CS2105 Introduction to Computer

Networks

Lecture 1
Introduction
17 Jan 2025
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this class, you should:
• Know the basic terms, including host, packet, protocol, throughput, store-and-
forward, and autonomous system.
• Know about the logical (the five layers) and physical architecture (as a network
of ASes) of the Internet.
• Know the pros and cons of packet switching and circuit switching.
• Know the different components of end-to-end delay and their relations to
bandwidth, packet size, distance, propagation speed, and queue size.
The Actual Title
of this Course
 I Reincarnated Back to the 17th Century
with My Fiancé in a Long-Distance Relationship
A love story
of how two lovers, Alice

Bob
Separated by long-distance,
Send their love letters to each other
Yes, Alice and Bob

It's always Alice and Bob

How in the 17th Century?

can they maintain their

long-distance relationship?
Invent the postal delivery service

• Hire a dedicated messenger

• Find a merchant
• Find merchants to relay
• Pool letters with others
Invent telephony communication

• Direct wire to wire

• Telephone exchange
• Exchange to exchange
Invent the Internet

• Direct connection
• Use existing telephone network
Understand by Analogy
Computer Network vs Postal Service
• Both work across the globe
• Seamless Abstraction
• Over different mediums
Lecture 1: Roadmap
1.1 What is the Internet?
1.2 Network Edge
- hosts, access networks, links Chapter 1
1.3 Network Core
- packet switching, circuit switching, network structure
1.4 Delay, Loss and Throughput in Networks
1.5 Protocol Layers and Service Models
Why the Internet?
• US Department of Defense
- Maintain communication during a nuclear war
- Reliable redundancy
• APRANET
- One of many early networks
• Why the Internet?
• What is the Internet?
 World
Internet ≠ Wide Web
Just one of the many services
that runs over the Internet

email ssh rdp

www ftp ntp

Internet
 The Internet is a network of
connected computing devices
In other words
• It is infrastructure that connects hosts/end systems
together
- Allows hosts to communicate with each other
• Network edge
- End hosts, servers, etc. Host
Host Host

• Network core
- ISPs, Routers, etc. Host
Network
Core

Host
Host
Host

Network Edge
• Why the Internet?
• What is the Internet?
• How the Internet is organised?
Lecture 1: Roadmap
1.1 What is the Internet?
1.2 Network Edge
- hosts, access networks, links
1.3 Network Core
- packet switching, circuit switching, network structure
1.4 Delay, Loss and Throughput in Networks
1.5 Protocol Layers and Service Models
Hosts/End Systems
Hosts run network
applications
Examples
• Web: browsers  web servers
• WoW: clients  game servers
• VoIP: IP phones  PBX servers
• BitTorrent: peers  trackers
• BitCoin: miners  exchange
Applications communicate
using protocols
Protocols define the:
1. format and order of messages exchanged among
network entities, and
2. actions taken upon receiving or sending the
messages
Some Examples
 Some Examples

HTTP, FTP, SMTP, TCP,

RTP
Access Networks
• Hosts access the Internet mobile network

through access network. global ISP

- Residential access networks

- Institutional access networks home
network
regional ISP
(school, company)
- Mobile access networks

institutional
network
Home Networks

Ethernet

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

modem
wireless access point router
Enterprise Access Networks

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, hosts typically connect to Ethernet switch
Wireless Access Networks
• Wireless access network connects hosts to router
• via base station aka “access point”

• Wireless LANs • Wide-area wireless access

• within building (100 ft) • 3G, 4G
• 802.11b/g/n/ac (Wi-Fi) • provided by telco (cellular)
operator, 10’s km

to Internet to Internet
Physical Media
• Hosts connect to the access network over different physical
media (cable).
- Guided media:
• signals propagate in solid media, e.g. fiber
- Unguided media:
• signals propagate freely, e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular

Unshielded twisted pair Coaxial cable Fiber optics Radio waves

Lecture 1: Roadmap
1.1 What is the Internet?
1.2 Network Edge
- hosts, access networks, links
1.3 Network Core
- packet switching, circuit switching, network structure
1.4 Delay, Loss and Throughput in Networks
1.5 Protocol Layers and Service Models
The Network Core
• A mesh of interconnected routers
• The fundamental question: how ISP
is data transmitted through the
network?
1. Circuit switching
2. Packet switching ISP
Circuit Switching
Circuit Switching
Circuit Switching
End-end resources allocated to and
reserved for “call” between source
& dest:
❖ call setup required
❖ circuit-like (guaranteed) performance
❖ circuit segment idle if not used by call
(no sharing)
❖ commonly used in traditional
telephone networks
❖ divide link bandwidth into “pieces”
▪ frequency division
In above diagram, each link has four
▪ time division circuits. A “call” gets 2nd circuit in top
link and 1st circuit in right link.
Packet Switching
Packet Switching

• Store & Forward

• Routing & Addressing
Packet Switching
• Host sending function:
- breaks application message into
smaller chunks, known as packets, two packets,
L bits each
of length L bits
- transmits packets onto the link at
transmission rate R
2 1
• link transmission rate is aka link
capacity or link bandwidth R bps
host

packet time needed to L (bits)

transmission = transmit L-bit =
delay packet into link R (bits/sec)
Packet-switching: store-and-forward
• Packets are passed from one router to the next, across links on
path from source to destination.
• Store and forward: entire packet must arrive at a router before
it can be transmitted on the next link.

L bits
per packet

2 1
source destination
R bps R bps

End-to-end delay = 2*L/R (assuming no other delay)

Routing and Addressing
• Routers determine source-destination route taken by packets.
- Routing algorithms
• Addressing: each packet needs to carry source and destination
information

routing algorithm

local forwarding table

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

source
Which is more efficient?
Circuit Switching Packet Switching
• Setup/teardown required • No setup/teardown
• Resources are reserved required
• Service is guaranteed • Resources shared on
demand
• Best effort service

What does the Internet use?

 The Internet is
a packet switching
network
Packet Switching
• The Internet is a packet switching network
• User A, B … ’s packets share network resources
• Resources are used on demand
• Excessive congestion is possible

Bandwidth division into

“pieces”
Dedicated allocation
Resource reservation
• Who owns the Internet?
• Who owns the core?
• How do you access the Internet?
Internet Service Providers
“Tier 3”
Connecting the Internet
• How should access ISPs connect to each other?

access access
net net
access
net
access
access net
net
access
access net
net

connecting each access ISP

access
to each other directly doesn’t access
net
scale: O(N2) connections. net

access
net
access
net

access
net
access
net
access access
net access net
net
Connecting the Internet
• Connect each access ISP to a Global ISP
access access
net net
access
net
access
access net
net
access
access net
net

global
access
net
ISP access
net

access
net
access
net

access
net
access
net
access access
net access net
net
Connecting the Internet
• If one Global ISP is a viable business, there will be
competitors
- which must be connected
access access
Internet exchange point
net net
access
net
access
access net
net
access
IXP access
net
net
ISP A

access IXP access

net ISP B net

access ISP C
net
access
net
access
net
peering link
access
net
access access
net access net
net
Connecting the Internet
• Regional networks may arise as middlemen to connect access net to
ISPs
access access
net net
access
net
access
access net
net

access
IXP access
net
net
ISP A

access IXP access

net ISP B net

access
ISP C
net
access
net

access
net regional net
access
net
access access
net access net
net
Connecting the Internet
• Content providers like Google or Akamai might even run their own
network
- to bring services content closer to users
access access
net net
access
net
access
access net
net

access
IXP access
net
net
ISP A
Content provider
access
network
IXP access
net ISP B net

access
ISP C
net
access
net

access
net regional net
access
net
access access
net access net
net
The Internet is a network of
networks
Network of Networks
• Hosts connect to Internet via access ISPs (Internet Service Providers)
- Residential, company and university ISPs
• Access ISPs in turn must be interconnected.
• Resulting network of networks is very complex
- Evolution was driven by economics and national policies
• Therefore, the Internet is a “network-of-networks”, organized into
autonomous systems (AS), each is owned by an organization.
Internet structure
Tier 1 ISP Tier 1 ISP Google

IXP IXP IXP

Regional ISP Regional ISP

access access access access access access access access

ISP ISP ISP ISP ISP ISP ISP ISP

• at center: small # of well-connected large networks

- “tier-1” commercial ISPs (e.g., Level 3, Sprint, AT&T, NTT), national
& international coverage
- content provider network (e.g, Google): private network that
connects it data centers to Internet, often bypassing tier-1, regional
ISPs
Who Runs the Internet?
• IP address & Internet Naming administered by Network Information Centre (NIC)
- Refer to: www.sgnic.net.sg; www.apnic.org
• The Internet Society (ISOC) - Provides leadership in Internet related standards,
education, and policy around the world.
• The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) - Authority to issue and update technical
standards regarding Internet protocols.
• Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) - Protocol engineering, development and
standardization arm of the IAB.
- Internet standards are published as RFCs (Request For Comments)
• Refer to: www.ietf.org; for RFCs: http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html
Lecture 1: Roadmap
1.1 What is the Internet?
1.2 Network Edge
- hosts, access networks, links
1.3 Network Core
- packet switching, circuit switching, network structure
1.4 Delay, Loss and Throughput in Networks
1.5 Protocol Layers and Service Models
Recall: Packet Switching Network
To send a packet in a packet switching network,
- Sender transmit a packet onto the link as a sequence of bits.
- Bits are propagated to the next node (e.g. a router) on the link.
- Router stores, processes and forwards the packet to the next link.
- Steps 2 & 3 repeat till the packet arrives at the receiver.
How does loss occur?
• Packets queue in router buffers
- wait for turn to be sent out one by one

packet being transmitted (delay)

A

B
packets queueing (delay)
free (available) buffers: arriving packets
dropped (loss) if no free buffers

Q: What if packet arrival rate exceeds departure rate?

Packet Loss
• Queue (aka buffer) of a router has finite capacity.
• Packet arriving to full queue will be dropped (aka lost).
• Lost packet may be retransmitted by previous node, by
source host, or not at all.

buffer
(waiting area) packet being transmitted
A

B
packet arriving to
full buffer is lost
Four Sources of Packet Delay
3) transmission
A 4) propagation

B
1) nodal
processing 2) queueing

dproc: processing delay dqueue: queuing delay

▪ check bit errors ▪ time waiting in the queue
▪ determine output link for transmission
▪ typically < msec ▪ depends on congestion
level of router
Four Sources of Packet Delay
3) transmission
A 4) propagation

B
1) nodal
processing 2) queueing

dtrans: transmission delay dprop: propagation delay

▪ L: packet length (bits) ▪ d: length of physical link
▪ R: link bandwidth (bps) ▪ s: propagation speed in
▪ dtrans = L/R medium (~2x108 m/sec)
▪ dprop = d/s
dtrans and dprop
very different
Four Sources of Packet Delay
3) transmission
A 4) propagation

B
1) nodal
processing 2) queueing
1) Processing:
Check bucket
2) Queueing:
Wait for turn
3) Transmission: Time taken to
pour into pipe
4) Propagation: Time taken to
travel across pipe
End-to-end Packet Delay
• End-to-end packet delay is the time taken for a
packet to travel from source to destination. It
consists of:
- transmission delay
- propagation delay
- processing delay
- queueing delay

traceroute program displays the route (path) from source to

destination and measures the delay from source to each router
along the end-end Internet path.

3 probes 3 probes

3 probes
Throughput
• Throughput: how many bits can be transmitted per
unit time.
- Throughput is measured for end-to-end communication.
- Link capacity (bandwidth) is meant for a specific link.

server, with link capacity link capacity

file of F bits Rs bits/sec Rc bits/sec
to send to client
Metric Units
• 1 byte = 8 bits

The principal metric prefixes

Lecture 1: Roadmap
1.1 What is the Internet?
1.2 Network Edge
- hosts, access networks, links
1.3 Network Core
- packet switching, circuit switching, network
structure
1.4 Delay, Loss and Throughput in Networks
1.5 Protocol Layers and Service Models
Internet: A Service View

email ssh rdp

www ftp ntp

Internet
Internet: A Service View
• The Internet supports various kinds of
network applications:
- Web, VoIP, email, games, e-commerce, social
nets, …

• Network applications exchange messages

and communicate among peers according
to protocols.
 Layering
A common CS trick to deal with large and
complex systems
What’s a Protocol?
a human protocol and a computer network protocol:

Hi TCP connection
request
Hi TCP connection
response
Got the
time? Get http://www.awl.com/kurose-ross
time
2:00
<file>

Protocols define format and order of messages exchanged

and the actions taken after messages are sent or received.
Protocol “Layers”
• Protocols in the Internet are logically organized into “layers”
according to their purposes.
- Each layer provides a service
- Simple interfaces between layers
- Hide details from each other
• Layering is a common CS trick to deal with large and complex
systems.
- Explicit structure allows identification, relationship of complex system’s pieces
- Modularization eases maintenance, updating of system
• E.g. change of implementation of one layer’s service is transparent to rest of system
 Writes letter to each other
Customer Customer

Delivers mail among themselves

Local Post Office Local Post Office

Move cargo between cities

Central PO Central PO

Move cargo within city

Transport Hub Transport Hub

Move cargo within city

Vehicles Vehicles
Application

Transport

Network

Link

Physical
 Applications treat the Internet as
Application a black box

process-to-process data transfer

Transport
routing of datagrams from host
Network to host

data transfer between

Link neighbouring network elements

Physical bits on the wire/air

Example
ISO/OSI reference model (FYI)
• Theoretical model – not in use
application
• Two additional layers not present
presentation
in Internet Protocol Stack
- presentation: allow applications to session
interpret meaning of data, e.g., transport
encryption, compression, machine-
specific conventions network
- session: synchronization, link
checkpointing, recovery of data
exchange physical
Lecture 1: Summary
• Internet overview You now have:
• Network edge, core, access • Context, overview, “feel” of
network networking
• packet-switching vs circuit- • More depth, detail to follow!
switching
• Internet structure
• Performance:
• loss
• delay
• throughput
• What’s a protocol?
• Layering, service models
 Next Week
Application Layer