UNIT 3 - NETWORK LAYER

Switching : Packet Switching -

Internet protocol - IPV4 – IP
Addressing – Subnetting - IPV6,
ARP, RARP, ICMP, DHCP
 Switching
Switching is the process of transferring data
packets from one device to another in a network, or
from one network to another, using specific devices
called switches.
Switching takes place at the Data Link layer of the
OSI Model. This means that after the generation of
data packets in the Physical Layer, switching is the
immediate next process in data communication.
A switch is a hardware device in a network that
connects other devices, like computers and servers.
It helps multiple devices share a network without
their data interfering with each other.
Types of Switching
 Circuit Switching
In circuit switching network resources bandwidth
are divided into pieces and the bit delay is constant
during a connection.
The dedicated path/circuit established between the
sender and receiver provides a guaranteed data rate.
Data can be transmitted without any delays once the
circuit is established.
The telephone system network is one of the
examples of Circuit switching. TDM (Time Division
Multiplexing) and FDM (Frequency Division
Multiplexing) are two methods of multiplexing
multiple signals into a single carrier.
Circuit Switching are classified into two:
 Space-Division Switching: Space-Division switching
is a technique of Circuit Switching where the paths in
the circuits are separated from each other spatially.
 Time-Division Switching: It is a digital switching
technique. There is no need for crosspoints in this
switching. In Time-Division Switching, the incoming
signals, as well as outgoing signals, are received and
re-transmitted in a different time slot.
Phases in Circuit Switching
 Setup Phase
 Data Transfer Phase
 Teardown Phase
Efficiency: Inefficient
Application: Switching in Telephone network(voice
traffic)
Circuit Switching
 Packet Switching
In order to transfer the file fast and efficiently over
the network and minimize the transmission latency,
the data is broken into small pieces of variable length,
called Packet.
At the destination, all these small parts (packets) have
to be reassembled, belonging to the same file.
A packet is composed of a payload and various control
information. No pre-setup or reservation of resources
is needed.
Packet Switching uses the Store and
Forward technique while switching the packets; while
forwarding the packet each hop first stores that
packet then forwards.
Advantages:
 More efficient in terms of bandwidth, since the
concept of reserving a circuit is not there.
 Minimal transmission latency.
 More reliable as a destination can detect the missing
packet.
 More fault tolerant because packets may follow a
different path in case any link is down, Unlike Circuit
Switching.
 Cost-effective and comparatively cheaper to
implement.
Approaches to Packet Switching:
 Connection-oriented Packet Switching (Virtual Circuit)
 Switched Virtual Circuit(SVC)
 Permanent Virtual Circuit(PVC)
 Connectionless Packet Switching (Datagram)
Datagram Approach:
Connectionless Service
In Datagram packet switching each packet has all
the necessary information like Source address,
destination address etc.
So each packet is treated independently.
They can choose different routes for transmitting
data inside the network.
There is no predefined route. So, the packets can be
received in any sequence at the destination.
Packets in this approach are called datagrams.
Datagram approach can cause the datagrams to
reach the destination out of order.
This mode of packet switching, doesn’t involve
setup, transfer and teardown phase.
 Routing Table
In Packet Switching network, each switch (or packet
switch) has a routing table which is based on the
destination address.
The routing tables are dynamic and are updated
periodically.
The destination addresses and the corresponding
forwarding output ports are recorded in the tables.
This is different from the table of a circuit-switched
network in which each entry is created when the setup
phase is completed and deleted when the teardown
phase is over.
Routing table in a datagram network
 Efficient: It is better than circuit-switching network

 Application: Switching in Internet

 Advantages:
 No setup time: Datagram networks are connectionless and don't
require setup time.
 No fixed route: If a link or node fails, there's no need to
reestablish a path.
 Fault tolerance: Packets can be routed around busy parts of the
network or when an intermediate system fails.
 Flexibility: Datagrams are the most flexible form of
communication, allowing senders and receivers to change along
with priorities.
 Efficiency: Datagrams are more efficient than other packet types.
Virtual Circuit(VC) Approach: Connection-Oriented Service
It is a connection-oriented network.
In these networks, the path between the source
and the destination nodes that is followed by first
data packet gets allocated. All other data packets
transmitted between them will use the same path.
All the resources like buffers and bandwidth get
reserved before the transmission, and all data
packets consume same resources.
Since all packets follow the same path, a common
header and routing information is used by them.
They provide greater reliability and less complexity
owing to fixed paths and fixed resources.
3 Phases of Virtual - Circuit Transmission
Set up Phase − In this phase, a virtual circuit or a
route is established from the source to the destination
through number of switches. The source and destination
use global addresses using which the switches make
routing table entries.
Data Transfer − Once the virtual circuit is set up, all
packets follow the route established during the set up
phase adhering to the routing tables.
Teardown Phase − When data transfer is complete, the
source sends a teardown request. The destination
responds using a teardown confirmation. The switches
flush their routing table entries, thus relinquishing the
circuit.
 ADDRESSING
 Global Addressing:
 It is used to create a Virtual-Circuit Identifier(VCI)
 Local Addressing (Virtual-circuit identifier) :
 It uniquely identifies the connection link at the switch and
carried in the header of the packet.
 Advantages of Virtual Circuit:
 Packets are delivered to the receiver in the same order sent
by the sender.
 Virtual circuit is a reliable network circuit.
 There is no need for overhead in each packet.
 Single global packet overhead is used in virtual circuit.
 Disadvantages of Virtual Circuit:
 Virtual circuit is costly to implement.
 It provides only connection-oriented service.
 Always a new connection set up is required for transmission.
 INTERNET PROTOCOL
The Internet Protocol (IP) is a protocol, or set of
rules, for routing and addressing packets of data so
that they can travel across networks and arrive at
the correct destination.
Data traversing the Internet is divided into smaller
pieces, called packets.
IP information is attached to each packet, and this
information helps routers to send packets to the
right place.
Every device or domain that connects to the
Internet is assigned an IP address, and as packets
are directed to the IP address attached to them,
data arrives where it is needed.
 Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4)
It is connectionless services: Datagram approach
IPv4 could be a 32-bit IP Address.
IPv4 could be a numeric address, and its bits are
separated by a dot.
The number of header fields is twelve and the
length of the header field is twenty.
It has Unicast, broadcast, and multicast-style
addresses.
IPv4 supports VLSM (Virtual Length Subnet
Mask).
IPv4 uses the Post Address Resolution Protocol to
map to the MAC address.
IPv4 Datagram Format
VER - Version (4 bits): Indicates the version
of the IPv4 protocol being used.
HLEN - Header Length (4 bits): Indicates the
length of the header in 32-bit words.
Service - Type of Service (8 bits):
Indicates the priority of the packet and any
special handling that should be applied to it.
It is also called as differentiated services,
which has 3 fields.
Precedence(3 bits): Defines Priority, Ranging
from 0(000 in binary) to 7(111 in binary)
Type of Services (TOS): specify Type of
Services value.
Reserved (R) – 1 bit , reserved for future use.
Service - Type of Service (8 bits)
Type of Service (TOS)
Total Length (16 bits): Indicates the total length
of the packet in bytes, including the header and
data.
Identification (16 bits): A unique number that is
used to identify the packet.
Flags (3 bits): Used to control fragmentation and
reassembly of the packet.
bit 0: Reserved; must be Zero
bit 1: Don’t Fragment (DF)
bit 2: More Fragment (MF)
Fragment Offset (13 bits): Indicates the position
of this fragment in the original packet.
TTL - Time to Live (8 bits): Indicates the
maximum number of hops that the packet can
make before it is discarded.
Protocol (8 bits): Indicates the type of
transport layer protocol being used (e.g. TCP,
UDP).
Header Checksum (16 bits): A checksum that
is used to verify the integrity of the header.
Source IP Address (32 bits): The IP address of
the sender of the packet.
Destination IP Address (32 bits): The IP
address of the intended recipient of the packet.
Options (variable length): Optional fields that
can be used to specify additional information
about the packet.
 Fragmentation and Reassembly
It is a method for transmission of messages larger
than the network’s Maximum Transmission
Unit(MTU), Messages are fragmented into smaller
pieces by the sender and reassembled by the
receiver.
Fragmentation is the breaking of an IPV4 packet
that exceeds the MTU of the data link layer into
smaller IPV4 packets. Fragmentation is a process
performed by the sender or the forwarding routers.
Fragmentation relies on some of the fields in the
IPV4 header, which are as follows:
Identification: To identify fragments, we use a 16-bit
field.
When the packet is fragmented, the identification field
is copied into the fragmented packet headers to help
determine that the packet belongs to a specific frame.
Fragment offset: This is a 13-bit field that is used
to order the data into fragments; it helps in the
rearranging part.
MF (More fragments): It is a one-bit flag that
specifies if there are more fragments of the frame.
DF (Don't fragment): It is a one-bit flag that tells
the routers whether to fragment the packet or not.
If it is set to 00 then the packet can be
fragmented.
 Reassembly
The reassembly process is carried out at the destination.
This is because packets take different routes through the
network and arrive at different times.
The steps of the process of reassembly are as follows:
 The destination identifies that the packet has been
fragmented using the MF and fragment offset fields.
 The destination categorizes the incoming packets
according to their identification fields. Two packets with
the same identification field are put in the same category.
 The packets within a category are sequenced using the MF
and fragment offset. First, the packets with MF equal
to 11 are sorted in ascending order based on their
fragment offset values. Then the packet having an MF
equal to 00 and a fragment offset not equal to 0 is placed at
the end, since it's the last packet.
 IPv4 ADDRESSING
Logical (Universal) Address: 32 bit long(4
bytes), it encodes its network number and
host number. It remains the same.
Physical (Network) Address: It will change
from hop to hop.
ADDRESS SPACE:
It is defined as “The total number of addresses
used by the protocol”.
Eg: For N bits address, 2^N bits address space
can be used.
Notations: 3 types
Binary Notation: 32 bit address(4 byte address)
Dotted-Decimal Notation: 32 bit address
Hexadecimal Notation: 32 bit address

Eg: binary: 01000000 00100000 00010000

00000011
decimal: 64.32.16.17
HIERARCHY IN ADDRESSING: 2 parts
Prefix – Defines the network – n bits
Suffix - Defines the node – (32 – n) bits
Two address distribution mechanism in
IPv4
Classful addrssing
Classless addrssing
 Classful Addressing
It divides the address space into fixed-size
classes, with a predefined number of bits
allocated to the network and host portions of
the address.
This system makes it easy to identify the network
and host parts of an IP address based on its class.
Key Characteristics:
Fixed classes of IP addresses (A, B, C, D, and E).
The network prefix and host identifier are
determined by the class.
Each class has a fixed number of bits assigned to
the network and host portions.
Class A
 IP addresses belonging to class A are assigned to the
networks that contain a large number of hosts.
 The network ID is 8 bits long.
 The host ID is 24 bits long.
 class A has a total of: 2^24 – 2 = 16,777,214 host ID
 IP addresses belonging to class A ranges from 0.0.0.0 –
127.255.255.255.
Class B
 IP address belonging to class B is assigned to networks
that range from medium-sized to large-sized networks.
 The network ID is 16 bits long.
 The host ID is 16 bits long.
 Class B has a total of:
 2^14 = 16384 network address
 2^16 – 2 = 65534 host address
 IP addresses belonging to class B ranges from 128.0.0.0
– 191.255.255.255.
Class C
 IP addresses belonging to class C are assigned to
small-sized networks.
 The network ID is 24 bits long.
 The host ID is 8 bits long.
 Class C has a total of:
 2^21 = 2097152 network address
 2^8 – 2 = 254 host address
 IP addresses belonging to class C range from
192.0.0.0 – 223.255.255.255.
Class D
 IP address belonging to class D is reserved
for multi-casting.
 Class D does not possess any subnet mask.
 IP addresses belonging to class D range from
224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255.
Class E
IP addresses belonging to class E are reserved
for experimental and research purposes.
IP addresses of class E range from 240.0.0.0 –
255.255.255.255.
This class doesn’t have any subnet mask.
The higher-order bits of the first octet of class
E are always set to 1111.
Problems with Classful Addressing
The problem with this classful addressing method is
that millions of class A addresses are wasted, many
of the class B addresses are wasted, whereas, the
number of addresses available in class C is so small
that it cannot cater to the needs of organizations.
Class D addresses are used for multicast routing and
are therefore available as a single block only.
Class E addresses are reserved.
It is called as Address Depletion Problem.
Depletion of address: The classful system
contributed to the rapid exhaustion of IPv4
addresses due to large, inflexible allocations.
 Classless Addressing
This system uses variable-length subnet masking
(VLSM), where the division between the network and
host parts of the address is determined by a
customizable prefix length.
Key Characteristics:
 No fixed address classes (A, B, C); addresses are
assigned based on the size of the network, regardless of
traditional class boundaries.
 The prefix length specifies how many bits represent the
network portion.
 IP addresses are represented in CIDR notation, e.g.,
192.168.1.0/24, where /24 means the first 24 bits are used
for the network portion, leaving 8 bits for hosts.
 Allows subnetting and supernetting, providing better
control over address allocation.
Address Blocks
Divide address space into variable-length
blocks but no classes.
A block (range) of address granted to an
entity varies based on the nature and size of
entity needtobe connected.
 Prefix Length - Slash Notation
CIDR allows for more flexible and efficient
use of the IPv4 address space by removing
the rigid boundaries imposed by classful
addressing.
CIDR addresses are represented using a
slash notation, which specifies the number of
bits in the network prefix.
For example, an IP address of 192.168.1.0
with a prefix length of 24 would be
represented as 192.168.1.0/24. This notation
indicates that the first 24 bits of the IP
address are the network prefix and the
remaining 8 bits are the host identifier.
In this example the host bits are separated by
a red line. In our first example we know there
are 8 host bits remaining (because 32 bits in
total minus 24 network bits = 8 host bits). This
means that the total possible IP addresses in
this range are 2⁸ (256 total IP addresses minus
2 addresses reserved for network and
broadcasting).
In the next example we’ve moved the red line
to illustrate only having 6 host bits left
(because 32 bits minus 26 network bits = 6
host bits). That means the total possible IP
addresses in this range are 2⁶ (64 total IP
addresses minus 2 addresses reserved for
network and broadcasting).
 Extracting Information from an Address
Number of Address: 2^(32-N)
The n leftmost bits are kept, and the (32 - n)
rightmost bits are all set to zeroes to
determine the first address.
The n leftmost bits are kept, while the (32 - n)
rightmost bits are all set to 1s to determine
the last address.
 Address Mask
Address mask is a way to find the first and
last addresses in the block.
It is a 32-bit number in which the n leftmost
bits are Is and the 32-n rightmost bits are 0s.
The number of addresses in the block N =
NOT (mask) +1.
The first address in the block = (Any address
in the block) AND (mask).
The last address in the block = (Any address
in the block) OR [NOT (mask)).
 Network Address
Let us assume that an internet is made of 'm'
networks and a router with 'm' interfaces.
When a packet arrives at the router from any
source host, the router needs to know to which
network the packet should be sent and from which
interface the packet should be sent out
After the network address has been found, the
router consults its forwarding table to find the
corresponding interface from which the packet
should be sent out.
The network address is actually the identifier of
the network and each network is identified by its
network address.
 Block Allocation
Another issue with Classless addressing is the
allocation of block.
The ultimate responsibility of block allocation is given
to a global authority named Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); it is not
normally allocating the address to the individual
organizations.
Generally, it assigns a large block of addresses to an
Internet Service Provider (ISP) that is, large
organization.
Each ISP, in turn, divides its assigned block into smaller
sub blocks and then issue those sub blocks to its
customers.
This process is called address aggregation.
 Special Addresses
IPv4 use five special addresses that are used
for special purposes:
1. This-host address: The only address in the
block 0.0.0.0/32 is called the this-host
address which is used by a host needs to send
an IP datagram but it does not know its own
address to use as the source address.
2. Limited-broadcast address: The only
address in the block 255.255.255.255/32 is
called the limited. broadcast address which is
used whenever a router or a host needs to
send a datagram to all devices in a network.
3. Loopback address: The block 127.0.0.0/8
is called the loopback address. A packet with
one of the addresses in this block as the
destination address never leaves the host and
it will remain in the host.
4. Private address: Four blocks are assigned
as private addresses: 10.0.0.0/8,
172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16 and
169.254.0.0/16 which are used any
applications purpose.
5. Multicast address: The block 224.0.0.0/4
is reserved for multicast addresses.
 Subnetting
When a bigger network is divided into smaller
networks, to maintain security, then that is
known as Subnetting.
 Uses of Subnetting
Subnetting is used for specific staffing
structures to reduce traffic and maintain
order and efficiency.
Subnetting divides domains of the broadcast so
that traffic is routed efficiently, which helps in
improving network performance.
Subnetting is used in increasing network
security.
Subnetworks created are called Subnets.
Each Subnets have unique network address
known as Subnet ID.
It is crested by borrowing some bits from Host ID,
Number of bits depends on number of subnets
created.
Types of Subnetting:
Fixed length Subnetting (or) Classful
Subnetting:
All the Subnets are same size, equal no of host,
same subnet mask.
Variable length Subnetting (or) Classless
Subnetting:
All the Subnets are not of same size, does not have
equal no of host, does not have same subnet mask.
 Ipv6
Drawbacks of IPv4
 IPv4 provides very limited number of Host and network
address.
 IPv4 has 32 bit address, which is exhausted soon and has
internet security issues.
 IPv4 does not provide real-time audio and video support
Advantages of Ipv6
 Larger address space
 Better header format
 New options
 Support for Real time services
 Support for resource allocation
 Support for more security
 Auto-configuration
 IPv6 Addresses
Components in IPv6 Address Format
There are 8 groups and each group represents
2 Bytes (16-bits).
Each Hex-Digit is of 4 bits (1 nibble)
Delimiter used – colon (:)
Representation
Hexadecimal colon notation
Abbreviation(Zero Comparison)
CIDR(Classless Inter-Domain Routing)
Notation
FA3D:15:3::B0FF:0:FF00/60
Address Space: Unicast, Anycast and
Multicast
Address Space Allocation:
Global Unicast addresses:
 Global routing prefix(n bits)

 Subnet identifier(m bits)

 Interface identifier(q bits)

Mapping:
 Mapping EUI-64 (Extended Unique Identifier)
 Mapping Ethernet MAC(Media Access control) address

Special Address:
 Unspecified address

 Loopback address

 Compatible address

 Mapped address
IPv6 Header Format
Version
Traffic Class
Flow label:
Payload Length (16-bits)
Next Header (8-bits):
Hop Limit (8-bits)
Source Address (128 bits)
Destination Address (128 bits)
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a
protocol that maps dynamic IP addresses to
permanent physical machine addresses in a
local area network (LAN).
The physical machine address is also known
as a media access control (MAC) address.
It is responsible to find the hardware address
of a host from a known IP address.
ARP Cache :- After receiving the MAC address,
ARP passes it to the sender where it is stored in
a table for future reference. And this is called
ARP Cache which is later used to obtain the
MAC address.
ARP Cache Timeout :- This is the time in which
the MAC address can remain in the ARP Cache.
ARP request :- Broadcasting a packet over the
network to verify whether we have arrived at the
destination MAC address.
ARP response/reply :- It is a MAC address
response that the sender receives from the
receiver which helps in further communication of
data.
How ARP Protocol Works?
Sender wants to communicate with a receiver-
>checks its ARP cache for receiver’s MAC address.
If receiver’s MAC address is already present in the
ARP cache, the sender will communicate with the
receiver using that MAC address.
Sender device broadcasts this ARP request
message in the LAN.
Device whose IP address matches the receiver IP
address ->ARP reply message, the sender’s IP
address and MAC address
 It updates its ARP cache with the new information
(Receiver’s MAC address)
ARP PACKET FORMAT
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
(RARP)
The Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
(RARP) is a networking protocol that is
used to map a physical (MAC) address to
an Internet Protocol (IP) address.
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
ICMP is used for reporting errors and
management queries.
It is a supporting protocol and is used by network
devices like routers for sending error messages
and operations information.
For example, the requested service is not
available or a host or router could not be reached.
Two Types:
Error-reporting message: Report problem
Query message: Host or network manager get
specific information from router or another host.
ICMP Packet Format
In the ICMP packet format, the first 32 bits of
the packet contain three fields:
Type (8-bit): Packet is for message type.
Some common message types are as follows:
Type 0 – Echo reply
Type 3 – Destination unreachable
Type 5 – Redirect Message
Type 8 – Echo Request
Type 11 – Time Exceeded
Type 12 – Parameter problem
Code (8-bit): Carries some additional
information about the error message and
type.
Checksum (16-bit): It is used to check the
number of bits of the complete message and
enable the ICMP tool to ensure that complete
data is delivered.
ICMP Header(32 bits): Extended Header
which has the work of pointing out the
problem in IP Message.
Data or Payload of variable length. The
bytes included in IPv4 are 576 bytes and in
IPv6, 1280 bytes.
Error-reporting message

Query message
Types of Error Reporting messages
Destination Un-reachable
The destination is unreachable and is
generated by the host or its inbound gateway
to inform the client that the destination is
unreachable for some reason.
Source Quench Message
A source quench message is a request to
decrease the traffic rate for messages sent is
too fast it sends the source quench message
to the source to slow the pace down so that
no packet can be lost.
Time Exceeded Message
A notification with the subject line “Time
Exceeded” is typically generated by routers
or gateways.
Parameter Problem
Whenever packets come to the router then
the calculated header checksum should be
equal to the received header checksum then
only the packet is accepted by the
router. Packet is dropped.
Redirection Message
Redirect requests data packets are sent on an
alternate route. The message informs a host
to update its routing information (to send
packets on an alternate route).
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a network
protocol used to automate the process of
assigning IP addresses and other network
configuration parameters to devices (such as
computers, smartphones, and printers) on a
network.
DHCP helps in managing the entire process
automatically and centrally.
DHCP servers maintain information on TCP/IP
configuration and provide configuration of address
to DHCP-enabled clients in the form of a lease
offer.
DHCP OPERATION
Components of DHCP
DHCP Server: holds IP Addresses and other
information related to configuration.
DHCP Client: It is a device that receives
configuration information from the server.
DHCP Relay: Basically work as a
communication channel between DHCP Client
and Server.
IP Address Pool: It has a range of addresses
that can be allocated to devices.
Subnets: Subnets are smaller portions of the
IP network partitioned to keep networks under
control.
Lease: The time that how long the information
received from the server is valid
DNS Servers: DHCP servers can also provide DNS
server information to DHCP clients.
Default Gateway: DHCP servers can also provide
information about the default gateway, which is the
device that packets are sent to when the
destination is outside the local network.
Options: DHCP servers can provide additional
configuration options to clients, such as the subnet
mask, domain name, and time server information.
Renewal: DHCP clients can request to renew their
lease before it expires to ensure that they continue
to have a valid IP address and configuration
information.
DHCP Packet Format
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