Computer Network

KCS603

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Protocols and Standards
• A Protocol is a set of rules that govern data
communications
• A Protocol defines: what is communicated, how it is
communicated, & when it is communicated
• There are three elements of a protocol:
– Syntax: The term syntax refers to the structure or
format of the data, meaning the order in which they
are presented.
– Semantics: The word semantics refers to the meaning
of each section of bits. How is a particular pattern to be
interpreted, and what action is to be taken based on
that interpretation?
– Timing: The term timing refers to two characteristics:
when data should be sent and how fast they can be
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sent.
Protocols and Standards
• Standards provide guidelines to manufacturers, vendors,
government agencies, and other service providers to
ensure the kind of interconnectivity necessary in today's
marketplace and in international communication.
• Standards are developed through the cooperation of
standards creation committees, forums, and government
regulatory agencies.
• The various standard creation committees are:
– International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
– International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication
Standards Sector (ITU-T)
– American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
– Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
– Electronic Industries Association (EIA)
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Design Issues for Layers
• There are some key design issues occur in
computer networks that are present in several
layers
• Addressing
• Error control
• Flow control
• Multiplexing
• Demultiplexing
• Routing
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Design Issues for Layers
• Addressing: Every layer needs a mechanism to
identify senders and receivers.
• Error Control: Its an important issue because
physical communication circuits are not perfect.
– Many error detecting and error correcting
codes are available.
– Both sending and receiving ends are must agree
to use any one code.
• Flow Control: This property leads to mechanisms
for disassembling, transmitting and then
reassembling messages.
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Design Issues for Layers
• Routing: When there are multiple paths between
source and destination, a route must be chosen.
• Multiplexing & Demultiplexing: These two are
must for improving the n/w system.
• Quality of Service: Most networks must provide
service to applications that want this real-time
delivery at the same time with high throughput.
• Security: The last major design issue is to secure
the network by defending it against different kinds
of threats.

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Interfaces and Services
• The function of each layer is to provide
services to the layer above it.
• The active elements in each layer are
called entities.
• The entities in layer n implement a
service used by layer n+1.
• The layer n is called service provider &
layer n+1 is called the service user.
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Service Primitives
• A Primitive means operation
• A service in computer network consists of a
set of primitives
• The primitives are to be used by a user to
access the service
• The primitives asks the service to do some
action or to report on an action
• The primitives are system calls
• The primitive varies for different services
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Service Primitives

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The Need for Standards
• Over the past couple of decades many of the networks that
were built used different hardware and software
implementations, as a result they were incompatible and it
became difficult for networks using different specifications
to communicate with each other.
• To address the problem of networks being incompatible
and unable to communicate with each other, the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
researched various network schemes.
• The ISO recognized there was a need to create a NETWORK
MODEL that would help vendors create interoperable
network implementations.

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The OSI Reference Model

Note that the OSI model itself is not a network architecture

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The OSI Reference Model
• The OSI Reference Model is composed of seven layers, each specifying
particular network functions.
• Each layer provides a service to the layer above it in the protocol
specification.
• Each layer communicates with the same layer’s software or hardware
on other computers.
• The lower 4 layers (transport, network, data link and physical —Layers
4, 3, 2, and 1) are concerned with the flow of data from end to end
through the network.
• The upper four layers of the OSI model (application, presentation and
session—Layers 7, 6 and 5) are orientated more toward services to the
applications.
• Data is Encapsulated with the necessary protocol information as it
moves down the layers before network transit.

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The OSI Reference Model

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The Physical Layer
• This is lowermost layer of the OSI model. It provides the
electrical and mechanical interface to the network medium
(cable).
• This layer consists of simply the wire or media by which the
network signals are conducted. Physical layer includes
hardware (wire, plugs and sockets etc.).
• In other words, this layer represent the physical aspects of
the network such as cable and connectors.
• The basic functions of this layer are handles voltages,
electrical pulses, connectors and switches so that data can
be transmitted from one network device to another.

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The Data Link Layer
• The data link layer provides access to the networking
media and physical transmission across the media and this
enables the data to locate its intended destination on a
network.
• The data link layer provides reliable transit of data across a
physical link by using the Media Access Control (MAC)
addresses.
• The data link layer uses the MAC address to define a
hardware or data link address in order for multiple stations
to share the same medium and still uniquely identify each
other.
• Concerned with network topology, network access, error
notification, ordered delivery of frames, and flow control.
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The Network Layer
• This layer establishes the route between the
sending and receiving stations.
• It handles the routing of data (sending in the right
direction to the right destination on outgoing
transmissions and receiving incoming transmission
at the packet). The layer does routing & forwarding
of data.
• The network layer also defines how to fragment a
packet into smaller packets to accommodate
different media.
• This layer uses the Internet protocol (IP).
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The Transport Layer
• The transport layer is responsible for constructing stream of data
packets, sending and checking for correct delivery.
• This layer manages the end to end control (for example determining
whether all packets have arrived) and error checking.
• The transport layer ensures data is successfully sent and received
between two nodes.
• If data is sent incorrectly, this layer has the responsibility to ask for
retransmission of the data.
• Specially it provides a reliable network independent message
interchange service to the application group.
• This layer acts as an interface between the bottom and top three
layers.
• This layer uses of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) & UDP (User
Datagram Protocol).

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The Session Layer
• The session layer defines how to start, control and
end conversations (called sessions) between
applications.
• This includes the control and management of
multiple bi-directional messages using dialogue
control.
• It also synchronizes dialogue between two hosts'
presentation layers and manages their data
exchange.
• The session layer offers provisions for efficient data
transfer.
• This layer uses POP, TCP/IP protocols. 19
The Presentation Layer
• The presentation layer ensures that the
information that the application layer of one
system sends out is readable by the application
layer of another system.
• If necessary, the presentation layer translates
between multiple data formats by using a common
format.
• Provides encryption and compression of data.
• In this layer POP, SMTP, FTP protocol are used.

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The Application Layer
• The application layer is the OSI layer that is closest to the
user.
• It provides network services to the user’s applications.
• It differs from the other layers in that it does not provide
services to any other OSI layer, but rather, only to
applications outside the OSI model.
• Examples of such applications are spreadsheet programs,
word processing programs, and bank terminal programs.
• The application layer establishes the availability of
intended communication partners, synchronizes and
establishes agreement on procedures for error recovery
and control of data integrity.

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The TCP/IP Reference Model
• A set of protocols allowing communication across diverse
networks
• It is named from two of the most important protocols in it:
– the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and
– the Internet Protocol (IP).
• The TCP/IP protocol suite is the engine for the Internet and
networks worldwide.
• The main design goal of TCP/IP was to build an
interconnection of networks, referred to as an
internetwork, or internet, that provided universal
communication services over heterogeneous physical
networks.

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Protocols Role
• The Internet Group Management
Protocol (IGMP) is a protocol that
allows several devices to share one
IP address so they can all receive the
same data.
• IGMP is employed to form a cluster of
hosts, whereas ICMP is employed to
send error messages and operational
data indicated by hosts.
Protocols Role
• Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
is a distance vector protocol that
uses hop count as its primary metric.
RIP defines how routers should share
information when moving traffic
among an interconnected group of
local area networks.
Network Interface Layer (Link)
• Responsible for sending and receiving TCP/IP
packets on the network medium (physical/Data
Link)
• Applicable LAN technologies
– Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI (Fiber Distributed
Data Interface) etc.
• Applicable WAN technologies
– X.25 (old), Frame Relay, ATM etc.
• Note that some technologies such as ATM and
FDDI may be used at both the WAN and the LAN
levels
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Internet Layer
• Packaging
• Addressing
• Routing
• IP
– A connectionless unreliable protocol that is part of the
TCP/IP protocol suite
• ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
– Resolves IP addresses to MAC addresses
• ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
– Diagnostics and error reporting
• IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol)
– Management of group multicast 29
Internet Layer
• The internetwork layer, also called the internet
layer or the network layer, provides the “virtual
network” image of an internet (this layer shields
the higher levels from the physical network
architecture below it).
• Internet Protocol (IP) is the most important
protocol in this layer. It is a connectionless protocol
that does not assume reliability from lower layers.
• IP does not provide reliability, flow control, or
error recovery. These functions must be provided
at a higher level.
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Transport Layer
• Sequencing and transmission of packets
• Acknowledgment of receipts
• Recovery of packets
• Flow control
• In essence, it engages in host-to-host transportation of data
packets and the delivery of them to the application layer.
• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): provides connection-
oriented reliable data delivery, duplicate data suppression,
congestion control, and flow control.
• UDP (User Datagram Protocol): provides connectionless,
unreliable, best-effort service. UDP is used by applications
that need a fast transport mechanism and can tolerate the
loss of some data.
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Application Layer
• The application layer is provided by the program that uses
TCP/IP for communication.
• The interface between the application and transport layers
is defined by port numbers and sockets.
• This layer contains all the high level protocols: virtual
terminal (TELNET), file transfer (FTP) and electronic mail
(SMTP).
• The virtual terminal protocol allows a user on one machine
to log into a distant machine and work there.
• The file transfer protocol provides a way to more data
efficiency from one machine to other.

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Comparison of OSI & TCP/IP Models
• The OSI & TCP/IP models are more or less similar. The layer
functionality is similar.
• The two models can be distinguished based on concepts:
– Service; Interfaces; Protocols
• OSI: Each layer in OSI performs some service for the layer
above it. A layer’s interface tells the processes above it how
to access it. The peer protocol used in the layer are the
layer’s own business. It can use ant protocol it want to.
• TCP/IP: The TCP/IP model did not clearly distinguish
between service, interface and protocol.

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Comparison of OSI & TCP/IP Models
• The OSI model was devised before the invention of
protocols, hence they are not biased towards one
particular set of it.
• The OSI model have 7 layers while TCP/IP have
only 4 layers.
• The OSI model supports both connectionless and
connection-oriented communication in the
network layer, but only connection-oriented
communication in the transport layer.
• The TCP/IP model has only one connectionless
mode in the network layer but supports both
modes in the transport layer. 34
X.25 Network
• X.25 is a standard for WAN communications that defines
how connections between user devices and network
devices are established and maintained.
• It is typically used in the packet-switched networks (PSNs)
of common carriers, such as the telephone companies.
• Subscribers are charged based on their use of the network.
• The devices used in X.25 network fall into three general
categories:
– data terminal equipment (DTE),
– data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE),
– packet-switching exchange (PSE)

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X.25 Network

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X.25 Network
• Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) devices are end systems
that communicate across the X.25 network.
• They are usually terminals, personal computers, or network
hosts, and are located on the premises of individual
subscribers.
• Data communication Equipment (DCEs) are
communications devices, such as modems and packet
switches that provide the interface between DTE devices
and a PSE, and are generally located in the carrier's
facilities.
• Packet-switching Exchange (PSEs) are switches that
compose the bulk of the carrier's network. They transfer
data from one DTE device to another through the X.25 PSN.
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X.25 Network
Packet Assembler/Disassembler
• The packet assembler/disassembler (PAD) is a
device commonly found in X.25 networks.
• The PAD is located between a DTE device and
a DCE device and it performs three primary
functions:
– buffering (storing data until a device is
ready to process it),
– packet assembly,
– and packet disassembly
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X.25 Network
The X.25 protocol suite maps to the lowest three layers of the OSI
reference model. The layers are:
• Physical layer: Deals with the physical interface between an
attached station and the link that attaches that station to the
packet-switching node. X.21 is the most commonly used
physical layer standard.

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X.25 Network - Protocol Suite
• Frame (Link) layer: Facilitates reliable transfer of data
across the physical link by transmitting the data as a
sequence of frames. Uses Link Access Protocol Balanced
(LAPB), bit oriented protocol.
• Packet layer: Responsible for end-to-end connection
between two DTEs. Functions performed are:
– Establishing connection
– Transferring data
– Terminating a connection
– Error and flow control
– With the help of X.25 packet layer, data are transmitted in packets
over external virtual circuits.

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Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
• ATM is an international standard for cell relay
wherein information for multiple service types,
such as voice, video, or data, is conveyed in small,
fixed-size cells.
• ATM networks are connection-oriented.
• Technically, it can be viewed as an evolution of
packet switching.
• ATM integrates the multiplexing and switching
functions, is well suited for bursty traffic (in
contrast to circuit switching), and allows
communications between devices that operate at
different speeds. 42
ATM Protocol Architecture

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ATM Protocol Architecture
• Physical layer of the ATM protocol architecture
involves the specification of a transmission
medium and a signal encoding scheme.
• The main functions of the ATM physical layer are
as follows:
– Cells are converted into a bit stream,
– The transmission and receipt of bits on the
physical medium are controlled,
– ATM cell boundaries are tracked,
– Cells are packaged into the appropriate types of
frames for the physical medium.
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ATM Protocol Architecture
• ATM Layer
– The ATM layer provides routing, traffic management,
switching and multiplexing services.
– It processes outgoing traffic by accepting 48-byte
segment from the AAL sub-layers and transforming
them into 53-byte cell by addition of a 5-byte header.
• ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)
– Mapping the higher-layer information into ATM cells to
be transport over an ATM network.
– Collecting information from ATM cells for delivery to
higher layers.

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ATM Protocol Architecture
• The ATM reference model consists of the following planes,
which span all layers:
• Control—This plane is responsible for generating and
managing signaling requests.
• User—This plane is responsible for managing the transfer
of data.
• Management—This plane contains two components:
– Layer management manages layer-specific functions,
such as the detection of failures and protocol problems.
– Plane management manages and coordinates functions
related to the complete system.

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ATM Network Interfaces
• An ATM network consists of a set of ATM switches
interconnected by point-to-point ATM links or
interfaces.
• ATM switches support two primary types of
interfaces: UNI and NNI.
• The UNI (User-Network Interface) connects ATM
end systems (such as hosts and routers) to an ATM
switch.
• The NNI (Network-Network Interface) connects
two ATM switches.
• UNI and NNI can be further subdivided into public
and private UNIs and NNIs. 47
ATM Cell Format
• ATM transfers information in fixed-size units called cells.
• Each cell consists of 53 octets, or bytes.
• The first 5 bytes contain cell-header information, and the
remaining 48 contain the payload (user information).
• Small, fixed-length cells are well suited to transfer voice
and video traffic because such traffic is intolerant to delays
that result from having to wait for a large data packet to
download, among other things.

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Frame Relay
• Frame Relay is a high-performance WAN protocol that
operates at the physical and data link layers of the OSI
reference model.
• Frame Relay originally was designed for use across
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) interfaces
• Frame Relay is based on packet-switched technology.
• The following two techniques are used in packet-switching
technology:
– Variable-length packets
– Statistical multiplexing

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Frame Relay

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Frame Relay
• Devices attached to a Frame Relay WAN fall into
the following two general categories:
– Data terminal equipment (DTE)
– Data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE)
• Examples of DTE devices are terminals, personal
computers, routers, and bridges.
• DCEs are carrier-owned internetworking devices.
The purpose of DCE equipment is to provide
clocking and switching services in a network,
which are the devices that actually transmit data
through the WAN. In most cases, these are packet
switches. 51