Local Area Networks

TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Laboratory
LAN & INTERNET
Volume 1/3
Theory
TEACHER / STUDENT handbook

LAN$01E1.DOC
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION to LOCAL AREA NETWORKS 1

1.1 WHAT IS a LOCAL AREA NETWORK 1
1.2 ELEMENTS of a LOCAL AREA NETWORK 3
1.2.1 Network technology
1.2.2 Network users
1.2.3 Network servers
1.3 TRANSMISSION MEANS 5
1.4 NETWORK ARCHITECTURES 5
1.4.1 Bus topology
1.4.2 Star topology
1.4.3 Tree topology
1.4.4 Braid topology
1.4.5 Ring topology
1.5 QUESTIONS 9
2. TRANSMISSION MEANS and CABLING SYSTEMS 10

2.1 MULTIPAIR cable 10
2.2 COAXIAL CABLE 12
2.3 OPTICAL FIBER 13
2.4 WIRELESS 16
2.5 CABLING SYSTEMS 16
2.5.1 Proprietary cabling
2.5.2 Structured cabling
2.6 The STANDARD EIA/TIA 568 17
2.6.1 The topology
2.6.2 Cabling elements
2.6.3 The transmission means
2.6.4 The backbones
2.6.5 The horizontal cabling
2.6.6 Cables identification
2.6.7 Documents
2.6.8 Types of connectors and splicing systems
2.7 QUESTIONS 26
3. NETWORK ACTIVE COMPONENTS 28

3.1 NETWORK CARD (Network Interface Card - NIC) 28
3.2 TRANSCEIVER 29
3.3 HUB 31
3.4 REPEATER 32
3.5 BRIDGE 33
3.6 SWITCH 34
3.7 ROUTER 35
3.8 QUESTIONS 36
4. SIGNAL CODING TECHNIQUES 37

4.1 INFORMATION TRANSMISSION 37
4.2 NRZ (Non Return to Zero) and RZ (Return to Zero) CODING 39
4.3 NRZI (Non Return to Zero Inverted) CODING 39
4.4 MANCHESTER AND DIFFERENTIAL MANCHESTER CODING 40
4.5 MLT-3 41 CODING
4.6 4B5B - 5B6B – 8B6T CODING 42
4.7 QUESTIONS 43
CONTENTS
5. ACCESSES CONTROL TECHNIQUES 45

5.1 ACCESS METHODS 45
5.2 Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) 46
5.3 TOKEN-PASSING 48
5.4 TOKEN-BUS (IEEE 802.4) 48
5.5 QUESTIONS 49
6. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 50
6.1 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE 50
6.2 ISO/OSI MODEL 50
6.1.2 OSI frame construction
6.3 LAN IEEE MODEL 54
6.3.1 Level 2 – LLC sub-level (Logical Link Control)
6.3.2 Level 2 – MAC sub-level (Media Access Control)
6.3.3 Level 1 - Physical
6.4 REFERENCE MODELS 60
6.4.1 IEEE 802
6.4.2 IEEE 802.3
6.4.3 IEEE 802.5
6.4.4 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
6.4.5 ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
6.5 QUESTIONS 67
7. IEEE 802.3 - ETHERNET 68

7.1 The ORIGINS of the ETHERNET 68
7.2 The COMPONENTS 68
7.2.1 Transceiver 802.3
7.2.2 Interface 802.3
7.2.3 Drop cable
7.2.4 Repeater 802.3
7.3 ACCESS METHOD 71
7.3.1 Control of the network access: CSMA/CD
7.3.2 Round Trip Delay
7.3.3 CSMA/CD and MAC sub-level
7.4 PACKET FORMAT at MAC LEVEL 75
7.5 The PHYSICAL LEVEL 77
7.5.1 10Base5
7.5.2 10Base2
7.5.3 10BaseT
7.5.4 10BaseF (FB and FL)
7.6 QUESTIONS 82
8. IEEE 802.3u – FAST ETHERNET 83

8.1 100BaseTX and 100Base T4 83
8.2 QUESTIONS 85
9. IEEE 802.5 – TOKEN RING 86

9.1 The ORIGINS of the TOKEN-RING 86
9.2 The ACCESS METHOD 86
9.3 TOKEN and FRAME FORMAT 87
9.4 NETWORK ACCESS CONTROL 89
9.5 NETWORK CONTROL 91
9.5.1 Functional addresses
9.5.2 Active Monitor
9.5.3 Control activity
9.6 The PHYSICAL LEVEL 92
9.6.1 The cabling
9.6.7 The concentrators (MSAU)
9.7 QUESTIONS 95
CONTENTS
10. EVOLUTION of LOCAL AREA NETWORKS 97

10.1 SWITCHED NETWORKS 97
10.1 Ethernet "switching"
10.2 VIRTUAL LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (VLAN) 99
10.3 QUESTIONS 100
11. UPPER LEVEL PROTOCOLS 101

11.1 The TCP/IP PROTOCOL 101
11.2 The IPX/SPX PROTOCOL 103
11.3 The NETBIOS/NETBEUI PROTOCOL 105
11.4 QUESTIONS 107
12. CONFIGURATION of a LOCAL AREA NETWORK 108

12.1 DESIGNING a LAN 108
12.1.1 Choice of the cabling system
12.1.2 Max. network extension
12.1.3 Ethernet 10Base5
12.1.5 Ethernet 10BaseT
12.1.6 Ethernet 10BaseFB/FL
12.1.7 Fast-Ethernet 100BaseTX
12.1.8 Fast-Ethernet 100BaseFX
12.2 MIXED CONFIGURATIONS 114
12.2.1 The transmission mean and the network technology
12.2.2 The communication protocol
12.2.3 Homogenous grouping of the users
12.3 QUESTIONS 117
13. NETWORK CONTROL AND ADMINISTRATION 118

13.1 Control and introduction of network information 118
13.2 Protocols analysis and traffic control 119
13.3 Statistical analysis 120
13.4 QUESTIONS 121
14. NOS (Network Operating System) 122

14.1 WHAT IS A NOS 122
14.2 NOVELL INTRANETWARE 123
14.3 MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT SERVER 124
14.4 QUESTIONS 125
15. INTERNET / INTRANET NETWORK 126

15.1 INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS 126
15.2 PROTOCOLS and SERVICES 126
15.2.1 The IP (Internet Protocol)
15.2.2 The TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
15.2.3 Telnet
15.2.4 FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
15.2.5 TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol)
15.2.6 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
15.2.7 DNS (Domain Name Server)
15.2.8 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)
15.2.9 NIR (Network Information Retrieval)
15.3 INTRANET NETWORKS 129
15.4 QUESTIONS 130
VOLUME 2/2: EXERCISES

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION to LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
1.1 WHAT is a LOCAL AREA NETWORK
The main purpose of local area networks in computers (LAN, Local

Area Network) is sharing information, and hardware and software
resources. Networks of computers are created so that their users can
share programs, data and peripheral devices, independently from their
physical location.
Many definitions of local area network have been attempted. The IEEE
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, body that has
developed an important packet of standards for local area networks)
defines the local area network as ...
...a system enabling more independent equipment to communicate

directly between them, in the a moderately large geographical area via
a physical communication support characterized by a moderate
transmission capacity.
Let’s examine the single parts of the definition.
… The local area network is a system enabling more peripherals to

communicate directly between them …
A LAN enables an any-to-any communication, i.e. a communication

where each equipment can communicate directly to any other equipment
connected to the LAN.
… The communication occurs within a moderately large geographical

area...
As already mentioned, this is an important difference between the LAN

and the WAN (Wide Area Network). Typically, local area networks are
confined inside a single building or group of buildings.
… The communication occurs on a physical communication support …
In a local area network, the equipment are connected via a private line,
which can be a dedicated cable or another communication support.
… They use a moderate transmission capacity...
Usually, local area networks support moderate transmission capacities:

low transmission speeds are used in the WAN and high transmission
speeds are used between microprocessors and peripherals. Typical
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speeds on the WAN range from 9600/19200b/s to 2Mb/s, while those on

the LAN range between 4Mb/s and 100Mb/s.
The concept moderate transmission speed formulated by the IEEE

today does not fit the reality, as there are local area network
technologies supporting communication speeds up to 1Gb/s.
Fig.1.1 Example of local area networks
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1.2. ELEMENTS of a LOCAL AREA NETWORK
Local area networks generally consist of a set of hardware and software

components, including centralized calculation systems, network Server
systems, user’s systems, network interfaces, transmission means,
concentrators and network software.
In general, the LAN can be divided into three macro components:

• network technology
• network user
• network server systems.
1.2.1 Network technology
The network technology is the set of systems and physical means which
main purpose is the information exchange between different users. It is
generally composed of different kinds of physical transmission means or
cabling systems, as well as of the network interface cards (NIC) that
equip the systems of the local area network.
Each network technology is usually identified by its own type and

topology.
The most used types are those using copper or optical fiber cables as
transmission mean. However there are "wireless" devices (via radio) that
can cover the same areas without cabling, to the detriment of the
transmission speed and safety.
The most common cabling topologies consist in the linear bus and tree
structures.
The bus structures can be used to carry out networks provided with a
reduced number of users (usually some tens) and are characterized by
low cost and easily achievable cabling. On the other hand, there can be
problems in case the trunk should be damaged or cut off, as the
functionality of all users connected to it can be compromised.
The tree structures need devices that can section the physical trunks,
obtaining branches which can be structured in a logical way up to reach
the single users. These devices can be simple passive repeaters or
intelligent systems, which can classify the information along the single
trunk and route them toward the single user, in this way optimizing the
network traffic. The most tangible advantages are the capacity to detect
and insulate any fault or malfunction on the trunks or the workstations,
and the facility in the expansion or reduction of the total structure.
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1.2.2 Network users
A network user can be a user provided with PC/workstation equipped

with particular peripherals/accessories such as printers, hard disks,
modems, etc. (obviously, the NIC card included), which can be shared
by all components of the system.
A network user is usually identified univocally by a proper noun or by

particular numerical sequences (logical and physical addresses). The
assignment of these parameters is normally remitted to a single figure,
called administrator or network supervisor, who has the faculty to create
or remove users, establish users unification called groups, their
coordinators or any person in charge of them, rights and restrictions on
the use of particular network resources.
The identification of the single user by means of the name or the

numerical sequence will depend on the NOS characteristics (Network
Operating System). In any case, to access the available resources, the
user must be recognized and identified via two parameters called
"username" and "password".
1.2.3 Network servers
The network server, commonly called Server, is a computer dedicated to

a set of activities which can be classified as follows:
• to keep a Database of the users which must be authenticated by the
Server. For each single user, this Database will contain all
information fixed by the supervisor, such as username, password,
rights to resources in the network, time and connection places
restrictions, etc.
• to control the shared file memorization created by the users, and
guarantee safety measures so that integrity and recoverableness are
respected also in case of malfunctions
• to keep safety copies of the contained files (called backup copies), to
be used in case of system’s blocks or for historical data filing and
reset.
The Server can make any additional peripherals (such as CD-ROM,

magneto-optical units, modem, etc.) available, according to the needs of
the single users and the rights they are granted by the network
supervisor. Another activity assigned to the Server is the control of local
messages and electronic mails. Usually, this activity needs the
installation of additional software modules. In some situations, more
and more common nowadays, the Server can carry out functions of
routing and conversions of data formats from and for the network with
other systems.
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1.3 TRANSMISSION MEANS
We already said that, in order to create a network, it is necessary to

physically connect the processors and the network equipment by means
of proper transmission means. The choice of the type is important as
concerns the messages routing techniques, the tolerance to the faults,
and the logical organization of the protocols.
The most used transmission means in local area networks are the copper
lines (twisted pair or coaxial cable) and the optical fibers. Some
applications use wireless radio or infrared rays transmission, too.
The transmission means and the cabling systems are examined in details
in chapter 2.
1.4 NETWORK ARCHITECTURES
A network technology is composed of different active and passive

elements. The modes with which these elements are interconnected are
identified as network architecture or topology. There are different
network topologies, which can be divided into the following categories:
• bus
• star
• tree
• ring
• braid.
1.4.1 Bus topology
A bus is the simplest kind of network (fig.1.2). In this topology, all

nodes of the network connect directly to the same cable segment. Each
node of the network is assigned an address or a number univocally
identifying the node.
A network segment using a bus topology can be carried out with a trunk
of coaxial cable (terminated at the ends), which all users are connected
to. When a station on the network transmits a message, the signal travels
in both directions until it reaches the cable ends. As the signal
propagates on the cable, each connected station can examine the data.
The main advantage of the bus topology is its simplicity. The stations
can be connected simply by setting a cable from a station to the other.
According to the electrical characteristics of a bus, each component on a
bus network can affect the whole network. A breakage on the cable or a
malfunctioning node can make the whole network unavailable. Just
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because it uses a single common transmission mean, the bus topology is

not suitable to the structured cable (see chap.2).
1.4.2 Start topology
In star topology, each node is connected to a concentration point (Hub)

via a separate cable (fig.1.3). The star topology is more expensive than
the bus one, as concern the quantity of cable used as for the cost of the
necessary concentration equipment. The advantage of this kind of
topology lies in the fact that the faults or the malfunctions of a single
network user do not affect the operation of the whole network, but only
the single trunk between network user and concentrator. In this way, the
fault can be insulated and easily detectable in the structure.
Usually, a star network is implemented by carrying out "n" point-to-

point connections between network users and the concentrator using the
multipair copper cable (twisted pair) as transmission mean.
1.4.3 Tree topology
It is an evolution of the star topology, as it interconnects more star

network users via physical connections that are star cabled, so to create
a hierarchical structure called tree (fig.1.4).
In the tree, the routing problems are simple as there is a single path to
connect two separate users. On the other side, the malfunction of a trunk
between two stars insulates their connection.
1.4.4 Braid topology
This topology includes redundant connections between different users,

via "n" point-to-point channels, creating two or more nested rings
(fig.1.5). If all systems are connected between them, we can say it is a
complete braid, otherwise it is an incomplete braid. As the structure of a
complete braid needs a number of connections increasing exponentially
with the number of users, it is better to use it in small networks. The
incomplete braid can be applied to geographical networks.
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1.4.5 Ring topology
In ring topology, each system is connected to the next system using a

point-to-point connection, and the last system is connected to the first
one (fig.1.6).
A one-way ring is created where each system has the repetition function
of the message to be transmitted, too. When the system sends a message,
it inserts it into the ring and sends it to the next system. All systems
repeat the message up to the destination system; this one, repeats the
message, receives it and changes a bit in the queue of the same message
to confirm the reception.
As concerns the physical cabling, the ring topology is not very reliable.
A fault or a system off is sufficient to block the whole network. For this
reason, cabling are used for ring networks enabling the exclusion of the
malfunctioning transmission means from the network (see chap.9,
Token-Ring networks).
Fig.1.2 Bus topology
Fig.1.3 Star topology
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Fig.1.4 Tree topology
Fig.1.5 Braid Topology : a) complete b) incomplete
Fig.1.6 Ring topology
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1.5 QUESTIONS
Q1 What is the topology ?
1 The structural lay-out of the network equipment

2 The physical connection system between terminals
3 The signal coding system
4 The number of NIC cards installed in a terminal
Q2 What is the bus in the network topology?
1 The set of conductors taking the data to the network card

2 A linear segment of coaxial cable which the different systems are
connected to
3 A set of segments of coaxial cable joined via a concentrator (Hub)
4 A piece of coaxial cable connecting the Hubs to the Switches.
Q3 What function does a NIC card perform?
1 to join two pieces of cable

2 to convert the network protocol
3 to join the connection of a whole floor
4 to connect a terminal to the existent network
Q4 Which of the following definitions describes a LAN ?
1 system enabling more independent equipment to communicate

directly between them, within a moderately wide geographical area
via a physical communication support characterized by a moderate
transmission capacity
directly between them, within a wide geographical area via a
physical communication support characterized by a high
directly between them, within a very restricted geographical area via
a physical communication support characterized by a reduced
Q5 Which are the typical speeds on the LAN ?
1 4-10-16-32 Mb/s
2 4-10-16-100 Kb/s
3 2-4-10 Mb/s
4 4-10-16-100 Mb/s
5 4-10-16-100 MHz
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2. TRANSMISSION MEANS and CABLING SYSTEMS
2.1 MULTIPAIR cable
The basic element of the multipair cable is the Twisted Pair. The twisted
pair consists of two insulated copper wires wound one around the other
(fig.2.1). The wires pair twisting (pair spiral winding) reduces the
electromagnetic interference which the cable is subjected to during the
use. Inside the coaxial cable there can be more pairs (4, 25, 50, etc.),
each with different pair twisting to reduce the effects of cross-talk.
AWG The twisted pair more used in local area networks installation nowadays
has a conductor diameter of 24AWG having a characteristic nominal
impedance of 100 Ohm. AWG (American Wire Gauge) is a
measurement unit for the diameter used very much in local area
networks cables. The diameters and the section of the most used twisted
pairs are reported in the following table.
AWG Diameter [mm] Section [mm2]

22 0.6438 0.3255
23 0.5733 0.2582
24 0.5106 0.2047
25 0.4547 0.1624
26 0.4049 0.1288
The technological improvement provides a continuous increase of the

twisted pair pass band that enables transmission speeds of 1000 Mb/s.
The twisted pair is the most used cable in local area networks because it
represents a low cost universal transmission mean, supporting different
signals and services, such as low speed and high speed voice, video, and
data. There are different multipair cables:
• STP (Shielded Twisted Pair): it is provided with a shield for each

pair plus a total shield (fig.2.2)
• FTP (Foiled Twisted Pair): it is provided with a total screen for all
pairs (fig.2.3)
• UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair): it is not provided with shield
(fig.2.1).
There is a marketing classification dividing multipair cables into

categories, according to their performances and as function of the
information and services that must transit across them.
• Cat.1: cables for analog telephony
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• Cat.2: cables for analog and ISDN digital telephony, or short

distance and low speed serial transmissions
• Cat.3: cables for applications up to 10Mb/s with standard 10BaseT
or Token-Ring 4 Mb/s
• Cat.4: cables for applications up to 16Mb/s with standard Token-
Ring
• Cat.5: cables for applications up to 100Mb/s with standards of the
last generation, on length under 100 meters.
The category identifies the set of electrical characteristics of the cable

such as impedance, diameter, attenuation, cross-talk, etc. As an
example, the table of fig.2.4 shows the characteristics of an FTP cable
(Belden 1456A), an UTP cable (AT&T 2061) and an STP cable (type-1
IBM).
Fig.2.1 UTP multipair cable
Fig.2.2 STP multipair cable
Fig.2.3 FTP multipair cable
Parameter FTP cable UTP cable STP cable

AWG 24 24 22
Characteristic 100 Ω 100 Ω 150 Ω
impedance
Attenuation 6.6 dB 6.5 dB 2.2 dB
[100 m] to 10 MHz to 10 MHz to 4 MHz
8.3 dB 8.1 dB 4.5 dB
to 16 MHz to 16 MHz to 16 MHz
Fig.2.4 Characteristics of FTP, UTP, STP cables
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2.2 COAXIAL CABLE
The coaxial cable (fig.2.5) consists of a copper core (hot pole) covered
with insulating material (dielectric). This is surrounded by a second
layer of conductor material (shield), that can be a braid or a solid
element. An insulating protective sheath contains the whole. The coaxial
cable is less subject to interference and cross-talk in respect to a twisted
pair, and, besides, it can be more easily used for high speed
transmissions. The characteristic impedance of the coaxial cable
depends on the ratio of the screen sections in respect to the central
conductor, and the physical characteristics of the dielectric.
The coaxial cables used the most for local area networks are:
• Thick Ethernet: it has an approximated diameter of 10 millimeters

and is classified by the code "RG8" (known to the insiders as "yellow
cable", as the first time it was introduced in the market it was this
color). This cable is used in networks with linear bus topology and
connections via transceiver coupled directly to the same cable. The
cable is not very flexible, and so it is better to use it in buildings with
floating floors. Usually, networks built up with this kind of cable are
marked with the code 10Base5, where "10" indicates the speed
(10Mb/s), "Base" indicates the base band transmission and "5" the
segment length (not over 500 meters).
• Thin Ethernet: it has an approximated diameter of 7 millimeters and

is classified with the code "RG58". This cable is used in linear bus
topology networks with direct connection near the NIC network card.
Its flexibility makes it good to be used in all types of building
installations. Usually, the network carried out with this kind of cable
is marked with the code 10Base2, where "10" indicates the speed
(10Mb/s), "Base" indicates the base band transmission and "2" the
segment length (not over 200 meters, 185 real). The cable RG58 has
a higher attenuation than the RG8 (Thick Ethernet).
Fig.2.5 Coaxial cable
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2.3 OPTICAL FIBER
The optical fibers can be used to carry data signals as light pulses. An
optical fiber consists of a cylinder made with an extremely thin glass,
called Core, surrounded by a concentric layer of glass called (Cladding).
The light propagates inside the Core by next reflections (fig.2.6), which
occur when the light ray meets the Cladding. There is reflection because
the refraction index of the Cladding (n2) is lower than the Core one (n1).
The actual optical conductor, i.e. the structure consisting of Core and
Cladding, is also called naked fiber (fig.2.7). As this structure is
mechanically too fragile, it is strengthened by many protection layers,
obtaining the single-fiber optical cable. Setting more single-fiber cables
together you obtain multiple optical cables (fig.2.8).
Fig.2.6
Light propagation
in the fiber
Fig.2.7
Optical fiber structure
with layers
Fig.2.8
Multiple optical
cable structure
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The main advantages of optical fibers are:

• high immunity to the electromagnetic disturbances
• pass band superior to any copper cable, enabling transmissions with
speeds in tens of Gb/s
• very low attenuation, in the order of fractions of dB/Km (singlemode
fibers) or a few dB/Km (multimode fibers)
• reduced dimensions and weight.
The disadvantages are the high cost of the cabling system and the
network accessory elements. Considering the pros and cons, we can say
that the fibers can be used for the construction of backbones or main
trunks.
The optical fibers can be divided into three categories, as function of the
light propagation mode (fig.2.10):
• Step-Index and Graded-Index Multimode: these are the optical fibers
with more propagation modes. The most used fiber in local area
networks is the Graded-Index 62.5/125, where the digits represent the
Core (62.5µm) and the Cladding diameter (125µm). In multimode
fibers, the light rays propagate in different modes through paths of
different length with different propagation times. This causes an
enlargement of the received optical pulse, with consequent reduction
of the maximum transmission time. The effect of the received pulse
enlargement is knows as Modal dispersion (fig.2.9). The Modal
Dispersion is affected by the profile of the refraction index inside the
Core. In Step-Index fibers (high Modal Dispersion) the refraction
index has a step variation, in the Graded-Index fibers (average
Modal Dispersion) instead it changes gradually.
• Singlemode: these are fibers which core is reduced to 8–10µm, and
the fiber behaves as an optical guide having a single propagation
mode. This greatly reduces the Modal Dispersion and enables very
high transmission speeds (tens of Gb/s). The most used singlemode
fiber is the 10/125.
Figure 2.11 shows a typical attenuation curve of a singlemode fiber, as

function of the wave-length.
The optical resources normally used for singlemode fibers are Leds
operating at wave-lengths of 850nm (called also Ia Window) or 1330 nm
(IIa Window). Photodiodes and PIN photodiodes are used as optical
detectors.
In singlemode fibers, laser diodes are used as resources (at 1330 or 1550
nm, IInd or IIIrd Window), and Avalanche Photodiodes as detectors.
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Fig.2.9 Pulse enlargement due to the Modal dispersion
fig.2.10 Index profile and Modal dispersion

a. Step-Index multimode fiber
b. Graded-Index fiber
c. Step-Index Singlemode fiber
fig.2.11 Typical attenuation curve of singlemode glass fiber
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2.4 WIRELESS
The wireless transmission enables to change segments for connection
via cable where there are difficulties of physical connection.
Electromagnetic waves (radio transmission) or signals in the infrared
range are used.
The wireless transmission has also disadvantages. The radio

transmissions are subject to interference, which can cause transmission
errors. The coverable distances are limited. The non radio transmissions,
e.g. infrared , need the absence of physical barriers between transmitter
and receiver.
The pass band of these systems is usually lower than cabled systems.
2.5 CABLING SYSTEMS
A technological plant for information transmission in all its different

shapes (local area networks, video images, telephony, etc.), is called
cabling system. The rules on the cabling systems define the methods to
cable a group of buildings constructed in an interbuilding. The rules
describe:
• the characteristics of the transmission means and the passive
components (connectors, terminators, user’s sockets, adapters, etc.)
in relation to the required transmission speeds;
• the allowed cabling topologies (star, bus, ring, etc.) and their
characteristics (maximum distances, etc.);
• installation rules.
2.5.1 Proprietary cabling
The need of cabling systems for information units appeared at the

beginning of the 80s from the growing need to connect electronic
equipment. In those years, the first local area networks (Ethernet and
Token-Ring) were created, and consequently, the first proprietary
cabling systems were developed, e.g. IBM "Cabling System" and Digital
"DECconnect". Each of these cabling systems consisted of a set of
proprietary elements (cables, connections, cross-connection panels, etc.)
which, although satisfying the "cabling" needs of that period, could
hardly be integrated between them due to the intrinsic difference of the
solutions suggested by the different manufacturers.
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2.5.2 Structured cabling
The evolution of local area networks caused the proprietary transmission

means to be abandoned, and favored the systematic use of the copper
twisted pair and the star topology. This choice needed the creation of
reference rules. So, the standard EIA/TIA 568 was developed, which
specifies the minimum requisites for cabling a building or a group of
buildings belonging to the same interbuilding. Today, there are the
following main standards for cabling systems:
• EIA/TIA 568: American standard for cabling commercial buildings.
Approved in 1991, it is the most used nowadays
• EIA/TIA 570: American standard for cabling residential buildings,
which can have a small number of commercial offices
• ISO/IEC DIS 11801: proposal of international standard for cabling
of commercial buildings, approved in 1994. This standard is always
asked as base requirement to carry out structured cabling
• SP-2840-A: proposal for revision of the standard EIA/TIA 568 to
face the needs of faster cabling speeds. Approved in 1995, it is called
EIA/TIA-568/A
• prEN 50173: proposal for European standard, not approved yet and
much similar to ISO/IEC DIS 11801.
The aspects related to the mechanical and building technology are

treated in the standard EIA/TIA 569. The standard TIA/EIA 607 deals
with the problem of creating a grounding plant that can fit the structured
cabling.
2.6 The STANDARD EIA/TIA 568
This standard specifies the minimum requirements for cabling a

building or a group of buildings belonging to the same interbuilding
(fig.2.12). The limits of the interbuilding are:
• the maximum geographical extension is 3.000 m
2
• the maximum surface of the buildings is 1.000.000 m
• the maximum population of the building is 50.000 persons.
The cabling must provide a proper support to different communication

equipment (voice, data, video,..), and so it must be independent from
them. The technical specifications of the standard are:
• the topology
• the elements belonging to cabling
• the transmission means
• the backbones
• the horizontal cabling
• the installation rules
• the cables identification
• the documents.
- 17 -
Fig.2.12
Model
EIA/TIA 568
Fig.2.13 Star topology
- 18 -
2.6.1 The topology

The cabling topology is star hierarchical kind. Other topologies, such as
the bus and ring one, typical of some standards for LAN, must
consequently be taken back to star topology (fig.2.13).
2.6.2 Cabling elements
The main elements constituting a cabling system, as in the EIA/TIA568

definitions, are described hereafter. Some elements (Work Area,
Equipment Room, Interbuilding Entrance Facility, Private Branch
Exchange) are mentioned in the standard, but are not subject to
specifications.
• Main Cross-connect (MC): it identifies a technological place or a

distribution closet, located in the central or main building of an
interbuilding, distributing the backbone cables to the other buildings.
It is the first level of cabling hierarchy (star center of interbuilding or
of single building)
• Intermediate Cross-connect (IC): it identifies the technological

place or the distribution closet of a building belonging to an
interbuilding, distributing the backbone cables to more-floor
buildings. It is the second level of cabling hierarchy (star center of a
building). When a cabling is carried out on a single building, the
technological place or the distribution closet of a building becomes
the first hierarchical level and so is considered Main Cross-connect
• Telecommunication closet (Telecommunication Closet - TC): it

identifies the telecommunication closet distributing the cables
(horizontal cabling) reaching the user (fig.2.14). It is the third level of
cabling hierarchy (star center of a floor).
• Interbuilding Backbone: backbone for interconnection between the

interbuilding star center building and another building. It starts from
the Main Cross-connect and ends on an Intermediate Cross-connect
• Interbuilding Backbone: building backbone, it is the backbone for

interconnection between the building technological room and the
telecommunication closet.
• Equipment Room (ER): it is a technological place which can

contain passive equipment, such as cross-connection panels, voltage
dischargers, channels and fairleads, and can house active equipment
such as the private branch exchange, the LAN concentrators and the
audio and video equipment. Its function is very similar to a group of
distribution closets, but the larger dimensions available make it good
to be used as interbuilding or building star center.
- 19 -
• Interbuilding Entrance Facility (EF): set of technologies and

passive components used for the entrance of the building
interbuilding backbones. In the EF, electrical protections are required
for the copper cables, and the grounding of the different components
must also be considered
• Transition Point (TP): it is the transition point (in horizontal

cabling) between a twisted cable and a flat cable. This possibility
must be used only for low frequency transmission (ten of kHz), as the
flat cable has a very high cross-talk
• Cross-connect ( or Distributor): it is composed of at least two cross-

connection panels, one for the incoming cables and the other for the
outgoing ones. The mechanical termination of the copper cables is
made on termination blocks called also "wiring blocks". The
termination of the optical fiber cables is carried out on proper panels
• Patch panel: cross-connection unit for the transmission means

(fig.2.15). It can take two shapes:
− for copper cables, it can contain one or more termination blocks
− for optical fibers, it can contain a set of passing connectors, (called
barrels or compasses), used to cross-connect the fibers between
different panels or between a panel and an active equipment.
• Patch Cord: patch cords for copper cables or for optical fibers.
• Telecommunication Outlet (TO): outlet which can contain one or

more connectors (fig.2.16)
• Adapter: it is a cabling adapter, and the standard states that it must

be installed externally to the users telecommunication outlets. It can
be:
− passive, to adapt different connectors or cables
− active, to adapt different transmission systems, such as RS232-
RS422 converters, modems, etc.
• Work Area (WA): it identifies the user’s work area or desk
• Private branch exchange - PBX): it identifies the private branch

exchange, controlling the voice communications
- 20 -
Fig.2.14
Telecommunication closet
Fig.2.15
Patch Panels
Fig.2.16
Telecommunication Outlets
- 21 -
2.6.3 The transmission means
The following transmission means are allowed:

• 50-Ohm coaxial cables
• 62.5/125-µm singlemode optical fibers
• UTP cables with 4 100/120/150 Ohm pairs
• STP cables with 4 100/120/150 Ohm pairs.
The characteristics required for the coaxial cables are those specified by
the standards IEEE 802.3, 10Base5 and 10Base2 (see next chapters).
The allowed optical fiber is the multimode one with 62.5/125µm.
Each single conductor of the 4-pair UTP cables is 24AWG. They must
satisfy at least the characteristics of the category 3. The pairs are
identified by the following colors:
• Pair 1: white-blue (W-BL) and blue (BL)
• Pair 2: white-orange (W-O) and orange (O)
• Pair 3: white-green (W-G) and green (G)
• Pair 4: white-brown (W-BR) and brown (BR).
The multipair UTP cables contain one or more groups each with 25
pairs, the conductors have a dimension of 24AWG, but 22AWG-
conductors are accepted, too, only if respecting the minimum required
electrical characteristics.
2.6.4 The backbones
The Backbones are the cabling carrier elements and can interconnect,
with star hierarchical topology:
• different buildings to the star center of the interbuilding
(Interbuilding Backbone)
• Different floor closets to the building closet (Interbuilding
Backbone).
The following cables are allowed:

• 100/120/150-Ohm multipair UTP wires
• 100/120/150-Ohm STP multipair STP cables
• 62.5/125-µm multimode optical fiber
• 50-Ohm coaxial cable, type Thick Ethernet, addressed to the two
ends with "N" connectors.
- 22 -
2.6.5 The horizontal cabling
The Horizontal Cabling interconnects the different work areas in the

telecommunications closet, and must provide at least the following
services:
• voice transport
• serial data transmission
• data transport for local area networks
• signal transport for the control of devices inside the building
(thermostats, alarms, …).
The topology is star starting from the telecommunication closet. The

maximum allowed distances for the distribution cables and the patch
cords are indicated in fig.2.17.
The following cables are allowed:

• 4-pair UTP cable with 100-Ohm impedance
• 2-pair STP cable with 150-Ohm impedance
• 50-Ohm coaxial cable, type Thin-Ethernet, addresses to the ends with
BNC connectors
• 62.5/125-µm singlemode optical fiber.
The outlet related to the single work area must contain at least two
cables, of which at least one must be 4-pair UTP, of category 3 or
superior. The UTP cable must be addressed to an outlet RJ45 (fig.2.18).
The second cable must be any of the listed cables allowed for horizontal
cabling.
Fig.2.17 Horizontal cabling
- 23 -
2.6.6 Cables identification
To ease the control and maintenance of cabling systems, it is necessary

to use standard rules for cables identification. The standard states that
the backbone cables must have a single number, which must contain at
least two ranges indicating:
• the cable identification
• the number of pairs, in case of multipair cable, or the number of
fibers in case of multi-fiber cables.
A numbering example of a backbone cable is the following:
4005/1-300
indicating a cable with number 4005 and containing the pairs from 1 to
300.
Each work area and the related cable are identified by a label, usually
composed of 8-10 characters that may include numbers or alphabetical
letters. The numbering must contain:
• the reference to the floor of the building where the work area is
located
• the reference to the telecommunication closet to which the work area
is connected
• a field of three characters identifying the same work area.
Usually the floor closets are identified by alphabetical letters. An

example of how the work area is numbered and the related cable is
shown in the label:
EVB02-16G
having the following meaning:
• EVB indicates the name of the building: Elettronica Veneta Building

• 02 indicates the floor of the work area
• 16 identifies of the work area
• G identifies the telecommunication closet the work area is connected
to.
2.6.7 Documents
Each cabling must be provided with documents written out with

standard symbols and abbreviations. It must include:
• The logical drawing inside the whole interbuilding or the single
building
• a table to identify the backbones
- 24 -
• a closet table indicating the connections between the

telecommunication closet and the work areas.
The backbone documentation table must contain:

• the identifications of all cables and their corresponding number of
pairs or fibers
• the localization and the identification of the two closets each cable is
attested to.
Each telecommunication closet must contain its documentation in a

proper place. This documentation consist in cross-connection cables,
with which it is possible to reconstruct the path of the cable that, starting
from a particular position of the cross-connect, reaches the work area:
the active pairs and their use must also be indicated.
2.6.8 Types of connectors and splicing systems
The following connectors are allowed:

• RJ45 connector: for 4-pair UTP cables (fig.2.18)
• Hermaphrodite IDC connector (IBM Data Connector): for 2-pair STP
cables (IBM cables for Token-Ring networks) (fig.2.19)
• "N" connector: for backbone coaxial cables
• "BNC" connector: for horizontal distribution coaxial cables
• optical fiber connectors: they must be able to support at least 200
cycles of extraction/insertion without introducing attenuation over 1
dB. The most used ones are the "ST" and the "SC" (fig.2.20)
• mechanical optical junctions (splices): they are used to join two
trunks of optical fiber. The maximum allowed attenuation on the
junction is 0.3dB.
fig.2.18
RJ45 connector
a) female
b) male
fig.2.19
IDC connector
fig.2.20
a) ST connector
b) SC connector
- 25 -
2.7 QUESTIONS
Q1 With reference to the transmission means, what does the twisted pair
consist of?
1 Pairs of twisted coaxial conductors

2 Pairs of twisted insulated conductors
3 Double pairs of twisted copper conductors
4 Single wires contained into an insulating sheath
Q2 What is a category in a twisted pair?
1 The number of wires the twisted pair consists of

2 The classification of the single insulator
3 The electrical characteristics of the cable as function of the cabling
type
4 The price for 100m of cable
Q3 Which is the most important electrical parameter characterizing a

coaxial cable?
1 Impedance
2 Length
3 Cost
4 Diameter
Q4 Which of the following advantages characterizes the optical fiber cables

?
1 Easy connection
2 Pass band
3 Weight
4 Cost
Q5 Which bodies defined the standard for structured cabling?
1 E.N.E.L.
2 ANSI
3 EIA
4 ASCII
- 26 -
Q6 What is a topology ?
1 The structural lay-out of the network equipment

2 The physical connection system between terminals
3 The signal coding system
4 The number of NIC cards installed in a terminal
Q7 What does UTP define in a twisted pair?
1 The presence of shielding

2 The absence of shielding
3 A connector for twisted pair cables
4 The equipment it is connected to
Q8 How must the cables constituting a network cabling be identified?
1 It is not necessary to identify them

2 With the color
3 Via numbering chosen by the cabler
4 Via numbering identifying position and work area
- 27 -
3. NETWORK ACTIVE COMPONENTS
In designing a local area network, once the network architecture is

defined, the active equipment must be chosen necessary to carry out the
LAN. The typical used components are the network card (NIC), the
Transceiver, the Hub, the Repeater, the Bridge, the Switch and the
Router.
3.1 Network Interface Card (NIC)
The network interface card is installed in all devices directly connected

to the network. The card provides all hardware functions necessary to
make the calculation equipment (Personal Computer, Host, Server,
Workstation, ..) accessible to the communication means (LAN).
The card must be compatible to the existent cabling. The Ethernet cards
have usually a BNC connector (for RG58 coaxial cable - Thin Ethernet)
or a RJ45 connector (UTP cable), and almost all have a port called AUI
(Attachment Unit Interface) for the connection to the Ethernet
transceiver type Thick (yellow cable). The cards provided with more
connectors are called combo.
According to the Bus of the PC/workstation on which they are mounted

to, it is possible to classify them in terms of speed. The cards for ISA
bus are the less powerful, they transfer 16-bit data and operate at 8
MHz, while those for PCI, EISA or MCA bus transfer the 32-bit data
with frequencies ranging between 25 and 33 MHz.
Another important characteristic concerns the way in which the cards

are controlled by the CPU of the PC/workstation. The ISA cards can be
controlled in I/O or DMA, but do not allow the "bus-mastering"
technique which enables a fast exchange of information between the
network card and the RAM of the system, with no help from the CPU.
This technique is native on PCI and EISA buses. Each card inserted into
a bus must be recognized by the CPU from a particular set of
hexadecimal addresses (called I/O). With these addresses the driver
software can initialize the card controller. The addresses are usually
included inside the following ranges:
300...31FHEX 320...33FHEX 340...35FHEX 360...37FHEX
Other values can be suggested by the different manufacturers.

Remember that the address 300H would be not proper as dedicated to
experimental cards.
Even the Interrupt lines (IRQ) available on a system of AT-compatible
class are not many:
INT 5 INT 10 INT 11 INT 12 INT 15
- 28 -
We suggest an accurate choice, to prevent conflicts with other

peripherals with consequent malfunctioning or possible disconnection.
The Hardware configuration of the NIC card, i.e. the choice the address
and the IRQ line, must always be carried out before installing the
software driver. The card can be configured in one of the following
ways:
• via jumpers
• with configuration programs memorizing in EEPROM (of the NIC
card) the user’s setting.
The devices in a NIC card are many. We report the main ones:
• Microprocessor: it synchronizes and controls the operations
developed by the communication controller, optimizing the data
flows of the buffers of the local RAM and the system bus. Actually
there are cards integrating microprocessor and LAN controller into a
single integrated circuit, in this way reducing the costs
• Network Controller: it controls the whole communication from and
toward the card, it constitutes the data packets and calculates the
CRC, it recovers errors and activates eventual retry procedures
• Local RAM: it represents the card transmission and reception
buffers. Usually it ranges between 16 and 64KB
• EEPROM: it memorizes the user configurations also without power
supply voltage
• Transceiver: it is the matching circuit for input and output analog
signals from the card, toward the transmission mean. It is chosen by
the manufacturer according to the network connection supported by
the card (10Base2, 10BaseT, 100BaseT, etc). In the 10Base5
connections, the Transceiver is external and is connected to the card
via a cable which maximum length is 50m called drop-cable or cable
AUI/AUI. The purpose of the last is to power the external transceiver
(see next chapter).
Fig.3.1
Network card
- 29 -
3.2 TRANSCEIVER
The Transceiver is the element enabling the transmission/reception of

the packets between the AUI interface of the NIC card (Ethernet
controller) and the transmission mean. This component typically used in
Ethernet networks is carried out with yellow coaxial cable (Thick
Ethernet), but it is often employed also to convert the format of the
signals between the AUI interface and the other transmission means
(twisted pair, thin coaxial cable, optical fiber). The NIC card is
connected to the Transceiver via a drop-cable. The transceiver consists
of:
• a transmitter sending data from the interface to the transmission
mean
• a circuit for collision detection (see chapt.7), sending the interface
(card) a collision signal in case this is occurred. The transceiver can
also carry out a test on the proper operation of the collision detector,
and send the result to the interface. This test can also be enabled or
disabled (on the Transceiver) and can take different names: Collision
Presence Test (CPT), Heartbeat (HB), Signal Quality Error_test
(SQE)
• a receiver for the data coming from the transmission mean and going
to the interface of the NIC card.
In case of 10Base5 networks (yellow cable, Thick Ethernet), the

Transceiver is addressed to the Thick cable with a complex mechanical
mounting operation. The external part breaks the cable sheath and enters
in contact with the copper shielding constituting the second pole of the
coaxial cable. The inner core of the cable is reached by a needle, which
must penetrate across the shielding without touching it not to cause a
short-circuit. The connection is called vampire connection. A variation
includes the use of a Transceiver with "N" connector, which does not
need particular mounting operations as it has a reliable quick acting
connector.
Fig.3.2
10Base5
Transceiver
Fig.3.3
Transceivers
a) AUI-10Base2
b) AUI-10BaseT
c) AUI-10BaseF
- 30 -
3.3 HUB
The star topology of the local area networks includes the use of
concentrators (Hubs), which enable more equipment to be connected to
the cabling system of the LAN across a single concentration point. This
device usually has an input port selectable between coaxial cable,
optical fiber or twisted pair, and a particular number of equal ports (4, 8
16, 32, etc.). The use of the Hub enables to create star topologies, which
center is the same Hub. Each port can be active or sectioned as function
of the state of the communication channel. This state is displayed via
single light indicators for the ports. In some models, there are collision
and traffic indicators and speed selectors. Note that each port of the Hub
can be used for a point-to-point connection with the PC/workstation or a
possible network Server.
The Hub operates as Repeater (see next chapter), operates at level 1

(Physical ) of the OSI model (see chapt.6), and is transparent to all
protocols operating at higher levels.
Fig.3.4
Use of the Hub
Fig.3.5
Hub
- 31 -
3.4 REPEATER
The Repeater enables to connect single network elements in order to

create a wider network. The function of a Repeater is to receive a
message and to re-transmit it, regenerating the original signal intensity.
A LAN usually has a restriction on the physical size of any single

element of the network, determined by the transmission mean and the
transmission technique. The Repeater enables to overcome this
restriction.
The main characteristic of a Repeater lies in the fact that the signals
generated on the first segment of cable are propagated to the second
segment in a transparent way, without any filtering. They are simple to
use and have a contained cost. To use a Repeater, both network
segments must be the same kind. All stations must have single
addresses.
The Repeater operates at level 1 (Physical) of the OSI model (see

chapt.6), and is transparent to all protocols operating at higher levels.
Fig.3.6
Bus topology
with more segments
connected via
repeater
Fig.3.7
The Repeater
operates
at Physical level
- 32 -
3.5 BRIDGE
The Bridge enables to connect two separate local area networks and
enables the users of each network to access the resources of the other,
similarly to the Repeater but in a more intelligent way.
The Bridge can implement a filtering mechanism. It receives all frames

transmitted by the different network segments to which it is physically
connected (usually 2) and then, according to the destination address of
each frame, it determines if the last must be transmitted to the other
segment. To use a Bridge, both network segments must be the same
kind. In this case, too, all stations must have single addresses.
A pair of Bridges including telecommunication services can be used to

interconnect two separate local area networks, one far from the other. A
Bridge operates at level 2 (Data Link) of the OSI model (see chapt.6)
and is transparent to all protocols operating at higher levels.
Fig.3.8
More networks
connected via
Bridge
Fig.3.9
The Bridge
operates
at Data Link
level
- 33 -
3.6 SWITCH
The Switch is an active networking device which can maintain more

simultaneous connections between stations, at the maximum
transmission speed allowed by the local area network. It is typically
employed when, inside a network, two or more stations need a direct
connection between them for the most time, due to the intense data
traffic they generate. In these cases, it is just the Switch that fixes a
virtual channel dedicated to the stations generating the traffic, reducing
the collisions on all packets of the other stations and actually reducing
the network traffic.
The Switches can be programmed as function of the needs of the single

users, so to privilege any user needing larger band (data exchange
volume, expressed in bits per second) in the network.
Unlike the Repeater and the Bridge, it is possible to connect networks

using different transmission techniques (LAN Ethernet, FDDI or Token-
Ring).
A Switch usually operates at level 2 (Data Link) of the OSI model (see
chapt.6), and is transparent to all protocols operating at higher levels.
Fig.3.10 Use of a Switch
- 34 -
3.7 ROUTER
The Routers enable to route the messages from a system to another in

case of different interconnection paths. The Routers are more intelligent
than the Bridges, and can be used to construct highly complex business
networks. The function of the Router is to filter the packets generated by
a group of users and route them toward other groups as function of the
single work stations, each time choosing the best, quicker and more
reliable path. In respect to the Bridge, the Router needs a more detailed
knowledge of the protocols used to carry the messages.
The Router can advantageously be used when there are separate groups
organized according to the function (administration, storehouse,
production, etc.) or gravitating on separate LANs, or when the LAN are
connected across geographical networks (WAN). In these situations, the
Router controls the traffic packet in a group or from a group to the other,
preventing interference between the packets which destination belongs
to the same group and those of another one, and at the same time they
let those addressed to different groups pass.
The Routers are completely programmable from stations inserted into

the network, or via serial ports present on the same devices. Unlike the
Repeater and the Bridge, it is possible to connect networks using
different transmission techniques (LAN Ethernet, FDDI or Token-Ring).
A Router operates at level 3 (Network) of the OSI model (see chapt.6)
and is transparent to all protocols operating at higher levels.
Fig.3.11
Networks
connected via
Router
Fig.3.12
The Router
operates
at network
level
- 35 -
3.8 QUESTIONS
Q1 Which function does a NIC card develop?
1 to join two trunks of cable

2 to change the network protocol
3 to join the connection of a whole floor
4 to connect a terminal to the existing network
Q2 Which main function is developed by a hub ?
1 to centralize more remote connections in a point

2 to convert a synchronous into asynchronous system
3 to connect networks located in different floors or buildings dividing
the traffic
4 to authenticate a user enabling its access to the network.
Q3 Which is the main purpose developed by the router ?
1 to convert a digital into analog signal

2 to exchange the electrical connections between two connectors for
UTP twisted pair between them
3 to re-calculate the checksum (CRC) of the damaged packets in order
to make them valid
4 to route the data packets making the connections more flexible and
optimizing the network traffic
Q4 Which component is normally used to interconnect two separate LANs

of the same kind, filtering the data passing from a network to the other?
1 Router
2 Repeater
3 Hub
4 Bridge
5 Switch
Q5 Which of the last components is normally used to increase the network

dimensions?
- 36 -
4. SIGNAL CODING TECHNIQUES
4.1 INFORMATION TRANSMISSION
To carry out a local area network you must physically connect the
processors and the equipment via proper transmission means. The
digital transmission mainly requires the coding of the information (the
bits) into a format that can be carried by the transmission mean, so that
the same information can be properly reproduced in the reception
equipment.
In the digital systems, the data bits are represented by electrical signals.
The simplest form uses two levels to represent the binary digits 0 and 1,
e.g. +5 for 1 and 0V for 0. Usually a level is kept fixed for the duration
of a bit, and so in this case we speak of NRZ format (Non Return-to-
Zero) (fig.4.1), too.
The signal is transmitted across a communication channel, having

limited bandwidth, and in reception it is read in particular moments to
determine if the coming data is 0 or 1.
Before transmission, the data provided by the source are processed (or
coded), in order to generate a signal with the following main requisites:
• it has a spectrum matching the transmission channel, to exploit the
pass band of the same channel at best
• it facilitates the extraction of the reception bit timing (clock), to
prevent the proper reading of the received bits
• it reduces the effects of cross-talk on the transmission cables nearby
• it minimizes the electromagnet emissions.
The coding acts on two aspects of the signal:

• it changes the shape of the symbol associated to the information to be
transmitted (see the Manchester coding and MLT-3)
• it changes (according to particular rules) the sequence of bits to be
transmitted (see, e.g. the 4B5B and 5B6B coding).
This chapter describes the main signal coding techniques used in Local
Area Networks.
- 37 -
Fig.4.1 Signal coding forms
Fig.4.2
Spectrum of
NRZ and
Manchester
signal
- 38 -
4.2 NRZ (Non Return to Zero) and RZ (Return to Zero) CODING
The simplest kind of coding uses two different voltage levels to

represent the two binary digits 0 and 1. E.g. +V for bit 1 and 0V for bit 0
(NRZ unipolar), or +V and -V (NRZ polar, fig.4.1). The NRZ code is
generally used to generate or interpret digital signals: PCM coders in
telephony or equipment in computer science environment (computers,
printers, video terminals, etc.) provide and receive data in NRZ format.
Most of the energy of an NRZ signal is concentrated between the d.c.

component and half the transmission speed Fb. If, e.g. the transmission
speed is 10 Mbit/s, the spectral components will practically result
concentrated between 0 and 5 MHz (fig.4.2).
The main restrictions of the NRZ signal are:

• the presence of a d.c. component in the spectrum, which makes the
signal not good to be transmitted
• the difficulty to ensure a proper synchronism extraction by the
receiver. Consider that in presence of long sequences of bits 0 or 1
the signal has a constant voltage along the whole time period, and
this complicates the synchronism extraction in the receiving circuits
further. This problem can be reduced associating a stable value to
each bit "1" for half bit time. This coding is called RZ (Return to
Zero).
Due to these problems, the NRZ format, used to generated or interpret

digital signals, is not employed (alone) for their transmission.
In some applications, the data are transmitted in NRZ format, but the
sequence of bits to be transmitted is coded before, always to guarantee a
particular minimum number of transitions on the physical mean.
Examples of these coding are 4B5B and the 5B6B, described after.
4.3 NRZI (Non Return to Zero Inverted) CODING
The NRZI coding (together with the 4B5B) is used for FDDI networks
at 125 Mb/s.
The NRZI coding inserts a transition (in the center of the bit interval) for
the bits “1”, and no transition for the bits “0” (fig.4.1). The transition
can be from high to low level or from low to high level according to the
state of the signal in correspondence of the last bit. The coded signal
shows transitions in the center of the bit interval only if the datum is
“1”.
The NRZI is also known as NRZ Differential, and the coding law can be
explained as follows: the coder inverts the output bit (n+1) if the input
bit (n) is "1", it keeps the output the same if the input bit (n) is "0". In
- 39 -
other words, the bit “1” is coded as variation of the output bit, the bit
“0” as no variation.
To synchronize the receiver also in presence of long sequences of

zeroes, in case of the FDDI we appeal to a preventive 4B5B coding of
the data flow.
4.4 MANCHESTER and DIFFERENTIAL MANCHESTER CODING
The Manchester coding is used in Ethernet – IEEE802.3 networks (at 10

Mb/s). The Token Ring – IEEE802.5 networks (at 16 Mb/s) use the
Differential Manchester coding.
The Manchester coding (known also as Biphase) inserts a transition in

the center of the bit interval. If the NRZ datum is 1 there will be a
transition from high to low level, if it is 0 a transition from low to high
level. In practice there is the transmission of a negated clock period if
the bit is 1, of a direct clock period if the bit is 0 (fig.4.1).
The spectrum of the Manchester signal points out the presence of a

component with frequency equal to the bit speed (fig.4.2), and this
facilitates the reception timing extraction. See that the spectrum of the
Manchester signal is wider than the NRZ one. This requires a channel
with double band in respect to the one necessary without coding. The
simplicity makes the Manchester convenient in those applications (as
the Ethernet network at 10 Mb/s) where the considerations on the band
are not essential.
One of the restrictions of Manchester coding is that the signal for the bit
1 is exactly the reverse of the signal for the 0. In many cases, the
transmission mean can make difficult or impossible the determination of
the absolute polarity or of an absolute phase reference. Consider, e.g.
the wires inversion in a twisted pair. In these cases all the 1 transmitted
would be received as 0 , and the 0 as 1.
The Differential Manchester code (fig.4.1) introduces a variation at the

beginning of the bit interval if the datum is “0”, no variation if the
datum is “1”. The bit is always represented with a clock period which,
according to the mentioned rules, can be direct or inverted. The
Differential Manchester is also known as Biphase Differential (in the
two variations Mark and Space), and the coding law can be explained as
follows:
• in Biphase Space coding each bit interval starts with a transition
(from high to low or vice versa). Besides, if the datum is 0 there is a
second transition at the center of the bit interval, while if the datum is
1 there is no transition
• the Biphase Mark is essentially the same, with the difference that the
transition at the center of the bit interval is introduced when the
datum is 1.
- 40 -
As a result of Differential coding there is a wave-form in which a binary

digit is coded with a clock period, the other digit with a fixed level
(alternatively high and low) for the whole duration of the bit interval.
4.5 MLT-3 CODING
The MLT-3 coding produces a signal at three voltage levels (+, 0, -),
instead of the two NRZ levels. The coding law is pointed out in fig.4.3,
where you can see there is always a transition at the center of bit 1, and
no transition for the bits 0. The transitions for the bits 1 go in the
following order: 0 → + , + → 0 , 0 → - , - → 0 , etc.
Note that, in the worst case of transmission of all bits “1”, the main
frequency of the transmitted signal reduced to ¼ of the bit speed.
The MLT-3 coding is used by FDDI TP-PMD and Ethernet IEEE 802.3
100BaseTX, two standards for 100-Mb/s transmissions on copper
cables. For FDDI and Ethernet, the transmission speed on the
transmission mean is 125 Mb/s, and so the main frequency is 31.25
MHz. The difference of 25 Mb/s between the nominal speed at Data
Link level (100 Mb/s) the physical level speed (125 Mb/s) is due to the
fact that the absence of transitions for sequences of bits 0 forces, in this
case, too, a pre-coding type 4B5B of the sequences to be transmitted
(fig.4.4). MLT-3 has been also proposed for the ATM at 155 Mb/s on
copper, with 4B5B coding, so the frequency of the fundamental is
48.4375 MHz.
Fig.4.3 MLT-3 coding
- 41 -
4.6 4B5B - 5B6B – 8B6T CODING
For all coding techniques analyzed, except the Manchester one, there are
data sequences which do no generate transition. To guarantee the
transmission of a number of transitions sufficient to enable the receiver
synchronization, it is necessary to pre-code the data to be transmitted,
eventually enlarging the sequence. In local area networks, this function
is developed by two codes:
• the 4B5B code (4_Binary-to-5_Binary), coding each possible
sequence of four bits into five bits and is used together with NRZI or
MLT-3 (fig.4.4)
• the 5B6B code (5_Binary-to-6_Binary), transforming the sets of five
bits into sequences of six and is used in the standard 802.12 together
with NRZ coding (fig.4.5).
The 8B6T code (8_Binary-to-6_Ternary) is used in Ethernet 802.3

100BaseT4 to convert sets of eight bits into group of six ternary
symbols. It is a single coding preventing the double passage 4B5B and
then MLT-3 of FDDI TP-PMD.
Fig.4.4 4B5B coding
Fig.4.5 5B6B coding
- 42 -
4.7 QUESTIONS
Q1 Which of the following definitions explains the electrical signal

attenuation?
1 its maximum frequency

2 the number of odd harmonics in the signal
3 the reduction of the signal amplitude crossing a fixed length of
cable
4 the modification of the signal wave-form.
Q2 Which measurement unit is it used to measure the transmission speed?
1 Megabit per second

2 MegaHertz per second
3 Decibel per second
4 Volt per meter
Q3 How are the signal bits coded according to the NRZ standard?
1 three bits have duration equal to the main frequency period

2 a bit has a duration equal to half the main frequency
3 eight bits have duration equal to the main frequency period
4 six bits have duration equal to 5/6 the main frequency period
Q4 How are the bits coded in Manchester coding?
1 a period of the direct clock signal for the zero, inverted for one
2 a period of the direct clock signal for one, inverted for the zero
3 two periods of the clock signals if the bit keeps constant, a period of
the clock signal if the bit changes
4 two periods of the clock signal if the bit changes, a period of the
clock signal if the bit keeps constant
Q5 How many logical levels are used to code a differential Manchester

signal ?
1 Three
2 Two
3 One
4 Four
- 43 -
Q6 Which are the advantage of the MLT-3 coding ?
1 none, it is simply a different coding standard

2 increasing the number of levels you reduce the frequency of the
fundamental with the same speed
3 more channels can be transmitted on the same cable
4 cables of inferior quality can be used
Q7 What is the 4B5B in signal coding systems?
1 4 bits divided on 5 terminals

2 the coding of 4 bits with 5 bits in line
3 the coding of 4 bytes each 5 clock periods
4 the coding of 4 bytes with 5 transitions of the line signal.
- 44 -
5. ACCESSES CONTROL TECHNIQUES
5.1 ACCESS METHODS
One of the main aspects characterizing a LAN is the access method, i.e.
the basic modes in which a station connected to the network can access
the transmission mean, transmit the available data and give the physical
line to another station.
Integrating parts of the access method are also the other characteristics,
such as:
• the time in which a station can appropriate the transmission mean for
its exclusive use
• the time after which it is forced to disconnect and give this right to the
other stations
• the modes enabling to prevent more stations to simultaneously
transmit the available data (making them mutually incomprehensible
to their destinations).
There are different access methods, which can be inserted into one of the
following categories:
• deterministic access: the access modes to the bus belonging to this

family enable the station to transmit in fixed instants and with rules of
behavior accurately specifying:
− the priority of a station
− the maximum transmission time
− how to transfer the right to transmit to the other station of the local
area network.
One of the networks using this method is the Token-Ring
• non deterministic access: it gives a high freedom to a station which is

to transmit data. The transmission does not occur at fixed or
established times, and usually there is no priority level. Enabling a
simple implementation of the transmission protocol, these kind of
methods are provided with reliable mechanisms for collision detection
(i.e. in cases in which the two stations transmit simultaneously), and
transmission repetition, using particular algorithms to prevent the
continuous repetition of the same collisions.
- 45 -
5.2 Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)
In bus, star and tree topology networks, the most used access control
methods is the CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision
Detection), included in the family of non deterministic access methods.
Before transmitting, a station listens to the transmission mean to

determine if another station is transmitting at that moment (fig.5.1). If no
one is transmitting so the station sends its message. The term Carrier
Sense (carrier detection) indicates the listening before transmission. Once
transmitted, the message runs toward all stations of the network. Each
station receives it, examines it and, if it belongs to it, processes it.
Sometimes two or more stations can send their messages simultaneously

causing a collision (fig.5.2). The transmitting stations stop the
transmission and set to pause for a fixed time before transmitting again.
Each station generates a casual number determining the stand-by time.
The algorithm used for the generation of this number is designed to
minimize the stand-by time when the traffic is light and to reduce the
number of next collisions when the traffic is heavy.
The CSMA/CD method is advantageous when the propagation delay

between source and destination is short in respect to the transmission time
of the packet. This access method is much used, and its most famous
application is in Ethernet-IEEE802.3 networks (see chapt.7.3).
Fig.5.1
CSMA/CD
transmission
without collisions
- 46 -
Fig.5.2
CSMA/CD
transmission
with collisions
Fig.5.3
Token Passing
Fig.5.4
Token Bus
- 47 -
5.3 TOKEN-PASSING
In ring topology networks, the most used access control method is the
Token-Passing, included in the family of deterministic access modes.
In this method, a short message called Token is passed from a system to

the other along the transmission mean. If the Token is marked free, the
system receiving it is enabled to transmit a message. In this case, the
system marks the Token busy, hooks it to the message and transmits it
with the last. The message travels along the ring from a system to the
other, taking the busy Token with it. Each system receiving the message
checks the destination address to see if it must process the message. In
each case, the system transmits the message and the busy Token to the
next system.
When the message reaches again the system it comes from, this same
system provides to:
• remove the message
• mark the token free
• transmit the Token to the next system.
The Token starts traveling through the ring until another one needs to
transmit. With this method the receiving station has the possibility to
transmit messages within a particular period of time, after which it
transmits the Token to the next station. If this one has no message to
transmit, it passes the Token immediately. The most famous networks
standards implementing this access method are the Token-
Ring/IEEE802.5 and the FDDI (see chapt.9.4).
5.4 TOKEN-BUS (IEEE 802.4)
The Token-Passing is used in access control methods employed by

Token-Bus technologies, too. In the Token-Bus, the systems are physically
connected through a structure that can be bus, star or tree (the Token-
Ring allows only the ring structure). The systems use a logical ring
structure for control of the Token passage. The logic ring is generally
carried out with a system with addresses in decreasing order. From a
logical point of view, the systems are connected to the transmission mean
in a linear sequence, type A, B, C, D, etc. The Token can be passed
according to the indicated sequence, starting from A to B, from B to C,
from C to D and from D to A: a logical ring is formed in this way. The
most famous networks implementing this access method are the Arcnet
and other networks conceived for applications of industrial automation,
based on the standard IEEE802.4.
- 48 -
5.5 QUESTIONS
Q1 What is the CSMA/CD code?
1 single access data carrier detection

2 multiple access data carrier detection, with collision identification
3 data carrier removal when the collisions are multiple
4 collisions removal via carrier removal.
Q2 When two stations are simultaneously transmitting on a network there is

a collision. Which of the following action is developed next?
1 the station emitting the stronger signal will force the other to
retransmit the packet
2 the user provided with more privileges will have the line first
3 the stations will generate a casual pause after they retry transmission
4 the stations will be excluded by the networks after three attempts
Q3 What does identify the station address ?
1 the station or the stations which must receive the packet

2 the station geographical position
3 the part number of the network card
4 the number chosen by the user to identify the station in the network
Q4 What is the token?
1 a packet which can determine the number of stations present on the

network
2 a packet repeated from machine to machine to regulate the use of the
network
3 a packet containing a message addressed to all users
4 a packet containing data, repeated by all stations to the destination
Q5 Which topology uses the token system most?
1 Star
2 Bus
3 Ring
4 Braid
- 49 -
6. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
6.1 NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
A network architecture defines the protocols, the formats of the messages

and the standard which the machines and the software packets must
conform to in order to reach specific purposes. As the network
architectures are important, many organizations are interested in
developing the standards. The different network architectures developed
show a set of common objectives, which can be summed up in the
following aspects:
• connectivity
• modularity
• easy implementation
• easy use
• reliability
• easy to modify.
6.2 ISO/OSI MODEL
The International Standards Organization (ISO) defined a reference model

for the Open System Interconnection (OSI).
The OSI model provides a base to coordinate the development of

standards concerning the flexible interconnection of systems employing
data communication services. The OSI model divides the different
possible phases of the information transmission into 7 levels. Each level
develops a precise purpose, and the hierarchy goes from the higher to the
lower level. The 7 levels of the OSI model are (fig.6.1):
• Level 7 – Application: this level provides those functions all

application processes need for processing and information exchange. It
is the only level that can be completely seen by the user, for which all
the other levels are completely transparent. Files, mass memories,
particular support functions are seen by the user as locally resident in
the work station memory, although physically they can be found in
other points of the network
• Level 6 - Introduction: it provides those services enabling the
applications to interpret the exchanged data independently from the
formats, the coding, the control characters and other manipulations
carried out inside each system. So, if activated, it transforms the
received information and show them to the user in a comprehensible
way.
- 50 -
Fig.6.1
Levels of the OSI model
• Level 5 - Session: it provides the services enabling the data exchange

between application levels, establishing a logic connection without
interruptions and errors. When the application level asks to fix a
session and the destination process lies on a remote entity (typically a
second processor}, the Session level accesses the Transport level,
which fixes the necessary resources to carry out the connection
• Level 4 - Transport: its purpose is to activate and control a reliable
data transport service between two systems. As it is responsible for the
connection creation, it decides, e.g., how many channels must be used
to ensure the required data flow (throughput}, or which is the less
expensive and more reliable path among those possible. It provides
control functions on the integrity of the received data, and controls the
error data recovery
• Level 3 - Network: it provides the means to create, keep and abate the
network connections required by the Transport level. Besides, it
provides the procedural and functional means for routing and exchange
of the Data Units
• Level 2 - Connection: it provides the functional and procedural means
to transfer the Data Units among Network entities, and provides the
correction and recovery of the data received wrong due to
malfunctions of the physical level. Examples of Line Protocols are the
BSC, HDLC, SDLC
• Level 1 – Physical: it provides the mechanical, electrical and
functional means to activate, keep and disable the physical
connections. Its purpose is to carry out the physical transfer of the
binary data exchanged by the line level quantities.
- 51 -
6.1.2 Construction of the OSI frame
Refer to fig.6.2. When the user A must send information to the user B, the
data cross different levels of the model. Each level inserts a specific
header containing service information for the homologous level, and
generates a specific Data Unit of the same level (Protocol Data Unit –
PDU). The conversation between homologous levels is defined by
specific protocols for each level. Once the header is inserted, the level
passes the PDU to the lower level and so on to the physical level, which
purpose is to send the bits to the remote system.
Once at destination, the frame will cross the different levels, and leave the
part addressed to them.
Fig.6.2 Construction of the OSI frame
- 52 -
6.3 LAN IEEE MODEL
The IEEE decided to standardize the networks when the first Ethernet and
Token-Ring LAN appeared. Different Committees have been established,
collected in the project IEEE 802. These Committees are:
• 802.1 Overview, Architecture, Bridging and Management

• 802.2 Logical Link Control
• 802.3 CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access - Collision
Detection)
• 802.4 Token Bus
• 802.5 Token Ring
• 802.6 Metropolitan Area Networks - DQDB (Distributed Queue,
Dual Bus)
• 802.3u 100BaseT
• 802.7 Broadband Technical Advisory Group
• 802.8 Fiber-Optic Technical Advisory Group
• 802.9 Integrated Data and Voice Networks
• 802.10 Network Security
• 802.11 Wireless Network
• 802.12 100VG Any LAN
• 802.14 Cable-TV Based Broadband Communication Network.
The project IEEE 802 was developed in line with the OSI model, and
describes the standards specific for the LAN related to the first 2 levels
(fig.6.3).
For the LAN applications, the Level 2 of the OSI (Data Link) is divided
into 2 sublevels (fig.6.4):
• LLC (Logical Link Control), enabling the access to the upper level
services (Level 3, Network) independently from the access types of the
same network, or the used physical support. The sub-level LLC is
defined by the standard IEEE 802.2
• MAC (Media Access Control), controlling the access to the
transmission mean.
The sub-level LLC is common to all LANs, while the MAC is peculiar of
each LAN, as well as the physical level it is strictly associated to. The
sub-level LLC is the unified interface toward the Network level and is
described in the proper standard IEEE 802.2, while the different MAC are
described in the specific standards of each LAN (e.g. the MAC
CSMA/CD is described by the standard IEEE 802.3).
- 53 -
7 Application
6 Introduction
5 Session
4 Transport
3 Network
2 IEEE Data Link
1 802 Physical
Fig.6.3 OSI and LAN (IEEE 802)
Level 3
Network
802.2
Level 2 Logical Link Control LLC
Data Link
MAC
802.12
802.3 802.5 FDDI 802.11 802.3u
Level 1
Physical CSMA/CD TOKEN FDDI Wireless AnyLAN
RING 100Base-T
Fig.6.4 LAN and IEEE802
- 54 -
6.3.1 Level 2 – LLC sub-level (Logical Link Control)
The sub-level LLC, defined by the standard IEEE 802.2, sets as

interface between Level 3 (Network) and the sub-level MAC (fig.6.5).
The protocol used for the LLC sublevel belongs to the HDLC family, of
which it is considered a variation for the LAN. The structure for the
LLC Data Units (PDU, Protocol Data Unit) is similar to the one of the
HDLC frame. It includes the following ranges (fig.6.6):
• Destination Service Access Point (DSAP): 1 octect, it indicates the
protocol of level 3 to which you pass the packet
• Source Service Access Point (SSAP): 1 octect, it indicates the
protocol of level 3 from which the packet comes
• Control: 1 octect per Unnumbered frames, 2 octects per Information
and Supervisory frames
• Information: N octects, it contains the PDU of level 3
Fig.6.5 Relation between LLC-PDU and other levels
DSAP SSAP Control Information
1 octect 1 octect 1 or 2 octects N octects
fig.6.6 Structure of the LLC-PDU
- 55 -
LLC addresses The LLC purpose is to provide a standard support to the coexistence of
and the SNAP- more upper level protocols (e.g. TCP/IP, X.25, DECnet, or others) on
PDU the same LAN, too. The addresses (of the services) contained in the
DSAP and SSAP ranges are used to distinguish the protocol of Level 3
which the LLC frame is supported on (fig.6.7).
As the 8 bits of the address field are sufficient to identify all protocols of
Level 3, the ISO has given an official coding only to those protocols
approved by a standardization body. E.g, the value FEH indicates the
protocol ISO 8473 (Internet Protocol connectionless of OSI).
When the DSAP and SSAP range of the LLC-PDU takes a value AAH
there is a particular LLC frame, called SNAP (Sub Network Access
Protocol) (fig.6.8). The SNAP frames are used to contain the PDU of
Level 3 generated by proprietary protocols, i.e. not recognized by the
ISO. In this case, the Control range indicates an HDLC frame of
Unnumbered kind (the first two bits are 11), and is followed by a
Protocol Identifier range composed by two parts:
• The first 3 bytes contain the OUI (Organization Unique Identifier) of
the organization that has proposed the protocol. E.g.: 00-AA-
00=Intel; 08-00-07=Apple)
• the second 2 bytes identify the protocol inside the organization. If the
first 3 bytes (OUI) are zero, the coding used for this range is the one
defined by the Protocol Type of Ethernet 2.0. Example:
− Protocol Identifier = 08 00 2B (OUI) 80 3C (Protocol Type)
indicates a frame used by Digital (as 08002B is the OUI of

Digital) for a proprietary protocol (indicated by 3C)
− Protocol Identifier = 00 00 00 (OUI) 08 00 (Protocol Type)
indicates a frame with Ethernet coding (OUI=000000) containing

TCP/IP data, being 0800 the coding for IP.
Fig.6.7 Use of the DSAP and SSAP addresses
- 56 -
DSAP SSAP Control Protocol Identifier Information

AAH AAH 03H 08 00 2BH 80 3CH L3-PDU
OUI Protocol Type
DSAP SSAP Control Protocol Identifier Information

AAH AAH 03H 00 00 00H 08 00H L3-PDU
OUI Protocol Type
Fig.6.8 Examples of SNAP frames
The LLC The sub-level LLC offers the following services at Network level:
services • Unacknowledged Connectionless Service (LLC Type 1): the data
transfer does not set up virtual logic circuits between source and
destination before carrying out the transmission, and needs no
confirmation of the sent packets
• Connection Oriented Service (LLC Type 2): the data transfer sets
up virtual logic circuits between source and destination before
carrying out the transmission, and needs confirmation of the sent
packets
• Semireliable Service (LLC Type 3): the data transfer does not set
up virtual logic circuits between source and destination before
carrying out the transmission, but needs confirmation of the sent
packets
6.3.2 Level 2 – MAC sub-level (Media Access Control)
A LAN is composed by more equipment disputing the access to a single

transmission mean. The sub-level MAC (Medium Access Control) is
specific of each LAN and solves the problem of the transmission mean
sharing. There are different kinds of MAC, based on different principles
such as the dispute, the token, the reservation and the round-robin. The
MAC is necessary as at level 2 OSI (Connection) the LAN operates in
broadcast, i.e. each system receives all frames sent by the other systems.
To transmit in broadcast, i.e. make a single transmission channel be
shared by all systems, implies the solution of two problems:
• in transmission: checking that the channel is free before

transmitting, and solving any conflict between more systems needing
to use the channel simultaneously
• in reception: determining which systems the message is actually
addressed to, and which system has generated it.
The solution of the first problem is given by the different MAC

algorithms, which must be distributed on different systems and must not
need a master system.
- 57 -
The solution of the second problem implies the presence of MAC levels
addresses (so in the MAC-PDU) transforming broadcast transmissions
into:
• point-to-point transmissions (Unicast): if the destination address
indicates a single system
• point-to-group transmissions (Multicast): if the destination address
indicates a group of systems
• actually broadcast transmissions: if the destination address
indicates all systems.
The MAC-PDU structure is peculiar of each MAC, and, so, depends on

the network. Some ranges, represented in fig.6.9, are present in all
MAC-PDU, though. In particular, the generic MAC-PDU includes:
• Destination Address: 6 octects
• Source Address: 6 octects
• Information: it contains the LLC-PDU
• FCS (Frame Check Sequence): it contains the CRC value (Cyclic
Redundancy Check) for control of the reception errors.
Information
Destination Source
LLC-PDU FCS
Address Address
Fig.6.9 Structure of the generic MAC-PDU
The MAC The main function of the MAC address is to univocally identify the
addresses system on the LAN. The MAC addresses are univocal at world level,
and are written permanently in a ROM of the NIC card by the
manufacturer of the same card. They are composed of 2 parts of 3 bytes
each (fig.6.10):
• 3 most significant bytes: lot of addresses assigned by the IEEE to the
card manufacturer (OUI, Organization Unique Identifier)
• 3 less significant bytes, progressive production numbering, given by
the card manufacturer (Vendor).
E.g., a card with MAC 00-AA-00-2C-01-70H address is a card produced
by the Intel, as 00-AA-00H is the OUI of this firm.
3 bytes 3 bytes
Vendor
OUI Assigned
Fig.6.10 Structure of the MAC addresses
The first 2 bits of the transmitted MAC addresses have a particular
- 58 -
importance. Using a proper coding of the Destination Address, these 2

bits identify the kind of transmission carried out:
• Unicast: toward a single system
• Multicast: toward a group of systems
• Broadcast: toward all systems
When a card receives a packet, it does not pass it automatically to the

upper level (LLC), but it carries out a set of controls:
• it checks if the packet is integral (i.e., if the FCS is correct)
• it analyzes the Destination Address:
− if it is Broadcast, the packet is always passed to the LLC
− if it is Multicast, the packet is passed to the LLC only if the card
belongs to the addressed group, i.e. if the reception of that

Multicast has been enabled by the software of upper level
− if it is Unicast, the packet is passed to the LLC only if the
Destination Address is equal to the card hardware address.
6.3.3 Level 1 - Physical
The physical level provides the services to those users resident on the
MAC sub-level. Figure 6.11 shows some of the functions included in
the OSI model for the Level 1. The PDU exchanged with the physical
level are signals representing the single bits composing a MAC frame.
This level takes shape in the physical transmission of the signals on the
transmission mean. It defines the procedures for carrying out the
connections to the transmission mean, and for the signals transmission
and reception. The specifications of the physical level include the
description of the kind of cabling, the outlets and the connectors to be
used, the characteristics of the signals to be exchanged.
- 59 -
6.4 REFERENCE MODELS
As mentioned in the last chapter, the IEEE has divided the networks
standardization into Committees. Hereafter follows a short description
of the most used IEEE standards, such as the IEEE802, 802.3 and 802.5
(these standards will be treated exhaustively in the next chapters). Other
non IEEE standards will be described, such as the FDDI and the ATM.
6.4.1 IEEE 802

The Project IEEE 802 has defined a flexible architecture oriented to the
standardization of the LAN technologies. The approach maintained by
the IEEE in the development of its network architecture fits the OSI
model. As already seen, the Project 802, though, is focused only on the
first two lower layers of the OSI model, the physical level and the Link
level. The LAN architecture of the Project 802 has been accepted by the
ISO and ANSI, too.
6.4.2 IEEE 802.3

IEEE 802.3 is the evolution of the Ethernet network, suggested before
by Digital, Intel and Xerox (DIX). It uses a MAC type CSMA/CD
(Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection), in which the
arbitrage of the transmission channel is regulated through a dispute
mechanism.
IEEE 802.3 includes a bus logic topology, with bus, star or tree cabling.
The transmission speed is 10 or 100 Mb/s and the maximum throughput
is about 4 or 40 Mb/s.
6.4.3 IEEE 802.5
IEEE 802.5 is the evolution of the Token Ring local area network
suggested by IBM in alternative to Ethernet. The standard includes a
ring topology, with star or double ring cabling. The arbitrage of the
transmission channel is regulated by the token and, so, the protocol is
deterministic, with stand-by time further restricted. The transmission
speed is 4 or 16 Mb/s and the maximum throughput is 3 or 12 Mb/s.
6.4.4 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)
The standard ASC X3T9.5/ISO 9314 FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data

Interface) defines a network with ring topology operating at the speed of
100Mb/s and using an access method type "token-passing" similar to
what applied to the Token Ring LAN. Such standard specifies the use of
full-duplex point-to-point connections in optical fiber technology to
interconnect the stations, although implementations have been
developed based on copper cable of not-shielded/shielded kind in
"category 5". The variation of the FDDI for copper cable is often called
CDDI (Copper Data Distributed Interface).
- 60 -
The station interconnection to the FDDI ring can be carried out mainly
in two modes (fig.6.11).
• a first mode establishes that the station connects to the main ring with
a single pair of optical fibers, of which one carries the signal in
reception and the other in transmission. A network station using this
kind of connection will be identified as station type SAS (Single
Attachment Station)
• a second mode establishes that the station connects to the main ring
with two pairs of optical fibers, of which a pair is normally used to
transport the signal in transmission/reception, and the other is
available for back-up functions in case of interruption on normally
used optical fibers. A network station using this kind of connection
will be identified as station type DAS (Dual Attachment Station).
This, in presence only of DAS stations on the main ring, takes to a

physical network architecture which can recover any possible
interruption, exploiting the inner path of the ring (normally not used).
Fig.6.11 FDDI ring
- 61 -
6.4.5 ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
The set of ATM Forum standards defines a network:

• with free topology (braid, star, tree)
• operating at speeds ranging between 25 Mb/s and 2.5 Gb/s
• using a method for sharing the transmission sources with definition
of the traffic priority, such to guarantee well defined transmission
capacity to the different users.
Conceptually, the ATM technology can be considered an evolution of

the packet switched networks, and it has been designed to meet the
needs of modern high speed networks, heterogeneous in the structure as
well in the supported traffic.
The ATM network consists in a set of switching nodes (or switches) and
in a set of terminal nodes (fig.6.12). The interface between a node and a
terminal is called User-to-Network Interface (UNI), while the one
between node and node is called Network-to-Network Interface (NNI).
Fig.6.12 Structure of ATM network
- 62 -
In ATM, an extremely fast packet switched model is implemented,

totally carried out via hardware, in which the data are carried in units of
fixed length called cells.
Each cell is 53 bytes-long (fig.6.13) and uses only 5 bytes as Header,

guaranteeing 48 bytes for the transport of the information flow
(Payload). Two kinds of cells are defined with slightly different formats
(fig.6.14):
• UNI cell (User-to-Network Interface), used to transmit data between
a user device and an ATM switching node
• NNI cell (Network-to-Network Interface), used to transmit data
between ATM switching nodes.
← 53 bytes →
Header Payload
← 5 bytes → ← 48 bytes →
Fig.6.13 Structure of ATM cell
GFC VPI VPI
VPI VCI VPI VCI

Header
VCI VCI
- 5 bytes -
VCI PTI CLP VCI PTI CLP
HEC HEC
Information Information Information

- 48 bytes -
cella UNI cella NNI
GFC: GENERIC FLOW CONTROL VPI: VIRTUAL PATH IDENTIFIER

VCI: VIRTUAL CHANNEL IDENTIFIER PTI: PAYLOAD TYPE INDICATOR
CLP: CELL LOSS PRIORITY HEC: HEADER ERROR CONTROL
Fig.6.14 Structure of UNI and NNI cells
- 63 -
The meaning of the Header ranges is the following:

• GFC (Generic Flow Control): it is 4-bit long in the UNI cells, absent
in the NNI cells. Its functions have not been defined, yet, but it
should be used for a common control (generic) of the cells traffic for
all kind of connection (data, audio, video, multimedia, …). Waiting
for a definition, the 4 bits of the GFC range are set to 0000
• VPI (Virtual Path Identifier): it is 8-bit long in the UNI cells and 12-
bit long on the NNI cells. Together with the VCI, it identifies the
virtual connection. The VPI constitutes a part of the identifier, and
identifies a group of virtual channels (virtual path)
• VCI (Virtual Channel Identifier): it is 16-bit long. Together with the
VPI, it identifies the virtual connection. The VCI constitutes a part of
the identifier and detects the virtual channels between two stations,
inside a virtual path
• PTI (Payload Type Indicator): it is 3-bit long. It indicates if the next
Information range actually carries user data or service information for
the network control
• CLP (Congestion Loss Priority): it is 1-bit long. It indicates if the
cell can be rejected by a switching node in case of congestion
• HEC (Header Error Control): it is 8-bit long. It is the CRC (Cyclic
Redundancy Check) calculated on the single Header. It enables the
correction of the single errors, and the detection of double errors.
The communication sessions in the network are activated defining the
virtual circuits between different users; each pair of users in
communication has a dedicated virtual circuit.
In case of SVCs (Switched Virtual Circuits), the virtual connection will

be active only for the time necessary to the information exchange
between two users, and will be abated at the end of communication. In
case of PVCs (Permanent Virtual Circuits), the connection between two
users will be activated continuously, independently from the fact there is
information exchange between them.
To guarantee the different users/application the necessary band-width,

priorities have been defined to be assigned to the different kinds of
traffic supported by ATM. These priorities are called Quality of Service
(QoS). At the base of the QoS concept, there is the fact that the
applications are not all equal in terms of data network exploitation. E.g.,
in a videoconference service, a delay introduced in the data flow
crossing the network causes voice asynchrony, or interruption of speech
and image progress "by fits". On the contrary, for an application of
"Office-Automation" taking the data from a network server system, a
more or less contained delay in data loading does not affect its final
efficiency.
To identify and, so, to guarantee the different applications routed on the
ATM network the necessary priority/usage band, some service classes
have been defined to be assigned to the virtual circuits:
• CBR: Constant Bit Rate
• VBR-RT: Variable Bit Rate - Real Time
- 64 -
• VBR-NRT: Variable Bit Rate - Non-Real Time

• ABR: Available Bit Rate
• UBR: Unspecified Bit Rate.
To integrate such technology into local area networks (LAN) existing

today, and to carry out local area networks in mixed technology, a
standard has been defined called LAN Emulation (LANE). This makes
the use of the ATM technology practically immediate to carry out
backbone connections (backbone) between Ethernet networks, and
ensures the inter-operability between Ethernet and ATM users. The
standard LANE uses the encapsulation technique of the network card
addresses at MAC level, as the last can support most network protocols
of higher level. To implement such emulation, some specialized services
have been defined:
• LEC: LAN Emulation Client
• LES: LAN Emulation Server
• BUS: Broadcast and Unknown Server
• LECS: LAN Emulation Configuration Server
As concerns the transmission capacity of the communication interfaces

of an ATM node, the last are many and enable high-speed data flows.
The speeds available today for ATM products are:
• OC-1 SONET: transmission at 51 Mb/s on optical fibers
• OC-3 SONET: transmission at 155 Mbps on optical fibers
• OC-12 SONET: transmission at 622 Mb/s on optical fibers
• Carriers T1/T3: 1.544/44.736 Mb/s for transmission on conventional
numerical flow in Extra-European countries
• Carriers E1/E3: 2.048/34.368 Mb/s for transmission on conventional
data flow in the European countries.
With ATM technology, networks can be carried out having many of the
characteristics of the local area networks of today, although offering a
great technology for the service carriers, for the capacity to manage huge
quantities of traffic with fixed delay times and service quality. The
ATM technology can be used to create MAN/WAN networks. Summing
up, the technique of "fast packet switching with fixed cell length"
guarantees each system connected to the network to transmit a message
within a predictable period of time. These performances are guaranteed
in order to use the network with intensive applications or with
applications which, by their nature, need to transmit flows of
synchronized messages (multimedia applications, videoconference,
etc.).
- 65 -
6.5 QUESTIONS
Q1 How many levels or layers is the OSI model composed of?
1 Two
2 Four
3 Seven
4 Nine7
Q2 What does physical level indicate?
1 the functions developed by the electrical circuits (interface and

cabling to the system)
2 the protocol necessary to interconnect a network
3 the applications used by the user to access the network
4 the synchronization method of the network terminals
Q3 What is the sub-level MAC?
1 Media Access Control

2 it controls the number of users effectively connected to the network
3 the sub-level of the physical level of the OSI model
4 it controls the sharing of the transmission mean on the network
Q4 Which is the main function of the sub-level LLC?
1 to provide a unified standard interface with the Network level

2 to match the types of packets so to make them detectable from
different systems
3 to carry out a statistic on the packets transmitted by the users
4 to interact with the physical level to control the network access
Q5 Which kind of network is identified by IEEE 802.3?
1 Token-Ring
2 Ethernet
3 Optical fiber
4 Wireless
- 66 -
Q6 What topologies and speeds are included in the standard IEEE 802.5?
1 Star with 100-Mb/s speed

2 Ring with 4/16 Mb/s speed
3 Tree 10 Mb/s speed
4 Bus with 100 Mbps speed
Q7 What does the ATM standard set define?
1 A network with free asynchronous topology with 16-Mb/s speed

2 A network with synchronous braid with speed up to 2 Gb/s.
3 A 2-Mb/s half-duplex infrared rays network
4 A network with free topology with speeds ranging from 25 Mb/s to
2.5 Gb/s.
Q8 What does the SONET OC-3 specification identify ?
1 51-Mb/s optical fiber transmission on coaxial cable

2 155-Mb/s transmission on optical fiber
3 Transmission for Extra-European countries in standard T1 or T3.
4 A 2.048-Mb/s European carrier called E1/E3
Q9 Which kinds of network are good for ATM technology?
1 Small local area networks

2 Geographical networks
3 Satellite networks
4 For local area as well as geographical networks
- 67 -
7. IEEE 802.3 - ETHERNET
7.1 The ORIGINS of the ETHERNET
In the first 70s, three industries (Digital, Intel and Xerox) created the
pull of firms DIX for development of a local area network. At the end of
the 70s, a first version of Ethernet was created, the version 1.0 operating
at 10 Mb/s. In 1982, DIX issued the specifications of the Ethernet
version 2.0, which was going to become the actual local area network.
In parallel to the pool DIX, IEEE started the development of the
standard 802.3. This is based on Ethernet, but differs for some logical
characteristics referred to the Link level and for some electronic ones
referred to the physical level.
The reduced costs of the equipment and the great ease to design and
carry out LAN of small/average dimensions have been the key of the
success of Ethernet, and although all equipment on the market fit the
specifications 802.3, they are often identified with the original name
Ethernet.
7.2 The COMPONENTS
Hereafter follow the description of the main components of a network

802.3, and, according to the needs, the details of the main differences
between Ethernet and 802.3.
7.2.1 Transceiver 802.3
The Transceiver or MAU (Medium Attachment Unit) is the element

enabling the transmission/reception of the packets between the interface
(Controller) and the transmission mean, and changes according to the
same transmission mean (fig.7.1). The interface is connected to the
transceiver via a transceiver cable or drop-cable. In the cards 802.3, the
transceiver can be integrated inside the Controller.
The Transceiver mainly consists of:

• receiving station: it transmits the data received by the transmission
mean to the interface
• collisions control section: it transmits a collision signal to the
interface in case one has been detected on the transmission mean
• transmission section: it receives the data from the interface and
transmits them to the transmission mean
• power supply section: it receives the power supply from the
interface and generates the power supply of all electronic circuits
inside the transceiver.
In case of Ethernet Version 2.0, the only transmission mean allowed to
connect the stations is the yellow coaxial cable (Thick cable). The first
- 68 -
transceiver has been developed to support the Thick cable as

transmission mean, to which it is connected via a mechanical coupling
system called "tap", perforating the cable by means of a point and
touching the central conductor: such connection is known also as
"vampire" connection. However, there is a variation where an "N"
connector is used, with which the transceiver can be connected to a
Thick cable provided with the same connector.
fig. 7.1 Connections between interface (Controller) and Transceiver
fig. 7.2 Connection between Transceiver and Thick cable
- 69 -
7.2.2 Interface 802.3
The Interface 802.3 (or Controller) is the interface section between the
inner bus of the network system and the transceiver. The interface
develops the following functions (fig.7.3):
• data encapsulation and de-capsulation
• control of the connection to the transmission mean
• bit Manchester coding and decoding.
fig. 7.3 Functions of the Ethernet interface – IEEE802.3
7.2.3 Drop cable
The Drop cable, called also transceiver or AUI cable (Attachment Unit
Interface) interconnects the transceiver to an Ethernet interface or to
another repeater. It is a shielded cable with 15-pole connector and
balanced signal transmission (see fig.7.1).
7.2.4 Repeater 802.3
The Repeater is used to extend the transmission mean length and carry
out star or tree topologies. The active element interconnecting two
coaxial cables or others transmission means is defined Repeater. In case
of Thick cable, the Repeater needs two transceivers with AUI cable to
connect the two segments. The main functions of an Ethernet repeater
are:
• to receive the strings of bits received on a segment and to transmits
them to other segments by regenerating the signal
• to decode (Manchester) the strings of received bits on a port, and re-
code them before re-transmission to the other ports
- 70 -
• to control the collisions: if a collision is detected on a segment, the

Repeater re-transmits it to the other ports
• to protect the segments from jabber errors (too long packets): when it
detects a string of bits being transmitted for a period longer than 5
ms, it interrupts the transmission and resets it after a period of time
ranging between 9.6 and 11.6 ms
• it can optionally insulate (partition) a port for a fixed period of time,
when more than 30 consecutive collisions occur on the last
• it can house the integrated transceiver.
7.3 ACCESS METHOD
The Ethernet and 802.3 networks are created with a bus topology based
on coaxial cable, with transmission speed of 10 Mb/s, and involve the
level 1 and the sub-level MAC of level 2 on the OSI battery (fig.7.4).
Unlike the network IEEE802.3, where the Data Link level is divided
into sub-levels MAC and LLC (802.2), in the Ethernet network there
isn’t the LLC, and all functions of the Data Link level are developed by
the MAC level.
Level 3: Network
802.2
Level 2 Logical Link Control LLC
Data Link
MAC
802.12
Ethernet 802.3 802.5 802.11
FDDI 802.3u
CSMA/CD TOKEN FDDI Wireless AnyLAN

Level 1 RING 100Base-T
Physical
Fig.7.4 Relations between the OSI model, Ethernet and IEEE802
The method used to split the use of the transmission mean between the
network stations is the CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access /
Collision Detection), identical in Ethernet and in 802.3. Is has been
designed to use the coaxial cable as transmission mean, but it hasn’t
been changed even after other transmission means - such as the optical
fiber and the twisted pair - have been introduced.
- 71 -
7. IEEE 802.3 – ETHERNET
7.3.1 Control of the network access: CSMA/CD
The main functions performed to access the network are described

hereafter:
• Carrier Sense: each station which must transmit listens to the bus
and decides to transmit only if this is free (listen before talking)
(fig.7.5-7.6, phase 1-2)
• Multiple Access: it is possible that two stations decide
simultaneously to transmit, as they can find the transmission mean
free at the same time. The possibility this event should occur is
increased by the fact that the propagation time of the signals on the
cable is not null, and, so, a station can think that the mean is still free
even when another has already started the transmission (fig.7.6,
phase 1-2)
• Collision Detection: if two transmissions should overlay, there is a
"collision". To detect it, while transmitting a packet, each station
listens to the signals on the transmission mean and compare them to
one it generates (listen while talking) (fig.7.6, phase 3).
After the collision detection, the following actions will be performed:

• the transmitting station suspends the transmission and transmits the
jamming sequence (transmission interference) composed by 32 bits
for 802.3 and a number of bits between 32 and 48 for Ethernet: this
sequence enables all stations to detect the occurred collision
• the listening stations, detecting the fragment of collision consisting of
the transmitted part of packet plus the jamming sequence, reject the
received bits
• the transmitting station repeats the transmission attempts after a
pseudo-casual time, to a maximum of 16 times. This prevents the
same stations to re-transmit at the same time after a collision.
7.3.2 Round Trip Delay
A proper collision control made by the protocol CSMA/CD can be

obtained if the transmitting station detects a collision. To achieve this
result, the station must keep in transmission for a time long enough to
enable any possible collision to propagate to it (it is proper to see that
the collision can be detected only during the transmission, not after).
Consider fig.7.7, where there are two stations (A and B) at the two ends
of the network. In the worst case, there will be the following situation:
• the station A finds the transmission mean free and transmits its frame
(a)
• the station B finds the transmission mean free, too, and transmits its
frame an instant after the first bit of the frame coming from A
reaches it (b)
• B detects the collision (c) right after the beginning of the
transmission
• B suspends the transmission, and sets the jamming sequence (the
- 72 -
transmitted part of packet plus the jamming sequence is called

fragment of collision) in queue to the already emitted part of packet
(d)
• in order to make A detect the collision, its transmission must last
until the beginning of the transmission of B reaches A (e).
So, a transmission (i.e. a single frame) must last at least the time
necessary for a bit to propagate from one end to the other of the network
(from A to B), and vice versa (from B to A). This time is called Round
Trip Delay. In case of Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 there is a:
• transmission speed = 10Mb/s
• minimum frame duration = 64 bit of preamble + 512 frame bits =
576 bits (see chapt.7.4), which corresponds to a minimum duration of
57.6 µs.
The transmission duration of a packet is at least 57.6µs, and this is the

maximum allowed Round Trip Delay. Half this time is the maximum
propagation time of the signal from one end to the other of the network,
that, at the propagation speed of 2·108 m/s, corresponds to a maximum
extension of about 5 km. In practice, though, the attenuation introduced
by the cables does not allow networks with such extension without the
use of repeaters.
7.3.3 CSMA/CD and MAC sub-level
The CSMA/CD access method and the sub-level MAC are responsible
for the following operations:
• packets transmission: during this phase the MAC accepts a packet
with upper level and provides a serial string of bits to the physical
level for their transmission
• packet reception: the MAC receives a serial string of bits from the
physical level and provides a packet to the upper level. If the packet
has a different address from the one of the receiver, (or it is not a
broadcast packet) it is rejected
• transmission of a packet with busy channel in deferred mode: the
MAC checks the errors in the packets comparing them to the value
contained in the FCS range
• the MAC guarantees there is minimum lapse of time called IGP (Inter
Packet Gap) between two consecutive packets
• the MAC interrupts the transmission when it detects a collision and
transmits a "jamming" message after a collision
• the MAC checks the minimum length of the packet (64 byte)
• the preamble is generated in transmission and it is removed in
reception.
- 73 -
Fig.7.5
Transmission
without collisions
Fig.7.6
Transmission
with collisions
Fig.7.7
Round
Trip
Delay
- 74 -
7.4 PACKET FORMAT at MAC LEVEL
The Ethernet packet and the packet 802.3 slightly differ between them
(fig.7.8). The packets (excluded the Preamble and SFD ranges) have a
variable length between 64 and 1518 bytes (or octects), corresponding to
512 bit (minimum) and 12144 bit (maximum).
Hereafter follow the description of the different ranges, and the main
differences between Ethernet and 802.3:
• Preamble: sequence of alternated “1” and “0”, 7-octect long in

Ethernet as in IEEE 802.3. The Ethernet frame includes an additional
byte, which is the equivalent of the SFD byte of the frame 802.3. The
preamble is used to synchronize the receivers of the network stations
• Start-of-Frame Delimiter: a sequence of 8 bits with value
"10101011" (in 802.3), indicating the beginning of a data frame. In
Ethernet, the "Preamble" and the "Start delimiter" range are grouped
and called simply "Preamble"
• Destination Address: 6 octects, it identifies the station or the
stations which must receive the frame. The destination address can
specify a single (unicast) as well as a group of addresses (multicast or
broadcast) (see chapt.6.3.2)
• Source Address: 6 octects, it identifies the station originating the
frame
• Length – IEEE 802.3: 2 octects, it indicates the number of octects
contained in the Data field (LLC-PDU)
• Type - Ethernet: 2 octects, it indicates the kind of protocol of upper
level generating the PDU contained in the Data range
• Date: it contains the information exchanged between the network
stations. In IEEE 802.3, if the data are not sufficient to obtain a frame
of at least 64 byte, filling octects (PAD) are inserted. Ethernet
expects at least 46 data bytes
• Filling field (PAD) – IEEE 802.3: used only in IEEE 802.3, it
contains a fixed number of filling bytes to ensure the frame a
minimum length of 64 bytes
• Frame Check Sequence: 4 octects, it contains the value of the cyclic
redundancy control (CRC) for error detection.
Note there isn’t a packet end signaler. The separation is carried out by
inserting an Inter Packet Gap between two consecutive packets.
- 75 -
Preamble SFD Destination Source Length Data PAD FCS

Address Address
7 octects 1 6 6 2 from 0 to 1500 from 0 to 46 4
IEEE 802.3
Preamble SFD Destination Source Type Data FCS

Address Address
7 octects 1 6 6 2 from 46 to 1500 4
Ethernet
fig.7.8 Format of the frames IEEE 802.3 and Ethernet
- 76 -
7. IEEE 802.3 –ETHERNET
7.5 The PHYSICAL LEVEL
We report hereafter the characteristics of the different transmission

means supported by the specification IEEE 802.3 and Ethernet (only
Thick cable, see following 10Base5). To define some important
characteristic aspects of a network (speed, Band Base or Translated
Band transmission technique, transmission mean or maximum distance),
some codes are used nowadays which meaning is reported hereafter:
10BaseT
T = twisted pair
transmission mean 2 = (thin) cable for max.
transmission technique distance of 200 m
speed 5 = (thick) cable for max.
distance of 500 m
F = optical fiber
- 77 -
7.5.1 10Base5
The specifications of this standard concern the characteristics of the

MAU (transceiver) and the transmission means for speeds of 10 Mb/s,
based on a segment of 500 m at max.
The transceiver 10Base5 can transmit and receive electrical signals

along a 500m Thick coaxial segment, to which at maximum 100
Transceivers can be connected set at a minimum distance of 2.5m
between them (fig.7.9).
The segment 10Base5 consists of a 50-Ohm coaxial cable type RG8

(called also Thick or yellow cable).
The connection to a station and a segment of cable occurs by means of

the MAU mechanical coupling based on "vampire" or type "N"
connector (fig.7.2). The path between any pair of stations can be
implemented by using 5 500-m segment of cable and 4 Repeaters at
max.
a = 2.5m minimum distance between 2 transceivers

b = segment length = max 500m is a single trunk
= max 491.4m if more trunks connected with joints
fig.7.9 Configuration of the segment 10Base5
- 78 -
7.5.2 10Base2

MAU (transceiver) and the transmission means for speeds of 10 Mb/s,
based on a segment of 185 m (about 2 100-m units). The Transceiver
10Base2 (fig.7.10) can transmit and receive electrical signals along a
185-m Thin coaxial segment, to which up to 30 Transceivers can be
connected set at a minimum distance of 0.5m between them (fig.7.11).
The segment 10Base2 consists of a 50-Ohm coaxial cable type RG58
(called also Thin cable). The connection of a station to a segment of
cable occurs by means of the Transceiver and a mechanical coupling
system based on the "T" connector type BNC. Very often, the
Transceiver is integrated into the network card. The path between any
pair of stations can be implemented by using at max. 5 185-m segments
of cable, and 4 Repeaters.
fig.7.10 Connections of the Transceiver 10Base2
a = 0.5m minimum distance between 2 transceivers

b = segment length = max 185m
fig.7.11 Configuration of the segment 10Base2
- 79 -
7.5.3 10BaseT
MAU (Transceiver) and the transmission means for 10-Mb/s speeds,
based on a 100m Twisted Pair segment.
The Transceiver 10Base2 can transmit and receive electrical signals

along a 100m twisted segment between 2 stations in point-to-point
mode. The peculiarity of this standard is the use of multi-port repeaters
(Hubs) to connect more than 2 network stations, with star or tree
topology (fig.7.12). Up to 4 Hubs can be connected in cascade. The
maximum distance between stations and Hub is 100m, and more than
1000 stations cannot be connected.
The segment 10BaseT consists of a 100-Ohm twisted cable type UTP,

STP or FTP, which specifications are the same required by the
structured cabling systems. The connection of a station to a segment of
cable occurs by means of the MAU, integrated into the network card,
and of a mechanical coupling system based on the 8-pole connector
"RJ45" (fig.7.13). The path between any pair of stations can be
implemented by using at max. 5 100-m segments of cable and 4
Repeaters (Hub).
fig.7.12 Network 10BaseT architecture
fig.7.13
Connector RJ45
- 80 -
7.5.4 10BaseF (FB and FL)

MAUs (Transceivera) or the transmission means for 10-Mb/s speeds,
based on a 2000-m segment optical fiber.
The Transceiver 10BaseFB (Fiber Backbone) can transmit and receive

electrical signals along a 2000-m optical fiber segment between 2
Repeaters in point-to-point mode (the connection between 2 stations or
between station and Repeater is not allowed), on connections with
backbone function. The segment 10BaseFB consists of an optical fiber
cable 62.5/125µm headed on ST or SC connectors. The connection
between Repeaters occurs through the MAU.
The MAU 10BaseFL (Fiber Link, compatible but with better

performances than the last FOIRL – Fiber Optic Inter Repeater Link)
can transmit and receive electrical signals along a 2000-m optical fiber
segment between a station and a Repeater or between 2 stations in point-
to-point mode (fig.7.14). The connection between 2 Repeaters is not
included. The segment 10BaseFL consists of an optical fiber cable
62.5/125µm addressed on ST or SC connectors. The connection
between station and Repeater or between station and station occurs by
means of the MAU.
fig.7.14 Connection between two 10BaseFL MAUs
- 81 -
7.6 QUESTIONS
Q1 Which is the maximum length of the segment in the standard 10Base5 ?
1 500 m
2 100 m
3 50 m
4 25 m
Q2 Which is the maximum number of stations which can be connected to a

10Base2 segment ?
1 5
2 100
3 30
4 20
Q3 What does the word Base present in the codes mean ?
1 type of cable used in cabling

2 speed supported by the network
3 maximum number of users
4 type of modulation
Q4 Which is the length of an Ethernet packet ?
1 from 1 to 64 octects
5 maximum of 64 octects
Q5 How long is the address field in the Ethernet frame ?
1 5 octects
2 6 octects
3 7 octects
4 8 octects
5 6 bits
Q6 What is a jamming sequence ?
1 transmission of a particular form of packet by the station detecting

the collision
2 message transmitted by an out-of-use station
3 reset sequence after a collision
4 carrier over-modulation.
- 82 -
8. IEEE 802.3u – FAST ETHERNET
8.1 100BaseTX and 100Base T4
The network 100BaseT (or IEEE 802.3u) is currently the only LAN
which can be defined "Ethernet at 100 Mb/s", as it keeps the classic
algorithm CSMA/CD implemented on 10BaseT as it is, but operating at
100 Mb/s.
The structure and the minimum length of the MAC frame have not been
changed and, so, the Round Trip Delay has been reduced of a factor 10,
determining the extension of the collision domain and so the maximum
dimensions of the network.
100BaseT uses the existing interface of level MAC IEEE 802.3 and
connects it, across a layer called MII (Medium Independent Interface),
to a physical sub-levels family (transmission means) including:
100BaseT4, 100BaseTX and 100BaseFX.
The pair TX/FX is based on the interfacing technology to the

transmission mean already used in FDDI, and transmits with 4B5B
coding (see chapt.4.6) at 125 Mb/s, on 2 UTP pairs of category 5
(variation TX, fig.8.1a) or on 2 multimode fibers (variation FX).
100BaseT4, instead, uses a new interfacing technology to the

transmission mean, transmitting with 8B6T coding (see chapt.4.6) at
100 Mb/s on 3 UTP pairs of category 3 (variation T4, fig.8.1b): the
fourth pair is used to control the collisions.
Fig.8.1 Use of the pairs in the variations TX and T4
- 83 -
Due to the increase of a factor 10 on the transmission speed, to the

maintenance of the protocol CSMA/CD and to the format of the packets
IEEE 802.3, the collision domain reduces of a factor 10 in respect to the
Ethernet-802.3 network. So, the maximum allowed distance between the
two stations reduces to 210m (fig.8.2). This, however, enables the
cabling of 100BaseT around a hub with 100m of ray, and, consequently,
200m of diameter: 100BaseT, so, it is compatible to the standards for
structured cabling.
The objective of 100BaseT is to keep the compatibility to 802.3 at cards

level using exactly the same packet format, and to have a very
interesting economic positioning; in average, the 100BaseT products
cost only the 50% more than the analogous 10BaseT ones.
To support the economy of the standard, many devices nowadays offer

the possibility to switch the speed of the port between 10 and 100 Mb/s
as function of the connected device. The mechanisms regulating the port
are called N-Way Auto-Negotiation (NWAN) and Auto Sensing (AS).
Fig.8.2 Structure of 100BaseT network
- 84 -
8.2 QUESTIONS
Q1 Which maximum speed is supported by a Fast Ethernet network ?
1 52 Mb/s
2 2 Gb/s
3 16 Mb/s
4 100 Mb/s
Q2 Which kind of cable has been approved for this kind of network?
1 Twisted pair and optical fiber

2 Only optical fiber
3 Coaxial cable
4 Radio waves
Q3 Which is the maximum diameter of a 100BaseTX network?
1 100 m
2 200 m
3 500 m
4 12 Km
Q4 Which access method is it used by the 100BaseT networks?
1 Proprietary
2 Token-Ring
3 CSMA/CD
4 Token-Passing
Q5 How many optical fibers does the variation 100BaseFX use?
1 One
2 Two
3 Four
4 Eight
Q6 Which signal coding is used by the 100BaseT4 standard?
1 4B5B
2 8B6T
3 6B8T
4 9B2B
- 85 -
9. IEEE 802.5 – TOKEN RING
9.1 The ORIGINS of the TOKEN-RING
The Token-Ring was born in 1976 in the IBM laboratories, as local area
network alternative to Ethernet. It has been created to operate on a star
cabling carried out with STP cable. The first version has a speed of 4
Mb/s. In 1982, the IEEE created the Committee IEEE 802.5 which
purpose was to draw up a Token Ring standard relatively to the physical
level and the sub-level MAC of the Data Link level. The Committee
introduced some changes and introduced a 16-Mb/s version, too, using
passive concentrators and STP cables. In 1993, a proof was issued
offering, in particular, the possibility to use UTP cables.
9.2 The ACCESS METHOD
A Token Ring consists in a particular number of stations connected in

series via a transmission mean and closed as ring (fig.9.1). The packets
are transferred from a station to the other serially: each station repeats
and regenerates the transmission toward the next station. As the stations
must continuously repeat the packets of the other stations, the network is
star cabled for more reliability. The connections between the star center
and the stations are called lobes. When a station is off or faulty, the star
center (concentrator, or MSAU, MultiStation Access Unit) excludes it
from the network.
Fig.9.1
Logical diagram 0
0 of Token-Ring
network
- 86 -
The MAC access method is the token. The token is a particular type of
packet flowing across the ring indicating that the ring is free (fig.9.2). A
station wanting to transmit must wait for the token, capture it, mark it
busy and then transmit the message together with the token. The token
continuously flows through the ring although the stations do not have
data to transmit. It is generated at start by the station that has earned the
role of network Active-Monitor and is repeated by all stations. A station
that has captured the token can transmit one or more packets as function
of their length and the Time Holding Token parameter (THT) indicating
the maximum time a station can keep the token.
Fig.9.2 Use of the Token
9.3 TOKEN and FRAME FORMAT
The token is composed by three bytes (fig.9.3):
• Starting Delimiter (SD)

• Access Control (AC)
• End Delimiter (ED).
These three ranges have analogous format and functions for the token
and the frames. The meaning of the different ranges is the following
(fig.9.4-9.5):
• Start of Frame Sequence (SFS): it indicates the start of the frame and
is composed by a Starting Delimiter byte and a second Access
Control byte
• End of Frame Sequence (EFS): it indicates the end of the frame and
is composed by an Ending Delimiter byte and a second Frame Status
byte
• Starting Delimiter (SD): it identifies the starting of the token or the
frame. On this purpose, it contains the bits identified as "J" and "K",
violating the Differential Manchester coding (used in Token-Ring)
- 87 -
• Access Control (AC): it contains the access information to the ring.

The "token bit” takes the value "0" in case of token and "1" in case of
a frame
• Ending Delimiter (ED): it indicates the end of the packet.
• Frame Status (FS): it contains the Address Recognized and Frame
Copied bits: the combinations of these 2 bits indicate:
− not-existing or inactive station in the ring (A=0, C=0)
− existing station, but the frame has not been copied (A=1, C=0)
− the frame has been copied (A=1, C=1).
The actual packet starts after the SFS and can have a length between 21
and 17796 bytes:
• Destination Address (DA): address of the frame destination
• Source Address (SA): address of the frame source
• Routing Information (RI): it contains the routing information for
extended local area networks, according to the IBM proprietary
routing protocol known as Source Route Bridging
• Frame Control (FC): it defines the packet content differentiating it
between MAC frame (for network control) or the LLC/PDU
(information frame)
• Frame Check Sequence (FCS): it contains the CRC frame.
Fig.9.3
Format of the Token
IEEE 802.5
Fig.9.4 Format of the frame IEEE 802.5
Fig.9.5
Format of the
SD, AC, FC, ED, FS
ranges
- 88 -
9.4 NETWORK ACCESS CONTROL
Consider the example of fig. 9.6. The transmission of a frame from

station “A” to station “C” is made as follows:
• the station “A” waits in order to receive the token and captures it (fig.
9.6a). The capture occurs by taking to "1" the "token bit" of the AC
range. This modification transforms the token into a frame and, in
particular, the already transmitted part becomes the SFS
• “A” inhibits the bit repetition circuit between input and output
• “A” transmits the FC, the DA, the SA and eventually RI for the
Bridge Source Routing
• “A” transfers the data into the Info range (fig. 9.6b)
• if the station “A” has other frames to transmit but is has not
overcome the THT, yet, it sets to 1 the intermediate bit of ED and
starts the transmission of the next frame
• when “A” has transmitted the last frame, it sets the intermediate bit
of ED to 0
• if “A” ends the frame transmission before having started to receive
backward from the input, it transmits the filling bits on the output
until it can regenerate the new token
• when “A” receives the SA range of the transmitted frame on the input
port, and detects it as its own, it removes the frame from the ring and
starts to emit the token (fig.9.6c). If the frames transmission is ended,
it immediately generates the new token, on the contrary it waits for
the end of transmission
• all stations that do not have the token (in this case B, C and D) repeat
the bits they receive to the next station. Each station observes the
frames it receives to check if the destination address DA is equal to
the its MAC address. This equality occurs only on the station the
frame is addressed to (the station “C” in this example, fig.9.6d).
Besides, it not only repeats the frame, but it receives and changes the
address recognized bit and the copied bit properly, in the FS range
• at the end of reception of its frames, the station A restores the
repetition of the bits received between the input and output ports.
- 89 -
a. Token capture b. transmission c. new Token generation d. frame reception and copy
Fig.9.6 Frames transmission on Token-Ring
- 90 -
9.5 NETWORK CONTROL
9.5.1 Functional addresses
As already seen, the addresses of the source and destination are

contained in the SA and DA ranges, and each is 6-bytes long. There are
some "multicast" MAC addresses (called functional addresses) used to
develop the following 4 functions:
• Active Monitor (C0 00 00 00 00 01): function developed by the
station generating the token and fixing the clock for the other stations
• Ring Parameter Server (C0 00 00 00 00 02): function for
initialization of the parameters related to the active stations in the
ring
• Ring Error Monitor (C0 00 00 00 00 08): function which can collect
errors from the stations, analyze them and generate statistics
• Configuration Report Server (C0 00 00 00 00 10): function receiving
the stations configuration information.
9.5.2 Active Monitor
Beside the normal activity connected to data exchange, in a Token Ring

network there is a heavy control activity.
In a ring, there is a single station developing functions of Active

Monitor for the network, and is designed for this function after a token
claim process. All the other stations set in Stand-by Monitor state, ready
to become the Active Monitor of the network in case of problems on the
existing Active Monitor.
The Active Monitor communicates every 7 seconds its presence to all

network stations via an Active Monitor Presence (AMP) packet. If a
station in Stand-by Monitor state does not detect an AMP packet transit
within this time, the election process will be started which will take to
the definition of a new Active Monitor.
9.5.3 Control activity
Among the most important control activities, there are the Duplicate
Address Test, Neighbor Notification, Ring Purge Beacon Process
activities.
The Duplicate Address Test is used by all stations each time they enter
the network, to check that no station with the same address is active on
the network. To do so, when entering the network the station sends a
frame with its DA address: if the frame comes without alterations (A=0,
C=0) it means that there is no address duplication.
The Neighbor Notification process is controlled by the Active Monitor.
This process enables each station to know the address of the station
- 91 -
connected to the input, i.e. the Nearest Active Upstream Neighbor

(NAUN) or Upstream Neighbor Address (UNA).
Even the Ring Purge process is controlled by the Active Monitor: when
it detects there isn’t the token or there is a too long transmission on the
network, it provides to send a ring purge frame, so that the stations reset
the network interface and start to operate properly, again.
In presence of a fault, though, the ring purge process can fail: in this
case the Beacon Process activates. The fault insulation process is
activated when the Active Monitor election process is activated.
9.6 The PHYSICAL LEVEL
The Token-Ring physical level changes as function of the considered

standard. The version ISO 8802.5 defines the use of the 150-Ohm STP
cable and of passive concentrators called MSAU (MultiStation Access
Unit). The 802.5 Q/Draft 3 enables the use of UTP cables of category 3,
4 and 5 whenever the speed is reduced to 4 Mb/s and of category 4 or 5
for the 16 Mb/s.
9.6.1 The cabling
The path of an information of a Token-Ring network is ring, but the

cabling between stations and concentrator (MSAU) is star. Lobo is the
connection between concentrator and station, Ring-In and Ring-Out (or
Backbone) the connections between concentrators.
The concentrators are connected to counter-rotating double ring via

primary ring and a backup one (fig.9.7a). In case of interruption of the
primary ring, the backup ring keeps the connection between the MSAU
(fig.9.7b). The physical connection appears on the station side with
connector DB9 and on the concentrator side via connector
hermaphrodite or IBM Data Connector (IDC). If the cabling should be
carried out with UTP cable there are the Media Filter (or baloons) which
purpose is to match the impedance from 150 to 100 Ohm.
- 92 -
a. connected primary and backup rings b. cut off primary ring
Fig.9.7 Example of Token-Ring network
- 93 -
9.6.7 The concentrators (MSAU)
The MSAU can have a number of ports between eight and twenty and
can operate at 4 and 16 Mb/s. They are divided into three categories:
• Passive: they don’t have automatic bypass mechanisms for the faults
on the Ring-In and Ring-Out ports (backbone). They have insertion
and by-pass detection mechanisms on the lobe ports
• Active: they are equipped with amplification and re-timing circuits
on each port and are used on UTP cables. They control the bypass on
the Ring-In and Ring-Out ports
• Partially active: as the last, but only on the backbone ports.
When a station is active, it can ask the concentrator to be inserted into

the ring. On this purpose, it generates a voltage between 3.5 and 7V,
called insertion voltage. This voltage enables a relay inserted into the
concentrator (one for each lobe) to switch from OFF (station excluded)
to ON condition (station inserted). The station has an access circuit to
the ring providing or removing the insertion voltage according to
whether the station should be inserted into the ring or it should be in
bypass for test purposes or due to faults.
- 94 -
9.7 QUESTIONS
Q1 Which are the transmission means good for the standard IEEE 802.5 ?
1 UTP cable, optical fiber

2 Only UTP
3 Only optical fiber
4 Coaxial cable, optical fiber
Q2 How many categories are the MSAU divided into ?
1 Two: passive and active

2 Three: passive, active, partially active
3 Three: passive, positive, negative
4 Four: passive, active, alternative, positive
Q3 How many rings is the Token-Ring network composed of ?
1 A primary and a secondary

2 A primary and a backup secondary
3 A primary
4 A primary, a secondary and a backup one
Q4 How many circuits are the active MSAU equipped with ?
1 Amplification, signal re-timing and bypass circuits

2 Bypass and signal amplification circuits
3 Signal switching and re-timing circuits
4 Re-timing and bypass
Q5 How long is the token ?
1 24 octects
2 3 octects
3 9 octects
4 64 octects
- 95 -
Q6 What is the active monitor ?
1 An instrument to evaluate the network performances

2 The station generating the token and synchronizing the remaining
ones
3 The station controlling the token once generated and synchronizing
the remaining ones
4 A MSAU with network supervision purposes
Q7 Which coding is it used in Token-Ring transmission?
1 MLT-3
2 NRZI
3 RZI
4 Differential Manchester
5 Manchester
Q8 What must a station do to start transmission?
1 Generate the token and tune the message octects

2 Capture the free token and tune the message octects
3 Wait for the next token to tune the message octects
4 Wait to be appointed active monitor
- 96 -
10. EVOLUTION of LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
10.1 SWITCHED NETWORKS
The spreading of multimedia applications, that must transfer not only

the data but also the flows coding voice and video services, requires an
increment of the band (data flow in bit/s) available for the single work
area. All examined LANs expected the existence of a single
transmission mean with high speed and low error rate, which
transmission or band capacity was shared by all systems connected. We
have seen that the standards related to the structured cabling system took
all LANs back to a star or tree topology.
The star topology does not bring advantages in terms of LAN total
transmission capacity if the concentrators behave as normal Repeaters or
Hubs (Ethernet, IEEE 802.3) or simple star centers (Token-Ring).
Changing the Hub concentrators with frames switches at the MAC sub-
level (level Data Link), you reach a total transmission capacity higher
than the one of the single connections between a system and the Hub.
Such frames switches are called Switches (fig.10.1-10.2). A Switch has
the capacity to transmit more packets simultaneously if sources and
destinations are different, generating a number of temporary virtual
connections dedicated to the union of two or more interconnected
stations.
10.1 Ethernet "switching"
The term "Ethernet switching" indicates an Ethernet network in which

there are Switches instead of normal Hubs. From a logical point of view,
the Switches are multiport bridges at all effects.
When receiving a MAC frame, the Switch examines immediately the
destination address, consults its routing tables to determine the
destination port, and, if this is free, starts re-transmitting the frame while
still receiving it: this mode is known as Cut-trough. When in this mode,
the Switch does not recalculate the frame FCS, as the FCS is set at the
end of the frame, and so, unlike the Bridge, it cannot prevent corrupted
frames to be sent on the LAN.
A second method consists in the Store-and-Forward technique, as for

the Bridges. This technique can be used when the Switch operates in
two separate local area networks with different standards, identical
networks with different speeds, when the destination port is often busy,
when the LAN is subject to many errors or when the packet is broadcast
kind.
- 97 -
Fig.10.1 From the concentrator to the Switch
Fig.10.2 The Switch operates at Data Link level
- 98 -
10.2 VIRTUAL LOCAL AREA NETWORKS (VLAN)
The virtual local area networks technology (Virtual LAN or VLAN)

refers to the capacity offered by the Switches or the Router to configure
more logical networks over a single physical local area network
(fig.10.3).
Each VLAN consists of a set of segments of local area network that can
include a single station or group of stations. The stations belonging to a
VLAN are logically interconnected to Data Link level, although they are
physically connected to different transmission means. The main
advantages that can be obtained from this assignment come from the
traffic insulation of the different work groups at Data Link level. This is
not only important for safety and data privacy reasons, but also because
it allows keeping the multicast/broadcast traffic separated in the
different virtual networks.
The inter-operability between VLANs is guaranteed by an external unit,

usually a Router. Many manufacturers suggest the possibility to create
VLAN or users domains on their top Hubs/Switches, although this
functionality is often limited to a single Hub/Switch. To make the
VLAN concept really useful, it must be possible for a domain to include
ports belonging to different Hubs/Switches (fig.10.4).
Fig.10.3
Virtual networks
on the same Hub
Fig.10.4
Virtual networks
on more inter-
connected Hubs
- 99 -
10.3 QUESTIONS
Q1 Which is the function carried out by the switch?
1 To join all hubs of a network

2 To join all PCs of a network by switching them manually
3 To generate virtual connections between two high traffic stations
4 To join two networks operating with different network operating
systems
Q2 Which is the parameter the switch is chosen with ?
1 Pass band
2 Number of ports
3 Supported voltage
4 Switching speed
Q3 What is the cut-through mode?
1 The switch cuts the packets it is receiving by removing them

2 The switch receives a packet and routes it during the reception
phase toward the destination port
3 The switch memorizes a particular number of packets to send them
to the destination ports
4 The switch takes the packet and transmits it to the destination port
with shorter path
Q4 What is the store-and-forward technique?
1 The switch memorizes the packet to route it

2 The switch receives a packet and routes it during the reception
phase toward the destination port
3 The switch memorizes a particular number of packets and
reconstructs the routing tables
4 Packets routing technique used only on the bridges
Q5 In which situation is it advisable to use a switch ?
1 When the number of stations is over 100

2 When there is an intense traffic between stations
3 When there is a large number of hubs
4 To carry out a geographical network
Q6 What does the term VLAN mean?
1 A mixed local area network

2 A virtual local area network
3 A wireless local area network
4 A geographical network.
- 100 -
11. UPPER LEVEL PROTOCOLS
11.1 The TCP/IP PROTOCOL
TCP/IP is a set of transmission and routing protocols widely used in the

world of local area networks. The acronym 'Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol' comes from the main protocols included in
the set, developed as research project in 1969 by the Department of
Defense of the United States of America.
The TCP/IP protocols are based on the packet switched network, and
enable single networks of interconnected systems to appear as a single
network, called "internet", where all systems can freely exchange data
between them as if directly connected.
Today the TCP/IP is used in the whole world on a very large number of
local area networks: first of all InterNet, which nowadays connects
thousands of networks containing millions of systems including
universities, national laboratories and commercial organizations.
The network software implementing the main TCP/IP protocols is

available on a large range of information systems: from the Mainframe
up to the Personal Computers.
The TCP/IP network architecture does not specify the physical levels
and Data Link of the network, but it uses those normally available and
fitting the standards. E.g., in the field of local area networks, it operates
on Ethernet and IEEE 802.3, Token-Ring and IEEE 802.5, FDDI, ATM,
etc.. In the field of geographical networks it operates on PPP, Slip,
ATM, etc.
Fig.11.1
TCP/IP
Architecture
- 101 -
IP Each system connected to an TCP/IP internet is identified by an

addresses univocal address in 32-bit format. The IP addresses, which must be
univocal on the network, are expressed by writing the decimal values of
each byte separated by a point. Examples of IP addresses are:
200.1.1.1 221.191.61.70 46.0.1.121
The starting bits of the address identify its typology and describe the
way in which the 32 address bits are divided between network (network)
and host range (system). The network range detects the single network
on which the origin and destination system are located, while the host
range identifies a specific system of that network.
Classes The starting bits of the network range specify the address class they
belong to. The most used classes are:
• Class A: it is an address where the first bit is "0". An address in class
A provides 7 bits to identify the physical network and 24 bits to
identify the systems belonging to the network. The addresses of class
A can be detected as the first address range is between 0 and 127
• Class B: it is an address where the first two bits are "10". An address
in class B provides 14 bits to identify the physical network and 16
bits to identify the systems belonging to the network. The addresses
of class A can be detected as the first address range is between 128
and 191
• Class C: it is an address where the first three bits are "110". An
address in class C provides 21 bits to identify the physical network
and 8 bits to identify the systems belonging to the network. The
addresses of class A can be detected as the first address range is
between 192 and 223
• Class D: it is an address where the first four bits are "1110". An
address in class D is used to carry out a particular broadcast shape
(multicast), in which an address identifies a set of systems. The
addresses of class A can be detected as the first address range is
between 224 and 239
Fig.11.2
Classes
of the TCP/IP
addresses
- 102 -
Netmask The host part of an address of class A, B or C can be divided into two
parts, subnet and host. The amplitude of the subnet and the host range is
defined via a parameter called netmask. The netmask contains bits 1 in
correspondence to the network and subnet ranges, and bit 0 in
correspondence of the host range. E.g., a netmask
11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000 ,
commonly written as IP address
255.255.255.0,
indicates that the host range coincides to the last address byte.
The use of the subnets and the netmask makes the address detection and,
consequently, the data routing quicker.
11.2 The IPX/SPX PROTOCOL
The protocols IPX/SPX of Novell (NetWare, fig.11.3) are based on

Xerox protocols and have a levels structure.
The protocol IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange) is the level Network

protocol and provides a service type "datagram" without connection, not
reliable to control the information exchange between the different
systems. Its purpose is to deliver a packet to the destination but does not
need confirmation that the packet has been received. IPX relies on high
level protocols such as SPX (Sequential Packet Exchange) to provide a
reliable data flow service in sequence.
SPX is the protocol of the Novell Transport level and comes from the
protocol SSP of Xerox.
SPX provides a virtual service, reliable, oriented to the connection

between network stations using the IPX service to provide a data flow in
sequence. The result is reached by implementing a conversation
protocol, requiring the reception of each sent frame to be confirmed
before sending the next frame. SPX, besides, provides a flow control
between stations and ensures no doubled frame is delivered.
- 103 -
Each system connected to a network IPX/SPX is identified by an

univocal address in 80-bit format. The first 32 bits of the address
coincide with the network identification range (network), while the 48
next bits identify the host.
The network identification range detects the single network on which

the source or destination system are located, while the host
identification range identifies a specific system of that network, and
usually coincides with the address of the NIC card of the system.
Fig.11.3 NetWare Architecture
Fig.11.4 NetWare Architecture
- 104 -
11.3 The NETBIOS/NETBEUI PROTOCOL
The term NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) concerns the

services network extension that have been historically offered by the
BIOS (Basic I/O System), software resident in the ROM of each IBM-
compatibile PC. Actually the NetBIOS extends the I/O capacities of a
PC to the network ambient, defining an API interface (Application
Program Interface) for the request of communication services of the
Transport level and a protocol describing the way in which these
services are provided.
NetBIOS has become a standard "de facto" of the Session level in the
LAN communication, and the NetBIOS services are offered by a large
range of network software.
The name NetBEUI (NETBios Extended User Interface) is sometimes

used to refer to the protocol supporting the NetBIOS services and/or the
software components used to implement it. NetBEUI was the name of
the software components developed at first by IBM and Microsoft to
support the NetBIOS services of the first PCs.
Unlike the other protocols (TCP/IP and IPX/SPX), NetBIOS identifies

the users of a network according to an alphanumeric name, and not
according to a specific address.
In NetBIOS the names represent the base of communication between

application programs. NetBIOS has a table for each system identifying
the name or the names associated to the application programs of that
system, enabling a given application program to have more names, and a
given system to support more user names simultaneously. The names
can be added or cancelled dynamically and the same name can be given
to different systems in different times: two systems with the same name
cannot be active on the LAN in the same instant.
The name can be a single name or a group name: the single name
identifies the single system, while the group names enable different
users on the same system or on different systems to be addressed using
only one name (transmission in multicast).
NetBIOS associates the names directly to the station addresses and does
not determine any separate addressing mechanism in the Network level,
unlike TCP/IP and IPX/SPX.
For this reason, the use of the Transport protocol NetBIOS does not fit
an internet composed by more LAN interconnected by means of router,
as the router does not have - at Network level - the information
necessary to decide toward which networks to route the received frames.
NetBIOS includes two data distribution services related to the Transport

levels, a datagram service without connection and a service with
- 105 -
connection often called session service, beside a set of other support

services for the control of the LAN communications.
Fig.11.5 Frame NetBIOS
- 106 -
11.4 QUESTIONS
Q1 Who did define the IPX/SPX protocol ?
1 Xerox
2 IBM
3 Microsoft
4 Novell
Q2 Which service does the IPX protocol provide?
1 To deliver a packet to the destination, without acknowledging

receipt
2 To control the flow between two or more stations
3 To convert an IPX packet into TCP/IP
4 To deliver a packet to the destination, acknowledging receipt
Q3 What is the NetBIOS ?
1 An additional EPROM changing the PC BIOS to support the

network applications
2 A software interface to the high level or session API application
programs
3 A protocol to connect the physical layer to the logical layer in the
OSI model
4 A control method for the access to the transmission mean
Q4 Which of the following protocols is used the most in the Internet network
?
1 IPX/SPX
2 TCP/IP
3 NetBIOS
4 Others
Q5 Which of the following protocols is the less flexible to join networks of

different kinds ?
1 IPX/SPX
2 TCP/IP
3 NetBIOS
4 NetBEUI
- 107 -
12. CONFIGURATION of a LOCAL AREA NETWORK
12.1 DESIGNING a LAN
A PC can be easily changed, but to change the asset of a local area

network needs strong investments of money and time, and the
acquisition of new technical notions, too.
To carry out a local area network, so, is a long term investment, a target
to be centered from the beginning even to the detriment of an expensive
analysis and design.
As any other computer science system, its structure combines

heterogeneous elements which must be chosen especially for efficiency
and flexibility of use, not considering the costs much, at least at the
beginning.
A network device which does not operate or operates badly,

compromises the whole LAN completely or partly frustrating the time
and the investment necessary to its preparation.
12.1.1 Choice of the cabling system
In small local area networks, it is possible to use a coaxial cable in order

to carry out a LAN with bus topology. In this case, the network
constitution is very economic as it prevents the use of devices such as
the Hub or Switch, but a fault in any point is sufficient to make unusable
the whole segment employed by the users.
Nowadays, the not shielded twisted pair (UTP) is the most indicated
solution for any kind of plant remaining within a single building. The
most used twisted pair is the category 5, that, within a certain distance,
can carry data even at a speed of 155 Mb/s. The advantage of the
twisted pair is to be economic, easy to install, and matching any kind of
traffic: local area network, terminal emulation telephony. Due to the low
cost of connection, it is usually cabled in excess, covering also those
work areas not active at the moment. In this way, whenever you move, it
will be enough to activate the nearest access turret changing the
interconnections in the central floor or area closet (concentrator). When
you need to interconnect the different closets present in separate
buildings or on different floors of the same building, the optical fiber is
preferred, as it can stand longer lengths, as well as for its high immunity
to electromagnetic disturbances.
- 108 -
12.1.2 Maximum network extension
The maximum extension of a local area network depends on many

factors, such as the transit speed of the information, the used standard,
the use of Hub, Switch, Bridge, etc, and the kind of used cabling.
In an Ethernet 10Base5 local area network, a coaxial cable is used with

thick section (about 8 mm. of diameter, RG8), with which it is possible
to carry out a segment of 500m maximum total length. In the segment,
up to 100 MDI devices (Medium Dependent Interface) or vampire/N
transceivers can be connected. The segment is always closed by two 50-
Ohm terminations. Each MDI is connected to the terminals via the drop-
cable AUI/AUI. The minimum distance between two MDIs is 2.5
meters. It is possible to connect up to 5 segments in cascade using 4
Repeaters, for a total of 2500m of maximum diameter.
Maximum length of the single segment 500 m

Maximum network diameter 2500 m
Minimum distance between two MDIs 2.5 m
Maximum number of Repeaters between two systems 4
Maximum number of MDI per segment 100
Fig.12.1 Example of Ethernet 10Base5 network
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In an Ethernet 10Base2 local area network, a coaxial cable is used with

thin section (about 5 mm. of diameter, RG58), with which it is possible
to carry out a segment of 185m maximum total length. In the segment,
up to 30 systems can be connected by means of a passing connection
using a special "T"-shaped joint with bayonet connection (BNC), to be
connected to the BNC of the NIC card. The segment is always closed by
two 50-Ohm terminations. The minimum distance between two systems
is 0.5 meters. It is possible to connect up to 5 segments in cascade using
4 Repeaters, for a total of 925m of maximum diameter.

Maximum diameter of the network 925 m
Minimum distance between two MDIs 0.5 m
Maximum number of repeaters between two systems 4
Maximum number of systems per segment 30
Fig.12.2 Example of Ethernet 10Base2 network
- 110 -
12.1.5 Ethernet 10BaseT
In an Ethernet 10BaseT local area network, a multipair cable is used,

with which it is possible to carry out segments of maximum length equal
to 100m. This limit is set by the standards for the structured cabling
system. It is possible to connect up to 5 segments in cascade using 4
Repeaters (most commonly known as Hub), for a total of 500 meters of
maximum diameter.

Maximum number of Hubs between two systems 4
Fig.12.3 Example of Ethernet 10BaseT network
- 111 -
12.1.6 Ethernet 10BaseFB/FL
In an Ethernet 10BaseFB/FL local area network, an optical fiber cable is

used, with which it is possible to carry out segments of 2000m
maximum length. It is possible to connect up to 5 segments in cascade
using 4 Repeaters or optical Hubs, for a maximum diameter variable as
function of the IPG (Inter Packet Gap) and the RTD (Round Trip
Delay), and however usually limited to the maximum segment
extension.

Maximum network diameter variable
Max. number of repeaters/Hubs between 2 systems 4
Fig.12.4 Example of Ethernet 10BaseFB/FL network
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12.1.7 Ethernet 100BaseTX
In a Fast-Ethernet 100BaseTX local area network, a multipair cable is

used, with which it is possible to carry out segments of 100m maximum
length. This limit is set by the standards for the structured cabling
system. It is possible to connect up to 2 segments in cascade using 2
Repeaters or Hubs, for a maximum diameter of 205 meters. Whenever a
higher distance between the Hubs should be necessary, the total distance
between two systems must never be over 205m.

12.1.8 Ethernet 100BaseFX
In a local area network Fast-Ethernet 100BaseFX, an optical fiber cable

is used, with which it is possible to carry out segments of 412m
maximum length in "half-duplex" mode and of 2000m in "full-duplex"
mode. It is possible to connect up to 5 segments in cascade using 4
Repeaters or Hubs, for a maximum diameter variable as function of the
IPG (Inter Packet Gap) and the RTD (Round Trip Delay), and however
usually limited to the maximum segment extension.
Maximum length of the single segment (HD) 412 m

Maximum length of the single segment (FD) 2000 m
Maximum network diameter variable
Fig.12.5 Example of Fast-Ethernet 100BaseTX network
- 113 -
12.2 MIXED CONFIGURATIONS
We have treated the transport means and the equipment which can carry
out and interconnect different cabling and LAN architectures at physical
level. Now we want to deal with and describe the aspects enabling the
interconnection of different types of networks using different physical
levels and protocols.
• A first aspect concerns the evaluation which must be made in terms

of network design or change concerning its extension
• A second aspect concerns the kind of protocol used in the different
network segments and so the used NOS ambient (Network Operating
System)
• A third aspect concerns the division of the users belonging to the
network into work groups, and the kind of software they use for their
activity.
12.2.1 The transmission mean and the network technology
Many of the operations of the installed networks depend on the physical

level as described before. The designer and the installer must have a
detailed plant of the building to expect and quantify the distances
between single workstations and server. In calculating the distances, not
only the distance in a bee-line between the single systems must be
counted, but also the vertical trunks from floor to ceiling toward the
different workstations: i.e. the effective development of the transmission
mean is calculated. The paths chosen to set the transmission mean must
not be adjacent to the electrical conductors of the building, but at a
minimum distance fixed by the rules.
The systems located in the same area are almost always cabled with
STP/UTP cable up to a typical distance of 100m between user’s station
and competent administration closet. This gives the possibility to
insulate a faulty system with ease, with the advantage to easily switch
from the speed of 10Mb/s to the higher one of 100Mb/s. The center of
this area normally consists of the Hub which cabling ray will be 100m.
Very often network equipment are installed such as Hub, Switch and
Router inside closets which can group their operations, although this
solution cannot always be applied if the distance of some stations
overcomes 100m. A solution can be to decentralize the Hubs inside the
building or to use Repeaters in longer trunks. A second solution expects
to change the kind of cable to join the two quantities set at a superior
distance.
A 10Base2 coaxial cable can join a pair of Hubs or single stations at a
distance of about 200m, the 10Base5 cable up to about 500m. This
solution implies only a variation of the kind of cabling, but includes also
the addition of further accessories such as transceivers or signal
converters. For this reasons, many Hubs include one or more ports with
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different standards, to solve the problem in the most economic and fast
way (BNC and AUI ports). Consider that the use of coaxial cable trunks
is good only for speeds of 10 Mb/s.
A valid but expensive solution can be the optical fiber, which can
support the standard for 10/100 Mb/s. The fiber is used especially in
extremely long trunks set on critical paths. Among the most interesting
cases, there are the underground lines which can join two or more
buildings belonging to a single interbuilding. The underground lines are
exposed to the danger of extremely variable electrical potentials,
according to the conditions of the soil and the meteorological conditions
(lightning). It is advisable to use this kind of cabling in these situations.
Particular equipment such as the Router and the Switch tends to be used
to split work groups between them so not to jam the network with
repeated messages to users not using this information. For this reason,
these systems can be grouped into closets so to facilitate the
modification of the network structure acting from a single point.
Remember, that these equipment can have a certain number of
LAN/WAN ports configurable at wish by the network supervisor, in
order to create particular pseudo-dedicated connections and optimize the
traffic of the LAN packets.
Using the solutions suggested by a single manufacturer there is the great

advantage to use proprietary buses to interconnect Router, Hub and
Switch. In fact, on the rear of these devices there are often flat-cable
connectors which must be used to connect all homogenous devices in
parallel. These connections do not affect the existing cabling at all and
do not belong to it, but constitute the special buses to exchange the data
among these devices at very high speed, without using the expensive
optical fibers. We will now speak of stackable equipment, which can be
connected in a stack.
Switching to the NIC network cards, they can be bought in the "combo"
version so to match to the different cabling solutions. Usually a
"combo" is a card provided with BNC (10Base2), AUI (10Base5 for
connection with transceiver) and RJ45 connection (10BaseT).
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12.2.2 The Communication Protocol
The protocol has really an important role in the connection of different

networks, and it must be chosen as function of the kind of machines and
operative systems to be supported. The suggested rule includes the use
of a single kind of protocol on the carried out network. This rule,
however, cannot always be respected, as many operative systems have
proprietary protocols and operate at best only with these.
Remember that in an existing cabled network, frames can flow using

different protocols without causing anomalies. Only systems using the
same protocol can communicate between them inside a network: in this
way, the frames of different protocols will be simply ignored. E.g.,
consider a building provided with Novell IntranetWare server with
IPX/SPX protocol and a Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 server with
TCP/IP and/or NetBEUI protocol. The work-stations provided with
IPX/SPX protocol can access the resources available only on the Novell
server, as well as those provided with TCP/IP and/or NetBEUI protocol
can access only the Microsoft server. Using the same protocols on the
stations you can have full access to all network resources.
This last solution, although possible is not valid anymore, as it increases

the work of the single stations decreasing their performances. For this
reason, many network software developers provide different protocols
supports on the same network operative system, so that it is the same
server that carries out the protocol conversion.
In the Intranet networks, it is almost necessary to use the TCP/IP

protocol to favor the use of applications using this standard.
12.2.3 Homogeneous grouping of the users
The division into work groups is another main point in designing a

network. By properly dividing the users as function of the purposes and
their actual necessities on the resource sharing, you can optimize the
LAN traffic and often disengage too congested segments. Whenever
particular users should result as medium points of work groups, it is
possible to give them their privileged connections directly from the
Switch or the Router.
The users can be divided by functional area (Administrator, Secretariat,

Storehouse, Production, etc.) or as function of the employed user’s
operative system (Windows, OS2, etc.) and the kind of server they
access (Novell IntranetWare, Microsoft NT Server, IBM AS/400, etc.).
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12.3 QUESTIONS
Q1 What must be considered in designing an efficient network ?
1 The minimum number of terminals in order to reshape and re-

design the whole set in a second time
2 The number of hubs and switches to be used
3 The number of connection properly oversized, the speed and the
ambient where it will be installed
4 The cost
Q2 In order to obtain a good cabling system, what must be considered ?
1 The number of terminals and the network diameter

2 The technology using the really fastest support
3 The cost of the support and the connectors
4 The design enabling the easiest maintenance
Q3 In an Ethernet 10BaseT network, which is the maximum length of the

trunk between station and concentrator?
1 25 meters
2 50 meters
3 100 meters
4 186 meters
Q4 In a Fast-Ethernet 100BaseTX network, what is the maximum length of

the trunk between station and concentrator ?
1 25 meters
2 500 meters
3 100 meters
4 186 meters
Q5 Using the standard Fast-Ethernet 100BaseTX, how many concentrators

are allowed ?
1 one
2 two
3 four
4 none
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13. NETWORK CONTROL and ADMINISTRATION
13. NETWORK CONTROL AND ADMINISTRATION
This chapter describes the techniques and instruments for networks

control. Three levels will be treated:
• Control and introduction of the network information

• Protocols analysis and traffic control
• Statistic analysis
13.1.1 Control and introduction of network information
The software packets for network control must introduce the alarm
situations and record intermittent events and malfunctions present inside
the system.
The ISO is suggesting a new architecture indicated as CMIP (Common

Management Information Protocol) performing the above functions. The
functions fixed by the model include the control of the errors, the
configurations, the performances, the safety and the accounting.
The error control includes the fault detection and their insulation.
The configuration control provides messages describing the machines

and active connections, and is strictly connected to the error control, as
the modification of the configurations is the main technique to insulate
errors from the network.
The performance control counts the frames, the access requests to the
disks and to the specific programs.
The safety control includes the warning to those performing not

authorized access attempts to the transmission mean, to the network, the
server and generally the common resources.
The accounting control concerns the generation of the reports sent to the
users on their use of the resources.
An alternative to CMIP is represented by the SNMP (Simple Network

Management Protocol).
The Simple Management Protocol has been designed to enable the

communication between the software present on a Network
Management Station (NMS) and the software agents on the controlled
devices. The communications consist in cyclic interrogations generated
by the NMS toward the network equipment, to which they reply with
error signaling messages and/or statistics by means of the above
mentioned software agents.
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The cons of the SNMP are the lack of safety, the scarce quality of the
documentation and the tendency of some firms to create non standard
configurations. The SNMP is to be used with networks with TCP/IP
protocol, but usually not with networks with IPX/SPX or NetBEUI
protocol. In spite of these problems, the industry continues to use this
system which does not occupy too much memory and capacity of
calculation of the equipment and the NMS.
There are other products such as the IBM NetView having the pro to be
powerful and reliable, although expensive, and the con to need high
calculation capacities on the system housing it.
Other competing systems such as the Novell, Microsoft and Banyan

offer, however, a set of utilities dedicated to their servers and to the file-
system they control.
13.1.2 Protocols analysis and traffic control
A further help for a network control is the probe, a system provided

with local microprocessor which the connections to the different
network sub-systems or to the different network segments branch from.
In practice, through these connections, the probe can monitor the
physical and logical parameters of the network at lower costs than a
protocol analyzer. The probe is often connected to the PC via serial port
or to the network via LAN interface. In this case, by means of the
specific software RMON (Remote Monitoring) on board, it will collect
the statistic data on the monitored LAN activity, keeping them in
memory and making them available when required by an NMS, actually
behaving like a network/protocol analyzer and an NMS.
An expensive but complete alternative is the protocol analyzer. These

are instruments for network analysis that can support any protocol and
any kind of interface. These products are similar to portable PC
including the hardware and software for their interconnection to the
existing cabling. Most analyzers contain a TDR (Time Domain
Reflectometer) that can detect cut-off cables, measure BER (bit error
rate), analyze the information flow between two systems, carry out
protocol statistics, etc.
- 119 -
13.1.3 Statistical analysis
The networks are dynamic systems: their operation can be defined in

terms of measurable parameters, used by those in charge of growth
planning, for fixing the comparison terms, for detecting the problems in
the starting phases and justifying the estimates. On this purpose, many
are the products available to provide those in charge of the LAN with
statistical data, in common or quantified shape as concerns the network
equipment as well as its centralized systems. By carefully analyzing
these data, efficient and productive network environments can be
created.
The products generating statistical relations are usually software

completing the capacities the system is already provided with, and
usually providing information such as:
• Loads of the LAN divided by protocol, users and time

• Errors of the LAN divided by type and concentration period
• Space and memory on disk used by particular applications, users or
cost centers
• Quantity of activities in specific programs or files
• Duration of the connections of specific users or workstations
• Number of print works (expressed in different ways)
• Quantity of work on the server in given periods of time.
Some programs prevent potential problems on the network, as for

example the infection from virus, controlling the symptoms and warning
the one in charge of the LAN in case non authorized users are detected,
or if they try to enter the network. Others inform the one in charge if
there is network jamming, improving the efficiency and performances in
this way. Different programs signal if the server needs supplementary
memory or if a software application must be up-dated.
In the end, the statistical relation packets are not particularly attractive,
but useful for the person in charge to ensure a higher efficiency, a better
planning of the activities and detection of the potentially dangerous
situations before they become problems.
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13.4 QUESTIONS
Q1 The Simple Management Protocol has been designed to :
1 Easily control the change of protocol inside the network

2 Help the system’s Administrators to monitor the traffic in the
network
3 Change the access priorities to the different stations to optimize the
network performances
4 Enable the communication between the software on the network
control station and the agents on the controlled devices
Q2 The probe is an instrument to :
1 Check the operation of the single trunk

2 Check the connected stations only
3 See the sources of the computer connected to the network
4 Monitor the traffic, the physical and routing parameters of the
network
Q3 What is the protocol analyzer?
1 A person choosing the best protocol for the existing network

2 An instrument for monitoring all network analytically
3 An instrument for reading and coding of the packets crossing the
network
4 An instrument counting the packets sent back because wrong
Q4 What is the use of a TDR in a network ambient ?
1 To send a packet to all stations when the system’s administrator

needs it
2 To measure the network diameter to check if the max. limit has
been reached
3 To detect malfunctioning trunks
4 To measure the real speed of the traffic in the network by
controlling the number of collisions
Q5 Which purpose does the network Administrator use the statistic for ?
1 To optimize the network, plan the growth and detect the problems
2 To measure the productivity of the single terminals
3 To detect the less used trunks to exploit the band
4 To justify the maintenance costs
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14. NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS - NOS
14. NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS
14.1 WHAT is a NOS
The purpose of a network operating system is to control and conform

the operations the users can perform on a local area network. Basically
there are many needs to be controlled inside a work group:
• the possibility to memorize the data in a single file so to make them

available to anyone
• the inner control of safety for such database, so to make them
available only and exclusively to those having the right
• the possibility to share the resources (see peripherals) present only on
some systems belonging to the work group
• the possibility to connect the existing network to a new network or to
expand the one already existing
• the control of safety of the data memorized in the server via backup
copies
• the access to the network using different operative systems or
different locations (included the remote access via modem)
• the control of the generation and forwarding of the electronic mail on
the existing network or on Internet
• the construction of hierarchical structures inside the work group so to
subdivide responsibilities and manage the work into classes.
A network operative system is usually installed on a dedicated machine

called Server, which purpose is to satisfy the above described
requirements.
On the market, at the moment there are many packets for this purpose.
In particular the characteristics of the Novell IntranetWare and MS-
Windows NT Server will be described.
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14.2 NOVELL INTRANETWARE
This operative system includes the activation of a dedicated Server

provided with NFS partitions (Netware File System) containing the
services and the database, the users’ authentication, the print control
system and other network services.
NFS has been designed for a file sharing with high performances in
data control and safety. NFS organizes the memorization of the
information on disk into volumes, directories, sub-directories and files.
The users are granted rights of access and use for specific directories of
the server. Besides the rights of access, IntranetWare includes a set of
devices to protect the data from physical damages. They can be used
during the blocking phase of a record or a range and, whenever the
modification process should not be successful, it is always possible to
reset the last situation before blocking.
Another important IntranetWare characteristic is the NDS (NetWare

Directories Services), with which the supervisor can control very big
networks (Enterprise Network) in a reliable and quick way.
The system user interface of the operative system is proprietary and is

organized via a menu. Most of the control activities of the Server must
be carried out by a user system, as the Server enables a restricted
number of operations: the supervisor can administrate the network from
any station using proper utilities.
Each user employs a proper client program operating under MS-

Windows/DOS, Apple Mac or IBM OS/2 to access the only resources of
the Server. In practice, no user can interact or directly access the
resources of other machines (excluded the single printers). This provides
a high safety always regulated by the username/password mechanisms.
Each user is provided with rights or privileges granted by the network
supervisor. The prints can be controlled via printer-server services
activated on the same Server, on a user system or on an independent
system connected to the LAN.
The network protocol is the proprietary IPX/SPX one, although in the

last version it is possible to pair it to the TCP/IP protocol to build up
Intranet networks, from which the name IntranetWare.
The Server becomes the center of the same network, so it must be

protected with the usual devices (E.L.C.B., backup system, etc.). The
Server supports also advanced Routing and Bridging functions included
in the operative system.
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14.3 MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT SERVER
This operative system includes the activation of a non-dedicated

network Server. It is similar to the last as concerns the characteristics,
although showing some improvement in terms of sources control which
make it the best tool for small/average users.
The software must be installed in a machine called Server with the same
characteristics of the one seen for the Novell ambient.
This operative system includes the activation of a non dedicated Server

provided with 16-bits FAT or 32-bit NTFS (NT File System) partitions
containing the services and database, the user’s authentication, the print
control system and the other network services.
NTFS has been designed to carry out a file sharing with high
performances in the data control and safety, although not comparable to
NFS (Netware File System) of Novell still today. As NFS, even NTFS
organizes the information memorization on disk in volume, directory,
sub-directory and file. The users are given access and use rights to
specific directories of the Server. Besides the access rights, Windows
NT Server includes also a set of expedients to protect the data from
damages of physical kind in a very similar way as included in
IntranetWare. Unlike IntranetWare, Windows NT Server uses a domain
control for very big networks, through which the supervisor can control
them very quickly.
The user interface of the operative system is very similar to the interface
of Windows 95, which eases the activity of the supervisor. All control
activities of the Server can be carried out on the same Server, although
the main control activities can be assigned to a remote user’s system. To
access the Server each user can use the same network services included
for Windows 95. In practice, each user can interact or access directly the
server and other machines resources. This includes a high degree of
flexibility, although keeping a safety level always adjusted by the
username/password mechanism. Each user is provided with rights or
privileges granted by the network supervisor. The prints can be
controlled with printer-server services activated on the same Server, on
a user’s system or on a independent system connected in LAN.
The network protocol is the proprietary NetBEUI one, but it is possible
to help it with the protocol IPX/SPX or TCP/IP to carry out Intranet
networks. The Server becomes, so, the center of the same network, so it
must be protected with the usual devices (E.L.C.B., backup system,
etc.). The server supports also some routing functions included in the
operative system.
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14.4 QUESTIONS
Q1 What is a NOS ?
1 A procedure operating on workstation

2 The operating system used on the server
3 The driver of the network card
4 A backup program for the data
Q2 If you must privilege the resource sharing on the workstation, which

operative system would you chose ?
1 Novell IntranetWare.
2 Microsoft Windows NT Server.
3 Microsoft Windows 95.
4 Microsoft MS-DOS.
Q3 Which of the following file systems is used by Novell ?
1 NTFS
2 FAT
3 NFS
4 HPFS
Q4 Who in a factory will be in complete charge of the NOS ?
1 The owner of the firm

2 The backup user
3 The network supervisor
4 All users
Q5 Which of the following systems has a good level graphical interface ?
1 Novell IntranetWare
2 Microsoft Windows NT Server
3 Microsoft MS-DOS
4 Microsoft Windows 95
Q6 What must a network operating system guarantee ?
1 Database safety, hierarchical organization of the work and resource

sharing groups on the server
2 Prints in local and sharing of all stations disks
3 Routing and bridging operations on the packets
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15. NETWORK INTERNET / INTRANET
15. INTERNET / INTRANET NETWORK
15.1 INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS
In the first half of the 70ies, the DARPA (Defence Advanced Research
Project Agency) started developing a packet switching network for
interconnection of heterogeneous calculators, to be used as
communication mean between the research institution of the United
States. At the end of the 70ies two more famous protocols were defined,
the TCP and the IP. These protocols were used by a group of researchers
for the ArpaNET network and obtained a great success as available and
usable by all. From the 1990 the ISO wanted to standardize the TCP/IP
protocol as this was heavily diffused on the world market.
Actually, there are many networks permanently interconnected,

constituting a single body called Internet. This network, mainly
consisting in processors belonging to Universities and Research Centers,
can be accessed by anyone if provided with a terminal and a Point of
Presence (POP) on the same.
Many business organizations offer contracts for the remote access to the
network via modems or dedicated lines. These organizations are called
Provider. For consultation (navigation), the network provides Servers
dedicated to heterogeneous information concerning all possible subjects.
Besides, Internet offers a valid communication instrument to send the
electronic mail at world level.
15.2 PROTOCOLS and SERVICES
Hereafter follows a list of the most important protocols and services

used today in Internet.
15.2.1 The IP (Internet Protocol)
IP is the Network level protocol for support of an Internet network

station. It is a simple protocol that can route the messages on the
network and assemble and control the messages generated by the
stations. The IP protocol univocally identifies a station inside the
network with the use of an address consisting in 4 bytes separated by
decimal points (see chapt.11.1). These addresses can be given in static
way (via some bodies) or can be experimental, i.e. for small inner
networks.
In alternative to the address, a station can be detected from its host
name: this methodology must be supported with a DNS (Domain Name
Server) which can guarantee the name table conversion into IP
addresses.
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We can say that the Internet addresses have two formats: one for the
computers (expressed in numbers) and one for the persons (expressed in
words).
15.2.2 The TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
The TCP is a Transport level protocol used in an Internet network. It

provides different characteristics among which the direct support to the
application using it. Its main purpose is to provide a reliable
communication between stations, always needing acknowledgement of
the sent data reception.
15.2.3 Telnet
Telnet is a protocol enabling the PC connection to any other remote

system connected to the network in terminal emulation, only if the
remote system provides and accepts this service. The connection is
activated by inserting the remote calculator name or its IP address after
the command "telnet". From that moment on, all characters typed on the
keyboard will be transferred to the remote and the responses it generates
will be displayed on the local screen. The Telnet program usually
includes the emulators for the most used terminals (VT100 and ANSI).
15.2.4 FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
It is an application enabling a user to transfer files from and to a remote

system. The safety levels are controlled by logon procedures
(connection) to the service, with username and password use. FTP
transfers any file format and can code the received objects into different
formats.
15.2.5 TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol)
It is a simplified version of FTP, where there is no logon procedure

available with username and password use. It is usually employed for
control activities of communication systems requiring a file transfer
without authentication.
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15.2.6 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
It is one of most important applications of the TCP/IP. It enables to send

electronic mail to the network users. Each user is identified by the
syntax: UserName@DomainName, and usually no authorization is
needed to send an electronic mail message. The sending procedure
systematically tries to send more times until it achieves its goal. The
message destination user will receive notification of the occurred
reception.
15.2.7 DNS (Domain Name Server)
The DNS is a data base distributed and replied on different systems. Its
purpose is to define the correspondences between host names and IP
addresses in real time. This enables a user to select a destination only
knowing his name.
15.2.8 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)
It is a protocol designed to send data dedicated only to network

equipment, such as Router, Bridge, Switch, Hub, etc. In this way a
network administrator can control all communication sub-systems from
a single work-place.
15.2.9 NIR (Network Information Retrieval)
These are spread hyper-textual services enabling the access of a wide

range of information in a simple way, ignoring where the information is
deposited. Created to enable the use of the Internet network also by less
expert people, they have been greatly successful and quickly spread: the
most known service of this category is the WWW (World Wide Web).
For DOS/Windows compatible systems there are software packets such
as the Microsoft Explorer and the Netscape Communicator
implementing the service browser.
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15.3 INTRANET NETWORKS
After the great success achieved by Internet and the services it provides,
recently they thought to use the same technologies for private networks,
too, using the TCP/IP protocols and part or all services present in
Internet, such as WWW, FTP, Telnet, SMTP, etc.
The term Intranet includes the technology enabling to store, process and
distribute data of an organization to the users of their own inner
networks, using the Internet network technology locally. So, we define
as Intranet a local area network installed in a restricted place (building,
industry, etc.) using the TCP/IP as standard protocol, and at least a
Server with network operative system which can make the above
mentioned protocols and services available.
The advantage of this solution concerns the singularity of the used

protocol and the possibility to connect the inner network to Internet
using only a Router. The last has the function to control the inner safety
so to prevent not wished accesses from the outside. Besides, with these
networks you can easily control the electronic mail services and those
for document availability.
Inside an Intranet network, each station can be identified by a host name

and an IP address. Almost always, the choice of the address locates on
the experimental addresses set (192.168.x.x), so not to cause
malfunctioning on the packets routing processes whenever a direct
connection to Internet should be activated in the future.
- 129 -
15.4 QUESTIONS
Q1 In which way does the IP protocol univocally identify a station inside

the network ?
1 Four bytes separated by decimal points

2 The user login name
3 The station physical position
4 The login name and the user password.
Q2 What does the Telnet protocol enable ?
1 Carry out file transfer on geographical networks

2 Chat with messages in the network
3 Connect to the server with the Telnet user_name service
4 Connect to any remote system connected to the network
Q3 What is the use of FTP ?
1 Set the files of your own terminal available

2 Unload files in Internet
3 Transfer files from and toward a remote processor
4 Chat with other users connected in Internet
Q4 What does the SMTP protocol enable to?
1 Transfer file in Internet

2 Send and receive electronic mail
3 Have your own Web page
4 Chat in Internet with other users
Q5 What does NIR mean ?
1 A protocol for data transmission in Internet

2 A system for identification of the users connected in Internet
3 A browser to display the Web pages
4 A mail messages display
Q6 What is an Intranet network?
1 A network on which all users can use the electronic mail

2 A set of limited servers, all connected to Internet
3 A business network which is connected to Internet via a switch
4 A private network using Internet protocols and services
- 130 -

Local Area Networks

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

TEACHER / STUDENT handbook

1. INTRODUCTION to LOCAL AREA NETWORKS 1

2. TRANSMISSION MEANS and CABLING SYSTEMS 10

3. NETWORK ACTIVE COMPONENTS 28

4. SIGNAL CODING TECHNIQUES 37

5. ACCESSES CONTROL TECHNIQUES 45

7. IEEE 802.3 - ETHERNET 68

8. IEEE 802.3u – FAST ETHERNET 83

9. IEEE 802.5 – TOKEN RING 86

10. EVOLUTION of LOCAL AREA NETWORKS 97

11. UPPER LEVEL PROTOCOLS 101

12. CONFIGURATION of a LOCAL AREA NETWORK 108

13. NETWORK CONTROL AND ADMINISTRATION 118

14. NOS (Network Operating System) 122

15. INTERNET / INTRANET NETWORK 126

VOLUME 2/2: EXERCISES

1. INTRODUCTION to LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

1.1 WHAT is a LOCAL AREA NETWORK

The main purpose of local area networks in computers (LAN, Local

...a system enabling more independent equipment to communicate

Let’s examine the single parts of the definition.

… The local area network is a system enabling more peripherals to

A LAN enables an any-to-any communication, i.e. a communication

… The communication occurs within a moderately large geographical

As already mentioned, this is an important difference between the LAN

… The communication occurs on a physical communication support …

… They use a moderate transmission capacity...

Usually, local area networks support moderate transmission capacities:

speeds on the WAN range from 9600/19200b/s to 2Mb/s, while those on

The concept moderate transmission speed formulated by the IEEE

Fig.1.1 Example of local area networks

1.2. ELEMENTS of a LOCAL AREA NETWORK

Local area networks generally consist of a set of hardware and software

In general, the LAN can be divided into three macro components:

1.2.1 Network technology

Each network technology is usually identified by its own type and

1.2.2 Network users

A network user can be a user provided with PC/workstation equipped

A network user is usually identified univocally by a proper noun or by

The identification of the single user by means of the name or the

1.2.3 Network servers

The network server, commonly called Server, is a computer dedicated to

The Server can make any additional peripherals (such as CD-ROM,

1.3 TRANSMISSION MEANS

We already said that, in order to create a network, it is necessary to

1.4 NETWORK ARCHITECTURES

A network technology is composed of different active and passive

1.4.1 Bus topology

A bus is the simplest kind of network (fig.1.2). In this topology, all

because it uses a single common transmission mean, the bus topology is

1.4.2 Start topology

In star topology, each node is connected to a concentration point (Hub)

Usually, a star network is implemented by carrying out "n" point-to-

1.4.3 Tree topology

It is an evolution of the star topology, as it interconnects more star

1.4.4 Braid topology

This topology includes redundant connections between different users,

1.4.5 Ring topology

In ring topology, each system is connected to the next system using a

Fig.1.2 Bus topology

Fig.1.3 Star topology