Faculty of

Engineering

Computer Network
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Point to Point Protocol & ATM
Computer Network
Dr. Ahmed Abdel Halim @ Helwan University
Fall 2017
 Dr. Ahmed M. Abd El-Haleem
Assistant Professor in
Communication and Electronic Department
Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University

E-mail: dr.ahmed.m.abd.elhaleem@gmail.com
3 PPP
 Serial connection
4

Most computer networks use serial connections, because:

1. Less cost and easier synchronization.

2. Simpler wiring.

3. Can be longer than parallel cables, because there is much

less interaction (crosstalk).

 Point-to-point Protocol
5

 Today, millions of Internet users who need to connect

their home computers to the server of an Internet
service provider use PPP.
 PPP - Provides router-to-router and host-to-network
connections over synchronous and asynchronous
circuits.
 PPP establishes a direct connection using serial cables,
phone lines, trunk lines, cellular telephones,
specialized radio links, or fiber-optic links.
 PPP works with several Network layer protocols, such
as IP.
 has built-in security mechanisms such as PAP and
CHAP.
 PPP
6

There are many advantages to using PPP (it

includes many features not available in HDLC):
 The link quality management feature monitors

the quality of the link.

 If too many errors are detected, PPP takes
the link down.
 PPP supports PAP and CHAP authentication.
 PPP
7

On the other hand, to keep PPP simple, several

services are missing:
1. PPP does not provide flow control.
2. PPP has a very simple mechanism for error
control.
 A CRC field is used to detect errors.
 If the frame is corrupted, it is silently discarded;
the upper-layer protocol needs to take care of the
problem.
3. PPP does not provide a sophisticated
addressing mechanism to handle frames in a
multipoint configuration.
 PPP Frame Structure
8

Flag
 A PPP frame starts and ends with a 1-byte flag with
the bit pattern 01111110.
 Although this pattern is the same as that used in
HDLC, there is a big difference.
 PPP is a byte-oriented protocol; HDLC is a bit-
oriented protocol. The flag is treated as a byte.
 PPP Frame Structure
9

Address:
 The address field in this protocol is a constant

value and set to 11111111 (broadcast address).

 During negotiation, the two parties may agree to

omit this byte.

Control:
 This field is set to the constant value 11000000.

 PPP does not provide any flow control.

 Error control is also limited to error detection.

 This means that this field is not needed at all, and

again, the two parties can agree, during

negotiation, to omit this byte.
 PPP Frame Structure
10

Protocol:
 The protocol field defines what is being carried in
the data field:
 user data or
 other information.
 This field is by default 2 bytes long, but the
two parties can agree to use only 1 byte.
FCS:
 The frame check sequence (FCS) is simply a 2-
byte or 4-byte standard CRC.
 PPP Frame Structure
11

Payload field:
 This field carries either the user data or other

information.
 The data field is a sequence of bytes with the

default of a maximum of 1500 bytes; but this

can be changed during negotiation.
 The data field is byte stuffed if the flag byte

pattern appears in this field.

 Because there is no field defining the size of

the data field, padding is needed if the size is

less than the maximum default value or the
maximum negotiated value.
 Byte Stuffing
12

 The Flag is 01111110 (0x7E),

 The escape byte (ESC) is 01111101 (0x7D)
 Byte stuffing is performed by adding extra byte
whenever there is an ESC or a Flag like character in the
data to tell the receiver that the next byte is not a flag.
 Transition phases
13
 Transition phases
14

1) Dead phase.
 In the dead phase the link is not being used (no
active carrier).
2) Establish phase.
 When one of the nodes starts the communication.
 Options are negotiated between the two parties.
 If the negotiation is successful,
◼ the system goes to the authentication phase
(if authentication is required)
◼ or directly to the networking phase.
 The link control protocol (LCP) packets,
are used for this purpose.
 Transition phases
15

3) Authenticate phase.
 The authentication phase is optional; the
two nodes may decide, during the
establishment phase, not to skip this
phase.
 However, if they decide to proceed with
authentication, they send several
authentication packets.
 If the result is successful, the connection
goes to the networking phase; otherwise,
it goes to the termination phase.
 Transition phases
16

4) Network phase.
 Negotiation for the network layer
protocols takes place.
 PPP specifies that two nodes establish a
network layer agreement before data at
the network layer can be exchanged.
 The reason if a node is running multiple
protocols simultaneously at the network
layer, the receiving node needs to know
which protocol will receive the data.
 Transition phases
17

5) Open phase.
 When a connection reaches this phase, the
exchange of data packets can be started.
 The connection remains in this phase until
one of the endpoints wants to terminate
the connection.
6) Terminate phase.
 the connection is terminated.
 Several packets are exchanged between the
two ends for house cleaning and closing the
link.
 PPP Authentication
18

 Authentication means validating the identity of

a user who needs to access a set of resources.
 Authentication is very important in PPP because
PPP is designed for use over dial-up links where
verification of user identity is necessary.
 two protocols for authentication:
 Password Authentication Protocol (PAP)
 Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP).
 these protocols are used during the
authentication phase.
 PAP
19

 Simple authentication procedure with a two-step

process:
1. The user who wants to access a system sends an
authentication identification (usually the user name
and a password & are sent in plain text).
2. The system checks the validity of the identification
and password and either accepts or denies
connection.
 CHAP
20

 A three-way hand-shaking authentication protocol that

provides greater security than PAP.
 In CHAP the password is kept secret; it is never sent
online.
 Unlike PAP, which only authenticates once, CHAP conducts
periodic challenges to make sure that the remote node
still has a valid password value.
 CHAP
21

1. The system sends the user a challenge packet

containing a challenge value, usually a few bytes.
2. The user applies a predefined function that takes the
challenge value and the user's own password and
creates a result.
3. The user sends the result in the response packet to
the system.
4. The system does the same. It applies the same
function to the password of the user (known to the
system) and the challenge value to create a result.
 If the result created is the same as the result
sent in the response packet, access is granted;
otherwise, it is denied.
 CHAP PROCESS
22
 CHAP PROCESS
23

 Step 1: R1 initially negotiates the link connection using

LCP with router R2 and the two systems agree to use
CHAP authentication during the PPP LCP negotiation.
 Step 2: Router R2 generates an ID and a random
number and sends that plus its username as a CHAP
challenge packet to R1.
 Step 3: R1 will use the username of the challenger (R2)
and cross reference it with its local database to find its
associated password. R1 will then generate a unique MD5
hash number using the R2's username, ID, random
number and the shared secret password.
 CHAP PROCESS
24

 Step 4: Router R1 then sends the challenge ID,

the hashed value, and its username (R1) to R2.
 Step 5: R2 generates it own hash value using
the ID, the shared secret password, and the
random number it originally sent to R1.
 Step 6: R2 compares its hash value with the
hash value sent by R1. If the values are the
same, R2 sends a link established response to
R1.
25 ATM
 ATM WAN Technology
26

 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a technology

capable of transferring voice, video, and data
through private and public networks.
 ATM (also known as cell relay) is a connection-
oriented, It is built on a cell based architecture
rather than on a frame-based architecture.
 Short fixed size 53-byte cells. Fixed Cell size (5
byte Header + 48 byte Payload)
 high-speed, low-delay switching and transmission
technology that uses cells, to transport
information.
 ATM (B-ISDN) WAN Technology
27

 ATM involves the transfer of data in discrete

chunks.
 ATM supports Permanent VC’s (PVCs) and
Switched VC’s (SVCs).
 ATM allows multiple logical connections to be
multiplexed over a single physical interface.
 with minimal error and flow control capabilities.
 This reduces the overhead

 Increase the data rates

 data rates of 25.6Mbps to 622.08Mbps

 Problems in existing systems
28

 Scenario
 One line uses large frames (data frame) and
other uses small frames (audio and video
information).
 If the large frame arrives a moment earlier,
then the smaller frames need to wait a long
time in the multiplexer before being
transmitted.
 Thus data frames create unacceptable delays
for small frames.
 Cell Networks
29

 A cell network uses the cell as the basic unit of data

exchange. A cell is defined as a small, fixed-sized
block of information.
 As frames of different sizes and formats reach the
cell network from a tributary network, they are split
into multiple small data units of equal length and are
loaded into cells.
 The cells are
then
multiplexed
with other
cells and
routed through
the cell
network.
 Cell Networks
30

 High speed of links coupled with the small size

of the cells means that cells from each line
arrive at their respective destination in an
approximation of continuous stream.
 Cell network can handle real-time
transmissions, such as phone call, without the
parties being aware of the segmentation or
multiplexing at all.
 Asynchronous TDM
31

 ATM uses asynchronous time-division

multiplexing (that is why it is called
Asynchronous Transfer Mode).
 Multiplex cells coming from different channels.
 ATM multiplexers fill a slot with a cell from any
input channel that has a cell; the slot is empty if
none of the channels has a cell to send.
 Why ATM?
32

 Low network latency (for voice, video, and real-time

applications)
 Low variance of delay (for voice and video transmission)
 Guaranteed quality of service
 High capacity switching (multi-giga bits per second)
 Bandwidth flexibility (dynamically assigned to users)
 Scalability (capacity may be increased on demand)
 Supports a wide range of user access speeds .
 Supports audio, video, imagery, and data traffic (for
integrated services)
 ATM Network Architecture
33

 ATM is a cell-switched network.

 The user access devices, called the endpoints,
are connected through a user-to-network
interface (UNI) to the switches inside the
network. The switches are connected through
network-to-network interfaces (NNIs).
 ATM Logical Connections
34

 A virtual channel connection (VCC) is the

basic unit of switching in an ATM network.
 A VCC is set up between two end users
through the network and a variable-rate,
full-duplex flow of fixed-size cells is
exchanged over the connection.
 VCCs are also used for user-network
exchange (control signaling) and network-
network exchange (network management and
routing).
 ATM Logical Connections
35

 A virtual path connection (VPC) is a bundle of VCCs

that have the same endpoints. Thus, all of the cells
flowing over all of the VCCs in a single VPC are
switched together.
 The virtual path technique helps in grouping
connections sharing common paths through the
network into a single unit.
 Transmission Path(TP): Physical connection (wire,
cable, satellite, and so on) between an endpoint and a
switch or between two switches.
 VPs and VCs
36

 The first two VCs seem to share the same virtual path
from switch I to switch III, so it is reasonable to
bundle these two VCs together to form one VP.
 The other two VCs share the same path from switch I
to switch IV, so it is also reasonable to combine them to
form one VP.
 Advantages of Virtual Paths
37

 simplified network architecture

 increased network performance and reliability.
 Network management actions can then be applied to
a small number of groups of connections instead of a
large number of individual connections.
 The network deals with fewer, aggregated entities.
 reduced processing
 The addition of new virtual channels to an existing
virtual path established by executing simple control
functions at the endpoints of the virtual path
connection; no call processing is required at transit
nodes.
 short connection setup time
 Connection identifiers
38

 Virtual connection is defined by a pair of numbers: the

VPI and the VCI.
 Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) defines the specific VP.
 Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) defines the particular
VC inside the VP.
 VPI is same for all virtual connections that are bundled
(logically) into one VP.
 Virtual connection identifiers in
39
UNIs and NNIs
 VPIs for UNIs is 8 bits and that for NNIs is 16
bits.
 VCIs [16 bits] is same for UNIs and NNIs.
 Most of the ATM switches are routed using VPIs.
 The switches at the boundaries of the network,
those that interact directly with the endpoint
devices, use both VPIs and VCIs.
 An ATM cell
40

 Cell is only 53 bytes long with 5 bytes

allocated to header and 48 bytes carrying
payload (user data may less than 48
bytes). Header contains the VPI and VCI.
 ATM has two type of connections: PVC
and SVC.