Chapter 6

Local Area Network Technologies

Access methods
• Once the computers are physically connected, how they get
access to the wire or cable.
• The set of rules that defines how a computer puts data onto
the network cable and takes data from the cable is called an
access method.
• Multiple computers must share access to the cable that
connects them.
• However, if two computers were to put data onto the cable at
the same time, the data packets from one computer would
collide with the packets from the other computer, and both
sets of data packets would be destroyed.
• Access methods prevent computers from gaining
simultaneous access to the cable. By making sure that only
one computer at a time can put data on the network cable,
access methods ensure that the sending and receiving of
network data is an orderly process.
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Basically there are three ways of accessing wires.
• Carrier-sense multiple-access (contention) - is based on the
principle of "first come, first served."
• Token passing - is based on the principle of waiting to take
turns.
• Demand priority - is based on prioritizing access to the network.
Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)
• First each computer on the network checks the cable for
network traffic.
• Only when a computer senses that the cable is free and that
there is no traffic on the cable can it send data.
• Once the computer has transmitted data on the cable, no other
computer can transmit data until the original data has reached
its destination and the cable is free again.
• Remember, if two or more computers happen to send data at
exactly the same time, there will be a data collision.
• When that happens, the two computers involved stop
transmitting for a random period of time and then attempt to
retransmit.
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• Each computer determines its own waiting period; this reduces
the chance that the computers will once again transmit
simultaneously.
• CSMA/CD is known as a contention method because computers
on the network contend, or compete, for an opportunity to
send data.
Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
• It is the least popular of the three major access methods. In
CSMA/CA, each computer signals its intent to transmit before it
actually transmits data.
• In this way, computers sense when a collision might occur; this
allows them to avoid transmission collisions.
• Unfortunately, broadcasting the intent to transmit data
increases the amount of traffic on the cable and slows down
network performance.
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Token-Passing Access Method
• In this access method, a special type of packet, called a token,
circulates around a cable ring from computer to computer.
• When any computer on the ring needs to send data across the
network, it must wait for a free token.
• When a free token is detected, the computer will take control of
it if the computer has data to send.
• While the token is in use by one computer, other computers
cannot transmit data.
• Because only one computer at a time can use the token, no
contention and no collision take place, and no time is spent
waiting for computers to resend tokens due to network traffic on
the cable.

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Demand Priority Access Method
• It is a relatively new access method designed for the 100-Mbps
Ethernet standard known as 100VG-AnyLAN.
• It has been sanctioned and standardized by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in its 802.12
specification.
• This access method is based on the fact that repeaters and end
nodes are the two components that make up all 100VG-AnyLAN
networks.
• The repeaters manage network access by doing round-robin
searches for requests to send from all nodes on the network.
• The repeater, or hub, is responsible for noting all addresses,
links, and end nodes and verifying that they are all functioning.
• According to the 100VG-AnyLAN definition, an end node can be a
computer, bridge, router, or switch.
• If the hub or repeater receives two requests at the same time,
the highest priority request is serviced first. If the two requests
are of the same priority, both requests are serviced by
alternating between the two.
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Ethernet
• Ethernet has become the most popular media access method
to the desktop computer and is used in both small and large
network environments.
• Ethernet is a nonproprietary industry standard that has found
wide acceptance by network hardware manufacturers.
• The original version of Ethernet was designed as a system of
2.94 megabits per second (Mbps) to connect over 100
computers on a 1-kilometer cable.
• Xerox Ethernet was so successful that Xerox, Intel Corporation,
and Digital Equipment Corporation drew up a standard for a 10-
Mbps Ethernet.
• Today, the 10-Mbps Ethernet is one of several specifications
describing methods for computers and data systems to connect
and share cabling.
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Ethernet Specifications
• In 1978, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
released a set of specifications for connecting dissimilar devices.
• This set of standards is referred to as the OSI reference model
(OSI stands for Open Systems Interconnection).
• The Ethernet specification performs the same functions as the
OSI physical and data-link layers of this model. In the 1980s the
IEEE published Project 802.
• This project generated standards for design and compatibility
for hardware components that operated within the OSI physical
and data-link layers.
• The standard that pertains to Ethernet is the IEEE 802.3
specification.

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Ethernet Features
• Ethernet is currently the most popular network architecture.
Ethernet breaks data down into frames. A frame is a package of
information transmitted as a single unit.
The 10-Mbps IEEE Standards
10BaseT (Twisted pair cable, 100 m)
10Base2 (Thin coaxial cable, 185 m)
10Base5 (Thick coaxial cable, 500 m)
10BaseF (Fiber optics cable, 2000 m)
10BaseT Standard
• In 1990, the IEEE committee published the 802.3 specification
for running Ethernet over twisted-pair wiring.
• 10BaseT (10 Mbps, baseband, over twisted-pair cable) uses
unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable to connect computers.
• The maximum length of a 10BaseT segment is 100 meters.
Repeaters can be used to extend this maximum cable length. 8
10Base2 Standard
• Is given this name in IEEE 802.3 specification because it
transmits at 10 Mbps over a baseband wire and can carry a
signal about two times 100 meters.
• This type of network uses thin coaxial cable, or thinnet, which
has a maximum segment length of 185 meters.
10Base5 Standard
• The IEEE specification for this topology is 10 Mbps, baseband,
and 500-meter (five 100-meters) segments.
• It is also called standard Ethernet. This topology makes use of
thick coaxial cable.
10BaseFL Standard
• The IEEE committee published a specification for running
Ethernet over fiber-optic cable.
• The result, 10BaseF (10Mbps, baseband, over fiber-optic cable)
is an Ethernet network that typically uses fiber-optic cable to
connect computers and repeaters.
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100BaseX Ethernet Standard
• This standard, sometimes called Fast Ethernet, is an extension
of the existing Ethernet standard.
• It runs on UTP Category 5 data-grade cable and uses CSMA/CD
in a star-wired bus topology, similar to 10BaseT where all
cables are attached to a hub.
100BaseX incorporates three media specifications:
100BaseT4 (Category 3, 4, or 5 UTP, 100 m)
100BaseTX (Category 5 UTP or STP, 100 m)
100BaseFX (fiber-optic cable, 2000 m)
1000BaseX Ethernet Standard
• This standard, sometimes called Gigabit Ethernet, is an
extension of the existing Ethernet standard.
• Recent need for an even higher data rate resulted in the design
of the Gigabit Ethernet protocol (1000 Mbps).
1000Base-SX (fiber-optic cable 550 m)
1000Base-LX(fiber-optic cable 5000 m)
1000Base-CX (2 pairs of STP, 25 m)
1000Base-T (4 pairs of UTP, 100 m) 10
10 Mbps Ethernet cabling

Fast Ethernet 100Mbps

Gigabit Ethernet 1000Mbps

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Token Ring
• A Token Ring network is an implementation of IEEE standard
802.5.
• Their token-passing ring access method, more than their physical
cable layout, distinguishes Token Ring networks from other
networks.
• It uses token passing medium access control protocol.
• The token travels around the ring polling each computer until one
of the computers signals that it wants to transmit data and takes
control of the token.
• A computer cannot transmit unless it has possession of the token;
while the token is in use by a computer, no other computer can
transmit data.
• The frame proceeds around the ring until it reaches the computer
with the address that matches the destination address in the
frame.
• The destination computer copies the frame into its receive buffer
and marks the frame in the frame status field to indicate that the
information was received.
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• The frame continues around the ring until it arrives at the
sending computer, where the transmission is acknowledged as
successful.
• The sending computer then removes the frame from the ring
and transmits a new token back on the ring.
Token Bus
• The stations on the bus form a logical ring, i.e., the stations are
assigned logical positions in an ordered sequence, with the last
member followed by the first.
• The physical ordering of the stations on the bus is irrelevant
and independent of the logical ordering; it has ring logical
topology and bus physical topology.
• It uses token passing medium access control protocol.

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