Concepts Notes- Data Communication Network BCA

This describes networking in general and introduces basic networking uses, terms, and concepts.
Network Two or more computers connected together that can share resources and pass data
Sneakernet Sharing data on computers by running around (in sneakers) with removable media (such
as floppies) to and from each standalone computer
Transmission The connection between computers in a network. Examples include various types of
Media (copper) cables, fiber-optic cables, radio signals (wireless), and infra-red signals.
NIC Network Interface Card. (Also Network Board.)
Local Computer The computer in front of you, the one you are physically interacting with now.
Remote
The computer you are working on via a network.
Computer
Host Another term for computer.
Node Any networked device (usually a host).
Peer-to-peer A network of computers (peers) that each can communicate with each other, and make
Network and respond to requests for data and access to shard devices. (Also referred to
as p2p networks.)
Client-Server Also referred to as server based networking, the more common type of network today.
Client Any node that makes requests of servers. The term may also refer to any user or software
that makes requests of a server, it doesn't have to be a separate piece of hardware.
Server A node that responds to requests made by clients. (A server may not be a separate piece
of hardware.)
NOS Network Operating System, refers to an operating system (OS) that supports networking.
Network Model Also the Network Architecture.
LAN Local Area Network
WAN Wide Area network
MAN Metropolitan Area Network
internet A collection of related, connected networks
Enterprise
A network that spans an entire organization regardless of size, but often multiple sites.
network
Internet A global internet that grew from the ARPANET
Address A number given to a NIC (not a host, although since most hosts have a single NIC it often
comes to the same thing) to uniquely identify it on a network.
Addressing A scheme used to assign addresses to nodes on a network.
Topology The shape of a network: star, ring, bus (hub), mesh, partial mess, and cell(ular) are
common topologies.
Protocol The rules used between nodes to communicate.
Protocol Stack (Also Protocol Suite.) A hierarchical group of protocols designed to work
together. Examples include Ethernet, Netware, and TCP/IP.
Gateway A combination of hardware and software that allows different kinds of networks to
exchange data.
Packet A bundle of data bits, used to send data (and headers) when there is more data than can
be sent in a single bundle. Used in packet switched networks (as opposed to circuit
switched). A packet may be also called: data packet, datagram, segment, protocol data
unit (PDU), frame, or cell.
Segment (1) A section of a network, typically a single cable or hub. (2) A packet of data.
Bridge A Layer 2 device that connects 2 (or more) segments into a single network. A bridge looks
at the layer 2 packet header to determine which port (NIC) or ports to send a packet out.
Repeater A layer 1 device that is used to extend a LAN. A repeater simply sends all received packets
out all ports.
Hub The center of a star network topology, a layer 1 device that have replaced the cable
segment in a bus topology. A hub may be thought of as a multi-port repeater.
Network Services The common services provided by a network are: file/application, database, print, remote
access (a.k.a. communication, RAS, NAS), e-mail, Internet (www, FTP, email, ...), security,
and management services (traffic monitoring, load balancing, fault alerting, assess
management, license tracking, security, patches, configuration, address management,
and backup and restore).
Load Balancing Splitting the workload over several servers.
Traffic A term that refers to the data flowing through a network.
Workstation A host connected to a network primarily used for a single user at a time.

This chapter describes organizations, standards, and the OSI reference model. An important concept to
understand is the relationship between models, standards, protocols, software, and hardware: A model
describes and defines the standards for various parts of communications. Protocols are the set of rules that
fulfill those standards, and software and hardware in turn implement the protocols. For two hosts to exchange
information, they must agree on which protocols to use but they may use different vendor's products to
implement the protocols.

Although the ISO model is used as a networking standard reference, the US DoD model's TCP/IP protocols are
more commonly used in networking products today.
Standards Standards are documented agreements containing technical specifications or other
precise criteria that stipulate how a particular product or service should be designed or
performed.
Standards
ANSI, EIA (and TIA), IEEE, ISO, ITU, IAB
Organizations
RFC "Request for Comments", a public repository of networking standards. The official source
is www.rfc-editor.org
Network
A title of a person who designs networks.
Architect
OSI Model ISO's Open Systems Interconnection network reference model. This model has
seven layers, some of which are divided into sublayers. The upper layers (Application,
Presentation, and Session) are usually application/service specific. The lower layers
(Physical and Data link) are closely related to a single technology (e.g., Ethernet). The
middle three layers (Data link, Network, and Transport) are the ones that most concern a
networking professional.
Layers TCP/IP is based upon a four layer model, which can be related to the OSI model's seven
layers: Physical (1), Data link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application
(7). These layers are also known as L1, L2, ..., L7.

One way help to remember the layers is All People Seem To Need Data Processing,
or Phyllis Did Networking Till She Passed Away.
Service Access (SAP) The name given to the service that layer N provides to layer N+1. (Essentially the
Point name of some API function.)
Service Primitives The data (or parameters) passed to a SAP.
OSI Layers
OSI Layer Description and Functions

Transfers information from program to program. Everything at

this layer is application-specific. This layer provides application
services (API) to applications for file transfers, e-
7 Application
mail/messaging, and other network software services. Packets
at this layer are often referred to as messages. (ex: Telnet,
FTP, HTTP)

Handles text format (e.g., Windows to Unix) and display code

6 Presentation
(ASCII to Unicode) conversions, encryption, and compression.

Establishes, maintains, and coordinates communication

between applications: login/authentication, session timeouts,
5 Session auto reconnection, synchronizing dialogs (transaction-ACK,
username-password, ...). (ex: connection to ISP, RPC, SQL,
NFS, ASP)

Ensures accurate delivery of data end to end (e.g., client on one

host to server on another), handles end-to-end flow
control and error recovery (via ACKs, sequence numbering, and
4 Transport retransmissions). Or not. Sequencing also involves
segmenting and reassembly. Name service is logically at this
level. Protocols: TCP (connection-oriented services/protocols,
segments), UDP (connectionless, datagrams), DNS, LDAP, SPX

Transmits packets host to host across an internet, determines

routes, handles the transfer of data
3 Network
(segmenting and reassembling packets as needed), translate
network addresses (L3) into MAC (L2) addresses, gateway
 services. (Modern systems may also handle some security at
L3). Devices: routers, L3 switch. Protocols: IP, ARP, RIP, IPX

Encodes data, builds and addresses frames, and transmits

2 Data Link packets across a LAN. (ex: IEEE 802.x, HDLC, ATM, PPP, FDDI,
Frame Relay)

Controls frame synchronization, flow control and error

Logical Link
2 LLC checking (ACK and re-transmission). Devices: Bridges,
control
switches. Protocol suites: Ethernet, Token-ring)

Controls how a host on the network gains access to the data (is
2 Media Access
network busy now?), permission to transmit it (includes
MAC Control
addressing), logical topology. Devices: NICs

Manages hardware connections: NICs,

cables, repeaters, hubs. Data units are bits. Topics addressed
in this layer: connection type (point-to-point or multipoint),
1 Physical
physical topology, signaling (encoding), bandwidth use,
multiplexing. (ex: EIA/TIA-232 (formally RS-232), V.90,
Ethernet)

Baseband Uses entire bandwidth of transmission medium for a single data channel.
Broadband split bandwidth into several channels, allowing multiple simultaneous
conversations. (Today also used as a marketing term meaning fast.)
MAC Address Also known as L2 address, hardware address, physical address, LAN address, NIC address,
Ethernet/Token Ring address, card address, or BIA (Burned In Address). This address is in
two parts: the 3 byte IEEE manufacturer's ID (block ID, or Organizationally Unique
Identifier (OUI)) and the 3 byte device ID. The IEEE MAC address is thus 6 bytes and usually
written as 12 hex digits. An all-ones ("FFFF.FFFF.FFFF") IEEE MAC address is
a broadcast address.
Token A special frame that circulates around a token ring network. When a host wants to
transmit a frame, it must wait until it sees (and grabs) the token.
Headers (and trailers), the control data that is pre-pended (appended in the case of a trailer) by
some layer to the data to be transmitted. Understanding the headers, especially at L2-L4,
is key to understanding how these protocols work and to troubleshooting problems.
Encapsulation Each layer adds it's layer header (information destined for the peer layer at the
destination), and possibly a trailer too, to the data it received from a higher layer. The
whole packet is passed as a service primitive to the next lower layer.
Peer Layer The layer N software on the destination, that the same layer N software on the source
communicates with. (That is layer 3 protocols are designed to talk to layer 3 protocols on
another host.)
ACK Acknowledgement. Usually sent by a peer layer back to the source to indicate successful
receipt of a packet or packets.
Collision When two hosts try to send data at the same time over the same media.
Contention When hosts must compete to use a shared medium. Ethernet uses contention, but Token
Ring does not.
Switch A layer 2 device that connects segments of a LAN. A switch may be considered like a multi-
port bridge, only smarter and more efficient. A switch sends packets out a particular port
(NIC) based on the information in the layer 2 packet headers. (A repeater simply sends all
packets out all ports.)
Ethernet A sent of standards and protocols at layers 1 and 2 for communicating across
LANs. Ethernet is the most popular LAN technology in use today. There are actually four
different types of Ethernet defined. All nodes on the same LAN should use the same type
of Ethernet or communication may not be possible.
Token Ring A LAN technology invented by IBM, in which all nodes are connected in a ring. All packets
flow in one direction around the ring. Although token ring type networks (such as FDDI)
are often used, for LANs Ethernet is usually used instead.
Router A layer 3 device used to connect LANs (intranets) together in an internet. Routers provide
gateway services, perform route selection, and often provide other services such as
security (firewall).
Route A path through an internet. Often a router contains a table of routes, which only indicates
the next hop router to sent the packet to.
Network Address A layer 3 address that can be administratively assigned, and contains a network number
and a host number. Only such addresses are considered routable.
Layer 3 Switch Similar to a normal layer 2 switch, an L3 switch can forward packets based on layer 3
packet header information, similar to a router.
Segmentation Refers to the process of splitting up a large packet into several smaller ones. Such packets
are referred to as segments or sometimes fragments. At the destination the small packets
are reassembled.
Flow Control Any of several techniques to prevent a host from sending too many packets too quickly
for the media or destination to handle. At layer 4 (transport) this refers to end-to-end
flow control.
IP Internet Protocol, the core TCP/IP protocol at layer 3.
sequencing A technique to number packets, to ensure they arrive in order at the destination. This is
used when segmenting packets.
Datagram A term for a packet, often used for a layer 4 UDP packet or a layer 3 packet (sometimes
known as an IP datagram).
Connection- Provides end-to-end flow control and re-ordering of packets that arrive out of
oriented order. Often this term also is used to indicate a reliable service, which means error
Services recovery is used. A reliable connection oriented service appears to the user as a virtual
circuit, which must be set up, used, then torn down when done.
Connectionless
A service that doesn't provide connection-oriented services.
Services
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) A layer 4 protocol that provides a reliable connection-
oriented service.
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) A layer 4 protocol that provides connectionless service.
Name Service A service that translates names to addresses. Most common is DNS, used to translate
Internet domain names and hostnames into IP addresses.
DNS (Domain Name Service) Used to translate hostnames (and domain names) into IP (layer 3
network) addresses, and vice-versa.
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) A protocol used to access information stored in a
hierarchical database called a directory. LDAP can be used as a name service.
ISP (Internet Service Provider) Provides connections to the Internet, IP addresses, and other
services.
Login As a verb, "to login" means to authenticate yourself to the host (or network). Once
authenticated the system will assume all further commands from that connection are
issued from the authenticated user. Authentication is often proved using a password.

As a noun, "login" is often used to refer to a user's ID, sometimes called a login name or
user name.
Encryption The process of "scrambling" the data in a packet (or even the packet headers, or
sometimes just a file on a disk) so that it appears random to anyone who doesn't know
how to "de-scramble" the data. To decode (un-encrypt) the data a password (or key) is
needed.
Compression A technique used to store or transmit less data without losing any information. That is, a
compressed file or packet can be "de-compressed" to restore it as it was.
API (Application Programming Interface) A set of service access points (or functions) provided
by an OS to application programmers. for networking this means the functions an
application can use to access networks, such as sockets or MAPI
FCS (Frame Check Sequence) A checksum or CRC put into a frame (layer 2 packet)
trailer. Used to provide some error detection (corrupted packets).
Checksum A simple method of adding up all the bytes in a packet. Used to detect errors.
CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) A more complex type of FCS that catches many more errors
than a simple checksum. This is actually more common.
IEEE 802
IEEE 802 Series of Standards
Standards
802.1 Standards related to network management
802.2 General standard for the data link layer in the OSI Reference Model. The IEEE
divides this layer into two sublayers -- the logical link control (LLC) layer and
the media access control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer varies for different
network types and is defined by standards IEEE 802.3 through IEEE 802.5.
802.3 Defines the MAC layer for bus networks that use CSMA/CD. This is the basis of
the Ethernet standard.
802.4 Defines the MAC layer for bus networks that use a token-passing mechanism
(token bus networks).
802.5 Defines the MAC layer for token-ring networks.
802.6 Standard for Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs).
 802.7 Broadband standards (media, interfaces, and other equipment).
802.8 Fiber-optic media and technologies.
802.9 Standards for transmitting both voice and data over a single medium (VoIP).
802.10 Various security topics: access control, encryption, certificates, etc.
802.11 Wireless standards, including the popular 802.11b (WiFi).
802.12 High speed networking standards (>100 MBPS).

Chapter 3
This chapter describes The TCP/IP suite of protocols and the concepts and headers used. Many of the
protocols (including some application layer protocols) are discussed briefly. TCP/IP is by far the most common
protocol suite used today.
Protocol A set of rules that fulfill one or more standards (from a network model). Typically
protocols define communications with a peer layer.
Subprotocol When a protocol suite or stack is referred to just a protocol, the individual protocols of
that suite are then referred to as subprotocols.
Core Protocol The most fundamental protocols in a suite (and that other protocols rely on).
Routable Protocols that define and transmit L3 (network) addresses, because a router can
protocols understand the addresses. Not all protocols are considered routable.
Multiprotocol
Running multiple protocol suites on the same physical network.
Network
Installing a Enabling a suite of protocols on a host. Of course what really gets installed is some
protocol software that implements a protocol. A multiprotocol router can act as a gateway
between the various protocols.
DoD Network The four layer model that TCP/IP was designed to implement. The four layers are
Reference Model Application (same as OSI L7-L5), Transport (same as OSI L5-L4), Internetwork (same as OSI
L3) and Network Interface (same as OSI L2-L1). The last later was originally
named network but that was confusing with the OSI L3 layer name, so it was renamed
to host-to-network and finally network interface.
TCP/IP The most popular protocol suite today, includes many protocols at different layers,
including IP, ICMP, ARP (Layer 3), TCP, UDP (Layer 4), as well as various application layer
protocols.
IP Internet Protocol, the TCP/IP core L3 protocol used to send IP datagrams across an
internet. The current version of IP is version 4 (or IPv4), the "next generation" will be
version 6 (sometimes IPv6 is called "IPng").

The maximum size of an IP packet is 64k (65,535) bytes.

IP is considered unreliable (no error detection/correction) and

provides connectionless service.

IP headers have fields to control fragmentation (when a single packet must be split into
 several smaller ones) which are identification, flags, and fragment offset. Other
important header fields are the TTL (the Time To Live, in seconds; often the number of
"hops"), the (L4) protocol, and the source IP address and destination IP address.
TTL TTL (Time To Live) indicates the max time (in seconds) that a datagram will be allowed to
remain on the network before it is discarded.
Fragmentation If possible large packets from an application are broken into smaller segments at L4, but
if not the packet must be fragmented at L3. Each fragment is sent in a different (L3) packet
but all fragments have the same identification as well as a fragment offset so the receiving
end can reassemble the fragments into a single L4 packet, the correct order.
TCP Transmission Control Protocol, the TCP/IP Layer 4 (transport layer) protocol that provides
reliable (error detection and retransmission) connection-oriented services (flow control
and packet reordering). Layer 4 packets are sometimes called segments. TCP requires
that a connection be set up before any data can be sent using a process known as a three-
way handshake. Another handshake sequence is used when finished to take done the
connection. TCP uses port numbers to direct the data to the correct application on each
host.

The fields in the TCP header include the Source and Destination port numbers, a Sequence
number, Acknowledgement (ACK, which indicates the last byte of data correctly received),
Offset (the TCP header length), Flags (codes), Window-size (used for the sliding
window method of flow control), Checksum (entire packet), Urgent pointer, Options (this
field may be omitted), Padding (if needed), and Data.
Flags The TCP Flags (codes) are: URG (the packet contains Urgent data), ACK (indicates the
packet contains an acknowledgement), PSH (Push data), RST (Reset shows a problem with
the connection, which is no longer up), SYN (synchronize, used during handshaking), and
FIN (Finished, used to bring down the connection).
Port Numbers Each network application can define one or more data flows to other applications. (For
example, a web browser with multiple windows open, each to a different website.) Two
byte port numbers are used to identify data flows. Servers on a network have well
known port numbers (0-1023) or User (Registered) port numbers (1024-49151), assigned
by the IANA or ICANN. The remaining port numbers (through 65535) are known
as dynamic or private ports. (See services file for a current list.)

For example a web browser sends a request packet to a web server using a destination
port number of 80 (the well-known port number for web servers), and a private source
port number indicating which browser window should receive the reply. The private port
number is assigned randomly.
Socket A combination of a port number and an IP address. A pair of sockets will uniquely identify
a network connection from a client on one host to a server on another. Sockets are usually
part of the application program interface.
UDP User Datagram Protocol. This layer 4 (transport) protocol is part of the TCP/IP protocol
suite and provides connectionless (best effort delivery) service. UDP packets are often
referred to as datagrams.

The UDP header only has 4 fields: source and destination port numbers, Length (of the
whole packet), and a Checksum.
ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol is used to send control messages rather than
data. These are typically error messages, but ICMP is also used for programs such
as ping (ICMP ECHO packets).
TCP/IP
Application These include telnet, ssh, FTP, SMTP, SNMP, and many others.
Layer Protocols
Subnet (or subnetwork) is the name used to refer to one of the networks of an internet.
IP Addressing Layer 3 (network) addresses must be hierarchical (to allow hosts to be grouped into
networks) and assignable by an administrator (so they can be managed). Such addresses
are considered routable addresses, and a protocol which uses them is considered
a routable protocol. IP address are four byte numbers (32 bits) and is divided into a
network and host portion. (sometimes a subnetwork portion too.)

IP addresses are assigned to NICs, not to hosts. It is possible to assign multiple IP

addresses to a single NIC (which is known as IP aliasing). Before one host can send a
packet to another, the layer 2 address of the destination must be determined so the frame
can be correctly constructed. This is done by ARP.

IP addresses are usually written in dotted-decimal notation: four numbers in the range 0-
255, separated by periods. (Example: 120.17.0.22.) The network number part of an IP
address is assigned by IANA or ICANN (actually by a registrar approved by these agencies)
and is represented by the leftmost bits in the address The rightmost bits represent the
host number.
ARP Address Resolution Protocol, used to translate layer 3 (network) addresses into layer 2
(MAC) addresses. A host can sent an ARP broadcast packet and the destination host only
will respond, with its MAC address in an ARP reply packet. (See the arp command to view
the ARP cache on your computer.)
Classful IP addresses historically are divided into classes, Class A, Class B, and Class C. (Other
Addressing classes exist but such addresses are used for special purposes. The class of an IP address
can be determined from the value of the first byte:

Class Range Description

Up to 24 million hosts per network, these are assigned to

1.0.0.0 - countries or very large companies (such as ISPs). Only the first
A
126.0.0.0 byte indicates the network number, the other three are used for
the host number.

128.0.0.0 - Up to 65K networks with 65K hosts each. The first two bytes are
B
191.0.0.0 network, the last two are the host number.

Up to 254 hosts per network but 24 million such

192.0.0.0 -
C networks. These addresses have three bytes for the network
223.0.0.0
number and the last byte only for the host.

Subnet Mask With classful IP addresses the first octet (byte) determines how may bits of the 32 bits
indicate the network. Within an organization's internet the single network is often
 subdivided into subnets. This is done by splitting the host portion of the IP address into
a subnet number and the rest remains the host number. To determine which bits of the
address indicate network information and which bits indicate host information, and
additional 32 bit value known as the subnet mask is used on the organization's
routers. This value is sometimes just known as the mask. The subnet mask is a string of
one bits, followed by a string of zero bits. The one bits indicate the portion of the IP
address used for networking (network number and subnet number) and the zero bits
indicate the host portion of the IP address:
IP Address: 0000 1010 . 0010 1001 . 0000 0000 . 0000 0001
Subnet Mask: 1111 1111 . 1111 1111 . 0000 0000 . 0000 0000
(In dotted decimal the above IP address is 10.41.0.1 and the subnet mask
is 255.255.0.0.) This corresponds to a network number of 10, a subnet number of 41, and
a host number of 1.
Classless Classless Internet Domain Routing (or CIDR) is a technique used to eliminate the classful
Addressing distinctions and limitations from IP addressing. With CIDR the IP address is split into a
network portion and a host portion using a mask (sometimes still referred to as the subnet
mask). The mask is an additional 32 bit value that is all one bits on the left (to indicate the
network part of the address) and all zero bits on the right (to indicate the host part). The
mask may be specified in dotted-decimal notation but is more commonly given as the
number of one bits in the address, separated from the IP address with a slash. (For
example a mask of 255.255.0.0 would look like this: 10.41.0.1/16.)
localhost The special IP address 127.0.0.1 is used to refer to the current host, which is also known
by the name localhost.
Network Address An IP address in which the host portion is all zero bits.
Directed An IP address in which the host portion is all one bits. A local broadcast is an IP address
Broadcast of all ones (255.255.255.255) and indicates a broadcast for the current LAN. (Note that to
support network numbering and broadcasts, no host is allowed to use all zeroes or all ones
for its host number.)
Private network To permit organizations to use large numbers of hosts with a few (or just a single) official
IP addresses, the IANA established several network numbers that could be used internally
by an organization but that would never be routable across the Internet. The private
network numbers are 10.0.0.0, 172.16.0.0, and 192.168.any.0.
Dynamic Address An IP address assigned automatically. Many organizations uses dynamic addressing on
the workstations, to permit simpler configuration. The protocol DHCP is often used for
this.
Static Address Addresses assigned manually by an administrator.
DHCP Dynamic Host Control Protocol, used to assign IP addresses to hosts (and to configure
other information on the hosts, including DNS and gateway information). DHCP,
like BOOTP, is built around RARP (Reverse ARP). A DHCP configured host broadcasts a
Layer 2 (MAC) address, and a DHCP server responds with the host's IP address and other
information.
hostname An IP address may be associated with a name. By using a naming service the names can
be used in place of the IP addresses (the applications will use the naming service to
translate the names to addresses). Since most hosts have a single NIC (and thus a single
IP address), the name that corresponds to that address is known as a hostname.
Domain Names To help organize and manage hostnames, a hierarchical scheme is used known as
the domain name system (or DNS). Such domain names are leased from an accredited (by
the IANA or ICANN) registrar for a fee by anyone who wants one. A domain name may
include zero or more subdomains and hostnames, which are not paid for and are
administered locally. (That is, each organization with a domain name is responsible for
managing all the subdomains and hostnames within that domain. You can either have
some ISP do this for your or run your own DNS server.) The global database of domain
names is known as the whois database. This database is distributed across the Internet
on many DNS servers. (A file named hosts can be used on any host to supplement the DNS
system.) Microsoft defines a similar naming service just for Windows called WINS, but
most hosts including MS Windows systems use DNS.
TLD Top Level Domain. A domain name may consist of subdomains, then the domain name
which ends in a standard TLD such as .com or .edu. There are two types of TLDs: gTLDs
(generic TLDs such as .org) and ccTLDs (country code TLDs such as .us). The IANA or ICANN
regulate which TLDs are legal, and license various domain name registrars to sell domain
names.
FQDN Fully qualified Domain Name. A hostname plus its domain name form a FQDN. For
example a web server might (and usually does) have the hostname of www, and an
organization might have been assigned the domain name foobar in the TLD of com. Then
the FQDN would be: www.foobar.com.
IPX/SPX The name of Novell's protocol suite. IPX is similar to UDP and IP, SPX is similar to TCP and
IP. Novell uses standard Ethernet frames but defines the L3 network address as a 32 bit
network number and a 48 bit host number (the MAC address is often used for the host
number). IPX packets can be encapsulated within IP packets, so Novell servers can
communicate over the Internet.
NetBIOS/NetBEUI Network Basic Input Output System was designed by Microsoft for small, Microsoft-only
peer-to-peer networks. An application layer protocol NetBEUI (pronounced as "net boo-
ee", and which stands for NetBIOS Enhanced User Interface) was added later. This works
well for small, isolated Microsoft-only P2P networks (such as "Windows for Workgroups")
but doesn't scale up well: With more than a few dozen hosts NetBIOS is inefficient, the
maximum number of hosts is 256, and the protocol has poor security. NetBIOS uses L2
addresses are is thus non-routable, however NetBIOS packets can be encapsulated in
TCP/IP packets.
AppleTalk AppleTalk is a protocol suite designed by Apple for small P2P networks. It was designed
to not need any administration at all. As the networks got bigger, Apple added subnets
known as zones. AppleTalk is inefficient and not very secure.

This describes the concepts behind transmission of data and common transmission media you need to know.

Analog Signal A continuously varying signal.

Digital Signal A signal that switches sharply on and off (that is, between two different values).
Voltage The strength of a signal. Voltage is to electricity what pressure is to water in a hose: the
more pressure you have the faster the water flows. Similarly the more voltage you have,
the more electricity (electrons) will flow through a wire.
Ampere Ampere (or current) is the amount of electricity (electrons) that flow past a given point in
an interval of time. (Specifically 1 amp = 6.24 x 10E18 electrons (one coulomb in one
second.)
AC and DC AC (alternating current) is the type of current that first flows in one direction, then
reverses and flows in the opposite direction. DC (direct current) is the type of current that
flows in one direction only.
Resistance Opposition to the flow of current. (A narrow hose has more resistance to the flow of water
than a wide hose.)
Amplitude The height of a signal (such as a voltage signal).
Wavelength The distance between similar points in two successive waves of some signal.
Frequency The number of wave per second. Frequency is measured in Hertz, where 1 Hz = 1 wave
per second. Note that the frequency = 1 / wavelength.
Phase The position of a point on a wave, measured as a number of degrees, with the (arbitrary)
beginning of the wave = 0 degrees and the end of the wave = 360 degrees. More
commonly the phase is a measure of the difference of the phase of the same point on two
similar waves.
Bit A single binary digit, which is one of two possible values. Binary numbers are used
because it is cheaper to make reliable equipment with binary (just detect if the signal is
above or below some threshold) than with decimal numbers (10 different signals must be
reliably detected).
Byte A group of eight bits is one byte or octet.
Noise A type of interference: lightning, strong cell phone or radio signals, electric motors,
florescent lights, etc.
Overhead The non-data bits that must be sent for communication to occur. This includes packet
headers and trailers and extra non-data packets (such as TCP/IP hand-shake).
Modem A device that converts digital signals to analog for transmission over analog transmission
media (such as telephone lines). A matching modem at the other end converts the analog
signal back to digital. The data signal is combined with a carrier wave to form the actual
analog signal to be sent. This can be done in several ways, such as AM (Amplitude
Modulation) or FM (Frequency Modulation).
AM Amplitude Modulation in which the carrier wave isn't modulated at all but nearby
frequencies called sidebands have their amplitude modulated by the signal. By comparing
the amplitude of the carrier with the sideband, the signal can be detected.
FM Frequency Modulation in which the frequency of the carrier wave is modulated within a
band (or range) of frequencies. By comparing the frequency of the signal received with
the frequency the carrier is supposed to be, the signal can be detected.
PM Phase Modulation in which the phase of the carrier wave is modulated in response to the
amplitude of the input signal. The resulting carrier wave thus changes frequency a little
as its phase changes. These changes allow the signal to be detected. (PM is somewhat
similar to FM but they are different.)
Channel A distinct communication path. A given transmission medium may support one or more
channels.
Simplex A one-way channel (one end sends only and the other receives only).
Half-duplex A one-way at a time channel (one end sends and the other receives, but then the channel
can be turned around with data going the other way).
Full-duplex Data can be sent and received simultaneously. This requires at least two channels. (This
is sometimes just called duplex.)
Baseband All the frequencies of some transmission medium are used for a single channel. (Example
is Ethernet.) The more frequencies allocated to a channel, the more data per second that
can be sent over that channel. (The term narrowband is related, meaning just enough
capacity for voice, or "not broadband", or sometimes specifically less than 64 Kbps.)
Broadband When a wide (large) band of frequencies is available of some transmission medium,
typically used for multiple channels. (Another term for this is wideband.) The channels
can carry different data streams, or multiplexing can be used to carry data over several
channels. (Example is PPP.) A For example, a reliable voice signal requires a 3KHz band of
frequencies. If some transmission medium (say a cable) was capable of transmission over
3MHz, then 1,000 voice signals could be sent simultaneously over 1,000 channels. This is
sometimes also known as FDM or frequency division multiplexing. (Today Broadband is a
marketing term that just means high-speed; "AOL Broadband" today merely means a 56k
dial-up line.)
Multiplexing When multiple signals travel over a single medium, the transmissions are logically
separated into channels (or subchannels), sent across the medium, and then separated
back into the individual signals. There are several ways to accomplish this, such as FDM
(Frequency Division Multiplexing) or TDM.
Multiplexer (or mux) is a physical layer (L1) device that combines multiple data streams into one or
more output channels at the source, and demultiplexes the channels back into multiple
data streams at the remote end. Sometimes the remote end device is called
a demultiplexer or demux.
TDM Time Division Multiplexing assigns one time slot per data stream (or source). For example
if you wanted to use TDM for 10 signals, then data from signal 1 is sent during slot 1, data
from signal 2 is sent during slot 2, etc.
STDM Statistical Time Division Multiplexing is similar to TDM except that the different data
sources are not assigned fixed slots. Instead any data signal may be sent in any given
slot. Although this method requires extra overhead (so the source of each packet can be
identified) compared with TDM, overall STDM is more efficient since if some data source
is not ready to send, with TDM its slot can't be used.
WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing (and the related DWDM or Dense Wavelength Division
Multiplexing) uses different frequencies of light over the same fiber cable to transmit
many signals at once.
Point-to-point Point-to-point transmission is between one source and one destination. The
communications may be either one-way or two-way.
Broadcast (or point-to-multipoint) transmission is between one source and many destinations. The
source only sends while the destinations can only receive.
Multicast One sender (the source), many receivers. The difference between this and a broadcast is
that the receivers must subscribe (or tune into) the transmission, otherwise it isn't sent to
them.
Throughput How much data (including overhead) is transmitted past a single point in a given interval
of time. Throughput is a measure of capacity and is usually measured in bps (or bits per
second). Sometimes the related term bandwidth is used interchangeably (but mistakenly)
with throughput.
Bandwidth The difference between the high and low frequencies that a medium (or channel) can use
for data transmission. The higher the bandwidth, the greater the possible throughput is.

EMI Electro-Magnetic Interference is a source of noise, such as from motors, florescent lights,
lightning, etc.
RFI Radio-Frequency Interference is a source of noise, such as from cell phones or radios. (The
FCC requires electronic devices to be rated based on how much RFI they emit. Each
electronic component often has an FCC number which can be used to look up the type of
device on-line.)
Attenuation Loss of signal strength (actually both loss and spread). (Attenuation is often the limiting
factor of a network segment's maximum length.)
Amplifier A device used to boost a signal's amplitude, including any noise.
Repeater A device used to regenerate a signal: detect the input signal and then send out a new,
clean (free of noise) signal.
Latency The delay measured from when a bit is sent to when that bit is received. Every network
device and transmission medium has some latency.

Noise Immunity Common ways to improve network noise immunity are to use better transmission media:
coax, STP, or fiber (best). Move cables away from noise sources. Use a metal conduit. Use
anti-noise algorithms.
Crosstalk When a signal from one pair in a cable puts a signal (i.e., noise) on another. Crosstalk is
measured in decibels (dB). Using twisted pairs reduces crosstalk, the more twists per foot
the better.
Twist ratio The number of twists per foot in twisted pair (TP) cables. When there is more than a single
wire pair in a cable, it is common to have the different pairs use slightly different twist
ratios. (So the exact twist ratio per pair in say cat 5 cable varies between manufacturers.)
Alien crosstalk Noise from adjacent cables. This can be a problem when UTP cables are bundled closely
together in a conduit.
Twisted pair Twisted pair (TP) cabling is the most commonly used transmission media today. There are
cable two broad types: Shielded Twisted Pair (or STP) has metal foil or braiding surrounding
each pair, and the whole cable as well. Unshielded Twisted Pair (or UTP) has no shielding
but is cheaper and popular (since in many situations extra shielding is not needed).

Twisted pair cables can be classified into categories by EIA/TIA (as shown in the chart
below). Note that CAT 6 and CAT 7 probably cost as much as fiber optic cables and have
no real use (since CAT 5e supports Gigabit Ethernet).

A series of new standards are in the works to include power over some of the unused wire
 pairs in CAT 1-6. This would eliminate the need for separate power cables to some
network devices, and will likely be very popular.

Category Description
CAT 1 Unshielded, un-twisted cable with 2 pairs, usually used for voice but can
support up to 128 Kbps
CAT 2 UTP or STP with 4 pairs; can support up to 4 Mbps
CAT 3 UTP or STP with 4 pairs; can support up to 10 Mbps and was common in older
installations that only supported 4 Mbps token ring or 10 Mbps Ethernet. Has
3 to 4 twists per foot.
CAT 4 UTP with 4 pairs; can support up to 20 Mbps and was common to support
16 Mbps token ring. Has about 10 twists per foot.
CAT 5 UTP or STP with 4 pairs; can support 100 Mbps. Has 36 to 48 twists per
foot. (Very common today.)
CAT 5e UTP or STP with 4 pairs; can support 250 MHz. Has 48+ twists per foot. When
adding connectors, you must not untwist more than 1/2 inch of cable at each
end, and strip no more than 1 inch of insulation. (Note that even one inch of
untwisted wires can reduce throughput to less than 30 Mbps!) This is the
current standard in new construction and will support Gigabit Ethernet.
CAT 6 STP with 4 pairs; can support 100 Mbps. This is rarely used.
CAT 7 STP with 4 pairs; will support 750 MHz. This category of cable is not currently
standardized (3/2003). This cable will use different connectors than CAT 3-6
(i.e., not RJ-45 connectors).

Fiber optic Fiber optic cables carry laser light signals in glass wires called fibers. Each cable consists
cable of a single fiber known as the core, surrounded by another type of glass known as
the cladding. The light signal bounces off the cladding as it travels through the core. The
cladding in turn is surrounded by an (opaque to light) insulator. The core is such pure glass
that about the same amount of light is lost traveling through a mile of fiber as through a
quarter-inch of window pane glass! There are two types of fiber cables:

single mode has a 10 micron diameter core and can be used for distances up to 3
kilometers.

multi-mode has a core diameter of 50 to 100 microns. This causes the signal to bounce
around more, which causes greater attenuation, and this limits the distance to about 2
kilometers. (However this is cheaper than single mode fiber.)
Plenum cable Most cables have an outer insulation made of PVC (poly-vinyl chloride), which is cheap
and works well. Unfortunately when heated (such as in a building fire), PVC gives off
deadly Chlorine gas. Building codes require that in any space where people are usually
found (known as a plenum), special cables that use non-toxic insulation must be
used. These plenum cables are often insulated using Teflon.
Patch cable Common cabling today has 4 pairs or eight wires in the cable. These wires are connected
at each end to an RJ-45 connector. In a patch cable or straight-through cable, pin 1 at one
end is connected to pin 1 at the other, pin 2 to pin 2, and so on. (Holding the two
 connectors side by side, the color-coded wires will appear in the same left-to-right order
in both connectors.)
Cross-over This type of cable is the same as a regular patch cable, except that two of the pairs of wires
cable are reversed (or crossed). It is also known as a null-modem cable. Such a cable is required
when connecting two of the same type of device (DTE or DCE), since otherwise both
devices will try to transmit on the same pair and both will listen on the same pair. By
crossing the pairs, one device listens on the pair the other device transmits over and vice-
versa.
Roll-over The same as a regular patch cable, except that the wires at one end are a mirror image of
cable the other end. (That is, pin 1 to pin 8, pin 2 to pin 7, etc.) This type of cable is sometimes
used to connect to the console port of network devices such as Cisco routers.
Physical Layer These standards are all named "speed Base|Broad distance", where speed is the capacity
Standards in megabits per second, "Base" indicates baseband transmission, "Broad" indicates
broadband transmission, and distance is approximately the maximum distance. (If
the distance includes the letter "T" then the maximum distance is 100 meters. The letter
"X" here indicates full duplex capability and faster signaling. The letter "F" indicates fiber
optic cabling is used.)

Name Description
10Base2 (also thinnet), a (thin) coax cable with a maximum distance of 185 meters.
10Base5 (also thicknet), a (thicker) coax cable with a maximum distance of 500
meters.
10BaseT UTP or STP cable with a maximum distance of 100 meters. Commonly used
for Ethernet.
100BaseT UTP or STP cable with a maximum distance of 100 meters.
100BaseTX UTP or STP cable, a maximum distance of 100 meters, and full duplex
capability. Commonly used for Fast Ethernet.
10BaseF Fiber cable with a maximum distance of 2 or 3 kilometers (depends on type
of fiber used).
100BaseFX Fiber cable with a maximum distance of 2 or 3 kilometers.

EIA/TIA-568 Commercial building wiring standards. Also called structured cabling.

MDF Main Distribution Facility, the central wiring closet. This should be located close to
the POP.
IDF Intermediary Distribution Facility refers to wiring closets other than the MDF. May also
be called a telecommunications closet or telco room. (EIA/TIA-568 requires at least one
IDF or MDF per floor.)
CPE Customer Premises Equipment, sometimes called the subscriber wiring.
Demarcation (or demarc) is the protected, grounded, physical connection point where the private
point network (the subscriber wiring or CPE) connects to a public network (the local loop or ISP's
wiring).
POP Point of presence is the connection point to the Internet. This includes routers and
possibly other network devices. The POP may reside in space owned or rented by the ISP
 or may be located on the customer premises. (The POP and demarc are often located in
the MDF.)
Vertical wiring Connects wiring closets together. Also called backbone wiring or risers, this includes
cabling between the MDF and IDFs, and cabling between buildings. (This term should not
be confused with the backbone network.)
Horizontal Connects workstations (and servers and printers not in a wiring closet) to a wiring
wiring closet. The maximum distance allowed by EIA/TIA-568 is 100 meters. This includes 3
meters from workstation (or server) to wall jack, 90 meters from a wall jack to the wiring
closet, and 6 meters of patch cabling inside the wiring closet. Although the text has
incorrect information on this, in practice it is acceptable to exceed the 3 meters from the
workstation to the wall jack provided the overall distance remains less than 100 meters.
Catchment area An area on one floor of a building that is served by a wiring closet. Under ideal
circumstances a centrally located wiring closet may serve a catchment area with a 100
meter radius. (Often each catchment area is associated with a LAN segment.)

This describes and compares basic topologies, switching, and transmission methods for LAN and WAN
technologies, including Ethernet and FDDI.
Physical Topology The way (or shape of) the nodes on a network are wired together.
Bus A single cable or trunk with a single channel, that all nodes connect to. Often coax cable
was used for this (thicknet or thinnet). Such networks are considered peer-to-peer since
all nodes can talk with each other. On a bus each node is always listening for any packets
addressed to it. To send a packet, a broadcast is sent on the bus and all nodes except the
destination are supposed to ignore it.

A bus must be terminated (with 50 ohm resistors) at either end or the signal will "bounce"
after hitting the end of the cable. The bus should also be grounded but only at a single
point (as many commercial buildings have multiple grounds).

Buses can be cheap, but difficult to install, don't scale well (up to about 200 nodes but
performance degrades after one or two dozen nodes), and are difficult to troubleshoot
(fault isolation is difficult). A bus is not fault tolerant since a problem with any part of the
cable usually brings down the whole network.
Ring Each node connects with a cable to an adjacent node (so each node connects to two other
nodes), with the last node connected back to the first to complete a circle. Packets are
passed in one direction only around the ring using a technique called token passing. Every
node retransmits any packets they receive on one interface out the other, and are
supposed to ignore any packets not addressed to them. A special packet called
the token is passed around the ring continuously. When a node has a packet to send it
waits until it is passed the token. Then it adds the headers and data to the token (to form
a valid data packet) and sends it out. The packet travels around the ring until it reaches
the destination, which may substitute an acknowledgement packet, modify the headers
to indicate receipt, or do nothing at all. When the original sender receives the reply, it
just sends out the token. Since all the nodes participate in sending the packet around the
ring (acting as repeaters), a ring is sometimes referred to as an active topology.
 Rings are slower than buses since each node adds latency, are not scalable, and are not
fault tolerant since a break in the ring can bring down the whole network (although many
real-world ring networks use double rings or special algorithms to handle a single break).
Star All nodes connect to a single device at the center, such as a hub or switch. The central
device and all attached nodes are considered part of a single LAN segment. Although stars
require more cabling than bus or ring networks, often the cables are cheaper. A star is
fault tolerant in that a break in a single cable affects a single node only, however if the
central device breaks the whole network fails. Stars scale well, with a maximum of 1,024
nodes (in practice performance will be poor and management difficult after a few hundred
nodes). Stars or the most common physical topology used today.
Mesh In a mesh every node has a direct connection to every other node. This is very fault-
tolerant but very costly and doesn't scale, and is rarely used except in military
applications. A mesh or more likely a partial mesh may be used in WANs.
Cell or cellular topology is used in wireless applications. A wireless access point (or WAP)
covers a fixed geographical area, such as a single classroom, office suite, or lab.
Hybrid topologies A mix of basic types. In the 1980s isolated networks were common. Today an
organization will want to connect many LANs into an internet, which will usually have a
complex topology.
Star-wired ring Uses token passing along a star (the cables have two channels).
Star-wired bus A network where stars are connected to a bus (that is the hubs or switches are connected
together). This is commonly used when you need to have more nodes than a single device
can support. (See also daisy-chain topology.)
Daisy-chained Similar to a star-wired bus but with cumulative hub latencies. Both topologies have limits
topology according to the type of network: five segments connected through up to four devices
(such as hubs), with nodes attached to no more than three of the segments. The two
segments without any nodes attached are called transit network segments and are usually
fiber.

This topology is also known as an extended star (a star of stars) under EIA/TIA-568. These
limits are known as the 5-4-3 rule. Although large networks can be supported with this
topology, a designer must be careful to not exceed the maximum size or number of nodes
allowed under EIA/TIA-568. If larger networks are desired, separate networks must be
interconnected in an internet with a device such as a router.
Server farm Once it was common to attach workgroup servers in different locations on an internet, to
be close to the users who needed the most access to them. Today most servers have
heavy access from all over the enterprise internet, and it has become common to place
most servers in a single location known as a server farm. This allows easy physical access
by IT personnel and allows greater physical security, but usually requires greater
throughput and reliability to that LAN.
Hierarchical Large enterprise internets often have server farms that need extra capacity and reliability
topology (compared to user workstations), multiple sites connected by a WAN that requires higher
capacity, reliability, and scalability between sites, and a large number of nodes (over
1,000, 10,000, or even 100,000). To support these requirements a hierarchical network
design is used, with one topology used for each of many LANs and another topology
 (or level in the hierarchy) used for the WAN. In very large internets there may be more
than two levels in the hierarchy.
Backbone A common hierarchical design is to use a backbone network to connect various LANs
network (sometimes this term is used to describe the vertical wiring used to connect various LAN
segments). The backbone has no nodes attached (and thus is a transit network) but
instead connects various network devices such as routers or switches. Fiber is often used
for backbone wiring. (A bus LAN technically has a backbone, but enterprise backbone
networks are usually far more complex.) Backbone networks have variations such as
distributed or parallel backbone networks.
Serial backbone In this topology multiple hubs (or switches) are connected to a single backbone cable.
Distributed This topology consists of several hubs or switches (plus the cabling between) that connect
backbone hierarchically to other hubs, which in turn connect to the nodes. (This bottom layer of
hubs or switches is known as the access layer and the devices are called access
hubs or access switches.)

A common distributed backbone topology uses routers in the backbone instead of hubs
or switches, and thus connects LANs rather than segments of a single large LAN. This
design is very scalable; for very large internets you can use several layers in the
hierarchical backbone. It also allows an administrator to put different workgroups in
different LANs or use higher capacity to some LANs (such as for a server farm). Thus this
design is very manageable, simple to design and implement, and relatively
cheap. However when using a distributed backbone with a single LAN size and distance
may limit its usefulness, and when using routers to connect LANs there is an increase of
latency and cost. Finally the central network device at the top of the hierarchy is a single
point of failure.
Collapsed This topology is the same as a distributed backbone topology, only all the access
backbone hubs/switches connect to a single switch or router. The differences are that if the device
in the center fails the whole network is down, but the advantages are that this design is
cheaper and easier to manage (only one device to configure).
Parallel backbone This topology is the same as the collapsed backbone only using multiple cables between
the access layer devices and the central switch/router. The extra cabling provides extra
capacity in normal operation (via multiplexing), while providing redundancy in the event
one of the parallel links fails for any reason. The extra cabling is expensive so a common
design is to use the parallel cables to only some access layer devices, such as to a server
farm.

The central device is also a single point of failure. With some modern routers, a hot
standby router can be used to provide redundancy. The standby router monitors the main
router and transparently takes over if it fails.
Mesh network The most scalable and robust design involves a multi-level hierarchy of switches and
routers. The access layer devices are connected to a pair of switches, which connect to
each other. (This is just a parallel, distributed backbone with two switches in the
backbone.) This system is called a switch block. The switch blocks are in turn connected
to a set of routers connected in a mesh or a partial mesh to each other. Each switch block
uses parallel cabling to connect to two routers. In this three level hierarchy you have no
single point of failure, and the design can easily scale up to millions of nodes. (You expand
 the network by adding additional switch blocks.) The disadvantages of this topology are
the cost and difficulty of management (of so many devices and links).
WAN topologies WAN topologies are more complex than LAN topologies, in part because they tend to
evolve over time (rather than be planned), and in part because the large distances
involved means that different technologies must be used than for LANs (such as SONET or
DSL), and that management and troubleshooting remotely can be difficult.

The topologies for WANs are the same as for LANs: ring, star, mesh (and partial mesh),
and hierarchical (also known as tiered or multi-tiered). A peer-to-peer WAN topology is
also common, often using dedicated circuits (such as T1 lines) or a public network with
special access software that ensures privacy (VPN or virtual private network).
Logical topology Also called the network transport system, the logical topology describes how the network
functions at layers 1 and 2 of the OSI model. (Note the physical topologies don't
correspond to any OSI layers, just EIA/TIA (and other) standards. For
LANs, Ethernet technology is so common that other solutions (such as token ring) are
rarely considered at all. For WANs the technology of choice changes frequently as prices
and performance change. Some common choices are FDDI and ATM. All technologies use
some form of switching to shunt the packets through the network.
Circuit switching is used to establish a (possibly virtual) circuit between the source and destination before
any packets are sent. The network dedicates capacity to this circuit which is unavailable
to other packets (even when the circuit is not being used). The circuit establishes a path
through the network that all packets traveling this circuit will use.
Message In message switching the sender establishes a connection, transfers the data, then tears
switching down the connection. When the sender can’t directly reach the destination, a series of
transfers take place over intermediary sites. This is why this type of communication is
referred to as store and forward. (Email is a common example.)
Packet switching Packet switching breaks data into packets before sending. Each packet
contains headers that allow the intermediary sites to forward the packet. Packets travel
any path through a network (so different packets may travel different paths, and may even
arrive out of order). At the destination the packets are re-assembled into the original
data. Although packet switching is thus not suitable for live audio (or other streaming
data), it is often used anyway.
CSMA/CD The "type" of an Ethernet: Carrier Sensing (means it listens in on the media before
attempting to transmit anything), Multiple Access (means the transmission medium is
shared), Collision Detection (means packet collisions, which result from two stations
transmitting simultaneously over a shared medium, are detected). The algorithm used is
this: listen; If media not in use then start transmitting; If collision is detected then send
a jam signal, wait a random interval, and attempt transmission again. (Part of the reason
for the 100m length limit of an Ethernet LAN segment is due to the data propagation
delay from one end to the other end. If this distance is exceeded than some collisions may
not be detected at all.)
Jam signal The jam signal is send when one station detects a collision during its packet
transmission. Also called jamming.
Collision The part of a network where packets can collide. This is typically a single segment of a
Domain LAN.
Switched Every node has its own segment or collision domain One way to think of a switch is as a
Ethernet multi-port bridge, whereas a hub might be considered a multiport repeater. The original
Ethernet (which might be called shared Ethernet as opposed to switched Ethernet) used
hubs, which meant the whole LAN was one big collision domain (and security was poor). In
contrast switched Ethernet has many small collision domains (one per node) even though
all the nodes are still part of a single LAN segment (i.e., a single broadcast
domain). Switched Ethernet has replaced demand priority systems.
Gigabit IEEE standard 802.z, still 100m distance, may run on UDP, STP, or fiber (in which case the
Ethernet max distance increases to 550m). Someday 10G Ethernet may be possible.