1. Data Communication

2. What is data communication?
Data communications deals with the transmission of signals in a reliable and efficient manner
Ultimately, it’s about transmitting data (i.e., bits) across some physical transmission medium:
Electricity - copper wire, twisted pair, undersea cable
Light - infra-red through air, laser through fibre-optic cable
Electromagnetic radiation - radio, microwave, satellite

3. What is understood by the term ‘communication’?
The term communication is defined as the act of disseminating information.
It presupposes that:
there is information to disseminate
the desire or requirement to disseminate exists
there is an agency to send/transmit information
there is a means of encoding information
there is a medium to carry the information
there is a recipient to receive the information
the recipient is capable of understanding the information received

4. Communication
In a face-to-face conversation between two individuals following takes place:
Conversion of brain waves into speech.
Agreement of both individuals on which vocabulary to use.
Agreement of both individuals on volume level at which both can be heard comfortably.
Agreement of both individuals on the rate of talking at which each can understand the other’s speech.
Agreement of both individuals on the rules used to decide when to speak and when to listen, i.e. how the flow of information is managed.
Conversion of the audio signals into brain waves.
Let us generalize the process just described
In any communication between two entities the following properties are required:
Modulation:
Signal compatibility
Signal strength
Data rate
Protocol
Demodulation

5. Communication Model Source Transmitter Transmission System Receiver
generates data to be transmitted
Transmitter
Converts data into transmittable signals
Transmission System
Carries data
Receiver
Converts received signal into data
Destination
Takes incoming data

6. Diagram of Simplified Communication Model

7. Key Communications Tasks
Transmission System Utilization
Interfacing
Signal Generation
Synchronization
Exchange Management
Error detection and correction
Addressing and routing
Recovery
Message formatting
Security
Network Management

8. Simplified Data Communications Model

9. Basic Elements of a Communication System
In any communication between two entities the following 10 elements can be identified:
A Sender.
A Receiver.
Addressing, to identify where the Receiver is.
Protocol – a set of co-operation rules to achieve communication.
Transmission code - an agreed “language” to be used.
Transmission rate - the speed at which “what is being communicated” is being sent.
Transmission synchronisation - how to recognise what is being communicated.
Transmission medium.
Error detection and correction.
Transmission efficiency - how much overhead must be added to manage the transmission.

10. Transmission Media Two wire -“telegraph wires” seen in old films.
Simplest arrangement, with two wires, separated by air.
Can pick up interference, and suffer “crosstalk”.
Only reliable for low data rates.
Twisted Pair - currently used for domestic phones
Two insulated wires twisted together.
Any interference affects both wires equally.
May also have an additional protective screen of metallic foil – “shielded twisted pair”.
Suitable for short distance medium speed links.
Suffers from “skin effect”, leading to higher resistance at higher data rates.
“Skin effect” – HF signals carried only on skin of wire, in effect reducing the area of the wire from a solid wire to a tube of the same diameter.

11. Transmission Media Coaxial cable - commonly seen on TV aerial leads
Single central wire, separated from woven outer conductor by plastic insulation.
Not prone to interference.
Can support medium to high data rates.
Optical Fibre
Similar to coaxial cable in appearance:
Uses single strand of glass as core, with light shield around it.
Immune to electrical interference , and difficult to eavesdrop
Often used in industrial or other electrically “noisy” environments.
Capable of high data rates
Mechanically weaker than electrical wires, and difficult to join.

12. Transmission Media Microwaves -ultra high frequency radio waves
Line of sight from sender to receiver.
No need for wires, so good across rivers, or main roads
Extremely high data rates
Satellite microwaves:
Mainly through space so long lines of sight.
Little human interference, but affected by extreme solar activity.
Terrestrial microwaves:
Need repeater stations if lines of sight short
Curvature of earth, or mountains, or buildings

13. Data Transmission Terminology
Transmission may be simplex, half-duplex or duplex.
Simplex – in one direction only.
Half-duplex – in both directions, but only in one direction at any time.
Full-duplex – in both directions simultaneously, if required.
Transmission media may be guided or unguided.
Guided – the medium is bounded and the transmission contained within it (e.g. fibre-optic or electrical cable)
Unguided – the medium is unbounded (e.g. radio waves in the air, or in space).

14. Data Transmission Terminology
In a direct link, (or data link), a transmission path:
Propagates signals directly from transmitter (sender) to receiver
With no intermediate devices.
except amplifiers (or repeaters) to increase signal strength.
In guided transmission media
A configuration is point-to-point if it provides a direct link between two devices, and those are the only two devices sharing the medium.
A configuration is multipoint, if more than two devices share the same medium.

15. Data Transmission Terminology
Medium
(a) Point-to-point
Connection with amplifier
(b) Multipoint
Guided transmission configurations
Amplifier
Transmitter / Receiver A
Transmitter / Receiver B
Transmitter / Receiver C
Transmitter / Receiver D

16. Data Encoding Encoding means changing how data are represented.
This can be for convenience:
Morse code alphabet used in early radio transmissions.
Encoding to hide the meaning of data is “encryption”.
Computer data are represented in an encoded form for storage or transmission within and between computers.
The most common codes used to store digital data are:
ASCII (American Standards Committee for Information Interchange)
EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code)

17. Data Encoding Data are transmitted using electromagnetic signals.
Data exists in analogue or digital forms.
Analogue or digital data can be encoded using either analogue or digital signals.
For example digital data can be transmitted using analogue signals.
The telephone network traditionally used analogue signals to represent voices.
The telephone network was well-established when transmission of digital computer data became necessary.
The latter allows normal computer communications using widely available telephone lines.
This is achieved using Modems.

18. Analog vs. Digital Signal

19. Transmission direction
Data Encoding
analogue signals
Transmission direction
Computer
Modem
Printer
digital signals
Modulation is the conversion of the digital signal into an analogue signal, and demodulation converts the analogue signal back into a digital signal. These processes are carried out by a Modem.
Another device used is a Codec (coder-decoder).
All transmissions occur within a range of frequencies called the Bandwidth.

20. Signalling Technologies
Baseband is the transmission of digital signals without modulation.
In a baseband communication network, digital signals (0s and 1s) are put onto the medium as voltage pulses.
The entire bandwidth is consumed by the signal.
Broadband uses coaxial cable to provide data transfer by means of analogue signals.
The bandwidth is divided in different frequency bands or channels.
In a broadband communication network involving computers, digital signals are passed onto the medium through a modem and transmitted over one of the channels. So, several different communication networks can be implemented over the same medium.

21. Signalling Technologies
Analogue transmission is used to mean the transmission of analogue signals without regard to their content.
Digital transmission, on the other hand, is used to mean the content of the signal.

22. Data Transmission : Data and Signals

23. Data vs. Signal

24. Data Transmission: Treatment of Signals

25. Transmission Synchronisation
Synchronisation is essential for transmitter and receiver to understand each other.
In serial transmission the following types of synchronisation are required:
Bit synchronisation - how to detect each bit.
Byte or character synchronisation - how to group the bits to make a character or byte.
Block synchronisation - how to group the characters/bytes to make a block (a frame or a packet)
Bit synchronisation depends on how the signal is encoded

26. Transmission Synchronisation
In serial transmission there are two standard ways of achieving character and block synchronisation:
Asynchronous Transmission or Character Synchronisation
The time interval between characters is random.
Each character is synchronised by the use of a start bit, and either one or two stop bits.
The bit rate is constant on a per character basis

27. Transmission Synchronisation
Synchronous Transmission or Block Synchronisation
Each block is synchronised by the use of a number of synchronisation characters that are transmitted first
These are followed by a start of block character, which is followed by the data block, and transmission is finished with an end of block character.
The bit rate is constant for the whole transmission of the block I.e. the time interval between characters is fixed.

28. Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Transmission

29. Data Transmission: Modes
Computer based communications always use Digital Transmission,
What is transmitted is digital data, using either an analogue or digital signal.
Normally, the digital data are recovered and repeated at intermediate points to reduce the effects of noise.
Irrespective of the type of communications facility being used, in most applications data are transmitted between computers in a bit-serial mode,more commonly known as serial transmission.

30. Data Transmission: Modes
Within a computer, data are transferred in a word-parallel mode, most commonly known as parallel transmission.
In computer communications is necessary to perform a parallel-to-serial conversion, in the transmitter, serial-to-parallel conversion in the receiver.
These conversions are done in the computer interface to the network

31. Transmission efficiency
Extra bits (start and stop bits) and characters (synchronisation and block delimiters) are needed to implement asynchronous and synchronous transmission.
These add nothing to the content of the message, but must be included in what is sent.
They reduce the overall information capacity of the transmission
They reduce the overall efficiency of the transmission.

32. Transmission efficiency
Transmission efficiency = (useful data/total bits transmitted)*100
For example for asynchronous transmission of 8-bit characters with 1 start and 1 stop bit, we have to send 10 bits for each character:
Transmission efficiency = (8/10)*100 = 80%
Effective Data Rate = (Transmission Efficiency/100)*Capacity

33. Transmission Codes
Symbolic data/information must be encoded in a format suitable for transmission.
Normally, the codes used for transmission are similar to the codes used to store the information.
The most common code is ASCII
ASCII is a 7-bit code, permitting 128 different symbols to be encoded.
The second most commonly used code is EBCDIC
EBCDIC is an 8-bit code enabling 256 different symbols to be encoded.

34. Networking

35. Data Communication vs. Networking
Communication: Two Nodes. Mostly EE issues.
Networking: Two or more nodes. More issues, e.g., routing

36. Distributed Systems vs. Networks
Users are unaware of underlying structure.
Mostly operating systems issues.
Nodes are generally under one organization’s control.
Networks:
Users specify the location of resources.
Nodes are autonomous.

37. Networking Point to point communication not usually practical
Devices are too far apart
Large set of devices would need impractical number of connections
Solution is a communications network

38. What are computer networks?
Networking deals with the technology & architecture of the communications networks used to interconnect communicating devices.
Computer network is a collection of autonomous computers interconnected by a single technology.
The Internet is not a single network but a network of networks.

39. Types of Networks Point to point vs. Broadcast
Circuit switched vs. packet switched
Local Area Networks (LAN)
vs.
Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN)
Wide Area Networks (WAN)

40. Communications Networks
A Communications Network is a set of interconnected devices that provide data transmission facilities between user's end points.
User
User on Host B
Communications Network comprising communications links and connecting computers
User on Host A

41. Simplified Network Model

42. Objectives of Networking
To share and exchange data between systems;
To share expensive resources;
To facilitate communication among humans and machines;

43. Some terminology Host – a machine on the network;
End system/end point – a machine “on the edge” of the network, rather than an “internal” (switching) node;
Subnet – sub network, a subset of the whole network;
Also used to refer to the internal “routing” part of a network.
IMP – Interface Message Processor, hardware connecting host to network.

44. Some terminology
Packet – we often break messages into many chunks, sent separately. The chunks are called packets.
Size of packet and how it’s treated depends on network protocol in use.
A packet might get split up further by another protocol.
Some protocols (e.g. IP) use varying size packets; in others (e.g. ATM) they’re fixed. Small fixed-size packets are called cells

45. Some terminology
internetworking – act of connecting multiple networks together to form a larger network;
Fun issues include how to route and address across multiple heterogeneous networks;
internet – a network thus produced
Also the name of a common protocol for doing this (IP);
Internet – “the” global internet;

46. Network sizes
Computer Networks can be classified by the area they cover:
PAN – Personal Area Network: very small
LAN – Local Area Network: room/building/campus
MAN – Metropolitan Area Network: city, region
WAN – Wide Area Network: country/continent.

47. Interconnection of Networks
Networks of low capacity may be connected together via a backbone (network of high capacity)
LANs and WANs can be interconnected via T1 or T3 digital leased lines
According to the protocols involved, networks interconnection is achieved using one or several of the following devices:
Bridge: a computer or device that links two similar LANs based on the same protocol.
Router: a communication computer that connects different types of networks using different protocols.
B-router or Bridge/Router: a single device that combines both the functions of bridge and router.
Gateway: a network device that connects two different systems, using direct and systematic translation between protocols.

48. Broadcast vs. Point-to-point
Broadcast Networks:
A single communication channel shared by all machines on a network;
Multicast: simultaneous transmission to a subset.
Point-to-point networks:
Many connections between individual pairs of machines;
Transmission from A to C might go via B;
Often multiple routes: a fundamental question is which to use?

49. Local Area Networks
A Local Area Network (LAN) is a computer network intended to link computers and associated devices within a small geographical area.
The linking distances are relatively short, with cable lengths rarely exceeding 5 kilometres.
The linked computers may include large computers, word processors, or desktop computers.
Associated devices include computer terminals, printers, plotters, scanners, etc.

50. Local Area Networks
LANs normally offer much higher data transmission rates than WANs.
This difference is apparent in the network oriented protocols only.
At application level, LANs provide the sharing of resources like programs, files, printers, plotters, scanners, etc.

51. LAN Topologies
LAN topology is one of the issues that must be considered when selecting LAN technology.
It defines the interconnection of stations to form the network.
LAN topologies are classified as:
Broadcast topology
Store-and-forward topology

52. LAN Topologies Broadcast topology Store-and-forward topology
This implies that all stations are connected to a common transmission medium.
Store-and-forward topology
A complete message or packet is received into a buffer in the memory of an intermediate station
It is then re-transmitted on the route to its destination.
The stations in a store-and-forward topology network are connected by independent point-to-point transmission lines.

53. LAN Topologies
The topology of a LAN is important because it influences the following features of the network:
expansion cost
the incremental cost of adding another station to an existing network.
reconfiguration capabilities
the ease of modifying the topology to deal with a failed node or component.
reliability
The extent of dependency on a single component for network operation.

54. LAN Topologies As well as: software complexity performance
the complexity of the protocols required to achieve communications.
performance
The effectiveness of the LAN in terms of throughput, or delays in transmission.
broadcast capabilities
how difficult it is to broadcast in the LAN, i.e. to transmit a single message which is received by all other stations in the network.

55. Bus Topology Single medium to which all hosts are connected
The bus is a broadcast topology – anything placed on the medium by one host is available to all hosts attached to the bus.
If the destination address is recognised by a node it copies the contents into that node.
Network connection cable between NIC on host and the network medium

56. Ring Topology
The ring is a store-&-forward topology – a packet placed on the medium by one node is received by the next node along, and is then resent by that node, and so on.
If the destination address matches that of the receiver, the packet is not resent.
If the sender’s address matches that of the receiver, the packet has gone all the way round and will not be resent. It is a “lost” packet and is effectively removed from the ring.

57. Star Topology
The star is a store-&-forward topology – a packet placed on the medium by one node is received by central node which is forwarded to it’s destination by the central node.
Central node

58. Hub Topology The “hub” is derivative of the bus and ring topologies
It has the appearance of the star topology, with a central hub in place of the central node.
The hub is simply the bus or ring wiring “collapsed” into a central unit.
Unlike the central node in the star topology, the hub does not perform any switching. The hub simply consists of a set of repeaters.
Many modern networks are implemented using hubs for convenience.
Care is needed when deciding what topology is being used in a real network.

59. Hub Topology : Network with and without hub
Bus network – long network “backbone” installed through building, with short network connection cables between host computers and backbone.
The same bus network, implemented using a hub
Hub containing network “backbone” and stubs of connection cables
Network connecting cables extending through the building to the host devices

60. Network topologies Tree Corresponding to an organisational hierarchy?
Internal nodes may be bottlenecks.

61. Network topologies Graph Complete graph (Mesh)
Generalisation of a tree
Cycles allowed
Complete graph (Mesh)
Dedicated link from every node to every other node
Rapidly becomes prohibitively expensive

62. Communications System

63. Communications System
A communications system is the combination of network hardware and communications system software that supports the communications between user-oriented processes running in remote computers.
The communications system provides the services required by the applications to communicate. These services are outlined on the next slide.

64. Communications System
Communication System Functions
Naming and Addressing of entities.
Segmenting and reassembly of messages
Blocking of messages
Connection or session control
Error control
Congestion and flow control
Synchronisation
Priority

65. Communication System Architecture
The user-oriented layers:
The application offers services to users through a set of rules or steps for accessing web-sites or sending s.
Some applications operate on different types of user-interface. A means of converting alphabets and screen formats may be needed
Some applications require a session of activity with a definite set-up and closedown of the session (e.g. logon and logoff)
The transport layer provides an end-to-end virtual channel between the source and destination.

66. Communication System Architecture
The system-oriented layers:
Implement the connections between nodes that make a machine part of a communications network
The network layer is responsible for routing between nodes
The Data link and Physical layers provide the means of moving packages of data between pairs of nodes.

67. Communication System Architecture
The ISO Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model has 7 layers:
The top 3 layers are user or application oriented.
The bottom 3 layers are system-oriented.
The middle layer, transport, acts as a broker between the basic services provided by the network and the needs of the users
Each layer can be thought of as “talking” directly to its peer on another machine.
A user of a web-browser holds a “conversation” with a remote web-site
Only at the physical layer does direct communication take place, using signals.
1. Application
2. Presentation
3. Session
4. Transport
5. Network
6. Data Link
7. Physical

68. Communication System Architecture
The TCP/IP model has 4 layers:
The top layers is the application.
The bottom 2 layers are system-oriented.
The middle layer, transport, acts as a broker between the basic services provided by the network and the needs of the users.
Although the model is simpler than OSI it recognises the same purpose and requirements.
The transport level protocols are TCP and UDP
The network level protocol is usually IP
The data link and physical level protocols are specific to the network
1. Application
2. Transport
3. Network
4. Data Link / Physical

69. Communication System Architecture
1. Application
2. Transport
3. Network
4. Data Link / Physical
Application-level protocol based on messages used by the application. For example, the PIN and card details from a bank card
Transport level data packets exchanged using transport protocol
Network level data packets exchanged using network protocol
Data Link frames exchanged using data link protocol.
Frames transmitted over the physical medium using appropriate signalling techniques
Communications Network

70. Communication System Architecture
Application-level protocol
1. Application
2. Transport
3. Network
4. Data Link / Physical
Transport-level protocol acting end-to-end – e.g. TCP IP
Host A
Host B
Network
Intermediate nodes inside network D C
Node D
Node C

71. Circuit Switching vs. Packet Switching
Fundamental question: how to move bits from one host to another, via ‘n’ others?
Two key approaches (opposed):
Circuit switching
Establish fixed-bandwidth circuit & use it;
Packet switching
Split messages into packets, send separately;
Trend is very much towards packet switching.

72. Circuit Switching
Resources along a path are reserved for duration of communication.
Buffers, link bandwidth, CPU time, etc.
All nodes on path genuinely maintain connection state information;
All data in a some communication is sent on the same circuit, through same nodes;
Classic example: PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)

73. Circuit Switching

74. Circuit Switching Each circuit has a fixed bandwidth for its lifetime.
Channels typically split into n equal bandwidth circuits.
Pro: Makes QoS (Quality of Service) guarantees easy to achieve;
Con: Wasteful during “silent” periods.
Data transmission tends to be bursty.

75. Circuit Switched Multiplexing
Multiplexing – combining information channels onto a common transmission medium.
FDM (Frequency Division Multiplexing)
Frequency spectrum of link is shared among circuits;
Typically, each of n circuits gets 1/n;
e.g. PSTN bandwidth divided in 4KHz bands;
TDM (Time Division Multiplexing)
Time divided into fixed size chunks;
Each circuit gets a portion of the total time

76. Packet Switching No prior reservation of resources;
Each packet transmitted separately;
Nodes don’t maintain connection state information:
Each packet dealt with individually;
Two packets might take different paths;
Classic example: the Internet.

77. Packet Switching
Con: QoS harder to do, can only really make “best effort” promises;
IPv6 addresses this somewhat – complex;
Pros: more efficient use of bandwidth, no hard limit to number of comms.
Ideally: “graceful degradation” curves;
What happens when queues fill? Delays and, ultimately, packet loss.
Store-and-forward (on routers):
Read entire packet in, then send it out

78. Packet switching

79. Delay & Loss in Packet Switching
Processing delay
Time to examine packet & decide where to send it; maybe also some error checking;
Queuing delay
Delay while packet is queued; depends on size of queue, ie traffic levels;
Transmission delay
Time taken for node to “push out” packet;
Depends on size of packet & speed of outbound link.

80. Delay & Loss in Packet Switching
Propagation delay
Time taken for packet to propagate across link to next node;
Depends on speed of physical medium and distance to next node;
Packet loss
Happens when things get too busy, queues overflow, nodes can’t keep up;
End-to-end delay
Total delay on transmission between two end points.

81. Frame Relay
Packet switching systems have large overheads to compensate for errors
Modern systems are more reliable
Errors can be caught in the end system
Most overhead for error control is stripped out

82. Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATM
Evolution of frame relay
Little overhead for error control
Fixed packet (called cell) length
Anything from 10Mbps to Gbps
Constant data rate using packet switching technique

83. Virtual circuits vs. datagram networks
We can, in fact, simulate circuit switching on packet switched networks:
Virtual Circuits being the result;
Otherwise, it’s a datagram network:
Datagram: another word for packet;
Choice has huge impact on routing;
At IP level, Internet is a datagram network

84. Virtual Circuit Networks
Packets carry VC identifier;
Hosts have table mapping VCIDs to outbound connections;
Setting up involves both ends and every host in between;
Every packet follows the same path;
Requires complex state maintenance protocols.

85. Datagram Networks Packets carry destination address;
Host has (more complex) table to help it decide where to send next.
Table at a given host can change over lifetime of a communication;
Packets really can take different paths;
No connection state information maintained (except maybe at ends);
Almost all of the Internet.

86. Connection-oriented vs. Connectionless Services
Characterises end-to-end communication services available to end users.
Connection-oriented:
Application must establish connection to other end before sending any actual data;
Each packet then sent via that connection.
Allows delivery guarantees.
Connectionless:
Application just sends each packet individually;
Thus, must know destination address every time you send a packet.
No guarantee of delivery, generally.

87. Caution: don’t get confused…
Circuit-switched vs. packet switched:
Concerns how packets are routed;
Distinction made in “core” of network;
Mainly at Network layer (see later).
Connection-oriented vs. connectionless:
Concerns how packets are sent/received;
Distinction made at “edge” of network;
Mainly at Transport layer (see later).

88. Basic Types of Networks
Yet another way to classify…

89. Basic Types Peer-to-peer Server-based
Does not require dedicated resource (dedicated server)
Any host can share its resources
Typically less expensive, easier to work with
Less secure, support fewer users (10 or fewer), experience more problems with file system management
Server-based
Configuration of nodes, certain of which are dedicated to providing resources (servers)
Offer (better) user security
Dedicated servers can be expensive, may require a full-time network administrator
Enterprise network (which combines the two)
Provide connectivity among all nodes in an organization
Include (connect) both peer-to-peer and server-based networks
May consist of multiple protocol stacks and network architectures

90. Client/Server Networks
Client/Server is a networking model mainly applicable at the Application layer;
Concerns the roles of end systems:
Client – system requesting some service;
Server – system providing some service.
Ubiquitous example: HTTP
Client is your web browser
Server is (or whatever)

91. Peer Networks Not all applications use Client/Server model;
Often, all parties have equal status:
In some sense they’re all clients and servers.
Although sometimes have distinguished nodes providing certain services.

92. Protocols Used for communications between entities in a system
Must speak the same language
Entities
User applications
facilities
terminals
Systems
Computer
Terminal
Remote sensor

93. Key Elements of a Protocol
Syntax
Data formats
Signal levels
Semantics
Control information
Error handling
Timing
Speed matching
Sequencing
Protocols define format, order of messages sent and received among network entities, and actions taken on message’s transmission, receipt

94. In Summary, a protocol is ....
An agreement about communication between two or more entities
It specifies
– Format of messages
– Meaning of messages
– Rules for exchange
– Procedures for handling problems

95. Protocol Architecture
Task of communication broken up into modules
For example file transfer could use three modules
File transfer application
Communication service module
Network access module

96. Simplified File Transfer Architecture

97. A Three Layer Model At the Top: In the Middle: At the Bottom:
User Oriented layer-Application Layer
In the Middle:
Transport Layer
At the Bottom:
System Oriented Layer - Network Access Layer

98. Network Access Layer
Exchange of data between the computer and the network
Sending computer provides address of destination
May invoke levels of service
Dependent on type of network used (LAN, packet switched etc.)

99. Transport Layer Reliable data exchange
Independent of network being used
Independent of application

100. Application Layer
Support for different user applications
e.g. , file transfer

101. Addressing Requirements
Two levels of addressing required
Each computer needs unique network address
Each application on a (multi-tasking) computer needs a unique address within the computer
The service access point or SAP
The port on TCP/IP stacks

102. Addressing Different levels of entity use different addresses.
MAC address: Identifies the NIC and set by manufacturer.
Used by Physical and Data Link layer
IP address: Identifies a computer in a network.
Used by the Network layer
Socket: Identifies a process (running program).
Used by the Transport layer
Application level addresses vary:
One example is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) used by WWW applications

103. IP Addresses IP = Internet Protocol
Each IP address is 32 bits long
An IP address has a network part and host part
The former identifies a specific network and the latter a specific computer, or host, on that network.
IP addresses may be in one of five network classes:
Class A: Used for a small number of networks, each with many hosts.
Class B: Used for a larger number of networks, each with a medium number of hosts
Class C: Used for a large number of networks, each with only a few hosts
Classes D and E are for special purposes.

104. IP Addressing Example
All hosts on a network have the same network prefix

105. User Oriented Names and DNS
Human users prefer names to numbers.
The communications system translates these names into IP addresses, and vice versa.
The translation is done using the Domain Name System (DNS) application.
This is a “directory” service.
It uses multiple levels of server to resolve queries as close to the point of issue as possible.
All servers cache query results to reduce need for repeat queries in the near future.

106. Name Resolution in DNS Each computer has a name resolver routine
‘gethostbyname’ in UNIX
Each resolver knows the name of a local DNS server
Resolver sends a DNS request to the server
DNS server either gives the answer, forwards the request to another server, or gives a referral
Referral = Next server to whom request should be sent

107. How the DNS works Intermediate Name Server Root Name Server
Requesting Host
Root Name Server
Local Name Server
Intermediate Name Server
Authoritative Name Server
A “requesting host” issues a query to its local name server to translate from a host name to an IP address. This request is routed to a server which can supply the IP address.
The root server may not know the IP address, but may “know the address of someone who does”. This can result in queries being forwarded to an “authoritative name server, via an intermediate name server, if necessary.
All name servers employ caches which store the results of recent queries. This can speed up later requests for the same IP address.
Name embedded in query
IP address, or error message, embedded in reply

108. Protocol Architectures and Networks

109. Protocols in Simplified Architecture

110. Protocol Data Units (PDU)
At each layer, protocols are used to communicate
Control information is added to user data at each layer
Transport layer may fragment user data
Each fragment has a transport header added
Destination SAP
Sequence number
Error detection code
This gives a transport protocol data unit

111. Protocol Data Units

112. Network PDU Adds network header
network address for destination computer
Facilities requests

113. Operation of a Protocol Architecture

114. Standards Required to allow for interoperability between equipment
Advantages
Ensures a large market for equipment and software
Allows products from different vendors to communicate
Disadvantages
Freeze technology
May be multiple standards for the same thing

115. Standardized Protocol Architectures
Required for devices to communicate
Vendors have more marketable products
Customers can insist on standards based equipment
Two standards:
OSI Reference model
Never lived up to early promises
TCP/IP protocol suite
Most widely used

116. OSI Open Systems Interconnection
Developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Seven layers
A theoretical system delivered too late!
TCP/IP is the de facto standard

117. OSI - The Model A layer model
Each layer performs a subset of the required communication functions
Each layer relies on the next lower layer to perform more primitive functions
Each layer provides services to the next higher layer
Changes in one layer should not require changes in other layers

118. OSI Layers

119. The OSI Environment

120. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture
Developed by the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) for its packet switched network (ARPANET)
Used by the global Internet
Not official model but a working one.
Application layer
Host to host or transport layer
Internet layer
Network access layer
Physical layer

121. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture: Physical Layer
Physical interface between data transmission device (e.g. computer) and transmission medium or network
Characteristics of transmission medium
Signal levels
Data rates
etc.

122. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture: Network Access Layer
Exchange of data between end system and network
Destination address provision
Invoking services like priority

123. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture: Internet Layer (IP)
Systems may be attached to different networks
Routing functions across multiple networks
Implemented in end systems and routers

124. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture: Transport Layer (TCP)
Reliable delivery of data
Ordering of delivery

125. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture: Application Layer
Support for user applications
e.g. http

126. TCP/IP Protocol Architecture Model

127. Protocol Data Units in TCP/IP

128. OSI vs. TCP/IP