STRUCTURE AND

TRANSMITTING DATA PACKETS

SIT DOLOR AMET
STRUCTURE OF A DATA PACKET
NETWORK?
A NETWORK IS MADE UP OF TWO OR MORE COMPUTERS OR DEVICES CONNECTED
TOGETHER SO THEY CAN COMMUNICATE AND SHARE DATA RESOURCES

• THE PRIME FUNCTION OF A NETWORK IS TO TRANSMIT DATA FROM ONE DEVICE TO

ANOTHER
• TO UNDERSTAND THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE DATA IS
PACKAGED TO BE TRANSMITTED ACROSS THE NETWORK.
• A DATA PACKET IS NORMALLY THE SMALLEST UNIT OF DATA THAT IS SENT ACROSS
A NETWORK AND IT CONTAINS SEVERAL ELEMENTS
• A PACKET IS THE UNIT OF DATA THAT IS ROUTED BETWEEN AN ORIGIN OF
COMPUTER OR DEVICE TO ANOTHER ON THE INTERNET OR ANY OTHER PACKET-
SWITCHED NETWORK
• THESE ELEMENTS CAN DEPEND ON THE NETWORK USED TO SEND THE PACKET E.G
IF A PACKET IS SENT USING THE INTERNET , IT WILL CONTAIN MORE ELEMENTS TO
ALLOW TO IT TO BE DIRECTED TO THE RIGHT PLACE
• IN A PACKET THE FILES ARE DIVIDED INTO “CHUNKS” OF AN EFFICIENT SIZE FOR
ROUTING.
• EACH OF THESE PACKETS IS SEPARATELY NUMBERED, DATA SIZE, AND OTHER
USEFUL INFORMATION AND INCLUDES THE INTERNET ADDRESS OF THE
DESTINATION. THE INDIVIDUAL PACKETS FOR A GIVEN FILE MAY TRAVEL
DIFFERENT ROUTES THROUGH THE INTERNET
• ALL THE NORMAL ELEMENTS OF A PACKET OF DATA ARE THE HEADER, THE
PAYLOAD AND THE TRAILER
THE HEADER
THE HEADER CONTAINS CONTROL INFORMATION SUCH AS ADDRESSING, ROUTING,
AND PROTOCOL VERSION.
THE HEADER COULD INCLUDE:
• THE IP ADDRESS(INTERNET PROTOCOL IS A UNIQUE ADDRESS GIVEN TO A DEVICE,
NORMALLY BY A ROUTER ) OF THE SENDER. THIS IS CALLED THE SOURCE IP
ADDRESS
• THE IP ADDRESS OF THE RECEIVING DEVICE . THIS IS CALLED THE DESTINATION IP
ADDRESS
• THE SEQUENCE NUMBER OF THE PACKET . THIS IS SO THE RECEIVING DEVICE CAN
REORDER THE PACKETS TO OBTAIN ORIGINAL DATA
• THE MAC ADDRESS (MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL – A UNIQUE ADDRESS GIVEN TO A
DEVICE BY THE MANUFACTURER) OF THE SENDER AND RECEIVER . IF THE PACKET
PASSES THROUGH A ROUTER, THESE WILL BE REMOVED, AS THEY ARE ONLY USED
BY A SWITCH
• ANY PROTOCOLS USED
THE PAYLOAD

THE PAYLOAD WILL INCLUDE:

• THE ACTUAL DATA FROM THE FILE THAT IS BEING TRANSMITTED
THE TRAILER

THE TRAILER COULD INCLUDE:

• A FLAG THAT TELLS A DEVICE IT HAS REACHED THE END OF THE PACKET
• ANY ERROR CHECKING METHODS USED
• THE DATA SENT IN THE HEADER AND TRAILER ARE ALL DESIGNED TO MAKE
SURE THAT PAYLOAD DATA ARRIVES AT ITS INTENDED DESTINATION
WITHOUT ANY ERRORS
TRANSMITTING DATA PACKETS

• THE TERM USED FOR TRANSMITTING DATA PACKETS ACROSS A NETWORK IS

SWITCHING
THERE ARE THREE MAIN TYPES OF SWITCHING
1. CIRCUIT SWITCHING
2. PACKET SWITCHING
3. MESSAGE SWITCHING
CIRCUIT SWITCHING
• IN CIRCUIT SWITCHING, A DIRECT PATH IS
CREATED BETWEEN THE SENDING AND
RECEIVING DEVICE
• THESE ARE DEDICATED PATHWAYS TO
TRANSMIT THE DATA PACKETS FROM ONE
DEVICE TO ANOTHER ACROSS THE
NETWORK .
• THE DATA IS TRANSMITTED EACH TIME
USING THIS DEDICATED PATH
• WHILST DATA IS BEING TRANSMITTED FROM
COMPUTER A TO COMPUTER B, NO OTHER
COMPUTERS IN THE NETWORK CAN USE THE
SAME PATHWAY. WHEN THE DATA
TRANSMISSION IS COMPLETED THE PATH IS
THEN RELEASED FOR USE BY OTHER DATA
TRANSMISSION ACROSS THE NETWORK
PACKET SWITCHING

• IN PACKET SWITCHING, THE DATA PACKETS SENT ACROSS THE NETWORK CAN TAKE
AY AVAILABLE PATH
• THERE IS NO SET PATHWAY AND EACH DATA POCKET COULD BE SENT ALONG A
DIFFERENT PATHWAY
• FOR EXAMPLE FROM THE FIRST DIAGRAM, DATA PACKETS SENT FROM COMPUTER A
COULD BE SENT VIA ANY OF THE FIVE SWITCH COMPONENTS IN THE NETWORK . THE
PACKETS WILL BE COLLATED AND REORDERED WHEN THEY REACH COMPUTER B
• PACKET SWITCHING IS NORMALLY USED WHEN PACKETS ARE SENT ACROSS THE
INTERNET. IN THIS CASE THEY WILL BE SENT VIA ROUTERS
• THERE ARE TWO MAIN METHODS OF TRANSMISSION IN PACKET SWITCHING .THESE
ARE CONNECTION-ORIENTED (VIRTUAL CIRCUIT SWITCHING) AND
CONNECTIONLESS(DATAGRAM SWITCHING)
CONNECTION-ORIENTED
• FRAME RELAY AND TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL (TCP) ARE TWO TYPES OF
CONNECTION-ORIENTED
• IN CONNECTION-ORIENTED PACKET SWITCHING, A SESSION IS CREATED BEFORE ANY
DATA IS TRANSFERRED. THIS BECOMES A FIXED CHANNEL FOR THE DATA TO TRAVEL
CONNECTIONLESS
• ETHERNET , INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) AND USER DATAGRAM PROTOCOL (UDP) ARE
TYPES OF CONNECTIONLESS PACKET SWITCHING
• IN CONNECTIONLESS PACKET SWITCHING THERE DOES NOT NEED TO BE ANY PRIOR
ARRANGEMENT SET UP BETWEEN DEVICES TO TRANSMIT THE DATA
CONNECTION - ORIENTED
CONNECTIONLESS
MESSAGE SWITCHING
• IT IS LIKE AN INTERMEDIATE METHOD BETWEEN CIRCUIT SWITCHING AND
PACKET SWITCHING
• IT IS LIKE CIRCUIT SWITCHING IN THAT ALL THE DATA PACKETS ARE SENT
ALONG THE SAME PATH, AND IT IS LIKE PACKET SWITCHING IN THAT ANY
PATH FROM COMPUTER A TO COMPUTER B CAN BE TAKEN
• THE DATA PACKETS ARE SENT FROM COMPUTER A TO THE FIRST SWITCH
DEVICE
• THE DEVICE HOLDS THE DATA PACKETS UNTIL ALL OF THEM HAVE ARRIVED
• THE DATA PACKETS ARE SENT FROM TO SWITCH IN THIS WAY , UNTIL THEY
REACH COMPUTER B . THIS IS KNOWN AS THE STORE AND FORWARD
METHOD
•