Computer Networks (CN)

Unit-5:
Link Layer & Local
Area Networks
 Outline
Looping
• Introduction to Link layer services
• Error Detection and Correction Techniques
• Multiple Access Protocols
• Addressing
• Ethernet, Switches & VLAN
INTRODUCTION OF DATA LINK LAYER
 Introduction
 Host and routers are as nodes.
 Communication channels that connect adjacent
nodes along communication path, its called links.
 Wired links global ISP
 Wireless links
 LANs
 In this layer, Packet is form of frame from
encapsulate datagram.
 This layer has responsibility of transferring
datagram from one node to physically adjacent
node over a link.
 Link Layer Services
 Framing
 Encapsulate datagram into frame.
 Adding header and trailer.
 Link Access
 “MAC” addresses used in frame headers to identify source and destination. It is different from IP address.
 Reliable Delivery
 If this layer protocol provides reliable delivery service, it guarantees to move each network-layer
datagram across the link without error.
 A link-layer reliable delivery service can be achieved with acknowledgments and retransmissions.
 Flow Control
 Pacing between adjacent sending and receiving nodes.
 Link Layer Services – Cont…
 Error Detection & Correction
 Errors caused by signal attenuation and noise.
 Receiver detects presence of errors.
 Sender send signal for retransmission or drops frame.
 Receiver identifies and corrects bit error(s) without resorting to retransmission.
 Error Detection & Correction Technique
 Techniques for error detection
 Parity Check
 Checksum Method
 Cyclic Redundancy Check
 Parity Check
 One extra bit is sent along with the original bits to make number of 1s either even in case of
even parity, or odd in case of odd parity.
 For example, if even parity is used and number of 1s is even then one bit with value 0 is
added. This way number of 1s remains even.
 If the number of 1s is odd, to make it even a bit with value 1 is added.

1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1
 Parity Check – Cont…
 Receiver counts the number of 1s in a frame. If the count of 1s is even and even parity is
used, the frame is considered to be not-corrupted and is accepted.
 If the count of 1s is odd and odd parity is used, the frame is still not corrupted.
 If a single bit flips in transit, the receiver can detect it by counting the number of 1s.
 But when more than one bits are erroneous, then it is very hard for the receiver to detect
the error.
 Checksum
 Data is divided into k segments each of m bits.
 Sender Side: Segments are added using 1’s complement arithmetic to get the sum.
 Sum is complemented to get the checksum.
 Checksum segment is sent along with the data segments.
 Receiver Side: All received segments are added using 1’s complement arithmetic to get
complemented sum.
 If the result is zero, the received data is accepted; otherwise discarded.
 Checksum - Example
 Add two 16-bit integers word

Sender Receiver
1 1110011001100110 1 1110011001100110
1 1101010101010101 1 1101010101010101
wraparound 1 1011101110111011 1 1011101110111011
+ +
sum 1 1011101110111100 1 1011101110111100
sum
checksum 0100010001000011 1 0100010001000011
1111111111111111
If one of the bits is a 0, then we can
say that error introduced into packet

Note : when adding numbers, a carryout from the most significant bit needs to be added
to the result
 Cyclic Redundancy Check
 CRC is the most powerful and easy to implement technique.
 CRC is based on binary division.
 In CRC, a sequence of redundant bits, are appended to the end of data unit so that the
resulting data unit becomes exactly divisible by a second, predetermined binary number.
 At the destination, the incoming data unit is divided by the same number.
 If at this step there is no remainder, the data unit is assumed to be correct and is therefore
accepted.
 A remainder indicates that the data unit has been damaged in transit and therefore must be
rejected.
 The binary number, which is (r+1) bit in length, can also be considered as the coefficients of
a polynomial, called Generator Polynomial.
CRC – Example:1
CRC – Example:2
 Multiple Access Links
 There are two types of network links:
 A point-to-point link consists of a single sender at one end of the link and a single receiver at
the other end of the link.
 A broadcast link, can have multiple sending and receiving nodes all connected to the same,
single, shared broadcast channel.
 The term broadcast is used here because when any one node transmits a frame, the channel
broadcasts the frame and each of the other nodes receives a copy.
 Multiple Access Protocols
Categories of Multiple Access Protocol:
1. Channel Partitioning Protocols
 Divide channel into smaller “pieces” (time slots, frequency, code)
 Allocate piece to node for exclusive use
 Examples of channel partitioning protocols
 TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access
 FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access
 CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
 Multiple Access Protocols – Cont…
2. Random Access Protocols
 Channel is not divided and allow collisions.
 “Recover” from collisions
 Examples of random access MAC (Medium Access Control) protocols
 Pure ALOHA
 Slotted ALOHA
 CSMA, CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA
 Multiple Access Protocols – Cont…
3. Taking-turns protocols
 Nodes take turns but nodes with more to send can take longer turns.
 Examples of taking-turns protocols
 Polling
 Token passing
 TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access
 Suppose the channel supports N nodes and that the transmission rate of the channel is R
bps.
 TDM divides time into time frames and further divides each time frame into N time slots.
 Each time slot is then assigned to one of the N nodes.

6-slot 6-slot
frame frame
1 3 4 1 3 4

 Example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have packet, slots 2,5,6 idle

 Major drawbacks: First, A node is limited to an average rate of R/N bps even when it is the
only node with packets to send.
 Second drawback is that a node must always wait for its turn in the transmission sequence
again, even when it is the only node with a frame to send.
 FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access
 Channel spectrum divided into frequency bands.
 Each station assigned fixed frequency band.
 Unused transmission time in frequency bands go idle.
 Example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have packet, frequency bands 2,5,6 idle

time

frequency bands
FDM cable
 CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
 CDMA assigns a different code to each node, While TDM and FDM assign time slots and
frequencies respectively.
 Each node then uses its unique code to encode the data bits it sends.
 If the codes are chosen carefully, CDMA networks have the wonderful property that different
nodes can transmit simultaneously.
 Their respective receivers correctly receive a sender’s encoded data bits in spite of
interfering transmissions by other nodes.
 Example: Used in military and widespread civilian use, particularly in cellular telephony.
 Because CDMA’s use is so tightly tied to wireless channels.
 Pure Aloha Protocol
 It allows users to transmit whenever they have data to be sent.
 Senders wait to see if a collision occurred (after whole message has been sent).
 If collision occurs, each station involved waits a random amount of time then tries again.
 Systems in which multiple users share a common channel in a way that can lead to conflicts are
widely known as contention systems.
 Whenever two frames try to occupy the channel at the same time, there will be a collision and both
will be garbled.
 If the first bit of a new frame overlaps with just the last bit of a frame almost finished, both frames
will be totally destroyed and both will have to be retransmitted later.
 Pure ALOHA – Cont…
 Frames are transmitted at completely arbitrary times.
 The throughput of the Pure ALOHA is maximized when the frames are of uniform length.
 The formula to calculate the throughput of the Pure ALOHA is
S-=G*e-2G
 The throughput is maximum when G=1/2 which is 18% of the total transmitted data frames.
 Slotted Aloha
 It was invented to improve the efficiency of pure ALOHA as chances of collision in pure
ALOHA are very high.
 The time of the shared channel is divided into discrete intervals called slots.
 The stations can send a frame only at the beginning of the slot and only one frame is sent in
each slot.
 Slotted Aloha – Cont…

 If any station is not able to place the frame onto the channel at the beginning of the slot
then the station has to wait until the beginning of the next time slot.
 The formula to calculate the throughput of the Slotted ALOHA is S=G*e-G
 The throughput is maximum when G=1 which is 37% of the total transmitted data frames.
 37% of the time slot is empty, 37% successes and 26% collision.
 CSMA/CD (CSMA with Collision Detection)
 If two stations sense the channel to be idle and begin transmitting simultaneously, they will
both detect the collision almost immediately.
 Rather than finish transmitting, they should abruptly stop transmitting as soon as the
collision is detected.
 Quickly terminating damaged frames saves time and bandwidth.
 This protocol, known as CSMA/CD (CSMA with Collision Detection) is widely used on LANs in
the MAC sub layer.
 CSMA/CD – Cont…

 At the point marked t0, a station has finished transmitting its frame. Any other station having
a frame to send may now attempt to do so.
 After a station detects a collision, it aborts transmission, waits a random period of time, and
then tries again, assuming that no other station has started transmitting in the meantime.
 Therefore, CSMA/CD will consist of alternating contention and transmission periods, with
idle periods occurring when all stations are quiet.
 Polling
 It requires one of the nodes to be designated as a master node.
 The master node polls each of the nodes in a round-robin fashion.
 The master node first sends a message to node 1, saying that it (node 1) can transmit up to
some maximum number of frames.
 After node 1 transmits some frames, the master node tells node 2 it (node 2) can transmit
up to the maximum number of frames.
 The master node can determine when a node has finished sending its frames by observing
the lack of a signal on the channel.
 Polling – Cont…
 The procedure continues in this manner, with the master node polling each of the nodes in a
cyclic manner.

 The polling protocol eliminates the collisions and empty slots that plague random access
protocols.
 Token Passing
 There is no master node.
 A small, special-purpose frame known as a token is
exchanged among the nodes in some fixed order.
 For example, node 1 might always send the token to node 2,
node 2 might always send the token to node 3, and node N
might always send the token to node 1.
 When a node receives a token, it holds onto the token only
if it has some frames to transmit; otherwise, it immediately
forwards the token to the next node.
 If failure of one node can crash the entire channel. Or if a
node accidentally neglects to release the token.
 Ethernet
 Ethernet is one of the widely used local area network (LAN) technology.
1. Switched Ethernet
 It gives dedicated 10 Mbps bandwidth on each of its ports.
 On each of the ports one can connect either a thick/thin segment or a computer.
2. Fast Ethernet
 The 802.u or the fast Ethernet was approved by the IEEE 802 Committee.
 It uses the same frame format, same CSMA/CD protocol and same interface as the 802.3, but uses a data
transfer rate of 100 Mbps instead of 10 Mbps.
 Fast Ethernet is based entirely on 10-Base-T.
 Ethernet – Cont…
3. Gigabit Ethernet
 Gigabit Ethernet is carried primarily on optical fiber (with very short distances possible on copper media).
 Existing Ethernet LANs with 10 and 100 Mbps cards can feed into a Gigabit Ethernet backbone.
 An alternative technology that competes with Gigabit Ethernet is ATM.
 A newer standard, 10-Gigabit Ethernet is also becoming available.
 E.g. 100-Base-T
 Bit Stuffing
 In a bit-oriented protocol, the data to send is a series of bits.
 In order to distinguish frames, most protocols use a bit pattern of 8-bit length (01111110) as
flag at the beginning and end of each frame.
 Here also cause the problem of appearance of flag in the data part to deal with this an extra
bit added.
 This method is called bit stuffing.
 If a 0 and five successive 1 bits are encountered, an extra 0 is added.
 The receiver node removes the extra-added zero.
Bit Stuffing - Example
 Byte Stuffing
 Problem of resynchronization by having each frame start and end with special bytes.
 A flag byte is used to separate the frame as both the starting and ending delimiter.
 This technique is called byte stuffing or character stuffing.
 In this way, if the receiver ever loses synchronization, it can just search for the flag byte to
find the end of the current frame.
 Two consecutive flag bytes indicate the end of one frame and start of the next one.
 Byte Stuffing - Example
 To solve this problem, is to have the sender's data link layer insert a special escape byte (ESC) just
before each "accidental" flag byte in the data.
 The data link layer on the receiving end removes the escape byte before the data are given to the
network layer.
 ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
 It is a protocol for mapping an Internet Protocol address (IP address) to a physical machine
address that is recognized in the local network.
 For example, in IPv4 - an address is 32 bits long.
 The physical machine address is also known as a Media Access Control or MAC address.
 A table, usually called the ARP cache, is used to maintain a correlation between each MAC
address and its corresponding IP address.
 ARP provides the protocol rules for making this correlation and providing address conversion
in both directions.
How ARP Works?
 How ARP Works?
 When an incoming packet arrives at a gateway, the gateway asks the ARP program to find a
physical host or MAC address that matches the IP address.
 The ARP program looks in the ARP cache and, if it finds the address, provides it so that the
packet can be converted to the right packet length and format and sent to the machine.
 If no entry is found for the IP address, ARP broadcasts a request packet in a special format to
all the machines on the LAN to see if one machine knows that it has that IP address
associated with it.
 A machine that recognizes the IP address as its own returns a reply.
 ARP updates the ARP cache for future reference and then sends the packet to the MAC
address that replied.