Encapsulation - is a process wherein a new string of information is added to

an existing unit to form a new unit of information.

Decapsulation - is the reverse process of encapsulation wherein the header

and tail of a packet are removed to obtain the data payload.

Data payload - can be considered as the information to be transmitted. In a

hierarchical communication process, the data unit (packet) transmitted from

the upper layer to the lower layer can be called the data payload of the lower

layer.

Packet - is a data unit that is exchanged and transmitted on a network.

Header - is the information segment added before the data payload during

packet assembly to facilitate information transmission.

Tail - is the information segment added after the payload to facilitate

information transmission.

TCP Protocol Data Units

Protocol Data Unit (PDU) - is a specific block of information transferred over

a network.

Physical layer – raw bits (1s or 0s) transmitted physically via the

hardware.

Data Link layer – a frame (or series of bits).

Network layer – a packet that contains the source and destination

address.

Transport layer – a segment that includes a TCP header and data.

Presentation layer – the data formatted for presentation.

Application layer – the data received or transmitted by a software

application.​

TCP/IP Internet Layer Common Protocols

Internet Protocol (IP) - It performs the following operations:

Defines a packet and an addressing scheme.

Transfers data between the Internet layer and network access layers.

Routes packets to remote hosts.

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICM) - It refers to a TCP/IP protocol that

handles errors and controls the process of sending data between computers.

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) - It refers to a TCP/IP

protocol that handles multicasting.

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) - It refers to a TCP/IP protocol that

obtains the physical address of a node from a specific IP number.

Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) - It refers to a TCP/IP

protocol that allows a host with no local permanent data storage media to find

its Internet address given its physical address.

Ethernet - It refers to a family of LANs, covered by a group of IEEE 802.3

standards.

Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) - This refers to the protocol used for data

transfer across a serial line.

Fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) - This is a set of ANSI protocols for

sending digital data over fiber optic cable.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) - This refers to a wide area protocol

that features high data rates and equalsized packets/cells suitable for text,

audio, and video data transfer.

Frame Relay - This is a WAN protocol for LAN internetworking that provides a

fast and efficient method of transmitting information from one user device to

another across multiple switches and routers.

Proxy ARP - This protocol is used when a network terminal needs to pass

data from one segment to another without changing its current IP address

information.
 Routing Fundamentals

Routing - is the basic element of data communication networks, which is the

process ofselecting paths on a network along which packets are sent from a

source to a destination.

Path - determination enables a router to compare the destination

address to the available routes in its routing table and to select the best

path.

Routes - are the path information used to guide packet forwarding.

routing device (Router) - is a network device that forwards packets to

a destination subnet based on routes.

IP routing table - that stores routing information.

Packet routing - is the overall network-wide process of finding the most

efficient path for forwarding the IP packet from source to destination

through the use of network routing tables, protocols, and algorithms.

route contains the following information:

​ Destination - identifies a destination subnet.

Mask - identifies a subnet together with a destination IP address.

Outbound interface - indicates the interface through which a data

packet is sent out of the local router.

Next hop - indicates the next-hop address used

by the router to forward the data packet to the destination subnet.

interfaces (which can be from a host/router to the final

destination/intermediate connecting device) according to the “directions”.

Packet Delivery - refers to the way a packet is handled by the

underlying physical networks under the control of the network layer.

Direct Delivery – occurs when the IP node forwards a packet to

its final destination in the network.

Indirect Delivery – occurs when the IP node (host) forwards a

packet to an intermediate node (IP router) because the final

destination is not on a directly attached network.

To implement route-based packet forwarding, the router needs to obtain

routes:

-​ A router discovers routes using multiple methods in which it selects the

optimal route and installs it in its IP routing table.

-​ A router forwards IP packets based on routes in the IP routing table and

manages path information by managing its IP routing table.

Routing Table (Huawei) - It is a database that contains information about

which router network interface or port to place information to send it to a

particular network segment.

Destination/Mask - indicates the destination network address and

mask of a specific route.

IP address of the subnet to which the host or router belongs is 1.1.1.0.

Protocol (Proto) - indicates the protocol type of the route, that is, the

protocol through which a router learns the route.

Preference (Pre) - indicates the routing protocol preference of the

route.

Cost - indicates the cost of the route. It is also known as the metric.

-​ When multiple routes to the same destination have the same

preference, the route with the lowest cost is selected as the optimal

route.

Next Hop - indicates the local router’s next-hop address of the route to

the destination network.

-​ This field specifies the next-hop device to which packets are forwarded.

​ Interface - indicates the outbound interface of the route.

-​ This field specifies the local interface through which the local router

forwards packets.

​ ​ ​
Route Preference - When a router obtains routes to the same destination

subnet from different routing protocols, the router compares the preferences of

these routes and prefers the route with the lowest preference value.​

-​ Routes generated from different information sources are assigned different

preferences.

-​ The smaller the preference value, the higher the preference

-​ The router selects the optimal route for the assigned IP with the highest

preference among all routes.

-​ The assigned IP has the same destination/mask generated from different

information sources in which the route is injected into the IP routing table.

-​ The other routes remain in the deactivated state and do not appear in the IP

routing table.

-​ Routes generated from different information sources have different default

preference values. These values may differ between devices of different

vendors.

Types of Routing

Direct routes - are automatically generated by devices and point to

local directly connected networks.

Static routes - ​ are manually configured by network administrators.

Dynamic routes - are learned by dynamic routing protocols running on

routers.