CHAPTER 2

INTERNETWORKING DEVICES
Izaz A Khan

Internetworking
Combinations of different networks with one another is called Internetwork.
It is the combination of LANs and WANs. The Internet is a vast connection of networks all linked together and available by everyone with an Internet connection. An intranet is a private network. It cannot be accessed by random people on the Internet. Instead, it is used for internal communication on a network of computers. Intranet computers have access to the Internet, however.

Internetworking Devices
NIC

HUB
Bridge Switch Router

1- NIC
Network Interface Card.

Usually PCI (Peripheral

Component Interconnect) Card

Plugs into Motherboard

Communicate with network through Serial Connection Communicate with System through Parallel Connection Have embedded MAC/Physical Address on a chip

2- HUB
Hybrid Unit Board (HUB). Its works on both Analog and Digital signals thats why it is called Hybrid. Connects multiple nodes in a single network segment Works at Layer One (Physical Layer)

Broadcasting Device: It is a nonintelligent device because it broadcasts the information to all the nodes attached to the Hub.
One Collision Domain: Means one way, one door. Also called Multi-port Repeater. It is a half-duplex device. Maximum speed is 10Mbps.

Broadcast Domain
If the first PC is sending data to the fourth PC. In Hub the data will be broadcasted to all the PCs. So each time when a PC wants to send data to another PC, the data packets will be broadcasted to all the PCs by the hub and then only the PC which has requested for the data will receive the data packets.

Collision DOMAIN
HUBs have one collision domain which means one way for communication (through the HUB).
We also know that HUB is a half duplex device which means one way communication at a time. When two PCs connected to a HUB transmits at the same time then collision occurs thats why HUBs have one collision domain.

Types of HUBs
1- Passive Hubs
Send/Receive data
Not Amplifier No monitoring port

2- Active Hubs
Send/Receive data
Amplifier Monitoring port

3- Intelligent Hubs
Two types
1. Switches 1. Bridges

Bridge
Used for Network Segmentation.

Segmentation:
Dividing a big network into parts

Intelligence Device (Data Packets are send to the specific destination instead of broadcasting). Maximum speed is 100Mbps and it is full duplex for every port due to which it has separate collision domain means there will be no collision as each port is full duplex and will receive its own specific packets. Has one Broadcast domain.

Send and receive data according to MAC addresses.

Works on MAC table. MAC= media access control Mainly have 2,4 ports and works at Layer 2.

Bridge
Consider the network in the diagram, the first PC wants to send data to the fifth PC, for the first time the data (packets) will be broadcasted to get the MAC address of the fifth PC and and the data will be sent to the fifth PC.

Then the MAC address of the destination (fifth PC) will be stored in MAC table. Similarly, for every PC the data will be broadcasted for the first time only, when we are using switches and bridges.

Switch
Similar to HUB but is an intelligent device and have more ports. Forwards Packets based upon their destination address. Increase bandwidth

Decrease/Avoid collisions
Maximum speed is 100Mbps Uses MAC table

Typically works on Layer 2. However, some Layer 3 switches are also available.

Types of Switches
1- Normal
Cant install, delete or upgrade ios Cant block any port Cant manage Cant create VLANs Used in LANs

2- Catalyst

3- Multi-layer

Install, change or delete Just like catalyst ios switches but used in Can block any port. WANs Manageable High speed Create VLAN communication Used in LANs Routers commands can be used. Works at Layer 3

ios= internetwork operating system. VLAN= Short for virtual LAN, a network of computers that behave as if they are connected to the same wire even though they may actually be physically located on different segments of a LAN.

Router
A router is a device that forwards data packets from one network to another. Routed and Routing protocols are used.

Routing protocols are used to find the best path b/w the routers. Routed protocols are used to send/receive data b/w the routers. Routing table is used to store all the information about the connected routers. In terms of security, we can block a specific IP address or group of IP addresses, network or group of networks as well as we can also block ports and protocols. Uses Breakup broadcasting: Means broadcasts are not forwarded across the router. Router broadcasts to its every interface only. Works at Layer 3.

Collision Domain on Switch

Collision Domain on Hub

Broadcast Domain

No matter how many hosts or devices are connected together, if they are connected with a hub, switch or bridge, all these devices are in ONE Broadcast domain.
A Router is used to separate Broadcast-Domains.

Collision domain

Each port on a bridge, a switch or a router is in a separate collision domain.

Broadcast domain

All ports on a hub or a switch are by default in the same broadcast domain. All ports on a router are in the different broadcast domains and routers don't forward broadcasts from one broadcast domain to another. In the picture above we have three broadcast domains, since all ports on a hub or a switch are in the same broadcast domain, and all ports on a router are in a different broadcast domain.

TesT 1

2 broadcast and 2 collision domains.

TesT 2

1 broadcast and 4 collision domains Because as we know, all ports on a hub or a switch are by default in the same broadcast domain.

TesT 3

Answer

2 broadcast and 7 collision domains.

Summary
From all the study it is clear that in terms of collision domain, each port on a bridge, a switch or a router is in a separate collision domain. And each port on a hub is in the same collision domain. In terms of broadcast domain, all ports on a hub or a switch are in the same broadcast domain. And all ports on a router are in a different broadcast domain, means for each port of a router there will be a separate broadcast domain.

Final Example

Question
Why Hubs work at Layer 1 (Physical Layer) while other devices like Bridges, Switches and Routers work at Layer 2 (Data Link Layer) & Layer 3 (Network Layer)? Hubs do not use any part of the packet header to direct the packet to the right destination, it broadcasts the data to all the attached nodes. At physical layer, the data is in the form of bits means there is no frame headers or packet headers. Hub works at Layer 1 because it does not need any header addresses as it broadcasts the data to all the attached nodes. While the other devices (Bridges, Switches and Routers) are intelligent devices. They send data to the specific destination that is why they need packet headers to get the right destination address. They work at Layer 2 and 3 where data is in the form of frames and packets.

Firewall
May be Hardware or Software
All the traffic coming into network has to pass through the firewall Used to prevent some traffic to come into the network
According to network policy

May be used in other way

To restrict some specific type of traffic to go out of network

Firewall

Proxy
A S/W which acts as a middleware, receiving requests from clients who want to use some resources hosted on some other servers that are accessible through proxy Processing of Proxy
Client connects to proxy Request some service hosted on another server
File, webpage etc.

Proxy evaluates request Proxy connects to server to get required services

Uses its own name instead of real client

May provide services locally without contacting desired server