CHAPTER 6
FUNDAMENTALS OF NETWORK PROTOCOL
6.1 GENERAL
6.2 INTRODUCTION TO IP
6.3 NETWORK MATH
6.4 IP CLASSES, NETWORK ID & HOST ID
6.5 SUBNETTING
6.1 GENERAL
In the networking and communications area, a protocol is the formal
specification that defines the procedures that must be followed when
transmitting or receiving data. Protocols define the format, timing,
sequence, and error checking used on the network.
In plain English, the above means that if you have 2 or more devices e.g.
computers which want to communicate, then they need a common "Protocol"
which is a set of rules that guide the computers on how and when to talk to
each other.
There are hundreds of protocols out there and it is impossible to list them
all here, but instead we have included some of the most popular protocols
around so you can read up on them and learn more about them by your own.
Network protocols provide what are called "link services." These protocols
handle addressing and routing information, error checking, and
retransmission requests. Network protocols also define rules for
communicating in a particular networking environment such as Ethernet or
Token Ring.
Protocols prepare data in a linear fashion.
Protocol in one layer performs a certain set of operations on data.
The data is then passed to the next layer where another protocol
performs a different set of operations.
At the destination, the protocols undo the construction of the packet
that was done on the source side, in reverse order.
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Service access point (SAP) The interface between each of the seven layers in
the OSI protocol stack that has connection points, similar to addresses, used for
communication between layers.
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Common/popular protocols
OSI layer Protocol Description
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer An Internet protocol for transferring
Protocol) e-mail.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) An Internet files transfer protocol.
Application SNMP (Simple Network An Internet protocol for monitoring
Layer Protocol Management Protocol) networks and network components
Telnet An Internet protocol for logging on
to remote hosts and processing
data locally.
NetBEUI (NetBIOS extended Establishes communication sessions
user interface) between computers (NetBIOS) and
provides the underlying data
transport services (NetBEUI).
Protocols that are commonly used
for Microsoft-based, peer-to-peer
Transport networks are NetBEUI and
Layer Protocol NetBIOS(network basic input/output
system)).
Note: NetBIOS is a Session layer
protocol.
TCP The TCP/IP protocol for guaranteed
delivery of sequenced data
Sequenced Packet Exchange Part of Novell's IPX/SPX protocol
(SPX) suite for sequenced data.
The TCP/IP protocol for packet-
Network layer forwarding routing. Detailed
IP
protocol explanation about IP is given
below.
Internetwork Packet Exchange NetWare's protocol for packet
(IPX) forwarding and routing
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6.2. Introduction to the Internet Protocol
Perhaps one of the most important and well known protocols is the Internet
Protocol (IP). IP gives us the ability to uniquely identify each
computer/device in a network or on the Internet.
When a computer is connected to a network or the Internet, it is assigned a
unique IP address. If you're connecting to the Internet, chances are you're
given an IP automatically by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), if you're
connecting to your LAN then you're either given the IP automatically or you
manually configure the workstation with an assigned IP.
If you really want to understand how network communications work,
especially when it comes to an IP network, like the Internet, a full
understandation of IP is critical. DNS, FTP, SNMP, SMTP, HTTP and a lot
of other protocols and services rely heavily on the IP protocol in order to
function correctly, so you can immediately see that IP is more than just an
IP Address on your workstation.
IP is one of the most important protocols in the networking world.
6.3. Network Math
The following figure shows:-
How an IP address looks like and
How IP address is understood by a computer
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Understanding the conversion between Decimal and Binary
Algorithm 1
To convert a number form base 2 (Bin) to base 10 (Dec)
1) Get the place value of each digit
2) Find the sum of the place values
Algorithm 2
To convert a number from base 10 to base 2
1) Divide the integer part successively by 2
2) Accumulate the remainders bottom up
Exercise:
COBVERT
a) (192)DEC to ( )BIN
b) (168)DEC to ( )BIN
c) (11000000)BIN to ( )DEC
d) (10101000)BIN to ( )DEC
Notice: using n bits, we can represent 2n decimal numbers
Example 1
Using 2 bits how many decimal numbers can be represented
Solution:
2n, n=2 =>, 22 = 4
Bin Dec
00 0
01 1
10 2
11 3
Example 2
Using four bits
2n, n=4, => 24= 16, decimal numbers can be represented
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BINARY DECIMAL
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 1
0 0 1 0 2
0 0 1 1 3
0 1 0 0 4
0 1 0 1 5
0 1 1 0 6
0 1 1 1 7
1 0 0 0 8
1 0 0 1 9
1 0 1 0 10
1 0 1 1 11
1 1 0 0 12
1 1 0 1 13
1 1 1 0 14
1 1 1 1 15
Logical operation (operation on bits)
The And Logic
Let A and B are two digital inputs
THRTH TABLE
n 2
Possible number of unique input combinations = 2 , n=2, 2 = 4
A B AND(A,B
)
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
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1 1 1
THE OR LOGIC
Let A and B are two digital inputs
THRTH TABLE
n 2
Possible number of unique input combinations = 2 , n=2, 2 = 4
A B OR(A,B
)
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
6.4. Internet Protocol Classes, Network & Host ID
There are certain values that an IP Address can take and these have been
defined by the IEEE committee.
A simple IP Address is a lot more than just a number. It tells us the network
that the workstation is part of and the node ID.
When the IEEE committee sat down to sort out the range of numbers that
were going to be used by all computers, they came out with 5 different
ranges or, as we call them, "Classes" of IP Addresses and when someone
applies for IP Addresses they are given a certain range within a specific
"Class" depending on the size of their network.
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The 5 different Classes of IP address defined by the IEEE committee
is given below
CLASS A 0XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
CLASS B 10XXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
CLASS C 110XXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
CLASS D 1110XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
CLASS E 11110XXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX
Note: X stands for dont care values (i.e. either o or 1)
The first 3 classes ( A, B and C) are used to identify workstations, routers,
switches and other devices whereas the last 2 Classes ( D and E) are reserved for
special use.
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An IP Address consists of 32 Bits, which means it's 4 bytes long. The first octet
(first 8 Bits or first byte) of an IP Address is enough for us to determine the Class
to which it belongs. And, depending on the Class to which the IP Address belongs,
we can determine which portion of the IP Address is the Network ID and which is
the Node ID.
For example, if the first octet of an IP Address is "168" then, using the above
table, it falls within the 128-191 range, which makes it a Class B IP Address.
Understanding the Classes
Companies are assigned different IP ranges within these classes, depending on the
size of their network. For instance, if a company required 1000 IP Addresses it
would probably be assigned a range that falls within a Class B network rather than a
Class A or C.
The Class A IP Addresses were designed for large networks,
Class B for medium size networks and
Class C for smaller networks.
Introducing Network ID and Node ID concepts
IP Address gives us 2 pieces of valuable information:
1) It tells us which network the device is part of (Network ID).
2) It identifies that unique device within the network (Node ID).
The Network ID tells us which network a particular computer belongs to and the
Node ID identifies that computer from all the rest that reside in the same
network.
The picture below gives you a small example to help you understand the concept:
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THE NETWORK AND NODE ID OF EACH CLASS
The table below shows you (in binary) how the Network ID and Node ID changes
depending on the Class:
Analysis of each class
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1. Class A network
2. Class C network
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is imperative that every network, regardless of Class
and size, has a Network Address (first IP Address e.g 192.168.0.0 for Class C
network) and a Broadcast Address (last IP Address e.g 192.168.0.255 for Class C
network), which cannot be used. So when calculating available IP Addresses in a
Network address
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network, always remember to subtract 2 from the number of IP Addresses within
that network.
Broadcast address
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Exercise: do the same thing for Class B network.
6.5 . SUBNETTING
What is Subnetting ?
When we Subnet a network, we basically split it into smaller networks. For example,
when a set of IP Addresses is given to a company, they might want to "partition
that one network into smaller ones, one for each department. This way, their
Technical department and Management department can each have a small network
of their own. By subnetting the network we can partition it to as many smaller
networks as we need and this also helps reduce traffic and hides the complexity of
the network.
By default, all type of Classes (A, B and C) have a subnet mask, we call it the
"Default Subnet mask". You need to have one because:
1) All computers need the subnet mask field filled when configuring IP
2) You need to set some logical boundaries in your network
2) You should at least enter the default subnet mask for the Class you're using
Subnet mask is what determines the Network ID and Host ID portion of an IP
Address.
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The table below shows clearly the subnetmask that applies for each network Class.
Slash Format
Class A 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000 /8
Class B 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 /16
Class C 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 /24
Note that the default subnet masks have been set by the IEEE committee.
The picture below shows our example network (192.168.0.0). All computers
here have been configured with the default Class C subnet mask
(255.255.255.0):
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Because of the subnet mask we used, all these computers are part of the
one network. This also means that any one of these hosts (computers, router
and server) can communicate with each other.
If we now wanted to partition this network into smaller segments, then we
would need to change the subnet mask appropriately so we can get the
desired result. Let's say we needed to change the subnet mask from
255.255.255.0 to 255.255.255.224 on each configured host.
The picture below shows us how the computers will see the network once the
subnet mask has changed:
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In reality, we have just created 8 networks from the one large network we
had, but here to keep things simple for now and showing only 2 of these
smaller networks.
Default Subnet masks of each Class
The picture below shows our 3 Network Classes with their respective
default subnet mask:
The Effect of a Subnet Mask on an IP Address
We know that an IP Address consists of two parts, 1) The Network ID and
2) The Host ID. This rule applies for all IP Addresses that use the default
subnet mask and we call them Classful IP Addresses.
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Example: Class C classful IP address
NOTE:
All Class C Classful IP Addresses have a 24 bit subnet mask
(255.255.255.0).
All Class B Classful IP Addresses have a 16 bit subnet mask (255.255.0.0).
All Class A Classful IP Addresses have an 8 bit subnet mask (255.0.0.0).
On the other hand, the use of an IP Address with a subnet mask other than
the default results in the standard Host bits (the Bits used to indentify the
HOST ID) being divided in to two parts: a Subnet ID and Host ID. These
type of IP Addresses are called Classless IP Addresses.
In order to understand what a "Classless IP Address" is without getting
confused, we are going to take the same IP Address as above, and make it a
Classless IP Address by changing the default subnet mask:
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Looking at the picture above you will now notice that we have a Subnet ID,
something that didn't exist before. As the picture explains, we have
borrowed 3 bits from the Host ID and used them to create a Subnet ID.
Effectively we partitioned our Class C network into smaller networks.
The picture below shows us both examples:
Given an IP address, find its network ID , host ID and Subnet ID?
Converting the IP address 10.34.23.134 to binary would result in:
00001010.00100010.00010111.10000110
Performing a Boolean AND of the IP address 10.34.23.134 and the subnet
mask 255.0.0.0 produces the network address of this host:
00001010.00100010.00010111.10000110
11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000
00001010.00000000.00000000.00000000
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Converting the result to dotted decimal, 10.0.0.0 is the network portion of
the IP address, when using the 255.0.0.0 mask.
Any device, or gateway, connecting n networks/subnetworks has n distinct IP
addresses, one for each network / subnetwork that it interconnects.
By extending the mask to be 255.255.255.224 (/27), you have taken three
bits from the original host portion of the address and used them to make
subnets. With these three bits, it is possible to create eight subnets. With
the remaining five host ID bits, each subnet can have up to 32 host
addresses, 30 of which can actually be assigned to a device since host ids of
all zeros or all ones are not allowed (it is very important to remember this).
So, with this in mind, the following subnets have been created.
204.15.5.0 /27 Host Address Range 1 To 30
204.15.5.32 /27 Host Address Range 33 To 62
204.15.5.64 /27 Host Address Range 65 To 94
204.15.5.96 /27 Host Address Range 96 To 126
204.15.5.128 /27 Host Address Range 129 To 158
204.15.5.160 /27 Host Address Range 161 To 190
204.15.5.192 /27 Host Address Range 193 To 222
204.15.5.224 /27 Host Address Range 225 To 254
Note: There are two ways to denote the above masks. First, since you are
using three bits more than the "natural" Class C mask, you can denote these
addresses as having a 3-bit subnet mask. Or, secondly, the mask of
255.255.255.224 can also be denoted as /27 as there are 27 bits that are
set in the mask. Using this method, one of the above networks can be
described with the notation prefix/length. For example, 204.15.5.32/27
denotes the network 204.15.5.32 255.255.255.224.
Example 1
If you have network 172.16.0.0 ,then you know that its natural mask is
255.255.0.0 or 172.16.0.0/16. Extending the mask to anything beyond
255.255.0.0 means you are subnetting. You can quickly see that you have the
ability to create a lot more subnets than with the Class C network above. If
you use a mask of 255.255.248.0 (/21), how many subnets and hosts per
subnet does this allow for?
172.16.0.0 - 10101100.00010000.00000000.00000000
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255.255.248.0 - 11111111.11111111.11111000.00000000
You are using five bits from the original host bits for subnets. This will allow
you to have 32 subnets (25). After using the five bits for subnetting, you are
left with 11 bits for host addresses. This will allow each subnet so have
2048 host addresses (211), 2046 of which could be assigned to devices.
Example 2
Determine to which subnet each address belongs.
Device A: 172.16.17.30/20
Device B: 172.16.28.15/20
Solution
Determining the Subnet for Device A:
172.16.17.30 - 10101100.00010000.00010001.00011110
255.255.240.0 - 11111111.11111111. 11110000.00000000
Subnet = 10101100.00010000.00010000.00000000 = 172.16.16.0, by
performing AND logic
Device A belongs to subnet 172.16.16.0.
Determining the Subnet for Device B:
172.16.28.15 - 10101100.00010000.00011110. 00001111
255.255.240.0 - 11111111.11111111. 11110000.00000000
Subnet = 10101100.00010000.00010000.00000000 = 172.16.16.0
Device B belongs to subnet 172.16.16.0.
So from the above determinations, DeviceA and DeviceB have addresses
that are part of the same subnet.
Example 3
Given the Class C network of 204.15.5.0/24, subnet the network in order to
create the following network with the host requirements shown.
Net A: must support 14 hosts
Net B: must support 28 hosts
Net C: must support 2 hosts
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Net D: must support 7 hosts
Net E: must support 28 host
You are required to create five subnets. The largest subnet must support 28
host addresses. Is this possible with a Class C network? and if so, then how?
You can start by looking at the subnet requirement. In order to create the
five needed subnets you would need to use three bits from the Class C host
bits.
Since you need three subnet bits, that leaves you with five bits for the host
portion of the address. How many hosts will this support? 25 = 32 (30
usable). This meets the requirement.
Therefore you have determined that it is possible to create the above
network with a Class C network. An example of how you might assign the
subnetworks is as follows:
Net A: 204.15.5.0/27 Host Address Range 1 To 30
Net B: 204.15.5.32/27 Host Address Range 33 To 62
Net C: 204.15.5.64/27 Host Address Range 65 To 94
Net D: 204.15.5.96/27 Host Address Range 97 To 126
Net E: 204.15.5.128/27 Host Address Range 129 To 158
VARIABLE LENGTH SUBNET MASKS (VLSM)
In all of the previous examples of subnetting you will notice that the same
subnet mask was applied for all the subnets. This means that each subnet
has the same number of available host addresses. You may need this in some
cases, but, in most cases, having the same subnet mask for all subnets ends
up wasting address space. For example, in the second exercise above, a class
C network was split into eight equal-size subnets; however, each subnet did
not utilize all the available host addresses, resulting in wasted address
space. This can be visualized as follows:
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Looking at the above graphic, you can see that of the subnets that are being
used, NetA, NetC, and NetD have a lot of unused host address space. This
may have been a deliberate design accounting for future growth, but in many
cases this is just wasted address space due to the fact that the same
subnet mask is being used for all the subnets.
Variable Length Subnet Masks (VLSM) allows you to use different masks for
each subnet, thereby using address space efficiently.
Example 3: VLSM
Given the following requirements, develop a SUBNETTING scheme using
VLSM:
Net A: must support 14 hosts
Net B: must support 28 hosts
Net C: must support 2 hosts
Net D: must support 7 hosts
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Net E: must support 28 host
Determine what mask will allow the required number of hosts.
Net A: requires a /28 (255.255.255.240) mask to support 14 hosts
Net B: requires a /27 (255.255.255.224) mask to support 28 hosts
Net C: requires a /30 (255.255.255.250) mask to support 2 hosts
Net D: requires a /28 (255.255.255.240) mask to support 7 hosts
Net E: requires a /27 (255.255.255.224 mask to support 28 hosts
The Easiest Way To Assign The Subnets Is To Start Assigning The
Largest First. Thus, You Can Assign In The Following Manner.
Net B: 204.15.5.0/27 Host Address Range 1 To 30
Net E: 204.15.5.32/27 Host Address Range 33 To 62
Net A: 204.15.5.64/28 Host Address Range 65 To 78
Net D: 204.15.5.80/28 Host Address Range 81 To 94
Net C: 204.15.5.96/30 Host Address Range 97 To 98
This can be graphically represented as follows.
From the above graphic you can see how using VLSM helped save more than
half of the address space.
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