Switching

•A network is a set of connected devices.

•Whenever we have multiple devices, we have
the problem of how to connect them to make
one-to-one communication possible.
•One solution is to make a point-to-point
connection between each pair of devices
between a central device and every other device
• A switched network consists of a series of
interlinked nodes, called switches.

• Switches are devices capable of creating

temporary connections between two or more
devices linked to the switch.
• We can then divide today's networks into three
broad categories:
• circuit-switched networks, packet-switched
networks, and message-switched.
• Packet-switched networks can further be
divided into two subcategories-virtual-circuit
networks and datagram n.etworks
CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS
• A circuit-switched network consists of a set of
switches connected by physical links.
• A connection between two stations is a dedicated
path made of one or more links.
• However, each connection uses only one
dedicated channel on each link.
• Each link is normally divided into n channels by
using FDM or TDM
• Circuit switching takes place at the physical
layer.
• Before starting communication, the stations
must make a reservation for the resources to be
used during the communication.
• These resources, such as channels, switch
buffers, switch processing time, and switch
input/output ports, must remain dedicated
during the entire duration of data transfer until
the teardown phase.
• Data transferred between the two stations are
not packetized.
• The data are a continuous flow sent by the
source station and received by the destination
station.
• There is no addressing involved during data
transfer.
• The switches route the data based on their
occupied band (FDM) or time slot (TDM). Of
course.
Three Phases
• The actual communication in a circuit-
switched network requires three phases:
connection setup, data transfer, and
connection teardown.
Efficiency
• Resources are allocated during the entire
duration of the connection. These resources are
unavailable to other connections.
Delay
• The delay in this type of network is minimal.
• During data transfer the data are not delayed at
each switch;
• The resources are allocated for the duration of
the connection.
Packet Switching
• If the message is going to pass through a packet
switched network, it needs to be divided into
packets of fixed size or variable size as
determined by networking protocol.
• In packet switching, there is no resource
allocation for a packet.
• No reserved bandwidth on the link, no scheduled
processing.
• The allocation is done on first come first serve
basis.
Datagram Network
• In a datagram network, each packet is treated
independently of all others.
• Even if a packet is part of a multi packet
transmission, the network treats it as though it
existed alone.
• Packets in this approach are referred to as
datagrams.
• The switches in a datagram network are
traditionally referred to as routers.
• The datagram networks are sometimes
referred to as connectionless networks.
• The term connectionless here means that
the switch (packet switch) does not keep
information about the connection state.
• There are no setup or teardown phases.
• Each packet is treated the same by a
switch regardless of its source or
destination
Routing Table
• If there are no setup or teardown phases,
how are the packets routed to their
destinations in a datagram network?

• In this type of network, each switch (or

packet switch) has a routing table which
is based on the destination address.
Destination address
• Every packet in a datagram network carries a
header that contains, among other information,
the destination address of the packet.
• When the switch receives the packet, this
destination address is examined;
• the routing table is consulted to find the
corresponding port through which the packet
should be forwarded.
• The address remains same during entire
journey of the packet.
Efficiency
• The efficiency of a datagram network is better
than that of a circuit-switched network;
• resources are allocated only when there are
packets to be transferred.
• If a source sends a packet and there is a delay
of a few minutes before another packet can be
sent, the resources can be reallocated during
these minutes for other packets from other
sources
Delay
• Each packet may experience a wait at a
switch before it is forwarded.
• In addition, since not all packets in a
message necessarily travel through the
same switches, the delay is not uniform
for the packets of a message.
Virtual Circuit Network
• A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a
circuit-switched network and a datagram
network.
• It has some characteristics of both.
• As in a circuit-switched network, there
are setup and teardown phases in
addition to the data transfer phase.
• Resources can be allocated during the
setup phase, as in a circuit-switched
network, or on demand, as in a datagram
network.
• data are packetized and each packet
carries an address in the header.
• However, the address in the header has
local jurisdiction ,not end-to-end
jurisdiction.
• As in a circuit-switched network, all
packets follow the same path established
during the connection.
Addressing
• In a virtual-circuit network, two types of
addressing are involved: global and local
(virtual-circuit identifier).
• VCI is a small number that has only switch
scope; it is used by a frame between two
switches. When a frame arrives at a switch, it
has a VCI; when it leaves, it has a different
VCI.
Three Phases
• As in a circuit-switched network, a source and
destination need to go through three phases in
a virtual-circuit network: setup, data transfer,
and teardown.
Data Transfer Phase
• To transfer a frame from a source to its
destination, all switches need to have a table
entry for this virtual circuit.
• The table, in its simplest form, has four
columns.
• This means that the switch holds four pieces of
information for each virtual circuit that is
already set up.
• The data transfer phase is active until the
source sends all its frames to the
destination.
• The procedure at the switch is the same
for each frame of a message.
• The process creates a virtual circuit, not a
real circuit, between the source and
destination
Setup Phase
• Setup Phase In the setup phase, a switch
creates an entry for a virtual circuit.
• For example, suppose source A needs to
create a virtual circuit to B.
• Two steps are required: the setup request
and the acknowledgment
Tear Down Phase
• In this phase, source A, after sending all
frames to B, sends a special frame called a
teardown request.
• Destination B responds with a teardown
confirmation frame. All switches delete the
corresponding entry from their table
Delay in Virtual-Circuit Networks
• In a virtual-circuit network, there is a one-time
delay for setup and a one-time delay for
teardown.
• If resources are allocated during the setup
phase, there is no wait time for individual
packets.
Total delay = 3T+ 3 + setup delay + teardown delay