LAN Standards and
Data Link Layer
Network Technology
Nalaka Dissanayake
IEEE Standards
In 1985, the Computer Society of the IEEE started a
project, called Project 802, to set standards to enable
intercommunication among equipment from a variety of
manufacturers. Project 802 is a way of specifying
functions of the physical layer and the data link layer of
major LAN protocols.
Data Link Layer Frame
Frame Header IP Header TCP Header TCP data
Data Link Layer
The data link layer is responsible for moving frames from one
hop (node) to the next.
The physical addresses change hop-to-hop. i.e the frame
changes and IP packet remains intact 13.3
Requirements of Data Link Layer Protocols
• Addressing (MAC Address)
• Frame synchronisation
• Flow control
• Error control
• Control and data on same link
• Link management
MAC Address:
48 bits in length, usually expressed as 12 hexadecimal digits
made up of two parts
Organizational Unique Identifier
Interface serial number
00-1A-4D-95-37-74
00-1A-4D 95-37-74
OUI interface serial number
IEEE 802 protocol set
Network Layer
Logical Link Control 802.2 Data Link
Medium Access Control802.3 802.4 802.5 802.11 Layer
Physical Physical Layer
Transmission medium
Medium access control protocols
802.2 = Logical link control 802.4 = Token bus 802.11 = Wireless
802.3 = CSMA/CD 802.5 = Token ring
IEEE standard for LANs (further ….)
Logical Link Control (LLC) Sub Layer
• Primary purpose - provide a means of exchanging data
between end users across a MAC controlled link
• LLC protocol runs on top of all the 802 LAN and MAN
protocols
• Hides the differences
• Provides a single format and interface to the network layer
Ethernet frame Format
Minimum and maximum lengths
Categories of Standard Ethernet (Obsolete now)
Ethernet evolution through four generations (Today’s)
Ethernet is the widely used LAN protocol now in networking
10Base-T implementation
(Cable: Unshielded Twisted Pair- UTP)
10Base-F implementation
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
10Base5 implementation
10Base2 implementation
CSMA-CD
Shared Ethernet Operation
(Hubs)
• CS = carrier sense
– preamble signal 0101..010 (56 bits)
– followed by the flag
• MA = multiple access
• CD = collision detect
– must listen to detect a “collision”
jamming signal
0101010101010
Collision Domains
Stations separated by a repeater (Hub) are within the
same collision domain
Those separated by a bridge are in different collision
domains
Each port in a Switch is in a single collision domain. i.e.
ports in a switch are in multiple collision domains
Collision domain of an Ethernet is limited to 2,500 m
and necessary with a data rate of 10 Mbps
Switches
Main features of Ethernet switches:
Isolate traffic among segments
Achieve greater amount of bandwidth per user by
creating smaller collision domains
using segments in the network, fewer users and/or
devices are sharing the same bandwidth
each segment has its own collision domain
Full-duplex switched Ethernet
Switching Operation
• Fred sends a frame with destination address
0200.2222.2222 (Barney’s MAC address).
• The switch compares the destination MAC address
(0200.2222.2222) to the MAC address table, matching the
bold table entry. That matched table entry tells the switch to
forward the frame out port F0/2, and only port F0/2
Flooding Frames
• When there is no matching entry in the MAC address table,
switches forward the frame out all interfaces (except the
incoming interface) using a process called flooding.
• i.e. Switches flood unknown unicast frames
Fast Ethernet
Fast Ethernet was designed to compete with LAN
protocols such as FDDI or Fiber Channel. IEEE
created Fast Ethernet under the name 802.3u. Fast
Ethernet is backward-compatible with Standard
Ethernet, but it can transmit data 10 times faster at a
rate of 100 Mbps.
Gigabit Ethernet
The need for an even higher data rate resulted in the
design of the Gigabit Ethernet protocol (1000 Mbps).
The IEEE committee calls the standard 802.3z.
In the full-duplex mode of Gigabit Ethernet, there is no
collision; the maximum length of the cable is determined by
the signal attenuation
in the cable.
Gigabit Ethernet implementations
Summary of Ten-Gigabit Ethernet implementations
