Lecture 6

Network Hardware
 MAC vs IP Address

• MAC Address or Media Access Control Address is

hardware or physical address associated with the Network
Adapter of a host and is assigned by the Manufacturer of
the NIC (Network Interface Card).
• The Internet Protocol address is an address bound to the
network device, via software.
• In a Windows-powered computer, the Windows operating
system allows the user to configure the IP address the
specific workstation will have. This IP address is used to
allow all network aware programs, i.e., Internet Explorer,
Outlook, etc. to use this address when communicating
with other hosts.
 What is the difference between IP
Address and MAC Address
• Though IP address and MAC Address both serve
the purpose of giving hosts a unique
Identification in a Network, depending on the
status and function, these two have several
differences.
• When the functioning Layer of Addressing is
considered, while MAC Address functions in
Data Link Layer (2), IP address operates in
Network Layer (3).
 What is the difference between IP
Address and MAC Address
• MAC address gives a unique identification to the
hardware interface of network, whereas the IP
Address gives a unique identification to the software
interface of the Network.

• Furthermore, if the assignment of address is

considered, MAC addresses are assigned
permanently to adapters and cannot be changed as
they are Physical addresses. In contrast, IP addresses
can be modified as they are logical addresses.
 Connecting
Devices

Networking Internetworking
Devices Devices

Switches Hubs Bridges Routers Gateways

 1- Hub

• A hub, also called a network hub, is a common

connection point for devices in a network.
• Hubs are devices commonly used to connect
segments of a LAN. The hub contains multiple
ports.
• When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied
to the other ports so that all segments of the
LAN can see all packets.
 2- Switches
• Switch is a central connecting point in a star
topology network.
• A Switch look like hub , with several ports for
connecting workstations.
• A Switch has the capability of handling several
conversation at one time by determining to
which port the destination device is
connected and forward the message to only
that port
 Types of Switches
There are three types of switches :
1- store-and-forward switch :
➢ As its name shows, store-and-forward switching will wait
until the entire frame has arrived before forwarding it.
Then the switch will store each complete frame into
switch memory buffers and check errors before making a
forwarding decision.
➢ CRC (cyclic redundancy check) check the received frame.
➢ If no errors are present, the frame will be forwarded to
the destination address. Otherwise the corrupted frame
will be discarded. This process ensures high level of error-
free network traffic, because the destination network will
not be affected by the corrupted frames.
➢ CRC is calculated for each frame so this may cause delay.
 Types of Switches
2- cut–through switch:
• The switch copies into its memory only the
destination Media Access Control( MAC) address
(first 6 bytes of the frame) before making switching
decision.
• Reduce delay because the switch starts to forward
frame as soon as it reads the destination MAC
address and determine the outgoing switch port.
• The problem with that switch :
❖may forward bad framed because switch is
not able to check the CRC prior to
retransmission.
 Types of Switches
3- fragment-free Switching :
• Is an advanced form of cut-through switching.
• the switch read at least 64 bytes of the frame
before switching it to avoid forwarding runt
frames( frames smaller than 64 bytes)
 3- Bridges
➢ Connects similar LANs with identical physical and link
layer protocols
➢ Divide a big network in to smaller sub networks.
➢ It send frames only to the connected destination.
➢ Minimize unwanted traffic.
➢ Act as a filter so error links can be identified and then
isolated.
LAN A
Frames with
addresses 11 through
20 are accepted and
repeated on LAN B

Bridge

Station 1 Station 2 Station 10

Frames with
addresses 1 through
10 are accepted and
repeated on LAN A
LAN B

Station 11 Station 12 Station 20

Figure 11.6 Bridge Operation

 Types of bridges

Bridge

Simple Learning Multiport

 Switch vs. Bridges
Bridge Switch

Performs frame
Frame handling done
forwarding in
in software
hardware

Analyzes and forwards Can handle multiple

one frame at a time frames at a time

Uses store-and-forward Can have cut-through

operation operation
 4- Router
• A router is a networking device that forwards data
packets between computer networks. Routers
perform the traffic directing functions on the
Internet.
• Is a device that enables multiple LANs to
communicate with one another by forwarding
packets from one LAN to another.
• The router has many of the same components as
computer :
• CPU
• Memory
• I/O interfaces
• Operating system
 The core function of router is interconnecting
networks and data forwarding.

Source routing
• Routing table indicates • Each router appends its
next router to which internet address to a list
datagram is sent • Source specifies route to of addresses in the
• Can be static or dynamic be followed datagram
• Can be useful for security • Useful for testing and
and priority debugging purposes

routers maintain
routing tables Route recording
 Wireless Router
Devices connected to home networks
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Smart TV
• Computers
• Printers
 5- Gateway

• To connect two networks with different

protocols.
• unlike a router a gateway can forward packets
across different networks that may also use
different protocols.
 Functions of gateways
• Has the ability to translate between different
frame formats /protocols.
• it is a very powerful computer system
compared to a bridge.
• it is used to connect huge and incompatible
networks.
 The differences between gateways
and routers
• Gateways regulate traffic between two dissimilar
networks, while routers regulate traffic between
similar networks. The easiest way to illustrate this
point is through an example.
• Suppose you have a Windows 2000 network that’s
using TCP/IP as its primary protocol. Because TCP/IP
is also the primary protocol of the Internet, you
could use a router to connect your network to the
Internet.
• The best example of a gateway would be a device
that allows a Windows NT network to communicate
with a NetWare network.
 What is difference between Bridge,
Router and Gateway?
• Bridge: device to interconnect two LANs that use
the SAME logical link control protocol but may use
different medium access control protocols.

• Router: device to interconnect SIMILAR networks,

e.g. similar protocols and workstations and servers

• Gateway: device to interconnect DISSIMILAR

protocols and servers, like Macintosh and IBM
LANs and equipment