CS31K

DATA COMMUNICATIONS
&
COMPUTER NETWORKS

What Is This Course About?

This is a course on basic data communication and
network architecture
You will be able to understand protocols
You will learn about networking concepts that will
help you understand networking jargon:
synchronous vs asynchronous
TCP/IP
Cyclic Redundancy Check
 Parity
 Start and Stop Bits
 Baud, Hertz, and Bits/sec

What This Course is NOT About

It is NOT about:
Implementing networks, e.g. Novell Netware
Using networks
Commercial aspects
Products
Vendors
Prices
Network operating systems
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Who Should Take This Course

Those who are interested in pursuing a career
in the networks
Those who have a nodding acquaintance with
the subject and would like to get more
intimate with the subject matter.
Those who think they know about networks
but do not really understand how they work.
Those who are prepared to work hard.
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Computer networking is complex:

Many different hardware technologies
Many different software technologies
Many different standards
All can be interconnected in an internet
You cannot learn it all in a 1-semester course!
The focus must therefore be on
understanding the concepts and
terminology.
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How the Course is Organized

4 main subject areas:

Communication basics
Media and signals
Asynchronous and synchronous communication
Relationships among bandwidth, throughput, and noise

Networking and network technologies

Packet switching
Framing, parity, and error detection
Local and wide area technologies
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 Internets and Internetworking

Internet Protocol (IP)
Internet routers and routing
User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

Network Applications
Client-server paradigm
Domain name system (DNS)
File transfer (FTP)
Remote login (TELNET)
E-mail transfer (SMTP)
Web technologies and protocols
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Summary
The course will involve:
hard work - lots of it!
lots of reading assignments
field trip(s)
guest lecture(s)
In other words, it will be FUN!!

Summary, cont.
Make sure you keep up with the lectures. If
you dont, you will surely get lost.
If you get lost, you will remain lost.

LECTURE #1
General Overview

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Motivation for Networking

Access to remote information

Person-to-person communication
Cooperative work on-line
Resource sharing

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Data Communication versus

Networking
Data Communication:
The sending of information between two
locations (or nodes)

Networking:
Involves two or more nodes. More issues, e.g.,
routing, quality of service.

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What A Network Does

Provides communication that is:
Reliable
Fair
Efficient

Automatically detects and corrects:

Data corruption
Data loss
Duplication
Out-of-order delivery

Automatically finds optimal paths from source to

destination
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What Comprises A Network

Protocol software
Encodes and formats data
Detects and corrects problems

Transmission hardware
cables
satellites

Special-purpose hardware devices

Interconnect transmission media
Transmission control
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Distributed Systems vs Networks

Distributed Systems:
 Users are unaware of underlying structure.
presence of multiple processors is made
transparent to user
 Mostly operating systems issues.
Nodes are generally under one organizations
control.

Networks:
Users specify the location of resources.
Nodes are autonomous.
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The Growth of the Internet

The Origin:
In the mid-1960s the Dept. of Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
needed high-powered computers for its
scientists.

Govt. could not afford this so the

scientists came together and designed
their own network - the ARPANET
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 1970s - Successful completion of the ARPANET

prototype.
1980s - several new networks were spawned by
ARPANET (development of internetworking)
National Science Foundation designed a highspeed network, NSFNET to link universities
1990 - ARPANET was dismantled (overtaken by
newer networks)
1990 - Advanced Network Services (ANS) took
over NSFNET and upgraded it to form ANSNET the first step to commercialization of the Internet.
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Internet Growth in Millions of Computers per Year

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Types of Networks
Can be classified according to no. of
connections:
Point to point or Broadcast

Classified according to switching technique:

Circuit switched or Packet switched

Classified according to size:

Local Area Networks (LAN) 0-2 km
Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) 2-50 km,
Wide Area Networks (WAN) 50+ km
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Broadcast Networks:
- single communication channel shared by all
nodes on the network. Short messages (packets)
sent by one node are received by all.
Point-to-Point
- many connections between machines. Packet from
one machine to another may have to go via one or
more intermediate machines.

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Broadcast technology

All computers attached to a single cable

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Point-to-point

Independent pt-to-pt connections for (a) two, (b) three and

( c ) four computers. The number of connections grows
rapidly as the no. of computers increases.
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Point-to-Point Topologies

STAR

RING

TREE

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Circuit-switching
-e.g. telephone calls. Need to set up an end-to-end
connection before any data can be sent. I.e. a
physical copper wire path must be established
before the call can proceed.
- wasteful of bandwidth

Packet-switching
- no physical path is established in advanced. Data
to be sent is stored in the first switching office
(router) and forwarded later, hop by hop.
An early application of this technique is the telegram
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Reading Assignment
Before next class you are required to read
the following sections in the text:
Chapter I
1.1.1
1.2
1.3

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Wireless Networking
Wireless Networking vs Mobile Computing
Wireless computers use radio frequency
modems to transmit data.
Instead of cables, wireless LANs use
antennas to broadcast RF signals through
the air.
Portable computers are sometimes wired
Not all wireless computers are portable
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Disadvantages of Wireless LANs

Small transmission capacity (1 -2 Mbps)
Error rates are higher than wired LANs
LAN transmitters use low power =>
transmit only over short distances.
Multiple base stations can be used for
applications that require wider coverage
area. Wider coverage is achieved by
arranging the transmitters (base stations) in
a cell structure.
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Protocols and Layering

Networks are organized as a series of layers.
Each layer is built upon the one below it.
The purpose of each layer is to offer certain
services to the higher layer
The number of layers and the function of each
layer differs from network to network.

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Protocols
All parties or layers involved in a
communication must agree on a set of rules to
be used when exchanging messages. Such an
agreement is called a protocol.
A communication protocol is a set of rules that
specify the format and meaning of messages
that computers exchange.
For e.g. A protocol can be simply an agreement
to use ASCII when transferring text files.
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Protocols, cont.
A protocol can be complex, e.g. an agreement
to use a complicated mathematical function
to encrypt data.
Protocol Suite - Communication problem is
divided into multiple, cooperating protocols.
Each related set of protocols is called a suite.
Typically a protocol suite is designed by
specifying a protocol that corresponds to
each layer.
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How Layered Software Works

Each layer of a protocol suite solves one part
of the communication problem.
Software in a given layer on the sending
computer adds info to the outgoing data.
Software in the same layer on the receiving
computer uses the additional info to process
the incoming data.
The additional info is placed in a header; a
frame travelling across a network contains a
series of nested headers.

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The Layering Principle:

Layer N software on the destination
computer must receive the exact message
sent by layer N software on the sending
computer.

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Design Issues for Layers

Each layer must have a mechanism for identifying
senders & receivers (i.e.addresses)
Each layer must have rules for data transfer. For e.g.;
Simplex: Transmit or receive, 1 direction only
Full Duplex: Transmit and receive simultaneously
Half-Duplex: Transmit and receive alternately

Must agree on a specific Error Control mechanism

for error detection and recovery
Flow Control: how to stop a fast sender from
swamping a slow receiver.
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The ISO/OSI Reference Model

Application

Application

Presentation

Presentation

Session

Session

Transport
Network
Data Link
Physical

Messages
Packets
Frames
Bits

Transport
Network
Data Link
Physical

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ISO Reference Model, cont.

Layer 1: Physical
Basic network hardware. Concerned with the
transmission of raw bits over a channel.
Layer 2: Data Link
Specifies how to organize raw bits into frames and
how to transmit these frames over the network.
Layer 3: Network
Concerned with packetizing, routing and
congestion control. Specifies how addresses are
assigned and packets forwarded.
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Layer 4: Transport
Organize data into messages. Specifies how to
ensure reliable transfer of messages. One of the
most complex protocols. Deals also with flow
control.
Layer 5: Session
Specifies how to establish a communication
session with a remote system. E.g. how to perform
remote login or file transfer. Deals also with the
specification for security such as user
authentication.
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Layer 6: Presentation
Specifies how to represent data. E.g. whether
textual data should be transmitted in ASCII or some
other format, or what representation should be used
for integers, etc. Layer 6 protocols translate data
from one computers representation to another.
Layer 7: Application
Specifies how a particular application uses the
network. E.g. how to transfer files between
different file systems OR how a screen editor can
be used with different terminal types.
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Examples of Protocol Stacks

Each computer contains software for an entire suite
of protocols. Vendors use the term stack to refer to
such software.
Some popular protocol stacks are listed below:
Vendor Stack
Novell Corporation
Netware
Banyan System Corporation VINES
Apple Computer Corporation Appletalk
Digital Equipment Corporation DECNET
IBM SNA
many other vendors
TCP/IP
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The TCP/IP Protocol Stack

The TCP/IP or the Internet Layering model
contains five layers:
Application
Transport
Internet
Network Interface
Physical

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The TCP/IP Protocol Stack, cont.

Layer 1: Physical
Similar to that of the ISO Reference model.

Layer 2: Network Interface

specify how to organize data into frames and how to
transmit these frames over the network.

Layer 3: Internet (IP protocol)

specifies the format of packets sent across an
internet as well as mechanisms to forward packets
from a computer through one or more routers.
Packets may even arrive out of order.
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The TCP/IP Protocol Stack, cont.

Layer 4 : Transport
similar to that of the ISO Reference model. Two
end-to-end protocols have been defined: the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the
User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

Layer 5: Application
Corresponds to layers 6 and 7 in the ISO
Reference model.

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