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xR-20 III-I IT
Computer Networks
Unit-1 Introduction
1. Computer Network is a collection of autonomous computers interconnected by a
single technology. Two computers are said to be interconnected if they are able to
exchange information.

2. The connection need can be through wire, fibre optics, microwaves, infrared, and
satellites.

3. NOTE: Internet is a well-known example of a network of networks.

4. Computer Network vs Distributed Systems: In a distributed system, a collection

of independent computers appears as a single system. Ex: WWW

In a computer network, this model and software are absent. Users are exposed
to the actual machines. If the machines have different hardware and different
operating systems, it is fully visible to the users. If a user wants to run a program
on a remote machine, he has to log onto that machine and run it there.

5. Uses of CNs:
(a) Business Applications (Products, resource sharing)

Client-Server Model
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(b) Emails
(c) E-Commerce
(d) Home applications
(e) Government
(f) Science
(g) Sports
(h) Travel etc.

6. Peer-to-Peer Communication:

In this form, individuals who form a group can communicate with others in the
group, as shown above. Every person can communicate with one or more; there
is no fixed division into clients and servers.

Ex: social media, Whatsapp, sharing etc.

7.Mobile Users: Mobile computers, such as laptop and mobile phones, have overtaken
desktops. Connectivity to the Internet enables many of these mobile uses. Others
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are smartphones, GPS, m-commerce, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), and

wearable computers (smart watches).

8.Network Types: There are two types of transmission technology that are in
widespread use: broadcast links and point-to-point links.

Point-to-point links connect individual pairs of machines. To go from the source to

the destination, packets may have to visit intermediate machines.

Point-to-point transmission with exactly one sender and one receiver is called
unicasting.

9.In a broadcast network, the communication channel is shared by all the machines
on the network. Packets sent by any machine are received by all the others.

Upon receiving a packet, a machine checks the address field. If the packet is
intended for the receiver, it processes the packet; else, it is just ignored. Ex:
Wireless network.
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10. Personal Area Networks (PANs): PANs let devices communicate over the range of
a person. Ex: A wireless network that connects a computer with its peripherals;
Bluetooth etc.

11. LANs: A LAN is a privately owned network that operates within a single building like
a home or an office. LANs are used to connect personal computers and consumer
electronics to let them share resources (e.g., printers) and exchange information.
When LANs are used by companies, they are called enterprise networks.

12. Both wireless and wired broadcast networks are divided into static and dynamic
designs, depending on how the channel is allocated.

Static allocation divides time into discrete intervals and use a round-robin
algorithm,
allowing each machine to broadcast only when its time slot comes up.

Static allocation wastes channel capacity when a machine has nothing to say
during
its allocated slot, so most systems attempt to allocate the channel dynamically (on
demand).

Dynamic allocation methods are either centralized or decentralized.

(a) In the centralized channel allocation method, there is a single entity, like a base
station in cellular networks, which determines who goes next. It might do this by
accepting multiple packets and prioritizing them according to some internal
algorithm.
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(b) In the decentralized channel allocation method, there is no central entity; each
machine must decide for itself whether to transmit.

13. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): A MAN covers a city. The best-known examples
of MANs are the cable television networks available in many cities.

14. A WAN (Wide Area Network) spans a large geographical area, often a country or
continent. In most WANs, the subnet consists of two distinct components:
transmission lines and switching elements.

Transmission lines move bits between machines. Switching elements, or switches,

are specialized computers that connect two or more transmission lines (ex:
routers).
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15. Varieties of WANs:

 Instead of using dedicated transmission lines, a company might connect all its
offices to the Internet. This allows connections to be made between the offices
as virtual links that use the capacity of the Internet. This is known as Virtual
Private Network (VPN).
 The second variation is that the subnet may be run by a different company. The
subnet operator is known as a network service provider and the customers are
connected to it (ACT, JIO, Airtel etc.). Such a subnet operator is called an ISP
(Internet Service Provider) and the subnet is an ISP network.

16. Wireless Networks: Wireless networks can be divided into three main categories:
 System Inter-Connection: Almost every computer has a monitor, keyboard,
mouse, and printer connected to the main unit by cables. A short-range
wireless network called Bluetooth was designed to connect these
components without wires. Bluetooth also allows digital cameras, headsets,
scanners, and other devices to connect to a computer if they are within
range.
 Wireless LANs: These are systems in which every computer has a radio
modem and antenna with which it can communicate with other systems.
 Wireless WANs: The radio network used for cellular telephones is an
example of a low-bandwidth wireless system.

17. Internetworks: Many networks exist in the world, with different hardware and
software. People connected to one network may want to communicate with people
attached to a different one. Hence, different incompatible networks are to be
connected.

A collection of interconnected networks is called an internetwork or internet.

NOTE:
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Subnet – refers to the collection of routers and communication lines owned by the
network operator.

Network – is formed by the combination of a subnet and its hosts.

Internetwork – a collection of computers interconnected by a single technology.

18. Network Topologies (Interrelations):

The arrangement of a network that comprises nodes and connecting lines via
sender and receiver is referred to as Network Topology. The various network
topologies are:
 Point to Point Topology
 Mesh Topology
 Star Topology
 Bus Topology
 Ring Topology
 Tree Topology
 Hybrid Topology

Point-to-Point Topology is a type of topology that works on the functionality of the

sender and receiver. It is the simplest communication between two nodes, in which
one is the sender and the other one is the receiver. Point-to-Point provides high
bandwidth

In a mesh topology, every device is connected to another device via a particular

channel. In Mesh Topology, the protocols used are AHCP (Ad Hoc Configuration
Protocols), DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), etc.
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Star Topology

In Star Topology, all the devices are connected to a single hub through a cable.
This hub is the central node and all other nodes are connected to the central node.
The hub can be passive in nature i.e., not an intelligent hub such as broadcasting
devices, at the same time the hub can be intelligent known as an active hub. Active
hubs have repeaters in them. Coaxial cables or RJ-45 cables are used to connect
the computers. In Star Topology, many popular Ethernet LAN protocols are used as
CD(Collision Detection), CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access), etc.

Bus Topology

Bus Topology is a network type in which every computer and network device is
connected to a single cable. It is bi-directional. It is a multi-point connection and a
non-robust topology because if the backbone fails the topology crashes. In Bus
Topology, various MAC (Media Access Control) protocols are followed by LAN
ethernet connections like TDMA, Pure Aloha, CDMA, Slotted Aloha, etc.

Ring Topology

In a Ring Topology, it forms a ring connecting devices with exactly two neighboring
devices. A number of repeaters are used for Ring topology with a large number of
nodes, because if someone wants to send some data to the last node in the ring
topology with 100 nodes, then the data will have to pass through 99 nodes to reach
the 100th node. Hence to prevent data loss repeaters are used in the network.
The data flows in one direction, i.e. it is unidirectional, but it can be made
bidirectional by having 2 connections between each Network Node, it is called Dual
Ring Topology. In-Ring Topology, the Token Ring Passing protocol is used by the
workstations to transmit the data.
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Ring Topology

Tree Topology
This topology is the variation of the Star topology. This topology has a hierarchical
flow of data. In Tree Topology, protocols like DHCP and SAC (Standard Automatic
Configuration ) are used.

Hybrid Topology

This topological technology is the combination of all the various types of topologies
we have studied above. Hybrid Topology is used when the nodes are free to take
any form. It means these can be individuals such as Ring or Star topology or can
be a combination of various types of topologies seen above. Each individual
topology uses the protocol that has been discussed earlier.
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19. OSI Reference Model:

Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model is called so since it deals with

connecting open systems (systems that are open for communication with other
systems).
OSI stands for Open System Interconnection is a reference model that describes
how information from a software application in one computer moves through a
physical medium to the software application in another computer.

1. OSI consists of seven layers, and each layer performs a particular network
function.
2. OSI model was developed by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) in 1984, and it is now considered as an architectural model for the inter-
computer communications.
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3. OSI model divides the whole task into seven smaller and manageable tasks.
Each layer is assigned a particular task.
4. Each layer is self-contained, so that task assigned to each layer can be
performed independently.

20. The Physical Layer: The lowest layer of the OSI reference model is the physical
layer. It is responsible for the actual physical connection between the devices. The
physical layer contains information in the form of bits. It is responsible for
transmitting individual bits from one node to the next. When receiving data, this
layer will get the signal received and convert it into 0s and 1s and send them to the
Data Link layer, which will put the frame back together.

The Data Link Layer: The data link layer is responsible for the node-to-node
delivery of the message. The main function of this layer is to make sure data
transfer is error-free from one node to another, over the physical layer. When a
packet arrives in a network, it is the responsibility of the DLL to transmit it to the
Host using its MAC address.
The Data Link Layer is divided into two sublayers:
1. Logical Link Control (LLC)
2. Media Access Control (MAC)

21. The Network Layer: The network layer controls the operation of the subnet. A key
design issue is to determine how packets are routed from source to destination.

Routes can be based on static tables that are existing in the network and can be
updated automatically to avoid failed components.

If too many packets are present in the subnet at the same time, they will get in one
another’s way, forming bottlenecks. Handling congestion and quality of service are
also the responsibilities of the network layer, in concurrence with higher layers.

22. The Transport Layer:

The transport layer provides services to the application layer and takes
services from the network layer. The data in the transport layer is referred to
as Segments. It is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of the complete
message. The transport layer also provides the acknowledgment of the
successful data transmission and re-transmits the data if an error is found.
At the sender’s side: The transport layer receives the formatted data from the
upper layers, performs Segmentation, and also implements Flow and error
control to ensure proper data transmission. It also adds Source and
Destination port numbers in its header and forwards the segmented data to the
Network Layer.
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23. The Session Layer: The session layer allows users on different machines to
establish sessions between them. Sessions offer various services like:

(a) Dialog control (keeping track of whose turn it is to transmit)

(b) Token management (preventing two parties from attempting the same critical
operation simultaneously), and
(c) Synchronization (checkpointing long transmissions to allow them to pick up
from where they left off in the event of a crash and subsequent recovery).

24. The Presentation Layer: It is concerned with the syntax and semantics of the
information transmitted. Computers with different configurations will be used during
communication; to make this happen, data should be defined in an abstract way
(encrypted).

25. The Application Layer: It contains different protocols that are generally needed by
the users. Ex: HTTP, HTTPS (Hyper-text Transfer Protocol Secure). Other
application protocols are used for file transfer, electronic mail, and network news.

26. The TCP/IP Reference Model: From the beginning, the ability to connect multiple
networks in a seamless way was one of the major design goals. This architecture
later became known as the TCP/IP Reference Model. Another major goal was that
the network be able to survive loss of subnet hardware, without existing
conversations being broken off.

That is, connections should remain intact as long as the source and destination
machines are functioning, even if the transmission lines in between are out of
operation.

27. The Link Layer: All the above said requirements led to the choice of a packet-
switching network based on a connectionless layer that runs across different
networks.

The lowest layer in the model is the link layer that describes what links (such as
serial lines and classic Ethernet) must do to meet the needs. It is not really a layer,
but rather an interface between hosts and transmission links.

28. The Internet Layer: The internet layer holds the whole architecture together. Its job is
to permit hosts to inject packets into any network and have them travel
independently to the destination (potentially on a different network).
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They may even arrive in a different order than they were sent, in which case it is the
job of higher layers to rearrange them, if in-order delivery is desired.

The internet layer defines an official packet format and protocol called IP (Internet
Protocol), plus a companion protocol called ICMP (Internet Control Message
Protocol) that helps it function.

The job of the internet layer is to deliver IP packets to their destination. Packet
routing is clearly a major issue here, as is congestion.

NOTE: Congestion: Network congestion refers to a reduction in quality of service

(QOS) that causes packet loss, queueing delay, or the blocking of new connections.

29. The Transport Layer: The layer above the internet layer in the TCP/IP model is called
the transport layer. It is designed to allow peer entities on the source and destination
hosts to carry on a conversation. Two end-to-end transport protocols are used.

 Transmission Control Protocol: It is a connection-oriented protocol that allows

a byte stream originating on one machine to be delivered without error to any
other machine in the internet.

It segments the incoming byte stream into discrete messages and passes each
one on to the internet layer. At the destination, the receiving TCP process
reassembles the received messages into the output stream.

TCP also handles flow control to make sure a fast sender cannot flood a slow
receiver with messages more than its capacity.

 User Datagram Protocol: It is an unreliable and connectionless protocol for

applications that do not want TCP’s sequencing or flow control. They wish to
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provide their own. It is used for single client-server-type request-reply queries

and applications where prompt delivery is important than accurate delivery.

30. The Application Layer: It contains all the higher-level protocols. The early ones
included virtual terminal (TELNET), file transfer (FTP), and electronic mail (SMTP).

Some others are Domain Name System (DNS), for mapping host names onto their
network addresses, HTTP, the protocol for fetching pages on the World Wide Web,
and RTP, the protocol for delivering real-time media such as voice or movies.

31. Hybrid Model:

32. Comparison of OSI and TCP/IP Models: Despite fundamental similarities, the two
models have many differences.
 Three concepts are central to the OSI model: Services, interfaces, protocols.
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 Each layer performs some services for the layer above it. The service definition
tells what the layer does, not how it is accessed.
 A layer’s interface tells the processes above it how to access it. It specifies what
the parameters are and what results to expect.
 The protocols used in a layer are decided and changed y the layer itself,
depending on whether the job is done or not.

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33. Lack of OSI models success: Neither the OSI model nor the TCP/IP model is
perfect. The reasons are summarized below:

 Bad Timing: Whenever a new concept is discovered, there is a burst of research

activity, expanded algorithms and projects based on it. After some time, when all
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this subsides, the concept becomes normal. When the standards are set on this,
investments increases again and after some more time, activity becomes less.

 Bad Technology: The second reason that OSI never caught on is that both the
model and the protocols are imperfect. The choice of seven layers was not
technical, and two of the layers (session and presentation) are nearly empty,
whereas two other ones (data link and network) are overfull. It can be stated that
the model is complex and difficult to understand and implement.

 Bad Implementations: Since the model and the protocols possessed high
complexity, it is no surprise that the initial implementations were huge,
cumbersome, and slow. In contrast, the first implementations of TCP/IP were good
and people began using it quickly.

 Bad Politics: TCP/IP was thought as an American model and OSI was understood
as a European model.
34. A Critique of TCP/IP Reference Model: The TCP/IP model and protocols have
problems like:

 It does not distinguish the concepts of services, interfaces, and protocols.

 The TCP/IP model is not suited to describe any other protocol stack. (Ex:
Bluetooth)
 The link layer is not exactly a layer – it is only an interface (between the network
and data link layers).
 The TCP/IP model does not distinguish between the physical and data link layers.
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Physical Layer
35. Guided Transmission Media: The purpose of the physical layer is to transport bits
from one machine to another. Various physical media can be used for the
transmission. Each one has its own role in terms of bandwidth, delay, cost,
installation and maintenance.

36. Media are grouped into

 guided media, such as copper wire and fiber optics, and
 unguided media, such as terrestrial wireless, satellite, and lasers through the
air.
37. Twisted Pair Cable: One of the oldest and still most common transmission media
is twisted pair. A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires, about 1 mm
thick. The wires are twisted together in a helical form, just like a DNA molecule.

38. Twisting is done because two parallel wires constitute a fine antenna. When the
wires are twisted, the waves from different twists cancel out, so the wire radiates
less effectively. A signal is carried as the difference in voltage between the two
wires in the pair. This provides better immunity to external noise. Ex: Telephones

39. Twisted pairs can run several kms without amplification, but for longer distances the
signal becomes weak and repeaters are needed. Due to their adequate performance
and low cost, twisted pairs are widely used.

40. Links that can be used in both directions at the same time, like a two-lane road, are
called full-duplex links.

In contrast, links that can be used in either direction, but only one way at a time, like
a single-track railway line, are called half-duplex links.
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A third category consists of links that allow traffic in only one direction, like a one-way
street. They are called simplex links.

41. Coaxial Cable: Another transmission medium is the coaxial cable. It has better
shielding and greater bandwidth than twisted pairs, so it can span longer distances
at higher speeds. Two kinds of coaxial cable are widely used:
 50-ohm cable, is used for digital transmission
 75-ohm cable is used for analog transmission and cable television network

A coaxial cable consists of a stiff copper wire as the core, surrounded by an

insulating material. The insulator is encased by a cylindrical conductor, often as a
closely woven braided mesh. The outer conductor is covered in a protective plastic
sheath.

42. Fiber Optics: Fiber optics, or optical fiber, refers to the technology that transmits
information as light pulses along a glass or plastic fiber.

43. A fiber optic cable can contain a varying number of these glass fibers -- from a few
up to a couple hundred. Another glass layer, called cladding, surrounds the glass
fiber core. The buffer tube layer protects the cladding, and a jacket layer acts as the
final protective layer for the individual strand.

44. Fiber optic cables are commonly used because of their advantages over copper
cables. Some of those benefits include higher bandwidth and transmit speeds.
45. Fiber optics is used for long-distance and high-performance data networking. It is
also commonly used in telecommunication services, such as internet, television and
telephones.

46. How fiber optics works: Fiber optics transmit data in the form of light particles --
or photons -- that pulse through a fiber optic cable. The glass fiber core and the cladding
each have a different refractive index that bends incoming light at a certain angle.
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47. When light signals are sent through the fiber optic cable, they reflect off the core and
cladding in a series of zig-zag bounces, following a process called total internal
reflection.

48. The light signals do not travel at the speed of light because of the denser glass
layers, instead traveling about 30% slower than the speed of light.

49. To renew or boost the signal, fiber optics transmission requires repeaters at distant
intervals. The repeaters regenerate the optical signal by converting it to an electrical
signal, processing that electrical signal and retransmitting the optical signal.

50. Fiber optic cables are now able to support up to 10 Gbps signals. Typically, as the
bandwidth capacity increases, it becomes more expensive.

51. Fiber Cables: Fiber optic cables are similar to coax, except without the braid. Figure
below shows a single fiber viewed from the side.

52. At the centre is the glass core through which the light propagates. In multimode
fibers, the core is typically 50 microns in diameter, about the thickness of a human
hair. In single-mode fibers, the core is 8 to 10 microns.

53. The core is surrounded by a glass cladding with a lower index of refraction than the
core, to keep all the light in the core. Next comes a thin plastic jacket to protect the
cladding. Fibers are typically grouped in bundles, protected by an outer sheath.
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54. Two kinds of light sources are typically used to do the signalling. These are LEDs
(Light Emitting Diodes) and semiconductor lasers.

55. UnGuided Transmission Media: Unguided media transport electromagnetic waves without using a
physical conductor. It is also known as unbounded or wireless media, and does not rely on physical pathways
to transmit signals. Instead, they use wireless communication methods to propagate signals through the air or
free space.

Radio Waves

 Radio waves are electromagnetic signals used for various wireless communication technologies, such
as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and radio broadcasting.
 Electromagnetic waves ranging in frequencies between 3 kHz and 1 GHz are normally called radio
waves.
 Radio waves are omni-directional. When an antenna transmits radio waves, they are propagated in all
directions.
 This means that the sending and receiving antennas do not have to be aligned. A sending antenna sends
waves that can be received by any receiving antenna.
 The omnidirectional property has a disadvantage, too. The radio waves transmitted by one antenna are
susceptible to interference by another antenna that may send signals using the same frequency or band.
56. Microwaves
Electromagnetic waves having frequencies between 1 and 300 GHz are called microwaves. Microwaves are
unidirectional. The sending and receiving antennas need to be aligned. The unidirectional property has an obvious
advantage. A pair of antennas can be aligned without interfering with another pair of aligned antennas.
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Terrestrial Microwave Transmission

o Terrestrial Microwave transmission is a technology that transmits the

focused beam of a radio signal from one ground-based microwave
transmission antenna to another.
o Microwaves are the electromagnetic waves having the frequency in the
range from 1GHz to 1000 GHz.
o Microwaves are unidirectional as the sending and receiving antenna is to
be aligned, i.e., the waves sent by the sending antenna are narrowly
focussed.
o In this case, antennas are mounted on the towers to send a beam to
another antenna which is km away.
o It works on the line of sight transmission, i.e., the antennas mounted on the
towers are the direct sight of each other.

Satellite Microwave Communication

o A satellite is a physical object that revolves around the earth at a known

height.
o Satellite communication is more reliable nowadays as it offers more
flexibility than cable and fibre optic systems.
o We can communicate with any point on the globe by using satellite
communication.

How Does Satellite work?

The satellite accepts the signal that is transmitted from the earth station, and it
amplifies the signal. The amplified signal is retransmitted to another earth
station.

Infrared

o An infrared transmission is a wireless technology used for communication over

short ranges.
o The frequency of the infrared in the range from 300 GHz to 400 THz.
o It is used for short-range communication such as data transfer between two cell
phones, TV remote operation, data transfer between a computer and cell phone
resides in the same closed area.
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Characteristics Of Infrared:

o It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data rate will be very high.
o Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls. Therefore, the infrared
communication in one room cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.
o An infrared communication provides better security with minimum interference.
o Infrared communication is unreliable outside the building because the sun rays
will interfere with the infrared waves.