DEBRE TABOR UNIVERSITY

Technology faculty

Department of Computer Science

Course Module for Network and System Administration

Prepared by:-

Mr Dharnasi Prasad

Module Topic: - Network and System Administration

Course Code: - CoSc 3063
Credit hour: - 3

ECTS :- 5

DTU

October,2015
Debre Tabor

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Chapter -1: Introduction to Computer Network and internet
1.1 Introduction :

The public Internet is a world-wide computer network, i.e., a network that interconnects millions of

computing devices throughout the world. Most of these computing devices are traditional desktop PCs,

workstations, and so called "servers" that store and transmit information such as WWW pages and e-mail

messages. Increasingly, non-traditional computing devices such as Web TVs, mobile computers, pagers and

toasters are being connected to the Internet. (Toasters are not the only rather unusual devices to have been

hooked up to the Internet;

In the Internet jargon, all of these devices are called hosts or end systems. The Internet applications, with which
many of us are familiar, such as the WWW and e-mail, are network application programs that run on such end
systems.

The Internet, the Web, and associated applications have emerged as dominant features of the business and
personal world, opening up many opportunities and challenges for managers. In addition to exploiting the Internet
and the Web to reach customers, suppliers, and partners, enterprises have formed intranets and extranets to
isolate their proprietary information free from unwanted access.

Briefly, an intranet uses Internet and Web technology in an isolated facility internal to an enterprise; an extranet
extends a company’s intranet out onto the Internet to allow selected customers, suppliers, and mobile workers to
access the company’s private data and applications.
A common form of internet is a collection of LANs connected by a WAN. A collection of interconnected
networks is called an internetwork or internet.

The public Internet (i.e., the global network of networks discussed above) is the network that one typically refers
to as the Internet. There are also many private networks, such as certain corporate and government networks,
whose hosts are not accessible from (i.e., they cannot exchange messages with) hosts outside of that private
network. These private networks are often referred to as intranets, as they often use the same "internet technology"
(e.g., the same types of host, routers, links, protocols, and standards) as the public Internet.

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Subnets, networks, and internetworks are often confused. Subnet makes the most sense in the context of a wide
area network, where it refers to the collection of routers and communication lines owned by the network operator.
As an analogy, the telephone system consists of telephone switching offices connected to one another by high-
speed lines, and to houses and businesses by low-speed lines. These lines and equipment, owned and managed by
the telephone company, form the subnet of the telephone system. The telephones themselves (the hosts in this
analogy) are not part of the subnet. The combination of a subnet and its hosts forms a network. In the case of a
LAN, the cable and the hosts form the network. There really is no subnet.

IEEE 802: The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee
develops local area network standards and metropolitan area network standards. The most widely used standards
are for the Ethernet family, wireless LAN, bridging, and virtual bridged LANs. An individual working group
provides the focus for each area.

Wireless LANs are becoming increasingly common in small offices and homes, where installing Ethernet is
considered too much trouble, as well as in older office buildings, company cafeterias, conference rooms, and other
places. There is a standard for wireless LANs, called IEEE 802.11, which most systems implement and which is
becoming very widespread. A common slang name for it is Wi-Fi.
Wireless internet is just one of the services that Wifi optionally supports.it is a wireless communication standard
used between computer devices to share files and resources. Wifi signal can’t travel along distance without loss of
integrity( used for LAN).
The main computer acts as a server with a wireless network interface card(NIC). The wireless NIC features a
small antenna that broadcasts and receives wifi signals.

LANs come in a number of different configurations. The most common are switched LANs and wireless LANs.
The most common switched LAN is a switched Ethernet LAN, which may consist of a single switch with a
number of attached devices, or a number of interconnected switches. Two other prominent examples are ATM
LANs, which simply use an ATM network in a local area, and Fibre Channel.
Wireless LANs use a variety of wireless transmission technologies and organizations.

So, generally Ethernet is the most popular LAN and is present in most large companies and universities. One
might say that Ethernet has been to local area networking what the Internet has been to global networking:

1.2 Use of Computer Networks

Traditional uses at companies

Sharing physical resources such as printers, scanners, and CD burners

Sharing information: customer records, inventories, accounts receivable, financial statements, tax
information, and much more online. Company’s data are maintained by a system administrator, stored on

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 powerful computers called servers. employees clients, with which they access remote server data

Figure 1.1 on client-server model.

Modern computer network uses

Providing a powerful communication business among consumers to customer, company to customer, or
company to company on the internet online; Airlines, bookstores, and entertainment vendors provide
catalogs of their goods and services online and take orders on-line. It is called e-commerce (electronic
commerce) shopping.
e.g. Amazon.com, googelbooks.com, etc.
Speedups person to person cooperation’s, communications computer-assisted communications like
videoconferencing, emails, Skype, etc.
Providing faster reached information; newspapers (plus magazines and scientific journals), hobbies,
recreation, science, sports
Endless Technology usages, smart phone technologies PDAs, like Mobile networking

Make discussions on the following terms: e-commerce, e-marketing, Visa card, scratch card, credit card.

1.3 Network Devices and Components

A network can be defined recursively as two or more nodes connected by a physical link, OR
Two or more networks connected by one or more nodes.
LAN equipment’s; NIC, HUBS, SWITCHES, BRIDGES
WAN equipment’s; ROUTER
Network cards are devices attached to the computer, used to connect with the network using network cables.
Device driver is the software used to run it.

Network card belongs to data link and physical layer.

Hubs are simple network devices, and their simplicity is reflected in their low cost. Small hubs with four or five
ports

Fig: work group hub

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Computers connect to a hub via a length of twisted-pair cabling. Both hubs and switches are used in Ethernet
networks.
The basic function of a hub is to take data from one of the connected devices and forward it to all the other ports
on the hub. The method of sending data to all systems regardless of the intended recipient is referred to as
broadcasting.
This is due to hubs works only physical layer, data transmission channel.
Hubs/repeaters retransmit the packets they receive by amplifies the signal.

1.4 Switches :
Switches are far more efficient than hubs and are far more desirable for today’s network environments.

As discussed earlier in the chapter, a hub forwards data to all ports. Rather than forwarding data to all the
connected ports, a switch forwards data only to the port on which the destination system is connected. It looks at
the Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of the devices connected to it to determine the correct port. A MAC
address is a unique number that is stamped into every NIC. By forwarding data only to the system to which the
data is addressed, the switch decreases the amount of traffic on each network link dramatically.

Switches/bridges work on data link or MAC layer. Today, network switches have largely replaced bridges.
Routers are network layer devices that connect dissimilar LANS on same protocol. Can build large complex
networks with complex traffic routing.

Computer networks allow people and machines to communicate, using a number of services: distributed database,
Web, file transfer, remote login, email, news, talk, remote processing, resource sharing (file servers, printers, and
modems), network time, name service.

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1.5 Network infrastructure
In side computers (Ethernet card, modem + software) in special network devices (bridges, routers,
concentrators, s witches)
supports transport of data between computers where distributed applications reside
Before the deep explanation of network protocol suites, connections, services, lets overview the external
connections between components.
Figure 1.2 Typical network components

Distributed applications are programs running on interconnected computers; a web server, a remote login server,
an e-mail exchanger are examples. This is the visible part of what people call “the Internet”.
The network infrastructure is the collection of systems which are required for the interconnection of computers
running the distributed applications.

A wide area network, or WAN, spans a large geographical area, often a country or continent. It contains a
collection of machines intended for running user (i.e., application) programs. We will follow traditional usage and
call these machines hosts. The hosts are connected by a communication subnet, or just subnet for short. The hosts
are owned by the customers (e.g., people's personal computers), whereas the communication subnet is typically
owned and operated by a telephone company or ISP (Internet service provider). The job of the subnet is to carry
messages from host to host, just as the telephone system carries words from speaker to listener. Separation of the
pure communication aspects of the network (the subnet) from the application aspects (the hosts), greatly simplifies
the complete network design.
In most wide area networks, the subnet consists of two distinct components: transmission lines and switching
elements. Transmission lines move bits between machines. They can be made of copper wire, optical fiber, or
even radio links. Switching elements are specialized computers that connect three or more transmission lines.
When data arrive on an incoming line, the switching element must choose an outgoing line on which to forward
them. These switching computers have been called by various names in the past; the name router is now most
commonly used.

In the model, shown in Figure 1.3, each host is frequently connected to a LAN on which a router is present,
although in some cases a host can be connected directly to a router. The collection of communication lines and
routers (but not the hosts) form the subnet.
Figure 1.3.Relation between hosts on LANs and the subnet, and routers.

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In the simplest gigabit Ethernet configuration, illustrated in Fig(a) two computers are directly connected to each
other. The more common case, however, is having a switch or a hub connected to multiple computers and possibly
additional switches or hubs, as shown in Fig(b). In both configurations each individual Ethernet cable has exactly
two devices on it, no more and no fewer.

Thus, all fast Ethernet systems use hubs and switches. Normally, Hubs are cheaper than switches.

When using topological (Star, Bus, Ring) arrangements, the hub is the active central element of the star topology
(also sometimes called a concentrator).

Each station (node) is connected to the hub by two lines (transmit and receive).The hub acts as a repeater: When a
single station transmits, the hub repeats the signal on the outgoing line to each station. Each adapter on each node
has a direct, point-to-point connection to the hub. This connection consists of two pairs of twisted-pair cooper
wire, one for transmitting and the other for receiving. At each end of the connection there is a connector that
resembles the RJ-45 connector used for ordinary telephones.

1.6 Client server Model

Distributed applications use the client-server model
Server = program that awaits data (requests) to be sent to it -interprets a request and send a response
Clients send data (requests) to servers - wait for a response

As we explained before a given company’s data are stored on powerful computers called servers, which are
system administered machines; let for given company, rather than day to day attendance by manual papers, a

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finger print of each employee, status of each employee, is first registered in the server, then on every morning
some body is pressed on the touch area provided, give identification codes if any. Make for his work presence.

Let another example, File server can also be used for storing students (they can access course materials, submit
assignments, post forums, etc.) by logging their account), teachers can deliver communications, materials, tests to
students easily and receive students information easily by log in the server, access.

A client program running on one end system requests and receives information from a server running on another
end system. Since a client typically runs on one computer and the server runs on another computer, client-server
Internet applications are, by definition, distributed applications. The client and the server interact with each other
by communicating (i.e., sending each other message) over the Internet.
Figure 1.3 clients –server model of communication

In a client-server environment, a service is formally specified by a set of primitives (operations) available to a user
process to access the service. These primitives tell the service to perform some action or report on an action taken
by a peer entity. If the protocol stack is located in the operating system, as it often is, the primitives are normally
system calls. These calls cause a trap to kernel mode, which then turns control of the machine over to the
operating system to send the necessary packets.
The set of primitives available depends on the nature of the service being provided. The primitives for connection-
oriented service are different from those of connectionless service. See later in chapter 3

Figure 1.4 five service primitives for implementing a simple connection-oriented service

These primitives might be used as follows. First, the server executes LISTEN to indicate that it is prepared to
accept incoming connections. A common way to implement LISTEN is to make it a blocking system call. After
executing the primitive, the server process is blocked until a request for connection appears.
Next, the client process executes CONNECT to establish a connection with the server. The CONNECT call needs
to specify who to connect to, so it might have a parameter giving the server's address. The operating system then
typically sends a packet to the peer asking it to connect, as shown by figure below. The client process is suspended
until there is a response. When the packet arrives at the server, it is processed by the operating system there. When
the system sees that the packet is requesting a connection, it checks to see if there is a listener. If so, it does two
things: unblocks the listener and sends back an acknowledgement. The arrival of this acknowledgement then
releases the client. At this point the client and server are both running and they have a connection established. It is
important to note that the acknowledgement is generated by the protocol code itself, not in response to a user-level
primitive. If a connection request arrives and there is no listener, the result is undefined. In some systems the
packet may be queued for a short time in anticipation of a LISTEN.

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Figure 1.5 Packets sent in a simple client-server interaction on a connection-oriented network

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Chapter -2 Internet protocol Architecture
 Understand protocols, standards, layers
 Understand services in each network layers
 Understand host to host and process to process communications
 Understand meaning of each protocols (HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, FTP, DNS, IP)

2.1 Protocols and standards:

All activity in the Internet that involves two or more communicating remote entities is governed by a protocol. A
protocol defines the format and the order of messages exchanged between two or more communicating entities, as
well as the actions taken on the transmission and/or receipt of a message.

One function of Internet protocols is to mask differences in the technology used by the networks that makeup the
Internet. The campus networks’ local area net-work technology differs from the wide area network technology
used in the regional and national backbone networks, and there are many different local area network standards.

As an example of a computer network protocol with which you are probably familiar, consider what happens
when you make a request to a WWW server, i.e., when you type in the URL of a WWW page into your web
browser. The scenario is illustrated in the right half of Figure 1.2-1. First, your computer will send a so-called
"connection request" message to the WWW server and wait for a reply. The WWW server will eventually receive
your connection request message and return a "connection reply" message. Knowing that it is now OK to request
the WWW document, your computer then sends the name of the WWW page it wants to fetch from that WWW
server in a "get" message. Finally, the WWW server returns the contents of the WWW document to your
computer.

A protocol architecture is the layered structure of hardware and soft-ware that supports the exchange of data
between systems and supports distributed applications, such as electronic mail and file transfer.
TCP/IP is an Internet-based concept and is the framework for developing a complete range of computer
communications standards. Virtually all computer vendors now provide support for this architecture. Another
well-known architecture is the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model.
OSI is a standardized architecture that is often used to describe communications functions but that is now rarely
implemented.

2.2 THE TCP/IP PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE

Also referred to as the TCP/IP protocol suite, it consists of large collection of protocols that have been issued as
Internet standards by the Internet Activities Board.
Designers developing a network architecture based on concepts of; Layering, protocols, standards.
The two important network architectures (standards) are the OSI reference model and the TCP/IP reference model.

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2.3 Layering
Use abstractions to hide complexity, abstractions naturally lead to layering, each layer provides some functionality
Services refer to communications between layers within the same process, and protocols refer to communications
between processes.

Protocols are Building blocks of network architecture.

Acronyms
FTP – File Transfer Protocol
HTTP – Hyper Text Transport Protocol
SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
TCP – Transmission Control Protocol
UDP – User Datagram Protocol
IP – Internet Protocol
ATM – Asynchronous Transfer Mode

2.4 The TCP/IP Layers

In general terms, communications can be said to involve three agents: applications, computers, and networks.
Examples of applications include file transfer and electronic mail.
These applications, and others, execute on computers that can often support multiple simultaneous applications.
Thus, the transfer of data from one application to another involves first getting the data to the computer in which
the application resides and then getting the data to the intended application within the computer.
Physical layer
Network access layer
Internet layer
Transport layer, or Host-to-host
Application layer

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Application layer: The application layer is responsible for supporting network applications. Networking
applications have application-layer protocols that define the format and order of the messages exchanged between
processes, as well as the actions taken on the transmission or receipt of a message. The application layer includes
many protocols, including HTTP to support the Web, SMTP to support electronic mail, and FTP to support file
transfer.
Transport layer: The transport layer is responsible for transporting application-layer messages between the client
and server sides of an application. In the Internet there are two transport protocols, TCP and UDP, either of which
can transport application-layer messages. When a developer creates a new application (web browsing, network
based applications) for the Internet, one of the first decisions that the developer must make is whether to use UDP
or TCP. Each of these protocols offers a different service model to the invoking applications.
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) as an alternative to TCP in Transport layer
No order control or error correction and recovery
No segmentation/reassembly of data into smaller packets
Only small individual messages can be sent
Used for fast low-overhead purposes
Application level can retry or drop as it thinks fit
E.g. DNS, VOIP
Network layer: The network layer is responsible for routing datagrams from one host to another. The Internet's
network layer has two principle components. First it has a protocol that defines the fields in the IP datagram as
well as how the end systems and routers act on these fields. This protocol is the celebrated IP protocol. There is
only one IP protocol, and all Internet components that have a network layer must run the IP protocol.

The Internet's network layer also contains routing protocols that determine the routes that datagrams take between
sources and destinations.
The Internet transport layer protocols (TCP and UDP) in a source host passes a transport layer segment and a
destination address to the IP layer, just as you give the postal service a letter with a destination address. The IP
layer then provides the service of routing the segment to its destination. When the packet arrives at the destination,
IP passes the segment to the transport layer within the destination.

Link layer (Data Link): The network layer routes a packet through a series of packet switches (i.e., routers)
between the source and destination. To move a packet from one node (host or packet switch) to the next node in
the route, the network layer must rely on the services of the link layer. In particular, at each node IP passes the
datagram to the link layer, which delivers the datagram to the next node along the route. At this next node, the link
layer passes the IP datagram to the network layer.

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Physical layer: While the job of the link layer is to move entire frames from one network element to an adjacent
network element, the job of the physical layer is to move the individual bits within the frame from one node to the
next.
The protocols in this layer are again link dependent, and further depend on the actual transmission medium of the
link (e.g., twisted-pair copper wire, single mode fiber optics). For example, Ethernet has many physical layer
protocols: one for twisted-pair copper wire, another for coaxial cable, another for fiber, etc. In each case, a bit is
moved across the link in a different way.
The whole network layers are not implemented in all network entities or devices. Routers and bridges do not
implement all of the layers in the protocol stack; they typically only implement the bottom layers. As shown in
Figure 1.7-5, bridges implement layers 1 and 2; routers implement layers 1 through 3.

Once the packets have been formatted they are sent out of the computer and through the net-work’s web of links
and switches. Switches receive packets coming in on one link and send them out on the next link in the path to
their destination. When the packet arrives at a switch, the switch scans the destination address and determines
which link the packet should transit next. The Internet packet switches or ‘routers’ are special computers that have
been provided with connections to a number of links and programmed to carry out the switching functions.

The software in the routers and the users’ computers implement ‘protocols, ’ the rules that determine the format of
the packets and the actions taken by the routers and networked computers.

2.5 Message Transmission Using Layers

When a message is transmitted from host to host all five layers of the protocol model participate in making the
connection. The data being transmitted from one host is passed down through all five layers to reach router.

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IP is implemented in all of the end systems and the routers. It acts as a relay to move a block of data from one
host, through one or more routers, to another host. TCP is implemented only in the end systems; it keeps track of
the blocks of data to assure that all are delivered reliably to the appropriate application.

For successful communication, every entity in the overall system must have a unique address. Each process with a
host must have an address that is unique within the host; this allows the host-to-host protocol (TCP) to deliver data
to the proper process. These latter addresses are known as ports.

Suppose that a process, associated with port 3 at host A, wishes to send a message to another process, associated
with port 2 at host B. The process at A hands the message down to TCP with instructions to send it to host B, port
2. TCP hands the message down to IP with instructions to send it to host B. Note that IP need not be told the
identity of the destination port. All it needs
to know is that the data are intended for host B. Next, IP hands the message down to the network access layer
(e.g., Ethernet logic) with instructions to send it to router J (the first hop on the way to B).
To control this operation, control information as well as user data must be transmitted as; Let us say that the
sending process (Application) generates a block of data and passes this to TCP. TCP may break this block into
smaller pieces to make it more manageable. To each of these pieces, TCP appends control information known as
the TCP header, forming a TCP segment. The control information is to be used by the peer TCP protocol entity at
host B. Examples of items in this header include:

Destination port: When the TCP entity at B receives the segment, it must know to who the data are to be delivered.
Sequence number: TCP numbers the segments that it sends to a particular destination port sequentially, so that if
they arrive out of order, the TCP entity at B can reorder them.

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2.6 Aspects of TCP Service
Transfers a stream of bytes (interpreted by application)
Connection-oriented
o set up connection before communicating
o tear down connection when done
In-order delivery of data: if A sends M1 followed by M2 to B, B never receives M2 before M1
Reliable
o data delivered at most once
o exactly once if no catastrophic failures
Flow control - sender will not overwhelm receiver; receiver’s TCP is able to control the size of the
segment dispatched by the sender’s TCP.

Error Control - recover or conceal the effects from packet losses

Congestion control- prevent that the sender overloads the network, the router will not be drop data after
its queue is filled by different routing paths from the source.
Full-duplex: send or receive data at any time

2.7 TCP Connections setup via 3-way handshake

o Suppose J and K are sequence numbers for messages

TCP connection teardown (4 steps) (either client or server can initiate connection teardown)

TCP receivers use acknowledgments (ACKs) to confirm the receipt of data to the sender
Acknowledgment can be added (“piggybacked”) to a data segment that carries data in the opposite direction
ACK information is included in the TCP header
Acknowledgements are used for flow control, error control, and congestion control
TCP divides the data stream into segments for transmission:

2.8 TCP Segment Format

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 Source and Destination are 16-bit TCP port numbers (IP addresses are implied by the IP header)

Let us first consider host addresses. In Internet applications, the destination host is specified by its . In
addition to knowing the address of the end system to which a message is destined, a sending application must also
specify information that will allow the receiving end system to direct the message to the appropriate on
that system. A serves this purpose in the Internet. Popular application-layer protocols
have been assigned specific port numbers. For example, a Web server process (which uses the HTTP protocol) is
identified by port number 80. A mail server (using the SMTP) protocol is identified by port number 25.

TCP uses sequence numbers to keep track of transmitted and acknowledged data
Each transmitted byte of payload data is associated with a sequence number
Sequence numbers count bytes and not segments
Sequence number of first byte in payload is written in SeqNo field
Sequence numbers wrap when they reach 232-1
The sequence number of the first sequence number (Initial sequence number) is negotiated during connection
setup
Bit (left to right) Meaning if bit when set to 1
URG Urgent pointer field is valid
ACK Acknowledgment field is valid
PSH This segment requests a push- (generally not
used)
RST Reset the connection
SYN Synchronize sequence numbers
FIN Sender has reached end of its byte stream
Window - how much data the sender is willing to accept (flow control)
Urgent pointer - specifies the position in the segment where urgent data ends
Checksum - used to verify the integrity of the segment
• addition (1’s complement sum) of segment contents
• Segment header
• Segment data…
• sender puts checksum value into TCP checksum field
• compute checksum of received segment
• check if computed checksum equals checksum field value:
• NO - error detected
• YES - no error detected.

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 Options - various options like Maximum segment size
When a TCP receiver wants to acknowledge data, it
 writes a sequence number in the AckNo field, and
 sets the ACK flag
An acknowledgment confirms receipt for all unacknowledged data that has a smaller sequence number than given
in the AckNo field
Example: AckNo=5 confirms delivery for 1,2,3,4 (but not 5)

2.9 TCP Window Size Management

• The receiver is returning two parameters to the sender

window size
AckNo
(win)
32 bits 16 bits

• Sliding Window Protocol is performed at the byte level:

Advertised window

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

sent and sent but not

acknowledged acknowledged can be sent
USABLE
WINDOW can't sent

• Here: Sender can transmit sequence numbers 6,7,8.

Sliding Window: “Window Closes”

Transmission of a single byte (with SeqNo = 6) and acknowledgement is received (AckNo = 5, Win=4):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Transmit Byte 6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

AckNo = 5, Win = 4
is received

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

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Sliding Window: “Window Opens”
Acknowledgement is received that enlarges the window to the right (AckNo = 5, Win=6):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

AckNo = 5, Win = 6
is received

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

 N.B A receiver opens a window when TCP buffer empties (meaning that data is delivered to the
application).

Sliding Window: “Window Shrinks”

Acknowledgement is received that reduces the window from the right (AckNo = 5, Win=3):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

AckNo = 5, Win = 3
is received

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Shrinking a window should not be used

Chapter Exercises

1) Explain where the TCP/IP network layers exist? In web browsing, in network driver? In operating
system? How about MAC (media access control), the physical address)?
2) Explain the following terms; Segment, packet, frame?
3) Discuss in which layer of TCP/IP model is security message transmission implemented? Blocking of
unwanted file contents implemented?
4) Explain why shrinking a window size is not recommended?
5) Explain the layered differences between P2P(peer to peer) and server based networking
6) Define what encapsulation is and what is de capsulation mean?

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CHAPTER -3 WIRED AND WIRELESS NETWORKING
 Understand the difference between wired and wireless connections
 Clarify the network layers that differentiate between the two
 Understand mobile networking techniques

3.1 Use of Data Link Layer in data transmitting

So far in in the services of Transport and Network layers;
The network layer
Forwards each and every packet independently
Does not recognize any relationship between the packets.
IP protocol is a connectionless, unreliable protocol.
IP protocol does not know that a packet that was put on the wire was actually received.
IP layer Pushes off the packets to the destination IP address without worrying about the port mentioned
inside the TCP header embedded in the IP packet.

The transport-layer protocol that performs all of these functions is TCP; reliable, connection oriented. The
transport layer make sure the whole message, involves some method of flow control & error control (error
detection and error correction). Which are absent at the network layer.

The transport and data link layers usually chose different strategies to place their CRCs or checksums. Transport
layer protocols usually place their CRCs or checksums in the segment header. Data link layer protocols sometimes
place their CRC in the frame header, but often in a trailer at the end of the frame. Easy to compute it while
transmitting the frame and insert it at the end of the transmission.

Data link and physical layers multiple performs the remaining services.
The biggest difference between the network layer and the data link layer is that the data link layer is in charge of
data delivery between adjacent systems (directly connected systems one hop away), while the network layer
delivers data to systems that are not directly connected to the source.

Data link layer protocols that are used to transport IP packets from network layers to hosts or routers that are
directly connected by a point-to-point link. This link can be a dedicated physical cable, a leased line through the
telephone network or a dial-up connection with modems on the two communicating hosts by the intermediate of
physical layer.

The LL (Link layer) protocol will have to ensure relatively reliable delivery of packets; it has immediate
knowledge of dropped frames and thus can respond faster than higher-level protocols.
The Physical Layer would be represented by the propagation medium (cables, wireless, and so on, and the
associated components like repeaters, amplifiers, etc.)

3.2 Wired and Wireless LANs

Broadly, transmitting media for electromagnetic waves can be guided-wired;
Copper twisted pair, copper coaxial cable, and optical fiber) and not guided (wireless
Broadly, an internet access can be
 Dial up connection
 Broadband connection

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A dialup connection links one to the Internet via a phone line. This is normally slower than the broadband
connection.
Dial-up services use your phone line and a modem. Your modem makes a phone call to the internet service
provider's (ISP) modems to connect, so you cannot talk on the phone while the internet is connected. Dial-up also
requires you to connect every time you want to use it.

3.3 Difference between Dial up and DSL

DSL services also use your phone line, but you can still get and place phone calls while
using it.
DSL is much faster than dial-up and
In DSL you do not need to connect every time you want to use the internet; it is an always on
service.
DSL is relatively secure as well.

Broadband connects you to the internet through several transmission technologies such as;

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) -DSL is a wire line transmission technology that transmits data faster over
traditional copper telephone lines already installed in surrounding. It is a family of technologies that
provide Internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone networks.
Cable Modem- Cable modem service enables cable operators to provide broadband using the same coaxial
cables that are used to deliver pictures and sound to your TV set.
Fiber - Fiber optic technology converts electrical signals carrying data to light and sends the light through
transparent glass fibers about the diameter of a human hair. Fiber transmits data at speeds far exceeding
current DSL or cable modem speeds, typically by tens or even hundreds of Mbps.
Wireless - Wireless broadband connects a home or business to the Internet use radio frequency bands
between the customer’s location and the service provider’s facility. Wireless broadband can be mobile or
fixed. Speeds are generally comparable to DSL and cable modem. An external antenna is usually required.
Wi-Fi networks use unlicensed devices and can be designed for private access within a home or business,
or be used for public Internet access at "hot spots" such as restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, airports,
convention centers, and city parks.
Satellite - Just as satellites orbiting the earth provide necessary links for telephone and television service,
they can also provide links for broadband. Satellite broadband is another form of wireless broadband, and
is also useful for serving remote or sparsely populated areas. Speeds may be slower than DSL and cable
modem, but they are about 10 times faster than the download speed with dial-up Internet access. Service
can be disrupted in extreme weather conditions.

From a physical layer perspective, a LAN can be organized in four different ways:
◙ A bus-shaped network where all hosts are attached to the same physical cable
◙ A ring-shaped where all hosts are attached to an upstream and a downstream node so that the entire
network forms a ring
◙ A star-shaped network where all hosts are attached to the same device
◙ A wireless network where all hosts can send and receive frames using radio signals

They are structured as shown in the figure below. The first bit of the address indicates whether the address
identifies a network adapter or a multicast group. The upper 24 bits are used to encode an Organization Unique
Identifier (OUI). This OUI identifies a block of addresses that has been allocated by the secretariat that is
responsible for the uniqueness of Ethernet addresses to a manufacturer. Once a manufacturer has received an OUI,
it can build and sell products with one of the 16 million addresses in this block

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This 48 bit (6 octets) value is called LAN address is also called a physical address an Ethernet address, or a MAC
(media access control) address. It is imprinted on every nodes adapter.

The IEEE 802.11 working group to standardize a family of wireless network technologies produced several
wireless networking standards that use different frequency ranges and different physical layers.

We noted above that unlike the 802.3 Ethernet protocol, the wireless 802.11 MAC protocol does not implement
collision detection. It has CSMA/CA protocol, which is collision avoidance.

3.4 Difference between collision detection and collision avoidance

CSMA/CD Collision detection
 Collisions detected within short time
 Colliding transmissions aborted, reducing waste
 Easy in wired LANs: measure signal strengths, compare transmitted, received signals
 Difficult in wireless LANs: receiver shut off while transmitting
CSMA - Collision Avoidance
 Sense before transmitting
 Can’t sense all collisions in any case: hidden terminal, fading
 Goal: avoid collisions: CSMA/CA

 Don’t collide with ongoing transmission by other node

 Difficult to receive (sense collisions) when transmitting due to weak received signals
(fading)

Wi-Fi (802.11b) is a very popular wireless networking technology. In practice, there are two main types of Wi-Fi
networks: independent/ad hoc networks;
Composed of a set of devices that communicate with each other, like when we need to connect computers
to Wi-Fi printer and with each other. Are self-organizing networks without any centralized control

3.5 Infrastructure networks

Contains one or more access points that are attached to a fixed Local Area Network (usually an Ethernet

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 network) that is connected to other networks such as the Internet, server, access points(AP), etc.
Most widely used

BSS is basic service set by the AP, access point.

How do wireless LANs work?

Wireless LANs operate in almost the same way as wired LANs, using the same networking protocols
and supporting the most of the same applications.
How are WLANs Different?
• They use specialized physical and data link protocols
• They integrate into existing networks through access points which provide a bridging function
• They let you stay connected as you roam from one coverage area to another
• They have unique security considerations
• They have specific interoperability requirements
• They require different hardware
• They offer performance that differs from wired LANs.
Physical Layer:
• The wireless NIC takes frames of data from the link layer, scrambles the data in a predetermined
way, then uses the modified data stream to modulate a radio carrier signal.
Data Link Layer:
• Uses Carriers-Sense-Multiple-Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA).

Wireless Access Points (APs) - a small device that bridges wireless traffic to your network.

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4 ERROR CONTROL
4.1 Introduction of error control
Error control refers to mechanisms to detect and correct errors that occur in the transmission of frames. Detecting
and correcting the corruption of bits in a data-link-layer frame sent from one node to another. These services are at
transport layer as well.

For a given frame of bits, additional bits that constitute an error-detecting code are added by the transmitter. This
code is calculated as a function of the other transmitted bits. The receiver performs the same error-detecting
calculation on the data bits and compares this value with the value of the incoming error-detecting code. A
detected error occurs if and only if there is a mismatch.

4.2 Parity Check

The simplest error-detecting scheme is to append a parity bit to the end of a block of data.
In an even parity scheme, the sender simply includes one additional bit and chooses its value such that the total
number of 1's in the d+1bits (the original information plus a parity bit) is even. For odd parity schemes, the parity
bit value is chosen such that there are an odd number of 1's.
Even parity – add 1 to achieve an even number of 1s
10101 -> 101011
01010 -> 010100
Odd parity – add 1 to achieve an odd number of 1s
10101 -> 101010
01010 -> 010101

Limitations of Parity check - What happens if the code word is subjected to 2-bit error
E.g. if 011 became 000 while transmission „According to parity scheme, no error is
detected but real error!

4.3 Cyclic redundancy check (CRC)

A significant role of the Data Link layer is to convert the potentially unreliable physical link between two
machines into an apparently very reliable link.
CRC is an error detection technique used widely in today's computer networks is based on cyclic redundancy
check codes.

CRC used to detect accidental changes to raw data in digital network.

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OPERATION: Consider the d-bit piece of data, D, that the sending node wants to send to the receiving node.
The sender and receiver must first agree on r+1 bit pattern, known as a generator, which we will denote as G.
For a given piece of data, D, the sender will choose r additional bits, R, and append them to D such that the
resulting d+ r bit pattern is exactly divisible by G using modulo 2 arithmetic. The process of error checking with
CRC's is thus simple: the receiver divides the d+ r received bits by G. If the remainder is non-zero, the receiver
knows that an error has occurred; otherwise the data is accepted as being correct.

This calculation for the case of D= 101110, d = 6 and G = 1001, r=3. The nine bits transmitted in this case are
101110 011. You should check these calculations for yourself and also check that indeed D*2r = 101011 * G XOR
R.

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4.4 Hamming code
 for detecting as well as correcting error bits
The Hamming distance is the number of bits that have to be changed to get from one bit pattern to another.
Example: 10010101 & 10011001 have a hamming distance of 2. Is short to find hamming distance XOR the
two words , then count the number of 1’s in the result, it is hamming distance.
Suppose we wish to transmit blocks of data of length k bits. Instead of transmitting each block as k bits, we map
each k-bit sequence into a unique n-bit codeword.

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Chapter 5 : wireless LANs and wired LANs

5.1 Wireless LAN connects to a wired LAN

• There is a need of an access point that bridges wireless LAN traffic into the wired LAN. The access point
(AP) can also act as a repeater for wireless nodes, effectively doubling the maximum possible distance
between nodes.

5.2 Mobile Access Networks

A local area network (LAN) is used to connect an end system to an edge router. As we will see in Chapter 5, there
are many different types of LAN technology. However, Ethernet technology is currently by far the most prevalent
access technology in enterprise networks. Ethernet operates 10 Mbps or 100Mbps (and now even at 1 Gbps). The
edge router is responsible for routing packets that have destinations outside of that LAN.
Mobile access networks use the radio spectrum to connect a mobile end system (e.g., a laptop PC or a PDA with a
wireless modem) to a base station, as shown in Figure 1.5-1. This base station, in turn, is connected to an edge
router of a data network.
Since a user may not maintain a fixed position in such environments, the mobile and wireless net-working support
allowing mobile users to communicate with other users (fixed or mobile) becomes crucial.

Mobile users do not necessarily need to use wireless interfaces and wireless interfaces do not necessarily support
mobility. A mobile user can simply connect to fixed networks using wired interfaces as he or she moves.
Therefore, mobile and wireless systems are not the same even though there is considerable overlap.

Emerging Mobile and Wireless Networks

Mobile and wireless networks are also experiencing significant progress in the form of wireless local area
networks (WLANs), satellite-based networks, Wireless Local Loops (WLL), mobile Inter-net Protocol (IP), and
wireless Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. A comparison is shown in Table 2. One emerging wireless technology is
Bluetooth (www.bluetooth.net), which provides low-cost and short-range radio links for wireless connectivity
among computers, printers, and scanners.

5.3 Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

Currently, many different wireless access technologies exist that are not interoperable. Designing and building

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network and business applications for each technology would be a nightmare for developers. This problem,
combined with redesigning all Web sites to support downloading by mobile users is even more difficult. Even if
all of this can be achieved, the information content still has to be adapted for transmission over wireless links and
is an effort to solve these problems: it allows development of applications that are independent of the underlying
wireless access technology. WAP also adapts the existing Web site contents for transmission over wireless links
and display on mobile devices.
WAP specifications have been developed by the WAP Forum (www.wapforum.org), a consortium of leading
wireless companies. The main contribution is the interoperability of different wireless networks, devices and
applications using a common set of application and network protocols. The protocol architecture is similar to that
of the Web, such as the use of Wireless Markup Language (WML, a cousin of HTML) optimized for mobile
devices.
The architecture of WAP is shown in Figure 3, where a gateway acts as a proxy server to a mobile client and
translates requests from WAP protocol stacks to protocol stacks employed by the information server on the other
side.
Encoders translate the con-tent coming from the server into compact formats to reduce the size of data over the

wireless network.

This infrastructure ensures mobile users can access a wide variety of contents and applications and also allows
application developers to build content services and applications that can run on a large base of mobile terminals.
To support this configuration, the WAP forum defines several layers of protocols as presented in Table 4 below.

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