Comunicação de Dados

High Speed LANs

(Redes Locais de Alta
Velocidade)
O que é LAN?

Do inglês Local Area Network, a Rede Local é um tipo de

rede de comunicação que interconecta uma variadade de
dispositivos em uma pequena área geográfica. Esta rede é
caracterizada por altas taxas de transferência e baixíssimas
taxas de erro.
As primeiras LAN’s surgiram nos anos 70 e desde então são
muito utilizadas em ambientes comerciais, acadêmicos,
empresariais e residenciais.
Aplicações Comuns

•Armazenamento em rede para acesso simultâneo

(Repositório);
•Impressoras corporativas;
•A transferência de arquivos grandes, como vídeos, se torna
muito fácil devido à alta taxa;
•Jogos em Rede Local (LAN House);
•Acesso a dispositivos em curta distância.
Vantagens
• Facilidade em compartilhar recursos de hardware/software;
• Uso e propriedade privada;
• Permite integração (Bridging)
• Transferências seguras praticamente sem erros (Códigos de
correção de erro extremamente eficazes).
Disadvantages of Local Area Networks
• Equipment and support can be costly.
• Level of maintenance continues to grow.
• Private ownership possible.
• Some types of hardware may not interoperate.
• Just because a LAN can support two different kinds of
packages does not mean their data can interchange
easily.
• A LAN is only as strong as it weakest link, and there
are many links.
Basic Local Area Network Topologies
Local area networks are interconnected using one of four
basic configurations:
1. Bus/tree
2. Star-wired bus
3. Star-wired ring
4. Wireless
Bus/Tree Topology
The original topology.
Workstation has a network interface card (NIC) that attaches
to the bus (a coaxial cable) via a tap.
Data can be transferred using either baseband digital signals
or broadband analog signals.
Bus/Tree Topology
Baseband signals are bidirectional and more outward in both
directions from the workstation transmitting.
Broadband signals are usually uni-directional and transmit in
only one direction. Because of this, special wiring
considerations are necessary.
Buses can be split and joined, creating trees.
Star-wired Bus Topology
Logically operates as a bus, but physically looks like a star.
Star design is based on hub. All workstations attach to hub.
Unshielded twisted pair usually used to connect workstation
to hub.
Hub takes incoming signal and immediately broadcasts it out
all connected links.
Hubs can be interconnected to extend size of network.
Star-wired Bus Topology
Modular connectors and twisted pair make installation and
maintenance of star-wired bus better than standard bus.
Hubs can be interconnected with twisted pair, coaxial cable,
or fiber optic cable.
Biggest disadvantage: when one station talks, everyone hears
it. This is called a shared network. All devices are sharing
the network medium.
Star-wired Ring Topology
Logically operates as a ring but physically appears as a star.
Star-wired ring topology is based on MAU (multi-station
access unit) which functions similarly to a hub.
Where a hub immediately broadcasts all incoming signals
onto all connected links, the MAU passes the signal around in
a ring fashion.
Like hubs, MAUs can be interconnected to increase network
size.
Wireless LANs
Not really a specific topology since a workstation in a
wireless LAN can be anywhere as long as it is within
transmitting distance to an access point.
Newer IEEE 802.11 and 802.11b standard defines various
forms of wireless LAN connections.
Speeds up to 11 Mbps with 802.11b standard.
Workstations reside within a basic service set, while multiple
basic service sets create an extended service set.
Wireless LANs
Two basic components necessary: the client radio, usually a
PC card with an integrated antenna, and the access point
(AP), which is an Ethernet port plus a transceiver.
The AP acts as a bridge between the wired and wireless
networks and can perform basic routing functions.
Workstations with client radio cards reside within a basic
service set, while multiple basic service sets create an
extended service set.
Wireless LANs
With directional antennae designed for point-to-point
transmission (rare), 802.11b can work for more than 10 miles.
With an omni-directional antenna on a typical AP, range may
drop to as little as 100 feet.
Distance is inversely proportional to transmission speed - as
speed goes up, distance goes down.
Wireless LANs
In actual tests, 11 Mbps 802.11b devices managed 5.5 Mbps
(from a July 2000 test by Network Computing).
To provide security, most systems use Wired Equivalent
Privacy (WEP), which provides either 40- or 128-bit key
protection.
What will Bluetooth’s impact be on 802.11b?
 Other Wireless Standards
• IEEE 802.11 (older 2 Mbps)
• IEEE 802.11b (11 Mbps, 2.4 GHz)
• IEEE 802.11a (54 Mbps, 5 GHz, in 2002)
• IEEE 802.11g (54 Mbps, 2.4 GHz, in 2002)
• HiperLAN/2 (European standard, 54 Mbps in 5
GHz band)
Peer-to-Peer LANs
Not as common as server-based LANs
Less, if any reliance on servers
Most peer-to-peer LANs still use one or more servers
Interesting collaborative-type applications (world-wide law
firm)
Medium Access Control Protocols
How does a workstation get its data onto the LAN medium?
A medium access control protocol is the software that allows
workstations to “take turns” at transmitting data.
Three basic categories:
1. Contention-based protocols
2. Round robin protocols
3. Reservation protocols
Contention-Based Protocols
Essentially first come, first served.
Most common example is carrier sense multiple access with
collision detection (CSMA/CD).
If no one is transmitting, a workstation can transmit.
If someone else is transmitting, the workstation “backs off”
and waits.
Contention-Based Protocols
If two workstations transmit at the same time, a collision
occurs.
When the two workstations hear the collision, they stop
transmitting immediately.
Each workstation backs off a random amount of time and tries
again.
Hopefully, both workstations do not try again at the exact
same time.
CSMA/CD is an example of a non-deterministic protocol.
Round Robin Protocols
Each workstation takes a turn transmitting and the turn is
passed around the network from workstation to workstation.
Most common example is token ring LAN in which a
software token is passed from workstation to workstation.
Token ring is an example of a deterministic protocol.
Token ring more complex than CSMA/CD. What happens if
token is lost? Duplicated? Hogged?
Token ring LANs are losing the battle with CSMA/CD LANs.
Reservation Protocols
Workstation places a reservation with central server.
Workstation cannot transmit until reservation comes up.
Under light loads, this acts similar to CSMA/CD.
Under heavy loads, this acts similar to token ring.
Powerful access method but again losing out to CSMA/CD.
Most common example of reservation protocol is demand
priority protocol.
Medium Access Control Sublayer
To better support local area networks, the data link layer of
the OSI model was broken into two sublayers:
1. Logical link control sublayer
2. Medium access control sublayer
Medium access control sublayer defines the frame layout and
is more closely tied to a specific medium at the physical layer.
Thus, when people refer to LANs they often refer to its MAC
sublayer name, such as 10BaseT.
IEEE 802 Frame Formats
The IEEE 802 suite of protocols defines the frame formats for
CSMA/CD (IEEE 802.3) and token ring (IEEE 802.5).
Each frame format describes how the data package is formed.
Note how the two frames are different. If a CSMA/CD
network connects to a token ring network, the frames have to
be converted from one to another.
Local Area Network Systems
Ethernet or CSMA/CD
Most common form of LAN today.
Star-wired bus is most common topology but bus topology
also available.
Ethernet comes in many forms depending upon medium used
and transmission speed and technology.
Ethernet
Originally, CSMA/CD was 10 Mbps.
Then 100 Mbps was introduced. Most NICs sold today are
10/100 Mbps.
Then 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) was introduced.
10 Gbps is now beginning to appear.
Ethernet
1000 Mbps introduces a few interesting wrinkles:
Transmission is full duplex (separate transmit and receive),
thus no collisions.
Prioritization is possible using 802.1p protocol.
Topology can be star or mesh (for trunks).
Ethernet
A few more interesting wrinkles:
Cabling can be either UTP or optical (but 10 Gbps Ethernet
may not work over UTP due to radio frequency interference).
Where 10 Mbps Ethernet has less than 30% utilization due to
collisions, 1000 Mbps is limited only by traffic queueing.
Distance with 10 Mbps is limited by CSMA/CD propagation
time, whereas 1000 Mbps is limited only by media.
Local Area Network Systems
IBM Token Ring
Deterministic LAN offered at speeds of 4, 16 and 100 Mbps.
Very good throughput under heavy loads.
More expensive components than CSMA/CD.
Losing ground quickly to CSMA/CD. May be extinct soon.
Local Area Network Systems
FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
Based on the token ring design using 100 Mbps fiber
connections.
Allows for two concentric rings - inner ring can support data
travel in opposite direction or work as backup.
Token is attached to the outgoing packet, rather than waiting
for the outgoing packet to circle the entire ring.
Local Area Network Systems
100VG-AnyLAN
Deterministic LAN based on demand priority access method.
Similar to hub topology (star design).
Two levels of priority - normal and high.
Supports a wide-variety of media types.
Losing ground quickly to CSMA/CD.
Do que se trata?
• Range of technologies
• Fast and Gigabit Ethernet
• Fibre Channel
• High Speed Wireless LANs
Why High Speed LANs?
• Office LANs used to provide basic connectivity
• Connecting PCs and terminals to mainframes and midrange systems that
ran corporate applications
• Providing workgroup connectivity at departmental level
• Traffic patterns light
• Emphasis on file transfer and electronic mail
• Speed and power of PCs has risen
• Graphics-intensive applications and GUIs
• MIS organizations recognize LANs as essential
• Began with client/server computing
• Now dominant architecture in business environment
• Intranetworks
• Frequent transfer of large volumes of data
Applications Requiring High Speed LANs
• Centralized server farms
• User needs to draw huge amounts of data from multiple centralized servers
• E.g. Color publishing
• Servers contain tens of gigabytes of image data
• Downloaded to imaging workstations
• Power workgroups
• Small number of cooperating users
• Draw massive data files across network
• E.g. Software development group testing new software version or
computer-aided design (CAD) running simulations
• High-speed local backbone
• Processing demand grows
• LANs proliferate at site
• High-speed interconnection is necessary
Ethernet (CSMA/CD)
• Carriers Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
• Xerox - Ethernet
• IEEE 802.3
IEEE802.3 Medium Access Control
• Random Access
• Stations access medium randomly
• Contention
• Stations content for time on medium
ALOHA
• Packet Radio
• When station has frame, it sends
• Station listens (for max round trip time)plus small increment
• If ACK, fine. If not, retransmit
• If no ACK after repeated transmissions, give up
• Frame check sequence (as in HDLC)
• If frame OK and address matches receiver, send ACK
• Frame may be damaged by noise or by another station
transmitting at the same time (collision)
• Any overlap of frames causes collision
• Max utilization 18%
Slotted ALOHA
• Time in uniform slots equal to frame transmission time
• Need central clock (or other sync mechanism)
• Transmission begins at slot boundary
• Frames either miss or overlap totally
• Max utilization 37%
CSMA
• Propagation time is much less than transmission time
• All stations know that a transmission has started almost
immediately
• First listen for clear medium (carrier sense)
• If medium idle, transmit
• If two stations start at the same instant, collision
• Wait reasonable time (round trip plus ACK contention)
• No ACK then retransmit
• Max utilization depends on propagation time (medium length)
and frame length
• Longer frame and shorter propagation gives better utilization
Nonpersistent CSMA
1. If medium is idle, transmit; otherwise, go to 2
2. If medium is busy, wait amount of time drawn from probability
distribution (retransmission delay) and repeat 1
• Random delays reduces probability of collisions
• Consider two stations become ready to transmit at same time
• While another transmission is in progress
• If both stations delay same time before retrying, both will attempt to
transmit at same time
• Capacity is wasted because medium will remain idle following
end of transmission
• Even if one or more stations waiting
• Nonpersistent stations deferential
1-persistent CSMA
• To avoid idle channel time, 1-persistent protocol used
• Station wishing to transmit listens and obeys following:
1. If medium idle, transmit; otherwise, go to step 2
2. If medium busy, listen until idle; then transmit immediately
• 1-persistent stations selfish
• If two or more stations waiting, collision guaranteed
• Gets sorted out after collision
P-persistent CSMA
• Compromise that attempts to reduce collisions
• Like nonpersistent
• And reduce idle time
• Like1-persistent
• Rules:
1. If medium idle, transmit with probability p, and delay one time
unit with probability (1 – p)
• Time unit typically maximum propagation delay
2. If medium busy, listen until idle and repeat step 1
3. If transmission is delayed one time unit, repeat step 1
• What is an effective value of p?
Value of p?
• Avoid instability under heavy load
• n stations waiting to send
• End of transmission, expected number of stations attempting to transmit is
number of stations ready times probability of transmitting
• np
• If np > 1on average there will be a collision
• Repeated attempts to transmit almost guaranteeing more collisions
• Retries compete with new transmissions
• Eventually, all stations trying to send
• Continuous collisions; zero throughput
• So np < 1 for expected peaks of n
• If heavy load expected, p small
• However, as p made smaller, stations wait longer
• At low loads, this gives very long delays
CSMA Picture HERE
• NEEDS EDITING fig 16.1
CSMA/CD
• With CSMA, collision occupies medium for duration of
transmission
• Stations listen whilst transmitting

1. If medium idle, transmit, otherwise, step 2

2. If busy, listen for idle, then transmit
3. If collision detected, jam then cease transmission
4. After jam, wait random time then start from step 1
CSMA/CD
Operation
Which Persistence Algorithm?
• IEEE 802.3 uses 1-persistent
• Both nonpersistent and p-persistent have performance problems
• 1-persistent (p = 1) seems more unstable than p-persistent
• Greed of the stations
• But wasted time due to collisions is short (if frames long relative to
propagation delay
• With random backoff, unlikely to collide on next tries
• To ensure backoff maintains stability, IEEE 802.3 and Ethernet use binary
exponential backoff
Binary Exponential Backoff
• Attempt to transmit repeatedly if repeated collisions
• First 10 attempts, mean value of random delay doubled
• Value then remains same for 6 further attempts
• After 16 unsuccessful attempts, station gives up and reports
error
• As congestion increases, stations back off by larger amounts to
reduce the probability of collision.
• 1-persistent algorithm with binary exponential backoff efficient
over wide range of loads
• Low loads, 1-persistence guarantees station can seize channel once idle
• High loads, at least as stable as other techniques
• Backoff algorithm gives last-in, first-out effect
• Stations with few collisions transmit first
Collision Detection
• On baseband bus, collision produces much higher signal voltage
than signal
• Collision detected if cable signal greater than single station
signal
• Signal attenuated over distance
• Limit distance to 500m (10Base5) or 200m (10Base2)
• For twisted pair (star-topology) activity on more than one port
is collision
• Special collision presence signal
IEEE 802.3 Frame Format
10Mbps Specification (Ethernet)
• <data rate><Signaling method><Max segment length>

• 10Base510Base210Base-T 10Base-F

• Medium Coaxial Coaxial UTP 850nm fiber

• Signaling Baseband Baseband Baseband Manchester
• Manchester Manchester Manchester On/Off
• Topology Bus Bus Star Star
• Nodes 100 30 - 33
100Mbps Fast Ethernet
• Use IEEE 802.3 MAC protocol and frame format
• 100BASE-X use physical medium specifications from FDDI
• Two physical links between nodes
• Transmission and reception
• 100BASE-TX uses STP or Cat. 5 UTP
• May require new cable
• 100BASE-FX uses optical fiber
• 100BASE-T4 can use Cat. 3, voice-grade UTP
• Uses four twisted-pair lines between nodes
• Data transmission uses three pairs in one direction at a time
• Star-wire topology
• Similar to 10BASE-T
100Mbps (Fast Ethernet)
• 100Base-TX 100Base-FX 100Base-T4

• 2 pair, STP 2 pair, Cat 5 UTP 2 optical fiber 4 pair, cat 3,4,5
• MLT-3 MLT-3 4B5B,NRZI 8B6T,NRZ
100BASE-X Data Rate and Encoding
• Unidirectional data rate 100 Mbps over single link
• Single twisted pair, single optical fiber
• Encoding scheme same as FDDI
• 4B/5B-NRZI
• Modified for each option
100BASE-X Media
• Two physical medium specifications
• 100BASE-TX
• Two pairs of twisted-pair cable
• One pair for transmission and one for reception
• STP and Category 5 UTP allowed
• The MTL-3 signaling scheme is used
• 100BASE-FX
• Two optical fiber cables
• One for transmission and one for reception
• Intensity modulation used to convert 4B/5B-NRZI code group stream into
optical signals
• 1 represented by pulse of light
• 0 by either absence of pulse or very low intensity pulse
100BASE-T4
• 100-Mbps over lower-quality Cat 3 UTP
• Taking advantage of large installed base
• Cat 5 optional
• Does not transmit continuous signal between packets
• Useful in battery-powered applications
• Can not get 100 Mbps on single twisted pair
• Data stream split into three separate streams
• Each with an effective data rate of 33.33 Mbps
• Four twisted pairs used
• Data transmitted and received using three pairs
• Two pairs configured for bidirectional transmission
• NRZ encoding not used
• Would require signaling rate of 33 Mbps on each pair
• Does not provide synchronization
• Ternary signaling scheme (8B6T)
100BASE-T Options
Full Duplex Operation
• Traditional Ethernet half duplex
• Either transmit or receive but not both simultaneously
• With full-duplex, station can transmit and receive simultaneously
• 100-Mbps Ethernet in full-duplex mode, theoretical transfer
rate 200 Mbps
• Attached stations must have full-duplex adapter cards
• Must use switching hub
• Each station constitutes separate collision domain
• In fact, no collisions
• CSMA/CD algorithm no longer needed
• 802.3 MAC frame format used
• Attached stations can continue CSMA/CD
Mixed Configurations
• Fast Ethernet supports mixture of existing 10-Mbps LANs and
newer 100-Mbps LANs
• E.g. 100-Mbps backbone LAN to support 10-Mbps hubs
• Stations attach to 10-Mbps hubs using 10BASE-T
• Hubs connected to switching hubs using 100BASE-T
• Support 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps
• High-capacity workstations and servers attach directly to 10/100 switches
• Switches connected to 100-Mbps hubs using 100-Mbps links
• 100-Mbps hubs provide building backbone
• Connected to router providing connection to WAN
Gigabit Ethernet Configuration
Gigabit Ethernet - Differences
• Carrier extension
• At least 4096 bit-times long (512 for 10/100)
• Frame bursting
Gigabit Ethernet – Physical
• 1000Base-SX
• Short wavelength, multimode fiber
• 1000Base-LX
• Long wavelength, Multi or single mode fiber
• 1000Base-CX
• Copper jumpers <25m, shielded twisted pair
• 1000Base-T
• 4 pairs, cat 5 UTP

• Signaling - 8B/10B
Gbit Ethernet Medium Options
(log scale)
10Gbps Ethernet - Uses
• High-speed, local backbone interconnection between large-capacity switches
• Server farm
• Campus wide connectivity
• Enables Internet service providers (ISPs) and network service providers
(NSPs) to create very high-speed links at very low cost
• Allows construction of (MANs) and WANs
• Connect geographically dispersed LANs between campuses or points of presence
(PoPs)
• Ethernet competes with ATM and other WAN technologies
• 10-Gbps Ethernet provides substantial value over ATM
10Gbps Ethernet - Advantages
• No expensive, bandwidth-consuming conversion between
Ethernet packets and ATM cells
• Network is Ethernet, end to end
• IP and Ethernet together offers QoS and traffic policing
approach ATM
• Advanced traffic engineering technologies available to users
and providers
• Variety of standard optical interfaces (wavelengths and link
distances) specified for 10 Gb Ethernet
• Optimizing operation and cost for LAN, MAN, or WAN
10Gbps Ethernet - Advantages
• Maximum link distances cover 300 m to 40 km
• Full-duplex mode only
• 10GBASE-S (short):
• 850 nm on multimode fiber
• Up to 300 m
• 10GBASE-L (long)
• 1310 nm on single-mode fiber
• Up to 10 km
• 10GBASE-E (extended)
• 1550 nm on single-mode fiber
• Up to 40 km
• 10GBASE-LX4:
• 1310 nm on single-mode or multimode fiber
• Up to 10 km
• Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) bit stream across four light waves
10Gbps Ethernet Distance Options (log scale)
Token Ring (802.5)
• Developed from IBM's commercial token ring
• Because of IBM's presence, token ring has gained broad
acceptance
• Never achieved popularity of Ethernet
• Currently, large installed base of token ring products
• Market share likely to decline
Ring Operation
• Each repeater connects to two others via unidirectional
transmission links
• Single closed path
• Data transferred bit by bit from one repeater to the next
• Repeater regenerates and retransmits each bit
• Repeater performs data insertion, data reception, data
removal
• Repeater acts as attachment point
• Packet removed by transmitter after one trip round ring
Listen State Functions
• Scan passing bit stream for patterns
• Address of attached station
• Token permission to transmit
• Copy incoming bit and send to attached station
• Whilst forwarding each bit
• Modify bit as it passes
• e.g. to indicate a packet has been copied (ACK)
Transmit State Functions
• Station has data
• Repeater has permission
• May receive incoming bits
• If ring bit length shorter than packet
• Pass back to station for checking (ACK)
• May be more than one packet on ring
• Buffer for retransmission later
Bypass State
• Signals propagate past repeater with no delay (other than
propagation delay)
• Partial solution to reliability problem (see later)
• Improved performance
Ring Repeater States
802.5 MAC Protocol
• Small frame (token) circulates when idle
• Station waits for token
• Changes one bit in token to make it SOF for data frame
• Append rest of data frame
• Frame makes round trip and is absorbed by transmitting station
• Station then inserts new token when transmission has finished
and leading edge of returning frame arrives
• Under light loads, some inefficiency
• Under heavy loads, round robin
Token Ring
Operation
Dedicated Token Ring
• Central hub
• Acts as switch
• Full duplex point to point link
• Concentrator acts as frame level repeater
• No token passing
802.5 Physical Layer
• Data Rate 4 16 100
• Medium UTP,STP,Fiber
• Signaling Differential Manchester
• Max Frame 4550 18200 18200
• Access Control TP or DTR TP or DTR DTR

• Note: 1Gbit specified in 2001

• Uses 802.3 physical layer specification
Fibre Channel - Background
• I/O channel
• Direct point to point or multipoint comms link
• Hardware based
• High Speed
• Very short distance
• User data moved from source buffer to destiation buffer
• Network connection
• Interconnected access points
• Software based protocol
• Flow control, error detection &recovery
• End systems connections
Fibre Channel
• Best of both technologies
• Channel oriented
• Data type qualifiers for routing frame payload
• Link level constructs associated with I/O ops
• Protocol interface specifications to support existing I/O architectures
• e.g. SCSI
• Network oriented
• Full multiplexing between multiple destinations
• Peer to peer connectivity
• Internetworking to other connection technologies
Fibre Channel Requirements
• Full duplex links with two fibers per link
• 100 Mbps to 800 Mbps on single line
• Full duplex 200 Mbps to 1600 Mbps per link
• Up to 10 km
• Small connectors
• High-capacity utilization, distance insensitivity
• Greater connectivity than existing multidrop channels
• Broad availability
• i.e. standard components
• Multiple cost/performance levels
• Small systems to supercomputers
• Carry multiple existing interface command sets for existing channel and network
protocols
• Uses generic transport mechanism based on point-to-point links and a switching
network
• Supports simple encoding and framing scheme
• In turn supports a variety of channel and network protocols
Fibre Channel Elements
• End systems - Nodes
• Switched elements - the network or fabric
• Communication across point to point links
Fibre Channel Network
Fibre Channel Protocol Architecture (1)
• FC-0 Physical Media
• Optical fiber for long distance
• coaxial cable for high speed short distance
• STP for lower speed short distance
• FC-1 Transmission Protocol
• 8B/10B signal encoding
• FC-2 Framing Protocol
• Topologies
• Framing formats
• Flow and error control
• Sequences and exchanges (logical grouping of frames)
Fibre Channel Protocol Architecture (2)
• FC-3 Common Services
• Including multicasting
• FC-4 Mapping
• Mapping of channel and network services onto fibre channel
• e.g. IEEE 802, ATM, IP, SCSI
Fibre Channel Physical Media
• Provides range of options for physical medium, the data rate on
medium, and topology of network
• Shielded twisted pair, video coaxial cable, and optical fiber
• Data rates 100 Mbps to 3.2 Gbps
• Point-to-point from 33 m to 10 km
Fibre Channel Fabric
• General topology called fabric or switched topology
• Arbitrary topology includes at least one switch to interconnect
number of end systems
• May also consist of switched network
• Some of these switches supporting end nodes
• Routing transparent to nodes
• Each port has unique address
• When data transmitted into fabric, edge switch to which node attached
uses destination port address to determine location
• Either deliver frame to node attached to same switch or transfers frame to
adjacent switch to begin routing to remote destination
Fabric Advantages
• Scalability of capacity
• As additional ports added, aggregate capacity of network increases
• Minimizes congestion and contention
• Increases throughput
• Protocol independent
• Distance insensitive
• Switch and transmission link technologies may change without
affecting overall configuration
• Burden on nodes minimized
• Fibre Channel node responsible for managing point-to-point connection
between itself and fabric
• Fabric responsible for routing and error detection
Alternative Topologies
• Point-to-point topology
• Only two ports
• Directly connected, with no intervening switches
• No routing
• Arbitrated loop topology
• Simple, low-cost topology
• Up to 126 nodes in loop
• Operates roughly equivalent to token ring
• Topologies, transmission media, and data rates may be
combined
Five Applications of Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel Prospects
• Backed by Fibre Channel Association
• Interface cards for different applications available
• Most widely accepted as peripheral device interconnect
• To replace such schemes as SCSI
• Technically attractive to general high-speed LAN requirements
• Must compete with Ethernet and ATM LANs
• Cost and performance issues should dominate the consideration
of these competing technologies
Required Reading
• Stallings chapter 16
• Web sites on Ethernet, Gbit Ethernet, 10Gbit Ethernet, Token
ring, Fibre Channel etc.