Unit-4

1. Repeater – A repeater operates at the physical layer. Its job is to

regenerate the signal over the same network before the signal becomes
too weak or corrupted to extend the length to which the signal can be
transmitted over the same network. An important point to be noted about
repeaters is that they not only amplify the signal but also regenerate it.
When the signal becomes weak, they copy it bit by bit and regenerate it at
its star topology connectors connecting following the original strength. It
is a 2-port device.

2. Hub – A hub is a basically multi-port repeater. A hub connects multiple

wires coming from different branches, for example, the connector in star
topology which connects different stations. Hubs cannot filter data, so
data packets are sent to all connected devices. In other words,
the collision domain of all hosts connected through Hub remains
one. Also, they do not have the intelligence to find out the best path for
data packets which leads to inefficiencies and wastage.
 3. Bridge – A bridge operates at the data link layer. A bridge is a repeater,
with add on the functionality of filtering content by reading the MAC
addresses of the source and destination. It is also used for interconnecting
two LANs working on the same protocol. It has a single input and single
output port, thus making it a 2 port device.

Types of Bridges
 Transparent Bridges:- These are the bridge in which the stations are
completely unaware of the bridge’s existence i.e. whether or not a bridge is
added or deleted from the network, reconfiguration of the stations is
unnecessary. These bridges make use of two processes i.e. bridge forwarding
and bridge learning.
 Source Routing Bridges:- In these bridges, routing operation is performed by
the source station and the frame specifies which route to follow. The host
can discover the frame by sending a special frame called the discovery frame,
which spreads through the entire network using all possible paths to the
destination.
4. Switch – A switch is a multiport bridge with a buffer and a design that can
boost its efficiency(a large number of ports imply less traffic) and performance.
A switch is a data link layer device. The switch can perform error checking before
forwarding data, which makes it very efficient as it does not forward packets
that have errors and forward good packets selectively to the correct port
only. In other words, the switch divides the collision domain of hosts, but
the broadcast domain remains the same.
Types of Switch
1. Unmanaged switches: These switches have a simple plug-and-play design and
do not offer advanced configuration options. They are suitable for small
networks or for use as an expansion to a larger network.
2. Managed switches: These switches offer advanced configuration options such
as VLANs, QoS, and link aggregation. They are suitable for larger, more
complex networks and allow for centralized management.
3. Smart switches: These switches have features similar to managed switches
but are typically easier to set up and manage. They are suitable for small- to
medium-sized networks.
4. Layer 2 switches: These switches operate at the Data Link layer of the OSI
model and are responsible for forwarding data between devices on the same
network segment.
5. Layer 3 switches: These switches operate at the Network layer of the OSI
model and can route data between different network segments. They are
more advanced than Layer 2 switches and are often used in larger, more
complex networks.
5. Routers – A router is a device like a switch that routes data packets based on
their IP addresses. The router is mainly a Network Layer device. Routers
normally connect LANs and WANs and have a dynamically updating routing table
based on which they make decisions on routing the data packets. The router
divides the broadcast domains of hosts connected through it.
 6. Gateway – A gateway, as the name suggests, is a passage to connect two
networks that may work upon different networking models. They work as
messenger agents that take data from one system, interpret it, and
transfer it to another system. Gateways are also called protocol
converters and can operate at any network layer. Gateways are generally
more complex than switches or routers. A gateway is also called a
protocol converter.

Network Layer

Network layer is majorly focused on getting packets from the source to the
destination, routing error handling and congestion control.
Before learning about design issues in the network layer, let’s learn about it’s
various functions.
 Addressing:
Maintains the address at the frame header of both source and destination
and performs addressing to detect various devices in network.
 Packeting:
This is performed by Internet Protocol. The network layer converts the
packets from its upper layer.
 Routing:
It is the most important functionality. The network layer chooses the most
relevant and best path for the data transmission from source to destination.
 Inter-networking:
It works to deliver a logical connection across multiple devices.
Network layer design issues:
The network layer comes with some design issues they are described as follows:
1. Store and Forward packet switching:
The host sends the packet to the nearest router. This packet is stored there until
it has fully arrived once the link is fully processed by verifying the checksum then
it is forwarded to the next router till it reaches the destination. This mechanism
is called “Store and Forward packet switching.”
2. Services provided to Transport Layer:
Through the network/transport layer interface, the network layer transfers it’s
services to the transport layer. These services are described below.
But before providing these services to the transfer layer following goals must be
kept in mind :-
 Offering services must not depend on router technology.
 The transport layer needs to be protected from the type, number and
topology of the available router.
 The network addresses for the transport layer should use uniform numbering
pattern also at LAN and WAN connections.
Based on the connections there are 2 types of services provided :
 Connectionless – The routing and insertion of packets into subnet is done
individually. No added setup is required.
 Connection-Oriented – Subnet must offer reliable service and all the packets
must be transmitted over a single route.
3. Implementation of Connectionless Service:
Packet are termed as “datagrams” and corresponding subnet as “datagram
subnets”. When the message size that has to be transmitted is 4 times the size
of the packet, then the network layer divides into 4 packets and transmits each
packet to router via. a few protocol.Each data packet has destination address
and is routed independently irrespective of the packets.
4. Implementation of Connection Oriented service:
To use a connection-oriented service, first we establishes a connection, use it
and then release it. In connection-oriented services, the data packets are
delivered to the receiver in the same order in which they have been sent by the
sender.
It can be done in either two ways :
 Circuit Switched Connection – A dedicated physical path or a circuit is
established between the communicating nodes and then data stream is
transferred.
 Virtual Circuit Switched Connection – The data stream is transferred over a
packet switched network, in such a way that it seems to the user that there is
a dedicated path from the sender to the receiver. A virtual path is established
here. While, other connections may also be using the same path.

Introduction of Internetworking

Internetworking is combined of 2 words, inter and networking which implies an

association between totally different nodes or segments. This connection area
unit is established through intercessor devices akin to routers or gateway. The
first term for associate degree internetwork was catenet. This interconnection is
often among or between public, private, commercial, industrial, or
governmental networks. Thus, associate degree internetwork could be an
assortment of individual networks, connected by intermediate networking
devices, that function as one giant network. Internetworking refers to the trade,
products, and procedures that meet the challenge of making and administering
internet works.

There is chiefly 3 units of Internetworking:

1. Extranet
2. Intranet
3. Internet

1. Extranet – It’s a network of the internetwork that’s restricted in scope to one

organization or entity however that additionally has restricted connections to
the networks of one or a lot of different sometimes, however not essential.
It’s the very lowest level of Internetworking, usually enforced in an
 exceedingly personal area. Associate degree extranet may additionally be
classified as a Man, WAN, or different form of network however it cannot
encompass one local area network i.e. it should have a minimum of one
reference to associate degree external network.
2. Intranet – This associate degree computer network could be a set of
interconnected networks, which exploits the Internet Protocol and uses IP-
based tools akin to web browsers and FTP tools, that are underneath the
management of one body entity. That body entity closes the computer
network to the remainder of the planet and permits solely specific users.
Most typically, this network is the internal network of a corporation or
different enterprise. An outsized computer network can usually have its own
internet server to supply users with browsable data.
3. Internet – A selected Internetworking, consisting of a worldwide
interconnection of governmental, academic, public, and personal networks
based mostly upon the Advanced analysis comes Agency Network (ARPANET)
developed by ARPA of the U.S. Department of Defense additionally home to
the World Wide Web (WWW) and cited as the ‘Internet’ to differentiate from
all different generic Internetworks. Participants within the web, or their
service suppliers, use IP Addresses obtained from address registries that
manage assignments.