COE 475: Computer Networking

Lecture7: The Network Layer

 Lecture Objective
• To understand the
– principles behind the network layer’s host-to-host communication
service
 Network-Layer: Context
• What is the role of the
– network layer in
• end systems
• Intervening routers?
 Network-Layer: Context
• Consider a simple network with
– 2 hosts H1 and H2 and several routers on the path between H1
and H2
• We assume H1 is sending information to H2 and
– consider the role the network layer play in
• host H1
• host H2
• the intervening routers
– The network layer in H1
• takes segments from the transport layer in H1
– encapsulates each segment into a datagram and sends the
datagram to its nearby router R1
 Network-Layer: Context
• At the receiving host, H2
– the network layer receives the datagrams from its nearby router
R2
• extracts the transport-layer segments
• delivers the segments up to the transport layer at H2

• The primary role of the network layer is to

– move packets from a sending host to a receiving host
• For the network layer to
– perform this role we identify 2 important network layer functions
• Forwarding
• Routing
 Two Key Network-Layer Functions
• Forwarding
– when a packet arrives at a router’s input link
• the router must move the packet to the appropriate output
link
– is a router-local action of transferring a packet from an
» input link interface to the appropriate output link interface
• Routing
– the network layer must determine the route or path
• taken by packets as they flow from a sender to a receiver
– is a network-wide process that determines the end-to-end paths
that packets take from sender to receive
» routing algorithms
Interplay between routing and forwarding

routing algorithm

local forwarding table

header value output link
0100 3
0101 2
0111 2
1001 1

value in arriving
packet’s header
0111 1

3 2
 Interplay between routing and forwarding

• A packet with header field value of 0111 arrives to a

router
• The router indexes into its forwarding table and
– determines that the output link interface for this packet is 2
• The router then internally forwards the packet to
interface 2

• The routing algorithm determines the values that

– are inserted in the router’s forwarding tables
• A router receives routing protocol messages
– which are used to configure its forwarding table
 3rd Network Layer Function
• Connection setup is a
– 3rd important function in some network architectures:
• before datagrams flow
– two end hosts and intervening routers establish
• virtual connection
 Network layer services
• The network layer provides
– services to the transport layer
• Question
– what possible services could the network layer provide?
 Network Service Models
• The network service model defines the
– characteristics of the end-to-end transport of packets
• between one edge of the network and the other
• Services that the network layer could provide
– services for individual packets
• guaranteed delivery
– guarantees that packet will eventually arrive at its destination
• guaranteed delivery with bounded delay
– guarantees the delivery of the packet within a specified host –
to-host delay bound
» e.g. less than 40 msec
 Network Service Models
• services for a flow of packets
– in-order datagram delivery
• guarantees that packets arrive at the destination in the order that
they were sent
– guaranteed minimum bandwidth to flow
– guaranteed maximum jitter
• Guarantees that the amount of time between the
– transmission of two successive packets at the sender is equal
to the amount of time between their receipt at the destination
– security services
 Network layer services
• The network layer provides either a host-to-host
– connectionless service or connection service
• but not both
• A network-layer connection service
– Begins with handshaking between the source and destination
• A network-layer connectionless service
– does not have any handshaking preliminaries
 Connectionless service

• Computer networks that provide only a host-to-host

– connectionless service at the network layer are called
• datagram networks
– used in the Internet
» provide a service known as ‘best-effort’ service
• timing between packets is not guaranteed to be
preserved
• Packets are not guaranteed to be received in the order
in which they were sent
• The eventual delivery of transmitted packets cannot
be guaranteed
 Connection service
• Computer networks that provide only a
– connection service at the network layer are called
• virtual-circuit (VC) networks
– used in ATM, frame-relay, X.25
» implement service models that go beyond the Internet’s
best-effort service
• The two networks use
– very different information in making their forwarding decisions
 Datagram networks
• no call setup at network layer
• Routers do not
– maintain state information about end-to-end connections
• no network-level concept of “connection”
• Packets are stamped with
– destination host addresses and pop into the network
• Routers use
– packet’s destination address to forward the packet
• each router has a forwarding table that maps destination addresses
to link interfaces
– packets between same source-destination pair may take
different paths
Datagram network
 Virtual Circuit Networks

• Virtual circuit networks

– use connections at the network layer
• these network layer connections are called Virtual-Circuits (VCs)
• a Virtual Circuit consists of:
1. a path
1. series of links and routers between source to destination
2. VC numbers, one number for each link along the path
3. entries in the forwarding tables in routers along the path
 Virtual Circuit Networks
• There are three identifiable phases in a virtual circuit:
– VC setup
• during the setup phase the network layer determines the
– series of links and routers through which all packets of the VC
will travel
– VC number for each link along the path
– adds an entry in the forwarding table in each router
– Data transfer
• once the VC has been established, packets can begin to flow along
the VC
 Virtual Circuit Networks
• VC teardown
– Initiated when the sender/receiver informs the network layer of
its desire to terminate the VC
• Signaling protocols are used to
– Setup, maintain and teardown VCs
 Virtual Circuit Networks
• A packet belonging to a VC
– carries a VC number in its header (rather than dest host address)
• VC number can be changed on each link.
– new VC number is obtained from the forwarding table
 Forwarding table
VC number

12 R1 22 R2 32
• Suppose host A request that the
network establish a VC between itself 1 3
and host B A 2 B
• Suppose the network chose the path
• A-R1-R2-B interface
number

Incoming interface Incoming VC # Outgoing interface Outgoing VC #

1 12 3 22
2 63 1 18
3 7 2 17
1 97 3 87
… … … …