Introduction to Networking

Networking Hardware
Networking Devices
Repeaters
The 4 repeater rule for 10Mbps Ethernet is used to extend LAN segments
rule states that no more than 4 repeaters can be used btwn hosts on LAN
The rule is used to limit Latency added to frame travel by each repeater
Too much Latency on the LAN increases the number of late collisions and
makes LAN less efficient
Hubs
-These are multiport repeaters
-In many cases the difference btwn the 2 devices is the number of ports that each provides
-While a typical repeater has just 2 ports, a hub generally has from 4 to 24 ports
-Devices attached to a hub receive all traffic travelling thru a hub.
-The more devices there are attached to the hub, the more likely there will be collisions
3 Types
a) Passive hubs -serves only as physical connection point
- Does not need electrical power
b) Active hubs - Need electrical power to amplify the incoming signal b4 passing it on to other ports
c) Intelligent - Includes µPs
Hub
Bridges and Switches

Bridges and Switches

 -Bridges
-There are times when it is necessary to break-up a large LAN into smaller, more easily managed
segments
-This decreases the amount of traffic on a single LAN & can extend the geographical area past what
a single LAN can support.
-Devices that are used to connect network segments together include brigdes, switches, routers &
gateways
-Switches & Bridges operate at the Data-link of the OSI
-The function of the bridge is to make intelligent decisions about whether or not to pass signals on
the next segment of a network.
Switches
-A switch is sometimes described as a multiport bridge. While a typical bridge may
have just 2 ports linking 2 network segments, the switch can have multiple ports
depending on how many network segments are to be linked
-Switches use info about data packets received from various computers on the
network by building forwarding tables to determine the destination of data being
sent by one computer to another on the network. A Switch is more sophisticated
than a bridge
Switches
Like hubs, switches are the connectivity points of an Ethernet
network.
Devices connect to switches via twisted-pair cabling, one cable
for each device.
Difference between hubs and switches is in how the devices
deal with the data that they receive.
Whereas a hub forwards the data it receives to all of the ports
on the device, a switch forwards it only to the port that
connects to the destination device.
It does this by learning the MAC address of the devices
attached to it, and then by matching the destination MAC
address in the data it receives.
How a switch works.
How a switch works.
By forwarding data only to the connection that
should receive it, the switch can improve network
performance in two ways.
First, by creating a direct path between two devices
and controlling their communication, it can greatly
reduce the number of collisions on the network.
Collisions occur on Ethernet networks when two
devices attempt to transmit at exactly the same time.
In addition, the lack of collisions enables switches to
communicate with devices in full-duplex mode.
How a switch works.
In a full-duplex configuration, devices can send and
receive data from the switch at the same time.
Contrast this with half-duplex communication, in which
communication can occur in only one direction at a time.
Full-duplex transmission speeds are double that of a
standard, half-duplex, connection.
So, a 10Mbps connection becomes 20Mbps, and a
100Mbps connection becomes 200Mbps.
The net result of these measures is that switches can
offer significant performance improvements over hub-
based networks, particularly when network use is high.
Hub and Switch Cabling
In addition to acting as a connection point for network devices,
hubs and switches can also be connected to create larger
networks.
This connection can be achieved through standard ports with a
special cable or by using special ports with a standard cable.
The ports on a hub to which computer systems are attached are
called Medium Dependent Interface-Crossed (MDI-X).
The crossed designation is derived from the fact that two of the
wires within the connection are crossed so that the send signal
wire on one device becomes the receive signal of the other.
Because the ports are crossed internally, a standard or
straight-through cable can be used to connect devices.
Hub and Switch Cabling
Another type of port, called a Medium Dependent Interface
(MDI) port, is often included on a hub or switch to facilitate
the connection of two switches or hubs.
Because the hubs or switches are designed to see each other
as simply an extension of the network, there is no need for
the signal to be crossed.
If a hub or switch does not have an MDI port, hubs or
switches can be connected by using a crossover cable
between two MDI-X ports. The crossover cable serves to
uncross the internal crossing.
You can see diagrams of the cable pinouts for both a straight-
through and crossover cable in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.
Figure 1. The pinouts for a
straight-through cable
Figure 2. The pinouts for a
crossover cable.
Routers
In a common configuration, routers are used to create larger networks
by joining two network segments.
E.g router used to connect a user to the Internet.
A router can be a dedicated hardware device or a computer system
with more than one network interface and the appropriate routing
software.
All modern network operating systems include the functionality to act
as a router.
A router derives its name from the fact that it can route data it receives
from one network onto another.
When a router receives a packet of data, it reads the header of the
packet to determine the destination address.
Once it has determined the address, it looks in its routing table to
determine whether it knows how to reach the destination and, if it
does, it forwards the packet to the next hop on the route.
The next hop might be the final destination, or it might be another
router.
Figure 3 shows, in basic terms, how a router works.
Figure 3. How a router
works.
How a router works.
As can be seen from this example, routing tables play
a very important role in the routing process.
They are the means by which the router makes its
decisions.
For this reason, a routing table needs to be two
things.
It must be up-to-date, and it must be complete.
There are two ways that the router can get the
information for the routing table
Through static routing or dynamic routing.
Static Routing
In environments that use static routing, routes and route
information are entered into the routing tables manually.
Not only can this be a time-consuming task, but also errors
are more common.
when there is a change in the layout, or topology, of the
network, statically configured routers must be manually
updated with the changes.
Again, this is a time-consuming and potentially error-laden
task.
For these reasons, static routing is suited to only the smallest
environments with perhaps just one or two routers.
A far more practical solution, particularly in larger
environments, is to use dynamic routing.
Dynamic Routing
In a dynamic routing environment, routers
use special routing protocols to
communicate.
The purpose of these protocols is simple;
they enable routers to pass on information
about themselves to other routers so that
other routers can build routing tables.
There are two types of routing protocols
used; the older distance vector protocols
and the newer link state protocols.
Gateways
Any device that translates one data format to
another is called a gateway.
Some examples of gateways include a router that
translates data from one network protocol to
another, a bridge that converts between two
networking systems, and a software application
that converts between two dissimilar formats.
The key point about a gateway is that only the
data format is translated, not the data itself.
In many cases, the gateway functionality is
incorporated into another device.
ROUTER
Router
Wireless
Connection Media
UTP Implementation
LAN and Physical Layer