CN Notes Unit-1
CN Notes Unit-1
Introduction:
Today’s Internet is arguably the largest engineered system ever created by mankind, with
hundreds of millions of connected computers, communication links, and switches; with
billions of users who connect via laptops, tablets, and smartphones; and with an array of new
Internet-connected devices such as sensors, Web cams, game consoles, picture frames, and
even washing machines. Given that the Internet is so large and has so many diverse
components and uses.
What is Internet?
There are a couple of ways to answer this question. First, we can describe the nuts and bolts
of the Internet, that is, the basic hardware and software components that make up the
Internet. Second, we can describe the Internet in terms of a net- working infrastructure that
provides services to distributed applications.
Packet switches, such as routers and link layer switches, forward packets to their
destinations.
1
The sequence of links and switches a packet traverses is called a route or path
Page
A socket interface that specifies how a program running on one end system asks the Internet
infrastructure to deliver data to a specific destination program running on another end system.
A protocol defines the format and the order of messages exchanged between two or more
communicating entities, as well as the actions taken on the transmission and/or receipt of a
message or other event.
What is a Protocol?
A Human Analogy
Page
Network Protocols
A network protocol is similar to a human protocol, except that the entities exchanging
messages and taking actions are hardware or software components of some device (for
example, computer, smartphone, tablet, router, or other network-capable device). All activity
in the Internet that involves two or more communicating remote entities is governed by a
3
computers control the flow of bits on the “wire” between the two network interface cards;
congestion-control protocols in end systems control the rate at which packets are transmitted
End systems, which include computers, smartphones, and other devices, are found at
the network edge.
End systems are also known as hosts and run application programs.
Hosts can be divided into clients (e.g., desktops, laptops, and smartphones) and
servers (more powerful machines).
Servers store and distribute content, often in large data centres.
Large companies like Google have multiple data centres worldwide with millions of
servers.
Access Networks
system. Examples: mobile network, national or global ISP, local or regional ISP, home networks
enterprise networks.
Today, the two most prevalent types of broadband residential access are digital subscriber
line (DSL) and cable.
A residence typically obtains DSL access from the telephone company (telco) that provides
its wired local phone access. The customer's telco is therefore its ISP. DSL modem use the
existing telephone lines to exchange data with DSLAMs (digital subscriber line access
multiplexer) located in the telco local central office. The DSL modem takes digital data and
translates it to high-frequency tones for transmission over telephone wires, these analog
signals from many houses are translated back into digital format at the DSLAM. The use of
different frequencies allows the phone line to carry a high-speed downstream channel, a
medium-speed upstream channel and an ordinary two-way telephone channel. Hundreds or
even thousands of households connect to a single DSLAM.
DSL: 24 Mbps downstream and 2.5 Mbps upstream (MAX VALUES). Because of the
difference between these two values, the access is said to be asymmetric.
Cable Internet access makes use of the cable television company's existing cable television
infrastructure. Cable modems connect to CMTS (Cablem Modem Termination System)
which does the same job the DSLAM does for phone lines. The access is typically
asymmetric. CABLE: 42.8 Mbps downstream and 30.7 Mbps upstream (MAX VALUES).
Cable Internet access is a shared broadcast medium: each packet travels downstream on every
link to every home and viceversa. For this, if several users are simultaneously using the
downstream channel, the actual rate will be significantly lower.
Another up-and-coming technology that promises very high speeds is fiber to the home
(FTTH). The concept is simple: provide an optical fiber path from the Central Office (CO)
On corporate and university campuses, and increasingly in home settings, a Local Area
Network (LAN) is used to connect an end system to the edge router. Ethernet is by far the
most prevalent access technology is corporate, university and home networks. Ethernet uses
twisted-pair copper wire to connect to an Ethernet switch which is connected into the larger
Internet. The Internet is increasingly accessed wirelessly: wireless users transmit/receive
packets to/from an access point connected into the enterprise's network which in turn is
connected to the wired Internet.
Smartphones and Tablets employ the same wireless infrastructure used for cellular telephony
to send/receive packets through a base station operated by the cellular network provider.
Third generation (3G) wireless and fourth generation (4G) of wide-area network are being
deployed. LTE ("Long-Term Evolution") has its root in 3G and can potentially achieve rates
5
in excess of 10 Mbps.
Page
Physical Media
guided media: the waves are guided along a solid medium (fiber-optic cable, twisted-
pair copper wire, coaxial cable)
unguided media: the waves propagate in the atmosphere and in outer space (wireless
LAN, digital satellite channel)
In a network application, end systems exchange messages with each other. To send a
message from a source end system to a destination end system, the source breaks long
messages into smaller chunks of data known as packets. Between source and destination,
each packet travels through communication links and packet switches (for which there are
two predominant types, routers and link-layer switches). Packets are transmitted over each
communication link at a rate equal to the full transmission rate of the link. So, if a source end
system or a packet switch is send a packet of L bits over a link with transmission rate R
bits/sec, then the time to transmit the packet is L/R seconds.
Store-and-forward Transmission
Most packet switches use store-and-forward transmission at the inputs to the links. Store-
and-forward transmission means that the packet switch must receive the entire packet before
it can begin to transmit the first bit of the packet onto the outbound link. The link must buffer
("store") the packet's bits and only after the router has received all of the packet's bits can it
begin to transmit ("forward") the packet onto the outbound link.
Each packet switch has multiple links attached to it. For each attached link, the packet switch
has an output buffer (or output queue) which stores packets that the router is about to send
into that link. If an arriving packet needs to be transmitted onto a link but finds the link busy
with the transmission of another packet, the arriving packet must wait in the output buffer.
Thus, packets suffer output buffer queuing delays which are variable and depend on the level
of congestion in the network. Since the amount of buffer space is finite, an arriving packet
may find the buffer completely full. In this case, packet loss will occur, either the arriving
packet or one of the already queued packets will be dropped.
In the Internet, every end system has an address called an IP address. When a source end
system wants to send a packet to a destination end system, the source includes the
Circuit Switching
Packet switching is more flexible, uses resources efficiently and is simpler to implement
(even if it requires congestion control). Circuit switching offers performance guarantees but
uses resources inefficiently
A Network of Networks
To create the Internet, ISPs must be interconnected, thus creating a network of networks.
Much of the evolution of the structure of the Internet is driven by economics and national
policy, rather than by performance consideration.
Computer networks necessarily constrain throughput (the amount of data per second that
can be transferred) between end system, introduce delays between end systems and can
actually lose packets.
As a packet travels from one node (host or router) to the subsequent host along his path, it
suffers from several types of delays at each node along the path.
Types of Delay
8
Page
The processing delay consists of the time required to examine the packet's header and
determine where to direct the packet. It may also include other factors, such as the time
needed to check for bit-level errors occurred during transmission. They typically are of the
order of microseconds or less. After processing the packet is sent to the queue preceding the
link to the next router
Queuing Delay
At the queue, the packet experiences a queuing delay as it waits to be transmitted onto the
link. It depends on the number of earlier-arriving packets, therefore if the queue is empty,
then the packet's queuing delay will be 0. Typically of the order of microseconds or
milliseconds.
Transmission delays
If the length of the packet is L bits, and the transmission rate of the link is R bits/sec, then
the transmission delay is L/R. This is the amount of time required to push (transmit) all of
the packet's bits into the link. Typically on the order of microseconds to milliseconds.
Propagation Delay
The time required to propagate a bit from the beginning of the link to the next router is the
propagation delay. The bit propagates at the propagation speed of the link, which depends
on the physical medium of the link. The propagation delay is the distance between two
routers divided by the propagation speed of the link.
The queuing delay depends can vary from packet to packet, therefore when characterizing
9
queuing delay, one typically uses statistical measures, such as average queuing delay,
Page
variance of queuing delay, and the probability that the queuing delay exceeds some specified
value.
A queue preceding a link has finite capacity. If a packet finds a full queue, then the router
will drop it, the packet will be lost. The fraction of lost packets increases as the traffic
intensity increases.
End-to-End Delay
Let's now consider the total delay, from source to destination (not only the nodal delay).
Let's suppose there are N-1 routers between the source host and the destination host, then the
nodal delays accumulate and give an end-to-end delay:
10
Page
Transmission mode defines the direction of signal flow between two linked devices. There
are three types of transmission modes
Simplex: In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional. Among the stations only
one can transmit and the other can only receive.
Half-Duplex: In half-Duplex mode, the communication is bidirectional. In this both station
can sent and receive but not at the same time.
Full-Duplex: In Full-Duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously.
Reference models
Reference models in computer networks are conceptual frameworks that provide a structured
approach to understanding and designing network architectures. They help network engineers
and developers organize and standardize network functions, protocols, and services. Here's a
brief overview of two widely used reference models:
1. OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Reference Model:
- Developed by ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
- 7 layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application
- Helps in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting computer networks
2. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) Reference Model:
- Developed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)
- 5 layers: Physical, Network Access, Internet, Transport, Application
12
13
Page
communications!
DATA LINK LAYER
Page
Functions:
Page
SESSION LAYER
Page
Key Concepts:
20
Page