Network Hardware

Last Lesson Recap

1. Physical layer → bits → passive devices
2. Data link layer →bytes/frames →intelligent
devices
3. Network layer →@packet →packet control
(network error recovery)
 Subtopics
• NICs • Switches
• Hubs • Routers
• Repeaters • Gateways
• Bridges
 Network Interface Card (NIC)
• Also called Network adapter, transceiver (transmitter receiver)
• A component that physically connect computer to transmission
media
• Also converts signals from digital to analog and vice versa before
transmission and after receiving them
• Could be physical: can either be slotted onto ISA (industrial
standard architecture) for old type PCs or PCI (peripheral
component interconnect) commonly used or still slotted onto AGP
(Accelerated Graphics port) for advanced technology.
• NICs can also in-built: be built on to the motherboard or to a
portable PC via serial/parallel ports or PCMCIA (personal computer
memory card International Association) interfaces
• Still NICs can be wireless: uses an antennae to transmit and
receive transmissions
• The wide range types and speeds are required as performance of
the NIC is critical for the performance of the network as a whole.
Various Forms of NICs
 Parts of an NIC

Transceiver Boot
ROM
Media
Connector Buffer

Expansion bus
connector
 Parts of an NIC
• Expansion bus connection is an expansion that
connects to the system board.
• Media connector: - Port connector to the transmission
media which in the connected to terminator RJ45
• Buffer – memory chip that stores data temporarily
before transmission and on reception.
• Boot ROM (optional) applicable for thin client
technology, for computers to boot from it instead of
booting from a storage device.
• Transceiver: chip next to media connector that
converts analog to digital and vice versa transmissions
 Hubs
• Act as a point of connection between network
nodes
• Are 4, 8, 12 or 24 etc ported
• Most are passive: just repeat/broadcast signals or
• Intelligent hubs / management hubs may posses
internal processing capabilities permit remote
management, filter data or provide diagnostic
information about the network
• Therefore in layer 1 in OSI reference model
• Used as access points(AP) or hotspots in wifi
Connection Illustration

C1 C2

Hub/switch

C3
 Connection Illustration
If the distance between the server room and mess network segment is 200m then
signals definitely will not arrive if a low speed cable like UTP is used. Therefore a
device is required to boost the signal

Student Centre
(WI-Fi)

200m

(Booster)
C1 C2 Repeater C9 C8

switch
Bridge
Hub
C3
Switch
C7
Router
ServerRoom Mess
(wired Ethernet) (WI-Fi)
 Repeaters
• Repeaters: Connect similar segments of LANs.
• Receive transmissions from one segment , cleans
and amplifies the signal and then transmits it to the
next segment (boosts signals by broadcasting)
• Therefore passive, in layer 1 OSI reference model
• Extends network size e.g. enables coaxial cable
extend from 185 m to 925m or thick coaxial from
500m to 2.5km
• Usually two ported but may be multiported for
multiple segments.
 Bridges
• Connects two dissimilar network segments by
filtering signals from one segment to another using
a filtering database (forwarding table) of MAC
address to forward and pass traffic between them
using MAC address.
• Filters traffic, intelligent and in layer 2 of OSI
• Used to extend network size and avoid exceeding
network limits such as segment size, numbers of
devices.
• Can be standalone or a PC node assigned the job
utilizing two NICs, physical addressing information.
• Is protocol independent
 Bridges
• Faster than routers; protocol independent
• Slower than repeaters and hubs analyzes packets
before transmission
• Can extend a network without extending further
a collision domains or can also extend segments
• Improves network performance: can be
programmed to filter out certain frames e.g.
unnecessary broadcast frames.
• They are useful for LANs which extend over
different floors in a building or LANs built on
departmental levels.
 Types of Bridges
• Local bridges: Directly connect local area
networks (LANs)
• Remote bridges: Can be used to create a wide
area network (WAN) link between LANs.
Remote bridges, where the connecting link is
slower than the end networks, largely have
been replaced by routers.
• Wireless bridges: Can be used to join LANs or
connect remote stations to LANs.
 Switches
• Connect not only network nodes but also dissimilar network
segments of a LAN
• Can be described as multiported bridge. Each port= a bridge, each
device connected receives its own dedicated channel => eases
traffic congestion.
• Most have an internal processor, an operating system, memory
and several ports
• more costly but effectively make use of limited bandwidth than
bridges: multiports
• Better security (Isolates traffic) and performance (Separate
channels) than routers
• Data can be lost because switches can be overwhelmed by
continuous ,heavy traffic
• Traffic can come to a halt due to amounting collisions if protocols
that do not detect and restore data loss operate (therefore
switches placement should match backbone capacity and traffic
patters)
• Has replaced workgroup hubs
 Cut-through Switching mode
• Reads a frames header and decides where to
forward the data before it receives the whole
packet.
• Incase frames becomes corrupt packets, runts,
or erroneously shortened packets, it waits to
determined packet integrity then transmits does
not actually detect- corrupt packets.
• Fast: does not stop to read entire packet.
• Suits small workgroups; limited speed and low
number of devices
 Store and forward Switching
mode
• Switch reads entire packets into memory, checks
for accuracy then transmits.
• Slow
• Results to traffic congestion
• Do not propagate errors
• Transfer data with segments of different
transmission speeds
• Good for larger LANs and mixed speed
environments
 Routers
• Apart from keeping track of certain nodes on the
network as switches do, routers connect dissimilar
networks e.g. LANs and WANs running at different
transmission speeds and using variety of protocols.
• Used in specialized applications e.g. large internet
nodes or digitized telephone cells
Functions of routers
• Connect dissimilar networks
• Addressing of information interpretation.
• Determine the best path for data to follow from node A
to node B
• Reroute traffic if primary path is down but another
path is available
 Other Functions of Routers

• Filter out broadcast transmissions to alleviate network

congestion
• Prevent certain types of traffic from getting to a
network, enabling customized segregation and security
• Support simultaneous local and remote connectivity
• Provide high network fault tolerance through
redundant components such as power suppliers or
network interfaces
• Monitor network traffic and report statistics.
• Diagnose internal or other connectivity problems and
trigger alarms
 Categories of Routers
• Interior router: Directs data between
autonomous LAN of an organization e.g. from
supervisors node to employee node
• Exterior router: directs data between nodes
external to a given autonomous LAN e.g.
routers on internet backbone.
• Border routers (gateway routers) connect
autonomous LAN with a business LAN
(partnership) over the WAN.
 S S

R2 R4

C S C R1 R6 S

R3 R5
R

WAN LAN 2
S
C
C

LAN 1
 Routing Modes
Static routing :
• use specific routers between nodes (programmed
by network administration
• - Not optimal: does not account for Network
congestion, faulty connections
• -But can be used with dynamic routing to indicate
the router of last resort, the router that accepts
all unroutable packets
• - Less efficient and less accurate: requires human
(administrative) intervention.
 Dynamic Packet Flow Problem

R2 R4

A R1 R6 B

R3 R5

LAN 1 WAN LAN 2

 Dynamic routing
• Automatically calculates the best path between
two nodes and accumulate this information in a
routing table.
• A routing table contains three information details
– Network ID: IP address of the destination router
– Cost: the cost or number of routers/links packets pass
through to the destination router
– Next Hop: is the address of the next station to which
the packet is to be sent on the way to its final
destination
• Can detect congestion and failures and re- route
traffic
• Used by many networks.
 Gateways
• Is the configuration of an hardware to connect two
dissimilar kinds of networks (different formatting,
communications protocols or architecture)
• Interprets information to be read by another system
• They must :
– Operate at all levels of OSI
– Communicate with applications.
– Establish and manage sessions.
– Translate encoded data
– Interpret logical and physical addressing of data
• Can reside on servers, computers, connectivity device
(e.g. routers) or mainframes. (:translators)
• Slower than bridges or routers—can cause extreme
network congestion.
• Examples include firewall, e-mail, IBM host,
 Network Design Consideration
• For efficient, largely trouble free networks the
following “5-4-3” rule is often applied
– No more than 5 repeated segments
– No more than 4 repeaters/hubs between any 2
nodes
– No more than 3 segments must be populated
• Also a maximum of 7 bridges allowed in a
system
the routing table for node C from the following network for destinations A, B, D and E