INDEX

Introduction to LAN LAN Protocols and OSI Reference Model LAN Media-Access Methods LAN Transmission Methods LAN Design Goals and Components Contention issues with Ethernet Network Design Methodology The Three Components of a Network OSI Model Transmission Media Logical Network Topologies Bibliography

Introduction to LAN

A LAN is a high-speed data network that covers a relatively small geographic area. It is restricted to a small area such as home, office or college. It typically connects workstations, personal computers, printers, servers, and other devices. LANs offer computer users many advantages, including shared access to devices and applications, file exchange between connected users, and communication between users via electronic mail and other applications.

LAN Protocols and OSI Reference Model

LAN protocols function at the lowest two layers of the OSI reference model, between the physical layer and the data link layer. The following figure illustrates how several popular LAN protocols map to the OSI reference model. Popular LAN Protocols Mapped to the OSI Reference Model LAN MediaAccess Methods Media

contention occurs when two or more network devices have data to send at the same time. Because multiple devices cannot talk on the network simultaneously, some type of method must be used to allow one device access to the network media at a time. This is done in two main ways: carrier sense multiple access collision detection (CSMA/CD) and token passing. In networks using CSMA/CD technology such as Ethernet, network devices contend for the network media. When a device has data to send, it first listens to see if any other device is currently using the network. If not, it starts sending its data. After finishing its transmission, it listens again to see if a collision occurred. A collision occurs when two devices send data simultaneously. When a collision happens, each device waits a random length of time before resending its data. In most cases, a collision will not occur again between the two devices. Because of this type of network contention, the busier a network becomes, the more collisions occur. This is why performance of Ethernet degrades rapidly as the number of devices on a single network increases. In token-passing networks such as Token Ring and FDDI, a special network packet called a token is passed around the network from device to device. When a device has data to send, it must wait until it has the token and then sends its data. When the data transmission is complete, the token is released so that other devices may use the network media. The main advantage of token-passing networks is that they are deterministic. In other words, it is easy to calculate the maximum time that will pass before a device has the opportunity to send data. This explains the popularity of tokenpassing networks in some real-time environments such as factories, where machinery must be capable of communicating at a determinable interval. For CSMA/CD networks, switches segment the network into multiple collision domains. This reduces the number of devices per network segment that must contend for the media. By creating smaller collision domains, the performance of a network can be increased significantly without requiring addressing changes.

Normally CSMA/CD networks are half-duplex, meaning that while a device sends information, it cannot receive at the time. While that device is talking, it is incapable of also listening for other traffic. This is much like a walkie-talkie. When one person wants to talk, he presses the transmit button and begins speaking. While he is talking, no one else on the same frequency can talk. When the sending person is finished, he releases the transmit button and the frequency is available to others. When switches are introduced, full-duplex operation is possible. Full-duplex works much like a telephoneyou can listen as well as talk at the same time. When a network device is attached directly to the port of a network switch, the two devices may be capable of operating in full-duplex mode. In full-duplex mode, performance can be increased, but not quite as much as some like to claim. A 100-Mbps Ethernet segment is capable of transmitting 200 Mbps of data, but only 100 Mbps can travel in one direction at a time. Because most data connections are asymmetric (with more data travelling in one direction than the other), the gain is not as great as many claim. However, full-duplex operation does increase the throughput of most applications because the network media is no longer shared. Two devices on a full-duplex connection can send data as soon as it is ready. Token-passing networks such as Token Ring can also benefit from network switches. In large networks, the delay between turns to transmit may be significant because the token is passed around the network.

LAN Transmission Methods

LAN data transmissions fall into three classifications: unicast, multicast, and broadcast. In each type of transmission, a single packet is sent to one or more nodes. In a unicast transmission, a single packet is sent from the source to a destination on a network. First, the source node addresses the packet by using the address of the destination node. The package is then sent onto the network, and finally, the network passes the packet to its destination. A multicast transmission consists of a single data packet that is copied and sent to a specific subset of nodes on the network. First, the source node addresses the packet by using a multicast address. The packet is then sent into the network, which makes copies of the packet and sends a copy to each node that is part of the multicast address. A broadcast transmission consists of a single data packet that is copied and sent to all nodes on the network. In these types of transmissions, the source node addresses the packet by using the broadcast address. The packet is then sent on to the network, which makes copies of the packet and sends a copy to every node on the network

LAN Design Goals and Components LAN Design Goals

Designing a network can be a challenging task, and involves more than just connecting computers together. A network requires many features in order to be scalable and manageable. To design reliable, scalable networks, network designers must realize that each of the major components of a network has distinct design requirements. Even a network that consists of only fifty nodes can pose complex problems that lead to unpredictable results. Attempting to design and build networks that contain thousands of nodes can pose even more complex problems. The first step in designing a document the goals of the particular to each organization following requirements tend to designs: LAN is to establish and design. These goals are or situation. However, the show up in most network

Functionality-The network must work. That is, it must allow users to meet their job requirements. The network must provide user-to-user and user-to-application connectivity with reasonable speed and reliability. Scalability-The network must be able to grow. That is, the initial design should grow without any major changes to the overall design.

 Adaptability-The network must be designed with an eye toward future technologies, and it should include no element that would limit implementation of new technologies as they become available. Manageability-The network should be designed to facilitate network monitoring and management to ensure ongoing stability of operation.

Critical Components of LAN Design

With the emergence of high-speed technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and more complex LAN architectures that use LAN switching and VLANs over the past several years, many organizations have been upgrading existing LANs or planning, designing, and implementing new LANs. To design LANs for high-speed technologies and multimedia-based applications, network designers should address the following critical components of the overall LAN design: The function and placement of servers Collision detection Segmentation Bandwidth versus broadcast domains

Contention issues with Ethernet

We should decide carefully on the selection and placement of networking devices to be used in the LAN in order to decrease the collision detection and media contention on a network. Contention refers to excessive collisions on Ethernet caused by too many devices, each with a great

demand for the network segment. The number of broadcasts becomes excessive when there are too many client packets looking for services, too many server packets announcing services, too many routing table updates, and too many other broadcasts dependent on the protocols, such as Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). An Ethernet node gets access to the wire by contending with other Ethernet nodes for the right to do so. When your network grows to include more nodes on the shared segment or wire, and these nodes have more and more messages to transmit, the chance that a node will contend successfully for its share of the wire gets much worse, and the network bogs down. The fact that contention media access does not scale or allow for growth is Ethernet's main disadvantage. As traffic increases on the shared media, the rate of collisions also increases. Although collisions are normal events in Ethernet, an excessive number of collisions will (sometimes dramatically) reduce available bandwidth. In most cases, the actual available bandwidth is reduced to a fraction (about 35% to 40%) of the full 10 Mbps. This reduction in bandwidth can be remedied by segmenting the network by using bridges, switches, or routers.

Network Design Methodology

Gathering and analyzing requirements For a LAN to be effective and serve the needs of its users, it should be designed and implemented according to a planned series of systematic steps, which include the following: Gathering expectations the users' requirements and

Analyzing requirements Designing the Layer 1, 2, and 3 LAN structure (that is, topology) Documenting the logical and physical network implementation The first step in designing a network should be to gather data about the organizational structure. This information includes the organization's history and current status, projected growth, operating policies and management procedures, office systems and procedures, and the viewpoints of the people who will be using the LAN. We need to answer the following questions: Who are the people who will be using the network? What is their level of skill, and what are their attitudes toward computers and computer applications? Answering these and similar questions will help determine how much training will be required and how many people will be needed to support the LAN. Next, we should determine who in the organization has authority over addressing, naming, topology design, and configuration. Some companies have a central Management Information Systems (MIS) department that controls everything. Some companies have very small MIS departments and, therefore, must delegate authority to departments. Focus on identifying the resources and constraints of the organization. Organization resources that can affect the implementation of a new LAN system fall into two general categories: computer hardware/software and human resources. An organization's existing computer hardware and software must be documented, and projected hardware and software needs identified. How these resources are currently linked and shared? What financial resources does the organization have available? Documenting these types of things helps you estimate costs and develop a budget for the LAN. You should make

sure you understand performance issues of any existing network.

Factors that affect network availability

Availability measures the usefulness of the network. Many things affect availability, including the following: Throughput Response time Access to resources Every customer has a different definition of availability. For example, there may be a need to transport voice and video over the network. However, these services require more bandwidth than is available on the network or backbone. You can increase availability by adding more resources, but resources drive up cost. Network design seeks to provide the greatest availability for the least cost. After considering availability, the next step in designing a network is to analyze the requirements of the network and its users that were gathered in the last step. Network user needs constantly change. For example, as more voice- and video-based network applications become available, the pressure to increase network bandwidth will become intense. Another component of the analysis phase is assessing the user requirements. A LAN that is incapable of supplying prompt and accurate information to its users is of little use. Therefore, we must take steps to ensure that the information requirements of the organization and its workers are met.

The Three Components of a Network

In order to have full access to a network (local or wide) from our workstation, three components are required. The first component is hardware.

Our workstation must have an Ethernet card or token ring board installed and a cable running from this card to the data jack in your office. The data jack must be wired from your office through the building to the campus broadband. Once this hardware wiring connection is made, you have the infrastructure in place to access the network. The second component is network software that recognizes the hardware and will use it. Different software is required depending on the network access we want.

For a Local Area Network (LAN), we will need network operating system software (i.e., Novell or Windows NT). If we want to access the Wide Area Network and the Local Area Network, we will need both kinds of software.

The third component is application software running on the Local Area Network. Examples of these would be any network version of word processors (i.e., Microsoft Word, WordPerfect), databases (Paradox, Dbase), spreadsheets (Lotus, Excel), etc. These packages are designed to provide multiple access to files and records and to lock files and records so that a particular document can be edited by only one person at a time.

OSI Model
[A Layered Approach to Networking]

Transmission Media
Data is transmitted over copper wires, fiber optic cable, radio and microwaves. The term 'media' is used to generically refer to the physical connectors, wires or devices used to plug things together.

Basic Communications Media Types o o o o o o Copper Unshielded Twisted Pair (3,5,5e,6,7) Shielded Twisted Pair Coaxial Cable (Thinnet, Thicknet) Heliax Fiber Optic Single-mode Multi-mode Infrared Radio & Microwave

COPPER
Coaxial Cabling Coaxial cabling is used in bus-style Ethernet networks. Coaxial cable consists of a copper wire core surrounded by a plastic cladding sheathed in a wire mesh. Coaxial cable comes in two sizes which are called thinnet and thicknet. Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) If we use two pairs of wires to enable two communications circuits, one for transmit, and one for receive and we twist the wires of each pair, we can place them much closer together. There are several grades of coaxial cable with category ratings. There are Category 3 (<10 Mbps), Category 5 (10 Mbps), Category 5e (10/100 Mbps) and Category 6 (100/1000 Mbps) versions of unshielded twisted pair.

FIBER OPTIC
Single Mode Single mode fiber refers to the fact that only a single wavelength (one color of light) is transmitted over the physical medium. Typically, single mode fiber is true doped

fiberglass fibers wrapped in a plastic cladding. Single mode typically has much longer reach, but a larger bend radius than multi-mode.

Dispersion Shifted Non-Dispersion Shifted Non-Zero Dispersion-Shifted

Multi-Mode Multi-mode fiber can carry multiple wavelengths, is made of special clear plastic materials and has a much smaller bend radius than single mode fiber. Multi-mode does not have as long a reach as single mode fiber.

Step Index Graded-Index

INFRARED
There are many systems today using infra-red communications. This is usually a directional infrared light signal transmitted into the air and received by nearby devices. Such systems came into use in the early 90's for use with laptops, printers and later in the 90's with cameras and handhelds.

Duplex vs. Simplex

SIMPLEX Simplex communication is permanent unidirectional communication. Some of the very first serial connections between computers were simplex connections. For example, mainframes sent data to a printer and never checked to see if the printer was available or if the document printed properly since that was a human job. Simplex links are built so that the transmitter (the one talking) sends a signal and it's up to the receiving device (the listener) to figure out what was sent and to correctly

do what it was told. No traffic is possible in the other direction across the same connection. We must use connectionless protocols with simplex circuits as no acknowledgement or return traffic is possible over a simplex circuit. Satellite communication is also simplex communication. A radio signal is transmitted and it is up to the receiver to correctly determine what message has been sent and whether it arrived intact. Since televisions don't talk back to the satellites (yet), simplex communication works great in broadcast media such as radio, television and public announcement systems. HALF DUPLEX A half duplex link can communicate in only one direction, at a time. Two way communication is possible, but not simultaneously. Walkie-talkies and CB radios sort of mimic this behavior in that you cannot hear the other person if you are talking. Half-duplex connections are more common over electrical links. Since electricity won't flow unless you have a complete loop of wire, you need two pieces of wire between the two systems to form the loop. The first wire is used to transmit, the second wire is referred to as a common ground. Thus, the flow of electricity can be reversed over the transmitting wire, thereby reversing the path of communication. Electricity cannot flow in both directions simultaneously, so the link is half-duplex. FULL DUPLEX Full duplex communication is two-way communication achieved over a physical link that has the ability to communicate in both directions simultaneously. With most electrical, fiber optic, two-way radio and satellite links, this is usually achieved with more than one physical connection. Your telephone line contains two wires, one for transmit, the other for receive. This means you and your friend can both talk and listen at the same time.

Half or Full-Duplex is required for connection-oriented protocols such as TCP. A duplex circuit can be created by using two separate physical connections running in half duplex mode or simplex mode. Two way satellite communication is achieved using two simplex connections.

Reliable vs. Unreliable

The terms reliable and unreliable don't refer to whether it works or not. It refers to whether something is done to guarantee or not. RELIABLE End stations running reliable protocols will work together to verify the transmission of data to ensure accuracy and integrity of the data. A reliable system will set up a connection and verify that: all data transmitted is controlled in an orderly fashion, is received in the correct order and is intact. Reliable protocols work best over physical medium that loses data, and is prone to errors. The error correction, ordering and verification mechanisms require overhead in the data packets and increase the total amount of bandwidth required to transmit data. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a typical reliable protocol. TCP often usually adds an average of 42-63 bytes of overhead to datagrams. For a Telnet connection which transmits each keystroke individually, this is horribly inefficient because up to 64 bytes of data are transmitted to communicate just 1 byte of useful information. UNRELIABLE Unreliable protocols make no effort to set up a connection, they don't check to see if the data was received and usually don't make any provisions for recovering from

errors or lost data. Unreliable protocols work best over physical medium with low loss and low error rates. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is an example of an unreliable protocol. UDP makes no provisions for verifying whether data arrived or is intact. However, UDP adds a minimum of overhead when compared to TCP and is thus much faster for data transfers over high quality physical links that are high speed and exhibit little or no errors in communication.

Serial vs. Parallel

The two most basic types of communication are serial and parallel. They are so common that even the cabling bears the name serial cable and parallel cable. Since electricity behaves according to the laws of physics, it is impossible to get the electrical signal to go any faster. There are two ways to get the data from one place to the other faster. The first is to squish the data bits tighter together (leave less distance between them when they travel down the wire). The second way is to transmit more bits simultaneously. Keep in mind that the information below is very general and not exactly correct from an engineering standpoint. We're just focusing on getting you to understand concepts here.

SERIAL When information is sent across one wire, one data bit at a time, its called serial. Every computer on the face of the earth has some form of serial communications connector on it, whether internally or externally. Most people are familiar with the 'D' shaped 9-pin connector on the back of their computer. This is a serial connector. The typical 9-pin 'D' shaped connector on the back of your computer uses 2

loops of wire (1 in each direction) for data communication, plus additional wires to control the flow of information. However, in any given direction, data is still flowing over a single wire. PARALLEL Instead of squishing bits together, bits are sent over more wires simultaneously. In the case of a 25-pin parallel port, you have eight data-carrying wires so that eight bits can be sent simultaneously. Because there are 8 wires to carry the data, the data finishes being transferred eight times faster than a serial connection.

Logical Network Topologies

Peer-to-Peer A peer-to-peer network is composed of two or more selfsufficient computers. Each computer handles all functions, logging in, storage, providing a user interface etc. The computers on a peer-to-peer network can communicate, but do not need the resources or services available from the other computers on the network. Peer-to-peer is the opposite of the client-server logical network model. A Microsoft Windows Workgroup is one example of a peerto-peer network. UNIX servers running as stand-alone systems are also a peer-to-peer network. Logins, services and files are local to the computer. You can only access resources on other peer computers if we have logins on the peer computers. Client - Server The simplest client-server network is composed of a server and one or more clients. The server provides a service that the client computer needs. Clients connect to the server across the network in order to access the service. A server

can be a piece of software running on a computer, or it can be the computer itself. One of the simplest examples of client-server is a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) session. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol and service that allows your computer to get or put files to a second computer using a network connection. A computer running FTP software opens a session to an FTP server to download or upload a file. The FTP server is providing file storage services over the network. Because it is providing file storage services, it is said to be a 'file server'. A client software application is required to access the FTP service running on the file server. Most computer networks today control logins on all machines from a centralized logon server. When we sit down to a computer and type in your username and password, your username and password are sent by the computer to the logon server. UNIX servers use NIS, NIS+ or LDAP to provide these login services. Microsoft Windows computers use Active Directory and Windows Logon and/or an LDAP client. Users on a client-server network will usually only need one login to access resources on the network.