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Wired LANs: Ethernet

ETHERNET PROTOCOL:
IEEE Project 802
 The IEEE has subdivided the data-link layer into two sublayers: logical link control (LLC) and
media access control (MAC). IEEE has also created several physical-layer standards for different
LAN protocols.
Logical Link Control (LLC)
 In IEEE Project 802, flow control, error control, and part of the framing duties are collected into
one sub layer called the logical link control(LLC). Framing is handled in both the LLC sub layer
and the MAC sub layer.
 The LLC provides a single link-layer control protocol for all IEEE LANs. This means LLC protocol
can provide interconnectivity between different LANs because it makes the MAC sub layer
transparent.
Media Access Control (MAC)
 IEEE Project 802 has created a sub layer called media access control that defines the specific
access method for each LAN.
 For example, itdefines CSMA/CD as the media access method for Ethernet LANs and defines
thetoken-passing method for Token Ring and Token Bus LANs.
Ethernet Evolution:
 The Ethernet LAN was developed in the 1970s by Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs.Since then, it
has gone through four generations: Standard Ethernet (10 Mbps), FastEthernet (100 Mbps),
Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps), and 10 Gigabit Ethernet(10 Gbps),

Fig: Ethernet evolution through four generations.

STANDARD ETHERNET:
 The original Ethernet technology with the data rate of 10 Mbps as the Standard Ethernet.
Characteristics:

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Some characteristics of the Standard Ethernet are

1) Connectionless and Unreliable Service
 Ethernet provides a connectionless service, which means each frame sent is independent
independen of the
previous or next frame.
 Ethernet has no connection establishment or connection termination phases. The sender sends
a frame whenever it has it; the receiver may o
or may not be ready for it.
 The sender may overwhelm the receiver with frames, which may result in dropping frames. If a
frame drops, the sender will not know about it.
 Ethernet is also unreliable like IP and UDP.
Frame Format
The Ethernet frame contains seven
even fields

Fig: Ethernet Frame

 Preamble. This field contains 7 bytes (56 bits) of alternating 0s and 1s that alert the receiving
system to the coming frame.
 Start frame delimiter (SFD). This field (1 byte: 10101011) signals the beginning of the frame.
 Destination address (DA). This field is six bytes (48 bits) and contains the link layer address of
the destination station or stations to receive the packet.
 Source address (SA). This field is also six bytes and contains the link
link-layer
layer address of the sender
of the packet.
 Type. This field defines the upper
upper-layer
layer protocol whose packet is encapsulated in the frame. This
protocol can be IP, ARP, OSPF.
 Data. This field carries data encapsulated from the upper
upper-layer
layer protocols. It is a minimum of 46
and a maximum of 1500
500 bytes.
 CRC. The last field contains error detection information.
Frame Length

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 An Ethernet frame needs to have a minimum length of 512 bits or64 bytes. Part of this length is
the header and the trailer. If we count 18 bytes of header and trailer (6 bytes of source address,
6 bytes of destination address, 2 bytes of length or type, and 4 bytes of CRC), then the minimum
length of data from the upper layer is64 − 18 = 46 bytes.
 The standard defines the maximum length of a frame (without preamble and SFD field)
field as 1518
bytes.
Minimum frame length: 64 bytes Minimum data length: 46 bytes
Maximum frame length: 1518 bytes Maximum data length: 1500bytes

Addressing
 Each station on an Ethernet network (such as a PC, workstation, or printer) has its own network
interface card (NIC). The Ethernet address is 6 bytes (48 bits), normally written in hexadecimal
notation, with a colon between the bytes.
For example: 4A:30:10:21:10:1A
Transmission of Address Bits
 The way the addresses are sent out online is different from the way they are written in
hexadecimal notation. The transmission is left to right, byte by byte.
Example: Show how the address 47:20:1B:2E:08:EE is sent out online.
Solution:
The address is sent left to right, byte by byte; for each byte, iitt is sent right to left, bit by bit, as
shown below:

Unicast, Multicast, and Broadcast Addresses:

 A source address is always a unicast address - the frame comes from only one station.
 The destination address, can be unicast, multicast, or broadcast. If the
he least significant bit of the
first byte in a destination address is 0, the address is unicast; otherwise,it is multicast.
 In a unicast transmission,, all stations will receive the frame, the intended recipient keeps and
handles the frame; the rest discard it.

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 In a multicast transmission
transmission,, all stations will receive the frame, the stations that are members of
the group keep and handle it; the rest discard it.
 In a broadcast transmission
transmission,, all stations (except the sender) will receive the frame and all
stations (except
xcept the sender) keep and handle it.
Access Method:
 Since the network that uses the standard Ethernet protocol is a broadcast network, we need to
use an access method to control access to the sharing medium. The standard Ethernet chose
CSMA/CD with 1-persistent
tent method.
Efficiency of Standard Ethernet
The practical efficiency of standard Ethernet has been measured to be
Efficiency 5 1 / (1 1 6.4 3 a)
in which the parameter “a”” is the number of frames that can fit on the medium. It can be calculated as
a = (propagation delay)/(transmission delay).
Implementation:
The Standard Ethernet defined several implementations,
Table: Summary of standard Ethernet implementation
Implementation Medium Medium Length Encoding
10Base5 Thick coax 500m Manchester
10Base2 Thin coax 185m Manchester
10Base-T 2 UTP 100m Manchester
10Base-F 2 Fiber 2000m Manchester

10Base5: Thick Ethernet

 The first implementation is called 10Base5, thick Ethernet,or Thicknet.10Base5
10Base5 was the first
Ethernet specification to use a bus topology with an external transceiver (transmitter/receiver)
connected via a tap to a thick coaxial cable.

Fig: 10Base5 implementation

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10Base2: Thin Ethernet

 The second implementation is called 10Base2, thin Ethernet, or Cheapernet. 10Base2also uses a
bus topology, but the cable is much thinner and more flexible.

Fig: 10Base2 implementation

10Base-T: Twisted-Pair Ethernet
 The third implementation is called 10Base-T or twisted-pair Ethernet. 10Base-T
10Base uses a physical
star topology. The stations are connected to a hub via two pairs of twisted cable.

Fig: 10Base- T implementation

10Base-F: Fiber Ethernet
 10Base-FF uses a star topology to connect stations to a hub. The stations are connected to the
hub using two fiber-optic
optic cables.

Fig: 10Base- F implementation

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