SWITCHED

NETWORKS

Switching

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 SWITCHING

 A switched network consists of series of

interlinked nodes, called switches.
 Three methods of switching :
 Circuit switching
 Packet switching
 Message switching
 Packet switched networks further be divided into
two subcategories :
 Datagram network
 Virtual-circuit network

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 Switched network

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 Taxonomy of switched networks

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 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS

A circuit-switched network consists of a set of switches

connected by physical links. A connection between two
stations is a dedicated path made of one or more links.
However, each connection uses only one dedicated
channel on each link. Each link is normally divided
into n channels by using FDM or TDM. Circuit
switching takes place at the physical layer.
Topics discussed in this section:
Three Phases
Efficiency
Delay
Circuit-Switched Technology in Telephone Networks
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 Note

A circuit-switched network is made of a

set of switches connected by physical
links, in which each link is
divided into n channels.

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 A trivial circuit-switched network

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 Note

In circuit switching, the resources need

to be reserved during the setup phase;
the resources remain dedicated for the
entire duration of data transfer until the
teardown phase.

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 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS

 Three Phases : In this network it requires three

phases: connection setup, data transfer, and connection
teardown.
 Efficiency : It can be argued that circuit switched
networks are not as efficient as the other two because
resources are allocated during the entire duration of the
connection. Resources are unavailable to other
connections.
 Delay : The delay in this type of network is minimal.
During data transfer the data are not delayed at each
switch. The total delay is due to the time needed to
create the connection, transfer data, and disconnect the
circuit.

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 Delay in a circuit-switched network

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 Note

Switching at the physical layer in the

traditional telephone network uses
the circuit-switching approach.

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 DATAGRAM NETWORKS

In data communications, we need to send messages

from one end system to another. If the message is
going to pass through a packet-switched network, it
needs to be divided into packets of fixed or variable
size. The size of the packet is determined by the
network and the governing protocol.
Topics discussed in this section:
Routing Table
Efficiency
Delay
Datagram Networks in the Internet

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 Note

In a packet-switched network, there

is no resource reservation;
resources are allocated on demand.

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 A datagram network with four switches (routers)

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 DATAGRAM NETWORKS

 In a datagram network, each packet is treated independently of all

others.
 Packets in this approach are referred to as datagrams.
 Datagram switching is normally done at network layer.
 All the packets (or datagrams) belongs to same message may travel
through different paths.
 This may cause the datagrams of a transmission to arrive at their
destination out of order with different delays between the packets.
 Packets may also be lost or dropped because of a lack of resources.
 These networks are sometimes referred to as connectionless
networks.
 There are no setup and teardown phases.

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 Routing table in a datagram network

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 Note

A switch in a datagram network uses a

routing table that is based on the
destination address.

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 Note

The destination address in the header of

a packet in a datagram network
remains the same during the entire
journey of the packet.

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 DATAGRAM NETWORKS

 Routing Tables : In this network each switch has a

routing table which is based on the destination address.
The routing tables are dynamic and updated periodically.
 Efficiency : The efficiency of a datagram network is
better that of circuit-switched network; resources are
allocated only when there are packets to be transferred.
 Delay : There may be greater delay in the datagram
network than in a virtual-circuit network. Each packet
may experience a wait at a switch before it is forwarded.
 Datagram networks in the Internet :The internet
has chosen the datagram approach to switching at the
network layer.

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 Delay in a datagram network

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 Note

Switching in the Internet is done by

using the datagram approach
to packet switching at
the network layer.

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 VIRTUAL-CIRCUIT NETWORKS

A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-

switched network and a datagram network. It has
some characteristics of both.

Topics discussed in this section:

Addressing
Three Phases
Efficiency
Delay
Circuit-Switched Technology in WANs

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 VIRTUAL-CIRCUIT NETWORKS

 As in a circuit-switched network, there are setup and

teardown phases in addition to the data transfer phase.
 Resources can be allocated during the setup phase, as in
circuit switched network or on demand, as in a datagram
network.
 As in a datagram network, data are packetized and each
packet carries an address in the header.
 As in a circuit-switched network, all packets follow the
same path established during the connection.
 A virtual-circuit network is normally implemented in data
link layer.

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 Virtual-circuit network

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 VIRTUAL-CIRCUIT NETWORKS

 Addressing : Two types : global and local

(Virtual-circuit identifier)
 Global addressing : an address that can be unique in
the scope of the network or internationally.
 Virtual-circuit identifier : A small number that has only
switch scope; it is used by a frame between two
switches.
 Three phases: Three phases in a virtual-circuit
network : setup, data transfer and teardown.

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 Virtual-circuit identifier

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 Switch and tables in a virtual-circuit network

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 Source-to-destination data transfer in a virtual-circuit network

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 Setup request in a virtual-circuit network

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 Setup acknowledgment in a virtual-circuit network

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 Note

In virtual-circuit switching, all packets

belonging to the same source and
destination travel the same path;
but the packets may arrive at the
destination with different delays
if resource allocation is on demand.

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 Delay in a virtual-circuit network

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 Note

Switching at the data link layer in a

switched WAN is normally
implemented by using
virtual-circuit techniques.

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