COMPUTER NETWORKING

UNIT IV – INTERNETWORKING

CODE: IT 8137
FACILITATOR: FRANK
EMAIL: [email protected]
Internetworking Models
 When networks first came into being,
computers could typically communicate
only with computers from the same
manufacturer.
 In the late 1970s, the Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) reference model was
created by the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) to break this
barrier.
 The OSI model was meant to help vendors
create interoperable network devices and
software in the form of protocols so that
different vendor networks could work with
 The OSI model is the primary architectural
model for networks that describes how
data and network information are
communicated from an application on one
computer, through the network media, to
an application on another computer.

The Layered Approach

 A reference model is a conceptual blueprint
of how communications should take place.
 It addresses all the processes required for
effective communication and divides these
processes into logical groupings called
layers
Advantages of Reference Models
 It divides the network communication
process into smaller and simpler
components, thus aiding component
development, design, and troubleshooting.
 It allows multiple-vendor development
through standardization of network
components.
 It encourages industry standardization by
defining what functions occur at each layer
of the model.
 It allows various types of network hardware
and software to communicate.
 It prevents changes in one layer from
The OSI Reference Model
 The OSI isn’t a physical model, it’s a set of
guidelines that application developers can
use to create and implement applications
that run on a network.
 It also provides a framework for creating
and implementing networking standards,
devices, and internetworking schemes.
 The OSI has seven different layers, divided
into two groups.
 The top three layers define how the
applications within the end stations will
communicate with each other and with
users.
 The OSI reference model has seven layers:
 Application layer (layer 7)
 Presentation layer (layer 6)
 Session layer (layer 5)
 Transport layer (layer 4)
 Network layer (layer 3)
 Data Link layer (layer 2)
 Physical layer (layer 1)

The Application Layer

 The Application layer of the OSI model
marks the spot where users actually
communicate to the
 This layer only comes into play when it’s
apparent that access to the network is
going to be needed soon.
 The Application layer is also responsible for
identifying and establishing the availability
of the intended communication partner,
and determining whether sufficient
resources for the intended communication
exist.

The Presentation Layer

 It presents data to the Application layer
and is responsible for data translation and
code formatting.
 The OSI has protocol standards that define
how standard data should be formatted.
Tasks like data compression, decompression,
encryption, and decryption are associated
with this layer.

The Session Layer

 The Session layer is responsible for setting
up, managing, and then tearing down
sessions between Presentation layer entities.
 This layer also provides dialogue control
between devices, or nodes.
 It coordinates communication between
systems, and serves to organize their
communication by offering three different
The Transport Layer
 The Transport layer segments and
reassembles data into a data stream.
 They provide end-to-end data transport
services and can establish a logical
connection between the sending host and
destination host on an internetwork.
 The Transport layer is responsible for
providing mechanisms for multiplexing
upper-layer applications, establishing
sessions, and tearing down virtual circuits.
 The Transport layer can be connectionless
or connection-oriented.
The Network Layer
 The Network layer (also called layer 3)
manages device addressing, tracks the
location of devices on the network, and
determines the best way to move data,
which means that the Network layer must
transport traffic between devices that aren’t
locally attached.
 Routers (layer 3 devices) are specified at the
Network layer and provide the routing
services within an internetwork.

The Data Link Layer

 The Data Link layer provides the physical
transmission of the data and handles error
 This means that the Data Link layer will
ensure that messages are delivered to the
proper device on a LAN using hardware
addresses, and translates messages from
the Network layer into bits for the Physical
layer to transmit.
 The Data Link layer formats the message
into pieces, each called a data frame, and
adds a customized header containing the
hardware destination and source address.

The Physical Layer

 The Physical layer does two things: It sends
bits and receives bits. Bits come only in
values of 1 or 0.
 The Physical layer specifies the electrical,
mechanical, procedural, and functional
requirements for activating, maintaining,
and deactivating a physical link between
end systems.
 This layer is also where you identify the
interface between the data terminal
equipment (DTE) and the data
communication equipment (DCE).
Ethernet Networking
 Ethernet is a contention-based media
access method that allows all hosts on a
network to share the same link’s
bandwidth.
 Ethernet is popular because it’s readily
scalable, meaning that it’s comparatively
easy to integrate new technologies, such
as Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet, into
an existing network infrastructure.
 It really pretty simple to implement and it
makes troubleshooting fairly
straightforward as well.
 Ethernet uses both Data Link and Physical
Collision Domain
 Collision domain refers to a network
scenario wherein one device sends a frame
out on a physical network segment forcing
every other device on the same segment
to pay attention to it.
 This is bad because if two devices on a
single physical segment just happen to
transmit simultaneously, it will cause a
collision and require these devices to
retransmit.
 Think of a collision event as a situation
where each device’s digital signals totally
interfere with one another on the wire.
 Broadcast Domain: refers to a group of
CSMA/CD
 Ethernet networking uses a protocol called
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Detection (CSMA/CD), which helps devices
share the bandwidth evenly while preventing
two devices from transmitting simultaneously
on the same network medium.
 CSMA/CD was actually created to overcome
the problem of the collisions that occur when
packets are transmitted from different nodes
at the same time.
 How does the CSMA/CD protocol work?
 When a host wants to transmit over the
network, it first checks for the presence of a
digital signal on the wire. If all is clear and
 The transmitting host constantly monitors the
wire to make sure no other hosts begin
transmitting. If the host detects another signal
on the wire, it sends out an extended jam signal
that causes all nodes on the segment to stop
sending Data think busy signal.
 The nodes respond to that jam signal by waiting
a bit before attempting to transmit again.

Ethernet at the Data Link Layer

 Ethernet at the Data Link layer is responsible for
Ethernet addressing, commonly referred to as
MAC or hardware addressing.
 Ethernet is also responsible for framing packets
received from the Network layer and preparing
them for transmission on the local network
Ethernet Addressing
 It uses the Media Access Control (MAC)
address burned into each and every Ethernet
network interface card (NIC).
 The MAC, or hardware, address is a 48-bit (6-
byte) address written in a hexadecimal format.

Ethernet addressing using MAC addresses

 The organizationally unique identifier (OUI)
is assigned by the IEEE to an organization.
 It’s composed of 24 bits, or 3 bytes, and
it in turn assigns a globally administered
address also made up of 24 bits, or 3
bytes, that’s supposedly unique to each
and every adapter an organization
manufactures.
 The high-order bit is the Individual/Group
(I/G) bit.
 When it has a value of 0, we can assume
that the address is the MAC address of a
device and that it may well appear in the
source portion of the MAC header.

 The next bit is the Global/Local bit(G/L), or
U/L bit, where U means universal.
 When set to 0, this bit represents a
globally administered address, as
assigned by the IEEE, but when it’s a 1, it
represents a locally governed and
administered address.
 The low-order 24 bits of an Ethernet
address represent a locally administered
or manufacturer-assigned code. This
portion commonly starts with 24 0s for
the first card made and continues in
order until there are 24 1s for the last
card made.
Ethernet at the Physical Layer
 Ethernet was first implemented by a group
called DIX, which stands for Digital, Intel, and
Xerox.
 They created and implemented the first
Ethernet LAN specification, which the IEEE
used to create the IEEE 802.3 committee.
 This was a 10 Mbps network that ran on coax
and then eventually twisted-pair and fiber
physical media.

Some of the most common IEEE Ethernet

standards
 10Base-T (IEEE 802.3) 10 Mbps using
category 3 unshielded twisted pair (UTP)
 100Base-TX (IEEE 802.3u) 100Base-TX,
most commonly known as Fast Ethernet.
Uses EIA/TIA category 5, 5E, or 6 UTP two-
pair wiring. One user per segment; up to
100 meters long.
 It uses an RJ45 connector with a physical
star topology and a logical bus.
 100Base-FX (IEEE 802.3u) Uses fiber
cabling 62.5/125-micron multimode fiber.
Point-to-point topology; up to 412 meters long.
It uses ST and SC connectors, which are
media-interface connectors.
 1000Base-T (IEEE 802.3ab) Category 5,
four-pair UTP wiring up to 100 meters long and
up to 1 Gbps.
 Lab works
Ethernet Cabling
Media Connectors
 A variety of connectors are used with the
associated network media.
 Media connectors attach to the
transmission media and allow the physical
connection into the computing device.

RJ-11 Connectors
 RJ- (registered jack) 11 connectors are
small plastic connectors used on telephone
cables. They have capacity for six small
pins.
RJ-45 Connectors
 RJ-45 connectors are used with twisted-pair
cabling, the most prevalent network cable in
use today.
 RJ-45 connectors resemble the
aforementioned RJ-11 phone jacks, but they
support up to eight wires instead of the six
supported by RJ-11 connectors.

568A and 568B Wiring Standards

 568A and 568B are telecommunications
standards from TIA and EIA.
 These 568 standards specify the pin
arrangements for the RJ-45 connectors on
UTP or STP cables.
 The number 568 refers to the order in
which the wires within the Category 5 cable
are terminated and attached to the
connector.
 The 568A and 568B standards are quite
similar; the difference is the order in which
the pins are terminated.
 The types of Ethernet cables available are:
 Straight-through cable
 Crossover cable
 Rolled cable

Straight Through Cable

 A straight through cable is a type of twisted
pair cable that is used in local area
networks to connect a computer to a
network hub such as a router or Router to
switch or hub.
 On a straight through cable, the wired pins
match.
 Straight through cable use one wiring
standard: both ends use T568A wiring
standard or both ends use T568B wiring
standard.
 The following figure shows a straight
through cable of which both ends are wired
as the T568B standard.
Crossover Cable
 A crossover Ethernet cable is a type of
Ethernet cable used to connect computing
devices together directly.
 The RJ45 crossover cable uses two different
wiring standards: one end uses the T568A
wiring standard and the other end uses the
T568B wiring standard.
 It is most often used to connect two devices
of the same type: e.g. two computers (via
network interface controller) or two
switches to each other.
Straight through vs Crossover Cable
 Usually, straight through cables are
primarily used for connecting unlike
devices. And crossover cables are use for
connecting alike devices.

 Use straight through Ethernet cable for the

following cabling:
 Switch to router
 Switch to PC or server
 Hub to PC or server
 Use crossover cables for the following
cabling:
 Switch to switch
 Hub to hub
Rollover
 The rollover cable is a Cisco Systems
proprietary cable used to connect a
computer system to a router or switch
console port.
 The rollover cable resembles an Ethernet
UTP cable; however, it is not possible to use
it on anything but Cisco equipment.
 Like UTP cable, the rollover cable has eight
wires inside and an RJ-45 connector on each
end that connect to the router and the
computer port.