Module 8

Ethernet Switching

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 Ethernet Switching
• Ethernet is a shared media
– One node can transmit data at a time

• More nodes increases the demands on the

available bandwidth
– The probability of collisions increases, resulting in
more retransmissions

• A solution to the problem is to segment.

• Segmenting creates more collision domains

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 Shared Media Environment

• Shared media environment –

– multiple hosts have access to the same medium

• Extended shared media environment –

– Using networking devices extends the
environment to accommodate multiple access or
longer cable distances

• Point-to-point network environment –

– one device is connected to only one other device
(ex. dialup network connections)

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 Shared media environments

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 Layer 1 Devices
• Layer 1 devices
– repeaters and hubs

• Extend collision domains

• Primary function is extending cable segments

• Additional hosts increase the amount of traffic

• More traffic = greater chances of collisions

– This results in diminished performance

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 Repeater Rule
• Four repeater rule:
– No more than four repeaters between any
two computers
– Contributing Factors
• Repeater latency
• Propagation delay
• NIC latency
– Late collision frames add delay that is
referred to as consumption delay

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 Collision Domains

• Collision Domains
– Connected physical network segments
where collisions can occur

• Collisions cause:
– The network to be inefficient
– Transmissions to stops for a period of time

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 Collision domains

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 Collision Domains
• The types of devices that interconnect the
media segments define collision domains
• Classified as OSI Layer 1, 2 or 3 devices
• Layer 1 devices do not break up collision
domains
• Layer 2 and Layer 3 devices break up
collision domains
– Increasing the number of collision domains is
known as segmentation

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 Segmentation

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 Network segment

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 Layer 2 Devices

• Layer 2 devices
– Bridges and Switches

– Segments collision domains

– Controls frame propagation using the MAC

address

– Tracks the MAC addresses and segment they are

on

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 Layer 2 Bridging

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 Bridges
• Has only two ports and divides a collision domain
into two parts

• Entire network will share the same logical

broadcast address space

• Creates more collision domains but will not add

broadcast domains

• All decisions made are based on MAC or Layer 2

addressing

• No effect on the logical or Layer 3 addressing

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 Layer 2 Switching

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 Switches
• A switch is a fast, multi-port bridge

• Each port creates its own collision domain

• A switch dynamically builds and maintains a Content-

Addressable Memory (CAM) table

• The CAM holds all of the necessary MAC information

for each port

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 Switch Operation
• Micro-segments consist of the switch port and the
host connected to it
• Communication in both directions at once is known
as full duplex
• Most switches are capable of supporting full duplex,
as are most network interface cards (NICs)

• In full duplex mode, there is no contention for

the media.
– A collision domain no longer exists
– Theoretically, the bandwidth is doubled when
using full duplex
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 Switch modes

Store and Forward

Cut through
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 Switch Modes

• Cut-through switching

– A switch transfers the frame as soon as the

destination MAC address is received

– lowest latency

– no error checking

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 Switch Modes

• Store-and-forward switching

– Higher latency

– The switch receives the entire frame before

sending it out

– Verifies the Frame Check Sum (FCS)

– Invalid frames are discarded at the switch

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 Switch Modes
• Fragment-free switching
• A compromise between cut-through and
store-and-forward switching
• Switching begins before the entire data field
and checksum are read
• Reads the first 64 bytes
• Including the frame header
• Verifies the reliability of:
• Addressing
• Logical Link Control (LLC) protocol

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 Switch Modes
• Synchronous switching
– The source port and destination port must
be operating at the same bit rate

• Asynchronous switching
– The bit rates are not the same

– The frame must be stored at one bit rate

before it is sent out at the other bit rate

– Store-and-forward must be used

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 Switch Modes

• Asymmetric switching

– Switched connections between ports of unlike

bandwidths

– Asymmetric switching is optimized for client/server

– A server requires more bandwidth dedicated to the

server port to prevent a bottleneck at that port

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 Spanning Tree Protocol
• Switching loops can lead to broadcast storms that will
overwhelm a network.
• To counteract loops, switches are provided with the
Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP)
• Switches in a LAN using STP
– Send Bridge Protocol Data Units (BPDUs) out all its
ports
– Lets other switches know of its existence
– Elect a root bridge (switch) for the network
– Switches use the Spanning-Tree Algorithm (STA) to
resolve and shut down the redundant paths

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 STP
• Each port using Spanning-Tree Protocol is in
one of the following five states:
– Blocking

– Listening

– Learning

– Forwarding

– Disabled

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 STP
• A port moves through five states as follows:
– From initialization to blocking

– From blocking to listening or to disabled

– From listening to learning or to disabled

– From learning to forwarding or to disabled
– From forwarding to disabled

• Resolving and eliminating loops creates a logical

hierarchical tree with no loops
• The alternate paths are available if needed

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 Spanning tree protocol

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 Layer 2 Broadcasts

• Ethernet Broadcasts

– When a node needs to communicate with

all hosts on the network

– A broadcast frame with a destination MAC

address 0xFFFFFFFFFFFF is sent

– The network interface card (NIC) of every

host must respond
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 Layer 2 Broadcasts
• Layer 2 devices must flood all broadcast and
multicast traffic
• Broadcast Radiation
– The accumulation of broadcast and multicast
traffic from each device
• Broadcast storm
– Circulation of broadcast radiation that saturates
the network
– There is no bandwidth left for application data

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 Layer 2 Broadcasts
• The three sources of broadcasts and
multicasts:

– Workstations

– Routers

– Multicast Applications

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 Broadcast & Collision Domain

Collision Domain

Collision Domain

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 Layer 3 Devices

• Layer 3 devices

– Routers

– Do not forward collisions

– Breaks up collision domains

– Broadcast domains are controlled

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 Broadcast domain

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 Broadcast Domain
• Broadcast Domain
– A grouping of collision domains

– All the nodes that are a part of that network

segment bounded by a layer three device

– Broadcasts have to be controlled at Layer 3

devices

– Layer 2 and Layer 1 devices do not control

broadcasts

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 Data Flow
• Layer 2 devices filter data frames based on the
destination MAC address
– A Layer 2 device will forward the frame unless something
prevents it from doing so

• Layer 3 devices filter data packets based on IP

destination address
– A Layer 3 device will not forward the frame unless it has to

– Layer 3 device creates multiple collision and broadcast

domains

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 Dataflow

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 Latency

The delay between the time a frame leaves the source device
and the time the frame reaches its destination

• The following conditions can cause delays:

– Physical media
– Circuit delays
• Electronics that process the signal along the path
– Software delays
• Decisions that must be made to implement switching and
protocols
– Delays caused by the content of the frame
• Destination MAC address has to be read

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 Latency

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