LAN topologies and access techniques ( with a focus on Ethernet)
description
Transcript of LAN topologies and access techniques ( with a focus on Ethernet)
Network Media and Layer 1 FunctionalityBSAD 146Dave Novak
Dean, Chapter 3, pp 93-124
Objectives Introduction to transmission media Basic cabling
CoaxialTwisted pair Optical fiber
Basic wireless Network Interface Card (NIC) Basic Physical Layer (layer 1) functionality
Background Different parts of the electromagnetic
frequency spectrum can be used for data transmission depending on the medium used and the communications standards being followed
Properties of specific media affectBandwidthAttenuation NoiseDistortion
Background Bandwidth – range of frequencies
occupied or used by a carrier wave Attenuation – strength of signal
decreases as it propagates Noise – unwanted electromagnetic
energy that degrades the signal (crosstalk, background interference)
Distortion – original shape or characteristic of waveform is altered
Transmission Computer communication at basic level
involves the transfer of signals over mediaLayer 1 functionalityExamples
• Electrical current over wire• Radio waves through air• Microwave through air• Infrared through air• Light rays through glass fibers
Source: http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/images/EM_Spectrum3-new.jpg
Transmission Media Directed
Coaxial cableTwisted pairFiber-optic
UndirectedRadio Frequency (RF)
Coaxial Cable At one time, coax was the most widely used
copper networking cable
Coaxial Cable “Legacy Ethernet” LAN implementation
supports two IEEE 802.3 standardsRG 58 cable “Thinnet” supports 10Base2RG 8 cable “Thicknet “ supports 10Base5
Coaxial Cable RG 8 cable “Thicknet “ supports 10Base5
TransceiverAUI Vampire taps
Coaxial Cable RG 58 cable “Thinnet “ supports 10Base2
Twisted Pair Cable Currently the most widely used LAN cabling
Two physical copper circuits (wires) are twisted together to filter out EMI and reduce cross talk
Each wire carries an equal, but opposite signal
Twisted Pair Cable 1) UTP - unshielded 2) STP - shielded
Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/70494/what-kind-of-ethernet-cat-5e6a-cable-should-i-use/
Twisted Pair Cable
Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/70494/what-kind-of-ethernet-cat-5e6a-cable-should-i-use/
Twisted Pair Cable Cable reduces interference and supports
higher bandwidth through twisting and isolation
Cat 6 UTP has more twists/cmand has thicker sheathingthan Cat 5 UTP
Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/70494/what-kind-of-ethernet-cat-5e6a-cable-should-i-use/
Twisted Pair Cable
Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/70494/what-kind-of-ethernet-cat-5e6a-cable-should-i-use/
Twisted Pair Cable Different types of cable have different
performance characteristics Network Cable Specification Comparison
Specification CAT5 CAT5e CAT6 CAT6a CAT7
Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz 250 MHz 500 MHz 600 MHz
Attenuation (Insertion Loss)* 24 dB 24 dB 19.8 dB 18.4 dB 20.8 dB
Characteristic Impedence 100 ohms ±15
100 ohms ±15
100 ohms ±15
100 ohms ±15
100 ohms ±15
NEXT * 27.1 dB 30.1 dB 44.3 dB 59 dB 62.1 dB
PS-NEXT * N/A 27.1 dB 42.3 dB 59.1 dB 59.1 dB
ELFEXT * 17.9 dB 17.4 dB 27.8 dB 43.1 dB Not Specified
PS-ELFEXT * 14.4 dB 14.4 dB 24.8 dB 41.8 dB Not Specified
Return Loss * 16 dB 20.1 dB 20.1 dB 32 dB 14.1 dB
Delay Skew * 50 ns 45 ns 45 ns 45 ns 20 ns
Twisted Pair Cable Different types of cable may be needed to
support different Ethernet standards10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-FX,
1000BASE-T10GBASE-T
Cat5e supports most common standards One could potentially use Cat 6, 6a, or 7 –
why wouldn’t you?
Twisted Pair Cable Refers to copper conductor in wire pairs
Solid – uses single piece copper strand• Not flexible, but more durable
Stranded – uses multiple smaller copper strands woven together • Flexible
Twisted Pair Cable Most “common” UTP and STP cables use 8
pin RJ45 connectors
Optical Fiber Cable Supports high bandwidth, long distance
transmission by sending pulses of light over very thin, pure glass (or plastic) strands
Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=image+of+fiber+optic+cable&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XijpUvbnCpStsQTQhYFg&sqi=2&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1129&bih=842/
Optical Fiber Cable Two types of cable / transmission
1) Multi-mode2) Single-mode
Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=fiber+optic+cable&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=TAzoUviwLue0sAThgYHoDw&ved=0CFAQsAQ&biw=1129&bih=842/
Multi-Mode Fiber Mostly used for communication over short
distances – within building, around campus High bandwidth, but higher dispersionBandwidth-distance product limit is lower than
single mode Has larger core diameter (and larger wave
length) than single mode Less complex equipment than single mode
LED versus laser
Single-Mode Fiber
Has higher bandwidth than multi-mode and is effective over very large distancesHigh bandwidth, low dispersion
Carries only a single ray Equipment is complex and expensive
Specific types of lasers
Optical Fiber Connectors
Source: http://www.telegaertner.de/en/karl-gaertner/data-voice/office/artikel/images/lwl-patchkabel.jpg
Optical Fiber Connectors
Source: http://www.arcelect.com/fibercable%20connectors.gif
Wired Cable Design
Wireless Transmission
A WLAN (wireless LAN) is a LAN that does not rely on physical cabling to transmit data between devices
WLANs use radio frequencies (RF) to transmit data
The goal of wireless communication is to transmit large amounts of data as fast as possible without wires
Wireless Transmission Wireless communication follows the IEEE
802.11 specification which defines half-duplex transmission using the same frequency for send and receiveLet’s talk about this a bit
Wireless Transmission RF transmission does not require licensing
but it is regulated by the government! The regulating agencies are the FCC in the
US and the ETSI in Europe802.11 provides standards for RF operation
within FCC rules (frequencies and power levels)
Wireless Transmission
There tend to be more difficulties achieving high speed transmission with RF than with wired technologies for a number of reasons
Wireless Transmission
To send an RF signal, the use of a modulation technique is required
How did we define modulation?
Wireless Transmission
Spread Spectrum technique used to modulate data by “spreading” the bandwidth available for transmissionSignal is transmitted on bandwidth larger than
the frequency content of the transmission• Security; increased resistance to noise,
interference, and jamming… • Lower power per frequency band• Redundancy
Spread Spectrum Examples
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)An RF modulation technique where data are
multiplied by a pseudo noise (PN) signal to “spread” the signal, the modified signal is transmitted over various frequencies according to the PN sequence, original signal reconstructed by receiver
As long as PN sequence is different than the PN sequence of other transmissions the signal to noise ratio is positive
Spread Spectrum Examples
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)Subdivides bandwidth on a particular channel
(say channel 1) into separate 1 MHz channels Switch rapidly (pseudo-randomly) between
the different 1 MHz frequency bands (min of 75 frequencies every 30 sec) broadcasting for only a few milliseconds over any particular band
Electromagnetic Spectrum
FCC controls the available spectrum and WLANs can operate in only 3 ranges: 1) 900 MHz, 2) 2.4 GHz, or 3) 5 GHz
Electromagnetic Spectrum
900-MHz band (902 – 928 MHz) 2.4 GHz band (2.4 – 2.4835 GHz)
Most widely used frequency range used in WLANs
Used by 802.11 (base, b, g, n) standards11 channels, each 22 MHz wide
Electromagnetic Spectrum
5 GHz band (complicated regs vary by country)23 non-overlapping channelsUsed by 802.11 (a, h, j, n, ac) standards
Electromagnetic Spectrum
If you are interested see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
Electromagnetic Spectrum
2.4 GHz band11 overlapping channels1, 6, and 11 non overlapping
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Wireless Transmission
Potential drawbacks to wireless ReliabilityIEEE 802.11 technologies have historically
been slower than wire-based technologiesLimited rangeSecurity concerns
Network Interface Card
Provides a physical connection between a networked device and the network medium
Also provides an interface between layers 1 and 2 of the OSI
Separate cards are needed to support different layer 2 networking technologies (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, dialup, etc.)
Network Interface Card
Network Interface Card Generally plugs right into PCI (Peripheral
Component Interconnect) slots Most modern NICs are PCI
Have different network cable connectors depending on types of cable supportedRJ-45 connector most common
Basics of data transfer Data move through devices along paths
called busesSeveral paths side by side (parallel)
• Data moves in lateral groups as opposed to single (serial) data stream
• 32-bit bus means 32 bits moving along side by side
Data move over network channel in a single streams called serial transmissionOne lane highway with data ALWAYS
traveling in same direction
Network Interface Card 1) Data transmission and reception
Primary function of NIC is to generate and transmit signals of the appropriate type over network and to receive incoming signals
Signal type depends on network medium and Data Link Layer (2) protocol used
On legacy Ethernet LAN, every computer receives all packets transmitted over network NIC must examine MAC destination address in each packet to see if it is intended for the local host
Network Interface Card 2) Signal encoding and decoding
Converts binary data encapsulated in a frame into electrical voltage, light pulses, or other signal
3) Data bufferingSince NIC transmits and receives data in
serial manner, it must be able to store data until outgoing frames can be sent and incoming frames can be processed by CPU
Network Interface Card 4) Data encapsulation
Building frame around data in preparation for transmission
Read contents of incoming frames, strips off frame, and pass data up to Network Layer (3)
5) Serial / parallel conversionUsually 64 bits at a time
6) Media access controlRegulates how device access network
medium
Layer 1 hardware functionality Recognize / work with basic signals Little to no management capabilities Examples
RepeatersHubs
Does not understand frames or MAC addresses
Does not understand network level addresses and routing
Layer 1 hardware functionality Hubs –vs- repeaters
I’ll discuss this from a functionality / historical perspective as no one really makes or uses “layer 1 hubs” anymore
The concept of how a “layer 1 hub” works is important with respect to our discussion of legacy versus switched Ethernet though…
Layer 1 hardware functionality Center discussion on hubs
Used to connect devices to a star or ring LANSend copies of electrical signals to next
segment, do not reconstruct frames• Regenerate and forward ALL electrical signals• Multiple ports
• Do not understand frame formats• Do not understand physical address• Do not understand higher level network addresses
Token Ring MAU Look like Ethernet hubs/switches, but are
NOT the same Passive device
Acts like a ring, even if topology is a starDo not retransmit incoming traffic out other
ports simultaneously Transmits to each connected device in round-
robin manner
Token Ring MAUPC on port 5 transmits packet
Hub receives packet and forwards a copy out each port
MAU receives incoming packet from port 5 and transmits out port 6 MAU waits for packet to return through port 6 before transmitting packet out port 7
Summary Introduction to transmission media Basic cabling
CoaxialTwisted pair Optical fiber
Basic wireless Network Interface Card (NIC) Basic Physical Layer (layer 1) functionality