Computer Networks1
Computer Networks1
Computer Networks1
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COMPUTER
NETWORKS
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COMPUTER NETWORKS
Computer network
Bold text
For the scientific and engineering discipline studying computer networks, see Computer
networking.
Blue RJ-45 patchcord of the type commonly used to connect network devices.
A “Computer Network” is two or more computers connected together using a
telecommunication system for the purpose of communicating and sharing
resources.
Experts in the field of networking debate whether two computers that are connected
together using some form of communications medium constitute a network. Therefore,
some works state that a network requires three connected computers. For example,
"Telecommunications: Glossary of Telecommunication Terms" states that a computer
network is "A network of data processing nodes that are interconnected for the purpose
of data communication", the term "network" being defined in the same document as "An
interconnection of three or more communicating entities". A computer connected to a
non-computing device (e.g., networked to a printer via an Ethernet link) may also
represent a computer network, although this article does not address this configuration.
This article uses the definition which requires two or more computers to be connected
together to form a network. The same basic functions are generally present in this case
as with larger numbers of connected computers.
Contents
Computers
[edit] Printers
Many printers are capable of acting as part of a computer network without any
other device, such as a print server, to act as an intermediary between the printer
and the device that is requesting a print job to be completed.
Many networks use dumb terminals instead of workstations either for data entry
and display purposes or in some cases where the application runs entirely on the
server.
There are many other types of devices that may be used to build a network, many
of which require an understanding of more advanced computer networking
concepts before they are able to be easily understood (e.g., hubs, routers,
bridges, switches, hardware firewalls, etc.). On home and mobile networks,
connecting consumer electronics devices such as video game consoles is becoming
increasingly common.
A network that is limited to a relatively small spatial area such as a room, a single
building, a ship, or an aircraft. Local area networks are sometimes called a single
location network.
Note: For administrative purposes, large LANs are generally divided into smaller
logical segments called workgroups. A workgroup is a group of computers that
share a common set of resources within a LAN.
A network that connects two or more LANs but that is limited to a specific
(possibly private) geographical area such as a college campus, industrial complex,
or a military base.
Note: A CAN is generally limited to an area that is smaller than a Metropolitan
Area Network
A network that connects two or more LANs or CANs together but does not extend
beyond the boundaries of the immediate town, city, or metropolitan area. Multiple
routers, switches & hubs are connected to create a MAN.
[edit] Internetwork:
Two or more networks or network segments connected using devices that operate
at layer 3 (the 'network' layer) of the OSI Basic Reference Model, such as a router.
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Note: Any interconnection among or between public, private, commercial,
industrial, or governmental networks may also be defined as an internetwork.
Internet, The:
A specific internetwork, consisting of a worldwide interconnection of governmental,
academic, public, and private networks based upon the Advanced Research
Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) developed by ARPA of the U.S. Department of
Defense – also home to the World Wide Web (WWW) and referred to as the
'Internet' with a capital 'I' to distinguish it from other generic internetworks.
[edit] Intranet:
[edit] Extranet:
Computer networks may be classified according to the network layer at which they
operate according to some basic reference models that are considered to be standards in
the industry such as the seven layer OSI reference model and the five layer TCP/IP
model.
[edit] By scale
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Computer networks may be classified according to the scale or extent of reach of the
network, for example as a Personal area network (PAN), Local area network (LAN),
Campus area network (CAN), Metropolitan area network (MAN), or Wide area network
(WAN).
Computer networks may be classified according to the network topology upon which the
network is based, such as Bus network, Star network, Ring network, Token Ring
network, Mesh network, Star-bus network, Tree or Hierarchical topology network, etc.
Topology can be arranged in a Geometric Arragement
Computer networks may be classified according to the services which they provide, such
as Storage area networks, Server farms, Process control networks, Value-added
network, SOHO network, Wireless community network, XML appliance, Jungle Networks,
khadar network, etc.
[edit] By protocol
Network diagram
[edit] Symbolization
Readily identifiable icons are used to depict common network appliances e.g. Router,
and the style of lines between them indicate the type of connection. Clouds are used to
represent networks external to the one pictured for the purposes of depicting
connections between internal and external devices, without indicating the specifics of the
outside network. For example, in the hypothetical local area network pictured to the
right, three personal computers and a server are connected to a switch; the server is
further connected to a printer and a gateway router, which is connected via a WAN link
to the Internet.
Depending on whether the diagram is intended for formal or informal use, certain details
may be lacking and must be determined from context. For example, the sample diagram
does not indicate the physical type of connection between the PCs and the switch, but
since a modern LAN is depicted, ethernet port may be assumed. If the same style of line
was used in a WAN(wide area network) diagram, however, it may indicate a different
physical connection.
At different scales, diagrams may represent various levels of network granularity. At the
LAN level, individual nodes may represent individual physical devices, such as hubs or
file servers, while at the WAN level, individual nodes may represent entire cities. In
addition, when the scope of a diagram crosses the common LAN/MAN/WAN boundaries,
representative hypothetical devices may be depicted instead of showing all actually
existing nodes. For example, if a network appliance is intended to be connected through
the Internet to many end-user mobile devices, only a single such device may be
depicted for the purposes of showing the general relationship between the appliance and
any such device.
Cisco uses its own brand of networking symbols. Since Cisco has a large Internet
presence and designs a broad variety of network devices, its list of symbols is
exhaustive. As of November 28, 2006 this list is located can be found at
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac50/ac47/2.html.
[edit] Topology
Network topology
[hide]
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The arrangement or mapping of the elements of a network gives rise to certain basic
topologies which may then be combined to form more complex topologies (hybrid
topologies). The most common of these basic types of topologies are (refer to the
illustration at the top right of this page):
• Tree
• physical topologies
• signal topologies
• logical topologies
The terms signal topology and logical topology are often used interchangeably even
though there is a subtle difference between the two and the distinction is not often made
between the two.
[edit] Bus:
Linear Bus:
The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are
connected to a common transmission medium which has exactly two endpoints
(this is the 'bus', which is also commonly referred to as the backbone, or trunk) –
all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this
common transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the
network virtually simultaneously (disregarding propagation delays)[1][3].
Note: The two endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally
terminated with a device called a terminator that exhibits the characteristic
impedance of the transmission medium and which dissipates or absorbs the
energy that remains in the signal to prevent the signal from being reflected or
propagated back onto the transmission medium in the opposite direction, which
would cause interference with and degradation of the signals on the transmission
medium (See Electrical termination).
Distributed Bus:
The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are
connected to a common transmission medium which has more than two endpoints
that are created by adding branches to the main section of the transmission
medium – the physical distributed bus topology functions in exactly the same
fashion as the physical linear bus topology (i.e., all nodes share a common
transmission medium).
Notes:
1.) All of the endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally
terminated with a device called a 'terminator' (see the note under linear bus).
2.) The physical linear bus topology is sometimes considered to be a special case
of the physical distributed bus topology – i.e., a distributed bus with no branching
segments.
3.) The physical distributed bus topology is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a
physical tree topology – however, although the physical distributed bus topology
resembles the physical tree topology, it differs from the physical tree topology in
that there is no central node to which any other nodes are connected, since this
hierarchical functionality is replaced by the common bus.
[edit] Star:
The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is
connected to a central node with a point-to-point link in a 'hub' and 'spoke'
fashion, the central node being the 'hub' and the nodes that are attached to the
central node being the 'spokes' (e.g., a collection of point-to-point links from the
peripheral nodes that converge at a central node) – all data that is transmitted
between nodes in the network is transmitted to this central node, which is usually
some type of device that then retransmits the data to some or all of the other
nodes in the network, although the central node may also be a simple common
connection point (such as a 'punch-down' block) without any active device to
repeat the signals[1][3].
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Notes:
1.) A point-to-point link is sometimes categorized as a special instance of the
physical star topology – therefore, the simplest type of network that is based upon
the physical star topology would consist of one node with a single point-to-point
link to a second node, the choice of which node is the 'hub' and which node is the
'spoke' being arbitrary[1].
2.) After the special case of the point-to-point link, as in note 1.) above, the next
simplest type of network that is based upon the physical star topology would
consist of one central node – the 'hub' – with two separate point-to-point links to
two peripheral nodes – the 'spokes'.
3.) Although most networks that are based upon the physical star topology are
commonly implemented using a special device such as a hub or switch as the
central node (i.e., the 'hub' of the star), it is also possible to implement a network
that is based upon the physical star topology using a computer or even a simple
common connection point as the 'hub' or central node – however, since many
illustrations of the physical star network topology depict the central node as one of
these special devices, some confusion is possible, since this practice may lead to
the misconception that a physical star network requires the central node to be one
of these special devices, which is not true because a simple network consisting of
three computers connected as in note 2.) above also has the topology of the
physical star.
Extended Star:
A type of network topology in which a network that is based upon the physical star
topology has one or more repeaters between the central node (the 'hub' of the
star) and the peripheral or 'spoke' nodes, the repeaters being used to extend the
maximum transmission distance of the point-to-point links between the central
node and the peripheral nodes beyond that which is supported by the transmitter
power of the central node or beyond that which is supported by the standard upon
which the physical layer of the physical star network is based.
Note: If the repeaters in a network that is based upon the physical extended star
topology are replaced with hubs or switches, then a hybrid network topology is
created that is referred to as a physical hierarchical star topology, although some
texts make no distinction between the two topologies.
Distributed Star:
A type of network topology that is composed of individual networks that are based
upon the physical star topology connected together in a linear fashion – i.e.,
'daisy-chained' – with no central or top level connection point (e.g., two or more
'stacked' hubs, along with their associated star connected nodes or 'spokes').
[edit] Ring:
The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is
connected to two other nodes in the network and with the first and last nodes
being connected to each other, forming a ring – all data that is transmitted
between nodes in the network travels from one node to the next node in a circular
manner and the data generally flows in a single direction only.
Dual-ring:
The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is
connected to two other nodes in the network, with two connections to each of
these nodes, and with the first and last nodes being connected to each other with
two connections, forming a double ring – the data flows in opposite directions
around the two rings, although, generally, only one of the rings carries data during
normal operation, and the two rings are independent unless there is a failure or
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break in one of the rings, at which time the two rings are joined (by the stations
on either side of the fault) to enable the flow of data to continue using a segment
of the second ring to bypass the fault in the primary ring.
[edit] Mesh:
Full:
Fully Connected:
The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is
connected to each of the other nodes in the network with a point-to-point link –
this makes it possible for data to be simultaneously transmitted from any single
node to all of the other nodes.
Note: The physical fully connected mesh topology is generally too costly and
complex for practical networks, although the topology is used when there are only
a small number of nodes to be interconnected[3].
Partial:
Partially Connected:
The type of network topology in which some of the nodes of the network are
connected to more than one other node in the network with a point-to-point link –
this makes it possible to take advantage of some of the redundancy that is
provided by a physical fully connected mesh topology without the expense and
complexity required for a connection between every node in the network.
Note: In most practical networks that are based upon the physical partially
connected mesh topology, all of the data that is transmitted between nodes in the
network takes the shortest path between nodes, except in the case of a failure or
break in one of the links, in which case the data takes an alternate path to the
destination – this implies that the nodes of the network possess some type of
logical 'routing' algorithm to determine the correct path to use at any particular
time.
The type of network topology in which a central 'root' node (the top level of the
hierarchy) is connected to one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the
hierarchy (i.e., the second level) with a point-to-point link between each of the
second level nodes and the top level central 'root' node, while each of the second
level nodes that are connected to the top level central 'root' node will also have
one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the third
level) connected to it, also with a point-to-point link, the top level central 'root'
node being the only node that has no other node above it in the hierarchy – the
hierarchy of the tree is symmetrical, each node in the network having a specific
fixed number, f, of nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy,
the number, f, being referred to as the 'branching factor' of the hierarchical tree.
Notes:
1.) A network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology must have at
least three levels in the hierarchy of the tree, since a network with a central 'root'
node and only one hierarchical level below it would exhibit the physical topology of
a star.
2.) A network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology and with a
branching factor of 1 would be classified as a physical linear topology.
3.) The branching factor, f, is independent of the total number of nodes in the
network and, therefore, if the nodes in the network require ports for connection to
other nodes the total number of ports per node may be kept low even though the
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total number of nodes is large – this makes the effect of the cost of adding ports
to each node totally dependent upon the branching factor and may therefore be
kept as low as required without any effect upon the total number of nodes that are
possible.
4.) The total number of point-to-point links in a network that is based upon the
physical hierarchical topology will be one less that the total number of nodes in the
network.
5.) If the nodes in a network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology
are required to perform any processing upon the data that is transmitted between
nodes in the network, the nodes that are at higher levels in the hierarchy will be
required to perform more processing operations on behalf of other nodes than the
nodes that are lower in the hierarchy.
The hybrid topology is a type of network topology that is composed of one or more
interconnections of two or more networks that are based upon different physical
topologies or a type of network topology that is composed of one or more
interconnections of two or more networks that are based upon the same physical
topology, but where the physical topology of the network resulting from such an
interconnection does not meet the definition of the original physical topology of the
interconnected networks (e.g., the physical topology of a network that would result from
an interconnection of two or more networks that are based upon the physical star
topology might create a hybrid topology which resembles a mixture of the physical star
and physical bus topologies or a mixture of the physical star and the physical tree
topologies, depending upon how the individual networks are interconnected, while the
physical topology of a network that would result from an interconnection of two or more
networks that are based upon the physical distributed bus network retains the topology
of a physical distributed bus network).
Star-Bus:
A type of network topology in which the central nodes of one or more individual
networks that are based upon the physical star topology are connected together
using a common 'bus' network whose physical topology is based upon the physical
linear bus topology, the endpoints of the common 'bus' being terminated with the
characteristic impedance of the transmission medium where required – e.g., two
or more hubs connected to a common backbone with drop cables through the port
on the hub that is provided for that purpose (e.g., a properly configured 'uplink'
port) would comprise the physical bus portion of the physical star-bus topology,
while each of the individual hubs, combined with the individual nodes which are
connected to them, would comprise the physical star portion of the physical star-
bus topology.
Star-of_Stars:
Hierarchical Star:
A type of network topology that is composed of an interconnection of individual
networks that are based upon the physical star topology connected together in a
hierarchical fashion to form a more complex network – e.g., a top level central
node which is the 'hub' of the top level physical star topology and to which other
second level central nodes are attached as the 'spoke' nodes, each of which, in
turn, may also become the central nodes of a third level physical star topology.
Notes:
1.) The physical hierarchical star topology is not a combination of the physical
linear bus and the physical star topologies, as cited in some texts, as there is no
common linear bus within the topology, although the top level 'hub' which is the
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beginning of the physical hierarchical star topology may be connected to the
backbone of another network, such as a common carrier, which is, topologically,
not considered to be a part of the local network – if the top level central node is
connected to a backbone that is considered to be a part of the local network, then
the resulting network topology would be considered to be a hybrid topology that is
a mixture of the topology of the backbone network and the physical hierarchical
star topology.
2.) The physical hierarchical star topology is also sometimes incorrectly referred to
as a physical tree topology, since its physical topology is hierarchical, however, the
physical hierarchical star topology does not have a structure that is determined by
a branching factor, as is the case with the physical tree topology and, therefore,
nodes may be added to, or removed from, any node that is the 'hub' of one of the
individual physical star topology networks within a network that is based upon the
physical hierarchical star topology.
3.) The physical hierarchical star topology is commonly used in 'outside plant'
(OSP) cabling to connect various buildings to a central connection facility, which
may also house the 'demarcation point' for the connection to the data transmission
facilities of a common carrier, and in 'inside plant' (ISP) cabling to connect
multiple wiring closets within a building to a common wiring closet within the same
building, which is also generally where the main backbone or trunk that connects
to a larger network, if any, enters the building.
Star-wired Ring:
A type of hybrid physical network topology that is a combination of the physical
star topology and the physical ring topology, the physical star portion of the
topology consisting of a network in which each of the nodes of which the network
is composed are connected to a central node with a point-to-point link in a 'hub'
and 'spoke' fashion, the central node being the 'hub' and the nodes that are
attached to the central node being the 'spokes' (e.g., a collection of point-to-point
links from the peripheral nodes that converge at a central node) in a fashion that
is identical to the physical star topology, while the physical ring portion of the
topology consists of circuitry within the central node which routes the signals on
the network to each of the connected nodes sequentially, in a circular fashion.
Note: In an 802.5 Token Ring network the central node is called a Multistation
Access Unit (MAU).
Hybrid Mesh:
A type of hybrid physical network topology that is a combination of the physical
partially connected topology and one or more other physical topologies the mesh
portion of the topology consisting of redundant or alternate connections between
some of the nodes in the network – the physical hybrid mesh topology is
commonly used in networks which require a high degree of availability.
The mapping of the actual connections between the nodes of a network, as evidenced by
the path that the signals take when propagating between the nodes.
Note: The term 'signal topology' is often used synonymously with the term 'logical
topology', however, some confusion may result from this practice in certain
situations since, by definition, the term 'logical topology' refers to the apparent
path that the data takes between nodes in a network while the term 'signal
topology' generally refers to the actual path that the signals (e.g., optical,
electrical, electromagnetic, etc.) take when propagating between nodes.
Example:
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In an 802.4 Token Bus network, the physical topology may be a physical bus, a
physical star, or a hybrid physical topology, while the signal topology is a bus (i.e.,
the electrical signal propagates to all nodes simultaneously [ignoring propagation
delays and network latency] ), and the logical topology is a ring (i.e., the data
flows from one node to the next in a circular manner according to the protocol).[4]
The mapping of the apparent connections between the nodes of a network, as evidenced
by the path that data appears to take when traveling between the nodes.
The logical classification of network topologies generally follows the same classifications
as those in the physical classifications of network topologies, the path that the data
takes between nodes being used to determine the topology as opposed to the actual
physical connections being used to determine the topology.
Notes:
1.) Logical topologies are often closely associated with media access control (MAC)
methods and protocols.
2.) The logical topologies are generally determined by network protocols as
opposed to being determined by the physical layout of cables, wires, and network
devices or by the flow of the electrical signals, although in many cases the paths
that the electrical signals take between nodes may closely match the logical flow
of data, hence the convention of using the terms 'logical topology' and 'signal
topology' interchangeably.
3.) Logical topologies are able to be dynamically reconfigured by special types of
equipment such as routers and switches.
Except for star-based networks, the easiest way to add more computers into a network
is by daisy-chaining, or connecting each computer in series to the next. If a message is
intended for a computer partway down the line, each system bounces it along in
sequence until it reaches the destination. A daisy-chained network can take two basic
forms: linear and ring.
• A linear topology puts a two-way link between one computer and the next.
However, this was expensive in the early days of computing, since each computer
(except for the ones at each end) required two receivers and two transmitters.
• By connecting the computers at each end, a ring topology can be formed. An
advantage of the ring is that the number of transmitters and receivers can be cut
in half, since a message will eventually loop all of the way around. When a node
sends a message, the message is processed by each computer in the ring. If a
computer is not the destination node, it will pass the message to the next node,
until the message arrives at its destination. If the message is not accepted by any
node on the network, it will travel around the entire ring and return to the sender.
This potentially results in a doubling of travel time for data, but since it is traveling
at a significant fraction of the speed of light, the loss is usually negligible.
[edit] Centralization
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The star topology reduces the probability of a network failure by connecting all of the
peripheral nodes (computers, etc.) to a central node. When the physical star topology is
applied to a logical bus network such as Ethernet, this central node (usually a hub)
rebroadcasts all transmissions received from any peripheral node to all peripheral nodes
on the network, sometimes including the originating node. All peripheral nodes may thus
communicate with all others by transmitting to, and receiving from, the central node
only. The failure of a transmission line linking any peripheral node to the central node
will result in the isolation of that peripheral node from all others, but the remaining
peripheral nodes will be unaffected. However, the disadvantage is that the failure of the
central node will cause the failure of all of the peripheral nodes also.
If the central node is passive, the originating node must be able to tolerate the reception
of an echo of its own transmission, delayed by the two-way transmission time (i.e. to
and from the central node) plus any delay generated in the central node. An active star
network has an active central node that usually has the means to prevent echo-related
problems.
A tree topology (a.k.a. hierarchical topology) can be viewed as a collection of star
networks arranged in a hierarchy. This tree has individual peripheral nodes (i.e. leaves)
which are required to transmit to and receive from one other node only and are not
required to act as repeaters or regenerators. Unlike the star network, the functionality of
the central node may be distributed.
As in the conventional star network, individual nodes may thus still be isolated from the
network by a single-point failure of a transmission path to the node. If a link connecting
a leaf fails, that leaf is isolated; if a connection to a non-leaf node fails, an entire section
of the network becomes isolated from the rest.
In order to alleviate the amount of network traffic that comes from broadcasting all
signals to all nodes, more advanced central nodes were developed that are able to keep
track of the identities of the nodes that are connected to the network. These network
switches will "learn" the layout of the network by first broadcasting data packets to all
nodes, then observing where response packets come from and entering the addresses of
these nodes into an internal table for future routing purposes.
[edit] Decentralization
In a mesh topology (i.e., a partially connected mesh topology), there are at least two
nodes with two or more paths between them to provide redundant paths to be used in
case the link providing one of the paths fails. This decentralization is often used to
advantage to compensate for the single-point-failure disadvantage that is present when
using a single device as a central node (e.g., in star and tree networks). A special kind
of mesh, limiting the number of hops between two nodes, is a hypercube. The number of
arbitrary forks in mesh networks makes them more difficult to design and implement,
but their decentralized nature makes them very useful. This is similar in some ways to a
grid network, where a linear or ring topology is used to connect systems in multiple
directions. A multi-dimensional ring has a toroidal topology, for instance.
A fully connected network, complete topology or full mesh topology is a network
topology in which there is a direct link between all pairs of nodes. In a fully connected
network with n nodes, there are n(n-1)/2 direct links. Networks designed with this
topology are usually very expensive to set up, but provide a high degree of reliability
due to the multiple paths for data that are provided by the large number of redundant
links between nodes. This topology is mostly seen in military applications. However, it
can also be seen in the file sharing protocol BitTorrent in which users connect to other
users in the "swarm" by allowing each user sharing the file to connect to other users
also involved. Often in actual usage of BitTorrent any given individual node is rarely
connected to every single other node as in a true fully connected network but the
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protocol does allow for the possibility for any one node to connect to any other node
when sharing files.
[edit] Hybrids
Hybrid networks use a combination of any two or more topologies in such a way that the
resulting network does not exhibit one of the standard topologies (e.g., bus, star, ring,
etc.). For example, a tree network connected to a tree network is still a tree network,
but two star networks connected together exhibit a hybrid network topology. A hybrid
topology is always produced when two different basic network topologies are connected.
Two common examples for Hybrid network are: star ring network and star bus network
• A Star ring network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a
multistation access unit (MAU) as a centralized hub.
• A Star Bus network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a bus
trunk (the bus trunk serves as the network's backbone).
Bus network
Contents
[hide]
[edit] Advantages
[edit] Disadvantages
• Difficult to administer/troubleshoot.
• Limited cable length and number of stations.
• If there is a problem with the cable, the entire network goes down.
• Maintenance costs may be higher in the long run.
• Performance degrades as additional computers are added or on heavy traffic.
• Low security (all computers on the bus can see all data transmissions).
• Proper termination is required.(loop must be in closed path).
• If one node fails, the whole network will shut down.
• If many computers are attached, the amount of data flowing causes the network
to slow down.
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Mesh networking
Star network
[edit] Advantages
• Good performance.
• Easy to set up and to expand.
• Any non-centralised failure will have very little effect on the network, whereas on
a ring network it would all fail with one fault.
• Easy to detect faults
• Data Packets are sent quickly as they do not have to travel through any
unnecessary nodes.
[edit] Disadvantages
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• Expensive to install
• Extra hardware required
• If the host computer fails the entire system is affected.
Switched mesh
[hide]
• 1 Technical aspects
• 2 Home networks
• 3 History
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links
Although switched Ethernet is now the most common data link layer protocol (OSI 7-
Layer Model), and IP as a network layer protocol, many different options have been used
(see below), and some continue to be popular in niche areas. Smaller LANs consist of a
few switches typically connected to each other and with one connected to a router, cable
modem, or DSL modem. A traditional model of access, distribution, and core switches
was popularized by Cisco Systems and has been in use for many years.
Larger LANs are characterized by distributing Ethernet traffic roles within the network.
Each layer aggregates traffic of the layer below it and will typically maintain redundant
links with switches capable of quality of service and spanning tree protocol to prevent
loops and the recovery of failed uplinks.
Used for basic data or program sharing functionality, the humble LAN has served as a
catalyst for the indispensable role the intranet has come to play in modern government
departments and businesses. The LAN-based intranet has been a large contributor to the
productivity increases in western economies during the early part of the 21st century.
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Initial implementations of LANs tended to revolve around the type of computers and
devices attached to the LAN, and to the permissions they would be granted. Modern
considerations include a carefully planned intranet strategy - to comply with legislative
and other responsibilities - content management software, accessibility, scalability, audit
requirements, document and information control and integration with telephone
systems.[3]
LANs may have connections to other LANs via routers and leased lines. Traditionally, the
network connecting two or more LANs is referred to as the WAN (Wide Area Network).
Recently, service providers have begun to offer additional services to link LANs together.
These technologies, such as Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), and MPLS/VPN services
have diversified the standard model of interconnecting sites. There are also methods of
connecting LANs together through the use of Internet connections, VPN software or
hardware, and 'tunneling' across the Internet using VPN technologies.
Topology, protocols and media (The cables, like CAT5, or radio waves that connect
devices in the LAN) are the characteristics that differentiate LANs.
With the proliferation of computers and IT devices in the modern home has come the
frequent use of LANs to connect them together. Many of these home LANs are wireless
and use the 802.11g/b wireless networking standard which transmits data as long wave
microwaves on the 2.4 GHz band. [4] Wireless LAN's connecting via the IEEE 802.11 Wi-
Fi standard are quickly replacing wired LAN's, and enabling internet connectivity in areas
that are otherwise impossible to connect to a computer network. [5] This is in response
to the declining price of home equipment and the increasing need of connectivity.
[edit] History
In the days before personal computers, a site might have just one central computer,
with users accessing this via computer terminals over simple low-speed cabling.
Networks such as IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture) were aimed at linking
terminals or other mainframes at remote sites over leased lines—hence these were wide
area networks.
The first LANs were created in the late 1970s and used to create high-speed links
between several large central computers at one site. Of many competing systems
created at this time, Ethernet and ARCNET were the most popular.
The development and proliferation of CP/M- and then DOS-based personal computers
meant that a single site began to have dozens or even hundreds of computers. The
initial attraction of networking these was generally to share disk space and laser
printers, which were both very expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for
the concept and for several years, from about 1983 onward, computer industry pundits
would regularly declare the coming year to be “the year of the LAN”.
In reality, the concept was marred by proliferation of incompatible physical layer and
network protocol implementations, and confusion over how best to share resources.
Typically, each vendor would have its own type of network card, cabling, protocol, and
network operating system. A solution appeared with the advent of Novell NetWare which
provided even-handed support for the 40 or so competing card/cable types, and a much
more sophisticated operating system than most of its competitors. Netware dominated[6]
the personal computer LAN business from early after its introduction in 1983 until the
mid 1990s when Microsoft introduced Windows NT Advanced Server and Windows for
Workgroups.
Of the competitors to NetWare, only Banyan Vines had comparable technical strengths,
but Banyan never gained a secure base. Microsoft and 3Com worked together to create
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a simple network operating system which formed the base of 3Com's 3+Share,
Microsoft's LAN Manager and IBM's LAN Server. None of these were particularly
successful.
In this same timeframe, Unix computer workstations from vendors such as Sun
Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Silicon Graphics, Intergraph, NeXT and Apollo were
using TCP/IP based networking. Although this market segment is now much reduced,
the technologies developed in this area continue to be influential on the Internet and in
both Linux and Apple Mac OS X networking, and the TCP/IP protocol has now almost
completely replaced IPX, AppleTalk, NETBEUI and other protocols used by the early PC
LANs.
OSI model
2 • LLC sublayer
• MAC sublayer
1 Physical layer
The Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model (OSI Reference Model
or OSI Model for short) is a layered, abstract description for communications and
computer network protocol design, developed as part of the Open Systems
Interconnection initiative. It is also called the OSI seven layer model.
Contents
[hide]
• 1 History
• 2 Description of OSI layers
o 2.1 Layer 7: Application layer
o 2.2 Layer 6: Presentation layer
o 2.3 Layer 5: Session layer
o 2.4 Layer 4: Transport layer
o 2.5 Layer 3: Network layer
o 2.6 Layer 2: Data link layer
o 2.7 Layer 1: Physical layer
• 3 Interfaces
• 4 Examples
• 5 Humor
• 6 See also
• 7 External links
[edit] History
In the late 1970s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), began to
develop its Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) networking suite. OSI has two major
components: an abstract model of networking (the Basic Reference Model, or seven-
layer model), and a set of concrete protocols. The standard documents that describe OSI
are for sale and not currently available online.
Parts of OSI have influenced Internet protocol development, but none more than the
abstract model itself, documented in OSI 7498 and its various addenda. In this model, a
networking system is divided into layers. Within each layer, one or more entities
implement its functionality. Each entity interacts directly only with the layer immediately
beneath it, and provides facilities for use by the layer above it. Protocols enable an
entity in one host to interact with a corresponding entity at the same layer in a remote
host.
The Presentation layer transforms data to provide a standard interface for the
Application layer. MIME encoding, data compression, data encryption and similar
manipulation of the presentation is done at this layer to present the data as a service or
protocol developer sees fit. Examples of this layer are converting an EBCDIC-coded text
file to an ASCII-coded file, or serializing objects and other data structures into and out
of XML.
The Transport layer provides transparent transfer of data between end users, thus
relieving the upper layers from any concern while providing reliable data transfer. The
transport layer controls the reliability of a given link through flow control,
segmentation/desegmentation, and error control. Some protocols are state and
connection oriented. This means that the transport layer can keep track of the packets
and retransmit those that fail. The best known example of a layer 4 protocol is the
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The transport layer is the layer that converts
messages into TCP segments or User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control
Transmission Protocol (SCTP), etc. packets. Perhaps an easy way to visualize the
Transport Layer is to compare it with a Post Office, which deals with the dispatching and
classification of mail and parcels sent.
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[edit] Layer 3: Network layer
The Network layer provides the functional and procedural means of transferring variable
length data sequences from a source to a destination via one or more networks while
maintaining the quality of service requested by the Transport layer. The Network layer
performs network routing functions, and might also perform
segmentation/desegmentation, and report delivery errors. Routers operate at this
layer—sending data throughout the extended network and making the Internet possible.
This is a logical addressing scheme – values are chosen by the network engineer. The
addressing scheme is hierarchical. The best known example of a layer 3 protocol is the
Internet Protocol (IP). Perhaps it's easier to visualize this layer as the actual Air Mail or
Consolidated Carrier that transfers the mail from Point A to Point B.
The Data Link layer provides the functional and procedural means to transfer data
between network entities and to detect and possibly correct errors that may occur in the
Physical layer. The best known example of this is Ethernet. Other examples of data link
protocols are HDLC and ADCCP for point-to-point or packet-switched networks and Aloha
for local area networks. On IEEE 802 local area networks, and some non-IEEE 802
networks such as FDDI, this layer may be split into a Media Access Control (MAC) layer
and the IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) layer. It arranges bits from physical layer
into logical chunks of data, known as frames.
This is the layer at which the bridges and switches operate. Connectivity is provided only
among locally attached network nodes forming layer 2 domains for unicast or broadcast
forwarding. Other protocols may be imposed on the data frames to create tunnels and
logically separated layer 2 forwarding domain.
The Physical layer defines all the electrical and physical specifications for devices. This
includes the layout of pins, voltages, and cable specifications. Hubs, repeaters, network
adapters and Host Bus Adapters (HBAs used in Storage Area Networks) are physical-
layer devices. The major functions and services performed by the physical layer are:
Parallel SCSI buses operate in this layer. Various physical-layer Ethernet standards are
also in this layer; Ethernet incorporates both this layer and the data-link layer. The
same applies to other local-area networks, such as Token ring, FDDI, and IEEE 802.11,
as well as personal area networks such as Bluetooth and IEEE 802.15.4.
[edit] Interfaces
In addition to standards for individual protocols in transmission, there are also interface
standards for different layers to talk to the ones above or below (usually operating-
system–specific). For example, Microsoft Windows' Winsock, and Unix's Berkeley sockets
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and System V Transport Layer Interface, are interfaces between applications (layers 5
and above) and the transport (layer 4). NDIS and ODI are interfaces between the media
(layer 2) and the network protocol (layer 3).
[edit] Examples
[edit] Humor
• The OSI model has also been jokingly called the "Taco Bell model", since the
restaurant chain has been known for their seven layer burrito.
Routing
Routing Schemes
• anycast
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• broadcast
• multicast
• unicast
[hide]
Distance-vector routing protocols are simple and efficient in small networks, and require
little, if any management. However, they do not scale well, and have poor convergence
properties, which has led to the development of more complex but more scalable link-
state routing protocols for use in large networks. Distance-vector protocols suffer from
the count-to-infinity problem [1].
The primary advantage of link-state routing is that it reacts more quickly, and in a
bounded amount of time, to connectivity changes. Also, the link-state packets that are
sent over the network are smaller than the packets used in distance-vector routing.
distance-vector routing requires a node's entire routing table to be transmitted, while in
link-state routing only information about the node's immediate neighbours are
transmitted. Therefore, these packets are small enough that they do not use network
resources to any significant degree. The primary disadvantage of link-state routing is
that it requires more storage and more computing to run than distance-vector routing.
• Routed protocol : Any network protocol that provides enough information in its
network layer address to allow a packet to be forwarded from one host to another
host based on the addressing scheme, without knowing the entire path from
source to destination. Routed protocols define the format and use of the fields
within a packet. Packets generally are conveyed from end system to end system.
IP is an example of a routed protocol; Ethernet is considered a non-routable
protocol.
Although this dynamic routing can become very complex, it makes the Internet very
flexible, and has allowed it to grow in size by more than eight orders of magnitude over
the years since adopting IP.
A routing metric consists of any value used by routing algorithms to determine
whether one route should perform better than another. Metrics can cover such
information as bandwidth, delay, hop count, path cost, load, MTU, reliability, and
communication cost. The routing table stores only the best possible routes, while link-
state or topological databases may store all other information as well.
Routers use the feature known as administrative distance to select the best path
when they "know" of two or more different routes to the same destination from two
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different routing protocols. Administrative distance defines the reliability of a routing
protocol. Each routing protocol gets prioritized in order of most to least reliable using an
administrative-distance value.
Depending on the relationship of the router relative to other autonomous systems,
various classes of routing protocols exist:
Note: Pace various Cisco marketing documents, EIGRP definitely does not class as a
link-state protocol or as any sort of "hybrid" thereof.
See also
• Routing algorithms:
o Hierarchical routing
o Edge Disjoint Shortest Pair Algorithm
o "Hot-potato routing"
o "Cold-potato routing"
• Deflection routing
• Policy based routing
• Wormhole routing
• Adaptive routing
• Specific designs
o Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR)
o MPLS routing
o ATM routing
o Routing in the PSTN
• Topics related to packet-forwarding (not path-selection)
o Network address translation (NAT)
o IP spoofing (Security)
• Mathematical complexity of routing with multiple metrics
o Quality of Service in routing
• Overlay network routing schemes
o Key based routing (KBR)
o Decentralized object location and routing (DOLR)
o Group anycast and multicast (CAST)
o Distributed hash tables (DHT)
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• RPSL
UNICAST
CAST
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ANYCAST
BROADCAST
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MULTICAST
Circuit switching
Packet switching
Contents
• 1 Packet routing
• 2 Packet switching in the networks
• 3 History of packet switching
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading
• 7 External links
Packet routing
The most well-known use of the packet switching is the Internet. The internet uses the
Internet protocol suite over a variety of data link layer protocols. For example, Ethernet
and Frame relay are very common. Newer mobile phone technologies (e.g., GPRS, I-
mode) also use packet switching.
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X.25 is a notable use of packet switching in that, despite being based on packet
switching methods, it provided 'Virtual Circuits' to the user. In 1978, X.25 was used to
provide the first international and commercial packet switching network, the
International Packet Switched Service (IPSS).
Packet switching is also called connectionless networking because no connections are
established.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a hybrid technology, which uses cell relay instead
of packet switching.
Fast packet switching is a packet switching technique that increases the throughput by
eliminating overhead.
The concept of packet switching had two independent beginnings, with Paul Baran and
Donald Davies (Abbate, 2000). Leonard Kleinrock conducted early research and
published a book in the related field of digital message switching (without the packets)
in 1961, and also later played a leading role in building and management of the world's
first packet switched network, the ARPANET.
Baran developed the concept of packet switching during his research at the RAND
Corporation for the US Air Force into survivable communications networks, first
published as RAND Paper P-2626 in 1962[1], and then including and expanding
somewhat within a series of eleven papers titled On Distributed Communications in 1964
[2]. Baran's P-2626 paper described a general architecture for a large-scale, distributed,
survivable communications network. The paper focuses on three key ideas: first, use of
a decentralized network with multiple paths between any two points; and second,
dividing complete user messages into what he called message blocks (later called
packets); then third, delivery of these messages by store and forward switching.
Baran's study made its way to Robert Taylor (computer scientist) and J.C.R. Licklider at
the Information Processing Technology Office, both wide-area network evangelists, and
it helped influence Lawrence Roberts to adopt the technology when Taylor put him in
charge of development of the ARPANET.
Baran's packet switching work was similar to the research performed independently by
Donald Davies at the National Physical Laboratory, UK. In 1965, Davies developed the
concept of packet switched networks and proposed development of a UK wide network.
He gave a talk on the proposal in 1966, after which a person from the Ministry of
Defense told him about Baran's work. Davies met Lawrence Roberts at the 1967 ACM
Symposium on Operating System Principles, bringing the two groups together.
Interestingly, Davies had chosen some of the same parameters for his original network
design as Baran, such as a packet size of 1024 bits. Roberts and the ARPANET team
took the name "packet switching" itself from Davies's work.
In 1970, Davies helped build a packet switched network called the Mark I to serve the
NPL in the UK. It was replaced with the Mark II in 1973, and remained in operation until
1986, influencing other research in the UK and Europe. [3]
Contents
• 1 ISDN elements
• 2 Consumer and industry perspectives
• 3 Configurations
• 4 Reference points
• 5 Types of communications
• 6 Sample call
• 7 See also
o 7.1 Protocols
o 7.2 Other
• 8 External links
ISDN elements
The English term is a backronym that was thought to be better for English-language
advertisements than the original, "Integriertes Sprach- und Datennetz" (German for
"Integrated Speech and Data Net").
• Network refers to the fact that ISDN is not simply a point-to-point solution like a
leased line. ISDN networks extend from the local telephone exchange to the
remote user and include all of the telecommunications and switching equipment in
between.
The purpose of the ISDN is to provide fully integrated digital services to the users. These
services fall under three categories: bearer services, supplementary services and
teleservices.
There are two points of view into the ISDN world. The most common viewpoint is that of
the end user, who wants to get a digital connection into the telephone/data network
from home, whose performance would be better than an ordinary analog modem
connection. The typical end-user's connection to the Internet is related to this point of
view, and talk about the merits of various ISDN modems, carriers' offerings and
tarriffing (features, pricing) are from this perspective. Much of the following discussion is
from this point of view, but it should be noted that as a data connection service, ISDN
has been mostly superseded by DSL.
There is, however, a second viewpoint: that of the telephone industry, where ISDN is
not a dead issue. A telephone network can be thought of as a collection of wires strung
between switching systems. The common electrical specification for the signals on these
wires is T1 or E1. On a normal T1, the signalling is done with A&B bits to indicate on-
hook or off-hook conditions and MF and DTMF tones to encode the destination number.
ISDN is much better because messages can be sent much more quickly than by trying to
encode numbers as long (100 ms per digit) tone sequences. This translated to much
faster call setup times, which is greatly desired by carriers who have to pay for line time
and also by callers who become impatient while their call hops from switch to switch.
It is also used as a smart-network technology intended to add new services to the public
switched telephone network (PSTN) by giving users direct access to end-to-end circuit-
switched digital services.
ISDN BRI has never gained popularity as a telephone network in North America and
today remains a niche product. However, most modern non-VoIP PBXs use PRI T1 lines
to communicate with a Telco Class 5 central office switch, replacing older analog two-
way and Direct Inward Dialing (DID) trunks. PRI is capable of delivering caller ID in both
directions so that the telephone number of an extension, rather than a company's main
number, can be sent. It is still commonly used in recording studios, when a voice-over
actor is in one studio, but the director and producer are in a studio at another location.
ISDN is used because of its "guaranteed" real-time, not-over-the-Internet service, and
its superior audio fidelity as compared to POTS service. A few companies make video
conference call equipment that combine three BRI lines and six 64K channels to create a
good quality picture.
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In Japan, it became popular to some extent from around 1999 to 2001, but now that
ADSL has been introduced, the number of subscribers is in decline. NTT, a dominant
Japanese telephone company, provides an ISDN service with the names INS64 and
INS1500, which are much less recognized than ISDN.
In the UK, British Telecom (BT) provides ISDN2e (BRI) as well as ISDN30 (PRI). Until
April 2006, they also offered Home Highway and Business Highway, which are BRI
ISDN-based services that offer integrated analogue connectivity as well as ISDN. Later
versions of the Highway products also included built-in USB sockets for direct computer
access. Home Highway has been bought by many home users, usually for Internet
connection, although not as fast as ADSL, because it was available before ADSL and in
places where ADSL does not reach.
France Télécom offers ISDN services under their product name Numeris (2 B+D), of
which a professional Duo and home Itoo version is available. ISDN is generally known as
RNIS in France and has widespread availability. The introduction of ADSL is reducing
ISDN use for data transfer and Internet access, although it is still common in more rural
and outlying areas.
In Germany, ISDN is very popular with an installed base of 25 million channels (29% of
all subscriber lines in Germany as of 2003 and 20% of all ISDN channels worldwide).
Due to the success of ISDN, the number of installed analog lines is decreasing. Deutsche
Telekom (DTAG) offers both BRI and PRI. Competing phone companies often offer ISDN
only and no analog lines. Because of the widespread availability of ADSL services, ISDN
is today primarily used for voice traffic, but is still very popular thanks to the pricing
policy of German telcos. Today ISDN (BRI) and ADSL/VDSL are often bundled on the
same line.
In India, ISDN was very popular until the introduction of ADSL. Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (A Govt. Of India Ent.), the largest telecom giant in India, is offering both ISDN
BRI and PRI services across the country over its ISDN network. After the introduction of
ADSL broadband technology with static IPs, the data transfer load is taken up by ADSL.
But ISDN still plays a very big role as a backup network for point-to-point leased line
customers and low cost reliable data network for organisations located all over India,
such as Banks,E-seva centres, LIC, and so on.
Configurations
In ISDN, there are two types of channels, B (for "Bearer") and D (for "Delta"). B
channels are used for data (which may include voice), and D channels are intended for
signaling and control (but can also be used for data).
There are three ISDN implementations. Basic rate interface (BRI) — also Basic rate
access (BRA) — consists of two B channels, each with bandwidth of 64 kbit/s, and one
D channel with a bandwidth of 16 kbit/s. Together these three channels can be
designated as 2B+D. Primary rate interface (PRI) — also Primary rate access
(PRA) — contains a greater number of B channels and a D channel with a bandwidth of
64 kbit/s. The number of B channels for PRI varies according to the nation: in North
America and Japan it is 23B+1D, with an aggregate bit rate of 1.544 Mbit/s (T1); in
Europe and Australia it is 30B+1D, with an aggregate bit rate of 2.048 Mbit/s (E1).
Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (BISDN) is another ISDN
implementation and it is able to manage different types of services at the same time. It
is primarily used within network backbones and employs ATM.
Another alternative ISDN configuration can be used in which the B channels of an ISDN
basic rate interface are bonded to provide a total duplex bandwidth of 128 kbit/s. This
precludes use of the line for voice calls while the internet connection is in use.
Using bipolar with eight-zero substitution encoding technique, call data is transmitted
over the data (B) channels, with the signalling (D) channels used for call setup and
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management. Once a call is set up, there is a simple 64 kbit/s synchronous bidirectional
data channel between the end parties, lasting until the call is terminated. There can be
as many calls as there are data channels, to the same or different end-points. Bearer
channels may also be multiplexed into what may be considered single, higher-bandwidth
channels via a process called B channel bonding.
The D channel can also be used for sending and receiving X.25 data packets, and
connection to X.25 packet network, this is specified in X.31. In practice, X.31 was only
commercially implemented in France and Japan.
Reference points
A set of reference points are defined in the ISDN standard to refer to certain points
between the telco and the end user ISDN equipment.
• R - defines the point between a non-ISDN device and a terminal adapter (TA)
which provides translation to and from such a device
• S - defines the point between the ISDN equipment (or TA) and a Network
Termination Type 2 (NT-2) device
• T - defines the point between the NT-2 and NT-1 devices1
• U - defines the point between the NT-1 and the telco switch2
1
Most NT-1 devices can perform the functions of the NT-2 as well, and so the S and T
reference points are generally collapsed into the S/T reference point.
2
Inside North America, the NT-1 device is considered customer premises equipment and
must be maintained by the customer, thus, the U interface is provided to the customer.
In other locations, the NT-1 device is maintained by the telco, and the S/T interface is
provided to the customer.
Types of communications
Among the kinds of data that can be moved over the 64 kbit/s channels are pulse-code
modulated voice calls, providing access to the traditional voice PSTN. This information
can be passed between the network and the user end-point at call set-up time. In North
America, ISDN is now used mostly as an alternative to analog connections, most
commonly for Internet access. Some of the services envisioned as being delivered over
ISDN are now delivered over the Internet instead. In Europe, and in Germany in
particular, ISDN has been successfully marketed as a phone with features, as opposed
to a POTS phone (Plain Old Telephone Service) with few or no features. Meanwhile,
features that were first available with ISDN (such as Three-Way Call, Call Forwarding,
Caller ID, etc.) are now commonly available for ordinary analog phones as well,
eliminating this advantage of ISDN. Another advantage of ISDN was the possibility of
multiple simultaneous calls (one call per B channel), e.g. for big families, but with the
increased popularity and reduced prices of mobile telephony this has become less
interesting as well, making ISDN unappealing to the private customer. However, ISDN is
typically more reliable than POTS, and has a significantly faster call setup time
compared with POTS, and IP connections over ISDN typically have some 30–35ms round
trip time, as opposed to 120–180ms (both measured with otherwise unused lines) over
56k or V.34 modems, making ISDN more pleasant for telecommuters.
Where an analog connection requires a modem, an ISDN connection requires a terminal
adapter (TA). The function of an ISDN terminal adapter is often delivered in the form of
a PC card with an S/T interface, and single-chip solutions seem to exist, considering the
plethora of combined ISDN- and ADSL-routers.
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ISDN is commonly used in radio broadcasting. Since ISDN provides a high quality
connection this assists in delivering good quality audio for transmission in radio. Most
radio studios are equipped with ISDN lines as their main form of communication with
other studios or standard phone lines.
Sample call
The following is an example of a Primary Rate (PRI) ISDN call showing the Q.921/LAPD
and the Q.931/Network message intermixed (i.e. exactly what was exchanged on the D-
channel). The call is originating from the switch where the trace was taken and goes out
to some other switch, possibly an end-office LEC, who terminates the call.
The first line format is <time> <D-channel> <Transmitted/Received> <LAPD/ISDN
message ID>. If the message is an ISDN level message, then a decoding of the
message is attempted showing the various Information Elements that make up the
message. All ISDN messages are tagged with an ID number relative to the switch that
started the call (local/remote). Following this optional decoding is a dump of the bytes of
the message in <offset> <hex> ... <hex> <ascii> ... <ascii> format.
The RR messages at the beginning prior to the call are the keep alive messages. Then
you will see a SETUP message that starts the call. Each message is acknowledged by
the other side with a RR.
10:49:47.33 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 a5 ....
10:49:47.34 21/1/24 T RR
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See also
Protocols
Specifications defining the physical layer and part of the data link layers of ISDN:
From the point of view of the OSI architecture, an ISDN line has a stack of three
protocols
• physical layer
• data link layer
• network layer (the ISDN protocol, properly)
External links
• http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/ISDN/
• http://www.itu.org
• http://www.ralphb.net/ISDN/
• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) - Guide
(http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=5170)
Contents
2B1Q coding is the standard used in North America. 2B1Q means that two bits are
combined to form a single Quaternary line state. 2B1Q combines two bits at a time to
represent one of four amplitude levels on the line. The baud rate, therefore, is 80
kilobaud. It operates with a maximum frequency range of 40 kHz.
2B1Q coding is defined in ANSI T1.601 and ETR 080, Annex A. It can operate at
distances up to about 18,000 feet (5.5 km) with loss up to 42 dB. An internal
termination impedance of 135 ohms is presented to the line at each end of the U-
interface. Echo cancellation techniques allow full-duplex operation on the line.
2B1Q transmission can be simply described as an amplitude modulation scheme for DC
pulses as indicated in the diagram below.
4B3T is a standard used in Europe and elsewhere in the world. 4B3T is a "block code"
that uses Return-to-Zero states on the line. 4B3T combines 4 bits to represent one
"ternary" line signal state. The baud rate is 3/4ths of the data rate (120 kbaud).
4B3T is defined in ETR 080, Annex B and other national standards, like Germany's
1TR220. 4B3T can be transmitted reliably at up to 4.2 km over 0.4 mm cable or up to
8.2 km over 0.6 mm cable. An internal termination impedance of 150 ohms is presented
to the line at each end of the U-interface. Echo cancellation techniques allow full-duplex
operation on the line.
In 4B3T coding, there are three states presented to line: a positive pulse (+), a negative
pulse (-), or a zero-state (no pulse: 0). An analogy here is that operation is similar to
B8ZS or HDB3 in T1/E1 systems, except that there is an actual gain in the information
rate by coding 16 possible binary states to one of 27 ternary states.
There are many ways to perform this conversion, but BRI standards define a code
known as MMS43 (Modified Monitoring State 43).
One of the requirements for line transmission is that there should be no DC build-up on
the line, so there are some code substitutions based upon the transmission of the
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previous bits. These are indicated in the lower half of the table above. The next state
(S1 - S4) to be transmitted is indicated in the column labled Go. In the table above, the
left-most bits and pulses are transmitted first.
The diagram below indicates a binary code of 1100 transmitted first (State S1). Then a
squence of 1101 is transmitted (using State S4).
Physical interfaces
In ISDN technology there are three main types of interfaces for ISDN Basic Rate
interface:
• S/T Interface (S0). Uses four wires with a separate pair of wires for the uplink and
another pair for the downlink. The most used of the four interfaces
• Up Interface. Uses one wire pair using the half duplex "ping-pong" protocol. Used
by many PABX systems that use ISDN technology. Depending of the possible cable
range there are two varieties called UpN and Up0.
• Uk0 Interface. one wire pair with echo cancellation. Used for the long last mile
cable between the telephone exchange and the network terminator.