Computer Networks

BY :- NEERJA ARORA
 Unit-1: Introductory Concepts

 Goals and applications of networks,

 Categories of networks,
 Organization of the Internet
 ISP(Internet Service Providers)
 Network structure and architecture (layering principles, services, protocols and standards),
 The OSI reference model,
 TCP/IP protocol suite,
 Network devices and components.
 DATA COMMUNICATIONS

Data communications are the exchange of data between two devices via some form of transmission
medium such as a wire cable.
Here, the word data refers to information presented in the form that is agreed upon by
the parties creating and using the data.
 NETWORKS

A network is a set of autonomous nodes interconnected by communication links(wired/wireless

media)and are able to interact with each other.
Here, node can be a computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending and/or receiving data
generated by other nodes on the network.

Goals of Computer Networks:

 Resource Sharing
 High Reliability
 Inter-process Communication – if network users located geographically apart
 Flexible access – Files can be accessed from any computer in the network.
Network Criteria

A network must be able to meet a certain number of criteria. The most important of these
are:-

1. Performance
It can be measured in many ways
 transit time
 response time.
 the number of users
 the type of transmission medium
 the capabilities of the connected hardware, and the efficiency of the software.

Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics: throughput and delay

Network Criteria

2. Accuracy. The system must deliver the data accurately to the correct destination. Data that have been
altered in transmission and left uncorrected are unusable.

3. Robustness ability of a network to maintain its structural integrity and continue to operate its original
functions normally even after being attacked,

4. Reliability It is measured by the frequency of failure, the time it takes a link to recover from a failure.

5. Security Network security issues include protecting data from unauthorized access, protecting data
from damage and development, and implementing policies and procedures for recovery from breaches
and data losses.
Categories of
Networks

1. PAN (Personal Area Network)

 It is a computer network that connects computers/devices within the range of an individual
person.
 As PAN works within a range of 10 meters(33 feet), it is called a Personal Area Network.
 It generally consists of a computer, mobile, tablet or personal digital assistant, speakers, video
game consoles.
 It is very useful in the home, offices, and small network areas due to its high performance in terms
of flexibility and efficiency.

Examples of PAN: cordless mice, wireless keyboards, and Bluetooth music systems.
 Advantages of PAN
• PAN is relatively flexible and provides high
efficiency for short network ranges.
Dis-Advantages of PAN
• It needs easy setup and relatively low cost.
• It does not require frequent installations and • Low network coverage area/range.
maintenance • Limited to relatively low data rates.
• It is simple and portable. • Devices are not compatible with each other.
• Needs fewer technical skills to use. • Inbuilt WPAN devices are a little bit costly
 2. Local Area Network (LAN)

 It is a network of computer and peripheral devices which cover a smaller geographical

area such as school, laboratory, home, and office building (Size is limited to a few
kilometers).
 It is a private network, so an outside regulatory body never controls it.
 It is a widely used for sharing resources like files, printers, games, and other
applications, Office administration etc.
 LANs can accommodate thousands of computers.
 Early LANs had data rates in the 4 to 16 Mbps range. Today, speeds are normally 100 or
1000 Mbps.
 The fault tolerance of a LAN is more and there is less congestion in this network.
 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

 A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a computer network that connects computers within a metropolitan
area, which could be a single large city, multiple cities and towns, or any given large area with multiple
buildings.
 This type of network is larger than a LAN but smaller than WAN.
 Depending upon the type of configuration, this network has coverage area from several miles to tens of miles
(maximum 50 km range)
 The fault tolerance of a MAN is less and also there is more congestion in the network than LANs.
 It is costly and may or may not be owned by a single organization.
 The data transfer rate and the propagation delay of MAN are moderate. i.e. (from 1 gigabit per second to 100
Gbps).
 Devices used for transmission of data through MAN are Modem and Wire/Cable.

Examples of a MAN are the part of the telephone company network that can provide a high-speed DSL line to
 Wide Area Network (WAN) –

 WAN is a computer network that extends over a large geographical area, that may comprise a
country, a continent, or even the whole world.
 A (WAN) is a collection of local-area networks (LANs) or other networks that communicate with
one another via telephone lines and radio waves
 WAN may be limited to an enterprise (a corporation or an organization) or accessible to the public.
 Any organization can form its global integrated network using WAN.
 WAN technology is having high speed and relatively expensive.
 Communication medium used for WAN is PSTN or Satellite Link.
 Due to long-distance transmission, the noise and error tend to be more in WAN.
 A WAN can be as complex as
the backbones that connect the
Internet , referred as switched
WAN.
 or as simple as a dial-up line
that connects a home computer
to the Internet, referred as a
point-to-point WAN.
 THE INTERNET

An internet, is a collaboration of more than hundreds of thousands of interconnected networks

that can communicate with each other.
 The Internet today is not a simple hierarchical structure. It is made up of many wide- and local-area
networks joined by connecting devices and switching stations.
 It is difficult to give an accurate representation of the Internet because it is continually changing-new
networks are being added, existing networks are adding addresses, and networks of defunct
companies are being removed.
 End users, who want Internet connection contact Internet service providers (lSPs) and use their
services on payment basis.
 The Internet today is run by private companies, not the government.
An Internet service provider (ISP)
is an organization that provides
services for accessing, using,
managing, or participating in the
Internet.

There are -
 international service providers,
 national service providers,
 regional service providers, and
 local service providers.
 Network Devices and Components

 Network devices, or networking

hardware, are physical devices that are Types of network devices
required for communication and
 Repeater
interaction between hardware on a  Bridge
computer network.  Hub
 Switch
 Router
 You can quickly, safely, and accurately  Gateway
transfer data over one or more networks  Modem
with the help of network devices.  Access Point
 Repeater –

 A repeater operates at the physical layer(1st layer of OSI model).

 It is a 2-port device.
 Repeaters are used to extend the length of the network or longer-distance data
transmission without compromising data integrity or quality.
 Its job is to receive the incoming signal from the sender ,regenerate the signal
and retransmits it to the receiver over the same network .
 When the signal becomes weak or corrupted during transmission, repeaters
copy it bit by bit and regenerate it at its original strength before the signal
becomes too weak. That’s why it is also known as a signal booster.
 Advantages of Repeaters
• Repeaters are simple to install and can easily extend the length or the coverage area of networks.
• They are cost effective.
• Repeaters don’t require any processing overhead. The only time they need to be investigated is in case of
degradation of performance.

 Disadvantages of Repeaters
• Repeaters cannot connect dissimilar networks.
• Sometimes, they cannot differentiate between actual signal and noise.
• They cannot reduce network traffic or congestion.
• Most networks have limitations upon the number of repeaters that can be deployed.
 Bridge –

 A bridge operates at the data link layer and

used for interconnecting two LANs working
on the same protocol.
 A bridge is similar to repeater, with add on
functionality of filtering content of
frames/packets by reading the MAC
addresses of the source & destination and
letting pass only those whose address
corresponds to a machine located at the other
side of the bridge.
 It has a single input and single output port,
thus making it a 2-port device.
 Advantages Disadvantages
• Bridge connects similar network types with different • It is slower compare to repeaters due to the
cabling filtering process
• Some bridges connect networks having different • It is more expensive compared to repeaters
architectures and media types
• Does not scale to extremely large network
• It extends the physical network
• Bridges also can reduce network traffic on a segment by
• Buffering and processing introduces delays
subdividing network communications
• It creates separate collision domains. Hence it can
increases available bandwidth to individual nodes as
fewer nodes share a collision domain.
 Hubs

 A hub is one of the simplest networking devices that connects

several computers or other network devices with each other
through central connection.
 A hub can be used with both digital and analog data
and operates at the Physical layer (Layer 1) of the (OSI)
model.
 They come in different variants such as 4, 8, and 16 port hubs.
 When a computer requests for some information from a
network, it first sends the request to the Hub through cable.
 Hub will broadcast this request to the entire network. All the
devices will check whether the request belongs to them or not.
If not, the request will be dropped.
Advantages of the hub network device are:
• Easy to install
• Inexpensive
• It does not affect the performance of the network seriously
• Easy removal of damaged device

Disadvantages of the hub network device are:

• Can not filter information
• It can not reduce the network traffic
• Broadcast of the data happens to all the port. Thus, No security
•
 Switch

 A switch is a network device that connects multiple

devices on a computer network.
 A Switch contains more advanced features than Hub and it
operates on the data link layer of OSI Model.
 A switch keeps a table of the physical addresses of the
computers connected to it.
 When traffic passes through, the switch reads the address
of the destination and routes it to the relevant computer
rather than all connected computers.
 The traffic is routed to all connected computers if the
destination address is not in the table.
Advantages:
 The hub shares the bandwidth between the ports. A switch, on the other hand, provides
dedicated bandwidth to the ports.
 The switch can perform error checking before forwarding data, which makes it very
efficient as it does not forward packets that have errors and forward good packets selectively
to the correct port only.

Limitations
 Switches can be subject to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks;
 Router

• A router is a hardware device which is used to

connect a LAN with another network(or internet).
• Routers are intelligent devices, and they store
information about the networks they’re connected
to and works in a Layer 3 (Network layer) of the
OSI Reference model.
• Routers receive, analyze and forward the
incoming packets to another network based on
their IP addresses and the information available in
the routing table.
• A router determines the best path from the
available paths for the transmission of the packet.
Advantages Of Router:
• Security: The information which is transmitted to the network will traverse the entire cable, but
the only specified device which has been addressed can read the data.
• Reliability: If the server has stopped functioning, the network goes down, but no other networks
are affected that are served by the router.
• Performance: Router enhances the overall performance of the network. Suppose there are 24
workstations in a network generates a same amount of traffic. This increases the traffic load on
the network. Router splits the single network into two networks of 12 workstations each, reduces
the traffic load by half.
• Can connect different network architecture, such as Ethernet and token ring
 Disadvantages of the router :
• A router is more expensive than bridge or repeaters
• Router only work with routable network protocol, not all protocol are routable
• The router is slower than bridge or repeaters because they must analyze data transmission
from the physical to the network layer
• Dynamic router communication causes additional network traffic
• Are relatively complex device
• Can require a considerable amount of initial configuration
• They are protocol dependent devices which must understand protocol they are using.
Gateways –

 A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two networks that may work
upon different networking models.
 They work as messenger agents that take data from one system, interpret it, and
transfer it to another system.
 Gateways are generally more complex than switches or routers.
 Gateways perform all of the functions of routers and more.
 In fact, a router with added translation functionality is a gateway. The function that
does the translation between different network technologies is called a protocol
converter.
 Gateways operates at network layer.
 Modem

 Modems (modulators-demodulators) are used to transmit digital signals over analog

telephone lines.
 Thus, digital signals are converted by the modem into analog signals of different
frequencies and transmitted to a modem at the receiving location.
 The receiving modem performs the reverse transformation and provides a digital output to
a device connected to a modem, usually a computer.
 The digital data is usually transferred to or from the modem over a serial line through an
industry standard interface, RS-232.
 Many telephone companies offer DSL services, and many cable operators use modems as
end terminals for identification and recognition of home and personal users.
 Modems work on both the Physical and Data Link layers.
 Computer Network Architecture

A communication subsystem/network is a combination of hardware and software that sends data from
one location to another.
 The hardware consists of the physical equipments that carries signals from one point of the
network to another.
 The software consists of instruction sets that make possible the services that we expect from a
network.
Early, the implementation of software for such subsystems were based on single, complex, unstructured
program with many interacting components. The resultant software was very difficult to test and modify.

To overcome such problems, the ISO has developed a layered approach. In a layered approach,
networking concept is divided into several layers, and each layer is assigned a particular task.
Therefore, we can say that networking tasks depend upon the layers.
 Layered Network Architecture

The main aim of the layered architecture is to divide the design into small pieces/layers.
 Each lower layer adds its services to the higher layer to provide a full set of services to manage
communications and run the applications.
 It provides modularity and clear interfaces, i.e., provides interaction between subsystems.
 It ensures the independence between layers by providing the services from lower to higher layer without
defining how the services are implemented. Therefore, any modification in a layer will not affect the other
layers.

The number of layers, functions, contents of each layer will vary from network to network. However,
the purpose of each layer is same i.e. to provide the service to a higher layer and hiding the details from
the layers of how the services are implemented.
Consider an Example: Two friends
communicating through postal mail .
The process of sending a letter to a
friend is also a layered task in which
upper layers uses the services of lower
layer i.e. post office.

The process would be complex if there

were no services available from the
post office.
 Layered Architecture Elements

The basic elements of layered architecture are : services, protocols, and interfaces.

1. Service: It is a set of actions that a layer provides to the higher layer.

2. Protocol: It defines a set of rules that a layer uses to exchange the information with peer entity. These
rules mainly concern about both the contents and order of the messages used.
3. Interface: It is a way through which the message is transferred from one layer to another layer.

In a n-layer architecture, layer n on one machine will have a communication with the
layer n on another machine through lower layers and the rules used in a conversation are known
as a (layer-n protocol).
Network Models

 OSI (Open System Interconnection) model

 TCP/IP Protocol Suite model
OSI Reference Model
 OSI Reference Model

 OSI stands for Open System Interconnection is a reference model that describes how information from a
software application in one computer moves through a physical medium to the software application in
another computer.
 developed by ISO in 1984, and allows any two different systems to communicate regardless of their
underlying architecture(h/w and s/w).
 It is a model for understanding and designing a network architecture that is flexible, robust, and
interoperable
 OSI consists of seven layers, and each layer performs a particular network function.
 OSI model divides the whole task into seven smaller and manageable tasks. Each layer is assigned a
particular task.
 Each layer is self-contained, so that task assigned to each layer can be performed independently.
 Functions of each layer in the OSI model

Application layer
 The application layer enables the user, whether human or software, to access the network.
 It provides user interfaces and is responsible for providing services to the users.
 It handles issues such as network transparency, resource allocation, etc.
Specific services provided by the application layer :

 Network virtual terminal. A network virtual terminal is a software version of a physical terminal, and it
allows a user to log on to a remote host. To do so, the application creates a software emulation of a terminal
at the remote host.
 File transfer, access, and management. This application allows a user to access files in a remote host (to
make changes or read data), to retrieve files from a remote computer for use in the local computer, and to
manage or control files in a remote computer locally.
 Mail services. This application provides the basis for e-mail forwarding and storage.
 Directory services. This application provides distributed database sources and access for global
information about various objects and services.
Presentation Layer
 The presentation layer is concerned with
the syntax and semantics of the
information exchanged between two
systems.
 The presentation layer is responsible for
translation, encryption and compression.
Specific responsibilities of the presentation layer:
 Translation. As different computers use different encoding systems, the presentation layer is responsible for
interoperability between these different encoding methods. The presentation layer at the sender changes the
information from its sender-dependent format into a common format and The presentation layer at the receiving
machine changes the common format into its receiver-dependent format.
 Encryption. To carry sensitive information, a system must be able to ensure privacy. Encryption means that the
sender transforms the original information to another form and sends the resulting message out over the network.
 Decryption reverses the original encryption process to transform the message back to its original form.
 Compression. Data compression reduces the number of bits contained in the information. Data compression
becomes particularly important in the transmission of multimedia such as text, audio, and video.
Session Layer

 The session layer is concerned

with inter-host
communication.
 It establishes, manages and
terminates sessions between
applications.
Specific responsibilities of the session layer :
 Dialog control. The session layer allows two systems to enter into a dialog. It allows the communication between
two processes to take place in either half duplex (one way at a time) or full-duplex (two ways at a time) mode.
 Synchronization. The session layer allows a process to add checkpoints, or synchronization points, to a stream of
data.

For example, if a system is sending a file of 2000 pages, it is advisable to insert checkpoints after every 100 pages to
ensure that each 100-page unit is received and acknowledged independently. In this case, if a crash happens during
the transmission of page 523, the only pages that need to be resent after system recovery are pages 501 to 523. Pages
previous to 501 need not be resent.
Transport Layer

The transport layer is responsible for the

delivery of a message from one process to
another.
A process is an application program running
on a host.
Responsibilities of Transport layer:
 Service-point addressing. Computers often run several programs/process at the same time. Transport layer is responsible
for delivery of message from a specific process (running program) on one computer to a specific process (running
program) on the other. The transport layer header must therefore include a type of address called a service-point address
(or port address).
 Segmentation and reassembly. A message is divided into transmittable segments, with each segment containing a
sequence number. These numbers enable the transport layer to reassemble the message correctly upon arriving at the
destination and to identify and replace packets that were lost in transmission.
 Connection control. The transport layer can be either connectionless or connection oriented.
 Flow control: the transport layer is responsible for flow control. However, flow control at this layer is performed end to
end rather than across a single link.
 Error control. the transport layer is responsible for error control. However, error control at this layer is performed process-
to process rather than across a single link. The sending transport layer makes sure that the entire message arrives at the
receiving transport layer without error (damage, loss, or duplication). Error correction is usually achieved through
retransmission.
Network Layer
 The network layer is responsible for the source-to-destination delivery of a packet, possibly across multiple
networks (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
Responsibilities of the network layer:
 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.
 Routing. When independent networks or links are connected to create internetworks (network of
networks) or a large network, the connecting devices (called routers or switches) route or switch the
packets to their final destination. One of the functions of the network layer is to provide this mechanism
Data Link Layer
 The data link layer is responsible for
reliable and efficient communication
between two or more devices.
 It is mainly responsible for the unique
identification of each device that resides
on a local network
Responsibilities of the data link layer:
 Framing. The data link layer divides the stream of bits received from the network layer into manageable data units
called frames.
 Physical addressing. If frames are to be distributed to different systems on the network, the data link layer adds a
header to the frame to define the sender and/or receiver of the frame. If the frame is intended for a system outside
the sender's network, the receiver address is the address of the device that connects the network to the next one.
 Flow control. If the rate at which the data are absorbed by the receiver is less than the rate at which data are
produced in the sender, the data link layer imposes a flow control mechanism to avoid overwhelming the receiver.
 Error control. The data link layer adds reliability to the physical layer by adding mechanisms to detect and
retransmit damaged or lost frames. It also uses a mechanism to recognize duplicate frames. Error control is
normally achieved through a trailer added to the end of the frame.
 Access control. When two or more devices are connected to the same link, data link layer protocols are necessary
to determine which device has control over the link at any given time
Physical Layer
 The physical layer is responsible for movements of individual bits from one hop (node) to the next.
 This layer coordinates the functions required to carry a bit stream over a physical medium.
The physical layer responsibilities:
 Physical characteristics of interfaces and medium. The physical layer defines the characteristics of the interface between
the devices and the transmission medium. It also defines the type of transmission medium.
 Representation of bits. The physical layer data consists of a stream of bits (sequence of 0s or 1s) with no interpretation. To
be transmitted, bits must be encoded into signals--electrical or optical. The physical layer defines the type of encoding (how
0s and Is are changed to signals).
 Data rate. The transmission rate-the number of bits sent each second-is also defined by the physical layer.
 Synchronization of bits. The sender and receiver not only must use the same bit rate but also must be synchronized at the
bit level. In other words, the sender and the receiver clocks must be synchronized.
 Line configuration. The physical layer is concerned with the type of connection of devices to the media(point-to-point
configuration, or multipoint configuration)
 Physical topology. The physical topology defines how devices are connected to make a network.
 Transmission mode. The physical layer also defines the direction of transmission between two devices: simplex, half-
duplex, or full-duplex.