Computer

Communication &
Networks
Lecture # 01
Introduction

Course Instructor:
Engr. M.Zeeshan Sarwar
Grading Policy

 Final Exam: 40%

 Mid term Exam 20%
 Assignments 5%
 Quizzes: 10%
 Labs 25%
 Quizzes may be announced or unannounced.
 Exams are closed-book and extremely time
limited.
 Exams consist of design questions,
numerical, maybe true-false and short
answer questions.
 Reading
 Text book:
 Data Communications and Networking, 4/e
 B.A. Forouzan, McGraw-Hill, 2003,
ISBN 0-07-292354-7.
 Reference books:
 Computer Networking, a top-down approach
featuring the Internet (3rd edition),
 J.K.Kurose, K.W.Ross,Addison-Wesley, 2005,
ISBN 0-321-26976-4.
 Computer Networks, A Systems Approach
L. Peterson & Davie
 Data and Computer Communication by William
Stallings (7th Edition) Prentice Hall.
Data Communications

 The term telecommunication means

communication at a distance. The word data
refers to information presented in whatever
form is agreed upon by the parties creating
and using the data. Data communications are
the exchange of data between two devices
via some form of transmission medium such
as a wire cable.
Fundamental Characteristics

 The effectiveness of a data communication

system depend on four fundamental
characteristics:
 Delivery
 Accuracy
 Timelines
 Jitter
Five Components of Data
Communication

1. Message
2. Sender
3. Receiver
4. Medium
5. Protocol
Direction of data flow

Simplex

Half Duplex

Full Duplex
Network design

Before looking inside a computer

network, first agree on what a
computer network is
Computer network ?
Specialized to
 Set of serial lines to handle:
attach terminals to
mainframe ? Keystrokes
 Telephone network
carrying voice traffic ? Voice
 Cable network to
disseminate video Video
signals ?
What distinguishes a
Computer network ?
 Generality
 Built from general purpose
programmable hardware
 Supports wide range of applications
 Not optimized for special purpose
application like making phone calls or
delivering television signals
Information, Computers,
Networks
 Information: anything that is represented in bits
 Form (can be represented as bits) vs
 Substance (cannot be represented as bits)
 Properties:
 Infinitely replicable
 Computers can “manipulate” information
 Networks create “access” to information
Networks

 Potential of networking:
 move bits everywhere, cheaply, and with desired
performance characteristics
 Network provides “connectivity”
What is “Connectivity” ?
 Direct or indirect access to every other node in the
network

 Connectivity is the magic needed to communicate if

you do not have a direct pt-pt physical link.
 Tradeoff: Performance characteristics worse than true physical
link!
Building Blocks

 Nodes: PC, special-purpose hardware…

 hosts
 switches

 Links: coax cable, optical fiber…

 point-to-point

…
 multiple access
Why not connect each
node with every other
node ? of computers that can be
 Number

connected becomes very limited

 Number of wires coming out of each
node becomes unmanageable
 Amount of physical hardware/devices
required becomes very expensive
 Solution: indirect connectivity using
intermediate data forwarding nodes
A Network

A network can be defined recursively as

two or more nodes connected by a

physical link
Or
two or more networks connected by one or
more nodes
Switched Networks
 A network can be defined recursively as...
 two or more nodes
connected by a link
 white nodes
(switches) implement
the network
 colored nodes (hosts)
use the network
Switched Networks
 A network can be defined recursively as...
 two or more networks
connected by one or more
nodes: internetworks
 white nodes (router or
gateway) interconnects
the networks
 a cloud denotes “any
type of independent
network”
Switching Strategies
 Circuit switching: • Packet switching: store-
carry bit streams and-forward messages
a. establishes a dedicated a. operates on discrete
circuit blocks of data
b. links reserved for use b. utilizes resources
by communication according to traffic
channel demand
c. send/receive bit stream c. send/receive messages
at constant rate at variable rate
d. example: original d. example: Internet
telephone network
What next ?

 Hosts are directly or indirectly connected to

each other
 Can we now provide host-host connectivity ?
 Nodes must be able to say which host it
wants to communicate with
Addressing and Routing

 Address: byte-string that identifies a node

 usually unique
 Routing: forwarding decisions
 process of determining how to forward messages
to the destination node based on its address
 Types of addresses
 unicast: node-specific
 broadcast: all nodes on the network
 multicast: some subset of nodes on the network
Wrap-up

 A network can be constructed from

nesting of networks

 An address is required for each node

that is reachable on the network

 Address is used to route messages

toward appropriate destination
What next ?

 Hosts know how to reach other hosts on

the network
 How should a node use the network for
its communication ?

 All pairs of hosts should have the ability

to exchange messages: cost-effective
resource sharing for efficiency
Multiplexing
 Physical links and nodes are shared among users
 (synchronous) Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM)
 Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM)
L1 R1

L2 R2
Multiple flows
on a single link
Switch 1 Switch 2
L3 R3

Do you see any problem with TDM / FDM ?

What Goes Wrong in the
Network?
Reliability at stake

 Bit-level errors (electrical interference)

 Packet-level errors (congestion)
 distinction between lost and late packet
 Link and node failures
 distinction between broken and flaky link
 distinction between failed and slow node
What Goes Undesirable in the
Network?
Required performance at stake

 Messages are delayed

 Messages are delivered out-of-order
 Third parties eavesdrop

 The challenge is to fill the gap between

application expectations and hardware
capabilities
Networks: key issues
 Network criteria
 Performance

 Throughput
 Delay
 Reliability
 Data transmitted are identical to data received.
 Measured by the frequency of failure
 The time it takes a link to recover from a failure
 Security
 Protecting data from unauthorized access
Terminology

 The throughput or bandwidth of a channel is

the number of bits it can transfer per second

 The latency or delay of a channel is the time

that elapses between sending information and
the earliest possible reception of it
Network topologies

 Topology defines the way hosts are

connected to the network
Network topology issues

a goal of any topology

1. high throughput (bandwidth)

2. low latency
Bandwidth and Latency
Bandwidth
1. telecommunications: range of radio frequencies: a range of radio
frequencies used in radio or telecommunications transmission and
reception
2. computing: communications capacity: the capacity of a
communications channel, for example, a connection to the Internet, often
measured in bits per second
3. a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information
(bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel

Latency
A synonym for delay, is an expression of how much time it takes
for transmission from one designated point to another
Categories of Topology
Mostly used network
topologies

bus

mesh

ring
star
A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three
bus networks
Hierarchical organization of the
Internet
LAN, WAN & MAN
 Network in small geographical Area (Room, Building or a
Campus) is called LAN (Local Area Network)

 Network in a City is call MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

 Network spread geographically (Country or across Globe) is

called WAN (Wide Area Network)
Layering & Protocol Stacks
What’s a protocol?
human protocols:
 “what’s the time?”

 “I have a question”

 introductions

… specific msgs sent

… specific actions taken when msgs received, or other events

network protocols:
 machines rather than humans

 all communication activity in Internet governed by protocols

Protocol

 protocols define format, order of msgs sent

and received among network entities, and
actions taken on msg transmission, receipt
a human protocol and a computer network protocol:
time
Hi
TCP connection
req.
Hi
TCP connection
Got the reply.
time? Get http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/index.htm

2:00
<file>
Standard

 Essential in creating and maintaining an open

and competitive market for equipment
manufacturers
 Guaranteeing national & international
interoperability of data & telecommunication
technology & process.
Layered Tasks
An example from the everyday life

Hierarchy?
Services
Why layered communication?

 To reduce complexity of communication task

by splitting it into several layered small tasks
 Functionality of the layers can be changed as
long as the service provided to the layer
above stays unchanged
 makes easier maintenance & updating

 Each layer has its own task

 Each layer has its own protocol
Reference Models

 OSI reference model

 TCP/IP
OSI Reference model
 Open System Interconnection
 7 layers

1. Crate a layer when different abstraction is needed

2. Each layer performs a well define function
3. Functions of the layers chosen taking internationally
standardized protocols
4. Number of layers – large enough to avoid
complexity
Seven layers of the OSI
model
Exchange using OSI Model
Issues, to be resolved by the
layers
 Larger bandwidth at lower cost
 Error correction
 Flow control
 Addressing
 Multiplexing
 Naming
 Congestion control
 Mobility
 Routing
 Fragmentation
 Security
 ....
Applications
 E-mail
 Searchable Data (Web Sites)
 E-Commerce
 News Groups
 Internet Telephony (VoIP)
 Video Conferencing
 Chat Groups
 Instant Messengers
 Internet Radio
Research areas in
Networking
 Routing
 Security
 Ad-hoc networks
 Wireless networks
 Protocols
 Quality of Service
 …
Readings

 Chapter 1: 1.1, 1.2

 Computer Networks, A Systems Approach
L. Peterson & Davie
 Chapter 1 (B. A Forouzan)
 Section 1.1, 1.2, 1.3,1.4
 Chapter 2 (B.A Forouzan)
 Section 2.1