• Drivers
• Compatibility
• Receive incoming data from the cable and
• Performance translate it into bytes that can be understood by
the computer's central processing unit (CPU).

Networks Peripherals - Repeaters Networks Peripherals - Repeaters

• For example, we can extend an Ethernet 10Base2
• Repeaters are very simple devices. They network to 400 meters with a repeater.
allow a cabling system to extend beyond its • The main disadvantage of repeaters is that they just
maximum allowed length by amplifying the amplify signals. These signals not only include the
network voltages so they travel farther. network signals, but any noise on the wire as well.
• Repeaters are nothing more than amplifiers • Eventually, if you use enough repeaters, you could
and, as such, are very inexpensive. possibly drown out the signal with the amplified
noise. For this reason, repeaters are used only as a
• Repeaters can only be used to regenerate
temporary fix.
signals between similar network segments.
 Repeaters Repeater - Image
• All repeaters are technically OSI physical
layer devices. Repeaters EXTEND network
segments. They amplify the incoming signal
received from one segment and send it on to
all other attached segments. This allows the
distance limitations of network cabling to be
extended. There are limits on the number of
repeaters that can be used. The repeater counts
as a single node in the maximum node count
associated with the Ethernet standard.
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Repeaters - Summary Networks Peripherals - Hubs

• Increase traffic on segments • Hubs are devices used to link several
• Have distance limitations computers together.
• Limitations on the number that can be used • They repeat any signal that comes in on one
• Propagate errors in the network port and copy it to the other ports (a process
• Cannot be administered or controlled via that is also called broadcasting).
remote access • There are two types of hubs: active and
• Cannot loop back to itself (must be unique passive.
single paths)
• No traffic isolation or filtering
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Networks Peripherals - Hubs Networks Peripherals - Hubs

• Passive hubs simply connect all ports together
electrically and are usually not powered.
• Active hubs use electronics to amplify and clean
up the signal before it is broadcasted to the other
ports.
• In the category of active hubs, there is also a
class called “intelligent” hubs, which are hubs
that can be remotely managed on the network.
 Networks Peripherals - Bridges Networks Peripherals - Bridges
• They join similar topologies and are used to • If it is aware of the destination address, it is able to
divide network segments. forward packets; otherwise a bridge will forward
the packets to all segments. They are more
• For example, with 200 people on one Ethernet
intelligent than repeaters but are unable to move
segment, the performance will be mediocre, data across multiple networks simultaneously.
because of the design of Ethernet and the number
of workstations that are fighting to transmit. • Unlike repeaters, bridges can filter out noise.

• If you divide the segment into two segments of • The main disadvantage of bridges is that they can’t
100 workstations each, the traffic will be much connect dissimilar network types or perform
intelligent path selection. For that function, you
lower on either side and performance will
would need a router.
increase.

Networks Peripherals - Bridges Network Problem - Traffic

• In the most basic type of network found
today, nodes are simply connected together
using hubs. As a network grows, there are
some potential problems with this
configuration:

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Network Problem - Traffic Network Problem - Traffic

• Latency - This is the amount of time that it takes a
• Scalability - In a hub network, limited packet to get to its destination. Since each node in
shared bandwidth makes it difficult to a hub-based network has to wait for an opportunity
accommodate significant growth without to transmit in order to avoid collisions, the latency
sacrificing performance. Applications today can increase significantly as you add more nodes.
need more bandwidth than ever before. Or, if someone is transmitting a large file across
Quite often, the entire network must be the network, then all of the other nodes have to
redesigned periodically to accommodate wait for an opportunity to send their own packets.
growth. You have probably seen this before at work -- you
try to access a server or the Internet and suddenly
everything slows down to a crawl.
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 Network Problem - Traffic Network Problem - Traffic
• Collisions - Ethernet uses a process called • Network failure - In a typical network, one
CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access device on a hub can cause problems for other
with Collision Detection) to communicate devices attached to the hub due to incorrect
across the network. Under CSMA/CD, a node speed settings (100 Mbps on a 10-Mbps hub)
will not send out a packet unless the network or excessive broadcasts. Switches can be
is clear of traffic. If two nodes send out configured to limit broadcast levels.
packets at the same time, a collision occurs
and the packets are lost.

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The Solution: Adding Switches The Solution: Adding Switches

• Think of a hub as a four-way intersection • But wouldn't it be amazing if you could take
where everyone has to stop. If more than an exit ramp from any one of those roads to
one car reaches the intersection at the same the road of your choosing? That is exactly
time, they have to wait for their turn to what a switch does for network traffic. A
proceed. switch is like a cloverleaf intersection --
each car can take an exit ramp to get to its
destination without having to stop and wait
for other traffic to go by.

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Switches
Switches
• Network switches appear nearly identical to
• A network switch is a small hardware network hubs, but a switch generally
device that joins multiple computers contains more "intelligence" than a hub.
together within one local area network • Unlike hubs, network switches are capable
(LAN). of inspecting data packets as they are
• Technically, network switches operate at received, determining the source and
layer two (Data Link Layer) of the OSI destination device of that packet, and
model. forwarding it appropriately.

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 Switches Switches
• Ethernet switches increase network performance
• By delivering each message only to the by decreasing the amount of extraneous traffic
on individual network segments attached to the
connected device it was intended for, a switch. They also filter packets a bit like a router
network switch conserves network does.
bandwidth and offers generally better • In addition, Ethernet switches work and function
performance than a hub. like bridges at the MAC layer, but instead of
reading the entire incoming Ethernet frame
before forwarding it to the destination segment,
usually only read the destination address in the
frame before retransmitting it to the correct
segment.
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Switches – Collision domain Switches – Collision domain

• Switches divide the network into smaller • Each segment attached to the switch is
collision domains [a collision domain is a considered to be a separate collision
group of workstations that contend for the domain.
same bandwidth]. • However, the segments are still part of the
• Each segment into the switch has its own same broadcast domain [a broadcast domain
collision domain (where the bandwidth is is a group of workstations which share the
competed for by workstations in that same network subnet, in TCP/IP this is
segment). defined by the subnet mask].

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Switches - Types Switches – Cut-through Switching

• In cut-through switching, the switch copies into its
• Cut-through memory only the destination MAC address (first
6 bytes of the frame) of the frame before making
• Store-and-Forward
a switching decision.
• Cross-bar • A switch operating in cut-through switching mode
• Cell-backplane reduces delay because the switch starts to forward
• Back Pressure the frame as soon as it reads the destination MAC
address and determines the outgoing switch port.
• Problem related with cut-through switching is that
the switch may forward bad frames.
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 Switches – Store-and-Forward Switches – Store-and-Forward
Switching Switching
• Store-and-Forward Switching refers to a • A switch performing store-and-forward will wait to
switching technique in which frames are forward a frame until it has received the entire
completely processed before being forwarded frame. Store-and-forward is most often used in
out the appropriate port. environments supporting reliable physical or data
link protocols. A received frame is often checked
• This processing includes calculating the for errors before being forwarded.
Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) and • This type of switch is inherently slower in
checking the destination address. In addition, environments where upper layer protocols already
frames must be temporarily stored until provide reliable services. The tipoff that you are
network resources are available to forward dealing with a store and forward style switch is
the message. whether the switch has buffers.
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Switches – Cross-bar Switching Fragment-Free switching

• A cross-bar switch is a device that is capable of
• Fragment-free switching is also known
channeling data between any two devices that
as runtless switching and is a hybrid of cut-
are attached to it up to its maximum number
of ports. through and store-and-forward switching.
• The paths set up between devices can be fixed • Fragment-free switching was developed to
for some duration or changed when desired and solve the late-collision problem.
each device-to-device path (going through
the switch) is usually fixed for some period.

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Fragment-Free switching - Operations Multilayer Switching

• Fragment-free switching works like cut-through • Multilayer switching is a switching technique
switching with the exception that a switch in that switches at both the data link (OSI Layer
fragment-free mode stores the first 64 bytes of the
2) and network (OSI Layer 3) layers.
frame before forwarding.
• To enable multilayer switching, LAN switches
• Fragment-free switching can be viewed as a
compromise between store-and-forward switching must use store-and-forward techniques because
and cut-through switching. the switch must receive the entire frame before
• The reason fragment-free switching stores only the
it performs any protocol layer operations.
first 64 bytes of the frame is that most network
errors and collisions occur during the first 64 bytes
of a frame.
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 Multilayer Switching – Cont’d Multilayer Switching – Cont’d
• Similar to a store-and-forward switch, with
• If the CRC does not match the frame, the
multilayer switching the switch pulls the entire
received frame into its memory and calculates frame is discarded.
its CRC. • Because this type of switching waits for
• It then determines whether the frame is good or the entire frame to be received before
bad. forwarding, port latency times can
become high, which can result in some
• If the CRC calculated on the packet matches
latency, or delay, of network traffic.
the CRC calculated by the switch, the
destination address is read and the frame is
forwarded out the correct switch port.
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