ETHERNET

NETWORKING

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DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
 Ethernet Networking-SSP

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Table of Contents

Ethernet Networking ............................................................................................................ 1

Ethernet Networking .................................................................................................. 2

Ethernet Networking Introduction ......................................................................................... 2

Overview ..................................................................................................................... 3
Overview .............................................................................................................................. 3
Ethernet Overview ............................................................................................................... 3
Ethernet History 1973 through 2000..................................................................................... 4
802.3 Identifiers ................................................................................................................... 5
OSI and IEEE 802.3........................................................................................................... 10
802.3 Sublayers ................................................................................................................. 10
CSMA/CD .......................................................................................................................... 14

Knowledge Check: Overview .................................................................................. 15

Question 1 ......................................................................................................................... 15
Question 2 – Refer to the web-based course ..................................................................... 15
Question 3 ......................................................................................................................... 15

Ethernet in Operation .............................................................................................. 16

Ethernet in Operation ......................................................................................................... 16
MAC Address..................................................................................................................... 16
802.3 Frame ...................................................................................................................... 17
Data Transmission and Collisions ...................................................................................... 18

Knowledge Check: Ethernet in Operation ............................................................. 19

Question 1 ......................................................................................................................... 19
Question 2 Refer to the web-based course ........................................................................ 19
Question 3 ......................................................................................................................... 19

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 Ethernet Networking

Ethernet Networking

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 Ethernet Networking

Ethernet Networking

Ethernet Networking Introduction

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Define Ethernet networking
• Understand the origins of Ethernet and its progression into a mature technology
• Summarize how Ethernet standards are implemented
• Describe the Ethernet frame and how addressing is used to move data on an
Ethernet network

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 Overview

Overview

Overview

Ethernet Overview

Ethernet specifies the physical and networking characteristics in how physical

connections are made connected devices using various wired media like coaxial,
twisted pair, or fiber cable. It is the most widely used networking technology. It is
prominent in corporate and home networks, industrial sites and factories, and even
in the automobiles. Ethernet is used to build small office, large campus, city-wide,
cross-country networks. Although there are many factors that contribute to the
popularity of Ethernet. Three major ones are reliability, scalability, and cost.

• Reliability – Ethernet is a simple technology with a proven record of providing

network connectivity for over 40 years. Ethernet based on unshielded twisted
pair (UTP) cabling took advantage of high-reliability cabling design that is
developed for telephone systems.
• Scalability – The Ethernet standard, first released in 1979, defines a 10
megabits per second, or Mbps, transmission speed. Over time, this
transmission speed has increased 10,000% to 100 gigabits per second, Gbps. It
has enabled the sharing of greater amounts of data at quicker speeds. Ethernet
has always been backwards-compatible—Systems connecting at 100 Mbps can
coexist with systems connecting at higher speeds. Core systems can transmit at
100 Gbps. Highly accessed servers can connect at 40 Gbps. Laptops and
workstations can connect at 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, or 1 Gbps.
• Cost – The acceptance of Ethernet as the primary network technology has led
to a competitive marketplace. Equipment prices are low, and vendors are
numerous.

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Overview

Ethernet History 1973 through 2000

The original 10 Mbps Ethernet standard was first published in 1979 by a

consortium that is composed of Digital Equipment, Intel, and Xerox. Using the first
initial of each company name, It became known as the DIX Ethernet standard. This
standard is entitled “The Ethernet, A local area network: Data Link Layer and
Physical Layer Specifications.” It contained the specifications for the operation of
Ethernet and the specs for a single media system that uses thick coaxial cable. It
was updated to add technical changes, corrections, and minor improvements in
November 1982.

Later, Ethernet is standardized by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics

Engineers (IEEE). The IEEE is one of the largest worldwide professional
organizations and develops standards in a broad range of industries, including
telecommunications, and information technology. The IEEE Standards Association
(IEEE-SA) produced Ethernet standards, one of more than 1,400 standards. Other
standards groups such as ANSI and ISO formally recognize the IEEE standards.

Ethernet Timeline

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

1: 1972 – A team led by Bob Metcalfe developed the first experimental “Ethernet”
network system under the name of Alto Aloha Network. Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center (PARC), California

2: 1973 – The name of the Alto Aloha Network is changed to Ethernet.

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 Overview

3: 1979 – The DIX Consortium (DEC, Intel, and Xerox) publish the DIX Standard
for Ethernet. It is not copyrighted, allowing anyone to copy and use it.

4: 1982 – DIX V2.0 published by the DIX Consortium.

5: 1983 – IEEE publishes “IEEE 802.3 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Detection (CSMA/CD)”. It is based on the DIX V2.0 standard.

6: 1990 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3i-1990, defining 10BASE-T 10 Mbps

Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair (UTP).

7: 1993 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3j-1990, defining 10BASE-F 10 Mbps

Ethernet over fiber optic cable.

8: 1995 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3u-1995, defining 100BASE-T Fast

Ethernet and auto-negotiation

9: 1998 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3z-1998, defining 1000BASE-X Gigabit

Ethernet

10: 1999 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3ab-1999, defining 1000BASE-T

Gigabit Ethernet over UTP

11: 2002 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3ae-2002, defining 10Gbps Ethernet

12: 2004 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3ak-2004, defining 10GBASE-CX4 10

Gigabit Ethernet over short-range coaxial cable

13: 2006 – IEEE publishes specifications for 10GBASE-T, 10 Gigabit Ethernet

over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable.

14: 2007 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3aq-2007, defining 10GBASE-LRM 10

Gigabit Ethernet over long-range fiber optic cable

15: 2010 – IEEE publishes supplement 802.3ba-2010, defining 40 Gbps and 100
Gbps Ethernet

802.3 Identifiers

Identifiers represent each iteration of Ethernet. Review each tab.

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Overview

Identifier Syntax

Speed Media
Signaling

Sample 802.3 identifier

The 802.3 identifiers were standardized in 1997. Many of the earlier identifiers
follow the standard somewhat. The ones that do not are explained in the
Comments portion of the table. The standardized syntax is composed of three
parts:

• Speed – The transfer rate of the technology. Speeds in the GB/s rate use a "G"
to specify the gigabit portion of the speed.
• Signaling – Most Ethernet types use baseband signaling. The Identifier uses
"BASE" to signify this. The other type of signaling that had been used was
broadband (BROAD), but is no longer used.
• Media - The type of transmission media used in the network Examples include:

• T - unshielded twisted pair (UTP)

• F - Fiber Optic

10 Mbps

Since the transmission speed of the first iteration of Ethernet was 10 Mb/s, it was
only referred to as Ethernet. Today, Ethernet refers generally to the technology and
all iterations.

Identifier Year Media Cable Notes

Distance (m)

10BASE5 1983 coaxial 500 • Referred to as Thicknet

• The "5" in the identifier
refers to 500 m

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 Overview

10BASE2 1988 coaxial 185  Referred to as Thinnet

 the "2" in the identifier
refers to 200m .
Although 185 meters is
max. distance, it is
rounded up to two in
the Identifier

10BASE-T 1987 Cat 3 UTP 100

10BASE-F 1993 fiber optic 1000

100 Mbps

When 100Mb/s Ethernet was introduced, it was referred to as Fast Ethernet to

differentiate it from the 10 Mb/s versions.

Identifier Year Media Cable Distance Notes

(m)

100BASE-TX 1995 Cat 5 UTP 100

100BASE-FX 1995 fiber optic 412

1 Gbps

Identifier Year Media Cable Distance

(m)

1000BASE-SX 1998 Multi-mode fiber 220-550

(770 to 860 nm
wavelength)

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Overview

1000BASE-LX 1998 Multi-mode fiber 550

(1,270 to 1,355 nm
wavelength)

1000BASE-CX 1998 Shielded balanced 25

copper cable

1000BASE-T 1999 Cat-5, Cat-5e, Cat- 100

6 Cat-7 UTP

10 Gbps

NotreIdentifier Year Media Max Cable Notes

Distance (m)

10GBASE-CX4 2004 multi-mode 220

fiber

10GBASE-T 2006 Cat-6, Cat- 55 (Cat-6), 100

6a, Cat-7 (Cat-6a, Cat-7)
UTP

10GBASE-SR 2007 Multi-mode 400

fiber

10GBASE-LR 2007 Single- 10000

mode fiber

40 Gbps

Identifier Year Media Cable Distance Notes

(m)

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40GBASE-CR4 2010 4 Twin-ax 7 4 cables act as 1

copper connection
cables

40GBASE-SR4 2010 OM3 multi- 100 4 cables act as 1

mode fiber connection

OM4 multi- 125

mode fiber

40GBASE-LR4 2010 Single- 40000 4 cables act as 1

mode fiber connection

100 Gbps

Identifier Year Media Cable Notes

Distance (m)

100GBASE- 2009 10 - Short Range 100-150

SR10 Fiber Cables

100GBASE- 2009 4 - Ethernet over 10 km

LR4 four wavelengths
carried by 1 long-
range single-
mode fiber optic
cable

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Overview

OSI and IEEE 802.3

Layer 7 - Application

Layer 6 - Presentation

Layer 5 - Session

Layer 4 - Transport Logical Link Control Sublayer (LLC)

Media Access Control Sublayer (MAC)

Layer 3 - Network

Layer 2 - Data Link Physical signaling sublayers

Layer 1 - Physical Media specifications

Ethernet-specific

Comparison of OSI and 802.3 layers

The IEEE Ethernet standard defines the properties of elements in the data link and
physical layers of the OSI model. Ethernet is often called a link layer standard. To
help organize the details of the specifications, the IEEE breaks down the two ISO
layers to four sublayers.

• OSI Layer 1 – Physical

• Media specifications
• Physical signaling
• OSI Layer 2 – Data Link

• Media access control (MAC)

• Logical Link Control (LLC)

802.3 Sublayers

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 Overview

This sublayer contains cabling systems and patch cables that are used to create
the signal-carrying portion of an Ethernet network. The physical cabling
components vary depending on which kind of media system is in use. For instance,
an unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling system uses different components than a
fiber optic cabling system. An Ethernet installation can contain several different
kinds of media. For example fiber may be used to interconnect switches, while UTP
is used to connect user workstations.

Whether data is transmitted over coaxial, UTP, or fiber optic cable, the media
access control protocol and the Ethernet framing are identical.

Layer 1 – Media Specifications

Layer 7 - Application

Layer 6 - Presentation

Layer 5 - Session

Layer 4 - Transport Logical Link Control Sublayer (LLC)

Layer 3 - Network Media Access Control Sublayer (MAC)

Layer 2 - Data Link Physical signaling sublayers

Layer 1 - Physical Media specifications

Ethernet-specific

Comparison of OSI and 802.3 layers

This sublayer contains cabling systems and patch cables that are used to create
the signal-carrying portion of an Ethernet network. The physical cabling
components vary depending on which kind of media system is in use. For instance,
an unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling system uses different components than a
fiber optic cabling system. An Ethernet installation can contain several different
kinds of media. For example fiber may be used to interconnect switches, while UTP
is used to connect user workstations.

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Overview

Whether data is transmitted over coaxial, UTP, or fiber optic cable, the media
access control protocol and the Ethernet framing are identical.

Layer 1 – Physical Signaling

The physical signaling components are responsible for transmitting and receiving
data on the physical media. For transmission, they take the information received
from the Media Access Control sublayer, translate it and forward it through the
network. They are also responsible for detecting connectivity to the network, and
any collisions or transmission errors that may occur.

Layer 2 - Media Access Control

The Media Access Control (MAC) sublayer provides addressing and access control
mechanisms that enable network devices to communicate. The MAC sublayer
provides three types of communication: unicast, multicast, or broadcast
communication service:

• Unicast – Communications between the source system and one destination

system, for example between a laptop and an email server.
• Multicast – Communications between a group of systems on the network. An
example of this type is a video stream of a cable television channel. Only those
watching the channel will process the data.
• Broadcast – Communications sent out to every node on the network. There is
just one sender, but the information is sent to all network nodes. One example
of using broadcasts is the Address Resolution Protocol. It uses a broadcast to
discover the Ethernet address that is associated to a certain IP address.

This sublayer is primarily concerned with multiplexing protocols transmitted over

the MAC layer (when transmitting) and demultiplexing them (when receiving). It can
also provide node-to-node flow control and error management.

MAC portion of the IEEE standard is “above” the lower layer media specifications.
As such, the MAC standards are functionally independent of the various physical-

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 Overview

layer media specifications, meaning that the MAC sublayer does not change, no
matter which physical media variety may be in use.

Layer 2 - Logical Link Control (LLC)

Logical Link Control is the upper sublayer of the data link layer of the 802.3
interpretation of the OSI Data Link layer. The LLC sublayer provides multiplexing
mechanisms that make it possible for several network protocols, such as IP, to
coexist within a multipoint network and to be transported over the same network
medium. It can also provide flow control error management mechanisms.

The LLC sublayer acts as an interface between the media access control (MAC)
sublayer and the network layer. It is the only IEEE Ethernet sublayer that is not
unique to the 802.3 specifications. It is common among all the IEEE networking
specifications.

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Overview

CSMA/CD

"Carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection" (CSMA/CD) is the media

access control method that is used in Ethernet networking.

• Carrier Sense – Each interface on the network detects when there is data
being transmitted. If another node is transmitting, there is a signal, or carrier, on
the network. The interface waits until there is no carrier before transmitting.
• Multiple Access – There are two or more nodes sharing the network, which
can transmit data at any time. There is no mechanism within the network that
specifies when a node can transmit.
• Collision Detect – When a node is transmitting onto the network, it takes time
for the signal to reach all other nodes. A node that has not received the signal
may think the network is free and start transmitting as well. Their transmissions
collide. The nodes can sense this collision because the voltage on the network
is twice than normal. Both transmitting nodes stop transmitting. Each picks a
random time to wait before retransmitting.

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 Knowledge Check: Overview

Knowledge Check: Overview

Question 1

1. Which three (3) corporations were members of the DIX Consortium?

Select the three (3) correct answers.
a. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
b. Intel
c. Xerox
d. Dell
e. International Business Machines (IBM)
f. XCom

Question 2 – Refer to the web-based course

Question 3

2. Match each IEEE sublayer with its position in relation to the OSI layers.

A. Physical Layer – Sublayer 1 C Logical link control

B. Physical Layer – Sublayer 2 D Media access control

C. Data Link Layer – Sublayer 2 B Physical Signaling

D. Data Link Layer – Sublayer 1 A Media Specifications

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 Ethernet in Operation

Ethernet in Operation

Ethernet in Operation

MAC Address

Every device that communicates with Ethernet protocol at Layer 2 of the network
stack, has a unique a MAC address. This address is burned into the Network Card
by the manufacturer. This burned-in address is also called the universally
administered address (UAA).

• MAC = Media Access Control

The MAC address can be divided into two parts. The upper part of the address
contains an organizationally unique identifier, or OUI, that is assigned to a product
vendor by IEEE. The lower part of the address is a vendor assigned value. It may
be based on the serial number of the hardware component or assigned in
numerical order.

Administrators can set the MAC address of a system manually. A manually set
address is seen as a locally administered address (LAA). This type of address
has the second bit of the MAC address set to 1.

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 Ethernet in Operation

The first bit of the MAC address is the Individual/Group bit. If this bit is set to 0, the
frame is unicast—its destination is one node. If it is a 1, it is a multicast address.

802.3 Frame

The 802.3 frame is divided into seven different sections:

• The preamble uses repetition of seven 8-bit patterns (10101010), which alerts
the receiving system that the frame is coming. It is a square wave pattern, and it
is used to synchronize the receivers before the beginning of the frame.
• The start frame delimiter (SFD) is 1-byte sequence (10101011). The two
consecutive 1's are used for indicating the first bit of the frame.
• The destination MAC address identifies the destination of the packet and is
stored in this 6-byte field. The first bit specifies whether the frame is sent to a
single user or to a group of stations. The second bit distinguishes between a
local or global address.
• The source MAC address is 6 bytes used for storing the physical address of
the last device that forwarded the frame.
• The length field can be used for length and type. It indicates the length of the
data field, which can be up to 1520 bytes long.
• The data field contains the information field and Logical Link Control (LLC)
data. LLC is used for enabling data exchange between nodes. There can be a
pad at the end of the DATA field. It ensures that the frame is always at least 64
bytes long. It is necessary for successful collision-detection operation.
• The frame check sequence (FCS) has a 32-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check
(CRC), which is used for error checking within the frame.

Preamble SF Destination Source Length Data Payload

MAC Address MAC Address FCS

The 802.3 Frame

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Ethernet in Operation

Data Transmission and Collisions

This topic is an interactive Storyboard. To view it, go to the web-based course.

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Knowledge Check: Ethernet in Operation

Question 1

1. What is the bit of the MAC address that determines if the address is for a single
system, or for a group of systems?
a. Individual/Group bit
b. Global/Local bit
c. Organizationally Unique Identifier
d. Preamble

Question 2 Refer to the web-based course

Question 3

2. When there is an Ethernet collision, typically which field is being transmitted?

a. Preamble
b. Payload
c. FCS
d. Destination MAC address

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