Connection-Oriented Services

A connection-oriented service is one that establishes a dedicated connection between the communicating
entities before data communication commences. It is modeled after the telephone system. To use a connection-
oriented service, the user first establishes a connection, uses it and then releases it. In connection-oriented
services, the data streams/packets are delivered to the receiver in the same order in which they have been sent
by the sender.

Connection-oriented services may be done in either of the following ways:

1. Circuit-switched connection: In circuit switching, a dedicated physical path or a circuit is established

between the communicating nodes and then data stream is transferred.
2. Virtual circuit-switched connection: Here, 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. However, other connections may also be using this path.

Connection-oriented services may be of the following types:

1. Reliable Message Stream: e.g. sequence of pages

2. Reliable Byte Stream: e.g. song download
3. Unreliable Connection: e.g. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)

Advantages of Connection-Oriented Services

1. This is mostly a reliable connection.

2. Congestions are less frequent.
3. Sequencing of data packets is guaranteed.
4. Problems related to duplicate data packets are alleviated.
5. Suitable for long connection.

Disadvantages of Connection-Oriented Services

1. Resource allocation is needed before communication. This often leads to under-utilized network
resources.
2. The lesser speed of connection due to the time is taken for establishing and relinquishing the connection.
3. In the case of router failures or network congestions, there are no alternative ways to continue
communication.

Connectionless Services
A Connectionless service is a data communication between two nodes where the sender sends data without
ensuring whether the receiver is available to receive the data. Here, each data packet has the destination address
and is routed independently irrespective of the other packets. Thus the data packets may follow different paths
to reach the destination. There’s no need to setup connection before sending a message and relinquish it after
the message has been sent. The data packets in a connectionless service are usually called datagrams.

Protocols for connectionless services are:

1. Internet Protocol (IP)

 2. User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
3. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

Connectionless services may be of the following types:

1. A datagram with Acknowledgement: e.g. text messages with delivery report

2. Request-Reply: e.g. queries from remote databases

Advantages of Connectionless Services

1. It has low overhead.

2. It enables to broadcast and multicast messages, where the sender sends messages to multiple recipients.
3. It is simpler and has low overhead.
4. It does not require any time for circuit setup.

Disadvantages of Connectionless Services

5. In case of router failures or network congestions, the data packets are routed through alternate paths.
Hence, communication is not disrupted.

1. It is not a reliable connection. It does not guarantee that there will not be a loss of packets, wrong
delivery, out – of – sequence delivery or duplication of packets.
2. Each data packet requires longer data fields since it should hold all the destination address and the
routing information.
3. They are prone to network congestions.

A Connectionless service is a data communication between two nodes where the sender sends data without
ensuring whether the receiver is available to receive the data. Here, each data packet has the destination address
and is routed independently irrespective of the other packets. Thus the data packets may follow different paths
to reach the destination. There’s no need to setup connection before sending a message and relinquish it after
the message has been sent. The data packets in a connectionless service are usually called datagrams.

Protocols for connectionless services are:

1. Internet Protocol (IP)

2. User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
3. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

Connectionless services may be of the following types:

1. A datagram with Acknowledgement: e.g. text messages with delivery report

2. Request-Reply: e.g. queries from remote databases

Advantages of Connectionless Services

1. It has low overhead.

2. It enables to broadcast and multicast messages, where the sender sends messages to multiple recipients.
3. It is simpler and has low overhead.
4. It does not require any time for circuit setup.
5. In case of router failures or network congestions, the data packets are routed through alternate paths.
Hence, communication is not disrupted.
Disadvantages of Connectionless Services

1. It is not a reliable connection. It does not guarantee that there will not be a loss of packets, wrong
delivery, out – of – sequence delivery or duplication of packets.
2. Each data packet requires longer data fields since it should hold all the destination address and the
routing information.
3. They are prone to network congestions.

Transmission Impairment: When signals travel through the medium they tend to deteriorate. This may have many
reasons as given:

 Attenuation

For the receiver to interpret the data accurately, the signal must be sufficiently strong.When the signal passes
through the medium, it tends to get weaker.As it covers distance, it loses strength.

 Dispersion

As signal travels through the media, it tends to spread and overlaps. The amount of dispersion depends upon the
frequency used.

 Delay distortion

Signals are sent over media with pre-defined speed and frequency. If the signal speed and frequency do not match,
there are possibilities that signal reaches destination in arbitrary fashion. In digital media, this is very critical that
some bits reach earlier than the previously sent ones.

 Noise

Random disturbance or fluctuation in analog or digital signal is said to be Noise in signal, which may distort the
actual information being carried. Noise can be characterized in one of the following class:

o Thermal Noise

Heat agitates the electronic conductors of a medium which may introduce noise in the media. Up to a
certain level, thermal noise is unavoidable.

o Intermodulation

When multiple frequencies share a medium, their interference can cause noise in the medium.
Intermodulation noise occurs if two different frequencies are sharing a medium and one of them has
excessive strength or the component itself is not functioning properly, then the resultant frequency may
not be delivered as expected.

o Crosstalk

This sort of noise happens when a foreign signal enters into the media. This is because signal in one
medium affects the signal of second medium.

o Impulse: This noise is introduced because of irregular disturbances such as lightening, electricity, short-
circuit, or faulty components. Digital data is mostly affected by this sort of noise.