Computer Networks and the

Internet
Dr. Ghulam Abbas
Contents
• What is the Internet ?
• The Network Edge
• The Network Core
• Delay, Loss and throughput
• Protocol Layers and their service models
 End systems are connected together by a network of communication links and packet switches

What is the Internet ?

• The Internet is a computer network that interconnects billions of
computing devices throughout the world.
Term computer network is beginning to sound a bit
dated End Systems
such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, TVs,
gaming consoles, thermostats, home security systems,
home appliances, watches, eye glasses, cars,
traffic control systems and more are being connected
to the Internet
Communication Links coaxial cable, copper wire,
optical fiber, and radio spectrum
Different transmission rates for each medium
Sending/receiving packages of information are
known as packets

Packet Switches takes a packet arriving on one of its

incoming communication links and forwards that packet
on one of its outgoing communication links Routers. Switches
Packets are analogous to trucks,
Communication links  highways and roads,
packet switches intersections, Internet standards are developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force
end systems buildings. (IETF)
The IETF standards documents are called requests for comments (RFCs).
Just as a truck takes a path They define protocols such as TCP, IP, HTTP (for the Web), and SMTP (for e-
through the transportation mail).
network, There are currently more than 7,000 RFCs.
packet takes a path through
a computer network.
End systems access the Internet through ISPs. Each ISP is in itself a network of packet switches and communication links.
• residential ISPs PTCL
• university ISPs; HEC Pakistan
• cellular data ISPs, providing mobile access to our smartphones and other devices.
The Internet is all about connecting end systems to each other, so the ISPs that provide access to end systems
must also be interconnected.

End systems, packet switches, and other pieces of the Internet run protocols that control the sending
and receiving of information within the Internet. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
and the Internet Protocol (IP) are two of the most important protocols in the Internet.
What’s a protocol? protocols define format, order
of messages sent and
a human protocol and a computer network protocol: received among network
entities, and actions taken
on message transmission,
Hi TCP connection receipt
request
Hi TCP connection
response
Got the
time? Get http://www.awl.com/kurose-ross
2:00
<file>
time
 A closer look at network structure:
The computers and  network edge: mobile network
other devices • hosts: clients and servers
connected to the Internet • servers often in data centers global ISP
are often referred to as end systems.
They are referred to as end systems because they sit at the edge of the Internet,
home
 access networks, network
regional ISP
physical media: wired,
wireless
Hosts= End Systems  communication
network core:
links
• interconnected routers
• network of networks

institutional
The computers and other devices connected to the Internet are often network
referred to as end systems.
They are referred to as end systems because they sit at the edge of the Internet,
Hosts : clients and servers.
Informally, clients tend to be desktop and mobile PCs,
smartphones, and so on, whereas servers tend to be more
powerful machines that store and distribute
Web pages, stream video, relay e-mail, and so on.

Today, most of the servers from which we receive

search results, e-mail, Web pages, and videos reside in large
data centers.
For example, Google has 50-100 data centers, including about
15 large centers, each with more than 100,000 servers.
Access networks

Q: How to connect end

systems to edge router?
 residential access nets
 institutional access
networks (school, company)
 mobile access networks
keep in mind:
 bandwidth (bits per second)
of access network?
 shared or dedicated?
 Access Networks
The network that physically connects an end system to the first router (also known as
the “edge router”) on a path from the end system to any other distant end system
Home Access: DSL, Cable, FTTH, Dial-Up, and Satellite

The home’s DSL modem takes digital

A residence typically obtains DSL Internet data and translates it to high-frequency
access from the same local telephone tones for transmission over telephone
Company (telco) that provides its wired wires to the CO.
local phone access. Thus, when DSL The analog signals from many such houses
is used, a customer’s telco is also its are translated back into digital format
ISP. at the DSLAM
 Access Network
The network that physically connects an end system to the first router (also known as
the “edge router”) on a path from the end system to any other distant end system
The residential telephone line carries both data and traditional telephone signals simultaneously, which
are encoded at different frequencies:
• A high-speed downstream channel, in the 50 kHz to 1 MHz band The DSL standards provides 12 Mbps
• A medium-speed upstream channel, in the 4 kHz to 50 kHz band downstream and 1.8 Mbps
• An ordinary two-way telephone channel, in the 0 to 4 kHz band upstream [ITU 1999],
This approach makes the single DSL 55 Mbps downstream and 15 Mbps upstream
link appear as if there were three [ITU 2006].
separate links, so that a telephone call
and an Internet connection can share
the DSL link at the same time.
 cable Internet access is a shared broadcast medium

Access network: cable network

cable Internet access makes use of the cable
television company’s existing cable television
infrastructure. A residence obtains cable Internet
access from the same company that provides
CMTS
its cable television.

Cable internet access requires special modems,

called cable modems.

At the cable head end, the cable modem

Termination system (CMTS) serves a similar
function as the DSL network’s DSLAM—turning
the analog signal sent from the cable modems in
many downstream homes back into digital
format.
frequency division multiplexing:
different channels transmitted
in different frequency bands The DOCSIS 2.0 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) standard
defines downstream rates up to 42.8 Mbps and upstream rates of up to 30.7 Mbps.
Access network: cable network
cable headend

cable splitter cable modem

modem termination system
CMTS
data, TV transmitted at different
frequencies over shared cable ISP
distribution network

 HFC: hybrid fiber coax

• asymmetric: up to 30Mbps downstream transmission rate, 2 Mbps upstream
transmission rate
 network of cable, fiber attaches homes to ISP router
• homes share access network to cable headend
• unlike DSL, which has dedicated access to central office
 FTTH Internet access
optical-distribution network architectures:
Technology that provides even higher speeds is fiber to
• Active Optical Networks Difficult to setup
the home (FTTH).
• Passive Optical Networks Easy to setup
As the name suggests, the FTTH concept is simple—provide
an optical fiber path from the CO directly to the home.

FTTH Data rate > 100Mbps

Other access network technologies
ONT function is similar to modem are also used to provide Internet
access to the home.
The splitter combines a number of In locations where DSL, cable, and
homes (typically less than 100
onto a single, shared optical fiber FTTH are not available (e.g., in some
rural settings),
a satellite link can be used to
connect a residence to the Internet at
speeds of more than
1 Mbps;
Such as StarBand satellite access
The OLT, providing conversion between provider.
optical and electrical signals, connects to the
Internet via a telco router.
 Access network: home network
wireless
devices

to/from headend or
central office
often combined
in single box

cable or DSL modem

wireless access router, firewall, NAT

point (54 Mbps)
wired Ethernet (1 Gbps)
Enterprise access networks (Ethernet)

institutional link to
ISP (Internet)
institutional router

Ethernet institutional mail,

switch web servers

 typically used in companies, universities, etc.

 10 Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps, 10Gbps transmission rates
 today, end systems typically connect into Ethernet switch
The network core
• mesh of interconnected
routers
• packet-switching: hosts
break application-layer
messages into packets
• forward packets from one
router to the next, across
links on path from source
to destination
• each packet transmitted at
full link capacity
Packet-switching: store-and-forward
To send a message from a source end system to a
destination end system, the source breaks long messages
L bits into smaller chunks of data known as packets.
per packet

3 2 1
source destination
R bps R bps

• takes L/R seconds to transmit one-hop numerical example:

(push out) L-bit packet into
 L = 7.5 Mbits
link at R bps
 R = 1.5 Mbps
• store and forward: entire
packet must arrive at router  one-hop transmission
before it can be transmitted delay = 5 sec
on next link
 end-end delay = 2L/R (assuming more on delay shortly …
zero propagation delay)
 Packet Switching: queueing delay, loss
Queueing occurs when work arrives faster than it can be serviced:
R = 100 Mb/s C
A
D
R = 15 Mb/s
B
queue of packets E
waiting for output link

queuing and loss:

 if arrival rate (in bits) to link exceeds transmission rate of link for a period of time:
• packets will queue, wait to be transmitted on link
• packets can be dropped (lost) if memory (buffer) fills up
 Two key network-core functions
routing: determines source-
destination route taken by forwarding: move packets
packets from router’s input to
 routing algorithms appropriate router output

routing algorithm

local forwarding table

header value output link
0100 3 1
0101 2
0111 2 3 2
1001 1
1
011

destination address in arriving

packet’s header
 Two key network-core functions

routing algorithm Routing:

Forwarding: local forwarding table
 global action:
header value output link determine source-
• aka “switching” 0100 3
destination paths
0101 2
• local action: move 0111
1001
2
1 taken by packets
arriving packets
from router’s  routing algorithms
1
input link to
appropriate router 3 2
output link 011
1

destination address in arriving

packet’s header
routing
 forwarding
forwarding