CS3591 Computer Networks Unit 1

UNIT III
NETWORK LAYER
Switching : Packet Switching - Internet protocol - IPV4 – IP Addressing – Subnetting - IPV6,
ARP, RARP, ICMP, DHCP
3. NETWORK LAYER-INTRODUCTION
The network layer is responsible for the source-to-destination delivery of a
packet, possibly across multiple networks (links). Whereas the data link layer
oversees the delivery of the packet between two systems on the same
network (links), the network layer ensures that each packet gets from its
point of origin to its final destination.

If two systems are connected to the same link, there is usually no need for a
network layer. However, if the two systems are attached to different
networks (links) with connecting devices between the networks (links), there
is often a need for the network layer to accomplish source-to-destination
delivery.

Other responsibilities of the network layer include the following:

o Logical addressing. The physical addressing implemented by the data link

layer

handles the addressing problem locally. If a packet passes the network

boundary,

we need another addressing system to help distinguish the source and

destination

systems. The network layer adds a header to the packet coming from the
upper

layer that, among other things, includes the logical addresses of the sender
and

receiver. We discuss logical addresses later in this chapter.

o Routing. When independent networks or links are connected to create

intemetworks

(network of networks) or a large network, the connecting devices (called

routers

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or switches) route or switch the packets to their final destination. One of the
functions of the network layer is to provide this mechanism.

Figure 2.9 illustrates end-to-end delivery by the network layer

the figure shows, now we need a source-to-destination delivery. The network

layer at A sends the packet to the network layer at B. When the packet
arrives at router B, the router makes a decision based on the final
destination (F) of the packet. As we will see in later chapters, router B uses
its routing table to find that the next hop is router E. The network layer at B,
therefore, sends the packet to the network layer at E. The network layer at E,
in tum, sends the packet to the network layer at F
3.1 SWITCHING
 A network is a set of connected devices.
 Whenever we have multiple devices, we have the problem of how to connect them to
make one-to-one communication possible.
 One solution is to make a point-to-point connection between each pair of devices (a mesh
topology) or between a central device and every other device (a star topology).

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 These methods, however, are impractical and wasteful when applied to very large
networks. The number and length of the links require too much infrastructure to be cost-
efficient, and the majority of those links would be idle most of the time.
 A better solution is switching.
 A switched network consists of a series of interlinked nodes, called switches.
 Switches are devices capable of creating temporary connections between two or more
devices linked to the switch.
 In a switched network, some of these nodes are connected to the end systems (computers
or telephones, for example). Others are used only for routing.

Figure 3.1 Switched network

The end systems (communicating devices) are labeled A, B, C, D, and so on, and the switches
are labeled I, II, III, IV, and V. Each switch is connected to multiple links
Three Methods of Switching:
There are three methods of switching:
 Circuit switching
 Packet switching
 Message switching
Packet switching can further be divided into two subcategories:
 Virtual circuit approach
 Datagram approach

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Figure 3.2 Taxonomy of switched networks

3.1.1 Switching and TCP/IP Layers:
Switching can happen at several layers of the TCP/IP protocol suite.
Switching at Physical Layer:
 At the physical layer, we can have only circuit switching.
 There are no packets exchanged at the physical layer.
 The switches at the physical layer allow signals to travel in one path or another.
Switching at Data-Link Layer:
 At the data-link layer, we can have packet switching.
 However, the term packet in this case means frames or cells.
 Packet switching at the data-link layer is normally done using a virtual-circuit approach.
Switching at Network Layer:
 At the network layer, we can have packet switching.
 In this case, either a virtual-circuit approach or a datagram approach can be used.
Switching at Application Layer:
 At the application layer, we can have only message switching.
 The communication at the application layer occurs by exchanging messages.
 Communication using e-mail is a kind of message-switched communication, but we do
not see any network that actually can be called a message-switched network.
3.2 PACKET SWITCHING
 In a network application, end systems exchange messages with each other. Messages can
contain anything the application designer wants. Messages may perform a control function

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(for example, the “Hi” messages in our handshaking example) or can contain data, such as
an e-mail message, a JPEG image, or an MP3 audio file.
 To send a message from a source end system to a destination end system, the source breaks
long messages into smaller chunks of data known as packets.
 Between source and destination, each packet travels through communication links and
packet switches (for which there are two predominant types, routers and link-layer
switches).
 Packets are transmitted over each communication link at a rate equal to the full transmission
rate of the link. So, if a source end system or a packet switch is sending a packet of L bits
over a link with transmission rate R bits/sec, then the time to transmit the packet is L /R
seconds.
3.2.1 Store-and-Forward Transmission
 Most packet switches use store-and-forward transmission at the inputs to the links. Store-
and-forward transmission means that the packet switch must receive the entire packet before
it can begin to transmit the first bit of the packet onto the outbound link.
 To explore store-and-forward transmission in more detail, consider a simple network
consisting of two end systems connected by a single router, as shown in Figure 3.3.

Fig 3.3: Store and forward Packet Switching

 A router will typically have many incident links, since its job is to switch an incoming
packet onto an outgoing link; in this simple example, the router has the rather simple task of
transferring a packet from one (input) link to the only other attached link.
 In this example, the source has three packets, each consisting of L bits, to send to the
destination. At the snapshot of time shown in Figure 3.3, the source has transmitted some of
packet 1, and the front of packet 1 has already arrived at the router. Because the router
employs store-and-forwarding, at this instant of time, the router cannot transmit the bits it

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has received; instead it must first buffer (i.e., “store”) the packet’s bits.
 Only after the router has received all of the packet’s bits can it begin to transmit (i.e.,
“forward”) the packet onto the outbound link.
 To gain some insight into store-and-forward transmission, let’s now calculate the amount of
time that elapses from when the source begins to send the packet until the destination has
received the entire packet. (Here we will ignore propagation delay—the time it takes for the
bits to travel across the wire at near the speed of light.
 The source begins to transmit at time 0; at time L/R seconds, the source has transmitted the
entire packet, and the entire packet has been received and stored at the router (since there is
no propagation delay).
 At time L/R seconds, since the router has just received the entire packet, it can begin to
transmit the packet onto the outbound link towards the destination; at time 2L/R, the router
has transmitted the entire packet, and the entire packet has been received by the destination.
Thus, the total delay is 2L/R.
 If the switch instead forwarded bits as soon as they arrive (without first receiving the entire
packet), then the total delay would be L/R since bits are not held up at the router. But,
routers need to receive, store, and process the entire packet before forwarding.
 Now let’s calculate the amount of time that elapses from when the source begins to send the
first packet until the destination has received all three packets. As before, at time L/R, the
router begins to forward the first packet. But also at time L/R the source will begin to send
the second packet, since it has just finished sending the entire first packet.
 Thus, at time 2L/R, the destination has received the first packet and the router has received
the second packet. Similarly, at time 3L/R, the destination has received the first two packets
and the router has received the third packet. Finally, at time 4L/R the destination has
received all three packets! Let’s now consider the general case of sending one packet from
source to destination over a path consisting of N links each of rate R (thus, there are N-1
routers between source and destination). Applying the same logic as above, we see that the
end-to-end delay is:
dend-to-end=NLR
3.2.2 Queuing Delays and Packet Loss
 Each packet switch has multiple links attached to it. For each attached link, the packet

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switch has an output buffer (also called an output queue), which stores packets that the
router is about to send into that link. The output buffers play a key role in packet switching.
 If an arriving packet needs to be transmitted onto a link but finds the link busy with the
transmission of another packet, the arriving packet must wait in the output buffer. Thus, in
addition to the store-and-forward delays, packets suffer output buffer queuing delays. These
delays are variable and depend on the level of congestion in the network.

Fig 3.4: Packet Switching

 Arriving packet may find that the buffer is completely full with other packets waiting for
transmission. In this case, packet loss will occur—either the arriving packet or one of the
already-queued packets will be dropped. Figure 3.4 illustrates a simple packet-switched
network. As in Figure 3.3, packets are represented by three-dimensional slabs.
 The width of a slab represents the number of bits in the packet. In this figure, all packets
have the same width and hence the same length.
 Suppose Hosts A and B are sending packets to Host E. Hosts A and B first send their packets
along 100 Mbps Ethernet links to the first router. The router then directs these packets to the
15 Mbps link. If, during a short interval of time, the arrival rate of packets to the router
(when converted to bits per second) exceeds 15 Mbps, congestion will occur at the router as
packets queue in the link’s output buffer before being transmitted onto the link.
 For example, if Host A and B each send a burst of five packets back-to-back at the same
time, then most of these packets will spend some time waiting in the queue. The situation is,
in fact, entirely analogous to many common-day situations—for example, when we wait in
line for a bank teller or wait in front of a tollbooth.

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3.2.3 Forwarding Tables and Routing Protocols

 Earlier, we said that a router takes a packet arriving on one of its attached communication
links and forwards that packet onto another one of its attached communication links. But
how does the router determine which link it should forward the packet onto? Packet
forwarding is actually done in different ways in different types of computer networks. Here,
we briefly describe how it is done in the Internet.
 In the Internet, every end system has an address called an IP address. When a source end
system wants to send a packet to a destination end system, the source includes the
destination’s IP address in the packet’s header. As with postal addresses, this address has a
hierarchical structure.
 When a packet arrives at a router in the network, the router examines a portion of the
packet’s destination address and forwards the packet to an adjacent router. More
specifically, each router has a forwarding table that maps destination addresses (or portions
of the destination addresses) to that router’s outbound links.
 When a packet arrives at a router, the router examines the address and searches its
forwarding table, using this destination address, to find the appropriate outbound link. The
router then directs the packet to this outbound link.
 The end-to-end routing process is analogous to a car driver who does not use maps but
instead prefers to ask for directions. For example, suppose Joe is driving from Philadelphia
to 156 Lakeside Drive in Orlando, Florida. Joe first drives to his neighborhood gas station
and asks how to get to 156 Lakeside Drive in Orlando, Florida and then reach the place.
 A routing protocol may, for example, determine the shortest path from each router to each
destination and use the shortest path results to configure the forwarding tables in the routers.

3.3 INTERNET PROTOCOLS

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3.4 IPv4 ADDRESSES

 An IPv4 address is a 32-bit address that uniquely and universally defines the connection of a
device (for example, a computer or a router) to the Internet.
 IPv4 addresses are unique. They are unique in the sense that each address defines one, and
only one, connection to the Internet.
 Two devices on the Internet can never have the same address at the same time. By using
some strategies, an address may be assigned to a device for a time period and then taken
away and assigned to another device.
 On the other hand, if a device operating at the network layer has m connections to the
Internet, it needs to have m addresses.
 The IPv4 addresses are universal in the sense that the addressing system must be accepted by
any host that wants to be connected to the Internet.
Address Space
 A protocol such as IPv4 that defines addresses has an address space. An address space is the
total number of addresses used by the protocol.
 If a protocol uses N bits to define an address, the address space is 2 N because each bit can
have two different values (0 or 1) and N bits can have 2N values. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses,
which means that the address space is 232 or 4,294,967,296 (more than 4 billion).
 This means that, theoretically, if there were no restrictions, more than 4 billion devices could
be connected to the Internet.
Notations
 There are two prevalent notations to show an IPv4 address:
 Binary notation and
 Dotted decimal notation.
i) Binary Notation
 In binary notation, the IPv4 address is displayed as 32 bits. Each octet is often referred to as
a byte. So it is common to hear an IPv4 address referred to as a 32-bit address or a 4-byte
address.
 The following is an example of an IPv4 address in binary notation: 01110101 10010101
00011101 00000010
ii) Dotted-Decimal Notation

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 To make the IPv4 address more compact and easier to read, Internet addresses are usually
written in decimal form with a decimal point (dot) separating the bytes.
 The following is the dotted~decimal notation of the above address: 117.149.29.2
 Figure 3.5 shows an IPv4 address in both binary and dotted-decimal notation. Note that
because each byte (octet) is 8 bits, each number in dotted-decimal notation is a value ranging
from 0 to 255.

Fig 3.5 Dotted decimal notation and Binary notation in IPv4 Address
Classful Addressing
 IPv4 addressing, at its inception, used the concept of classes. This architecture is called
classful addressing.In classful addressing, the address space is divided into five classes: A,
B, C, D, and E. Each class occupies some part of the address space.
 We can find the class of an address when given the address in binary notation or dotted-
decimal notation. If the address is given in binary notation, the first few bits can immediately
tell us the class of the address. If the address is given in decimal-dotted notation, the first
byte defines the class. Both methods are shown in Figure 3.6

Fig 3.6: Finding the classes in binary and dotted-decimal notation

Netid and Hostid
 In classful addressing, an IP address in class A, B, or C is divided into netid and hostid.
 These parts are of varying lengths, depending on the class of the address. Figure 3.7 shows
some netid and hostid bytes.

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 The netid is in color, the hostid is in white. Note that the concept does not apply to classes D
and E. In class A, one byte defines the netid and three bytes define the hostid.
 In class B, two bytes define the netid and two bytes define the hostid. In class C, three bytes
define the netid and one byte defines the hostid.
Mask
 Although the length of the netid and hostid (in bits) is predetermined in classful addressing,
we can also use a mask (also called the default mask), a 32-bit number made of contiguous
Is followed by contiguous as.
 The masks for classes A, B, and C are shown in Table 3.7. The concept does not apply to
classes D and E.

Fig/Table 3.7 Default masksfor classful addressing

 The mask can help us to find the netid and the hostid. For example, the mask for a class A
address has eight 1s, which means the first 8 bits of any address in class A define the netid;
the next 24 bits define the hostid.
 The last column of Table 3.7 shows the mask in the form In where n can be 8, 16, or 24 in
classful addressing. This notation is also called slash notation or Classless Interdomain
Routing (CIDR) notation. The notation is used in classless addressing.
3.5 SUBNETTING
 During the era of classful addressing, subnetting was introduced.
 If an organization was granted a large block in class A or B, it could divide the addresses
into several contiguous groups and assign each group to smaller networks (called subnets)
or, in rare cases, share part of the addresses with neighbors. Subnetting increases the number
of Is in the mask.

3.6 IPv6 ADDRESSING

 The main reason for migration from IPv4 to IPv6 is the small size of the address space in
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IPv4.
 An IPv6 address is 128 bits or 16 bytes (octets) long, four times the address length in
IPv4.
Representation:
 A computer normally stores the address in binary, but it is clear that 128 bits cannot
easily be handled by humans.
 Several notations have been proposed to represent IPv6 addresses when they are handled
by humans.
 The following shows two of these notations:
 Binary notation
 Colon hexadecimal notation
 Example:
Binary (128 bits) 1111111011110110 … 1111111100000000
Colon Hexadecimal FEF6:BA98:7654:3210:ADEF:BBFF:2922:FF00

 Binary notation is used when the addresses are stored in a computer.

 The colon hexadecimal notation (or colon hex for short) divides the address into eight
sections, each made of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons.
Abbreviation:
 Although an IPv6 address, even in hexadecimal format, is very long, many of the digits
are zeros.
 In this case, we can abbreviate the address. The leading zeros of a section can be omitted.
 Using this form of abbreviation, 0074 can be written as 74, 000F as F, and 0000 as 0.
 Note that 3210 cannot be abbreviated. Further abbreviation, often called zero
compression, can be applied to colon hex notation if there are consecutive sections
consisting of zeros only.
 We can remove all the zeros and replace them with a double semicolon
 Example: FDEC:0:0:0:0:BBFF:0:FFFF is abbreviated as FDEC::BBFF:0:FFFF
Mixed Notation:
 Sometimes we see a mixed representation of an IPv6 address: colon hex and dotted
decimal notation.

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 This is appropriate during the transition period in which an IPv4 address is embedded in
an IPv6 address (as the rightmost 32 bits). We can use the colon hex notation for the
leftmost six sections and four-byte dotted-decimal notation instead of the rightmost two
sections.
CIDR Notation:
IPv6 uses hierarchical addressing. For this reason, IPv6 allows slash or CIDR notation. For
example, the following shows how we can define a prefix of 60 bits using CIDR.
Example: FDEC::BBFF:0:FFFF/60
3.9.1 Address Space:
 The address space of IPv6 contains 2128 addresses.
 This address space is 296 times the IPv4 address—definitely no address depletion—as
shown, the size of the space is
340, 282, 366, 920, 938, 463, 374, 607, 431, 768, 211, 456.
Three Address Types:
In IPv6, a destination address can belong to one of three categories:
 Unicast address
 Anycast address
 Multicast address
1. Unicast Address:
 A unicast address defines a single interface (computer or router). The packet sent to a
unicast address will be routed to the intended recipient.
2.Anycast Address:
 An anycast address defines a group of computers that all share a single address.
 A packet with an anycast address is delivered to only one member of the group, the most
reachable one.
3. Multicast Address:
 A multicast address also defines a group of computers.
 However, there is a difference between anycasting and multicasting.
 In anycasting, only one copy of the packet is sent to one of the members of the group.
 In multicasting each member of the group receives a copy.
3.9.2 Address Space Allocation:

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Like the address space of IPv4, the address space of IPv6 is divided into several blocks of
varying size and each block is allocated for a special purpose. Most of the blocks are still
unassigned and have been set aside for future use. The following Table shows only the assigned
blocks. In this table, the last column shows the fraction each block occupies in the whole address
space.

Figure 3.27 Prefixes for assigned IPv6 addresses

Global Unicast Addresses:
 The block in the address space that is used for unicast (one-to-one) communication
between two hosts in the Internet is called the global unicast address block.
 CIDR for the block is 2000::/3, which means that the three leftmost bits are the same for
all addresses in this block (001).
 The size of this block is 2125 bits, which is more than enough for Internet expansion for
many years to come.
 An address in this block is divided into three parts:
 global routing prefix (n bits)
 subnet identifier (m bits)
 and interface identifier (q bits).

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Figure 3.28 Global unicast address

Special Addresses:
Addresses that use the prefix (0000::/8) are reserved, but part of this block is used to define some
special addresses.

Figure 3.29 Special Addresses

 The unspecified address is a subblock containing only one address, which is used during
bootstrap when a host does not know its own address and wants to send an inquiry to find
it (see DHCP section).
 The loopback address also consists of one address. In IPv4 the block is made of a range
of addresses; in IPv6, the block has only a single address in it. During the transition from
IPv4 to IPv6, hosts can use their IPv4 addresses embedded in IPv6 addresses. Two
formats have been designed for this purpose: compatible and mapped.

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 A compatible address is an address of 96 bits of zero followed by 32 bits of IPv4

address. It is used when a computer using IPv6 wants to send a message to another
computer using IPv6.
 A mapped address is used when a computer already migrated to version 6 wants to send
an address to a computer still using version 4.
3.9.3 Autoconfiguration:
 One of the interesting features of IPv6 addressing is the autoconfiguration of hosts.
 In IPv4, the host and routers are originally configured manually by the network manager.
 However, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, DHCP, can be used to allocate an
IPv4 address to a host that joins the network.
 In IPv6, DHCP protocol can still be used to allocate an IPv6 address to a host, but a host
can also configure itself.
 When a host in IPv6 joins a network, it can configure itself using the following process:
1. The host first creates a link local address for itself. This is done by taking the 10-bit
link local prefix (1111 1110 10), adding 54 zeros, and adding the 64-bit interface
identifier, which any host knows how to generate from its interface card. The result is
a 128-bit link local address.
2. The host then tests to see if this link local address is unique and not used by other
hosts. Since the 64-bit interface identifier is supposed to be unique, the link local
address generated is unique with a high probability. However, to be sure, the host
sends a neighbor solicitation message and waits for a neighbor advertisement
message. If any host in the subnet is using this link local address, the process fails and
the host cannot autoconfigure itself; it needs to use other means such as DHCP for
this purpose.
3. If the uniqueness of the link local address is passed, the host stores this address as its
link local address (for private communication), but it still needs a global unicast
address. The host then sends a router solicitation message to a local router. If there is
a router running on the network, the host receives a router advertisement message that
includes the global unicast prefix and the subnet prefix that the host needs to add to
its interface identifier to generate its global unicast address. If the router cannot help
the host with the configuration, it informs the host in the router advertisement

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message (by setting a flag). The host then needs to use other means for configuration.
3.9.4 Renumbering:
To allow sites to change the service provider, renumbering of the address prefix (n) was built
into IPv6 addressing. Each site is given a prefix by the service provider to which it is connected.
If the site changes the provider, the address prefix needs to be changed. A router to which the site
is connected can advertise a new prefix and let the site use the old prefix for a short time before
disabling it. In other words, during the transition period, a site has two prefixes. The main
problem in using the renumbering mechanism is the support of the DNS, which needs to
propagate the new addressing associated with a domain name. A new protocol for DNS, called
Next Generation DNS, is under study to provide support for this mechanism.

3.7 IPV6 PROTOCOL

The change of the IPv6 address size requires the change in the IPv4 packet format. The designer
of IPv6 decided to implement remedies for other shortcomings now that a change is inevitable.
The following shows other changes implemented in the protocol in addition to changing address
size and format.
❑ Better header format: IPv6 uses a new header format in which options are separated from
the base header and inserted, when needed, between the base header and the data. This simplifies
and speeds up the routing process because most of the options do not need to be checked by
routers.
❑ New options: IPv6 has new options to allow for additional functionalities.
❑ Allowance for extension: IPv6 is designed to allow the extension of the protocol if required
by new technologies or applications.
❑ Support for resource allocation: In IPv6, the type-of-service field has been removed, but
two new fields, traffic class and flow label, have been added to enable the source to request
special handling of the packet. This mechanism can be used to support traffic such as real-time
audio and video.
❑ Support for more security: The encryption and authentication options in IPv6 provide
confidentiality and integrity of the packet.
3.10.1 Packet Format:
Each packet is composed of a base header followed by the payload. The base header occupies 40

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bytes, whereas payload can be up to 65,535 bytes of information. The description of fields
follows.

Figure 3.30 IPV6 datagram

Version.:The 4-bit version field defines the version number of the IP. For IPv6, the value
is 6.
Traffic class: The 8-bit traffic class field is used to distinguish different payloads with
different delivery requirements. It replaces the type-of-service field in IPv4.
Flow label: The flow label is a 20-bit field that is designed to provide special handling
for a particular flow of data.
Payload length: The 2-byte payload length field defines the length of the IP datagram
excluding the header. Note that IPv4 defines two fields related to the length: header
length and total length. In IPv6, the length of the base header is fixed (40 bytes); only the
length of the payload needs to be defined.
Next header: The next header is an 8-bit field defining the type of the first extension
header (if present) or the type of the data that follows the base header in the datagram.
Hop limit: The 8-bit hop limit field serves the same purpose as the TTL field in IPv4.
Source and destination addresses: The source address field is a 16-byte (128-bit)
Internet address that identifies the original source of the datagram. The destination
address field is a 16-byte (128-bit) Internet address that identifies the destination of the
datagram.
Payload: Compared to IPv4, the payload field in IPv6 has a different format and

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meaning.
Fragmentation and Reassembly :
 IPv6 datagrams can be fragmented only by the source, not by the routers; the reassembly
takes place at the destination.
 The fragmentation of packets at routers is not allowed to speed up the processing of
packets in the router.
 The fragmentation of a packet in a router needs a lot of processing.
 The packet needs to be fragmented, all fields related to the fragmentation need to be
recalculated.
 In IPv6, the source can check the size of the packet and make the decision to fragment
the packet or not.
3.10.2 Extension Header :
 An IPv6 packet is made of a base header and some extension headers.
 The length of the base header is fixed at 40 bytes.
 To give more functionality to the IP datagram, the base header can be followed by up to
six extension headers.
 Many of these headers are options in IPv4.
 Six types of extension headers have been defined.
 These are
 Hop-by-hop option
 Source routing
 Fragmentation
 Authentication
 Encrypted security payload
 Destination option

Figure 3.31 Extension header types

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Hop-by-Hop Option:
The hop-by-hop option is used when the source needs to pass information to all routers visited
by the datagram. For example, perhaps routers must be informed about certain management,
debugging, or control functions. Or, if the length of the datagram is more than the usual 65,535
bytes, routers must have this information.
Destination Option:
The destination option is used when the source needs to pass information to the destination only.
Intermediate routers are not permitted access to this information. The format of the destination
option is the same as the hop-by-hop option.
Source Routing:
The source routing extension header combines the concepts of the strict source route and the
loose source route options of IPv4.
Fragmentation: The concept of fragmentation in IPv6 is the same as that in IPv4. However, the
place where fragmentation occurs differs. In IPv4, the source or a router is required to fragment
if the size of the datagram is larger than the MTU of the network over which the datagram
travels. In IPv6, only the original source can fragment. A source must use a Path MTU
Authentication: The authentication extension header has a dual purpose: it validates the
message sender and ensures the integrity of data. The former is needed so the receiver can be
sure that a message is from the genuine sender and not from an imposter. The latter is needed to
check that the data is not altered in transition by some hacker.
Encrypted Security Payload:
The encrypted security payload (ESP) is an extension that provides confidentiality and guards
against eavesdropping.
Comparison of Options between IPv4 and IPv6:
The following shows a quick comparison between the options used in IPv4 and the options used
in IPv6 (as extension headers).
 The no-operation and end-of-option options in IPv4 are replaced by Pad1 and PadN
options in IPv6.
 The record route option is not implemented in IPv6 because it was not used.
 The timestamp option is not implemented because it was not used.
 The source route option is called the source route extension header in IPv6.

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 The fragmentation fields in the base header section of IPv4 have moved to the
fragmentation extension header in IPv6.
 The authentication extension header is new in IPv6.
 The encrypted security payload extension header is new in IPv6.

3.8 Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

Anytime a node has an IP datagram to send to another node in a link, it has the IP address
of the receiving node. The source host knows the IP address of the default router. Each router
except the last one in the path gets the IP address of the next router by using its forwarding table
The last router knows the IP address of the destination host. However, the IP address of the next
node is not helpful in moving a frame through a link; we need the link-layer address of the next
node. This is the time when the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) becomes helpful.
 Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) belongs to the network layer.
 It maps an IP address to a logical-link address.
 ARP accepts an IP address from the IP protocol, maps the address to the corresponding
link-layer address, and passes it to the data-link layer.

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Figure 2.5 Position of ARP in TCP/IP protocol suite

ARP operation:
 Anytime a host or a router needs to find the link-layer address of another host or router in
its network, it sends an ARP request packet.
 The packet includes the link-layer and IP addresses of the sender and the IP address of
the receiver.
 Because the sender does not know the link-layer address of the receiver, the query is
broadcast over the link using the link-layer broadcast address.

Figure 2.6 ARP operation

 Every host or router on the network receives and processes the ARP request packet, but
only the intended recipient recognizes its IP address and sends back an ARP response
packet.
 The response packet contains the recipient’s IP and link-layer addresses. The packet is
unicast directly to the node that sent the request packet.
 In Figure a, the system on the left (A) has a packet that needs to be delivered to another
system (B) with IP address N2. System A needs to pass the packet to its data-link layer

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for the actual delivery, but it does not know the physical address of the recipient. It uses
the services of ARP by asking the ARP protocol to send a broadcast ARP request packet
to ask for the physical address of a system with an IP address of N2. This packet is
received by every system on the physical network, but only system B will answer it. In
figure b System B sends an ARP reply packet that includes its physical address. Now
system A can send all the packets it has for this destination using the physical address it
received.
Caching:
Assume that system A has 10 datagrams to send to system B in one second.
a. Without using ARP, system A needs to send 10 broadcast frames. Each of the 18 other
systems need to receive the frames, decapsulate the frames, remove the datagram and
pass it to their network-layer to find out the datagrams do not belong to them.This means
processing and discarding 180 broadcast frames.
b. b. Using ARP, system A needs to send only one broadcast frame. Each of the 18 other
systems need to receive the frames, decapsulate the frames, remove the ARP message
and pass the message to their ARP protocol to find that the frame must be discarded. This
means processing and discarding only 18 (instead of 180) broadcast frames. After system
B responds with its own data-link address, system A can store the link-layer address in its
cache memory. The rest of the nine frames are only unicast. Since processing broadcast
frames is expensive (time consuming), the first method is preferable.
Packet Format:
 The hardware type field defines the type of the link-layer protocol; Ethernet is given
the type 1.
 The protocol type field defines the network-layer protocol: IPv4 protocol is
(0800)16.
 The hardware length field defines the length of the hardware address.
 The protocol length field defines the length of the protocol address.
 The operation field specifies whether the packet is a request or reply.
 The source hardware and source protocol addresses are variable-length fields
defining the link-layer and network-layer addresses of the sender.

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 The destination hardware address and destination protocol address fields define
the receiver link-layer and network-layer addresses.
 An ARP packet is encapsulated directly into a data-link frame. The frame needs to
have a field to show that the payload belongs to the ARP and not to the network-layer
datagram.

Fig 2.7 ARP Packet

ARP Operation
 Let us see how ARP functions on a typical internet. First we describe the steps involved.
Then we discuss the four cases in which a host or router needs to use ARP. These are the
steps involved in an ARP process:
 1. The sender knows the IP address of the target. We will see how the sender obtains
this shortly.
 2. IP asks ARP to create an ARP request message, filling in the sender physical address,
the sender IP address, and the target IP address. The target physical address field is
filled with Os.
 3. The message is passed to the data link layer where it is encapsulated in a frame by
using the physical address of the sender as the source address and the physical broadcast
address as the destination address.

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 4. Every host or router receives the frame. Because the frame contains a broadcast
destination address, all stations remove the message and pass it to ARP. All machines
except the one targeted drop the packet. The target machine recognizes its IP address.
 5. The target machine replies with an ARP reply message that contains its physical
address. The message is unicast.
 6. The sender receives the reply message. It now knows the physical address of the
target machine. 7. The IP datagram, which carries data for the target machine, is now
encapsulated in a frame and is unicast to the destination.

3.9 REVERSE ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL (RARP)

 A TCP/IP protocol that allows a host to find its Internet address given its physical address

 The Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) allows a host to discover its Internet
address when it knows only its physical address. It is used when a computer is connected to
a network for the first time or when a diskless computer is booted.

 Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) finds the logical address for a machine that
knows only its physical address. Each host or router is assigned one or more logical (IP)
addresses, which are unique and independent of the physical (hardware) address of the
machine.

 To create an IP datagram, a host or a router needs to know its own IP address or addresses.
The IP address of a machine is usually read from its configuration file stored on a disk file.
However, a diskless machine is usually booted from ROM, which has minimum booting
information.

 The ROM is installed by the manufacturer. It cannot include the IP address because the IP
addresses on a network are assigned by the network administrator. The machine can get its
physical address (by reading its NIC, for example), which is unique locally.

 It can then use the physical address to get the logical address by using the RARP protocol. A
RARP request is created and broadcast on the local network. Another machine on the local
network that knows all the IP addresses will respond with a RARP reply.

 The requesting machine must be running a RARP client program; the responding machine
must be running a RARP server program. There is a serious problem with RARP:
Broadcasting is done at the data link layer.

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 The physical broadcast address, allis in the case of Ethernet, does not pass the boundaries of
a network. This means that if an administrator has several networks or several subnets, it
needs to assign a RARP server for each network or subnet. This is the reason that RARP is
almost obsolete. Two protocols, BOOTP(The Bootstrap Protocol) and DHCP (Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol) are replacing RARP.

3.11.1 RARP Working

 The functioning of RARP can be summarized as follows:

 When a device needs an IP address, it broadcasts a RARP request packet containing its
MAC address in both the sender and receiver hardware address fields.
 A special host known as a RARP server configured on the network receives the RARP
request packet. After that, it checks its table of MAC addresses and IP addresses.

 If the RARP server finds a matching entry for the MAC address, it sends back an RARP
reply packet that includes both the MAC address and the corresponding IP address.
 The device that initiated the RARP request packet receives the RARP reply packet. After
getting the reply, it then extracts the IP address from it. This IP address is then used for
communication on the network.

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3.9 ICMP:
 The ICMP represents Internet Control Message Protocol. It is a network layer protocol.
It can be used for error handling in the network layer, and it is generally used on network
devices, including routers. IP Protocol is a best-effect delivery service that delivers a
datagram from its original source to its final destination. It has two deficiencies
 Lack of error control
 Lack of Assistance Mechanisms
 IP protocol also lacks a structure for host and management queries. A host needs to
resolve if a router or another host is alive, and sometimes a network manager needs
information from another host or router.
 ICMP has been created to compensate for these deficiencies. It is a partner to the IP
protocol.

 ICMP is a network layer protocol. But, its messages are not passed directly to the data
link layer. Instead, the messages are first encapsulated inside the IP datagrams before
going to the lower layer.

ICMP Message Format

 AN ICMP message includes an 8-byte header and a variable size data format.

 Type: It is an 8-bit field. It represents the ICMP message type. The values area from 0 to
127 are described for ICMPv6, and the values from 128 to 255 are the data messages.
 Code: It is an 8-bit field that represents the subtype of the ICMP message.
 Checksum: It is a 16-bit field to recognize whether the error exists in the message or not.
ICMP v4:
 The Internet Control Message Protocol version 4 (ICMPv4) is an error-reporting or
error-correcting protocol. It is a companion to the IP protocol.
 ICMP itself is a network-layer protocol. However, its messages are not passed directly to

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the data-link layer as would be expected.

 Instead, the messages are first encapsulated inside IP datagrams before going to the
lower layer.
 When an IP datagram encapsulates an ICMP message, the value of the protocol field in
the IP datagram is set to 1 to indicate that the IP payroll is an ICMP message.
3.6.1 Messages:
ICMP messages are divided into two broad categories:
 Error-reporting messages
 Query messages
 The error-reporting messages report problems that a router or a host (destination) may
encounter when it processes an IP packet.
 The query messages, which occur in pairs, help a host or a network manager get specific
information from a router or another host. For example, nodes can discover their
neighbors. Also, hosts can discover and learn about routers on their network and routers
can help a node redirect its messages.
 An ICMP message has an 8-byte header and a variable-size data section.
 Although the general format of the header is different for each message type, the first 4
bytes are common to all.
 The first field, ICMP type, defines the type of the message.
 The code field specifies the reason for the particular message type.
 The last common field is the checksum field used for error detection.
 The rest of the header is specific for each message type.
 The data section in error messages carries information for finding the original packet that
had the error. In query messages, the data section carries extra information based on the
type of query.

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Figure 3.17 ICMP Message format

3.10 DYNAMIC HOST CONFIGURATION PROTOCOL (DHCP)

Once an organization has obtained a block of addresses, it can assign

individual IP addresses to the host and router interfaces in its organization.
A system administrator will typically manually configure the IP addresses
into the router (often remotely, with a network management tool). Host
addresses can also be configured manually, but typically this is done using
the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) [RFC 2131]. DHCP allows
a host to obtain (be allocated) an IP address automatically. A network
administrator can configure DHCP so that a given host receives the same IP
address each time it connects to the network, or a host may be assigned a
temporary IP address that will be different each time the host connects to
the network. In addition to host IP address assignment, DHCP also allows a
host to learn additional information, such as its subnet mask, the address of
its first-hop router (often called the default gateway), and the address of its
local DNS server. Because of DHCP’s ability to automate the network-
related aspects of connecting a host into a network, it is often referred to as
a plug-and-play or zeroconf (zero-configuration) protocol. This capability
makes it very attractive to the network administrator who would otherwise
have to perform these tasks manually! DHCP is also enjoying widespread
use in residential Internet access networks, enterprise networks, and in
wireless LANs, where hosts join and leave the network frequently. Consider,
for example, the student who carries a laptop from a dormitory room to a
library to a classroom. It is likely that in each location, the student will be
connecting into a new subnet and hence will need a new IP address at each

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location. DHCP is ideally suited to this situation, as there are many users
coming and going, and addresses are needed for only a limited amount of
time. The value of DHCP’s plug-and-play capability is clear, since it’s
unimaginable that a system administrator would be able to reconfigure
laptops at each location, and few students (except those taking a computer
networking class!) would have the expertise to configure their laptops
manually. DHCP is a client-server protocol. A client is typically a newly
arriving host wanting to obtain network configuration information,
including an IP address for itself. In the simplest case, each subnet (in the
addressing sense of Figure 4.20) will have a DHCP server. If no server is
present on the subnet, a DHCP relay agent (typically a router) that knows
the address of a DHCP server for that network is needed. Figure 4.23 shows
a DHCP server attached to subnet 223.1.2/24, with the router serving as the
relay agent for arriving clients attached to subnets 223.1.1/24 and
223.1.3/24. In our discussion below, we’ll assume that a DHCP server is
available on the subnet. For a newly arriving host, the DHCP protocol is a
four-step process, as shown in Figure 4.24 for the network setting shown in
Figure 4.23. In this figure, yiaddr (as in “your Internet address”) indicates
the address being allocated to the newly arriving client.

Fig: DHCP Client and Server

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The four steps are

DHCP server discovery. The first task of a newly arriving host is to find a
DHCP server with which to interact. This is done using a DHCP discover
message, which a client sends within a UDP packet to port 67. The UDP
packet is encapsulated in an IP datagram. But to whom should this
datagram be sent? The host doesn’t even know the IP address of the
network to which it is attaching, much less the address of a DHCP server
for this network. Given this, the DHCP client creates an IP datagram
containing its DHCP discover message along with the broadcast destination
IP address of 255.255.255.255 and a “this host” source IP address of
0.0.0.0. The DHCP client passes the IP datagram to the link layer, which
then broadcasts this frame to all nodes attached to the subnet (we will
cover the details of link-layer broadcasting in Section 6.4). DHCP server
offer(s). A DHCP server receiving a DHCP discover message responds to
the client with a DHCP offer message that is broadcast to all nodes on the
subnet, again using the IP broadcast address of 255.255.255.255. (You
might want to think about why this server reply must also be broadcast).
Since several DHCP servers can be present on the subnet, the client may
find itself in the enviable position of being able to choose from among
several offers. Each server offer message contains the transaction ID of the
received discover message, the proposed IP address for the client, the
network mask, and an IP address lease time—the amount of time for which
the IP address will be valid. It is common for the server to set the lease time
to several hours or days [Droms 2002]. DHCP request. The newly arriving
client will choose from among one or more server offers and respond to its
selected offer with a DHCP request message, echoing back the
configuration parameters. DHCP ACK. The server responds to the DHCP
request message with a DHCP ACK message, confirming the requested
parameters.

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Fig: DHCP Client Server Interaction

Once the client receives the DHCP ACK, the interaction is complete and the
client can use the DHCPallocated IP address for the lease duration. Since a
client may want to use its address beyond the lease’s expiration, DHCP also
provides a mechanism that allows a client to renew its lease on an IP
address. From a mobility aspect, DHCP does have one very significant
shortcoming. Since a new IP address is obtained from DHCP each time a
node connects to a new subnet, a TCP connection to a remote application
cannot be maintained as a mobile node moves between subnets. In Chapter
6, we will examine mobile IP—an extension to the IP infrastructure that
allows a mobile node to use a single permanent address as it moves
between subnets. Additional details about DHCP can be found in [Droms
2002] and [dhc 2016]. An open source reference implementation of DHCP is
available from the Internet Systems Consortium [ISC 2016].

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PART A(2 marks with answers)

1. What are the network support layers and the user support layers? Network support
layers:
The network support layers are Physical layer, Data link layer and Network layer. These
deals with electrical specifications, physical connection, transport timing and reliability.
User support layers:
The user support layers are: Session layer, Presentation layer, Application layer. These allow
interoperability among unrelated software system.
2. With a neat diagram explain the relationship of IEEE Project to the OSI model?
Other layers Other layers
Network Network
Logical Link Control Data link
Media Access Control
Physical Physical
The IEEE has subdivided the data link layer into two sub layers:
 Logical link control (LLC)
 Medium access control (MAC)
LLC is non-architecture specific. The MAC sub layer contains a number of distinct modules,
each carries proprietary information specific to the LAN product being used.
3. Why IPv6 is preferred than IPv4?
Through IPv6 we can identify more networks or systems than IPv4.
4. Define ICMP.
ICMP uses the source IP address to send the error message to the source of the datagram.
ICMP always reports error messages to the original source.
5. Why we migrate from IPv4 to IPv6?
· Despite all short-term solutions, such as subnetting, classless addressing, and NAT,
address depletion is still a long-term problem in the Internet.

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· The Internet must accommodate real-time audio and video transmission. This type of
transmission requires minimum delay strategies and reservation of resources not provided in the
IPv4 design.
· The Internet must accommodate encryption and authentication of data for some
applications. No encryption or authentication is provided by IPv4.
To overcome these deficiencies, IPv6 (Internetworking Protocol, version 6), also known as IPng
(Internetworking Protocol, next generation), was proposed and is now a standard.
6. What is the use of NAT?
NAT (Network Address Translation) is the process where a network device, usually a
firewall, assigns a public address to a computer inside a private network.
7. What are the responsibilities of network layer?
The network layer is responsible for the source-to-destination delivery of packet across
multiple network links. The specific responsibilities of network layer include the following:
 Logical addressing.
 Routing.
8. What is a virtual circuit?
A logical circuit made between the sending and receiving computers. The connection is
made after both computers do handshaking. After the connection, all packets follow the same
route and arrive in sequence.
9. What are data grams?
In datagram approach, each packet is treated independently from all others. Even when
one packet represents just a place of a multipacket transmission, the network treats it although it
existed alone. Packets in this technology are referred to as datagram.
10. What are the two types of implementation formats in virtual circuits?
Virtual circuit transmission is implemented in 2 formats.
 Switched virtual circuit
 Permanent virtual circuit.
11. What is meant by switched virtual circuit?

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Switched virtual circuit format is comparable conceptually to dial-up line in circuit

switching. In this method, a virtual circuit is created whenever it is needed and exits only for the
du ration of specific exchange.
12. What is meant by Permanent virtual circuit?
Permanent virtual circuits are comparable to leased lines in circuit switching. In this
method, the same virtual circuit is provided between two uses on a continuous basis. The circuit
is dedicated to the specific uses.
13. Define Routers.
Routers relay packets among multiple interconnected networks. They Route packets from
one network to any of a number of potential destination networks on internet routers operate in
the physical, data link and network layer of OSI model.
14. What is meant by hop count?
The pathway requiring the smallest number of relays, it is called hop-count routing, in
which every link is considered to be of equal length and given the value one.
15. How can the routing be classified?
The routing can be classified as,
• Adaptive routing
• Non-adaptive routing.
16. What is time-to-live or packet lifetime?
As the time-to-live field is generated, each packet is marked with a life time, usually the
number of h ops that are allowed before a packet is considered lost and accordingly, destroyed.
The time-to-live determines the lifetime of a packet.
17. What is meant by brouter?
A brouter is a single protocol or multiprotocol router that sometimes act as a router and
sometimes act as a bridge.
18. Write the keys for understanding the distance vector routing.
The three keys for understanding the algorithm are
 Knowledge about the whole networks
 Routing only to neighbors
 Information sharing at regular intervals

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19. Write the keys for understanding the link state routing.
The three keys for understanding the algorithm are
• Knowledge about the neighborhood.
• Routing to all neighbors.
• Information sharing when there is a range.
20. How the packet cost referred in distance vector and link state routing?
In distance vector routing, cost refer to hop count while in case o f link state routing, cost
is a weighted value based on a variety of factors such as security levels, traffic or the state of the
link.
21. How the routers get the information about neighbor?
A router gets its information about its neighbors by periodically sending them a short
greeting packet. If the neighborhood responds to the greeting as expected, it is assumed to be
alive and functioning. If it does not, a change is assumed to have occurred and the sending router
then alerts the rest of the network in its next LSP.
22. What are the four internetworking devices?
The four internetworking devices are,
·Repeaters
·Bridges
·Routers
·Gateway
23. Define IP address.
IP address is the 3-bit number for representing a host or system in the network. One
portion of the IP address indicates a networking and the other represents the host in a network.
24. What is Token Bus?
Token Bus is a physical bus that operates as a logical ring using tokens. Here stations are
logically organized into a ring. A token is passed among stations. If a station wants to send data,
it must wait and capture the token. Like Ethernet, station communicates via a common bus.
25. What is token passing?
Stations may attempt to send data multiple times before a transmission makes it onto a
link. This redundancy may create delays of indeterminable length if the traffic is heavy. Token
ring resolves this uncertainty by requiring that stations take turns sending data. Each station may

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transmit only during its turn and may send only one frame during each turn. The mechanism that
coordinates this rotation is called token passing.
26. Define Masking?
Masking is the process that extracts the address of the physical network from an IP
address.
27. What are the rules of boundary-level masking?
The rules of boundary-level masking
• The bytes in the IP address that corresponds to 255 in the mask will be repeated in the
subnetwork address
• The bytes in the IP address that corresponds to 0 in the mask will change to 0 in the subnetwork
address
28. What are the rules of nonboundary-level masking?
 The bytes in the IP address that corresponds to 255 in the mask will be repeated in the
subnetwork address
 The bytes in the IP address that corresponds to 0 in the mask will change to 0 in the
subnetwork address
 For other bytes, use the bit-wise AND operator
29. Define Gateway.
A device used to connect two separate networks that we different communication protocols.
30. What is LSP?
In link state routing, a small packet containing routing information sent by a router to all other
router by a packet called link state packet.

PART B & C (Possible Questions)

1. Define multicasting and explain the detail about multicast address?

2. Illustrate shortest path algorithm? Explain the same with suitable diagrams and examples
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3. What is a RIP? Explain in detail about RIP and OSPF with diagrams. Can you

distinguish between them?

4. Show the different approaches in Packet Switching. Explain them in detail.

5. List the different Datagram approach? Also show the advantages of LSR over DVR. List

the limitations of Link State Routing Algorithm

6. Explain the Distance Vector Routing Algorithm ? Mention the limitations of the same.

7. Categorize the function of BGP? Explain in detail BGP with categories.

8. What would you recommend for the building and distribution of link state packets in link

state routing algorithm?

9. 10. Discuss in detail the various aspects of IPV6 with relevant diagrams. (16)

1. What does computer network subnetting entail?

A big network is divided into smaller subnetworks, or "subnets," by the process of
"subnetting." By easing network congestion, it aids in the effective usage of IP addresses
and boosts network performance.
2. Why is subnetting important?
Subnetting is important because it allows for efficient IP address allocation, enhances
network security by isolating subnets, and enables the creation of logical network
segments for easier management and troubleshooting.
3. How does subnetting work?
Subnetting involves borrowing bits from the host portion of an IP address to create a
subnet mask. The subnet mask determines the network and subnet portions, allowing
devices within the same subnet to communicate directly without involving a router.
4. What advantages does subnetting offer?
Subnetting has several advantages, including greater network security, easier network
management, less broadcast traffic, and more effective IP address use.
5. Are several subnets able to interact with one another?
Yes, routers can facilitate communication between several subnets. To forward network
traffic between subnets depending on their IP addresses and subnet masks, routers serve
as intermediates between them. This makes it possible for bigger networks to
communicate among their subnets.

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