CPNT217 – Introduction

to Network Systems
Module 1: Networking Basics and Architecture
Basic Network Concepts and Models
What is a Computer Network?
A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources
located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use
common communication protocols over digital interconnections to
communicate with each other. These interconnections are made up
of telecommunication network technologies, based on physically
wired, optical, and wireless radio-frequency methods that may be
arranged in a variety of network topologies.[1]

[1] Wikipedia.com – Computer Network

Geographical Classification of Networks

Personal Area Network Local Area Network (LAN)

(PAN)
• Located in a small physical • Located in a small to
range, usually with 3-5 medium physical area,
meters typically within 100m
• Typically using • Almost always Ethernet
technologies such as based
Bluetooth • Wired and Wireless
• Eg. Phone, watch, and connections
headphones, all connected • Using Switches and access
points
together wirelessly
• Home or small office
network, department in
larger office.*
* We will discuss this later
Geographical Classification of Networks

Campus Area Network Wide Area Network (WAN)

(CAN)
• Located in a medium to • Located in a very large
large physical area, physical area, such as
multiple floors in an office between cities or countries
building, or multiple • Uses many different
buildings technologies, such as
• SAIT, U of C, etc SONET, Frame Relay,
Ethernet WAN, Telephone
(PSTN)
• ISP networks, links
between isolated locations
 Typical
Home
Network

Typical link speeds of 100

Mbps to 1 Gbps
 Typical Small
Enterprise
Network

Typical Link speeds of: 1Gbps, 10 Gbps,

25 Gbps, 40 Gbps, 100 Gbps
Representat
ion of the
Internet
Why is Networking important to Software
Development?
Applications depend on network connectivity to services
and databases running on other computers. In order to
create network-enabled software, developers must
understand how the infrastructure, protocols, standards,
and reference models in Networking operate.
Networking
Components
• Hardware
Hardware

Networks use many different type of hardware to

accomplish many different types of tasks.
• End devices – Devices that allow users to work and
share resources over the network.
• Intermediary devices – Devices that operate inside the
network, directing traffic from source to destination.
• Communications media – Types of connections used to
connect the network together.
Hardware

• End Devices • Communication • Intermediary

• PCs Media Devices
• Servers • Copper • Switches
• Phones • Fibre Optic • Routers
• Printers • Wireless • Access Points
• Radio
Frequency
• Satellite
Hardware
Icons
Hardware – Switches and Routers

Switch Router
• A device that allows • A device which allows
connections between end network traffic to be
devices within a single forwarded from one
network network to another
• Uses MAC address to • Uses IP addresses to
make forwarding make decisions about
decisions about where to where to send IP packets
send Ethernet frames
Hardware – Switches and Routers
• The major internal components of a router or switch are the same as any
other computer:
• CPU
• Executes commands given by the IOS software
• Accesses memory and I/O
• High-end devices often have the ability to add additional processors to increase performance
• Memory
• RAM
• NVRAM
• Flash
• ROM
• I/O
• Interfaces / Ports
Hardware – Types of RAM in Network Devices

• RAM – Random Access Memory, Volatile RAM, stores:

• The running configuration of the device
• Commonly accessed tables:
• ARP table
• MAC address table
• Routing table, etc
• NVRAM – Non-Volatile RAM, stores:
• The startup configuration of the device
• Config Register
(Was originally a separate chip with battery backup, now a segmented section of Flash memory)

• Flash memory stores:

• A compressed copy of the devices operating system
• Miscellaneous other files
 Hardware – Switches and Routers

Inside a Cisco Router

Networking Standards
OSI vs TCP/IP Reference Models
Standards
A standard is a document that describes the significant
features of a product, service or system.
• There are thousands of standards in use around the world that cover
everything from the simplest screw thread to the most complex
information technology network.
There are 2 basic categories of standards in industry:
Open Standards: Standards which the developer makes available for use
by anyone, allowing different manufacturers to make equipment that will
work together.
Proprietary Standards: Standards developed by an entity which determines
to keep control of the standard, allowing others only to use it by licensing;
meaning that equipment or software from a single manufacturer will only
work with other equipment or software from that same manufacturer.
Open Networking Standards Organizations

• IANA – The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

• Responsible for the assignation of IP Addresses to Regional Numbering Authorities
• IEEE – The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
• Responsible for the standard governing physical equipment and MAC Addresses
• ANSI – The American National Standards Institute
• The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) oversees the creation and
dissemination of various standards and measures, including business norms and
standards in the United States.
• ITU – The International Telecommunication Union
• Coordinates telecommunication operations and services throughout the world
• ISO – The International Organization for Standardization
• Develops and publishes international standards in all technical and nontechnical
fields other than electrical and electronic engineering
• OSI 7-Layer Reference Model
2 Reference Models

Open System Interconnect TCP/IP

(OSI)
• More layers allow for • Blends functions into less
material to be broken layers, which can be
down into smaller, easy somewhat confusing.
to swallow chunks. • 4 layers describe the
• 7 layers describe the separate parts of network
separate parts of network communications.
communications.
2 Reference Models
Why use layered models?

• Reduces the complexity of problems:

• One big problem can be broken down to several smaller, easier to solve ones
• Isolates problems
• Engineers can work on one layer of the model without concern with (or
needing to know) what happens at other layers
• Accelerates the evolution of the technology
• Changes in one layer do not require changes in other layers

• Layered models do not define or constrain any equipment

or protocols, they only provide a conceptual framework
TCP/IP Protocol Example

• TCP/IP protocols operate

at the application,
transport, and internet
layers.
• The most common
network access layer LAN
protocols are Ethernet
and WLAN (wireless LAN).
2 Reference Models
Even though the TCP/IP reference model is the older of the two,
when we discuss network operations, we typically use the OSI
model to do so. The OSI model gives us a theoretical framework to
use to understand where different processes and protocols fit into
the whole.

When we look at protocols however, we will find that the protocols

we work with fit into the TCP/IP Protocol Stack, which matches up
with the TCP/IP Reference Model, which means we need to
understand and correlate both of them.

We will focus primarily on the OSI model as we learn about

networking.
Layers of the OSI Reference Model – What
happens where?
Exchange data between programs running on
7 Application source and destination hosts. FTP, HTTP, etc.
Data format, compression and encryption.
6 Presentation MPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.
Manages logical communication between
5 Session applications.
Responsible for delivery of segments.
4 Transport Uses Port #s
Determines the best path to send packets.
3 Network Uses IP Addresses
Forwards frames.
2 Data Link Uses MAC Addresses

1 Physical Transmission and reception of bits.

OSI vs TCP/IP Reference Models – How they
compare
OSI Model TCP/IP Model
7 Application 4
6 Presentation Application
5 Session
4 Transport 3 Transport
3 Network 2 Internet
2 Data Link Network
1 Physical 1 Access
What goes where? Protocol Data Unit

7 Application
6 Presentation Data Application
5 Session
4 Transport Segment Transport
3 Network Packet Internet
2 Data Link Frame Network
1 Physical Bit Access
3.6 Data Encapsulation

© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 28
What do we do with it?

• The unit of information at each layer of the model is known as a

Protocol Data Unit (PDU)
• As a PDU passes through the layers of the model it gets
additional information and control fields added to its format.
• The process of adding extra information to PDU while passing
through the model is known as Encapsulation.
Data Encapsulation Encapsulation is the process where
Protocol Data Units protocols add their information to the
data.
• At each stage of the process, a PDU
has a different name to reflect its new
functions.
• There is no universal naming
convention for PDUs, in this course, the
PDUs are named according to the
protocols of the TCP/IP suite.
• PDUs passing down the stack are as
follows:
1. Data (Data Stream)
2. Segment
3. Packet
4. Frame
Data Encapsulation
Segmenting is the process of breaking
Segmenting Messages up messages into smaller units.
Multiplexing is the processes of taking
multiple streams of segmented data
and interleaving them together.
Segmenting messages has two
primary benefits:
• Increases speed - Large amounts
of data can be sent over the network
without tying up a communications
link.
• Increases efficiency - Only
segments which fail to reach the
destination need to be
retransmitted, not the entire data
stream.
Data Encapsulation
Sequencing

Sequencing messages is the process

of numbering the segments so that
the message may be reassembled at
the destination.
TCP is responsible for sequencing the
individual segments.
Data Encapsulation
Encapsulation Example 3.6.4 - 5
• Encapsulation is a top
down process.
• The level above does its
process and then passes
it down to the next level
of the model. This
process is repeated by
each layer until it is sent
out as a bit stream.
Data Encapsulation
De-encapsulation Example
• Data is de-encapsulated as it
moves up the stack.
• When a layer completes its
process, that layer strips off its
header and passes it up to the
next level to be processed. This is
repeated at each layer until it is a
data stream that the application
can process.
1. Received as Bits (Bit Stream)
2. Frame
3. Packet
4. Segment
5. Data (Data Stream)
Data Encapsulation
and De-encapsulation
Physical Installation
Rack Mounting Equipment

• Individual components of networks are typically

mounted in 19 inch vertical racks. These racks are
generally steel, and have pre-drilled mounting holes
where equipment can be secured. These holes are
created in a spaced pattern based on a standard depth
of equipment, measured in ‘U’, which stands for Units.
(1U = 1 rack unit)
• We can describe equipment by saying how many Us it
takes up on a rack. “I have a 2U router, 4 1U switches,
and 2 4U servers in my rack.”
• Racks come in different sizes, and can be installed in
different ways.
Hardware
Concerns

• HVAC
• Air Conditioning
• Humidity
• Air Filtering
• Power
• Power Distribution
• Surge Protection
• UPS
Summary
Summary

• What is a network?
• Categories of networks
• PAN
• LAN
• CAN
• WAN
• Hardware
• End devices
• Intermediary devices
• Media
Summary, cont.

• Hardware
• Switches and Routers
• Components
• Types of RAM
• Standards
• Standards Organizations
• Reference models
• OSI
• TCP/IP
• Protocol Data Units
• Encapsulation/De-encapsulation