UNIT II

SWITCHING
 Switching
 A computer network consists of a large number or
computers and interconnecting devices. Passage of a
message from a source to a destination involves many
decisions.
 When a message reaches a connecting device, a decision
needs to be made to select one of the output ports
through which the packet needs to be sent out.
 The connecting device acts as a switch that connects one
port to another port and data movement between the
devices is called switching.
Switched Networks
A switched network consists of a series of interlinked
nodes called switches. Switched are hardware and
software devices capable of creating temporary circuit
between two or more devices.
Classification of switched networks:
Circuit Switching
Packet Switching
Message Switching
 CIRCUIT SWITCHING
 In circuit switching a dedicated physical connection is
established between sender and receiver. 
 A circuit-switched network is made of a set of switches
connected by physical links.
 The dedicated path established between sender and receiver is
maintained for entire duration of conversation.
 Circuit switching takes place at the physical layer.
 Phases of Circuit Switching
Phase I: Setup
Before starting communication, the stations must make a reservation for
the resources to be used for communication. The resources, such as
channels, switch, input output ports must be dedicatedly allotted during
entire communication
Phase II: Data transfer
Once circuit is established between sender are receiver continuous data
(not packets) flows between sender and receiver there may be no data in
between.
Phase III: Circuit tear down
When any one of the parties needs to disconnect, a signal is sent to each
switch to release the resources.
Advantage of Circuit Switching
Dedicated path or circuit between sender and receiver
provides a guaranteed data rate.
Once circuit is established data can be transmitted without
any delay.
Method is suitable for long continuous transmission.
Disadvantages of Circuit Switching
As the connection is dedicated it cannot be used to transmit
any other data even if channel is free.
It is inefficient in terms of utilization of system resources .
Dedicated channels consume more bandwidth.
Not efficient for long distance communication.
Telephone networks are the best example of circuit
switched networks.
PACKET SWITCHING
Adopted in 1970 for long distance communication. 
In packet switching message is broken up into packets of fixed or
variable size.
Each of the packets contain header with the information of sender,
receiver and other control information.
No resources are dedicatedly allocated before the transfer of packets.
Resources are allocated on demand on first come first server bases.
These networks are also called as store and forward networks as at
each node stores the packet briefly and route it according to the
information stores in header. 
Advantages of Packet Switching
Line efficiency increases as node to node link can be shared by
many packets over time.
As the routing is done on packet basis, intermediate nodes do not
have to wait for the entire message, hence transmission is fast.
Buffer requirement at the nodes is small as packets are small.
More effective for real time burst data.
Packets are accepted even when network is busy.
Priorities can be used.
Switching nodes can route the packets as and when required.

Disadvantages of Packet Switching

Packets may be lost while routing.
Sequence number increases the overhead.
Header information is repeated for all the packets.
Approaches in Packet Switching
There are two different approaches in packet switching:
Datagram packet switching
In this approach, message is divided into stream of packets
of fixed or variable size. Each packet is separately
addressed (contains header with sender and receiver
address)
Virtual Circuit Packet Switching
A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-
switched network and a datagram network.
 DATAGRAM NETWORKS
In a datagram network, each packet is treated independently
of all others.
Even if a packet is part of a multi packet transmission, the
network treats it as though it existed alone.
Packets in this approach are referred to as datagrams.
Datagram switching is normally done at the network layer.
The datagram networks are sometimes referred to as
connectionless networks. The term connectionless here
means that the switch (packet switch) does not keep
information about the connection state.
There are no setup or teardown phases. Each packet is
treated the same by a switch regardless of its source or
destination.
Figure show how a datagram approach is used to deliver four
packets from station A to station D. All the four packets belong to
same message but they may travel via different paths to reach the
destination i.e. station D.

Switching in the Internet is done by using the datagram approach

to packet switching at the network layer.
 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.
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 a 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 the data
link layer, while a circuit-switched network is implemented in the
physical layer and a datagram network in the network layer.
Before the data transfer begins, the source and destination
identify a suitable path for the virtual circuit.
All intermediate nodes between the two points put an entry
of the routing in their routing table for the call.
Additional parameters, such as the maximum packet size,
are also exchanged between the source and the destination
during call setup.
The virtual circuit is cleared after the data transfer is
completed.
Advantages of virtual circuit switching
Packets are delivered in order, since they all take the same route;
The overhead in the packets is smaller, since there is no need for
each packet to contain the full address;
The connection is more reliable, network resources are allocated at
call setup so that even during times of congestion, provided that a
call has been setup, the subsequent packets should get through;
Billing is easier, since billing records need only be generated per call
and not per packet.
Disadvantages of a virtual circuit switched network
The switching equipment needs to be more powerful, since each
switch needs to store details of all the calls that are passing through it
and to allocate capacity for any traffic that each call could generate;
Resilience to the loss of a trunk is more difficult, since if there is a
failure all the calls must be dynamically re-established over a
different route.
Message Switching
In message switching, end users communicate by sending
and receiving messages that included the entire data to be
shared. Messages are the smallest individual unit.
Also, the sender and receiver are not directly connected.
There are a number of intermediate nodes transfer data and
ensure that the message reaches its destination.
Message switched data networks are hence called hop-by-
hop systems.
Message switching treats each message as an individual unit.
Before sending the message, the sender node adds the
destination address to the message. It is then delivered entirely
to the next intermediate switching node.
The intermediate node stores the message in its entirety,
checks for transmission errors, inspects the destination address
and then delivers it to the next node. The process continues till
the message reaches the destination.
In the switching node, the
incoming message is not
discarded if the required
outgoing circuit is busy.
Instead, it is stored in a queue
for that route and
retransmitted when the
required route is available.
This is called store and
Advantages
Sharing of communication channels ensures better bandwidth usage.
It reduces network congestion due to store and forward method. Any
switching node can store the messages till the network is available.
Broadcasting messages requires much less bandwidth than circuit
switching.
Messages of unlimited sizes can be sent.
It does not have to deal with out of order packets or lost packets as
in packet switching.
Disadvantages
In order to store many messages of unlimited sizes, each
intermediate switching node requires large storage capacity.
Store and forward method introduces delay at each switching node.
This renders it unsuitable for real time applications.