SWITCHING

AND

Its TECHNIQUES
 SWITCHING
• For one-to-one communication b/w
computers , one way is to connect them
with each other , but this requires wiring that
will increase cost.

• So alternative technique is switching.

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Simple Switched Network

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 SWITCHING TYPES
– Circuit switching

– Packet switching

– Message switching

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 Circuit Switching
• Circuit switching is a technique that directly
connects the sender and the receiver .
• Telephone switching equipment, for example,
establishes a path that connects the caller's telephone
to the receiver's telephone by making a physical
connection.
• With this type of switching technique, once a
connection is established, a dedicated path exists
between both ends until the connection is terminated.
• Routing decisions must be made when the circuit is
first established, but no decisions are made after that
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 Circuit Switching cont’d
• The computer initiating the data transfer
must ask for a connection to the
destination.
• Once the connection has been initiated and
completed to the destination device, the
destination device must acknowledge that
it is ready and willing to carry on a
transfer.
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Diagram showing circuit switching

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 Circuit-Switching Stages
• Circuit establishment
• Data transfer
– point-to-point from endpoints to node
– internal switching among nodes
• Circuit disconnect

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 Circuit Establishment
• Station requests connection from node
• Node determines best route, sends message
to next link

• Once nodes have established connection,

test message is sent to determine if
receiver is ready/able to accept message

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 Data Transfer
• Data transfer from sender to receiver after
dedicated path is established.

• Usually a full-duplex connection

throughout.

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 Circuit Disconnect
• When transfer is complete, one station
initiates termination.

• Signals must be propagated to all switches

(nodes) in order to free up resources

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 Advantages---------
• The communication channel (once
established) is dedicated.
• Data transmitted without delays.
• This method suitable for long continuous
transmission.

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 Disadvantages---------
– Long connection establishment delay.
– Hosts must agree on speed of communication.
– Network does not provide flow control nor error
control.
– More expensive than any other switching techniques,
because a dedicated path is required for each
connection.
– Inefficient use of the communication channel,
because the channel is not used to transmit any other
data when the connected systems are not using it .
– Inefficient use of resources.

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 Message Switching
• With message switching there is no need to establish a dedicated path
between two stations.
• A unit of information called a message may be of any length.
• When a station sends a message, the destination address is appended
to the message.
• The message is then transmitted through the network, from node to
node.
– Successive message may not follow the same route.

• Each node receives the entire message, stores it in its entirety on

disk, and then transmits the message to the next node.
• This type of network is called a store-and-forward network.

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Message Switching diagram

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Message switching diagram

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 Advantages-----------
– There is no waiting for a connection to be established.
– Channel efficiency can be greater compared to circuit-
switched systems, because more devices are sharing
the channel.
– Traffic congestion can be reduced, because messages
may be temporarily stored in route.
– Message priorities can be established due to store-
and-forward technique.
– Inexpensive technique.

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 Disadvantages------------
– Long messages can block links for a long time
while they are being forwarded.
– Switches must have large storage capacities in
order to store very long messages.
– Transmission delays.
– Message switching is not compatible with
realtime applications like voice or video.

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 Packet Switching
• With packet switching, messages are broken into small pieces called
packets. The packets are routed individually through the network.
– Successive packets may not follow the same route.
• Each packet has a header containing source and destination addresses and
well as ordering information.

• When the packets arrive at the destination host, they must be reassembled
to form the original message.
• Size of packet depends upon type of network.
• No resources are allocated in advance.

• There are two methods of packet switching: Datagram

• and virtual circuit.

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Diagram of packet Switching

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 Packet-Switching Techniques
• Datagram
– each packet treated independently and referred to as a datagram
– packets may take different routes, arrive out of sequence
– Also called connectionless networks.
• Virtual Circuit
– Preplanned logical (not actual) route established for all packets
– similar to circuit switching, but the circuit is not dedicated
– All packets follow same path.

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 Datagram
Diagram

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Virtual Circuit
Diagram

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Advantages of packet switching----
• Route packets when required.
• Intermediate nodes donot have to wait for entire
message.so transmission is fast.
• No buffering.
• Allow many devices to communicate through
same network channel.
• Fast method for realtime applications.

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 Disadvantages-------
• Packets may be lost, so sequence numbers are
must.
• Packets may arrive at their destination out-of-
order and there may be a long delay while a small
number of slow packets find their way through
the network.
• It is not certain how long it will take a packet to
pass through the network or how long to wait
before deciding to request its retransmission).
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