Internetworking Devices

15.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 CONNECTING DEVICES

In this section, we divide connecting devices into five

different categories based on the layer in which they
operate in a network.

Topics discussed in this section:

Passive Hubs
Active Hubs
Bridges
Two-Layer Switches
Routers

15.2
 Figure 15.1 Five categories of connecting devices

15.3
 Device Categories
 Operate below the physical layer
 Passive hub
 Operate at the physical layer
 Repeater or an Active hub
 Operate at the physical and data link layers
 a bridge or a two-layer switch
 Operate at the physical, data link, and network layers
 a Router or a three-layer switch
 Operate at all five layers
 a Gateway

2.4
 Passive Hubs
 Just a connector
 Connects the wires coming from different branches
 In Star-topology LAN
 Just a point where signals coming from different stations collide
 Hub is the collision point
 It is part of the media
 Below the physical layer

2.5
Repeater
A repeater is a network device used to regenerate a signal.
Repeaters regenerate analog or digital signals distorted by
transmission loss due to attenuation.
Repeater is a Physical Layer device

6
 Figure 15.2 A repeater connecting two segments of a LAN

15.7
 Note

A repeater forwards every frame;

it has no filtering capability.

15.8
 Note

A repeater is a regenerator,
not an amplifier.

15.9
 Note

A repeater connects segments of a LAN.

15.10
 Repeater
 Signals that carry information within a network can travel a
fixed distance before attenuation endangers the integrity of
the data.
 Avoid too weak or corrupted signals
 Regenerates and retimes the original bit pattern.
 Extend the physical length of a LAN.
 Not a device that can connect two LANs of different protocols
 Two-port node
 Receives a frame from any of the ports, it regenerates and
forwards it to the other port
 Does not amplify as it cannot discriminate noise and signal
 Weakened or corrupted signal – creates copy, bit for bit at original
strength
 Location is vital as signal reaches it before any noise changes
meaning of bit, original voltage not recoverable.

2.11
 Figure 15.3 Function of a repeater

15.12
 17.1.1 Active Hubs

 Multiport repeater

Create connections between stations in a

physical star topology

Can also be used to create multiple levels of

hierarchy

17.13
 Figure 15.4 A hierarchy of hubs

15.14
Figure 17.2: Hub

17.15
 Bridges
 Regenerates the signal it receives. (PHY)

 Check the physical (MAC) addresses (source and

destination) contained in the frame. (DL)

 Filtering capability
 Forwarded or Dropped?
 Which port to forward?

 Table that maps addresses to ports

 Transparent Bridges
 Source Routing Bridges

2.16
 Note

A bridge has a table used in

filtering decisions.

15.17
 Figure 15.5 A bridge connecting two LANs

15.18
 Note

A bridge does not change the physical

(MAC) addresses in a frame.

15.19
 Transparent Bridges
 Stations completely unaware of bridge's
existence.
 IEEE 802.1 d specification
1. Frames must be forwarded from one station to another
2. The forwarding table is automatically made by learning
frame movements in the network
3. Loops in the system must be prevented

 Learning Process
 Static Entries
 Dynamic Table

2.20
 Figure 15.6 A learning bridge and the process of learning

15.21
 Transparent Bridges – Looping
Problem
 Problem - redundant bridges bet pair of LANS ?
 Reliability?

 Each frame is handled separately because bridges

 2 Nodes on a network sharing the medium, use an access
method such as CSMA/CD

 In each iteration, there are newly generated fresh

copies of the frames

 Bridges use the spanning tree algorithm to create a

loopless topology.

2.22
 Figure 15.7 Loop problem in a learning bridge

15.23
 Spanning Tree Algorithm
 Broadcast Storms
 Frames Flooding bringing down entire network

 Each LAN to reach other LAN thro one path only

 IEEE 802.1 Committee

 Spanning Tree
 Automatically Disabling Bridges (Logical Topology)
 Not Physical Change

 Requirements
 Unique Bridge ID
 Each port in Bridge – Unique Port ID

2.24
 Spanning Tree Algorithm
contd..
 Bridge Algorithm
1. Selection of Root Bridge (Lowest Bridge ID)
2. Determination of Root port of Each Bridge
 Except Root Bridge
 Port with Least-Cost Path to the Root Bridge
 TIE – Choose the one with Lowest port ID
 Cost to each LAN (Ex : Higher Cost to Lower Speed LAN)
 Path Cost = Sum of Cost Along path from one bridge to Another
3. Selection of Designated Bridge for each LAN
 Least Cost Path from LAN to Root Bridge
 TIE – Choose the Lowest Bridge ID
 Designated Port – Port that connects Designated Bridge and LAN
4. “Forwarding State” – All Root Ports & Designated ports
5. “Blocking State” – Other ports

2.25
15.26
15.27
 Figure 15.8 A system of connected LANs and its graph representation

15.28
 Spanning Tree Algorithm
 Dynamic Algorithm.

 Bridges send special messages to one other

 Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDU)

 Spanning Trees are updated when there is change

in system
 Failure in Bridge
 Addition/Deletion of Bridges

2.29
 Source Routing Bridges
 Another way to prevent loops in a system with
redundant bridges.

 Sending station defines the bridges that the

frame must visit.

 Prior to sending the data frame – Special Frame

exchanges.

 Ex : used in Token Ring LANs

2.30
 Source Routing Bridges

15.31
 Switch

Switches are Data Link

layer devices.

Connected host MAC

addresses are learned
and stored on a MAC
address table.
 Switch
 Switches operate comparatively higher speeds that
Bridges.
 Normally a Switch has more ports than a Bridge
 Method of switching
 Bridge is store and forward.
 Switch can be store and forward, cut-through or fragment-free.
 Bridges can operate only in half duplex mode, but a
Switch can operate both in half duplex or full duplex
mode.
 Packet forwarding
 Bridges are performed using software.
 Switches using ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits).

2.33
Switching Modes
cut-through
A switch starts to transfer the frame as soon as the destination MAC
address is received. No error checking is available.

store-and-forward
At the other extreme, the switch can receive the entire frame before
sending it out the destination port. This gives the switch software an
opportunity to verify the Frame Check Sum (FCS) to ensure that the
frame was reliably received before sending it to the destination.

fragment-free
A compromise between the cut-through and store-and-forward
modes.
Fragment-free reads the first 64 bytes, which includes the frame
header, and switching begins before the entire data field and
checksum are read.
 17.17.3 Routers
1. A router is a three-layer device; it operates in the
physical, data-link, and network layers.

2. Routes packets based on logical Addressing

3. Host – Host Addressing

4. Connects LANs and WANs in Internet

5. Routing Table – Dynamic - Routing Protocols

6. Faster Table Lookup & Forwarding

17.35
 Figure 17.9: Routing example

17.36
 Figure 15.11 Routers connecting independent LANs and WANs

15.37
 Figure 2.8: Encapsulation / Decapsulation

2.38