COMPUTER NETWORKS - CS65 Department of EEE,MEPCO

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Data communications (Datacom

Datacom)
) is the engineering
discipline concerned with the communication between devices.
A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes
nodes))
connected by communication links
links..
A computer network is any set of computers or devices
connected to each other via some form of transmission medium
with the ability to exchange data.
BASICS OF DATA COMMUNICATION
Here information is presented in a form which is agreed
upon by the parties creating and using the data.
A computer network must be able to meet a certain
number of criteria
criteria.. The most important of these are
Performance : measured in “throughput” & “delay”
Reliability : measured by the frequency of failure
or time taken by the link to recover
from failure
failure..
Security : protecting from unauthorized access
or damage
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- Direct – Simple and directly connected

COMPONENTS - Indirect – Two entities must depend on the functioning of

other entities to exchange data. All the entities may be
Five components of communication within a group or two or more group.
1. Message
2. Sender
3. Receiver
4. Transmission Medium
5. Rules to be followed for communication(Protocol)
DIRECT
NETWORK

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PHYSICAL TOPOLOGY :
Refers to the way in which a network is laid out A fully connected mesh topology (five devices)
physically. Two or more devices connect to a link; two
or more links form a topology.

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Advantages : A star topology connecting four stations

• Dedicated connection between a pair of computers
guarantees the congestion free data transfer
• Failure of one link does not affect the data transfer
• Each message travels through dedicated path. It
improves security and privacy.
• Fault location identification and isolation is easier
Disadvantage :
• Number of ports required will be more since each
connection requires it
• Expensive Cabling

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Advantages A bus topology connecting three stations

• Ease of Service
• One Device Per connection
• Centralised control & problem diagnosis
Disadvantages
• Central Node Dependency
• Long Cable length
• Difficult to expand

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Advantages A ring topology connecting six stations

• Short cable and simple to wire
• Resilient architecture
• Easy to expand
Disadvantages
• Fault diagnosis / isolation difficult
• Nodes must be intelligent

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Advantages
• Short cable length A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three bus networks
• Easy to wire
Disadvantages
• Node failure = network failure
• Faults diagnosis difficult
• Network re-
re-configuration difficult

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CATEGORIES OF NETWORK :
Advantages
• Ease of Service
• Centralised control & problem diagnosis Local area network
Disadvantages
• Central Node Dependency
• Long Cable length Metropolitan area network
• Difficult to expand

Wide area network

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WAN :

LAN :

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A heterogeneous network made of four WANs and two LANs

The Internet has revolutionized many aspects of our

daily lives. It has affected the way we do business as
well as the way we spend our leisure time. The Internet
is a communication system that has brought a wealth of
information to our fingertips and organized it for our
use.

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Hierarchical organization of the Internet PROTOCOLS & STANDARDS :

PROTOCOLS :
- A set of rules governing the exchange of data between
two entities is referred as “Protocol”
Elements of protocol :
– Syntax : includes data format, coding and signal
levels
– Semantics : includes control information for
coordination and error handling
– Timing : includes speed matching and sequencing

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WHY DO WE NEED STANDARD?

There are: Standard making organizations :

•Many types of connection media : • International Standard Organization (ISO)

telephone lines, optical fibers, cables, radios, etc. • International Telecommunication Union-
Union-

•Many different types of machines and operating
systems
•Many different network applications
Telecommunication standards sector (ITU-
(ITU-T)
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Electronic Industries Association (EIS)

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BASIC FUNCTIONS OF A PROTOCOL: • Segmentation & Reassembly

Data transfer may be in blocks or continuous streams
• Segmentation & reassembly Breaking up of data is called “segmentation” or “fragmentation”
• Encapsulation Fragmented block is called “Protocol Data Unit”(PDU).
Advantages of segmentation
• Connection control
Communication network constraint.
• Flow control Error control is efficient with smaller PDU size.
• Error control More equitable access to shared transmission resources.
Lesser buffer is sufficient
• Synchronization
Flexible restart/recovery option.
• Sequencing More secured

• Addressing Disadvantages
More overhead
• Multiplexing Arrival of a PDU creates frequent interrupt
• Transmission services Reassembly : integrating fragmented data to create message.
If PDUs arrive out of order, the task is complicated
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• Encapsulation :
• PDU contains not only data but also control information
• Some PDU consist solely of control information and no data.
• Control information includes three categories :
– Address : The address of the sender and/or receiver
– Error detecting code : Some sort of frame check sequence is included
USER A USER B for error detection
– Protocol control : Additional information is included to implement
certain protocol functions
MESSAGE MESSAGE
• The addition of control information to data is referred to as
“encapsulation”.

Protocol entity Protocol entity

PDU PDU PDU PDU PDU PDU

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• Connection control :
– An entity may transmit data to another entity in an unplanned
fashion and without prior co-ordination. This is known as
“connectionless data transfer”
– Connection oriented data transfer is to be preferred if stations
anticipate a lengthy exchange of data.
USER A USER B
– Three phases of logical connection are
• Connection establishment
MESSAGE MESSAGE
• Data transfer
• Connection termination

Protocol entity Protocol entity

control PDU
control PDU

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• Flow control
Protocol entity Protocol entity – Flow control is a function performed by a receiving entity to limit
Connection the amount or rate of data that is sent by a transmitting entity.
request
– Simplest form of flow control is a stop-and-wait procedure, in
Negotiation phase
which each PDU must be acknowledged before the next can be
Connection sent.
accept

Data &
• Error control
acknowledgments – Techniques are needed to guard against loss or damage of data
and control information.
Data &
acknowledgments – Error detection based on frame check sequence and PDU
retransmission.
Terminate connection – Retransmission is often activated by a timer. If a sending entity
request fails to receive an acknowledgement to a PDU within a specified
Terminate connection period of time, it will retransmit.
acknowledge

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• Synchronization : • Sequencing
– A protocol entity needs to remember a certain number of – Sequencing is that protocol which identifies the order in which
parameters (eg. window size, connection phase, timer). PDUs containing data were sent by numbering them, modulo
– These parameters can be viewed as state variables and their some maximum number.
collection defines the state of the entity. It is occasionally – Important in connection oriented data transfer.
important that two communicating protocol entities be – Purpose of sequencing :
simultaneously in a well-defined state, for example at • Ordered delivery
initialization, checkpointing, and termination. This is termed as
• Flow control
“synchronization”.
• Error control
– Difficulty in achieving synchronization is that one entity has
knowledge of the other only by virtue of received PDUs. These
PDUs do not arrive instantly. The take some time (variable
amount of time) to traverse from sender to receiver.
Furthermore, a PDU may be lost in transit.

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• Addressing : • Name structure :

– For two entities to communicate, other than over a point-to-point – Name structure used for global names can be either hierarchical or flat.
link, they must somehow be able to identify each other. • Hierarchical : network.system.entity
– Distinction is made using – The field “system” and “network” contain global identifiers of some
• Name - specifies what an object is fixed format.
– “entity” must presumably be a name of some fixed maximum
• Address - where it is
length.
• Routes - how to get there – To have a global significance, the system containing that entity
Local Name – a name by which an would have to contain a mapping from global entity identifiers to
entity is identified within its own local entity identifiers. This is not required if all systems could live
NAME system with a particular field length, where both are same.
Global name – a name by which an • Flat Naming :

entity is known outside its own – Flat name structure is one in which each entity has a global name
that is unique throughout the domain of communication.
system.
– Global names are preallocated which it then assigned to its local
– Each system likes to have its own naming convention, and deal with entities.
variety of name lengths, formats. So global name becomes essential. – Comparison :
– Address is a form of global name. • Hierarchical naming has the advantage of easier expansion. Ie. New names
– There may not be a unique global name. could be included.
• Hierarchical name is an aid to routing since it identifies the system containing
– If an entity is attached with more than one network, each may have the entity.
its own address for the entity.
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• Name Knowledge : • Multiplexing

– Important for any entity in a system wants to communicate with another
entity in another system.
– Simply a knowledge on name of each entity/system
• Connection name :
– For connectionless data transfer, a global name is used with each data
transmission
– Connection oriented transfer uses connection name for data transfer.
– Connection name helps in reducing overhead, routing, multiplexing.
• Port Name
Multiplexing of data transfer into an entity can be accomplished
–
using connection names, which permits multiple simultaneous
connection. It can also be accomplished via port names, which also
permit multiple simultaneous connections.
– Multiplexing can used be used in the sense of mapping of
connections from one level to another.
It can be grouped into a) Upward multiplexing b) Downward
multiplexing
– Upward multiplexing : when multiple higher level connections

upper
– Port name is a global entity name.
– Instead of single port name associated with each entity, multiple port
names are associated.
• Group Name
– It is a name that refers to more than one entity or port or simply it is
the name that identifies multiple simultaneous recipients of data.
upper
upper
are multiplexed on, or share, a single lower level connection.
This is more efficient to provide several higher level connections
in an environment where only a single lower level connections
Lower
exists.
– Downward multiplexing (or splitting) : a single higher level
Upper
connection is built on top of multiple lower-level connections, the
traffic on the higher connection being divided among the various

Lower
Lower
Lower
– A group name may be “broadcast”, intended for all entities within a lower connections.
domain (eg. Warning from server regarding shutdown) or “multicast”
(eg. Message to IV year students alone) intended for a specific subset of
entities.

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• Transmission Service :
– A Protocol may provide a variety of additional services to the
entities that use it. Following three are the most common
examples :
• Priority : Certain messages, such as control messages, may
need to get through to the destination entity with minimum
delay. So maximum priority is given to those services.
• Grade of service : Certain classes of data may require a
minimum throughput or a maximum delay threshold.
• Security : Security mechanisms, restricting access, may be
invoked.

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