COMPUTER NETWORKS (18MCA31)

UNIT-1

Introduction
Chapter 1

Mrutyunjaya S Emmi
Asst. Professor,
Dept. of MCA,
GIT, Belagavi
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 What is Computer Network?
‘Computer Network’’ to mean a collection of
autonomous computers interconnected by a
single technology. Two computers are said to
be interconnected if they are able to exchange
information. The connection need not be via a
copper wire; fiber optics, microwaves,
infrared, and communication satellites can
also be used.
 Need of Computer Network
The networks needed for the following reasons:

• Hardware Sharing
• Data and Information Sharing
• Software Sharing
• Facilitated Communication
 Components of Networks
There are 5 basic components of networks.

1. Servers
2. Clients
3. Modems
4. Routers
5. Channels
 Uses of Computer Networks

• Business Applications
• Home Applications
• Mobile Users
• Social Issues

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Business Applications Examples
• Resource Sharing
• Common Printer
• Backup Systems,
• VPN (Virtual Private Networks)
• Ending the limitation of geographic
disperse working environments.
• Client - Server
 Business Applications (1)
A network with two clients and one server

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Business Application
• Client-Server Model
• Data Sharing
• Web Application
• Personal Information Sharing
• Email
• VoIP
• Video
• Tele-Conferencing
• Desktop Sharing
• Telemedicine
• e-commerce
• Shopping from home
 Business Applications (2)
The client-server model involves requests
and replies

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Home Applications
• Ken Olsen, 1977 President,
• Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Second
Largest Computer Company (after IBM) said
• “There is no reason for any individual to have a
computer in his home”
• Single Biggest Reason for purchasing a home
computer is Internet.
• Surfing the web is done for variety of reasons:
• Arts, Business, Cooking, Government, Health, History,
Hobbies, Recreation, Science, Sports, Travel, …
• Newspaper, online Digital Libraries,
• Client-Server Access vs Peer-to-Peer
Communication.
 Home Applications (1)

In a peer-to-peer system there are no fixed

clients and servers.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Home Applications
• Peer-to-Peer Applications
• BitTorrent
• Sharing Music and Videos (Napster)
• Email, etc.
• Applications that involve interaction
between
• a person and a remote database
• Person-to-person communication
 Home Applications
• Person – to – Person Communication
• Audi + Video (Smell may take a while!)
• Instant Messaging (Twitter)
• Online Audio (Radio Channels)
• Online Video (YouTube)
• Telelearning
• Social Networking:
• Facebook
• Wiki – Wikipedia
• Home Shopping
• Finances
• Online auctions (eBay)
 Home Applications (2)
Some forms of e-commerce

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Home Applications
• Entertainment:
• MP3 and DVD-quality movies
• TV shows – IPTV (IP TeleVision)
• Interactive Live TV
• Game Playing
• Multiperson real-time simulation games.
• Ubiquitous Computing
• Smart Home Monitoring
• RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
• Replacing Bar Codes with a smart devices that
may turn the real world in to the Internet of things.
 Mobile Users
• Mobile computers (handheld and laptops)
• Fastest growing segments in computer history.
• Individuals are able to use their mobile devices to:
• Read and send email,
• Tweet,
• Watch Movies,
• Download Music,
• Play Games,
• Serf the Web
• Internet connectivity allows for those applications to
be easily built
• Wireless Networks (Cars, Boats, and Airplanes can not have
wired Connections)
• Cellular Networks
• Wireless hotspots (802.11 Standard).
• Wireless Networking, Mobile Wireless Networks
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Mobile Users
Combinations of wireless networks and
mobile computing

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Mobile Users
• Smart Phones – Integration of Internet with Telephony
• Driving the wireless-mobile applications
• 3G & 4G cellular networks provides fast data services
• GPS is a standard feature
• m-commerce (mobile commerce)
• NFC (Near Field Communication) smart phones act as an RFID
smartcard and interact with nearby reader for payment.
• Sensor Networks
• Nodes that Sense/gather data about state of the physical world.
• It is revolutionizing science
• Wearable Computers
• Implantable Devices
• Pacemakers, Insulin pumps, …
• Controllable wirelessly

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Social Issues

• Network neutrality
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act
• Profiling users
• Phishing

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Network Neutrality
• Communications are not to be
differentiated by their
• content, or
• source, or
• who is providing the content
 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
• Warning messages to the operators and
the users who are suspect of infringing
copyrights.
 Profiling Users
• Computer Networks make it very easy to
communicate.
• They also make it easy for the people who run the
network to snoop on the traffic.
• Sets up a conflict over issues such as employee
rights vs. employer rights.
• Government vs. Citizens rights.
• Companies collect data to Profile users.
 Phishing
• e-mail messages that masquerade as originating from
a trustworthy party.
• This is illegal activity.

• Encryption, technology that is already developed, can

solve the problem if not makes it significantly harder
to commit activities that are illegal.
 Network Hardware (1)

• Personal area networks

• Local area networks
• Metropolitan area networks
• Wide area networks
• The internet

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Network Hardware
Two dimensions of computer networks:

• Transmission Technology
• Scale

• Transmission Technology
• Point-to-point links
• Broadcast links
 Network Hardware
• Two types of transmission technologies:
• Point-to-point
• Connect individual pairs of machines
• Packets (short messages) may have to visit one or more
intermediates machines.
• Multiple routes of different lengths are possible.
• Finding good ones is important.
• Unicasting – transmission with exactly one sender and exactly
one receiver.
• Broadcast
• Communication channel shared by all machines
• Packets send by any machine are received by all the others.
• An address field within each packed specifies the intended recipient.
• If packed is intended for some other machine, it is just ignored
• If packed is indented for the recipient machine then it is processed.
• Wireless network is a common example of a broadcast link
• Communication is shared over a coverage region that depends on the wireless channel
and the transmitting machine.
• Broadcast systems usually also allow the possibility of addressing a
packet to all destinations.
 Network Hardware

• Alternative Criteria: Scale

• Distance is important as a classification metric because

different technologies are used at different scales.
 Network Hardware (2)
Classification of interconnected
processors by scale.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Personal Area Network
Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network)
configuration

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 Local Area Networks
Wireless and wired LANs.
(a) IEEE 802.11 or WiFi.
(b) Switched Ethernet (IEEE 802.3).
• Switched Ethernet
• Switch; Hardware that connects two devices point-to-point
• A Switch has multiple ports

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Local Area Networks (LAN)
• Virtual LAN or VLAN

• Dynamic vs. Static Channel Allocation

• Static Allocation: Each device is allocated its time slot
weather or not it uses it.
• Dynamic Allocation
• Dynamic methods allow changing the time allocation
scheme.
• Centralized
• Decentralized
 Metropolitan Area Networks

A metropolitan area network based on cable TV.

MAN standardized as IEEE 802.16, Known as WiMAX.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Wide Area Networks (1)

/ Switch

WAN that connects three branch offices in

Australia
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 Network Software

• Protocol hierarchies
• Design issues for the layers
• Connection-oriented versus connectionless
service
• Service primitives
• Relationship of services to protocols

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Protocol Hierarchies (1)

Layers, protocols, and interfaces.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Definitions
• Protocol – is an agreement between the
communicating parties.
• Peers – the entities comprising corresponding layers
on different machines.
• Peers use the protocol to communicated with each other.
• No data is directly transferred from layer n on one
machine to layer n on another machine.
• Each Layer passed data and control information to the layer
immediately below it until the lowest layer is reached.
• Below layer 1 is the physical medium through which actual
communication occurs.
• Virtual communication is shown by dotted lines and physical
communication by solid lines the previous figure.
 Protocol Hierarchies (3)

Example information flow supporting virtual

communication in layer 5.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Design Issues for the layers
• Reliability:
Network must operate correctly although it is made up of a
collection of components that are themselves unreliable.
• Error Detection:
It typically uses codes to locate the erroneously transmitted
bit(s) and request re-transmission.
• Error Correction
Correct messages is recovered from the possibly incorrect
bit(s) that were originally received.
• Routing:
Finding a working path through a network.
• Evolution of the Network
• Protocol Layering:
Networks grow larger over time and new designs emerge that
need to connected to the existing networks.
 Design Issues (cont.)
• Addressing and Naming:
Every layer needs a mechanism for identifying the senders and
receivers that are involved in a particular message.
• Internetworking:
Different network technologies often have different limitations:
• Not all communication channels preserve the order of messages send on them.
• Differences in the maximum size of a message that the networks can transmit.
• Scalable:
Designs that continue to work well when the network gets large.
• Resource Allocation
Networks work with their resources to provide services to various
hosts. If they are not aware of limitations of the networks resources
than the network is providing proper resource allocation.
• Flow Control
Feedback from the receiver to the sender is often used to alleviate the
problem of the sender swamping the slow receiver with data.
 Design Issues (cont.)
• Congestion:
• The problem may occur when the network is oversubscribed
because to many computers want to send too much traffic
and the network will not be able to deliver them all.
• Overloading problem of the network.
• One strategy is for each computer to reduce its demand.
• Quality of Service
• Additional Resources (other then Bandwidth),
• Real-time delivery (for applications that require high
throughput),
• Live Video,
• Network Security
• How good is the network against different kinds of threats
• Eavesdropping,
• Confidentiality,
• Authentication,
• Integrity, etc.
 Connection-Oriented Versus
Connectionless Service
• Layers can offer two different types of
service to the layers above them:
• Connection-oriented, and
• Connectionless
 Connection-Oriented Service
• Modeled after telephone system:
• Pickup-the-phone
• Dial the number
• Talk
• Hang-up
• Service User:
• Establishes a connection,
• Uses a connection (sender pushes bits in at one end and the
receiver takes them out at the other end).
• In some cases when connection is established, the sender,
receiver, and a subnet conduct a negotiation about the
parameters to be used:
• Maximum message size,
• Quality of service required,
• Other issues (like …?)
 Connection-Oriented Service
• A circuit:
• Another name for a connection with associated resources
such as a fixed bandwidth.
 Connectionless Service
• Modeled after a postal system:
• Each message carries the full destination address, and
• Each one is routed through the intermediate nodes inside the system
independent of all the subsequent messages.

• Different Names for Messages:

• Store-and-forward switching: Packet, a message, is processed in full before
sending it on the next node.
• Cut-through-switching: when the onward transmission of a message at a
node start before it is completely received.
• Each kind of the Service can be further characterized by its
reliability:
• A reliable service is implemented by having the receiver acknowledge the
receipt of each message.
• Acknowledgment service introduces overhead and delays.
 Connection-Oriented Service
• Example: File Transfer
• The owner want to be sure that all the bits arrive correctly and in the same
order they were sent.
• Almost there are no instances were the consumers prefer service that
occasionally scrambles or loses a few bits for the gained speed.
 Connection-Oriented Service
• Reliable connection-oriented service:
• Message Sequences, and
• Byte Streams
• Message Sequences:
• Message boundaries are preserved.
• Example: Two 1024 byte messages are sent, the arrive as two distinct 1024-
byte messages; Never as one 2048-byte message.
• Byte Streams (Message boundaries)
• Message is send as a stream of bytes with no concepts of message
boundaries.
• Example: When a 2048-byte message arrives at the receiver there is no way
to tell if they were sent as
• One 2048-byte message,
• Two 1024-byte message, or
• 2048 1-byte messages.
 Example of Applications
• The transit delays introduced by acknowledgments
are unacceptable:
• Digitized voice traffic for Voice-Over-IP (VoIP).
• Digitized video conference

• Not all applications require connections. Spam:

• Spammer does not want to go through the trouble of setting
up and latter tearing down a connection to a recipient just to
send them one more item.
• 100% reliability is not essential either.

• Datagram:
• Unreliable (not acknowledged) connectionless service.
• It is analogous to telegram service
 Example of Applications
• Acknowledged Datagram:
• The convenience of not having to establish a connection, but
• Reliability essential
• Similar to “Return Receipt” for the letter.
• Example: Text Messaging on mobile phones
• Request-Reply Service:
• Sender transmits a single datagram containing a request;
• The reply contains the answer.
• Example: Mobile phone sending the query to a “map server”
to retrieve the map data.
 Connection-Oriented Versus
Connectionless Service

Six different types of service.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
The Relationship of Services to Protocols
• A service is a set of primitives (operations) that a
layer provides to the layer above it.
• The service defines what operations the layer is prepared to
perform on behalf of its users, but it does not say anything at
all about how these operation are implemented.
• A protocol is a set of rules governing the format and
meaning of the packets, or messages that are
exchanged by the peer entities within a layer.
• Entities use protocols to implement their service definitions.
• They are free to change their protocols at will, provided they
do not change the service visible to their users.
• In this way the service and the protocol are completely
decoupled.
The Relationship of Services to Protocols

The relationship between a service and a

protocol.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
The Relationship of Services to Protocols
• Key Concept:
• Services relate to interfaces between layers
• Protocols relate to the packets send between peer entities on
different machines.

• Programming Languages Analogy:

• Service is like an abstract data type or an object in an object-
oriented language.
• It defines operations that can be performed on an object bud does not
specify how these operations are implemented.

• Protocol relates to the implementation of the service and as

such is not visible to the user of the service.
 Reference Models

• OSI reference model

• TCP/IP reference model
• Model used for this text
• Comparison of OSI and TCP/IP
• Critique of OSI model and protocols
• Critique of TCP/IP model

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 The OSI Reference Model

Principles for the seven layers

• Layers created for different abstractions
• Each layer performs well-defined function
• Function of layer chosen with definition of
international standard protocols in mind
• Minimize information flow across interfaces
between boundaries
• Number of layers optimum

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 The OSI Reference Model

The OSI reference model

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 OSI Reference Model Layers

• Physical layer
• Data link layer
• Network layer
• Transport layer
• Session layer
• Presentation layer
• Application layer

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Physical Layer
• Is concerned with transmitting raw bits over a communication
channel.
• Design Issues:
• Ensuring that when one side sends a 1 – bit of information it is
received as 1-bit (not as 0-bit or 2-or more- bits).
• What type of signal should be used to represent “1” and “0”?
• How many nano seconds a bit lasts?
• Whether transmission can occur simultaneously in both direction?
• How initial connection is being established?
• How it is torn down when both sides are finished?
• How many pins the network connector has?
• What each pin is used for? Etc.

• Deals with mechanical, electrical, timing interfaces, and the

physical transmission medium.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew

Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Data Link Layer
• Main task of the data link layer is to transform a raw
transmission facility into a line that appears free of undetected
transmission errors.
• It does this by:
• Break up the input data into data frames.
D
e • Sequential transmission of each frame.
s
i
• The receiver confirms correct receipt of each frame by sending back
g an acknowledgment frame.
n • How to keep a fast transmitter from drowning a slow receiver in
I data.
s • Some traffic mechanism may be needed to let the transmitter know
s when the receiver can accept more data.
u
e • Broadcast networks have an additional issue in the data link layer:
s • How to control access to the shared channel?
• A special sublayer of the data link layer, called “Medium Access Control” sublayer,
deals with this problem

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew

Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Network Layer
• This layer controls the operation of the subnet.
• Key design issue is determining how packets are routed from source to
destination.
• Static tables are wired into the network and are rarely changed, or
• They are changed more often dynamically to avoid failed components.
• They can be determined at the start of each conversation (e.g., login session), or
• They can be highly dynamic and for each packed the new routing can be established depending
on the load.

• Congestion handling: If two many packets are present in the subnet at

the same time, they will get in each other’s way forming bottlenecks.
• Quality of Service:
• Delay,
• Transit time,
• Jitter, Etc.
are also a network layer issues.
• It is up to the network layer to overcome all the problems that occur in
heterogeneous networks so that they may be interconnected.
• In broadcast networks the routing problem is simple so the network
layer is often thin or even nonexistent.
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Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Transport Layer
• The main function of Transport Layer is to:
• Accept data from above it,
• Split it up into smaller units if needed be,
• Pass these to the network layer,
• Ensure that the pieces all arrive correctly at the other end,
• All this must be done efficiently and in a way that isolated the upper layers
from the inevitable changes in the hardware technology over the course of
time.
• In addition, it determines what type of service to provide to the session
layer, and ultimately, to the user of the network.
• Example:
1. Error-free point-to-point channel that delivers messages or bytes in the
order in which they were sent.
2. Transporting of isolated messages with no guarantees about the order of
delivery,
3. Broadcasting of messages to multiple destination.
• Transport Layer is a true end-to-end layer; it carries data all the way
form the source to the desitnation.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew

Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Session Layer
• The session layer allows users on different machines to establish
sessions between them.
• Services:
• Dialog control - Keeping track the whose turn is it to transmit,
• Token management – Preventing tow parties from attempting the same
critical operation simultaneously, and
• Synchronization – Checkpointing long transmissions to allow them to pick
up form where they left off in the event of a crash and subsequent recovery.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew

Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Presentation Layer
• This layer is concerned with the presentation of the message; that is
syntax and semantics of the information transmitted.
• It deals with different internal data representations on different
machines:
• Abstract data structures,
• Standard encoding to be used,

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew

Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Application Layer
• This layer commonly contains a variety of protocols that are needed by
the users.
• For example:
• HTTP – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol,
• FTP - File Transfer Protocol
• POP/SMTP – E-mail Protocol,
• RSS – Network News, etc.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew

Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson
Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 The TCP/IP Reference Model
• It is Grandparent of all wide area computer networks, ARPANET
• It’s successor worldwide Internet

• ARPANET research network sponsored by the DoD.

• Used initially leased telephone lines.
• When satellite and radio networks were included the new
reference architecture was needed.
• Hence the ability to connect to multiple networks in a seamless
way was one of the major design goals.
• This architecture latter became known as the TCP/IP Reference
Model.
• Design criteria:
• Network be able to survive loss of subnet hardware without existing
conversations being broken off.
• Applications with divergent requirements were supported ranging
from file transfer to real-time speech transmission.
 The TCP/IP Reference Model Layers

• Link layer
• Internet layer
• Transport layer
• Application layer

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 The TCP/IP Reference Model (1)

The TCP/IP reference model

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 Link Layer

• Packet switched network

• Connectionless layer that runs across different networks.
• The lowest layer, the link layer, describes what links such as
serial lines and classic Ethernet must do to meet the needs of
this connectionless internet layer.
• It is not actual layer in the classical sense of the term rather is an
interface between hosts and transmission links.
 Internet Layer

• The Internet Layer holds the whole architecture together.

• Its job is to permit hosts to inject packets into any network and
have them travel independently to the destination (potentially on
a different network).
• The packets may arrive in a completely random order from the
original and the higher layer must rearrange them, if in-order
delivery is desired.

• The internet layer defines an official packet format and protocol

called IP (Internet Protocol).
• Packet routing is a major issue and IP has not proven effective at
avoiding congestion.
 Transport Layer
• Transport Layer is designed to allow peer entities on the source
and destination hosts to carry on a conversation, similarly to the
OSI transport layer.

• Two end-to-end transport protocols are:

• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) – reliable connection-oriented
protocol that allows a byte stream originating on one machine to be
delivered without error on any other machine in the internet.
• Handles flow control

• UDP (User Datagram Protocol) – is unreliable connectionless

protocol.
 Application Layer
• Applications must include any session or presentation functions
that they require.
• Application Layer contains all the higher-level protocols.
• TELNET - Virtual Terminal
• FTP – File Transfer Protocol
• SMTP – electronic mail
• Many other protocols have been added:
• DNS – Domain Name System
• HTTP – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
• RTP – Real-time Transfer Protocol
 The TCP/IP Reference Model

SCTP

ARP
RARP IGMP

The TCP/IP reference model with some

protocols
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 Comparison of the OSI and
TCP/IP Reference Models

Concepts are central to OSI model

• Services
• Interfaces
• Protocols

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Service
• Each layer provides a service to the layer above it.
• The service definition tells what the layer does, not
how entities above it access it or how the layer works.
• It defines the layer’s semantics.
 Interface
• A layer’s interface tells the processes above it how to
access it.
• It specifies what the parameters are and what results
to expect.
• This layer also says nothing about how the layer
works inside.
 Protocol
• A layer’s protocol its is own business: it can use any
protocols it wants to as long as it gets the job done
(i.e. provides the offered services).
• A layer is allowed to change the protocol with the
condition that it will not affect the software in higher
layers.
 Object Oriented Programming
• Those ideas fit very nicely with modern ideas about object-
oriented programming.
• An object has:
• A set of methods (operations) that processes outside the object can
invoke.
• A set of data (method’s parameters) that defines the object.
• The code internal to the object is its protocol and is not visible or of
any of concern outside the object.
• The object provides the set of services through object’s interface.
 The Properties
• TCP/IP model did not originally distinguish between:
• Services
• Interfaces, and
• Protocols
• The model was retrofitted after the fact to make it more OSI-like.
• However, OSI model has a better hidden then in the TCP/IP
model and can be replaced relatively easily as the technology
changes.
 The Properties
• The OSI reference model was devised before the corresponding
protocols were invented.
• This ordering meant that the model was not biased toward one
particular set of protocols: a fact that made it quite general.
• The downside of this ordering was that the designers did not have
much experience with the subject and did not have a good idea of
which functionality to put in which layer.

• With TCP/IP the reverse was true: The protocols came first, and
the model was really just a description of the existing protocols.
• There was no problem with protocols fitting the model.
• The trouble was that the model did not fit any other protocol stacks:
It was not especially useful for describing other non-TCP/IP
networks.
Critique of the OSI Model and Protocols

• Bad timing.
• Bad technology.
• Bad implementations.
• Bad politics.

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 OSI Model Bad Timing

The apocalypse of the two elephants.

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 OSI Model Bad Technology
• Both OSI Model and the protocols are flawed.
• The choice of several layers was more political then
technical.
• Two of the layers (Session and Presentation) are nearly empty.
• Two other layers (Datalink and Network) are overfull.
• Model and its associated service definitions and protocols is
extraordinary complex.
• Some functions (addressing, flow control, and error control)
reappear again and again in each layer.

• Riddle – Paul Mockapetris cited by Rose (1993):

• What do you get when you cross a mobster and international
standard?
• Some who makes you an offer you can’t understand.
 OSI Model Bad Implementation
• Given the enormous complexity of the OSI Model, initial
implementations were:
• Huge,
• Unwieldy, and
• Slow

• One of the first TCP/IP, part of the Berkley Unix was

quite good and free.
 OSI Model Bad Politics
• TCP/IP was considered (correctly) to be born in the
US by academic institutions.
• OSI was widely thought to be creature of European
telecommunication ministries, the European
Community, and later the U.S. Government.
 Critique of the TCP/IP Model
• Does not distinguish clearly the concepts of services, interfaces,
and protocols.
• Good Software Engineering practice requires differentiating
between the specification and the implementation.
• The link layer is really not a layer at all: It is an interface between
the network and data link layers. The distinction between in interface
and a layer is crucial.
• TCP/IP model does not distinguish between the physical and data link
layers.
• Physical layer has to do with the transmission characteristics of the
medium used (copper wire, fiber optics, wireless communication,
etc.).
• Data link layer job is to delimit the start and end of frames and get
them from one side to the other with the desired degree of reliability.
• IP and TCP protocols were carefully thought out and well
implemented, however, the other protocols were ad-hoc.
• Example - TELNET designed for a ten-character-per second
mechanical Teletype terminal and it does not know anything about
graphical user interfaces and mice.
 Example Networks

• Internet
• ARPANET
• NSFNET
• Third-generation mobile phone networks
• Wireless LANs: 802.11
• RFID and sensor networks

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Internet
• Is a vast collection different networks
that use certain common protocols and
provide certain common services.
 The ARPANET

• Structure of the telephone system.

• Baran’s proposed distributed switching system.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 The ARPANET (2)

The original ARPANET design

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 The ARPANET (3)

Growth of the ARPANET.

a)December 1969.
b)July 1970.
c)March 1971.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 The ARPANET (4)

Growth of the ARPANET.

d)April 1972.
e)September 1972.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 NSFNET

The NSFNET backbone in 1988.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Architecture of the Internet

Overview of the Internet architecture

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Third-Generation Mobile
Phone Networks (1)

Cellular design of mobile phone networks

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Third-Generation Mobile
Phone Networks (2)

Architecture of the UMTS 3G mobile phone

network.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Third-Generation Mobile
Phone Networks (3)

Mobile phone handover (a) before, (b) after.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Wireless LANs: 802.11 (1)

(a)Wireless network with an access point.

(b)Ad hoc network.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Wireless LANs: 802.11 (2)
Multipath fading

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Wireless LANs: 802.11 (3)
The range of a single radio may not cover
the entire system.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 RFID and Sensor Networks (1)

RFID used to network everyday objects.

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 RFID and Sensor Networks (2)

Multihop topology of a sensor network

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Network Standardization

• Who’s Who in telecommunications

• Who’s Who in international standards
• Who’s Who in internet standards

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
Who’s Who in International Standards (1)

The 802 working groups. The important ones are marked

with *.
The ones marked with  are hibernating. The one marked
with † gave up and disbanded itself.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
Who’s Who in International Standards (2)

The 802 working groups. The important ones are marked

with *.
The ones marked with  are hibernating. The one marked
with † gave up and disbanded itself.
Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Metric Units (1)

The principal metric prefixes

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 Metric Units (2)

The principal metric prefixes

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011
 End
Chapter 1

Computer Networks, Fifth Edition by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, © Pearson Education-Prentice Hall, 2011