Chapter-VIII

Connecting LANs,
Backbone Networks,
and Virtual LANs
CONNECTING DEVICES

In this section, we divide connecting devices into five

different categories based on the layer in which they
operate in a network.

Topics discussed in this section:

Passive Hubs
Active Hubs
Bridges
Two-Layer Switches
Routers
Three-Layer Switches
Gateways
Figure 15.1 Five categories of connecting devices
1. Those which operate below the physical layer such as a passive hub.
2. Those which operate at the physical layer (a repeater or an active hub).
3. Those which operate at the physical and data link layers (a bridge or a two-
layer switch).
4. Those which operate at the physical, data link, and network layers (a router
or a three-layer switch).
5. Those which can operate at all five layers (a gateway).
 Passive Hubs
 A passive hub is just a connector. It
connects the wires coming from
different branches.

15.4
Figure 15.2 A repeater connecting two segments of a LAN

A repeater receives a signal and, before it becomes too

weak or corrupted, regenerates the original bit pattern. The
repeater then sends the refreshed signal. A repeater can
extend the physical length of a LAN.
Note

A repeater forwards every frame;

it has no filtering capability.
Note

A repeater is a regenerator,
not an amplifier.
Figure 15.3 Function of a repeater
 Active Hubs
 An active hub is actually a multiport
repeater. It is normally used to create
connections between stations in a physical
star topology.
 hubs can also be used to create multiple
levels of hierarchy, as shown in Figure 15.4.

Figure 15.4 A
hierarchy of hubs
Bridges
 A bridge operates in both the
physical and the data link layer.
 As a physical layer device, it
regenerates the signal it receives.
 As a data link layer device, the
bridge can check the physical (MAC)
addresses (source and destination)
contained in the frame.
Filtering
 A bridge has filtering capability.
 It can check the destination address
of a frame and decide if the frame
should be forwarded or dropped.
Note

A bridge has a table used in

filtering decisions.
Figure 15.5 A bridge connecting two LANs
Note

A bridge does not change the physical

(MAC) addresses in a frame.
Transparent Bridges
 A transparent bridge is a bridge in which the
stations are completely unaware of the bridge's
existence.
 If a bridge is added or deleted from the system,
reconfiguration of the stations is unnecessary.
 According to the IEEE 802.1 d specification, a
system equipped with transparent bridges must
meet three criteria:

1. Frames must be forwarded from one station to
another.

2. The forwarding table is automatically made by
learning frame movements in the network.

3. Loops in the system must be prevented.
Forwarding
 A transparent bridge must correctly
forward the frames,
Learning
 we need a bridge that gradually learns
from the frame movements.
 the bridge inspects both the
destination and the source addresses.
 The destination address is used for the
forwarding decision (table lookup);
 the source address is used for adding
entries to the table and for updating
purposes.
Figure 15.6 A learning bridge and the process of learning

When station A sends a frame

to station D,
 the bridge does not have an
entry for either D or A.
The frame goes out from all
three ports; the frame floods the
network.
However, by looking at the
source address, the bridge
learns that station A must be
located on the LAN connected to
port 1.
Figure 15.6 A learning bridge and the process of learning

When station E sends a frame

to station A,
 the bridge has an entry for A,
so it forwards the frame only
to port 1. There is no flooding.
In addition, it uses the source
address of the frame, E, to add a
second entry to the table.
Figure 15.6 A learning bridge and the process of learning

When station B sends a

frame to C,
 the bridge has no entry
for C,
 so once again it floods
the network and adds one
more entry to the table.
 Loop Problem
 Station A sends a frame
to station D. The tables
of both bridges are
empty. Both forward the
frame and update their
tables based on the
source address A.
 Now there are two
copies of the frame on
LAN 2. The copy sent out
by bridge 1 is received
by bridge 2, which does
not have any information
about the destination
address D; it floods the
bridge.
 To solve the looping Figure 15.7 Loop problem in a learning bridge
problem, bridges use the
spanning tree algorithm
to create a loopless
topology.
Spanning Tree
 A spanning tree is a graph in which there
is no loop.
 In a bridged LAN, this means creating a
topology in which each LAN can be
reached from any other LAN through one
path only (no loop).
 To find the spanning tree, we need to
assign a cost (metric) to each arc.
 The cost, it may be the path with
minimum hops (nodes), the path with
minimum delay, or the path with
maximum bandwidth.
Two-Layer Switches
 A two-layer switch is a bridge, a bridge
with many ports and a design that
allows better (faster) performance.
 A two-layer switch, as a bridge does,
makes a filtering decision based on the
MAC address of the frame it received.
 It can have a buffer to hold the frames
for processing.
Routers
 A router is a three-layer device that routes packets
based on their logical addresses (host-to-host
addressing).
 A router normally connects LANs and WANs in the
Internet
 It has a routing table that is used for making decisions
about the route.
 The routing tables are normally dynamic and are
updated using routing protocols.

Figure 15.11 Routers connecting independent LANs and WANs

Three-Layer Switches
 A three-layer switch is a router, but a
faster and more sophisticated.
 The switching fabric in a three-layer
switch allows faster table lookup and
forwarding.
Gateway
 A gateway is normally a computer
that operates in all five layers of the
Internet or seven layers of OSI
model.
 This means that it can be used as a
connecting device between two
internetworks that use different
models.
Membership
 What characteristic can be used to
group stations in a VLAN?
 port numbers
 MAC addresses
 IP addresses
 IP multicast addresses
 or a combination of two or more of
these.
Configuration
 How are the stations grouped into
different VLANs?
 Stations are configured in one of
three ways:
 Manual
 Semiautomatic
 Automatic.
Manual Configuration
 In a manual configuration, the
network administrator uses the VLAN
software to manually assign the
stations into different VLANs at
setup.
 Later migration from one VLAN to
another is also done manually.
Automatic Configuration
 In an automatic configuration, the
stations are automatically connected
or disconnected from a VLAN using
criteria defined by the administrator.
 For example, the administrator can
define the project number as the
criterion for being a member of a
group. When a user changes the
project, he or she automatically
migrates to a new VLAN.
Semiautomatic
Configuration
 A semiautomatic configuration is
somewhere between a manual
configuration and an automatic
configuration. Usually, the initializing
is done manually, with migrations
done automatically.
Communication Between
Switches
 Three methods have been devised
for this purpose:
 table maintenance
 frame tagging
 time-division multiplexing.
Table Maintenance
 In this method, when a station sends
a broadcast frame to its group
members, the switch creates an
entry in a table and records station
membership.
 The switches send their tables to
one another periodically for
updating.
Frame Tagging
 When a frame is traveling between
switches, an extra header is added to
the MAC frame to define the
destination VLAN.
 The frame tag is used by the
receiving switches to determine the
VLANs to be receiving the broadcast
message.
Time-Division Multiplexing
(TDM)
 The connection (trunk) between switches
is divided into timeshared channels.
 For example, if the total number of
VLANs in a backbone is five, each trunk
is divided into five channels.
 The traffic destined for VLAN 1 travels in
channel 1, the traffic destined for VLAN 2
travels in channel 2, and so on.
 The receiving switch determines the
destination VLAN by checking the
channel from which the frame arrived.
Advantages
 There are several advantages to
using VLANs.
 Cost and Time Reduction
 VLANs can reduce the migration cost of
stations going from one group to
another. Physical reconfiguration takes
time and is costly. Instead of physically
moving one station to another segment
or even to another switch, it is much
easier and quicker to move it by using
software.
Advantages
 Creating Virtual Work Groups
 VLANs can be used to create virtual
work groups.
Advantages
 Security
 VLANs provide an extra measure of
security. People belonging to the same
group can send broadcast messages
with the guaranteed assurance that
users in other groups will not receive
these messages.