1502346 - Computer Communications and

Networks
Dr. Mohamed Saad
Department of Computer Engineering
University of Sharjah

msaad@sharjah.ac.ae

Chapter 1: Introduction
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Introduction

• 20th and 21st centuries: dominated by the technology of information

gathering, processing and distribution.

• Rapid technological progress: fields of computers and communications.

• Computers:
– Previously: centralized, large computers, serving many users
(mainframe).
– Now: computers are more powerful and much smaller (Moore’s law:
# of transistors on an IC doubles every 18 months at same cost per
IC, or cost per transistor on an IC reduces by a factor of 2 every 18
months).

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Introduction (contd.)

• Communications:
– Handling data, voice and video, from analog to digital.
– High speed communication links (optical fibers), wireless
communications (modulation, detection, estimation)

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Computer Networks

• Result of the merging of computers and communications.

• Old model of a single computer serving all users of an organization (e.g.,

company, university) replaced by one in which a large number of separate
but interconnected computers do the job.

• Computer networks (throughout the course): collection of autonomous

computers interconnected by a communication medium.

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Use of computer Networks (Applications)

• Business applications (resource sharing: programs, data bases, files,
printers, . . . etc, available to anyone on the network.)
Client

Server

Network

• In the above example, servers may store S/W (programs, files, records)
or may be connected to H/W (printers, scanners, CD burners) that can
be used by all clients on the network (client-server model).

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Applications (contd.)

• Home applications: e-mails, instant messaging (like Twitter), streaming

multimedia, gaming, peer-to-peer communications (for file sharing, like
Gnutella and BitTorrent), social network applications (like Facebook),
e-commerce (online banking, online shopping)

(peer-to-peer network example)

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Network Hardware

• Two types of transmission technology:

– broadcast links: single communication channel that is shared by
multiple machines.
– point-to-point links: communication channel connecting only two
machines.

• This leads to the classification of network based on their topology

(structure) . . .

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Network Classification based on Topology

• Broadcast networks:
– Have a single communication channel that is shared by all the machines on the
network.
– Example topologies: bus - ring.

Computer

Cable Computer

(a) (b)

– “Messages” sent by any machine are received by all others.

– Some broadcast system support the transmission from one machine to a subset of
the other machines → multicasting

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Network Classification based on Topology (contd.)

• Point-to-point networks:
– Consists of many point-to-point links that connect individual pairs of machines.
– Not every pair of machines is necessarily connected by a point-to-point link.
– To go from the source to the destination, a “message” may need to visit one or
more intermediate machines.
Router Subnet
Sending host Receiving host
B D
A E

C
Packet Router C makes a
Sending process Receiving process
choice to forward
packets to E and
not to D

– Example topologies: star - mesh- fully connected.

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Network Classification based on Scale

• Local Area Networks (LAN):
– Covers a localized area, e.g., office building, university campus, up to a few km.
– Usually (not always) LANs have broadcast topologies.

Computer

Cable Computer

(a) (b)

– Main issue: how to handle multiple access/avoid transmission conflicts

– Static channel allocation: e.g., divide time into slots and use round robin to allow
each machine to transmit in its slot only (TDMA) (capacity-inefficient when a
machine has nothing to send during its allocated slot).
– Dynamic channel allocation: centralized (central controller decides who transmits
next) or decentralized (each machine decides when to transmit)

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LAN Examples

• Classic Ethernet: developed by Xerox researcher (Bob Metcalfe) in 1976,

has a bus topology

Transceiver
Interface
cable
Ether

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LAN Examples (contd.)

• Wireless LAN (using IEEE 802.11) and switched Ethernet, respectively.

– Wireless LANs have a broadcast topology.

– Switched Ethernet is a wired LAN built from point-to-point links.

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Network Classification based on Scale (contd.)

• Metropolitan area networks (MAN):
– Covers a city (10’s of km’s).
– Best-known example is the cable TV network available in many cities:

Junction
box

Antenna

Head end

Internet

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Network Classification based on Scale (contd.)

• Wide area networks (WAN):
– Covers a country or continent (100’s or 1000’s of km’s).
– A WAN that connects hosts in Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane (Australia).

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WANs (contd.)

• Hosts: users of the network that run the application programs.

• (Communication) subnet: responsible for delivering “messages” from

host to host.

• Switching elements: specialized computers in the subnet (also called

routers; the name router is now most commonly used).

• Transmission lines/links: move information between machines.

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Internetworks

• Many networks exist with different H/W and S/W.

• People connected to one network may want to communicate with people

attached to a different one.

• Solution → connect different, possibly incompatible networks by means

of machines called gateways.

• Example: multiple LANs connected through a WAN.

• A collection of interconnected networks is known as internetwork,

example: the Internet.

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Switching

• Circuit switching (originally for telephone networks):

– to establish a communication session (e.g., phone call), a circuit (path) is established
and remains dedicated for the session throughout the session.

• Packet switching:
– communication “messages” are divided into smaller units (called packets)
– packets are transmitted individually along (possibly) different routes in the network
(no dedicated/reserved paths)
– when a packet arrives at a switching element, it is stored then forwarded along a
certain route.
– subnets using packet switching are called store-and-forward subnets.

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Switching (contd.)

Router Subnet
Sending host Receiving host
B D
A E

C
Packet Router C makes a
Sending process Receiving process
choice to forward
packets to E and
not to D

Note: in packet switching packets belonging to the same session may

take different paths (example: future packets may take path A-C-D-E)

• Message switching: same as packet switching, communication units may

bigger than packets (called messages).

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Network Software

Host 1 Host 2
Layer 5 protocol
Layer 5 Layer 5

Layer 4/5 interface

Layer 4 protocol
Layer 4 Layer 4

Layer 3/4 interface

Layer 3 protocol
Layer 3 Layer 3

Layer 2/3 interface

Layer 2 protocol
Layer 2 Layer 2

Layer 1/2 interface

Layer 1 protocol
Layer 1 Layer 1

Physical medium

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Layered Network Architecture

• Network functionality is organized as a stack of layers.

• Each layer performs a certain communication service to the higher layers

(shielding those other layers from how the offered services are actually
implemented).

• Protocol: set of rules that govern the exchange of information between

peer layers (i.e., layer n on one machine and layer n on another machine).

• Interface: facilitates communication between successive layers on the

same machine (facilitates one layer to provide a service to the next
layer).

• Set of layers, protocols and interfaces is known as network architecture.

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Layer
Example
Layer 5 protocol
5 M M

Layer 4 protocol
4 H4 M H4 M

Layer 3
protocol
3 H3 H4 M1 H3 M2 H3 H4 M1 H3 M2

Layer 2
protocol
2 H2 H3 H4 M1 T2 H2 H3 M2 T2 H2 H3 H4 M1 T2 H2 H3 M2 T2

Source machine Destination machine

• Message M is generated by an application running in layer 5 of the source machine.

• M given to layer 4 for transmission. Layer 4 adds a header (that may may contain
message sequence information) and passes the result to layer 3.
• Layer 3 breaks message M into smaller packets, and adds a layer 3 header (that may
contain a packet sequence information) to each packet.

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Layer
Example
Layer 5 protocol
5 M M

Layer 4 protocol
4 H4 M H4 M

Layer 3
protocol
3 H3 H4 M1 H3 M2 H3 H4 M1 H3 M2

Layer 2
protocol
2 H2 H3 H4 M1 T2 H2 H3 M2 T2 H2 H3 H4 M1 T2 H2 H3 M2 T2

Source machine Destination machine

• Layer 3 decides the outgoing link for each packet and passes the packets to layer 2.
• Layer 2 adds a header and a trailer to each packet and gives the resulting unit to layer
1 for physical transmission.
• At the receiving machine, the message moves upwards from layer to layer with headers
(and trailers) stripped off as it progresses.

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Connection-Oriented and Connectionless services

• Layers may provide two types of services: connection-oriented and

connectionless services.

• Connection-oriented service:
– service user (1) establishes a connection, (2) uses the connection then (3) releases
the connection (similar to telephone system).
– Negotiation between sender and receiver may be required before connection
establishment.
– Usually messages/packets arrive in order.

• Connectionless service:
– each mesage/packet carries full destination address information and is routed through
the network independent of all others.
– Messages/packets may arrive out of order.

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The OSI Reference Model

Layer Name of unit
exchanged
Application protocol
7 Application Application APDU

Interface
Presentation protocol
6 Presentation Presentation PPDU

Session protocol
5 Session Session SPDU

Transport protocol
4 Transport Transport TPDU
Communication subnet boundary
Internal subnet protocol
3 Network Network Network Network Packet

2 Data link Data link Data link Data link Frame

1 Physical Physical Physical Physical Bit

Host A Router Router Host B

Network layer host-router protocol

Data link layer host-router protocol
Physical layer host-router protocol

• Open Systems Interconnections (OSI) model developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO)

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Physical Layer

• Is concerned with transmitting raw bits over a communication channel.

• Design issues: transmitted 1 is received as a 1 and not a 0 (modulation,

demodulation, . . . etc.).

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Data Link Layer

• Converts an unreliable raw bit pipe into a communication channel for

transmitting frames error free (reliably)
– Performs error detection, and error correction.
– May perform flow control (to avoid a fast transmitter from
overwhelming a slow receiver)
– In broadcast networks: a special sublayer of the data link layer (called
the medium access control (MAC) sublayer) handles the issue of
multiple access.

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Network Layer

• Performs routing as to provide a virtual channel for end-to-end packets

(static routing - dynamic routing).

• Congestion control to avoid link bottle necks.

• In broadcast networks routing is simple or non-existing. So, the network

layer is often thin or non-existing.

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Transport Layer

• Breaks larger “messages” into smaller packets at T x side, and assembles

packets into larger “messages” at the Rx side.

• Corrects out of order delivery and lost packets.

• Performs end-to-end flow and congestion control.

• May perform end-to-end error control.

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Session Layer

• Allows users on different machines to establish sessions between them

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Presentation Layer

• Concerned with the syntax and semantics of the information transmitted.

Performs:
– Encryption
– data compression
– File format transfer

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Application Layer

• The application program of the end user

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The TCP/IP Reference Model

• Used in the grandparent of all computer networks, the ARPANET

(Advanced Research Projects Agency) & it successor the Internet.

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The Internet Layer

• Connection-less

• Allows hosts to inject packets into the network.

• Packets are routed independently to their destination.

• Packets may arrive out of order.

• Internet layer defines the packet format, and a protocol called the Internet
Protocol (IP).

• Internet layer is very similar to the network layer in the OSI model.

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The Transport Layer

• Allows source and destination hosts to carry on a conversation (just as

the OSI transport layer).

• Is an end-to-end layer.

• Two end-to-end protocols have been defined:

1. TCP (Transport Control Protocol): is a reliable connection-oriented protocol
(fragments byte streams into discrete messages, passes each message to the Internet
layer, handles flow/congestion control).
2. UDP (User Datagram Protocol): is an unreliable, connectionless protocol for
applications that do not wish for TCP’s sequencing or flow control, is useful for
applications in which prompt delivery is more important that accurate delivery (e.g.,
voice and video).

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The Application Layer

• Contains all the higher-level protocols:

– File transfer (FTP)
– E-mail (SMTP, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
– Domain Name System (DNS) for mapping host names onto their
network addresses
– HTTP (the protocol for creating pages on the World Wide Web)

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The Link Layer

• Describes what links such as serial lines and Ethernet must do to meet
the needs of the connectionless Internet layer.

• It is not really a layer at all, in the normal sense of the term, but rather
an interface between hosts and transmission links (allows hosts to inject
packets into the network).

• Early material on the TCP/IP model has little to say about it.

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Example Network: ARPANET

• In the late 50’s US military communications used the public telephone network.
• US Dept. of Defence wanted a network that could survive failures.
Switching
office

Toll
office

(a) (b)

• ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) was created to solve the issue.

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Original ARPANET Design

Host-host protocol Host
Host-IMP
protocol
ol
n IMP protoc
to destinatio
Source IMP
-IMP
IMP-IMP protocol IMP col
o
prot Subnet

IMP

• The subnet consists of IMP’s (Interface Message Processors)

• IMP’s connected by 56 Kbps transmission lines (leased lines from

telephone companies).

• Any IMP connected to at least 2 other IMP’s (for reliability).

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Growth of the ARPANET

SRI UTAH SRI UTAH MIT SRI UTAH ILLINOIS MIT LINCOLN CASE

UCSB UCSB SDC UCSB SDC CARN

STAN

UCLA UCLA RAND BBN UCLA RAND BBN HARVARD BURROUGHS

(a) (b) (c)

SRI LBL MCCLELLAN UTAH ILLINOIS MIT

CCA
MCCLELLAN AMES TIP
BBN
SRI UTAH NCAR GWC LINCOLN CASE HARVARD
AMES IMP LINC
X-PARC ABERDEEN
RADC
ILLINOIS STANFORD NBS
CARN
AMES USC
LINC ETAC
UCSB MITRE FNWC RAND
MIT TINKER
STAN SDC ARPA
ETAC
MITRE RADC
UCSB UCSD SAAC
UCLA RAND TINKER BBN HARVARD NBS BELVOIR
CMU

UCLA SDC USC NOAA GWC CASE

(d) (e)

• (a) Dec. 1969 (b) July 1970 (c) March 1971 (d) Sept. 1972
• UCLA, UCSB, SRI (Stanford Research Institute) and the University of Utah had a large
number of ARPA contracts.

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NSFNET

• By the late 1970s, NSF (the U.S. national Science Foundation) saw the enormous
impact of the ARPANET was having on university research.
• However, to to get on the ARPANET, a university had to have a research contract with
the Dept. of Defense.
• NSF’s initial response was to fund the Computer Science Network (CSNET) in 1981. It
connected Computer Science departments and industrial research labs to the ARPANET.
• In the late 1980s, the NSF went further and decided to design a successor to the
ARPANET: the NSFNET.
• The NSFNET consisted of a backbone and various regional networks, which allowed
users at thousands of universities, research labs, libraries and museums to be connected.

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The NSFNET Backbone in 1988

NSF Supercomputer center

NSF Midlevel network
Both

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The Internet Today

Regional ISP
Backbone

POP

NAP

Client Telephone
Server farm
system

Corporate
LAN
Router

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The Internet Today (contd.)

• Client at home calls his/her ISP over a dial-up telephone line.
• Modem → card within the PC that converts the digital signals (produced by the PC)
into analog signals that can be sent over the telephone system.
• These signals are transferred to the ISP’s Point of Presence (POP), where they are
removed from the telephone system and injected in the ISP’s regional network.
• ISP’s regional network → interconnected routers in the various cities the ISP serves.
– If the packet is destined for a host served directly by the ISP, the packet is delivered
to the host. Otherwise, the packet is handed to the ISP’s backbone operator.
• Backbone operators → companies like AT&T and Sprint. They operate large
international backbone networks with thousands of routers connected by high-bandwidth
optical fibers.
• Different backbones are connected by Network Access Points (NAPs).
• NAP → typically a room full of routers (at least one per backbone). A LAN connects
these routers, so that a packet can be forwarded from any backbone to any other
backbone.

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Thanks

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