Exercise LWAN

1. Physical Layer
LAN Protocol-
Twisted Pair Cable
Twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring in which two conductors of a single circuit are
twisted together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference (EMI)
from external sources; for instance, electromagnetic radiation from unshielded twisted
pair (UTP) cables, and crosstalk between neighboring pairs. It was invented by
Alexander Graham Bell.

Coaxial Cable
Coaxial cable, is a type of cable that has an inner conductor surrounded by a tubular
insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. Many coaxial cables also
have an insulating outer sheath or jacket. The term coaxial comes from the inner
conductor and the outer shield sharing a geometric axis. Coaxial cable was invented by
English engineer and mathematician Oliver Heaviside, who patented the design in
1880. Coaxial cable differs from other shielded cable used for carrying lower-frequency
signals, such as audio signals, in that the dimensions of the cable are controlled to give
a precise, constant conductor spacing, which is needed for it to function efficiently as a
radio frequency transmission line.

Coaxial Cable

Fiber Optic Cable
An optical fiber cable is a cable containing one or more optical fibers that are used to
carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with plastic layers
and contained in a protective tube suitable for the environment where the cable will be
deployed. Different types of cable are used for different applications, for example long
distance telecommunication, or providing a high-speed data connection between
different parts of a building. There are two types of fiber optic cable commonly used:
single mode, and multimode




WAN Protocol-
The physical connections for WANs are very diverse, primarily because of the diverse
form factors that were created by CSU/DSU manufacturers. The Channel Service
Unit/Data Service Unit (CSU/DSU) device is the box that connects and converts your
WAN cabling to the service providers WAN cabling. Although CSU/DSUs often have
many lights, buttons, and LCD displays, they are typically nothing more than a glorified
terminal adapter, converting between the service providers cable and your local router
connection.

Figure 22.1. WAN physical connection points.



















2. Data Link Layer
LAN Protocol-
Ethernet
Ethernet is a widely used data communications network standard developed by DEC,
Intel, and Xerox. It uses a bus topology and CMSA/CD access method. The terms
Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3 standard are often used interchangeably.
The Ethernet header structure is shown in the illustration below.
Destination Source Len Data unit +
pad
FCS
(6 bytes) (6 bytes) (2) (46-1500
bytes)
(4
bytes)
Ethernet header structure








Token Ring
Token Ring is a LAN protocol where all stations are connected in a ring and each
station can directly hear transmissions only from its immediate neighbor. Permission to
transmit is granted by a message (token) that circulates around the ring.
The Token Ring header structure is shown in the illustration below.
SDEL 1 byte
Access control 1 byte
Frame control 1 byte
Destination address 6 bytes
Source address 6 bytes
Route information 0-30 bytes
Information (LLC or MAC) variable
FCS 4 bytes
EDEL 1 byte
Frame status 1 byte
Token Ring header structure

FDDI
The Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is a 100 Mega-bit technology using a timed
token over a dual ring of trees. FDDI is standardized by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI).
The FDDI header structure is shown in the illustration below.
Frame Destination Source Route Information FCS
control address address information
2 6 6 0-30 4
bytes
FDDI header structure

LLC( Logical Link Control )
The IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) protocol provides a link mechanism for
upper layer protocols. LLC type I service provides a datalink connectionless mode
service, while LLC type II provides a connection-oriented service at the datalink layer.
The LLC header structure is shown in the illustration below.
DSAP SSAP Control LLC
information
1 byte 1 bytes 1 or 2 bytes
LLC header structure







VLAN
A VLAN is a logical group of LAN segments, independent of physical location, with a
common set of requirements. VLAN tagged frames carry an explicit identification of the
VLAN to which it belongs. The value of the VID in the Tag header signifies the particular
VLAN it belongs to. This additional tag field appears in the Ethernet and SNAP
protocols.

WAN Protocol- There are several protocols which function at Layer 2 for WAN. Data
link layer protocols define how data is encapsulated for transmission to from sender to
receiver. There are a variety of Layer 2 protocols which facilitate data encapsulation at
Layer 2 such as HDLC, PPP, Frame Relay, X.25, ATM etc.
High-Level Data-Link Control (HDLC)
The HDLC protocol is a popular ISO-standard, Data Link layer protocol. It specifies an
encapsulation method for data on synchronous serial data links using frame characters
and checksums. HDLC is a point-to-point protocol used on leased lines. No
authentication can be used with HDLC.
HDLC is the default encapsulation used by Cisco routers on serial interfaces. Ciscos
HDLC is proprietary and it wont communicate with any other vendors HDLC.


Figure 2.11 HDLC Between routers.

Now let us configure HDLC protocol on both routers from the topology in figure 2.11
On serial links, one side of the link acts as the DCE, and the other side of the link acts
as the DTE. One of the interfaces must be configured as the DCE to provide a clocking
signal. You must specify the clock rate for each DCE interface that is configured. For
that we have to find out which router has the DCE end of the cable.
CON output 2.14 Setting and verifying clock rate.












3. High Layer of WAN protocol

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
ATM is a packet switching protocol that enables encoding of data traffic into small
predetermined sized cells. This protocol is based on connection-oriented technology. It
operates by establishing between two end points, a virtual circuit even before exchange
of data commences. The protocol suite of ATM sets up a mechanism to route traffic on
a data stream that has fixed 53-byte packets. Switching and multiplexing are alleviated
through using the fixed-sized cells. In order for communication to be established, two
systems on the network are required to notify every intermediate switch regarding
service demands and traffic parameters. As a cell relay protocol, ATM renders data link
layer services, which run over layer 1 links. Comprising inherent properties of circuit
switched as well as packet switched networks, ATM is well suited for WAN data
networking and real-time media transport.
ATM supports diverse services through ATM Adaptation Layers (AALs). The AAL
transmits the ATM cells between the ATM layer and a higher layer. It performs an
operation called Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR), an important task. Data is
segmented into ATM cells while information received from the higher layers is relayed.
During the process, the AAL reassembles payloads in a format that can be understood
by higher layers. ATM, as an essential WAN protocol, also plays its major role, that is,
one of informing the network about the type of traffic to be transmitted and the traffics
performance requirements. This concept is also interlinked to Quality of Service (Qos),
a crucial service for uninterrupted and always up connectivity in businesses.

Frame Relay
Frame Relay, a WAN protocol based on packet switching technology, is exclusively for
internetworking Local Area Networks (LANs), that is, transmission of data between
LANs and WAN end points. A cost-efficient method, frame relay is widely used by
network providers as an encapsulation method for voice and data, and used between
LANs across a Wide Area Network. The user will have a private or leased line to a
frame relay node. Frame relay works on the physical and data link layer, and facilitates
information transfer from one user device to another over multiple switches and routers.
Advancements in other technology have resulted in a steady decline in usage level of
frame relay technology. However, rural areas that are yet to experience technology
such as DSL and cable modem, continue to use this cost-effective WAN protocol with
continuous connectivity at 64 kb/s.

Point-to-Point Protocol
PPP is a data link protocol that is used to directly connect two nodes across serial
cables, telephone line, trunk line, cellular phone, exclusive radio links, or fiber optic
links. Point-to-point protocol is a WAN protocol widely used by customers for dial-up
access to the Internet. This protocol helps to establish connection over synchronous
and asynchronous circuits. Encapsulation is an important function of PPP wherein PPP
frames, in order to provide framing and other routines such as detection of transmission
errors, are encapsulated in a lower layer protocol. Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
(PPPoE) and Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM (PPPoA) are the two standard
encapsulated PPP forms. They are employed to perform functions such as those
executed by DSL services.

SONET/SDH
Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)
are multiplexing WAN protocols, which enable transport of multi digital bit streams
across the same optical fiber by using Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or lasers. SONET
and SDH are closely related protocols that are based on circuit mode communication.
SDH ascertains compatibility between optical-fiber based digital telephone links instead
of copper cables. Deployed in a broad way, SONET/SDH enables various ISPs to share
the same optical fiber simultaneously without interrupting each others traffic load. They
are physical layer protocols, which offer continuous connections without involving
packet mode communication, and are distinguished as time division multiplexing (TDM)
protocols.

X.25
X.25 is packet-switched network based WAN protocol for WAN communications. It
delineates data exchange and control of information within a user appliance, Data
Terminal Equipment (DTE) and a network node, Data Circuit Terminating Equipment
(DCE). X.25 comprises physical links such as packet-switching exchange (PSE) nodes
for networking hardware, leased lines, and telephone or ISDN connections. Its unique
functionality is its capacity to work effectively on any type of system that is connected to
the network. X.25, although replaced by superior technology, continues to be in use. It
utilizes a connection-oriented service that enables data packets to be transmitted in an
orderly manner.

High Level Data Link Control (HDLC)
High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) is a bit-oriented code-transparent synchronous
data link layer protocol developed by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO). The original ISO standards for HDLC are:
ISO 3309 Frame Structure
ISO 4335 Elements of Procedure
ISO 6159 Unbalanced Classes of Procedure
ISO 6256 Balanced Classes of Procedure
The current standard for HDLC is ISO 13239, which replaces all of those standards.
HDLC provides both connection-oriented and connectionless service. HDLC can be
used for point to multipoint connections, but is now used almost exclusively to connect
one device to another, using what is known as Asynchronous Balanced Mode (ABM).
The original master-slave modes Normal Response Mode (NRM) and Asynchronous
Response Mode (ARM) are rarely used.