Network Layer

Part 1
 Services provided by Network Layer

• Logical Address to the nodes in the network.

• Packet Switching data delivery services.
• Connection less services.
• Best effort data delivery services (Unreliable).
– Packets may be lost in the network.
– Packets may be delivered out of order at the destination.
– Duplicate packets may arrive at the destination.
– Packet may delayed too long to reach to the destination.
• Congestion Control
 Global Internet Architecture
• The Internet backbone is made up of many
large networks which interconnect with each
other.
• These large networks are known
as Network Service Providers or NSPs.
Some of the large NSPs are UUNet,
CerfNet, IBM, BBN Planet, SprintNet,
PSINet, as well as others.
• Each NSP is required to connect to
three Network Access Points or NAPs.
• NSPs also interconnect at Metropolitan
Area Exchanges or MAEs.
• Both NAPs and MAEs are referred to as
Internet Exchange Points or IXs.
• NSPs also sell bandwidth to smaller
networks, such as ISPs and smaller
bandwidth providers.
 Packet Switching
• Switches need to address three problems:
– Forwarding
• Directing input packet to correct output interface

– Routing
• Knowing which is the correct output interface
– Contention
• Buffering of packets (needs queue of storage)

• Approach of Network Layer: Store and Forward

• Packet reaches to the destination using packet switching
 Network Level Address
• Two issued must be handled when we are connecting two networks:

– Heterogeneity

– Scalability

• Routers are interfacing components to connect multiple networks.

• Lower layers define maximum transfer unit (MTU) for the network layer.

• Heterogeneity and scalability issues can be addressed by the following

protocols:

– IPv4 (RFC 791)

– IPv6(RFC 2460)

• They also provide logical address to the nodes in the network.

Example
IPv4 Header
 IPv4 Header (Contd.)
• Version: Version Number (4/6)
• Internet Header Length (IHL): Number of 32 byte words in
the IP header
• Type of Service (TOS): Define the type of processing at
intermediary node. (Shortest Path, Minimum Delay etc.)
• Length: Total number of bytes in IP packet including header.
• Identifier, Flag and Fragment offset are used for
fragmentation and reassembly of IP packet.
 IPv4 Header (Contd.)
• Fragmentation and Reassembly example:
• Fragment the packet if packet sixe >MTU of the link.
• Identifier: Define a unique id for every fragment of the same
datagram.
• Flag: Three flags bits are defined with the following usage:
– First bit: Reserved (must be zero)
– Second bit: Don’t Fragment (DF)
– Third bit : More fragment (MF)
• Fragment offset are used for reassembly of fragmentations and mark
the offset from the starting byte of the IP packet.
 IPv4 Header (Contd.)
Fragmentation and Reassembly Example
• Suppose an IP packet contains 1400 bytes of data but the MTU of the outgoing link is 512
Bytes.

• Then 1400 bytes will be divided into smaller chunks: 512, 512, 376

The first packet will have the following The second packet will have the The thirst packet will have the following
parameters: following parameters: parameters:
• Id: x • Id: x Id: x
• MF: 1 • MF: 1 MF: 0
• Offset: 0 • Offset: 512 Offset: 1024
• Date: 512 bytes • Date: 512 bytes Date: 376 bytes

• After receiving all the chunks, the receiver will assemble the data and forward it to the
upper layer protocol.
• Receiver gives up reassembly if all data segments do not receive at the receiver.
 IPv4 Header (Contd.)
Fragmentation and Reassembly Example
 IPv4 Header (Contd.)
• TTL: number of hops after which the network will discard the
packet. Hop count is decremented on each hop (forwarding).
• Protocol: The IP packet is containing data of which upper
layer protocol. (TCP:6) (UDP:17)
• Header Checksum: Used for error detection
• Source Address: 32 bit IP address of source node.
• Destination Address: 32 bit IP address of destination node.
 IPv4 Address
• 32 bits long
• Identifier for host, router interface
• Notation:
– Each byte is written in decimal in MSB order,
separated by dots
– Example: 128.195.1.80 stands for the 32-bit IP address

10000000 11000011 00000001 01010000

 Types of IPv4 Addresses
• Unicast Address
– Destination is a single host
• Multicast address
– Destination is a group of hosts
• Broadcast address
– 255.255.255.255
– Destination is all hosts
 Types of IPv4 Addresses
• IPv4 address are divided into classes
• IPv4 Address has an hierarchical structure.
• IP address can be divided into the following:
– Net Id
– Host ID

• IP address has the notion of subnet mask which

helps to determine class of IP address and Net Id.
 Class A IP Addresses
Class 32 bits
Net Id (8
A 0 Type of Serv. Host ID (24 Bits)
Bits)

• Default subnet mask: 255.0.0.0

• Address range:
– 0.0.0.0 – 127.255.255.255

• First 8 bits represent Net ID

• Rest 24 bits represent Host Id.

• For very large organizations

• 16 million hosts allowed in one network.
• Eg. 69.25.36.21 → Net ID: 64.0.0.0; Host ID: 0.25.36.21
 Class B IP Addresses
Class 32 bits

B 110 Net Id (16 Bits) Host ID (16 Bits)

• Default subnet mask: 255.255.0.0

• Address range:
– 128.0.0.0 – 191.255.255.255

• First 16 bits represent Net ID

• Rest 16 bits represent Host Id.

• For large organizations

• 65 thousand hosts allowed in one network.
• Eg. 169.25.36.21 → Net ID: 169.25.0.0; Host ID: 0.0.36.21
 Class C IP Addresses
Class 32 bits
11 Host ID (8
C 10 Net Id (24 Bits)
Bits)

• Default subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

• Address range:
– 192.0.0.0 – 223.255.255.255

• First 24 bits represent Net ID

• Rest 8 bits represent Host Id.

• For small organizations

• 255 hosts allowed in one network.
• Eg. 194.25.36.21 → Net ID: 194.25.36.0; Host ID: 0.0.0.21
 Class D IP Addresses
Class 32 bits

D 1110

• No default subnet mask

• Address range:
– 224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255

• Known as multicast address which means one

address can represent a group of hosts.
 Class E IP Addresses
Class 32 bits

E 1111

• Reserved Addresses
• No default subnet mask
• Address range:
– 240.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255

• Not usable for any one.

 Special Addresses

• 127.x.y.z: Loopback Address

• 255.255.255.255: Limited Broadcast Address

Subnetting
 Subnetting
Example: Class B address with 8-bit subnetting.
Now IP address will have Net ID, Subnet ID and Host ID

16 8 8
bits id
Network bits id
Subnet bits id
Host
Example 165.230 .24 .8
Address:
 Subnet Masks

Subnet masks allow hosts to determine if another IP

address is on the same subnet or the same network

16 bits 8 bits 8 bits

Network id Subnet id Host id
Mask 1111111111111111 11111111 00000000
:
255.255 .255 .0
 Problems with Class-based
Addressing
• Too many small networks requiring multiple class C addresses.

• Running out of class B addresses, not enough nets in class A.

• Addressing strategy must allow for greater diversity of network

sizes.

• IPv4 address space is running out, therefore, IPv6 came into

existence with 128 bit address space.
 Subnet Mask

Assume IP addresses A and B share subnet mask M.

Are IP addresses A and B on the same subnet?

1. Compute logical AND (A & M).

2. Compute logical AND (B & M).
3. If (A & M) == (B & M) then A and B are
on the same subnet.

Example: A and B are class B addresses

A = 165.230.82.52
Same (classful) network?
B = 165.230.24.93
Same subnet?
M = 255.255.255.0
 Global Address vs Logical Address
• Global address are also known as the following names:
– MAC address
– Physical address
– NIC address
– Ethernet address etc.
– Provided by IEEE 802.x standards where x=3, 4,….22.

• Logical addresses are provided by the following protocols:

– IPv4
– IPv6
 Router
• Routers are attached to two or more networks.
• Since they need to have an address on each network, therefore, they
need more than one network interface (port).
• IP addressed are assigned to the interfaces rather than host so that
they can be part pf more than one network.
Network 2
Net id:
172.27.0.0
Router
Network 1 IF1: 172.26.21.32
Net id: IF2: 172.27.21.25
172.26.0.0 IF3: 172.28.21.32
Network 3
Net id:
172.28.0.0
 Routing vs Forwarding
• Forwarding is the process of taking a packet queue and
forward it on a appropriate output interface.

Whereas

• Routing is the process of building and maintaining the

routing /forwarding table that allows the correct
output interface for the packet to be determined.
 Forwarding Algorithm
if (net id of the destination = net is of one of my interfaces)
then
deliver the packet to the destination on that interface.

else if (net id of the destination is in my forwarding / routing table)

then
deliver the packet to next hop on the output interface.
else
deliver the packet to the default router.
 Routing Protocols
• Concerned with delivering a packets from source to destination.

Machine A Machine
B
Application Application

Transport Router/Gateway Transport

Internet Internet Internet

Network Network
Network
Interface Interface
Interface

Network Network
1 2
 Routing Protocols (contd.)
• Routing algorithms are the part of the Network Layer responsible for deciding on which
output interface /link to transmit an incoming packet.
• Algorithm properties: correctness, simplicity, robustness, stability, fairness, optimality,
and scalability.
• Routing protocols visualize network as graph G (V,E) where V are the nodes of the network
and E are the edges in the network representing links between the two nodes.
• V={v1, v2, v3, …..vn}
• E={(v1,v3),……..}
• Autonomous system (domain): All the networks Routing Table
under a single administrative control. Destination Net Next Hop Cost
Id
172.23.0.0 IF1 25
192.26.25.0 IF7 12
…. … …