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CHAPTER 7
WIRED AND WIRELESS
LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
T his chapter examines the three major network architecture components that use local area
networks (LANs): the LANs that provide network access to users, the data center, and the
e-commerce edge. We focus on the LANs that provide network access to users as these are
more common. This chapter draws together the concepts from the first section of the book on
fundamental concepts to describe how wired and wireless LANs work. We first summarize the
major components of LANs and then describe the two most commonly used LAN technologies:
wired and wireless Ethernet. The chapter ends with a discussion of how to design LANs and how
to improve LAN performance.

OBJECTIVES ◾ Understand the major components of LANs

◾ Understand the best practice recommendations for LAN design
◾ Be able to design wired Ethernet LANs
k ◾ Be able to design wireless Ethernet LANs k
◾ Be able to improve LAN performance

OUTLINE 7.1 Introduction

7.2 LAN Components
7.5 The Best Practice LAN Design
7.2.1 Network Interface Cards
7.5.1 Designing User Access with Wired
7.2.2 Network Circuits
Ethernet
7.2.3 Network Hubs, Switches, and Access
7.5.2 Designing User Access with Wireless
Points
Ethernet
7.2.4 Network Operating Systems
7.5.3 Designing the Data Center
7.3 Wired Ethernet
7.5.4 Designing the e-Commerce Edge
7.3.1 Topology
7.5.5 Designing the SOHO Environment
7.3.2 Media Access Control
7.6 Improving LAN Performance
7.3.3 Types of Ethernet
7.6.1 Improving Server Performance
7.4 Wireless Ethernet
7.6.2 Improving Circuit Capacity
7.4.1 Topology
7.6.3 Reducing Network Demand
7.4.2 Media Access Control
7.7 Implications for Cyber Security
7.4.3 Wireless Ethernet Frame Layout
Summary
7.4.4 Types of Wireless Ethernet
7.4.5 Security

7.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on the first major network architecture component: the local area networks
(LANs) that provide users access to the network. Most large organizations have numerous wired
and wireless LANs connected by backbone networks. In this chapter, we discuss the fundamental
components of a LAN, along with two technologies commonly used in LANs—traditional wired

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178 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), which is commonly used to connect desktop computers, and wireless
Ethernet (IEEE 802.11, commonly called Wi-Fi), which often is used to connect laptop computers
and mobile devices. There used to be many different types of LAN technologies, but gradually
the world has changed so that Ethernet dominates. The majority of LAN design is done for the
LANs that enable users to access the network, whether wired or wireless, because there are more
of these LANs than any other type. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the design of these access
LANs. However, the data center and e-commerce edge also use LANs, so we include sections on
the unique design needs of these two network architecture components.

A Day in the Life: LAN Administrator

Most days start the same way. The LAN administrator arrives early in the morning before most
people who use the LAN. The first hour is spent checking for problems. All the network hard-
ware and servers in the server room receive routine diagnostics. All the logs for the previous
day are examined to find problems. If problems are found (e.g., a crashed hard disk), the next
few hours are spent fixing them. Next, the daily backups are done. This usually takes only a few
minutes, but sometimes a problem occurs and it takes an hour.
The next step is to see if there are any other activities that need to be performed to main-
tain the network. This involves checking email for security alerts (e.g., Windows updates and
antivirus updates). If critical updates are needed, they are done immediately. There are usually
emails from several users that need to be contacted, concerning either problems with the LAN
or requests for new hardware or software to be installed. These new activities are prioritized
into the work queue.
And then the real work begins. Work activities include tasks such as planning for the next
k k
roll out of software upgrades. This involves investigating the new software offerings, identifying
what hardware platforms are required to run them, and determining which users should receive
the upgrades. It also means planning for and installing new servers or network hardware such
as firewalls.
Of course, some days can be more exciting than others. When a new virus hits, everyone
is involved in cleaning up the compromised computers and installing security patches on the
other computers. Sometimes, virus attacks can be fun when you see that your security settings
work and beat the virus.
Source: With thanks to Steve Bushert.

7.2 LAN COMPONENTS

There are several components in a traditional LAN (Figure 7-1). The first two are the client
computer and the server. Clients and servers have been discussed in Chapter 2, so they are
FIGURE 7-1 Client computer
Client computer
Local area network Network interface card (NIC)
Client computer
components

Switch

Client computer
Network cable
Client computer
Access point

Client computer

NIC

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LAN Components 179

not discussed further here. The other components are network interface cards (NICs), network
circuits, hubs/switches/access points, and the network operating system.

7.2.1 Network Interface Cards

The network interface card (NIC) is used to connect the computer to the network cable in a wired
network and is one part of the physical layer connection among the computers in the network. In
a wireless network, the NIC is a radio transmitter that sends and receives messages on a specific
radio frequency. All desktop computers have a wired NIC built in, while virtually all laptops have
both a wired NIC and a wireless NIC. You can purchase a wireless NIC for a desktop computer
(often as a USB device).

7.2.2 Network Circuits

Each computer must be physically connected by network circuits to the other computers in the
network.
Wired LANs Most LANs are built with unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable, shielded
twisted-pair (STP) cable, or fiber-optic cable. (Common cable standards are discussed in the
following box. We should add that these cable standards specify the minimum quality cable
required; it is possible, for example, to use category 5e UTP cable that is rated for 1,000 Mbps in
a LAN that runs at 100 Mbps.)
Many LANs use UTP cable. Its low cost makes it very useful. STP is only used in special areas
that produce electrical interference, such as factories near heavy machinery or hospitals near MRI
scanners.
k Fiber-optic cable is even thinner than UTP wire and therefore takes far less space when cabled k
throughout a building. It is also much lighter, weighing less than 10 pounds per 1,000 feet. Because
of its high capacity, fiber-optic cabling is perfect for BNs, although it is beginning to be used
in LANs.

TECHNICAL 7-1 Commonly Used Network Cable Standards

FOCUS

Name Type Maximum Data Rate Often Used By Cost1 ($/foot)

Category 12 UTP 1 Mbps Telephone 0.04
Category 33 UTP 10 Mbps 10Base-T Ethernet 0.06
Category 5 UTP 100 Mbps 100Base-T Ethernet 0.07
Category 5 STP 100 Mbps 100Base-T Ethernet 0.18
Category 5e4 UTP 1 Gbps 1000Base-T Ethernet 0.10
Category 6 UTP 10 Gbps 10GBase-T 0.15
Category 7 STP 40 Gbps 40GBase-T 0.25
62.5/50 Fiber 1 Gbps 1000Base-F Ethernet 0.25

Notes
1. These costs are approximate costs for cable only (no connectors). They often change but will give you a sense of the
relative differences in costs among the different options.
2. Category 1 is standard voice-grade twisted-pair wires, but it can also be used to support low-speed analog data
transmission.
3. Category 2 and category 4 cable are old standards no longer in use today.
4. Category 5e is an improved version of category 5 that has better insulation and a center plastic pipe inside the cable to
keep the individual wires in place and reduce noise from cross-talk, so that it is better suited to 1000Base-T.

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180 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

Wireless LANs Wireless LANs (WLANs) use radio transmissions to send data between the NIC
and the access point (AP). Most countries (but not all) permit WLANs to operate in two fre-
quency ranges: the 2.4 and 5 GHz range. These same frequency ranges can be used by cordless
phones and baby monitors, which means that your WLAN and your cordless phone may interfere
with each other. Under ideal conditions, the radio transmitters in the NICs and APs can transmit
100–150 meters (300–450 feet). In practice, the range is much shorter as walls absorb the radio
waves. The other problem is that as the distance from the AP increases, the maximum speed drops,
often very dramatically.
When we design a WLAN, it is important to ensure that the APs don’t interfere with each
other. If all APs transmitted on the same frequency, the transmissions of one AP would interfere
with another AP. Therefore, each AP is set to transmit on a different channel, very much like the
different channels on your TV. Each channel uses a different part of the 2.4 or 5 GHz frequency
range so that there is no interference among the different channels. When a computer first starts
using the WLAN, its NIC searches all available channels within the appropriate frequency range
and then picks the channel that has the strongest signal.

7.2.3 Network Hubs, Switches, and Access Points

Network hubs and switches serve two purposes. First, they provide an easy way to connect net-
work cables. A hub or a switch can be thought of as a junction box, permitting new computers
to be connected to the network as easily as plugging a power cord into an electrical socket. Each
connection point where a cable can be plugged in is called a port. Each port has a unique num-
ber. Switches can be designed for use in small-office, home-office (SOHO) environments (see
Figure 7-2a) or for large enterprise environments (see Figure 7-2b).
k Simple hubs and switches are commonly available in 4-, 8-, 16-, and 24-port sizes, meaning k
that they provide anywhere between 4 and 24 ports into which network cables can be plugged.
When no cables are plugged in, the signal bypasses the unused port. When a cable is plugged into
a port, the signal travels down the cable as though it were directly connected to the hub or switch.

(a) Small-Office, Home-Office (SOHO) switch

with five 10/100/1000 Mbps ports
http://homestore.cisco.com/en-us/Switches/
linksys-EZXS55W_stcVVproductId53934575VVcatId543809VVviewprod.htm

(b) Data center chassis switch with 512 10 Gbps ports

Source: newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/prod_012808b.html

FIGURE 7-2 Lan switches

Source: Courtesy Cisco Systems, Inc. Unauthorized use not permitted

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LAN Components 181

Some switches also enable different types of cables to be connected and perform the necessary
conversions (e.g., twisted-pair cable to coaxial cable and twisted-pair cable to fiber-optic cable).

MANAGEMENT 7-1 Cable Problems at the University of Georgia

FOCUS

Like many organizations, the Terry College of Business at the hub had an unused port to connect the new user, or
the University of Georgia is headquartered in a building else the technician would have to find another hub with an
built before the computer age. When local area network empty port.
cabling was first installed in the early 1980s, no one To complicate matters even more, asbestos was
foresaw the rapid expansion that was to come. Cables and discovered. Now network technicians could not open the
hubs were installed piecemeal to support the needs of the ceiling and work on the cable unless asbestos precautions
handful of early users. were taken. This meant calling in the university’s asbestos
The network eventually grew far beyond the number of team and sealing off nearby offices. Installing a new user
users it was designed to support. The network cabling grad- to the network (or fixing a network cable problem) now
ually became a complex, confusing, and inefficient mess. took 2 days and cost $2,000.
There was no logical pattern for the cables, and there was The solution was obvious. The university spent
no network cable plan. Worse still, no one knew where $400,000 to install new category 5 twisted-pair cable in
all the cables and hubs were physically located. Before a every office and to install a new high-speed fiber-optic
new user was added, a network technician had to open backbone network between network segments.
up a ceiling and crawl around to find a hub. Hopefully,

k k

Second, hubs and switches act as repeaters. Signals can travel only so far in a network cable
before they attenuate and can no longer be recognized. (Attenuation was discussed in Chapter 4.)
All LAN cables are rated for the maximum distance they can be used (typically 100 meters for
twisted-pair cable and 400 meters to several kilometers for fiber-optic cable).
A wireless access point (AP) is a radio transceiver that plays the same role as a hub or switch
in wired Ethernet LANs. It enables the computers near it to communicate with each other, and it
also connects them into wired LANs, typically using 100Base-T or 1000Base-T. All NICs in the
WLAN transmit their frames to the AP, and then the AP retransmits the frames over the wireless
network or over the wired network to their destination. Therefore, if a frame has to be transmitted
from one wireless computer to another, it is transmitted twice, once from the sender to the AP
and then from the AP to the destination. At first glance, this may seem a bit strange because
it doubles the number of transmissions in the WLAN. However, very few frames are ever sent
from client computer to client computer in a WLAN. Most frames are exchanged between client
computers and a server of some kind. Therefore, a server should never be placed on a WLAN
because client computers cannot reach it directly but have to communicate with it via the AP.
Even if they are intended to serve clients on a WLAN, they should always be placed on the wired
portion of the LAN.
Figure 7-3a shows an AP for use in SOHO environments. This AP is wired into the regular
Ethernet LAN and has a separate power supply that is plugged into a normal electrical outlet.
Figure 7-3b shows an AP for use in large enterprises. It is also wired into the regular Ethernet
LAN, but it uses power over Ethernet (POE) so it needs no external power; the power is pro-
vided from a POE switch over the unused wires in a category 5/5e cable. POE APs are more
expensive, but can be located anywhere you can run Cat 5/5e cable, even if there are no power
outlets nearby.

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182 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

FIGURE 7-3
Wireless access
points
Source: Courtesy of the
author, Alan Dennis

(a) AP for SOHO use (b) A power-over-Ethernet AP for enterprise use

Most WLANs are installed using APs that have omnidirectional antennas, which means that
the antenna transmits in all directions simultaneously. Some antennas are built into the AP itself,
while others stick up above it. One common omnidirectional antenna is the dipole antenna shown
in Figure 7-3a; others are built into the AP box, as is Figure 7-3b.
The other type of antenna that can be used on APs is the directional antenna, which, as the
name suggests, projects a signal only in one direction. Because the signal is concentrated in a nar-
rower, focused area, the signal is stronger and therefore will carry farther than the signal from an
AP using an omnidirectional antenna. Directional antennas are most often used on the inside
of an exterior wall of a building, pointing to the inside of the building. This keeps the signal
inside the building (to reduce security issues) and also has the benefit of increasing the range
k of the AP. k
Many wireless routers are sold for use in SOHO environments. The wireless routers are both
a wireless AP and a router, and many also contain a 1000Base-T switch. It is important not to use
the term wireless router when you mean a wireless AP.

MANAGEMENT 7-2 Managing Network Cabling

FOCUS

You must consider a number of items when installing ◾ Establish a long-term plan for the evolution of the
cables or when performing cable maintenance. You should current cabling system to whatever cabling system
do the following: will be in place in the future.
◾ Perform a physical inventory of any existing ◾ Obtain a copy of the local city fire codes and
cabling systems and document those findings in follow them. For example, cables used in airways
the network cable plan. without conduit need to be plenum-certified (i.e.,
covered with a fire-retardant jacket).
◾ Properly maintain the network cable plan. Always
update cable documentation immediately on ◾ Conceal all cables as much as possible to protect
installing or removing a cable or hub. Insist that them from damage and for security reasons.
any cabling contractor provide “as-built” plans ◾ Properly number and mark both ends of all cable
that document where the cabling was actually installations as you install them. If a contractor
placed, in case of minor differences from the installs cabling, always make a complete
construction plan. inspection to ensure that all cables are labeled.

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LAN Components 183

7.2.4 Network Operating Systems

The network operating system (NOS) is the software that controls the network. Every NOS
provides two sets of software: one that runs on the network server(s) and one that runs on the net-
work client(s). The server version of the NOS provides the software that performs the functions
associated with the data link, network, and application layers and usually the computer’s own
operating system. The client version of the NOS provides the software that performs the func-
tions associated with the data link and the network layers and must interact with the application
software and the computer’s own operating system. Most NOSs provide different versions of their
client software that run on different types of computers, so that Windows computers, for example,
can function on the same network as Apple computers. In most cases (e.g., Windows and Linux),
the client NOS software is included with the operating system itself.

NOS Server Software The NOS server software enables the file server, print server, or database
server to operate. In addition to handling all the required network functions, it acts as the appli-
cation software by executing the requests sent to it by the clients (e.g., copying a file from its hard
disk and transferring it to the client, printing a file on the printer, executing a database request,
and sending the result to the client). NOS server software replaces the normal operating system on
the server. By replacing the existing operating system, it provides better performance and faster
response time because a NOS is optimized for its limited range of operations. The most commonly
used NOS are Windows Server and Linux.

NOS Client Software The NOS software running at the client computers provides the data link
layer and network layer. Most operating systems today are designed with networking in mind. For
k example, Windows provides built-in software that will enable it to act as a client computer with a k
Windows Server.
One of the most important functions of a NOS is a directory service. Directory services pro-
vide information about resources on the network that are available to the users, such as shared
printers, shared file servers, and application software. A common example of directory services is
Microsoft’s Active Directory Service (ADS).
Active Directory Service works in much the same manner as TCP/IP’s DNS service, and in
fact ADS servers, called domain controllers, can also act as DNS servers. Network resources are
typically organized into a hierarchical tree. Each branch on the tree contains a domain, a group of
related resources. For example, at a university, one domain might be the resources available within
the business school, and another domain might be the resources in the computer science school,
while another might be in the medical school. Domains can contain other domains, and in fact the
hierarchical tree of domains within one organization can be linked to trees in other organizations
to create a forest of shared network resources.
Within each domain, there is a server (the domain controller) that is responsible for resolv-
ing address information (much like a DNS server resolves address information on the Internet).
The domain controller is also responsible for managing authorization information (e.g., who is
permitted to use each resource) and making sure that resources are available only to authorized
users. Domain controllers in the same tree (or forest) can share information among themselves,
so that a domain controller in one part of the tree (or forest) can be configured to permit access
to resources to any user that has been approved by another domain controller in a different part
of the tree (or forest).
If you login to a Microsoft server or domain controller that provides ADS, you can see all
network resources that you are authorized to use. When a client computer wishes to view available
resources or access them, it sends a message using an industry standard directory protocol called
lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) to the ADS domain controller. The ADS domain

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184 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

controller resolves the textual name in the LDAP request to a network address and—if the user is
authorized to access the resource—provides contact information for the resource.

Network Profiles A network profile specifies what resources on each server are available on
the network for use by other computers and which devices or people are allowed what access
to the network. The network profile is normally configured when the network is established and
remains in place until someone makes a change. In a LAN, the server hard disk may have various
resources that can or cannot be accessed by a specific network user (e.g., data files and printers).
Furthermore, a password may be required to grant network access to the resources.
If a device such as a hard disk on one of the network’s computers is not included on the
network profile, it cannot be used by another computer on the network. For example, if you have
a hard disk (C) on your computer and your computer is connected to this LAN but the hard disk
is not included on the network profile assignment list, then no other computer can access that
hard disk.
In addition to profiling disks and printers, there must be a user profile for each person who
uses the LAN, to add some security. Each device and each user is assigned various access codes,
and only those users who log in with the correct code can use a specific device. Most LANs keep
audit files to track who uses which resource. Security is discussed in Chapter 9.

7.3 WIRED ETHERNET

Almost all LANs installed today use some form of Ethernet. Ethernet was originally developed
by DEC, Xerox, and Intel but has since become a standard formalized by the IEEE as
k IEEE 802.3. The IEEE 802.3 version of Ethernet is slightly different from the original version but k
the differences are minor. Likewise, another version of Ethernet has also been developed that
differs slightly from the 802.3 standard.
Ethernet is a layer 2 protocol, which means it operates at the data link layer. Every Ethernet
LAN needs hardware at layer 1, the physical layer, that matches the requirements of the Ethernet
software at layer 2.

7.3.1 Topology
Topology is the basic geometric layout of the network—the way in which the computers on the
network are interconnected. It is important to distinguish between a logical topology and a phys-
ical topology. A logical topology is how the network works conceptually, much like a logical
data flow diagram (DFD) or logical entity relation diagram (ERD) in systems analysis and design
or database design. A physical topology is how the network is physically installed, much like a
physical DFD or physical ERD.

Hub-Based Ethernet When we use hubs, Ethernet’s logical topology is a bus topology. All com-
puters are connected to one half-duplex circuit running the length of the network that is called the
bus. The top part of Figure 7-4 shows Ethernet’s logical topology. All frames from any computer
flow onto the central cable (or bus) and through it to all computers on the LAN. Every computer
on the bus receives all frames sent on the bus, even those intended for other computers. Before
processing incoming frames, the Ethernet software on each computer checks the data link layer
address and processes only those frames addressed to that computer.
The bottom part of Figure 7-4 shows the physical topology of an Ethernet LAN when a hub is
used. From the outside, an Ethernet LAN appears to be a star topology, because all cables connect
to the central hub. Nonetheless, it is logically a bus.

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Wired Ethernet 185

FIGURE 7-4
Ethernet topology
using hubs
Logical
Topology:
Bus

Physical
Topology:
Star

Hub

With hubs, all computers share the same multipoint circuit and must take turns using it. This
shared multipoint circuit is often called a collision domain, because if two computers ever did
accidentally transmit at the same time, there would be a collision. When one computer transmits,
k all the other computers must wait, which is very inefficient. Because all frames are sent to all com- k
puters in the same collision domain, security is a problem because any frame can be read by any
computer. Most companies don’t use hub-based Ethernet today, but products are still available
and are very cheap. Wireless Ethernet, which we discuss in a later section, works much the same
as hub-based Ethernet.

Switch-Based Ethernet When we use switches, Ethernet’s topology is a logical star and a physical
star (Figure 7-5). From the outside, the switch looks almost identical to a hub, but inside, it is
very different. A switch is an intelligent device with a small computer built in that is designed
to manage a set of separate point-to-point circuits. That means that each circuit connected to a
switch is not shared with any other devices; only the switch and the attached computer use it. The
physical topology looks essentially the same as Ethernet’s physical topology: a star. On the inside,
the logical topology is a set of separate point-to-point circuits, also a star. Many switches support
full duplex circuits, meaning that each circuit can simultaneously send and receive.
When a switch receives a frame from a computer, it looks at the address on the frame and
retransmits the frame only on the circuit connected to that computer, not to all circuits as a hub
would. Therefore, no computer needs to wait because another computer is transmitting; every
computer can transmit at the same time, resulting in much faster performance. As a result, each
port on the switch is in a separate collision domain, and there are only two devices on it: the switch
and the computer/device on the other end of the cable. Today, no one buys a hub unless she or he
can’t afford a switch.
So how does a switch know which circuit is connected to what computer? The switch uses a
forwarding table that is very similar to the routing tables discussed in Chapter 5. The table lists the
Ethernet address of the computer connected to each port on the switch. When the switch receives
a frame, it compares the destination address on the frame to the addresses in its forwarding table
to find the port number on which it needs to transmit the frame. Because the switch uses the

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186 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

FIGURE 7-5
Ethernet topology
using switches
Logical
Topology:
Star

Physical
Topology:
Star

Switch

Ethernet address to decide which port to use and because Ethernet is a data link layer or layer 2
protocol, this type of switch is called a layer 2 switch.
When switches are first turned on, their forwarding tables are empty; they do not know what
k Ethernet address is attached to what port. Switches learn addresses to build the forwarding table. k
When a switch receives a frame, it reads the frame’s data link layer source address and compares
this address to its forwarding table. If the address is not in the forwarding table, the switch adds
it, along with the port on which the frame was received.
If a switch receives a frame with a destination address that is not in the forwarding table, the
switch must still send the frame to the correct destination. In this case, it must retransmit the frame
to all ports, except the one on which the frame was received. The attached computers, being Ether-
net and assuming they are attached to a hub, will simply ignore all frames not addressed to them.
The one computer for whom the frame is addressed will recognize its address and will process
the frame, which includes sending an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement
(NAK) back to the sender. When the switch receives the ACK or NAK, it will add this computer’s
address and the port number on which the ACK or NAK was received to its forwarding table and
then send the ACK or NAK on its way.
So, for the first few minutes until the forwarding table is complete, the switch acts like a hub.
But as its forwarding table becomes more complete, it begins to act more and more like a switch.
In a busy network, it takes only a few minutes for the switch to learn most addresses and match
them to port numbers. To make a switch work faster, the most active connections are placed on
the top of the forwarding table. If a computer is not communicating for more than 300 seconds,
its entry is usually removed from the forwarding table.
There are three modes in which switches can operate. The first is cut-through switching.
With cut-through switching, the switch begins to transmit the incoming packet on the proper
outgoing circuit as soon as it has read the destination address in the frame. In other words, the
switch begins transmitting before it has received the entire frame. The advantage of this is low
latency (the time it takes a device from receiving a frame to transmitting it) and results in a
very fast network. The disadvantage is that the switch begins transmitting before it has read and
processed the frame check sequence at the end of the frame; the frame may contain an error, but

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Wired Ethernet 187

the switch will not notice until after almost all of the frame has been transmitted. Cut-through
switching can only be used when the incoming data circuit has the same data rate as the
outgoing circuit.
With the second switching mode, called store-and-forward switching, the switch does not
begin transmitting the outgoing frame until it has received the entire incoming frame and has
checked to make sure it contains no errors. Only after the switch is sure there are no errors does the
switch begin transmitting the frame on the outgoing circuit. If errors are found, the switch simply
discards the frame. This mode prevents an invalid frame from consuming network capacity, but
provides higher latency and thus results in a slower network (unless many frames contain errors).
Store-and-forward switching can be used regardless of whether the incoming data circuit has the
same data rate as the outgoing circuit because the entire frame must be stored in the switch before
it is forwarded on its way.
The final mode, called fragment-free switching, lies between the extremes of cut-through
switching and store-and-forward switching. With fragment-free switching, the first 64 bytes
of the frame are read and stored. The switch examines the first 64 bytes (which contain all
the header information for the frame), and if all the header data appear correct, the switch
presumes that the rest of the frame is error free and begins transmitting. Fragment-free switching
is a compromise between cut-through and store-and-forward switching because it has higher
latency and better error control than cut-through switching, but lower latency and worse error
control than store-and-forward switching. Most switches today use cut-through or fragment-
free switching.

7.3.2 Media Access Control

k When several computers share the same collision domain (i.e., multipoint circuit), it is important k
to control their access to the media. If two computers on the same circuit transmit at the same
time, their transmissions will become garbled. These collisions must be prevented, or if they do
occur, there must be a way to recover from them. This is called media access control.
Ethernet uses a contention-based media access control technique called Carrier Sense Mul-
tiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD). CSMA/CD, like all contention-based tech-
niques, is very simple in concept: wait until the circuit is free and then transmit. Computers wait
until no other devices are transmitting, then transmit their frames. As an analogy, suppose you
are talking with a small group of friends (four or five people). As the discussion progresses, each
person tries to grab the floor when the previous speaker finishes. Usually, the other members of
the group yield to the first person who jumps in right after the previous speaker.
Ethernet’s CSMA/CD protocol can be termed “ordered chaos.” As long as no other computer
attempts to transmit at the same time, everything is fine. However, it is possible that two computers
located some distance from each other can both listen to the circuit, find it empty, and begin
simultaneously. This simultaneous transmission is called a collision. The two frames collide and
destroy each other.
The solution to this is to listen while transmitting, better known as collision detection (CD).
If the NIC detects any signal other than its own, it presumes that a collision has occurred and sends
a jamming signal. All computers stop transmitting and wait for the circuit to become free before
trying to retransmit. The problem is that the computers that caused the collision could attempt to
retransmit at the same time. To prevent this, each computer waits a random amount of time after
the colliding frame disappears before attempting to retransmit. Chances are both computers will
choose a different random amount of time and one will begin to transmit before the other, thus
preventing a second collision. However, if another collision occurs, the computers wait a random
amount of time before trying again. This does not eliminate collisions completely, but it reduces
them to manageable proportions.

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188 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

FIGURE 7-6
Maximum
Types of Ethernet Name Data Rate

10Base-T 10 Mbps

100Base-T 100 Mbps

1000Base-T 1 Gbps

1000Base-F 1 Gbps

10 GbE 10 Gbps

40 GbE 40 Gbps

100 GbE 100 Gbps

7.3.3 Types of Ethernet

Figure 7-6 summarizes the many different types of Ethernet in use today. The 10Base-T standard
revolutionized Ethernet and made it the most popular type of LAN in the world. Today, 100Base-T
and 1000Base-T are the most common forms of Ethernet.
Other types of Ethernet include 1000Base-F (which runs at 1 Gbps and is sometimes called
1 GbE), 10 GbE (10 Gbps), 40 GbE (40 Gbps), and 100 GbE (100 Gbps). They can use Ethernet’s
traditional half-duplex approach, but most are configured to use full duplex. Each is also designed
to run over fiber-optic cables, but some may also use traditional twisted-pair cables (e.g., Cat 5e).
For example, two common versions of 1000Base-F are 1000Base-LX and 1000Base-SX, both of
k which use fiber-optic cable, running up to 440 and 260 meters, respectively; 1000Base-T, which k
runs on four pairs of category 5 twisted-pair cable, but only up to 100 meters; and 1000Base-CX,
which runs up to 24 meters on one category 5 cable. Similar versions of 10 and 40 GbE that use
different media are also available.

MANAGEMENT 7-3 Moving to Gigabit Ethernet

FOCUS

Kotak Mahindra Group, one of India’s leading financial their core network. The switches provide 512 ports of 10
services provider, offers comprehensive financial solutions GbE, with the ability to upgrade to 40 and 100 Gbps. The
such as commercial banking, stock brokering, mutual switches have an internal switching capacity of 15 Tbps (15
funds, life insurance, and investment banking. They trillion bits per second), so there is room for growth.
employ 20,000 people at more than 1,300 branches in
India and around the world. Adapted from “Kotak Group Builds State-of-the-Art Data
Because of the high network traffic in their main data Center on Cisco Nexus 7000 Switch,” Cisco Customer Case
center location, Kotak installed gigabit Ethernet switches in Study, Cisco Systems.

Some organizations use 10/100/1000 Ethernet, which is a hybrid that can run at any of these
three speeds; 10/100/1000 NICs and switches detect the signal transmitted by the computer or
device on the other end of the cable and will use 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, or 1 Gbps, depending on
which the other device uses.

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Wireless Ethernet 189

7.4 WIRELESS ETHERNET

Wireless Ethernet (commonly called Wi-Fi) is the commercial name for a set of standards devel-
oped by the IEEE 802.11 standards group. A group of vendors selling 802.11 equipment trade-
marked the name Wi-Fi to refer to 802.11 because they believe that consumers are more likely to
buy equipment with a catchier name than 802.11. Wi-Fi is intended to evoke memories of Hi-Fi,
as the original stereo music systems in the 1960s were called.
The 802.11 family of technologies is much like the Ethernet family. They reuse many of the
Ethernet 802.3 components and are designed to connect easily into Ethernet LANs. For these
reasons, IEEE 802.11 is often called wireless Ethernet. Just as there are several different types of
Ethernet (e.g., 10Base-T, 100Base-T, and 1000Base-T), there are several different types of 802.11.

7.4.1 Topology
The logical and physical topologies of Wi-Fi are the same as those of hub-based Ethernet: a physical
star and a logical bus. There is a central AP to which all computers direct their transmissions (star),
and the radio frequencies are shared (bus) so that all computers must take turns transmitting.

7.4.2 Media Access Control

Media access control in Wi-Fi is Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance
(CSMA/CA), which is similar to the contention-based CSMA/CD approach used by Ethernet.
With CSMA/CA, computers listen before they transmit, and if no one else is transmitting, they
proceed with transmission. Detecting collisions is more difficult in radio transmission than in
k transmission over wired networks, so Wi-Fi attempts to avoid collisions to a greater extent than k
traditional Ethernet. CSMA/CA has two media access control approaches. However, before a
computer can transmit in a WLAN, it must first establish an association with a specific AP, so
that the AP will accept its transmissions.

Associating with an AP Searching for an available AP is called scanning, and a NIC can engage
in either active or passive scanning. During active scanning, a NIC transmits a special frame called
probe frame on all active channels on its frequency range. When an AP receives a probe frame, it
responds with a probe response that contains all the necessary information for a NIC to associate
with it. A NIC can receive several probe responses from different APs. It is up to the NIC to choose
with which AP to associate. This usually depends on the speed rather than distance from an AP.
Once a NIC associates with an AP, they start exchanging packets over the channel that is specified
by the AP.
During passive scanning, the NIC listens on all channels for a special frame called a beacon
frame that is sent out by an AP. The beacon frame contains all the necessary information for a
NIC to associate with it. Once a NIC detects this beacon frame, it can decide to associate with it
and start communication on the frequency channel set by the AP.

Distributed Coordination Function The first media access control method is the distributed
coordination function (DCF) (also called physical carrier sense method because it relies on the
ability of computers to physically listen before they transmit). With DCF, each frame in CSMA/CA
is sent using stop-and-wait ARQ. After the sender transmits one frame, it immediately stops and
waits for an ACK from the receiver before attempting to send another frame. When the receiver of
a frame detects the end of the frame in a transmission, it waits a fraction of a second to make sure
the sender has really stopped transmitting, and then immediately transmits an ACK (or a NAK).

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190 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

The original sender can then send another frame, stop and wait for an ACK, and so on. While the
sender and receiver are exchanging frames and ACKs, other computers may also want to trans-
mit. So when the sender ends its transmission, you might ask, why doesn’t some other computer
begin transmitting before the receiver can transmit an ACK? The answer is that the physical car-
rier sense method is designed so that the time the receiver waits after the frame transmission ends
before sending an ACK is significantly less time than the time a computer must listen to deter-
mine that no one else is transmitting before initiating a new transmission. Thus, the time interval
between a frame and the matching ACK is so short that no other computer has the opportunity
to begin transmitting.

Point Coordination Function The second media access control technique is called the point
coordination function (PCF) (also called the virtual carrier sense method). Not all manufac-
turers have implemented PCF in their APs. DCF works well in traditional Ethernet because every
computer on the shared circuit receives every transmission on the shared circuit. However, in a
wireless environment, this is not always true. A computer at the extreme edge of the range limit
from the AP on one side may not receive transmissions from a computer on the extreme opposite
edge of the AP’s range limit. In Figure 7-1, all computers may be within the range of the AP, but
may not be within the range of each other. In this case, if one computer transmits, the other com-
puter on the opposite edge may not sense the other transmission and transmit at the same time
causing a collision at the AP. This is called the hidden node problem because the computers at the
opposite edges of the WLAN are hidden from each other.
When the hidden node problem exists, the AP is the only device guaranteed to be able to
communicate with all computers on the WLAN. Therefore, the AP must manage the shared circuit
using a controlled-access technique, not the contention-based approach of traditional Ethernet.
k k
With this approach, any computer wishing to transmit first sends a request to send (RTS) to the
AP, which may or may not be heard by all computers. The RTS requests permission to transmit
and to reserve the circuit for the sole use of the requesting computer for a specified time period.
If no other computer is transmitting, the AP responds with a clear to send (CTS), specifying
the amount of time for which the circuit is reserved for the requesting computer. All computers
hear the CTS and remain silent for the specified time period. The virtual carrier sense method is
optional. It can always be used, never used, or used just for frames exceeding a certain size, as set
by the WLAN manager.
Controlled-access methods provide poorer performance in low-traffic networks because
computers must wait for permission before transmitting rather than just waiting for an unused
time period. However, controlled-access techniques work better in high-traffic WLANs, because
without controlled access, there are many collisions. Think of a large class discussion in which the
instructor selects who will speak (controlled access) versus one in which any student can shout
out a comment at any time.

7.4.3 Wireless Ethernet Frame Layout

An 801.11 data frame is illustrated in Figure 7-7. We notice two major differences when we com-
pare the 802.11 frame to the 802.3 frame used in wired Ethernet (see Chapter 4). First, the wireless
Ethernet frame has four address fields rather than two like the wired Ethernet. These four address

Frame Duration Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Sequence Address 4 Data FCS

Control (2 bytes) (6 bytes) (6 bytes) (6 bytes) Control (6 bytes) (0-2312 (6 bytes)
(2 bytes) (2 bytes) bytes)

FIGURE 7-7 A wireless Ethernet frame

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Wireless Ethernet 191

fields are source address, transmitter address, receiver address, and destination address. The source
and destination address have the same meaning as in wired Ethernet. However, because every NIC
has to communicate via an AP (it cannot directly communication with another NIC), there is a
need to add the address of the AP and also any other device that might be needed to transmit the
frame. To do this, the transmitter and received address fields are used.
Second, there is new field called sequence control that indicates how a large frame is
fragmented—split into smaller pieces. Recall that in wired networks this is done by the transport
layer, not the data link layer. Moving the segmentation to the data link layer for wireless makes
the transmission transparent to the higher layers. The price, however, is less efficiency because of
the size of the frame and thus also a higher error rate.

7.4.4 Types of Wireless Ethernet

Wi-Fi is one of the fastest changing areas in networking. There are six versions of Wi-Fi; all but
the last two or three versions are obsolete but may still be in use in some companies. All the differ-
ent types are backward compatible, which means that laptops and APs that use new versions can
communicate with laptops and APs that use older versions. However, this backward compatibility
comes with a price. These old laptops become confused when other laptops operate at high speeds
near them, so when an AP detects the presence of a laptop using an old version, it prohibits laptops
that use the newer versions from operating at high speeds. Thus, one old laptop will slow down all
the other new laptops around it.

802.11a IEEE 802.11a is an obsolete, legacy technology, and no new products are being devel-
oped. Under perfect conditions, it provides eight channels of 54 Mbps, each with a maximum
k range of 50 meters or 150 feet. Speeds of 20 Mbps at 50-foot ranges are more common in the face k
of interference such as drywall or brick walls.

802.11b IEEE 802.11b is another obsolete, legacy technology. Under perfect conditions, it pro-
vides three channels of 11 Mbps, each with a maximum range of 150 meters or 450 feet, although
in practice both the speed and range are lower.

802.11g IEEE 802.11g is another obsolete, legacy technology. Under perfect conditions, it pro-
vides three channels of 54 Mbps, each with a maximum range of 150 meters or 450 feet, although
in practice both the speed and range are lower.

802.11n IEEE 802.11n is another obsolete version, but many organizations continue to use it
because it is cheap. Under perfect conditions, it provides three channels of 450 Mbps each with
a maximum range of 100 meters or 300 feet, although in practice both the speed and range are
lower. Older versions of 802.11n provide a maximum speed of 300 Mbps. You would probably
think the three channels are numbered 1, 2, and 3, but they aren’t. The three channels are num-
bered 1, 6, and 11, because the underlying technology provides 11 channels, with channels 1, 6,
and 11 designed so they do not overlap and cause interference with each other. It is also possible
to configure a dual-band AP so it combines all the channels into one “dual-band” channel that
provides 600 Mbps.

802.11ac IEEE 802.11ac is the latest version, and it has a number of differences from the earlier
version. This version runs in two different frequency spectrums simultaneously (2.4 and 5 GHz)
to provide very high speed data rates. To make things more confusing, there are several different
versions of the standard, and vendors can choose what aspects to implement. Some vendors have
introduced products that conform to the standard but operate only in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. These
products offer fewer channels and/or slower data rates, so we now need to read product labels very

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192 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

carefully before buying equipment. One important innovation is that the RTS/CTS media access
control is sent on a separate frequency range, so that it does not interfere with data transmis-
sion. The default modulation technique is 256-QAM, increased from 64-QAM in 802.11n, so the
increase in data transmission speed is greater than the increase in frequency range would suggest
(see Chapter 3).
One version of the standard, the one most vendors have implemented as we write this, pro-
vides eight channels each running at 433 Mbps with a maximum range of 100 meters (300 feet)
under perfect conditions. The actual throughput after you consider the symbol structure (to pre-
vent errors, it uses six symbols to send 5 bits, rather than sending multiple bits on each symbol;
see Chapter 3) and the efficiency of the data link protocol (see Chapter 4) is about 300 Mbps. As
you get farther from the AP, the speed drops, so users will only see the maximum speed within
20–30 meters of the AP, depending on the interference in the environment. At maximum range,
data rates are likely to be about 90 Mbps per channel (60 Mbps throughput).
Another version of the standard enables the user to configure the number of channels and the
capacity each will have. This is made more complex by enabling each AP to have a different number
of antennas, with each additional antenna enabling faster speeds—but only if the devices attached
to the AP also have more antennas, which is usually not the case; most laptops have only two
antennas. It also enables special antennas that shape the radio beam, so that the signal is focused
only in certain directions, to further improve speed and quality. So technically, 802.11ac could
provide one channel of 6.9 Gbps (or a throughput of 4.9 Gbps), but only under perfect conditions,
when talking to a nonstandard laptop.

802.11ad IEEE 802.11ad (sometimes called WiGig) is a specialized version of wireless Ethernet
that has a maximum range of 10 meters (30 feet). WiGig cannot penetrate walls, so it can only be
k used in the same room as the AP. Current products have data rates of 7 Gbps (throughput of 5 k
Gbps) in each channel, and future versions are expected to reach 50 Gbps per channel (through-
put of 35 Gbps). Some experts believe WiGig is best suited to SOHO environments with digital
entertainment needs. Other experts expect it to be used in high-density office areas that have many
cubicles in the same open space or in sports stadiums and university classrooms, which often have
many mobile devices seeking network access.

7.4.5 Security
Security is important to all networks and types of technology, but it is especially important for
wireless networks. With a WLAN, anyone walking or driving within the range of an AP (even
outside the offices) can begin to use the network.
Finding WLANs is quite simple. You just walk or drive around different office buildings
with your WLAN-equipped client computer and see if it picks up a signal. There are also many
special-purpose software tools available on the Internet that will enable you to learn more about
the WLANs you discover, with the intent of helping you to break into them. This type of wireless
reconnaissance is often called wardriving (see www.wardriving.com).

WEP One wireless security technique is Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). With WEP, the AP
requires the user to have a key to communicate with it. All data sent to and from the AP are
encrypted so that they can only be understood by computers or devices that have the key (encryp-
tion is discussed in more detail in Chapter 11). If a computer does not have the correct WEP key,
it cannot understand any messages transmitted by the AP, and the AP will not accept any data that
are not encrypted with the correct key.
The WEP keys are produced dynamically, much like the way in which a DHCP server is used
to dynamically produce IP addresses. When an AP first discovers a new client computer, it requires
the user to log in before it will communicate with the client computer. The user ID and password
supplied by the user are transmitted to a login server, and if the server determines that they are

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The Best Practice LAN Design 193

valid, the server generates a WEP key that will be used by the AP and client computer to commu-
nicate for this session. Once the client logs out or leaves the WLAN, the WEP key is discarded,
and the client must log in again and receive a new WEP key.
WEP has a number of serious weaknesses, and most experts agree that a determined hacker
can break into a WLAN that uses only WEP security. A good way to think about WEP is that it
is like locking your doors when you leave: It won’t keep out a professional criminal, but it will
protect against a casual thief.

WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is a newer, more secure type of security. WPA works in
ways similar to WEP: Every frame is encrypted using a key, and the key can be fixed in the AP or
can be assigned dynamically as users login. The difference is that the WPA key is longer than the
WEP key and thus is harder to break. More importantly, the key is changed for every frame that
is transmitted to the client. Each time a frame is transmitted, the key is changed.

802.11i 802.11i (also called WPA2) is the newest, most secure type of WLAN security. The user
logs in to a login server to obtain the master key. Armed with this master key, the user’s computer
and the AP negotiate a new key that will be used for this session until the user leaves the WLAN.
802.11i uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) discussed in Chapter 11 as its encryption
method.

MAC Address Filtering With MAC address filtering, the AP permits the owner to provide a
list of MAC addresses (i.e., layer 2 addresses). The AP only processes frames sent by computers
whose MAC address is in the address list; if a computer with a MAC address not in the list sends
a frame, the AP ignores it. Unfortunately, this provides no security against a determined hacker.
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There is software available that will change the MAC address on a wireless NIC, so a determined
hacker could use a packet sniffer (e.g., Wireshark) to discover a valid MAC address and then use
the software to change his MAC address to one the AP would accept. MAC address filtering is like
WEP; it will protect against a casual thief, but not against a professional.

MANAGEMENT 7-4 Wi-Fi Access Points in Light Bulbs

FOCUS

One product that has the potential to revolutionize SOHO (30 meters). This means you put the first Wi-Fi bulb in a
networking is the Wi-Fi light bulb. For years, we’ve had LED light socket that is within range of your AP. Then you put
bulbs that can be controlled over Wi-Fi. The new bulbs take the next bulb within 100 feet of the first bulb, and so on,
this one step further: each bulb becomes a Wi-Fi AP. until your entire house, patio, backyard, etc. is covered in
These light bulbs contain a Wi-Fi extender chip. Wi-Fi. Anywhere you can plug in a light bulb, you can
They receive the Wi-Fi signal from your existing AP, and have Wi-Fi.
then retransmit it. The current range is about 100 feet

7.5 THE BEST PRACTICE LAN DESIGN

This section focuses on the design of wired and wireless LANs that provide network access to
users. The data center and e-commerce edge also use LANs, so we include sections on the unique
needs of these two network architecture components. The past few years have seen major changes
in LAN technologies (e.g., gigabit Ethernet and high-speed wireless Ethernet). As technologies

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194 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

have changed and costs have dropped, so too has our understanding of the best practice design
for LANs.
One of the key questions facing network designers is the relationship between Wi-Fi and
wired Ethernet. The data rates for Wi-Fi have increased substantially with the introduction of each
new version of 802.11, so they are similar to the data rates offered by 100Base-T wired Ethernet.
The key difference is that 100Base-T wired Ethernet using switches provides 100 Mbps to each
user, whereas Wi-Fi shares its available capacity among every user on the same AP, so as more
users connect to the APs, the network gets slower and slower.
Wi-Fi is considerably cheaper than wired Ethernet because the largest cost of LANs is not the
equipment, but in paying someone to install the cables. The cost to install a cable in an existing
building is typically between $150 and $400 per cable, depending on whether the cable will have
to be run through drywall, brick, ceilings, and so on. Installing cable in a new building during
construction is cheaper, typically $50–$100 per cable.
Most organizations today install wired Ethernet to provide access for desktop users and install
Wi-Fi as overlay networks. They build the usual switched Ethernet networks as the primary
LAN, but they also install Wi-Fi for laptops and mobile devices. Some organizations have begun
experimenting with Wi-Fi by moving groups of users off the wired networks onto Wi-Fi as their
primary network to see whether Wi-Fi is suitable as a primary network.
Today, we still believe the best practice is to use wired Ethernet for the primary LAN, with
Wi-Fi as an overlay network. However, this may change. Stay tuned.

MANAGEMENT 7-5 Will Wi-Fi Replace Wired LANS?

k FOCUS k

As KPMG, one of the largest consulting firms in the world, to shift a substantial portion of their traditionally wired
began to build a new 2,800-person headquarters near users to wireless. They cut their wired network by half
Amsterdam, KPMG’s IT group realized that their traditional and installed more than 500 802.11n APs throughout the
wired network approach would have required 18,000 new facility to provide complete coverage for data and
cable runs, 55 chassis switches, and 260 LAN switches. voice. The new network design cut the initial cost by $2
The up-front cost was expected to exceed $6 million, and million and reduced annual operating costs by $750,000
the recurring operating costs would run into the millions per year.
annually as well. The new design also delivered substantial green
KPMG began to wonder if there was a better way. benefits. APs use about 5% of the electricity that 48-port
Could they build an entirely wireless network that would switches require for power and cooling. By eliminat-
meet their needs? ing half the switches, the new design eliminated more
After careful analysis, KPMG decided they were not than 350 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions
ready to go completely wireless. However, they decided each year.

7.5.1 Designing User Access with Wired Ethernet

Many organizations today install switched 100Base-T or 1000Base-T over category 5e wiring for
their wired LANs. It is relatively low cost and fast.
In the early days of LANs, it was common practice to install network cable wherever it was
convenient. Little long-term planning was done. The exact placement of the cables was often not
documented, making future expansion more difficult—you had to find the cable before you could
add a new user.

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The Best Practice LAN Design 195

With today’s explosion in LAN use, it is critical to plan for the effective installation and use
of LAN cabling. The cheapest point at which to install network cable is during the construction
of the building; adding cable to an existing building can cost significantly more. Indeed, the costs
to install cable (i.e., paying those doing the installation and additional construction) are usually
substantially more than the cost of the hubs and switches, making it expensive to reinstall the cable
if the cable plan does not meet the organization’s needs.
Most buildings under construction today have a separate LAN cable plan, as they have plans
for electrical cables. Each floor has a data wiring closet that contains one or more network hubs
or switches. Cables are run from each room on the floor to this wiring closet.

7.5.2 Designing User Access with Wireless Ethernet

Selecting the best practice wireless technology is usually simple. You pick the newest one, cost
permitting. Today, 802.11ac is the newest standard, but in time, there will be a new one.
Designing the physical WLAN is more challenging than designing a wired LAN because the
potential for radio interference means that extra care must be taken in the placement of APs to
ensure that their signals do not overlap. With the design of LANs, there is considerable freedom
in the placement of switches, subject to the maximum limits to the length of network cables. In
WLANs, however, the placement of the APs needs to consider both the placement of other APs
and the sources of interference in the building.
The physical WLAN design begins with a site survey. The site survey determines the feasibil-
ity of the desired coverage, the potential sources of interference, the current locations of the wired
network into which the WLAN will connect, and an estimate of the number of APs required to
k provide coverage. WLANs work very well when there is a clear line of sight between the AP and k
the wireless computer. The more walls there are between the AP and the computer, the weaker the
wireless signal becomes. The type and thickness of the wall also has an impact; traditional drywall
construction provides less interference than does concrete block construction.
An AP with an omnidirectional antenna broadcasts in all directions. Its coverage area is a
circle with a certain radius. Wi-Fi has a long range, but real-world tests of Wi-Fi in typical office
environments have shown that data rates slow down dramatically when the distance from a laptop
to the AP exceeds 50 feet. Therefore, many wireless designers use a radius of 50 feet when planning
traditional office environments, which ensures access high-quality coverage. It is also expensive,
because many APs will need to be purchased. Costs may be reduced by using a longer radius (e.g.,
100 feet), so that fewer APs are needed, but this may result in slower data rates.
One may design wireless LANs using this 50-foot-radius circle, but because most buildings are
square, it is usually easier to design using squares. Figure 7-8 shows that a 50-foot radius translates
into a square that is approximately 70 feet on each edge. For this reason, most designers plan
wireless LANs using 50- to 75-foot squares, depending on the construction of the building: smaller
squares in areas where there are more walls that can cause more interference and larger squares
in areas with fewer walls.
Figure 7-9 shows a sample building that has two parts. The lower-left corner is a 150 feet ×
150 feet square, while the rest of the building is a 150 feet × 450 feet rectangle. Let’s assume that
the large rectangle part is an open office environment, while the smaller part uses drywall. If we
put two rows of APs in the large rectangle part, we could probably space them so that each AP
covered a 75-foot square. This would take a total of 12 APs for this area (see Figure 7-9). This same
spacing probably won’t work for the small area with drywall, so we would probably design using
50-foot squares, meaning we need nine APs in this area (see Figure 7-9).
When designing a wireless LAN, it is important to ensure that the APs don’t interfere with
each other. If all APs transmitted on the same frequency, the transmissions of one AP would inter-
fere with another AP where their signals overlapped—just like what happens on your car radio

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196 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

FIGURE 7-8 70-foot edge

Design parameters for

Wi-Fi access point
range
50-foot
radius
70-foot
edge

FIGURE 7-9 450 ft

A Wi-Fi design (the

numbers indicate the
channel numbers) 6 1 6 11 6 1

150 ft

1 11 1 6 1 11

300 ft

11 6 1
k k
6 1 11 150 ft

11 6 1

150 ft

when two stations are in the same frequency. Therefore, each AP is set to transmit on a different
channel, very much like the different channels on your TV. Figure 7-9 shows how we could set the
APs to the three commonly used channels (1, 6, and 11) so that there is minimal overlap between
APs using the same channel.
Suppose you had a conference room or classroom that needed several APs to provide adequate
Wi-Fi for everyone who will use it. You could put several APs in the same room and set them on
different channels so their signals did not interfere with each other. One challenge is managing
the number of users on each AP. Laptops and mobile phones connect to the AP with the strongest
signal, which means most will connect to the same AP. If too many users connect to one AP, it will
get very busy and Wi-Fi speeds will be slow, while the other APs in the room will be only lightly
used. This occurs because standard APs are autonomous and do not talk to each other. Each AP
only responds to the devices that request access to it.
Most large companies install managed APs that are different than the SOHO APs we install
in our homes and apartments. Managed APs are wired into a Wi-Fi Controller (rather than a
normal hub or switch). They report what devices are attached to them and how busy they are
to the controller, which balances traffic across the APs it manages. If a laptop connects to a very
busy AP when there are less busy APs nearby, the controller will instruct the AP to deny access
to the laptop and the laptop will automatically try to connect to the next AP it sees. As a result,

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The Best Practice LAN Design 197

FIGURE 7-10
A Wi-Fi design in the
three dimensions
Channel 1
(the numbers indicate
the channel numbers)

Channel 6

Channel 11

the number of devices connected to each AP and the amount of traffic each receives is balanced
across the set of APs managed by the controller, and overall network performance improves.
After the initial design is complete, a site survey is done using a temporary AP and a com-
puter or device that can actually measure the strength of the wireless signal. The temporary AP
is installed in the area as called for in the initial design, and the computer or device is carried
throughout the building measuring the strength of the signal. Actually measuring the strength of
the signal in the environment is far more accurate than relying on estimated ranges.
k Design becomes more difficult in a multistory building because the signals from the APs travel k
up and down as well as in all horizontal directions. The design must include the usual horizontal
mapping but also an added vertical mapping to ensure that APs on different floors do not interfere
with one another Figure 7-10). Because floors are usually thicker than walls, signals travel further
horizontally than vertically, making design a bit more difficult. It becomes even more difficult if
your set of floors in a large office tower is surrounded by APs of other companies. You have to
design your network not to interfere with theirs.
Most wireless LAN APs offer the ability to provide two separate wireless networks. The pri-
mary network is secured by a password that is entered when you first connect to the network.
This password is remembered by the device so that you never have to enter the password a sec-
ond time. This password secures the access to the network, and all connections use some form of
encryption, such as WPA2, so that no one can read your messages (even if someone accesses the
same AP using the same password). This network is typically used by regular users of the network
such as employees of an organization or the homeowner in a SOHO network.
The second network is a guest network that is secured by a separate password that is entered
on a Web page when you first connect to the network. This network is not secure, meaning that
other users with the right hacking software can read the messages you send and receive. However,
because the network will not allow users on the network without the password, it means that
access can be controlled so that only authorized users have access. This network is typically used
by guests who need temporary access. The guest network is often configured so it provides slower
speeds than the primary network, so if the AP gets busy, it prioritizes traffic for regular users over
traffic for guest users.

7.5.3 Designing the Data Center

The data center is where the organization houses its primary servers. In most large organizations,
the data center is huge because it contains the data center as well as the campus backbone switches

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198 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

FIGURE 7-11
The data center at
Indiana University
Source: Courtesy of the
author, Alan Dennis

and the enterprise edge. Figure 7-11 shows the data center building at Indiana University. This
building, which is built partially underground to withstand an F5 tornado, is 87,000 square feet,
of which 33,000 square feet is used for servers. The servers can store about 50 petabytes of data
(about 50 million gigabytes).
Designing the data center requires considerable expertise, because most data on a network
flow from or to the data center. In all large-scale networks today, servers are placed together
in server farms or clusters, which sometimes have hundreds of servers that perform the same
k task. Yahoo.com, for example, has more than a thousand Web servers that do nothing but k
respond to Web search requests. In this case, it is important to ensure that when a request
arrives at the server farm, it is immediately forwarded to a server that is not busy—or that is the
least busy.
A special device called a load balancer or load balancing switch acts as a router at the front of
the server farm (Figure 7-12). All requests are directed to the load balancer at its IP address. When
a request hits the load balancer, it forwards it to one specific server using its IP address. Sometimes
a simple round-robin formula is used (requests go to each server one after the other in turn);
in other cases, more complex formulas track how busy each server actually is. If a server crashes,
the load balancer stops sending requests to it, and the network continues to operate without the
failed server. Load balancing makes it simple to add servers (or remove servers) without affecting
users. You simply add or remove the server(s) and change the software configuration in the load
balancing switch; no one is aware of the change.
Server virtualization is somewhat the opposite of server farms and load balancing. Server
virtualization is the process of creating several logically separate servers (e.g., a Web server, an
email server, and a file server) on the same physical computer. The virtual servers run on the same
physical computer but appear completely separate to the network (and if one crashes, it does not
affect the others running on the same computer).
Over time, many firms have installed new servers to support new projects, only to find that the
new server was not fully used; the server might only be running at 10% of its capacity and sitting
idle for the rest of the time. One underutilized server is not a problem, but imagine if 20–30% of
a company’s servers are underutilized. The company has spent too much money to acquire the
servers, and more importantly, it is continuing to spend money to monitor, manage, and update
the underused servers. Even the space and power used by having many separate computers can
noticeably increase operating costs. Server virtualization enables firms to save money by reducing
the number of physical servers they buy and operate, while still providing all the benefits of having
logically separate devices and operating systems.

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The Best Practice LAN Design 199

FIGURE 7-12 Server Farm

Network with load

balancer

Switch

Backbone

Load
Balancer Switch

Switch

Switch

Some operating systems enable virtualization natively, which means that it is easy to
configure and run separate virtual servers. In other cases, special-purpose virtualization software
(e.g., VMware) is installed on the server and sits between the hardware and the operating systems;
k this software means that several different operating systems can be installed on the same physical k
computer.
A storage area network (SAN) is a LAN devoted solely to data storage. When the amount
of data to be stored exceeds the practical limits of servers, the SAN plays a critical role. The SAN
has a set of high-speed storage devices and servers that are networked together using a very high
speed network. When data are needed, clients send the request to a server on the LAN, which
obtains the information from the devices on the SAN and then returns it to the client.
The devices on the SAN may be a large set of database servers or a set of network-attached disk
arrays. In other cases, the devices may be network-attached storage (NAS) devices. A NAS is not a
general-purpose computer, such as a server that runs a server operating system (e.g., Windows and
Linux); instead, it has a small processor and a large amount of disk storage and is designed solely
to respond to requests for files and data. NAS can also be attached to LANs, where they function as
fast file servers. Figure 7-13 shows the SAN for the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
This SAN stores 125 terabytes of data.

7.5.4 Designing the e-Commerce Edge

The e-commerce edge contains the servers that are designed to serve data to customers and sup-
pliers, such as the corporate Web server. The e-commerce edge is essentially a smaller, specialized
version of the data center. It contains all the same equipment as the data center (e.g., load bal-
ancer, SAN, and UPS), but this equipment supports access by users external to the organization. It
is often connected directly to the Internet access part of the network via a very-high-speed circuit
as well as the campus backbone.
The e-commerce edge often has different security requirements than the servers in the data
center intended for use by employees inside the organization because the e-commerce edge is
primarily intended to serve those external to the organization. We discuss the special security
needs of the e-commerce edge in Chapter 11.

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200 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

FIGURE 7-13
The storage area
network (SAN) at the
Kelley School of
Business at Indiana
University
Source: Courtesy of the
author, Alan Dennis

k k

7.5.5 Designing the SOHO Environment

Most of what we have discussed so far has focused on network design in large enterprises. What
about LAN design for SOHO environments? SOHO environments can be small versions of
enterprise designs, or can take a very different approach.
Figure 7-14a shows a SOHO LAN designed similar to a small enterprise design that provides
both wired and wireless Ethernet (it’s in Alan’s house). Virtually all of the rooms in the house are
wired with 1000Base-T Ethernet over Cat 5e cable, which terminates in a 24-port patch panel. You
can see from the figure that only five of the rooms are actually wired from the patch panel into the
16-port switch; one of those wires connects the AP mounted in an upstairs hallway (not shown)
that provides wireless access throughout the house and onto the back deck and gazebo. There is
a separate router and cable modem. The AP, switch, and router are all Cisco or Linksys equip-
ment and are the original 2001 equipment, and still work well. The cable modem is an off-brand
provided by the ISP and has broken and been replaced every 3 years.
Figure 7-14b shows a more modern—and probably more common—SOHO LAN that
provides only wireless access (it’s in Alexandra’s house). This has a cable modem that connects
into a wireless router; the wireless router is a wireless AP, a router, and a switch for wired Ethernet
all in one box. This network is simpler and cheaper because it contains fewer devices and is used
only for wireless access. Alexandra doesn’t have a desktop computer at home, but she could easily
connect one if she wanted by adding a wireless NIC into a desktop; the 802.11n WLAN provides
ample capacity for a small SOHO network.
Installing cables for wired Ethernet is expensive, so most SOHO designs use wireless Eth-
ernet. Sometimes a house is big enough that one WAP won’t cover the entire building and the

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The Best Practice LAN Design 201

Patch Panel
Cable Modem

Cable
Modem

Switch
Router

Wireless
Router

(a) Alan’s home network (b) Alexandra’s home network

FIGURE 7-14 SOHO LAN designs

Source: Photos courtesy of the authors, Alan Dennis and Alexandra Durcikova

outdoor area. Powerline networking is an old technology that is making a comeback for exactly
this situation. Powerline networking provides Ethernet over the existing electrical power wires in
your house at rates up to 1 Gbps. The powerline adapters convert the traditional wired Ethernet
signal that runs over Cat 5e cables into a signal that can travel over the electrical powerwires.
You buy a kit that has two powerline adapters. You plug one adapter into a power outlet in one
room and the other into an outlet in a different room. Then you connect an Ethernet cable into
each adapter and you can begin transmitting between the two powerline adapters. Figure 7-15
k k

FIGURE 7-15
Powerline adapter
Source: Photo courtesy of
the author, Alan Dennis

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202 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

shows the powerline adapter that one of our friends has at his house in Hawaii. He has one WAP
near his back door to provide wireless coverage for the rear of his house and the backyard, which
is plugged into this powerline adapter. He has a second WAP connected to the second powerline
adapter upstairs near the front of his house to provide coverage for the rest of his house and his
front yard.

7.6 IMPROVING LAN PERFORMANCE

When LANs had only a few users, performance was usually very good. Today, however, when
most computers in an organization are on LANs, performance can be a problem. Performance is
usually expressed in terms of throughput (the total amount of user data transmitted in a given
time period) or in response time (how long it takes to get a response from the destination).
In this section, we discuss how to improve throughput. We focus on dedicated-server networks
because they are the most commonly used type of LANs, but many of these concepts also apply to
peer-to-peer networks.

TECHNICAL 7-2 Error Control in Wired Ethernet

FOCUS
Ethernet provides a strong error control method using stop Ethernet does still add the CRC and does still check it for
and wait ARQ with a CRC-32 error detection field (see errors, but any frame with an error is simply discarded.
Chapter 4). However, the normal way of installing wired If Ethernet doesn’t provide error control, then higher
k Ethernet doesn’t use stop-and-wait ARQ. layers in the network model must. In general, TCP is con- k
In the early days of Ethernet, LAN environments were figured to provide error control by using continuous ARQ
not very reliable, so error control was important. However, (see Chapter 5) to ensure that all frames that have been
today’s wired Ethernet LANs are very reliable; errors sel- sent are actually received at the final destination. If a frame
dom occur. Stop-and-wait ARQ uses considerable network with an error is discarded by Ethernet, TCP will recognize
capacity because every time a frame is transmitted, the that a frame has been lost and ask the sender to retransmit.
sender must stop and wait for the receiver to send an ACK. This moves responsibility for error control to the edges of
By eliminating the need to stop and wait and the need to the network (i.e., the sender and receiver) rather than mak-
send acknowledgments, Ethernet can significantly improve ing every computer along the way responsible for ensuring
network performance—almost doubling the number of reliable message delivery.
messages that can be transmitted in the same time period.

To improve performance, you must locate the bottleneck, the part of the network that is
restricting the data flow. Generally speaking, the bottleneck will lie in one of two places. The first
is the network server. In this case, the client computers have no difficulty sending requests to the
network server, but the server lacks sufficient capacity to process all the requests it receives in
a timely manner. The second location is a network circuit, either the access LAN, the building
backbone, the campus backbone, or the circuit into the data center. In this case, the server (or
more likely, a server farm) can easily process all the client requests it receives, but a circuit lacks
enough capacity to transmit all the requests to the server.
The first step in improving performance, therefore, is to identify whether the bottleneck lies
in a circuit or the server. To do so, you simply watch the utilization of the server during periods
of poor performance. If the server utilization is high (e.g., 80–100%), then the bottleneck is the
server; it cannot process all the requests it receives in a timely manner. If the server utilization
is low during periods of poor performance, then the problem lies with a network circuit; some
circuits cannot transmit messages as quickly as necessary.

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Improving LAN Performance 203

FIGURE 7-16
Improving local area Performance Checklist
network performance Increase Server Performance
• Software
• Fine-tune the network operating system settings
• Hardware
• Add more servers and spread the network applications
across the servers to balance the load
• Upgrade to a faster computer
• Increase the server’s memory
• Increase the number and speed of the server’s hard disk(s)

Increase Circuit Capacity

• Upgrade to a faster circuit
• Increase the number of circuits

Reduce Network Demand

• Move files from the server to the client computers
• Increase the use of disk caching on client computers
• Change user behavior

k Most organizations focus on ways to improve the server and the circuits to remove bottle- k
necks. These actions address only the supply side of the equation—that is, increasing the capacity
of the LAN as a whole. The other way to reduce performance problems is to attack the demand
side: reduce the amount of network use by the clients, which we also discuss. Figure 7-16 provides
a performance checklist.

7.6.1 Improving Server Performance

Improving server performance can be approached from two directions simultaneously: software
and hardware.

Software The NOS is the primary software-based approach to improving network perfor-
mance. Some NOSs are faster than others, so replacing the NOS with a faster one will improve
performance.
Each NOS provides a number of software settings to fine-tune network performance.
Depending on the number, size, and type of messages and requests in your LAN, different
settings can have a significant effect on performance. The specific settings differ by NOS but often
include things such as the amount of memory used for disk caches, the number of simultaneously
open files, and the amount of buffer space.

Hardware One obvious solution if your network server is overloaded is to buy a second server
(or more). Each server is then dedicated to supporting one set of application software (e.g.,
one handles email, another handles the financial database, and another stores customer records).
The bottleneck can be broken by carefully identifying the demands each major application
software package places on the server and allocating them to different servers.
Sometimes, however, most of the demand on the server is produced by one application that
cannot be split across several servers. In this case, the server itself must be upgraded. The first place

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204 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

to start is with the server’s CPU. Faster CPUs mean better performance. If you are still using an
old computer as a LAN server, this may be the answer; you probably need to upgrade to the latest
and greatest. Clock speed also matters: the faster, the better. Most computers today also come with
CPU-cache (a very fast memory module directly connected to the CPU). Increasing the cache will
increase CPU performance.
A second bottleneck is the amount of memory in the server. Increasing the amount of
memory increases the probability that disk caching will work, thus increasing performance.
A third bottleneck is the number and speed of the hard disks in the server. The primary func-
tion of the LAN server is to process requests for information on its disks. Slow hard disks give slow
network performance. The obvious solution is to buy the fastest disk drive possible. Even more
important, however, is the number of hard disks. Each computer hard disk has only one read/write
head, meaning that all requests must go through this one device. By using several smaller disks
rather than one larger disk (e.g., five 200 gigabyte disks rather than one 1 terabyte disk), you now
have more read/write heads, each of which can be used simultaneously, dramatically improving
throughput. A special type of disk drive called RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks)
builds on this concept and is typically used in applications requiring very fast processing of large
volumes of data, such as multimedia. Of course, RAID is more expensive than traditional disk
drives, but costs have been shrinking. RAID can also provide fault tolerance, which is discussed
in Chapter 11.
Several vendors sell special-purpose network servers that are optimized to provide extremely
fast performance. Many of these provide RAID and use symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) that
enables one server to use up to 16 CPUs. Such servers provide excellent performance but cost
more (often $5,000–$15,000).

k k
7.6.2 Improving Circuit Capacity
Improving the capacity of a circuit means increasing the volume of simultaneous messages the
circuit can transmit from network clients to the server(s). One obvious approach is simply to buy a
bigger circuit. For example, if you are now using a 100Base-T LAN, upgrading to 1000Base-T LAN
will improve capacity. Or if you have 802.11n, then upgrade to 802.11ac. You can also add more
circuits so that there are two or even three separate high-speed circuits between busy parts of the
network, such as the core backbone and the data center. Most Ethernet circuits can be configured
to use full duplex (see Chapter 4), which is often done for backbones and servers.
Another approach is to segment the network. If there is more traffic on a LAN than it can han-
dle, you can divide the LAN into several smaller segments. Breaking a network into smaller parts
is called network segmentation. In a wired LAN, this means adding one of more new switches
and spreading the computers across these new switches. In a wireless LAN, this means adding
more APs that operate on different channels. If wireless performance is significantly worse than
expected, then it is important to check for sources of interference near the AP and the computers
such as Bluetooth devices and cordless phones.

7.6.3 Reducing Network Demand

One way to reduce network demand is to move files to client computers. Heavily used software
packages that continually access and load modules from the network can place unusually heavy
demands on the network. Although user data and messages are often only a few kilobytes in size,
today’s software packages can be many megabytes in size. Placing even one or two such appli-
cations on client computers can greatly improve network performance (although this can create
other problems, such as increasing the difficulty in upgrading to new versions of the software).
Most organizations now provide both wired and wireless networks, so another way to reduce
demand is to shift it from wired networks to wireless networks, or vice versa, depending on which

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Summary 205

has the problem. For example, you can encourage wired users to go wireless or install wired
Ethernet jacks in places where wireless users often sit.
Because the demand on most LANs is uneven, network performance can be improved by
attempting to move user demands from peak times to off-peak times. For example, early morning
and after lunch are often busy times when people check their email. Telling network users about the
peak times and encouraging them to change their habits may help; however, in practice, it is often
difficult to get users to change. Nonetheless, finding one application that places a large demand on
the network and moving it can have a significant impact (e.g., printing several thousand customer
records after midnight).

7.7 IMPLICATIONS FOR CYBER SECURITY

Most attacks from external hackers come over the Internet. However, it is still important to secure
the LAN from unauthorized users. For wired LANs, this means securing hubs and switches. All
devices should be placed in locked closets, with access tightly controlled. For WLANs, this means
using encryption and secured access that requires users to login before they can use the Wi-Fi.
This is particularly important for Wi-Fi APs whose signal extends outside of buildings onto public
streets, or to other floors in an office building that are occupied by other firms.

SUMMARY

LAN Components The NIC enables the computer to be physically connected to the network
and provides the physical layer connection among the computers. Wired LANs use UTP wires,
k k
STP wires, and/or fiber-optic cable. Network hubs and switches provide an easy way to connect
network cables and act as repeaters. Wireless NICs provide radio connections to APs that link
wireless computers into the wired network. The NOS is the software that performs the functions
associated with the data link and the network layers and interacts with the application software
and the computer’s own operating system. Every NOS provides two sets of software: one that runs
on the network server(s) and one that runs on the network client(s). A network profile specifies
what resources on each server are available for network use by other computers and which devices
or people are allowed what access to the network.
Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) Ethernet, the most commonly used LAN protocol in the world, uses
a contention-based media access technique called CSMA/CD. There are many different types of
Ethernet that use different network cabling (e.g., 10Base-T, 100Base-T, 1000Base-T, and 10 GbE).
Switches are preferred to hubs because they are significantly faster.
Wireless Ethernet Wireless Ethernet (often called Wi-Fi) is the most common type of wire-
less LAN. It uses physical star/logical bus topology with both controlled and contention-based
media access control. 802.11ac, the newest version, provides 433Mbps over three channels or faster
speeds over fewer channels.
Best Practice LAN Design Most organizations install 100Base-T or 10/100/1000 Ethernet
as their primary LAN and also provide wireless LANs as an overlay network. For SOHO networks,
the best LAN choice may be wireless. Designing the data center and e-commerce edge often uses
specialized equipment such as server farms, load balancers, virtual servers, SANs, and UPS.
Improving LAN Performance Every LAN has a bottleneck, a narrow point in the network
that limits the number of messages that can be processed. Generally speaking, the bottleneck will
lie in either the network server or a network circuit. Server performance can be improved with a
faster NOS that provides better disk caching, by buying more servers and spreading applications
among them or by upgrading the server’s CPU, memory, NIC, and the speed and number of its

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206 Chapter 7 Wired and Wireless Local Area Networks

hard disks. Circuit capacity can be improved by using faster technologies (e.g., 1000Base-T), by
adding more circuits, and by segmenting the network into several separate LANs by adding more
switches or APs. Overall LAN performance also can be improved by reducing the demand for the
LAN by moving files off the LAN, moving users from wired Ethernet to wireless or vice versa, and
by shifting users’ routines.

KEY TERMS
access point (AP), 181 forwarding table, 185 physical carrier sense twisted-pair cable, 181
Active Directory Service fragment-free switching, method, 189 unshielded twisted-pair
(ADS), 183 187 physical topology, 184 (UTP) cable, 179
association, 189 frame, 184 point coordination virtual carrier sense, 190
beacon frame, 189 hub, 180 function (PCF), 190 wardriving, 192
bottleneck, 202 IEEE 802.3, 184 port, 180 Wireless Ethernet
bus topology, 184 IEEE 802.11, 189 power over Ethernet (Wi-Fi), 189
cable plan, 195 latency, 186 (POE), 181 Wi-Fi Controller, 196
cabling, 195 layer 2 switch, 186 powerline networking, Wi-Fi Protected Access
Carrier Sense Multiple lightweight directory 201 (WPA), 193
Access with Collision access protocol probe frame, 189 WiGig, 192
Avoidance (LDAP), 183 redundant array of Wired Equivalent Privacy
(CSMA/CA), 189 load balancer, 198 inexpensive disks (WEP), 192
Carrier Sense Multiple load balancing switch, (RAID), 204 Wireless LAN (WLAN),
Access with Collision 198 request to send (RTS), 180
k Detection logical topology, 184 190 10Base-T, 188 k
(CSMA/CD), 187 MAC address filtering, server virtualization, 198 100Base-T, 188
channel, 180 193 shielded twisted-pair 1000Base-T, 188
clear to send (CTS), 190 managed APs, 196 (STP), 179 10/100/1000 Ethernet,
collision, 187 network-attached storage site survey, 195 188
collision detection (CD), (NAS), 199 small-office, home-office 1GbE, 188
187 network interface card (SOHO), 180 10GbE, 188
collision domain, 185 (NIC), 179 storage area network 40GbE, 188
cut-through switching, network operating system (SAN), 199 100GbE, 188
186 (NOS), 183 store-and-forward 802.11ac, 191
directional antenna, 182 network profile, 184 switching, 187 802.11ad, 192
distributed coordination network segmentation, switch, 180 802.11a, 191
function (DCF), 189 204 switched Ethernet, 194 802.11b, 191
domain controller, 183 network server, 183 symmetric 802.11g, 191
dual-band AP, 191 omnidirectional antenna, multiprocessing (SMP), 802.11i, 193
Ethernet, 184 182 204 802.11n, 191
fiber-optic cable, 179 overlay network, 194 topology, 184

QUESTIONS

1. Define local area network. 6. Compare and contrast category 5 UTP, category 5e
2. Describe at least three types of servers. UTP, and category 5 STP.
3. Describe the basic components of a wired LAN. 7. What is a cable plan and why would you want one?
4. Describe the basic components of a wireless LAN. 8. What does a NOS do? What are the major software
5. What types of cables are commonly used in wired parts of a NOS?
LANs? 9. How does wired Ethernet work?