CHAPTER 2: REQUIREMENTS AND

TECHNOLOGY

ITNW 4109 Innovations in Network & Security

Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to
 Explain the key elements and their relationships of a Global Network
Architecture.
 Explain the concept of routing.
 Explain the two categories of routing protocols.
 Understand the essential elements of router.
A Global Network
Architecture
 A Global Network Architecture
could represent an enterprise
network of national or global
extent, or a portion of the
Internet with some of its
associated networks.
 Figure 1.2 illustrates some of the
typical communications and
network elements in use in such
a context
Router
 Router is a network device that
forwards data packets from one
network to another.
 The forwarding decision is based on
network layer information and
routing tables, often constructed by
routing protocols.
 Routers require packets formatted in
a routable protocol, the global
standard being the Internet Protocol
(IP).
Core router
 At the center of the figure is an IP
backbone, or core network, which
could represent a portion of the
Internet or an enterprise IP network.
 Typically, the backbone consists of
high-performance routers, called core
routers, interconnected with high-
volume optical links.
 Core router is one that that resides
within the middle of the network
rather than at its periphery.
Edge Router
 Edge router sits at the periphery of a
network. Also called an access router
or aggregation router.
 At the periphery of an IP backbone are
routers that provide connectivity to
external networks and users.
 Aggregation routers are also used
within an enterprise network to
connect a number of routers and
switches, to external resources, such as
an IP backbone or a high-speed WAN.
Large enterprise network
 The upper part of Figure 1.2
depicts a portion of what might
be a large enterprise network.

 The figure shows two sections of

the network connected via a
private high speed WAN, with
switches interconnected with
optical links.
 Large enterprise network
 MPLS using IP is a common switching
protocol used for such WANs;

 Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS): A

protocol developed by IETF for directing
packets in a wide-area IP network, or other
WAN.

 MPLS adds a 32-bit label to each packet to

improve network efficiency and to enable
routers to direct packets along predefined
routes in accordance with the required quality
of service.
Large enterprise network
 Enterprise assets are connected
to, and protected from, an IP
backbone (Internet) via routers
with firewall capability.
Small-or medium-size
business
 The lower left of the figure
depicts what might be a layout
for a small-or medium-size
business, which relies on an
Ethernet LAN.
 Connection to the Internet
through a router could be
through a cable or DSL
connection or a dedicated high-
speed link.
Small-or medium-size
business
 The lower portion of Figure 1.2 also
shows an individual residential user
connected to an Internet service
provider (ISP) through some sort of
subscriber connection.
 Common examples of such a
connection are a DSL, which provides a
high-speed link over telephone lines
and requires a special DSL modem, and
a cable TV facility, which requires a
cable modem, or some type of wireless
connection
Small-or medium-size
business
 Finally, mobile devices, such as
smartphones and tablets, can
connect to the Internet through
the public cellular network,
which has a high-speed
connection, typically optical, to
the Internet.
Routing
 The primary function of an internet is to accept packets from a source
station and deliver them to a destination station
 To accomplish this, a path or route through the network must be determined
 Generally, more than one route is possible; therefore, a routing function must
be performed
 Selection of a route is generally based on some performance criterion
 Simplest criterion is to choose the minimum-hop route (one that passes through
the least number of nodes) through the network
 A generalization of the minimum-hop criterion is least-cost routing; in this
case, a cost is associated with each link, and, for any pair of attached stations,
the route through the network that accumulates the least cost is sought
Packet Forwarding
 The key function of any router is
to accept incoming packets and
forward them.
 For this purpose, a router
maintains forwarding tables.
 Figure 2.8 shows a simplified
example of how this might be
implemented for the network,
with its associated link costs, of
Figure 2.7.
Packet Forwarding
 A router’s forwarding table shows,
for each destination, the identity of
the next node on the router.
 Each router may be responsible for
discovering the appropriate routes.
 Note that it is not necessary to store
the complete route for each possible
pair of nodes. Rather, it is sufficient
to know, for each pair of nodes, the
identity of the first node on the route.
Packet Forwarding
 Alternatively, a network control
center may be responsible for
designing routes for all routers
and maintaining a central
forwarding table, providing each
router with individual
forwarding tables relevant only
to that router.
Routing Protocols
 Routers are responsible for receiving and forwarding packets through the
interconnected set of networks.
 Each router makes routing decisions based on knowledge of the topology and
traffic/delay conditions of the internet.
 The router must avoid portions of the network that have failed and should
avoid portions of the network that are congested.
 To make such dynamic routing decisions, routers exchange routing
information using a routing protocol.
 Information is needed about the status of the internet, in terms of which
networks can be reached by which routes, and the delay characteristics of
various routes.
Routing Protocols
 There are essentially two categories of routing protocols which are based
on the concept of an autonomous system (AS)
 An AS exhibits the following characteristics:
 An AS is a set of routers and networks managed by a single organization
 An AS consists of a group of routers exchanging information via a common
routing protocol
 Except in times of failure, an AS is connected, that is, there is a path between
any pair of nodes.
Routing Background
 There are two categories of routing protocols:
 interior router protocols (IRPs) that operate within an autonomous system (AS),
and
 exterior router protocols (ERPs) that operate between autonomous systems.
Routing Protocols
Routing Protocol - IRP
 An interior router protocol (IRP) is a shared routing protocol that passes
routing information between routers within an AS.

 An IRP is concerned with discovering the topology of routers within an AS and

then determining the best route to each destination based on different metrics.

 Widely used IRPs are Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Open Shortest Path
First (OSPF) Protocol and Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
(EIGRP).
Routing Protocols-ERP
 An exterior router protocol (ERP) is a protocol that distributes routing
information to collaborating routers that connect autonomous systems.
 An ERP need not collect as much detailed traffic information.
 Rather, the primary concern with an ERP is to determine reachability of
networks and end systems outside of the AS.
 Therefore, the ERP is typically executed only in edge nodes that connect
one AS to another.
 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is commonly used for the ERP.
Elements of a Router
 Figure 2.10 depicts the principal
elements of a router, from the
point of view of its routing
function.
 Any given router has a number of
I/O ports attached to it: one or
more to other routers, and zero or
more to end systems.
 On each port, packets arrive and
depart.
Elements of a Router
 You can consider that there are two
buffers (or queues), at each port:
 Input buffer: to accept arriving
packets, and
 Output buffer: to hold packets that
are waiting to depart.
 In practice, there might be two fixed-
size buffers associated with each port,
or there might be a pool of memory
available for all buffering activities.
Elements of a Router
 As packets arrive, they are stored in the
input buffer of the corresponding port.
 The router examines each incoming
packet, makes a routing decision based
on the forwarding tables, and then
moves the packet to the appropriate
output buffer.
 Packets queued for output are
transmitted as rapidly as possible.
 Each output queue can be operated as a
simple first-in, first-out (FIFO) queue.
Elements of a Router
 The final element shown in
Figure 2.10 is a routing control
function.
 This function includes execution
of
 routing protocols,
 adaptive maintenance of the
forwarding tables, and
 supervising congestion control
policies.
Acknowledgement : content taken from

Foundations of Modern Networking

SDN, NFV, QoE, IoT, and Cloud
William Stallings
Pearson Education, Inc.