TDC 562:Computer Network Design

& Analysis (Internet Engineering)

Lecture # 6: Network Design Tutorial

Dr. Ehab S. Al-Shaer

School of Computer Science & Telecommunications
DePaul University
Chicago, IL

Network Design Steps

From customer needs to network
specifications
• Network applications requirements
• Number of users and simultaneous access
• Type of machines
• Physical distribution and distances

Network Elements

Interfacing
• E.g., DCE-DTE,CSU/DSU for leased lines, ..etc

Network Optimization

bps/$$ Balance
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Basic Interfacing

Interfaces: RS232, RJ45, .. etc

RS232C Interface
• Physical interface
• DTE-DCE Signaling (straight)
DTE <----> DCE
DTR ---> DTR
DSR <--- DSR
RTS ---> RTS
CTS <--- CTS
TR ----> TR
RX <---- RX 3
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 Basic Interfacing
• DTE-DTE Signaling (Cross)
DTE <----> DTE
DTR DTR
DSR DSR
RTS RTS
CTS CTS
TR TR
RX RX

Some machines does not fully implement
the standard (25 pin assignment). So you
need to understand the concept and be 4
SMART Dr. Ehab Al-Shaer/Network Design & Analysis

Network Elements

Terminal
• Mainframes or Minicomputers
• Workstations
• File servers
• Xterminals
• dump terminal (airlines, cashier .. etc)

LAN Elements
• Asynchronous lines (may be with repeaters)
– mainframes and minicomputers with RS232 IAC
• NIC (direct)
– file servers, workstations and Xterminals
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LAN Network Elements

• Terminal Servers
– for dump terminal (airlines, cashier .. etc)
• Terminal Manager
– when too many terminal servers -- better management
• Bridges
– expand segment and filters packets, but not broadcast
• Routers
– S/W=IP forwarding + routing protocol such as RIP
• Switches
– Hardware (faster and cheaper)
– contains DL only, may be some IP functionality such as
fragmentation, may be al IP in VLSI -- not flexible
• ISDN PBX (DOV technology) 6
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 Network Elements

LAN Elements
• ATM LAN Emulation (LANE)
– ATM between machines or switches (example later)
• Wireless base stations (not covered)

Remote Access Elements
• Modems
– dialup vs. leased line; Asynchronous vs. Synchronous
• Multiplexers
– TDM vs. STDM vs. FDM
• Dialup (PPP) terminal servers (e.g., Netblazer)
• ISDN links (128kbps)
• DSL (1.5Mbps) -- future xDSL 10Mbps 7
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MAN/WAN Network Elements

Packet switching
• Routers (the only player in this game)-- next class
– may be multicastable (with IGMP)
– may include a gateways software

Circuit and Cell Switching
• ISDN, DSL, PSTN
• ATM
– 53 (5 header) fixed cells
– guaranteed service (e.g., multimedia applications)
– IP over ATM
• Frame Relay
– Statistical multiplexer
– connected independent data links
– variable frames (more efficient than ATM)
– widely used by ISP and in WAN
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WAN Connectivity

Private/Corporate Network
• leased or dial up
• Fiber optics, wireless (microwave, satellite)
+ under control -- important for critical net
+ long-term investment
- headache!

Internet (via ISP or dedicated links)
+ flexible (expansion)
+ outsourcing
- uncontrolled traffic/reliability

X.25 PDN (history)
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 Rebuilding Your Network

Reasons for re-building the network
• user growth
• new applications
• out-of-date machines and network elements
• make it more manageable
• adding more redundancy for reliability

Network Design Approaches
• Designing small network: single seg, < 100
• Designing medium-sized network: backbone
network, < 1000 users
• Designing large-scale network: high-speed
network over number of buildings, >1000 users 10
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Network Design Architectures

Network Design Metric

• Performance – response time
• Scalability – future growth
• Adaptable – future application needs
• Reliability & Availability – service continuation
• Security – authentication and privacy
• Cost – $$/Mbps
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1. Flat Network

Flat network includes hubs and layer-2 switches

if A or B connects to H, then Switch 2 learns that A and B MAC
addresses are reachable thru switch 1 and port 1

Switch must know MAC of all connected hosts as well as the
destinations connected to the other switch in order to forward pkts
directly, otherwise switch broadcast the packet thru all ports (flooding) 12
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 2. LAN Segmentation Using
Routers

every segment have a different subnet ID

routers limit ARP broadcast into the local segment

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3. Symmatric/Asymatric
Switching

could switch between devices of different speed

have the same flooding problem

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4. VLAN Technology

VLAN is logical grouping based on role (not restricted to physical

switch) using IEEE 802.1Q

it limits ARP broadcast

every VLA is like subnet but it does not have to be a subnet (i.e., a
subnet can have different VLAN) 15
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 5. One-layer Network Design

Simpler -- it is used mainly when remote access is limited and most of

the applications/users are normally from the local site (LAN)

The key issue is the placement of of servers (distributed across LANs or
using a server farm) 16
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6. Two-layer Network Design

To interconnect sites of multiple LANS across WAN (E.g.,

DePaul Campuses) 17
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7. Three-layer Network Design

Core layer: interconnects remotes sites/campuses over WAN using T3 or

frame relays, ATM leased from the telecom service provider

Distribution layer is the backbone that interconnects LANS (building)
and normally used Fast Ethernet

Access layer is a group of LANs (ether/token ring) that provide network
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frontline access to users
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 Designing Small Networks

Topology: Ethernet, Token ring or switched

First step
• Is it client/server or peer-peer network?
– E.g. of client/server: NFS, DB
– E.g. of peer-to-peer: Windows for Workgroups,
multimedia applications
– For client/server, Ether and Token are appropriate
– For peer-to-peer, switched network is appropriate
• What is the bandwidth required for the server
• Buffer Architecture
– Shared vs. independent port buffers
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Designing Medium-sized
Networks

Topology: Interconnected Ethernet, Token
ring or switched subnets in to backbone
• Examples, CTI network (depts, labs .. etc)

Traditionally, using routers increases
latency

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Designing Medium-sized
Networks Using Routers

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 Designing Medium-sized
Networks Using Flat Switching

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Designing Medium-sized
Networks Using VLAN

Flat switching is wasting bandwidth

Using Virtual LAN (VLAN)
• notice (1) router use, (2) server is its own port

Using VLAN to make logical subnets/group

Using LANE as backbone for
interconnecting VLANs

Examples follow

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Designing Medium-sized
Networks Using VLAN

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 Medium-sized Networks Using
VLAN and LANE

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VLAN Benefits and

Drawbacks

Virtual LAN
• avoids bridge transparent broadcast problem
• avoids routers latency problems
• more manageable => logical grouping
independent of physical location
• better performance => faster than routers
• better security (has more security options)

Drawbacks
• limited max number of machines (MAC
addresses) ~= 500
• Switch port does not provide independent
VLANs (all machines connected to a switch
port via a hup must share the same VLAN) 26
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Designing Large-scale
Networks

Step (1): Where is the bottleneck?
• Backbone
• Network elements such as routers and switches

Step (2): What domains?
• Physical domains -- based on distances
• Logical domains – based on applications

Step (3): Intra-domains connection
• What are the leaves network based on user access and
applications needs?

Step(4): Inter-domain connection
• Interface to the backbone
• Watch out for bottlenecks
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 Designing Large-scale
Networks

FDDI
• upto 500? Mbps
• max 500 nodes and 62 miles total distance
• mature but expensive ($400-$1000/port)

ATM
• >10 Gbps (OC-3, OC- 12 and OC-48)
• MPOA (multi-Protocol Over ATM)
– to forward between VLANS quickly and avoid router latency
– ATM can make routing decision based on pre-calculated
routing information
– A router server is still needed to build the routing table

Frame Relay
• links routers, ISDN, switches to WAN (e.g. T1)
• T1~=1.5Mbps, T3=45Mbps
• used with CSU/DSU (from IP DG to frame) 28
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Network Elements Icons

(for the project)
Dump Terminal Router

Multimedia WS LAN switch

ATM with MPOA

Workstation

Frame Relay
Phone
Bridge

Mainframe Fax/printer

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Network Elements Icons

(for the project)
SONET
ADM
Multiplexer Modem
SONET or
FDDI File Server
Terminal Server
SONET
ADM
OC3 Terminal Manager

Internet PBX

PBX
Ethernet
Buildings/Houses
WAN Links
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