Chapter 1

Introduction

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Basic information

 Text book
 Necessary
 Andrew Tanenbaum, “Computer Networks, 3rd
Edition”, 1996. [4th edition is available]

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What You Will Learn

 Lots of terminology
 Basics of communications
 Internetworking
 Network hardware
 Protocols and Layering
 Network Addressing
 Routing, Flow, Error and Congestion Control

Basics

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What You Will NOT Learn!

Network operating systems

How to configure/operate equipment in a vendor-
specific way
How to design and implement network software

You will not learn working with networks!

You will learn how to learn working with them

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What is a Computer Network?

 A collection of transmission hardware and facilities, terminal

equipment, and protocols

 Provides communication that is

Reliable
Fair
Efficient
From one application to another
 Automatically detects and corrects
Data corruption
Data loss
Duplication
Out-of-order delivery
 Automatically finds optimal path from source to destination

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Network examples

Telephone
Satellite
TV programs
Internet
ftp
mail
Chat
…

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Uses of Computer Networks

 Business Applications
 online buying
 Home Applications
 mail, chat
 Mobile Users
 wireless: laptops, PDA, mobile, in plane
 Social Issues

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Business Applications of Networks

 A network with two clients and one server.

 Check bank account
 Pay bills
 Reserve ticket

 The client-server model involves requests and replies.

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Home Network Applications

Access to remote information

 Leaning online, downloading
Person-to-person communication
 chat, phone
Interactive entertainment
 games, movies, …
Electronic commerce

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Home Network Applications (2)

Peer-to-peer (P2P)
Kazaa, Emule,

 E-commerce

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Mobile Network Users

 Combinations of wireless networks and mobile computing.

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Social Issues

 Discussions about
 politics,
 religion,
 …

Hack and robbery

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What A Network Includes

Transmission hardware
Special-purpose hardware devices
 interconnect transmission media
 control transmission
 run protocol software
Protocol software
 encodes and formats data
 detects and corrects problems

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Network Hardware

 Transmission technology (2 types)

 Broadcast links
 Point-to-point links

Scale  Media
 Local Area Networks (LAN)
 Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN)  Wire line
 Wide Area Networks (WAN)
 Wireless
 Wireless Networks
 Home Networks
 Internetworks

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Broadcast Networks

There are A single communication link for all

systems in network = Broadcasting
 TV programs: IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcast), …

 Messages (Packets) contain destination address

 Multicasting: A subset of systems can get the
message

 Usually used in small networks like LANs

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Point-to-point

 Individual connections between pairs of machines.

 There are many paths from one machine to another
 Need efficient routing algorithms

 Usually used in large scale networks like WAN

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So …

Packets
 Messages - the "chunk" of data transmitted from
one machine to the next.

Addressing
 One to one: Packet contains specific target address.

 Broadcasting: All machines on the network receive and

process the packet.

 Multicasting: A subset of machines receive and process the

packet

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Classification by scale

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Local Area Networks (1)

 Privately owned. Can be up to several kilometers long;

Ex. in a building
 Separated by their:
Size: Restricted so worst case transmission time can be
contained.
 Transmission technology: Single channel with multiple
machines connected to it. Run at speeds of 10, 100, or more Mbps.
 Topology: two popular broadcast networks:
 Bus
 Ring

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Local Area Networks (2)

 Topology …
 Bus
 Ethernet (IEEE 802.3):
 Bus based broadcast network with decentralized
control at 10 or 100 Mbps.

 Ring
 Token Ring (IEEE 802.5):
 Ring based broadcast network with token arbitration
at 4 or 16 Mbps.

 Low delay. High reliability.

 Requires collision arbitration

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Metropolitan Area Networks

Larger version of LAN ("city" wide).

Public or private / data or voice.
Broadcast - no switches.
 Can be distinguished from LANs based on wiring mechanism.
 DQDB (Distributed Queue Dual Bus), IEEE 802.6
Ex. A metropolitan area network based on cable TV

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Wide Area Networks (1)

Networks spanning large distances.

 Ex. Relation between hosts on LANs and the subnet.

 Hosts or End Systems:

 Machines running user applications.

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Wide Area Networks (2)

 (Communication) Subnet:
 Connections between hosts - transmission lines + switches.
 A "locality" understanding each other's addresses.

 Circuits (Channels, Trunks):

 Transmission lines move the bits.

 Packet switching nodes (Router, Intermediate systems):

 Specialized computers moving data between several inputs
to several outputs.

 Point-to-point/Store-and-forward/Packet-switched -
 Moving through a series of routers, packets are received at a
router, stored there, then forwarded to the next router.

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Wide Area Networks (3)

Ex. A stream of packets from sender to receiver.

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Wireless Networks (1)

 Used where computer is mobile or far away from wires.

 Only 1 - 2 Mbps,
 higher error rates,
 interference

 Use
 Sound
 Light and mirrors
 Infrared
 RF
 Microwave

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Wireless Networks (2)

 Bluetooth configuration  Wireless LAN

 Ex. A flying LAN

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Network Software (1)

 Primary networks more depend on hardware

It talks about the philosophy of connecting together
two entities.

“Layering” is the key word

Protocol Hierarchies
Design Issues for the Layers
The Relationship of Services to Protocols

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Network Software (2)

 Layers :
The concept that network software is organized
functionally into levels. A level on one host talks to
the same level on another host (its peer).

 Protocol :
The protocol is the convention or standard that a
layer uses to talk to the other layer. An agreement
or standard on the conversation.
conversation

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Network Software (3)

 Protocol Hierarchies
Layers,
Important that each
layer perform specific
actions.

protocols,
protocols,

Interfaces
Defines the services
That one layer offers
another (either up
or down.)

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Network Software (5)

Ex. Protocol Hierarchies

 information flow supporting virtual communication in layer 5

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Network Software (6)

 Physical Medium:
 Underneath the layers is the wire or fiber or whatever.

 Network architecture:
 A set of layers and protocols. It contains details on what happens in
the layer and what the layers says to its peer.
 Functional interfaces and implementation details are not part of the
spec, since that's not visible outside the machine.

 Protocol stack:
 A list of protocols used by a system, one protocol per layer.

 Information flow:
 "Send_to_peer" rather than "call_next_layer_down".

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Design Issues for the Layers

Connection Both Directions Simultaneous

Simplex No No

Half duplex Yes No

Full duplex Yes Yes

 Addressing
 Error control. (garbled or missing.)
 Preservation of message ordering.
 Flow control.
 Breaking up messages into a smaller chunks (and reassembly.)
 Multiplexing messages on same connection.
 Routing - how to get from one host to another.

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Connection-Oriented and Connectionless Services (1)

 Connection oriented service:

 Like the phone system. The system establishes a connection,
uses it, and closes it. Acts like a tube. Data comes out the
other end in the same order as it goes in.
» Connection Setup
» Data Transfer
» Connection Termination

 Connectionless service:
 Like the post office. Each message has the entire address on
it. Each message may follow a different route to its
destination. Ordering not maintained.

» Data Transfer

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Connection-Oriented and Connectionless Services (2)

 Quality of service (QoS):

 Will the message arrive?
 A reliable connection-oriented service guarantees success.
 Message sequence - message boundaries and order are
maintained.
 Byte streams - messages are broken up or combined; flow is
bytes. Can pair mechanism with upper-layer requirements.
 Datagram Service:
 Like junk mail. It's not worth the cost to determine if it
actually arrived. Needs a high probability of arrival, but 100%
not required. Connectionless, no acknowledgment.
 Acknowledged datagram service:
 As above, but improved reliability via acknowledgment.
 Request-reply service:
 Acknowledgment is in the form of a reply.

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Connection-Oriented and Connectionless Services (3)

 Summary of six different types of service.

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Connection-Oriented and Connectionless Services (4)

 Service Primitives for connection-oriented service

 Example
Connect.request Connect.indication
Connect.confirm

Data.request Data.indication
Data.indication Data.request

Disconnect.request Disconnect.indication
Disconnect.confirm

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Connection-Oriented and Connectionless Services (5)

Example: Connection-Oriented

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Services to Protocols Relationship

 Services are primitives that a layer provides for the layer

above it.

 Protocols are rules governing the meaning of

frames/packets/messages exchanged with the peer entity.

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Reference Models

 Headers, Data, and Trailers

 Encapsulation

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Reference Models (1)

 There are two competing models for how the software is

layered. These are the OSI and the TCP models.

 OSI (Open Systems Interconnection)

 Developed by ISO (International Standards Organization)
 7 layers

 TCP (Transfer Control Protocol)

 Used in the Arpanet and in the Internet. Common mechanism
that is surpassing the OSI Model.
 5 layers

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Reference Models (2)

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OSI Reference Model (1)

 Principles used to develop OSI Layering:

1. Need a layer for each different level of abstraction.
2. Each layer performs a well defined function.
3. Each layer should be standardizable.
4. Layer boundaries should minimize data flow across those
boundaries.
5. The right number of layers - don't put too many functions
together, but not too many layers either.

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OSI Reference Model (2)

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OSI Reference Model (3)

 Physical Layer:
 Purpose: Transmits raw bits across a medium.
 Electrical: Concerns are voltage, timing, duplexing,
connectors, etc.

 Data Link Layer:

 Framing: Breaks apart messages into frames.
Reassembles frames into messages.
 Error handling: solves damaged, lost, and duplicate frames.
 Flow control: keeps a fast transmitter from flooding a slow
receiver.
 Gaining Access: if many hosts have usage of the medium,
how is access arbitrated.

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OSI Reference Model (4)

 Network Layer:
 Routing: What path is followed by packets from
source to destination. Can be based on a static
table, when the connection is created, or when
each packet is sent.

 Congestion: Controls the number packets in the

subnet.

 Accounting: Counts packets/bytes for billing

purposes.

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OSI Reference Model (5)

 Transport Layer:
 Reliability: Ensures that packets arrive at their destination.
Reassembles out of order messages.

 Hides network: Allows details of the network to be hidden

from higher level layers.

 Service Decisions: What type of service to provide; error-free

point to point, datagram, etc.

 Mapping: Determines which messages belong to which

connections.

 Naming: "Send to node ZZZ" must be translated into an

internal address and route.

 Flow control: keeps a fast transmitter from flooding a slow

receiver.

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OSI Reference Model (6)

 Session Layer:
 Sessions: Provides services that span a particular message.
For instance, a login session could be logged.
 Synchronization: Provide way to subdivide a long mechanism
for reliability.

 Presentation Layer:
 Prettiness: Syntax and semantics of information transmitted.
Understands the nature of the data being transmitted.
Converts ASCII/EBCDIC, big endian/little endian

Application Layer:
 Interfacing: Terminal type translation.
 File transfer: Programs able to understand directory
structures and naming conventions and map them onto various
systems.

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TCP/IP Reference Model (1)

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TCP/IP Reference Model (2)

 Internet Layer
 Connector: Provides packet switched connectionless service.
 Routing :The IP (Internet Protocol) does delivery and
congestion control.

 Transport Layer
 TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): provides a reliable
connection oriented protocol that delivers a byte stream from
one node to another. Guarantees delivery and provides flow
control.
 UDP (User Datagram Protocol) provides an unreliable
connection-less protocol for applications that provide their
own.

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TCP/IP Reference Model (3)

 Application Layer
Terminal Telnet
File transfer FTP
The Web HTTP
Mail SMTP

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