Data and Computer

Communications
Chapter 15 – Local Area Network
Overview

Eighth Edition
by William Stallings

Lecture slides by Lawrie Brown

 Local Area Network Overview

The whole of this operation is described in

minute detail in the official British Naval
History, and should be studied with its excellent
charts by those who are interested in its
technical aspect. So complicated is the full story
that the lay reader cannot see the wood for the
trees. I have endeavored to render intelligible
the broad effects.
—The World Crisis, Winston Churchill
 LAN Applications (1)
 personal computer LANs

low cost

limited data rate
 back end networks

interconnecting large systems (mainframes and large
storage devices)
• high data rate
• high speed interface
• distributed access
• limited distance
• limited number of devices
 LAN Applications (2)
 storage area networks (SANs)
 separate network handling storage needs
 detaches storage tasks from specific servers
 shared storage facility
• eg. hard disks, tape libraries, CD arrays
 accessed using a high-speed network
• eg. Fibre Channel

improved client-server storage access
 direct storage to storage communication for backup
Storage Area Networks
 LAN Applications (3)
 high speed office networks

desktop image processing

high capacity local storage
 backbone LANs

interconnect low speed local LANs
 reliability
 capacity
 cost
 LAN Architecture
 topologies
 transmission medium
 layout
 medium access control
LAN Topologies
 Bus and Tree
 used with multipoint medium
 transmission propagates throughout medium
 heard by all stations
 full duplex connection between station and tap
 allows for transmission and reception
 need to regulate transmission

to avoid collisions and hogging
 terminator absorbs frames at end of medium
 tree a generalization of bus
 headend connected to branching cables
 Frame
Transmission
on Bus LAN
 Ring Topology
 a closed loop of repeaters joined by point to point links
 receive data on one link & retransmit on another
 links unidirectional
 stations attach to repeaters
 data in frames
 circulate past all stations
 destination recognizes address and copies frame
 frame circulates back to source where it is removed
 media access control determines when a station can
insert frame
 Frame
Transmission
Ring LAN
 Star Topology
 each station connects to central node
 usually via two point to point links
 either central node can broadcast

physical star, logical bus
 only one station can transmit at a time
 or central node can act as frame switch
 Choice of Topology
 reliability
 expandability
 performance
 needs considering in context of:

medium
 wiring layout

access control
 Bus LAN
Transmission Media (1)
 twisted pair
 early LANs used voice grade cable
 didn’t scale for fast LANs

not used in bus LANs now
 baseband coaxial cable
 uses digital signalling

original Ethernet
 Bus LAN
Transmission Media (2)
 broadband coaxial cable
 as in cable TV systems
 analog signals at radio frequencies
 expensive, hard to install and maintain
 no longer used in LANs
 optical fiber
 expensive taps
 better alternatives available
 not used in bus LANs
 less convenient compared to star topology twisted pair
 coaxial baseband still used but not often in new
installations
 Ring and Star Usage
 ring
 very high speed links over long distances
 single link or repeater failure disables network
 star
 uses natural layout of wiring in building
 best for short distances

high data rates for small number of devices
 Choice of Medium
 constrained by LAN topology
 capacity
 reliability
 types of data supported
 environmental scope
 Media Available
 Voice grade unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
 Cat 3 phone, cheap, low data rates
 Shielded twisted pair / baseband coaxial
 more expensive, higher data rates
 Broadband cable
 even more expensive, higher data rate
 High performance UTP

Cat 5+, very high data rates, witched star topology
 Optical fibre
 security, high capacity, small size, high cost
 LAN Protocol Architecture
 Lower layers of OSI model
 IEEE 802 reference model
 Physical
 Logical link control (LLC)
 Media access control (MAC)
LAN Protocol Architecture
 IEEE 802 Layers (1)
 Physical
 encoding/decoding of signals
 preamble generation/removal

bit transmission/reception
 transmission medium and topology
 IEEE 802 Layers (2)
 Logical Link Control
 interface to higher levels
 flow and error control
 Media Access Control

on transmit assemble data into frame

on receive disassemble frame

govern access to transmission medium

for same LLC, may have several MAC options
LAN Protocols in Context
 Logical Link Control
 transmission of link level PDUs between
stations
 must support multiaccess, shared medium
 but MAC layer handles link access details
 addressing involves specifying source and
destination LLC users
 referred to as service access points (SAP)
 typically higher level protocol
 LLC Services
 based on HDLC
 unacknowledged connectionless service
 connection mode service
 acknowledged connectionless service
 LLC Protocol
 modeled after HDLC
 asynchronous balanced mode

connection mode (type 2) LLC service
 unacknowledged connectionless service

using unnumbered information PDUs (type 1)
 acknowledged connectionless service
 using 2 new unnumbered PDUs (type 3)
 permits multiplexing using LSAPs
MAC Frame Format
 Media Access Control
 where
 central
• greater control, single point of failure

distributed
• more complex, but more redundant
 how
 synchronous
• capacity dedicated to connection, not optimal
 asynchronous
• in response to demand
 Asynchronous Systems
 round robin
 each station given turn to transmit data
 reservation
 divide medium into slots

good for stream traffic
 contention
 all stations contend for time
 good for bursty traffic

simple to implement

tends to collapse under heavy load
 MAC Frame Handling
 MAC layer receives data from LLC layer
 fields
 MAC control
 destination MAC address

source MAC address

LLC
 CRC
 MAC layer detects errors and discards frames
 LLC optionally retransmits unsuccessful frames
 Bridges
 connects similar LANs
 identical physical / link layer protocols
 minimal processing
 can map between MAC formats
 reasons for use
 reliability

performance

security
 geography
Bridge Function
 Bridge Design Aspects
 no modification to frame content or format
 no encapsulation
 exact bitwise copy of frame
 minimal buffering to meet peak demand
 contains routing and address intelligence
 may connect more than two LANs
 bridging is transparent to stations
Bridge Protocol Architecture
 IEEE 802.1D
 MAC level
 Station address is at this level
 Bridge does not need LLC layer
 It is relaying MAC frames
 Can pass frame over external comms system
 e.g. WAN link
 Capture frame
 Encapsulate it
 Forward it across link
 Remove encapsulation and forward over LAN link
Connection of Two LANs
 Fixed Routing
 Complex large LANs need alternative routes
 Load balancing
 Fault tolerance
 Bridge must decide whether to forward frame
 Bridge must decide which LAN to forward frame on
 Routing selected for each source-destination pair of
LANs
 Done in configuration
 Usually least hop route
 Only changed when topology changes
Bridges and
LANs with
Alternative
Routes
 Spanning Tree
 Bridge automatically develops routing
table
 Automatically update in response to
changes
 Frame forwarding
 Address learning
 Loop resolution
 Frame forwarding
 Maintain forwarding database for each port
 List station addresses reached through each port
 For a frame arriving on port X:
 Search forwarding database to see if MAC address is
listed for any port except X

If address not found, forward to all ports except X

If address listed for port Y, check port Y for blocking
or forwarding state
• Blocking prevents port from receiving or transmitting
 If not blocked, transmit frame through port Y
 Address Learning
 Can preload forwarding database
 Can be learned
 When frame arrives at port X, it has come form
the LAN attached to port X
 Use the source address to update forwarding
database for port X to include that address
 Timer on each entry in database
 Each time frame arrives, source address
checked against forwarding database
 Spanning Tree Algorithm
 Address learning works for tree layout
 i.e. no closed loops
 For any connected graph there is a
spanning tree that maintains connectivity
but contains no closed loops
 Each bridge assigned unique identifier
 Exchange between bridges to establish
spanning tree
Loop of Bridges
Layer 2 and Layer 3 Switches
 Now many types of devices for
interconnecting LANs
 Beyond bridges and routers
 Layer 2 switches
 Layer 3 switches
 Hubs
 Active central element of star layout
 Each station connected to hub by two lines
 Transmit and receive
 Hub acts as a repeater
 When single station transmits, hub repeats signal on outgoing line to
each station
 Line consists of two unshielded twisted pairs
 Limited to about 100 m
 High data rate and poor transmission qualities of UTP
 Optical fiber may be used
 Max about 500 m
 Physically star, logically bus
 Transmission from any station received by all other stations
 If two stations transmit at the same time, collision
 Hub Layouts
 Multiple levels of hubs cascaded
 Each hub may have a mixture of stations and
other hubs attached to from below
 Fits well with building wiring practices

Wiring closet on each floor
 Hub can be placed in each one
 Each hub services stations on its floor
Two Level Star Topology
 Buses and Hubs
 Bus configuration
 All stations share capacity of bus (e.g. 10Mbps)
 Only one station transmitting at a time
 Hub uses star wiring to attach stations to hub

Transmission from any station received by hub and
retransmitted on all outgoing lines

Only one station can transmit at a time
 Total capacity of LAN is 10 Mbps
 Improve performance with layer 2 switch
Shared Medium Bus and Hub
Shared Medium Hub and
Layer 2 Switch
 Layer 2 Switches
 Central hub acts as switch
 Incoming frame from particular station
switched to appropriate output line
 Unused lines can switch other traffic
 More than one station transmitting at a
time
 Multiplying capacity of LAN
 Layer 2 Switch Benefits
 No change to attached devices to convert bus LAN or hub
LAN to switched LAN
 For Ethernet LAN, each device uses Ethernet MAC protocol
 Device has dedicated capacity equal to original LAN
 Assuming switch has sufficient capacity to keep up with all devices
 For example if switch can sustain throughput of 20 Mbps, each device
appears to have dedicated capacity for either input or output of 10
Mbps
 Layer 2 switch scales easily
 Additional devices attached to switch by increasing capacity of layer 2
 Types of Layer 2 Switch
 Store-and-forward switch
 Accepts frame on input line
 Buffers it briefly,
 Then routes it to appropriate output line
 Delay between sender and receiver
 Boosts integrity of network
 Cut-through switch
 Takes advantage of destination address appearing at beginning of
frame
 Switch begins repeating frame onto output line as soon as it
recognizes destination address
 Highest possible throughput
 Risk of propagating bad frames
• Switch unable to check CRC prior to retransmission
 Layer 2 Switch v Bridge
 Layer 2 switch can be viewed as full-duplex hub
 Can incorporate logic to function as multiport bridge
 Bridge frame handling done in software
 Switch performs address recognition and frame forwarding in
hardware
 Bridge only analyzes and forwards one frame at a time
 Switch has multiple parallel data paths
 Can handle multiple frames at a time
 Bridge uses store-and-forward operation
 Switch can have cut-through operation
 Bridge suffered commercially
 New installations typically include layer 2 switches with bridge functionality
rather than bridges
 Problems with Layer 2
Switches (1)
 As number of devices in building grows, layer 2 switches
reveal some inadequacies
 Broadcast overload
 Lack of multiple links
 Set of devices and LANs connected by layer 2 switches
have flat address space
 Allusers share common MAC broadcast address
 If any device issues broadcast frame, that frame is delivered to all
devices attached to network connected by layer 2 switches
and/or bridges
 In large network, broadcast frames can create big overhead
 Malfunctioning device can create broadcast storm
• Numerous broadcast frames clog network
 Problems with Layer 2
Switches (2)
 Current standards for bridge protocols dictate no closed loops
 Only one path between any two devices
 Impossible in standards-based implementation to provide multiple paths
through multiple switches between devices
• Limits both performance and reliability.
 Solution: break up network into subnetworks connected by routers
 MAC broadcast frame limited to devices and switches contained in
single subnetwork
 IP-based routers employ sophisticated routing algorithms
 Allow use of multiple paths between subnetworks going through different
routers
 Problems with Routers
 Routers do all IP-level processing in software

High-speed LANs and high-performance layer 2
switches pump millions of packets per second

Software-based router only able to handle well under
a million packets per second
 Solution: layer 3 switches

Implementpacket-forwarding logic of router in
hardware
 Two categories

Packet by packet
 Flow based
 Packet by Packet or
Flow Based
 Operates insame way as traditional router
 Order of magnitude increase in performance
compared to software-based router
 Flow-based switch tries to enhance performance
by identifying flows of IP packets

Same source and destination
 Done by observing ongoing traffic or using a special
flow label in packet header (IPv6)

Once flow is identified, predefined route can be
established
 Typical Large LAN
Organization
 Thousands to tens of thousands of devices
 Desktop systems links 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps
 Into layer 2 switch
 Wireless LAN connectivity available for mobile users
 Layer 3 switches at local network's core
 Form local backbone
 Interconnected at 1 Gbps
 Connect to layer 2 switches at 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
 Servers connect directly to layer 2 or layer 3 switches at 1 Gbps
 Lower-cost software-based router provides WAN connection
 Circles in diagram identify separate LAN subnetworks
 MAC broadcast frame limited to own subnetwork
 Typical
Large
LAN
Organization
Diagram
 Summary
 congestion effects
 congestion control
 traffic management
 frame relay congestion control
 ATM congestion control