Lecture#4: Local Area Network

Wired LAN : Ethernet

Introduction to Networks (ITN) v7.0 Module: 7

4.1 Ethernet Frames

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Ethernet Frames
Ethernet Encapsulation

• Ethernet operates in the

data link layer and the
physical layer.

• It is a family of
networking technologies
defined in the IEEE
802.2 and 802.3
standards.

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Ethernet Frames
Data Link Sublayers

The 802 LAN/MAN standards, including

Ethernet, use two separate sublayers of the
data link layer to operate:
• LLC Sublayer: (IEEE 802.2) Places information in
the frame to identify which network layer protocol is
used for the frame.
• MAC Sublayer: (IEEE 802.3, 802.11, or 802.15)
Responsible for data encapsulation and media
access control, and provides data link layer
addressing.

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Ethernet Frames
MAC Sublayer

The MAC sublayer is responsible for data encapsulation and accessing the media.

Data Encapsulation : IEEE 802.3 data encapsulation includes the following:

1) Ethernet frame - This is the internal structure of the Ethernet frame.

2) Ethernet Addressing - The Ethernet frame includes both a source and destination MAC
address to deliver the Ethernet frame from Ethernet NIC to Ethernet NIC on the same
LAN.
3) Ethernet Error detection - The Ethernet frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS)
trailer used for error detection.

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Ethernet Frames
MAC Sublayer

Media Access
• The IEEE 802.3 MAC sublayer includes the
specifications for different Ethernet
communications standards over various types
of media including copper and fiber.
• Legacy Ethernet using a bus topology or hubs,
is a shared, half-duplex medium. Ethernet over
a half-duplex medium uses a contention-based
access method, carrier sense multiple
access/collision detection (CSMA/CD).
• Ethernet LANs of today use switches that
operate in full-duplex. Full-duplex
communications with Ethernet switches do not
require access control through CSMA/CD.

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Ethernet Frames
Ethernet Frame Fields
• The minimum Ethernet frame size is 64 bytes and the maximum is 1518 bytes.

• The preamble field is not included when describing the size of the frame.
• Any frame less than 64 bytes in length is considered a “collision fragment” or “runt frame”
and is automatically discarded. Frames with more than 1500 bytes of data are considered
“jumbo” or “baby giant frames”.
• If the size of a transmitted frame is < minimum, or > maximum, the receiving device drops
the frame. Dropped frames are likely to be the result of collisions or other unwanted
signals. They are considered invalid. Jumbo frames are usually supported by most Fast
Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switches and NICs.

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Lab Activity

Wireshark - Use Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

Task#1 : Examine the Header Fields in an Ethernet II Frame.

Task#2 : Use Wireshark to Capture and Analyze Ethernet Frames.

Ethernet MAC Address

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Ethernet MAC Addresses
MAC Address and Hexadecimal

• An Ethernet MAC address consists of a 48-bit binary value, expressed using 12

hexadecimal values.
• Given that 8 bits (one byte) is a common binary grouping, binary 00000000 to
11111111 can be represented in hexadecimal as the range 00 to FF,
• When using hexadecimal, leading zeroes are always displayed to complete the 8-
bit representation. For example the binary value 0000 1010 is represented in
hexadecimal as 0A.
• Hexadecimal numbers are often represented by the value preceded by 0x (e.g.,
0x73) to distinguish between decimal and hexadecimal values in documentation.
• Hexadecimal may also be represented by a subscript 16, or the hex number
followed by an H (e.g., 73H).

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Ethernet MAC Addresses
Ethernet MAC Address
• In an Ethernet LAN, every network device is connected to the same, shared media. MAC
addressing provides a method for device identification at the data link layer of the OSI model.
• An Ethernet MAC address is a 48-bit address expressed using 12 hexadecimal digits.
Because a byte equals 8 bits, we can also say that a MAC address is 6 bytes in length.
• All MAC addresses must be unique to the Ethernet device or Ethernet interface. To ensure
this, all vendors that sell Ethernet devices must register with the IEEE to obtain a unique 6
hexadecimal (i.e., 24-bit or 3-byte) code called the organizationally unique identifier (OUI).
• An Ethernet MAC address consists of a 6 hexadecimal vendor OUI code followed by a 6
hexadecimal vendor-assigned value.

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Ethernet MAC Addresses
Frame Processing

• When a device is forwarding a message to an

Ethernet network, the Ethernet header include a
Source MAC address and a Destination MAC
address.
• When a NIC receives an Ethernet frame, it
examines the destination MAC address to see if it
matches the physical MAC address that is stored
in RAM. If there is no match, the device discards
the frame. If there is a match, it passes the frame
up the OSI layers, where the de-encapsulation
process takes place.

Note: Ethernet NICs will also accept frames if the

destination MAC address is a broadcast or a multicast
group of which the host is a member.

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Ethernet MAC Addresses
Unicast MAC Address
In Ethernet, different MAC addresses are
used for Layer 2 unicast, broadcast, and
multicast communications.
• A unicast MAC address is the unique
address that is used when a frame is sent
from a single transmitting device to a
single destination device.
• The process that a source host uses to
determine the destination MAC address
associated with an IPv4 address is known
as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP).
The process that a source host uses to
determine the destination MAC address
associated with an IPv6 address is known
as Neighbor Discovery (ND).
Note: The source MAC address must always be a unicast.
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Ethernet MAC Addresses
Broadcast MAC Address
An Ethernet broadcast frame is received and
processed by every device on the Ethernet LAN.
The features of an Ethernet broadcast are as
follows:
• It has a destination MAC address of FF-FF-FF-
FF-FF-FF in hexadecimal (48 ones in binary).
• It is flooded out all Ethernet switch ports except
the incoming port. It is not forwarded by a
router.
• If the encapsulated data is an IPv4 broadcast
packet, this means the packet contains a
destination IPv4 address that has all ones (1s)
in the host portion. This numbering in the
address means that all hosts on that local
network (broadcast domain) will receive and
process the packet.
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Ethernet MAC Addresses
Multicast MAC Address
An Ethernet multicast frame is received and processed by a group of
devices that belong to the same multicast group.
• There is a destination MAC address of 01-00-5E when the
encapsulated data is an IPv4 multicast packet and a destination
MAC address of 33-33 when the encapsulated data is an IPv6
multicast packet.
• There are other reserved multicast destination MAC addresses
for when the encapsulated data is not IP, such as Spanning
Tree Protocol (STP).
• It is flooded out all Ethernet switch ports except the incoming
port, unless the switch is configured for multicast snooping. It is
not forwarded by a router, unless the router is configured to
route multicast packets.
• Because multicast addresses represent a group of addresses
(sometimes called a host group), they can only be used as the
destination of a packet. The source will always be a unicast
address.
• As with the unicast and broadcast addresses, the multicast IP
address requires a corresponding multicast MAC address.
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Lab Activity

Packet Tracer - View Network Device MAC Addresses

Task#1 : Set Up the Topology and Initialize Devices.

Task#2 : Configure Devices and Verify Connectivity.

Task#3 : Display, Describe, and Analyze Ethernet MAC Addresses

Lecture#4: Local Area Network
Wired LAN : Switching

Switching, Routing, and Wireless Essentials v7.0 (SRWE) Module: 2

4.2 Switching Concept

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Frame Forwarding

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Frame Forwarding
Switching in Networking

Two terms are associated with frames entering

or leaving an interface:
• Ingress – entering the interface
• Egress – exiting the interface
A switch forwards based on the ingress
interface and the destination MAC address.
A switch uses its MAC address table to make
forwarding decisions.

Note: A switch will never allow traffic to be

forwarded out the interface it received the traffic.

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Frame Forwarding
The Switch MAC Address Table

A switch will use the destination MAC address to determine the egress
interface.
Before a switch can make this decision it must learn what interface the
destination is located.
A switch builds a MAC address table, also known as a Content
Addressable Memory (CAM) table, by recording the source MAC address
into the table along with the port it was received.

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Frame Forwarding
The Switch Learn and Forward Method

The switch uses a two step process:

Step 1. Learn – Examines Source Address

• Adds the source MAC if not in table
• Resets the time out setting back to 5 minutes if source is in the table

Step 2. Forward – Examines Destination Address

• If the destination MAC is in the MAC address table it is forwarded out the
specified port.
• If a destination MAC is not in the table, it is flooded out all interfaces except the
one it was received.

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Frame Forwarding
Switch Forwarding Methods
Switches use software on application-specific-integrated circuits (ASICs) to make
very quick decisions.

A switch will use one of two methods to make forwarding decisions after it receives a
frame:
• Store-and-forward switching - Receives the entire frame and ensures the frame
is valid. Store-and-forward switching is Cisco’s preferred switching method.
• Cut-through switching – Forwards the frame immediately after determining the
destination MAC address of an incoming frame and the egress port.

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Frame Forwarding
Store-and-Forward Switching
Store-and-forward has two primary characteristics:

• Error Checking – The switch will check the Frame Check Sequence (FCS) for CRC errors.
Bad frames will be discarded.
• Buffering – The ingress interface will buffer the frame while it checks the FCS. This also
allows the switch to adjust to a potential difference in speeds between the ingress and
egress ports.

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Frame Forwarding
Cut-Through Switching

• Cut-through forwards the frame immediately after determining the destination MAC.

• Fragment Free method will check the destination and ensure that the frame is at least
64 Bytes. This will eliminate runts.

Concepts of Cut-Through switching:

• Is appropriate for switches needing latency
to be under 10 microseconds
• Does not check the FCS, so it can
propagate errors
• May lead to bandwidth issues if the switch
propagates too many errors
• Cannot support ports with differing speeds
going from ingress to egress.

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Switching Domains

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Switching Domains
Collision Domains

Switches eliminate collision domains and

reduce congestion.
• When there is full duplex on the link the
collision domains are eliminated.

• When there is one or more devices in half-

duplex there will now be a collision domain.
§ There will now be contention for the
bandwidth.
§ Collisions are now possible.
• Most devices, including Cisco and Microsoft
use auto-negotiation as the default setting
for duplex and speed.

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Switching Domains
Broadcast Domains
• A broadcast domain extends across all Layer 1 or Layer 2 devices on a LAN.

§ Only a layer 3 device (router) will break the broadcast domain, also called a MAC
broadcast domain.

§ The broadcast domain consists of all devices on the LAN that receive the broadcast traffic.

• When the layer 2 switch receives the broadcast it

will flood it out all interfaces except for the ingress
interface.
• Too many broadcasts may cause congestion and
poor network performance.
• Increasing devices at Layer 1 or layer 2 will cause
the broadcast domain to expand.

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Switching Domains
Alleviated Network Congestion
Switches use the MAC address table and full-duplex to eliminate collisions and avoid
congestion.

Features of the switch that alleviate congestion are as follows:

Protocol Function
Fast Port Speeds Depending on the model, switches may have up to 100Gbps port speeds.
Fast Internal This uses fast internal bus or shared memory to improve performance.
Switching
Large Frame Buffers This allows for temporary storage while processing large quantities of
frames.
High Port Density This provides many ports for devices to be connected to LAN with less cost.
This also provides for more local traffic with less congestion.

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Lecture#4: Local Area Network
Wired LAN : VLAN

Switching, Routing, and Wireless Essentials v7.0 (SRWE) Module: 3

4.3 Overview of VLANs

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Overview of VLANs
VLAN Definitions

VLANs are logical connections with other similar

devices.

Placing devices into various VLANs have the

following characteristics:
• Provides segmentation of the various groups of
devices on the same switches
• Provide organization that is more manageable
§ Broadcasts, multicasts and unicasts are isolated in
the individual VLAN
§ Each VLAN will have its own unique range of IP
addressing
§ Smaller broadcast domains
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Overview of VLANs
Benefits of a VLAN Design

Benefits of using VLANs are as follows:

Benefits Description
Smaller Broadcast Domains Dividing the LAN reduces the number of broadcast domains
Improved Security Only users in the same VLAN can communicate together
VLANs can group devices with similar requirements, e.g. faculty vs.
Improved IT Efficiency
students
Reduced Cost One switch can support multiple groups or VLANs
Better Performance Small broadcast domains reduce traffic, improving bandwidth
Similar groups will need similar applications and other network
Simpler Management
resources
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Overview of VLANs
Types of VLANs

VLAN 1 is the following:

• The default VLAN

• The default Native VLAN
• The default Management VLAN
• Cannot be deleted or renamed

Note: While we cannot delete VLAN1 Cisco will recommend that we assign these
default features to other VLANs

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Overview of VLANs
Types of VLANs (Cont.)

Data VLAN
• Dedicated to user-generated traffic (email and web traffic).

• VLAN 1 is the default data VLAN because all interfaces are assigned to this VLAN.

Native VLAN
• This is used for trunk links only.

• All frames are tagged on an 802.1Q trunk link except for those on the native VLAN.

Management VLAN
• This is used for SSH/Telnet VTY traffic and should not be carried with end user traffic.

• Typically, the VLAN that is the SVI for the Layer 2 switch.

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Overview of VLANs
Types of VLANs (Cont.)

• A separate VLAN (Voice VLAN) is

required because Voice traffic requires:
§ Assured bandwidth
§ High QoS priority
§ Ability to avoid congestion
§ Delay less that 150 ms from source to
destination

• The entire network must be designed to

support voice.

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Lab Activity

Packet Tracer – Who Hears the Broadcast?

Task#1 : Observe Broadcast Traffic in a VLAN Implementation.

Task#2 : Complete Review Questions.

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