Module 4

Switching Concepts
 Summary
•LAN congestion and its effect on
network performance
•Advantages of LAN segmentation in a
network
•Advantages and disadvantages of
using bridges, switches, and routers for
LAN segmentation
•Effects of switching, bridging, and
routing on network throughput Fast
Ethernet technology and its benefits
CSMA/CD prevents multiple devices from
transmitting at the same time.
The Ethernet/802.3 Interface

•Ethernet is known as a shared-

medium technology – all the devices are
connected to the same delivery media.
•Ethernet media uses a data frame
broadcast method of transmitting and
receiving data to all nodes on the shared
media.
 •Standard Ethernet using Carrier Sense
Multiple Access/ Collision Detection
(CSMA/CD) and a shared medium can
support data transmission rates of up to
10 megabits per second (Mbps).
•Goal of Standard Ethernet is to provide
a best effort delivery service and allow all
devices on the shared medium to
transmit on an equal basis.
Performance of a shared media
Ethernet/802.3 LAN can be negatively
effected by several factors.
The data frame broadcast delivery nature of
Ethernet/802.3 LANs
CSMA/CD access methods allow only one station to
transmit at a time.
Network congestion due to increased bandwidth
demands from multimedia applications such as video and
the Internet.
Normal latency (propagation delay) of frames as they
travel across the LAN layer 1 media and pass through layer
1, 2 and 3 networking devices.
Extending the distances of the Ethernet/802.3 LANs
using Layer 1 repeaters.
 Half-Duplex Design

Transmit
Tx Tx
Ethernet Collision Collision Ethernet
Loopback
Controller Detection Loopback Detection Controller
Receive
Rx Rx

Ethernet NIC Ethernet NIC

•Ethernet physical connector provides several circuits

•Most important are receive (RX), transmit (TX), and collision
detection
Half-Duplex Ethernet Design
(Standard Ethernet)
•The most important of these circuits
are the receive (RX), transmit (TX) and
collision detection.
•The transmit (TX) circuit is active at
the transmitting station.
•The receive (RX) circuit is active at
the receiving station.
 •To the network this appears as a single one
way bridge.
•Both devices are contending for the right to
use the single shared medium.
•The collision detection circuit on each
node contends for the use of the network when
the two nodes attempt to transmit at the same
time.
•When a collision occurs, a host will first
listen to see if the network is in use before
trying to retransmit. It will resume
transmitting based on the back-off
algorithm.
Congestion and Bandwidth
•To relieve network congestion more
bandwidth is needed or the available
bandwidth must be used more efficiently.
•“Throwing bandwidth at the problem.”
•Attacking the symptom and not always
the problem (illness), i.e. Could be
broadcasts, chatty protocols, applications
traffic, etc.
 Propagation Delay
•Latency is also known as propagation delay.
•Propagation delay is the time a frame or
packet of data takes to travel from the source
station or node to its final destination on the
network.
•The greater the number of devices the
greater the latency or propagation delay
•adding hosts simply increases collisions,
increases jam signals, and throughput will
decrease
 Ethernet Transmission
Times
•Each Ethernet bit has a 100ns
window for transmission.
•A byte is equal to eight bits.
•Therefore, one byte takes a minimum
of 800ns to transmit (8 bits at 100ns per
equals 800ns).
 •A 64 byte frame takes 51,200ns or
51.2 microseconds to transmit (64 bytes
at 800ns equals 51,200ns,
51,200ns/1000 equals 51.2
microseconds).
 Extending Shared Media
LANs using Repeaters
•Signal attenuation – the signal
weakens as it travels through the network
from the resistance found in the medium.
•An Ethernet repeater to extend the
distance of a LAN is that a single network
can cover a greater distance and more
users can share that same network.
(Coverage Area)
Improving LAN Performance

•The performance of a network can be

improved in a shared media LAN such as
Ethernet by using one or more of the
following solutions:
oSegmenting the network using Bridges,
Routers, or LAN Switches
oMove to full duplex transmitting
oUpgrade to the Fast Ethernet Standard
 Why Segment LANs?
A Cisco Segment
•A network can be divided in smaller
units called segments. Each segment
uses the (CSMA/CD) protocol and
maintains traffic between users on the
segment. By using segments in a
network less users/devices are sharing
the same 10Mbps when communicating
to one another within the segment. Each
segment is considered its own collision
domain.
 Why Segment LANs?

•In a segmented Ethernet LAN data

passed between segments is transmitted
on the backbone of the network using a
bridge, switch, or router.
•The backbone network is its own
collision domain and uses CSMA/CD to
provide a best effort delivery service
between segments.
Segmentation with Bridges
•Bridges are different than routers
because they are Layer 2 devices,
independent of Layer 3 protocols – they
pass on data frames regardless of which
Layer 3 protocol is being used and are
transparent to the other devices on the
network.
•Bridges increase the latency (delay)in
a network by 10-30%.
•Why?
 •A bridge is considered a store and forward device
because it must examine the destination address
(MAC) field in the frame and determine which interface
to forward the frame.
•If there is no match in the table, the frame is
flooded out all other interfaces
•Bridges "learn a network’s" segmentation by
building address tables that contain the (MAC)
address of each network device and which segment to
use to reach that device.
•Smaller collision domains are created, not
broadcast domains.
Segmentation with Routers
•Routers operate at the network layer
and base all of their forwarding decisions
between segments on the Layer 3
protocol address.
•Because routers perform more
functions than bridges they operate with
a higher rate of latency. (Higher than
other internetworking devices.)
 Routers:

•Segment broadcast domains

•Forward packets based on destination
network layer addresses
•Segment collision domains
More collision domains,
but more bandwidth for
each user
 Segmentation with LAN
Switches
•A switch segments a LAN into
microsegments creating collision free
domains from one larger collision
domain, not broadcast domains.
•With switched ethernet
implementation the available bandwidth
can reach closer to 100%.
 LAN Switch Latency

•Each switch used on an Ethernet LAN

adds latency to the network.
•However, the type of switching used
can help overcome the built in latency of
some switches.
 Full-Duplex Ethernet
Overview
•Full duplex Ethernet allows the
transmission of a packet and the
reception of a different packet at the
same time.
•Requires two pairs of conductors
and a switched connection between
each node
 •Simultaneous transmission and
reception of frames is called bidirectional
traffic (both directions) and yields
20Mbps of throughput.
•The network interface cards (NICs)
on both ends need to have full duplex
capabilities.
 Full-Duplex Ethernet Design
TX
Tx Tx
Full Full
Duplex Collision Loopback Collision Duplex
Detection
Loopback RX Detection
Ethernet
Ethernet
Controller Controller
Rx Rx

•Transmit circuit connects directly to receive circuit

•No collisions
•Significant performance improvement
•Eliminates contention on Ethernet point-to-point link
•Uses a single port for each full-duplex
connection
 Using Full Duplex

Half Duplex

Full Duplex
HUB

•Node must
oBe directly attached to a dedicated switched
port
oHave installed network interface card that
supports
full duplex
Full-Duplex Ethernet Design
•Standard Ethernet normally can only
use 50-60% of the 10Mbps available
bandwidth.
•This is due to collisions and latency.
•Full duplex Ethernet offers 100% of
the bandwidth in both directions.
•This produces a potential 20Mbps
throughput – 10Mbps TX and 10Mbps
RX.
 •This virtual network circuit exists only
when two nodes need to communicate.
•This is why it is called a virtual circuit –
it exists only when needed and is
established within the switch.
•Allows multiple users to communicate
in parallel via these virtual circuits.
Source MAC
address is used
to build this table
 How a LAN Switch Learns
Addresses
•This means that as new addresses are
read they are learned and stored in
Content Address Memory (CAM).
•Each time an address is stored it is
time stamped.
•This allows addresses to be stored for
a set period of time.
But more domains
 Benefits of Switching

•A LAN switch allows many users to

communicate in parallel through the use
of virtual circuits and dedicated network
segments in a collision free environment.
•Cost effective.
 Symmetric Switching

•A symmetric switch is optimized

through even distribution of network
traffic across the entire network .
before forwarding
 Asymmetric Switching

•Asymmetric switching is optimized

for client-server network traffic flows
where multiple clients are simultaneously
communicating with a server, requiring
more bandwidth dedicated to the switch
port that the server is connected to in
order to prevent a bottleneck at that port.
 Memory Buffering

•The area of memory where the switch

stores the destination and transmission
data is called the memory buffer.
•This memory buffer can make use of
two methods for forwarding packets –
port based memory buffering or shared
memory buffering.
 •Port based memory buffering
packets are stored in queues that are
linked to specific incoming ports.
oProblem: One port may fill while another is
empty.
•Shared memory buffering deposits
all packets into a common memory buffer
that is shared by all the ports on the
switch. (Better!)
3 frame transmission modes in
a switch (+ 1 variation)
 Three Switching Methods
•Store and Forward - the entire frame
is received before any forwarding takes
place.
•Latency occurs while the frame is
being received; the latency is greater with
larger frames because the entire frame
takes longer to read.
•Error detection is high because of
the time available to the switch to check
for errors while waiting for the entire
frame to be received.
 •Cut-through the switch reads the
destination address before receiving the
entire frame.
•The frame is then forwarded before the
entire frame arrives.
•This mode decreases the latency of
the transmission and has poor error
detection.
Fragment-Free Switching

Switch reads the 1st 64

bytes of the incoming frame
before forwarding it to the
destination port
Means the switch
is in cut through
mode
 Adaptive Cut Through

•Combines cut through and store and

forward
•The switch uses cut-through until there
are a given number of errors
•Then the switch will change to store
and forward method
 Emerging Trends:
The Network Evolution
Shared to Switched
The
HUB New
Wiring
The Closet
Old
HUB
VLAN
Wiring System
Closet HUB

HUB

LAN
Campus HUB
Switch

The New Backbone

 Benefits of Switching

•Number of collisions reduced

•Simultaneous, multiple communications
•High-speed uplinks
•Improved network response
•Increased user productivity
 Switching? Routing?
What’s the difference?
•In a switching network, you'll find the
intermediate devices keeping track of - or
remembering - qualities of the connection.
•In a pure routing network, the intermediate
devices will be indifferent to anything but
handing off packets to the next device, and they
will not be distracted by any other information,
upstream or downstream.
 Module 4

Switching Concepts