ITECH1102 Networking and

Security

Week 2 – Packet Switching & Network Models

 Last week
Assessment:
• Course Description
• Expectations (10 – 12 hours per course per week)
• Good idea to create a deadline calendar (Include all assessment tasks)
• Assessments [Students must get an overall pass in the combined assessments]
• Hence all students need to fully understand content to be able to answer test/exam questions.

Investigated simple eBay purchase

• Significant technologies involved (we just looked at technology of Cat 6 cables).

Number systems
• Decimal, Binary, Hexadecimal, Octal

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This week – overview of content
Discuss operation of basic networking hardware:
• Network Interface Card
• Hubs/switches/routers
Investigate different networks:
• Home network
• Campus network (Example: University type network)
• The Internet
Investigate two reference models of networking:
• The Internet Model (TCP/IP model)
• OSI Reference Model

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Circuit switches vs Packet Switched networks
In Circuit Switched networks a dedicated channel is established
prior to data being sent.
The best example of a circuit switched network is the Plain Old
Telephone System (POTS) as used in many businesses and
homes.
Once the circuit is established, you and the person on the other end
of the telephone effectively have a wire connecting both telephones
for the duration of the telephone call.
This course however is primarily concerned with Packet Switched
networks.
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 Some history of Packet Switched Networks

The US defence forces required a communications network that could

withstand any part of the network being obliterated by enemy attack.
The concern was that in the face of thermo-nuclear warfare their
communications could be rendered useless if critical parts were bombed by the
enemy.
To this end DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) was given the
responsibility of creating a network that could withstand such disruption.
Using a circuit switched communication the bomb(s) could destroy the phone
line.
Using a packet switched network packets could be routed around the bombed
bits!

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 Conception of packet switching
In the 1960’s the concept of switching small blocks of data (packet
switching) was conceived independently in both the USA and in the
UK.
The individuals involved were:
• Paul Baran at the RAND corporation in the USA.
• Donald Davies at the National Physics Laboratory (NPL) in the UK.
Davies subsequently incorporated packet switching into the NPL
network.

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ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)
The ARPANET was an early packet switched network that
incorporated both packet switching and TCP/IP protocols.
Both these technologies underpin the Internet.
Funding for the ARPANET came from the US Defence Research
Projects Agency.
Implementation required the development of devices that could
switch packets between networked machines. DARPA sent out a
request for quotation for such switching devices.

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Interface Message Processors (IMPs)
The company contracted to build the network (BBN Technologies)
delivered the first IMP to UCLA on 30th August 1969.
An IMP was the first implementation of a device that could perform
the duties of today’s Internet ROUTERS.
From this early start the Internet has developed into the ubiquitous
packet switched internetwork of networks that underpins so much
of our lives today.

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Packet fragmentation and reassembly
The network infrastructure of the Internet can only handle relatively small packets of
data (up to 1500 bytes in length).
The basic concept of packet switching relies on the fragmentation and reassembly of
packets.
Large messages at the source must be broken up into manageable sized packets for
transportation to the destination, each packet free to “find its own way”
At the destination reassembly of packets is therefore required. Any given packet might
have been unavoidably delayed!
Damaged packets or network congestion can cause packets to be lost or delivered out
of sequence, hence packet switched networks require mechanisms to deal with such
events.
We will discuss these issues later in associated sections of ITECH1102.

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 Packet switching – where is it used
Packet switching is used on:
• Small home networks (WiFi or cable connected)
• Larger networks (business/university networks)
• On the Internet
(from source (your home PC) to remote resources (web servers))
• Mobile telephone systems
But how are all these devices interconnected?

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 Basic networking hardware
Network interactions involve 2 or more devices.
(Example PC and web server (eBay))
To facilitate networking each device needs a Network Interface Card (NIC)
that can be uniquely distinguished from other Network interface cards.
• Ethernet NIC
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• Token Ring NIC (old technology)
• Fibre channel Interface cards
• Others

The NIC transmits and receives (binary) data to and from network media.

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Network hub (Ethernet)

Ethernet Hubs can be used to connect multiple devices to facilitate data exchange.
(4, 8 & 24 port devices were common)
Hub traffic from any port is broadcast to all other ports.
Hubs are seldom used today (switches are preferred).
(Hubs can however be useful for monitoring network traffic)

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 Network Switch (Ethernet)
Network Switches are smart devices. They learn the ports to which
each device is connected.
Incoming traffic is directed to the
specific port of the destination
device.
Switches find wide usage in
today’s networks.
The photo shows three switches and
associated cabling of a Fed Uni switchroom.

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Routers
Unlike PC’s and Servers that normally only have one Network
card (NIC), Routers have at least two network cards.
Routers are networking devices that allow one network to
communicate with at least one other network and hence require
multiple NIC’s.
Routes are the devices that provide Internet connectivity.

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 Routers connecting two populated networks
Router 1 is connected to Network 1 & Network 3 (two NIC’s)
Note - the path between populated networks is a network itself.

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Reference networks
The following three slides show networks layouts that we will
refer to frequently throughout the course to demonstrate various
networking technologies.
Reference networks:
1. Home or small business network
2. Large campus network (for instance the Federation University network)
3. The Internet

Many details are missing from these reference networks, such

detail will be discussed as we cover associated technologies.

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Home or small business network
Home networks connect:
• Personal computers (PC)
• Tablets
• Printers
• Internet
• TV’s
• Game consoles
• Phones
• Fridge
• Security camera
• Etc, etc – the upcoming Internet of Things (IOT)

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Common technologies employed
The most common technology used in domestic
environments is WiFi.
Advantages include:
• Simple connectivity
• Data is encrypted
• Low power transmissions
Ethernet connectivity is also popular in homes and small
businesses.

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Reference Home or small business network
Home or small Business Network:
Such networks typically include:
- Internet Access
- WiFi connectivity
- Ethernet switch
- Printer
- TV
- PC
- Tablets
- Notebook computers
- Mobile Phones
- Game consoles
- other devices

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Campus network (Eg. Fed Uni network)
Class Exercise – Form into groups and discuss extra
functionality required on campus type networks.
Possible answers:
• Servers, including File Servers, Video streaming servers, email,
Learning Management Systems (Moodle), Web Servers,
Printers, Faxes, Application servers, Internet firewalls.
• The network is likely to be divided into multiple sub-networks at
different locations separated by routers. For instance the Fed Uni
network connects separate locations (sub-networks) together as
one network.

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 Reference Campus network
(Mt Helen)
Campus type network
Attributes include:
• Multiple sub-networks
(Eg. Mt Helen, Gippsland, SMB, Berwick)
• Connection to the Internet
• User devices like PCs, Printers, phones,
scanners, faxes etc. in each subnet
• Various server in each subnet, including:
(Gippsland) • File servers
• Database server
(Berwick)
• Application servers
• DHCP, DNS, LDAP servers
• Learning Management servers
• Video servers
• Routers connection the different subnets

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The Internet
One definition from the Internet itself is:
The Internet is “a vast computer network linking smaller
computer networks worldwide”
Each individual network on the Internet is identified by a
unique network number (or Network ID).
This ID allows traffic to traverse intermediary network so
traffic travels between source and destination networks.

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Reference The Internet
The Internet
This diagram only shows a
small section of the
Internet.
Note – Each separate
network has its own
Network ID so that data
transfers arrive at the right
location.
Many of the Internets
networks would contain
multiple sub-networks as is
the case for the campus
network above.

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Questions relating to my eBay interaction
(Some possible complexities of networking)

How did the eBay server identify the particular Browser tab
I had open?
How did my PC know which device on my local network
that it should use to send my eBay request?
How is it that I can be assured my payment is not
compromised?
What happens if an electrical storm corrupts data to or from
the eBay web site?
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Techno babble & confusion.
Networking involves many areas of technology working together to
allow computing system to exchange data (reliably??).
Our simple demonstration of an eBay purchase demonstrated that
even the cable from your PC to the local switch on your network is
underpinned by many complicated technologies.
If we had detailed every part of that transaction, we could have
mentioned load sharing servers at eBay, application servers,
database server, public/private key encryption with paypal and the
bank, reliability and many other technical details.

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 Making it simple / Divide and conquer
In an attempt to make any complicated system understandable we often resort
to breaking the large problem into understandable parts.
Two such simplifications of networking are the:
• OSI Reference Model (of networking)
• The Internet Model (also known as the TCP/IP model)
The two models are closely related to one another.
In networking literature both models are used when describing networking
concepts, equipment etc. Hence to make sense of such discussions
networking (computing) professionals need to have a good understanding of
each networking model.
Much of this course and subsequent courses will assume understanding of
both networking models.

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Divide and conquer analogy
Trainee doctor developing understanding of the human body:
It is far to hard to understand everything at once so:
• Learn how the nervous system works
• Learn how the vascular system works
• Understand the skeletal system works etc. etc
• Finally understand how each system interrelates with each other.
Divide and conquer to understand a large problem.
This is what the Internet and OSI models of networking attempt to do.
Break a large problem down into manageable understandable parts.

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 An Analogy

Taking an Airplane Trip & Horizontal layering of airline functionality

Reference: Computer Network Top-Down Approach, Kurose & Ross

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 What exactly are we trying to model
A PC (sender of for example the eBay request) will break large data
transmissions into packets.
Packets are sent to the network for delivery to the destination (to eBay)
The packets arrive at the eBay server and are reassembled into the correct
order and then acted upon.

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 The Internet Model (TCP/IP protocol suite)
The Internet model gives us a framework with which to understand
how networking works from a TCP/IP perspective.
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) are
the two most important networking protocols in use today, they are
the protocols that are used on the Internet and hence underpin the
majority of all network traffic.
Other Protocol Suites (sets of communications protocols such as
Novell’s IPX/SPX, DecNet and others) were common many years
ago, however all have fallen into disuse in preference for TCP/IP.

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The Internet Model (TCP/IP)
The Internet Model Sending Data
to the network
Provides services to users programs like:
File transfer, email services, web server access etc.
Application (Layer 5) Also handles data format like encryption and login

Provides packet reassembly and reliable data transfers.

Transport (Layer 4) TCP operates at this layer.
Internet layer is also referred to as the network layer.
Internet (Network) (Layer 3)
IP operates at this layer.
Receive Data from
This layer is concerned the
with network
access to the network
Network Interface (Data Link) (Layer 2) media. (Ethernet & Token-ring operate at this layer)
The Physical layer is not officially part of the Internet
Physical (Layer 1) Model. The model assumes the hardware infrastructure.
(The official Internet model is only concerned with software layers)

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The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
The OSI model defines a theoretical networking framework to describe
networking in seven layers.
Each of the 7 layers describes a different part of how networking should
work.
For instance one layer describes physical characteristics of the network
media, another looks at delivery to a local machine, while another
describes how to maintain reliable data transfers in electrically (or
optically, or radio) noisy environments.
Remember this is a theoretical framework. It just describes how things
should work.

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 The OSI Model – What happens at each layer ?
The model has 7 layers as named below.
For example if you are having login problems to your Bank which layer may hold the answer?
The Session Layer manages login/logout.
Application (Layer 7) Application services for file transfer, email etc.
Presentation (Layer 6) How data is represented (eg. Encryption, ASCII etc.).
Session (Layer 5) Establish, manage and terminate connections.
Transport (Layer 4) End to end delivery between hosts (also reliability).
Network (Layer 3) Routing technologies, internetworking, addressing.
Data Link (Layer 2) Local exchange of data.
Physical (Layer 1) Physical characteristics, cabling, electrical signals etc.

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Networking literature that relates to the models
Networking switches are often described as being Layer 2 switching
devices. This means that the switch operates at the Data Link layer.
Discussion of the Data Link layer (later) will reveal how such
switches work.
Hubs on the other hand work at layer 1. This means a hub acts in
many respects like some types of network media (a single shared
cable to be more precise). This will become more evident as we
work our way through the different layers.

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 How the models relate to one another
Internet Model (TCP/IP)
TCP/IP model
application layer
Application (Layer 5) is equivalent to 3
Layers of OSI.
Transport (Layer 4) << ------------->>
Internet (Network) (Layer 3) << ------------->>
Network Interface (Data Link) (Layer 2) << ------------->>
Physical (Layer 1) << ------------->>
Layers 1,2,3 & 4 essentially provide the same functionality in both models.
ITECH1102 Networking & Security
OSI Reference model
Application (Layer 7)
Presentation (Layer 6)
Session (Layer 5)
Transport (Layer 4)
Network (Layer 3)
Data Link (Layer 2)
Physical (Layer 1)
35
 How do the models relate to real data transfers
This diagram shows a PC sending a single request (possibly of multiple packets) from
Firefox to a remote Web Server.
Each Layer is responsible for its part of the request transmission.

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Tool Talk - Linux
Linux Lite is based on ubuntu Linux.
Version 3.2 was released in October 2016.
We will be using Linux Lite for some of the operating system
and networking tasks throughout the semester.
This week’s lab will look at the Linux Lite GUI interface and
some of its GUI applications.
----- Demo of Linux Lite -----

ITECH1102 Networking & Security 37

Next Week

Layer 5 – The Application layer

The role of the Internet Model’s Application Layer.
Client – Server networking.
Peer to Peer networking.
Cloud architectures

ITECH1102 Networking & Security 38

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