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Networked Video for

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Networked Video for

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AT A GLANCE
•TX10

Brought to You by

Presented by

Part 3 of 4
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Networked Video for

Part 3 of 4

Essentials of NETWORK
DESIGN & FUNCTION

By Bob Wimmer
Principal
Video Security Consultants
cctvbob@aol.com

AT A GLANCE
• Two networking standards are
802.x by the Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers and the
Open Systems Interconnect seven-
layer model by the International
Organization for Standardization
• Seven-layer model defines how
everything from hardware to soft-
ware is supposed to work in a
network Determining the number, type and location of cameras and
• 802.x standards spell out how DVRs when designing CCTV systems is often only half the
networks themselves are de-
signed to function and intercom- battle.Today, security technicians also need to know what it
municate with other network takes to get video onto the network, not just to it. Find out what
processes and devices
• IP addresses identify two things:
concepts and terminology you need to learn to effectively
the device itself and the network interface with your clients’ IT managers.
to which that device belongs; sub-

W
netting allows for greater numbers
of IP addresses elcome to the third installment of Security Sales & Integration’s four-
• Media access control (MAC) ad- part series — “Networked Video for D.U.M.I.E.S.” The first two parts of
dresses are assigned by manufac- this series dealt with getting video to the network. We talked about the
turers to every network interface quality of the cameras themselves and the installation (see “Essentials of
and establish connections between Networked Cameras and Lenses” in the April issue). We also took a look at the different
two nodes compression methods and the process required to turn analog video into digital (see “How
to Beat the Bandwidth Blues” in the June issue).

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Now we’re going to look at what

it takes to get it on the network. OSI Model Consists of 7 Layers
While designing the analog portion of
our system is very important, all that
Application
work will be for nothing if the
network isn’t designed and imple- Presentation
Upper
mented correctly. The first two parts
Session
of this series were designed to give
Transport
network experts a peek into the world
of CCTV, while the last two segments Network
will give CCTV experts a peek into the Data Link
world of networking.
Physical Lower
Make no mistake: Network design
and function is an exhaustive subject,
and far deeper than we can cover in a
couple of articles. However, what we
can do is gain a basic understanding The top and bottom layers of the Open System Interconnect’s (OSI) seven layers are fairly
and learn some of the common ter- easy to understand; however, things get a little fuzzy in the middle. The layer numbering is
done from the bottom up, Layer 1 being the Physical, etc. For the most part, the lower levels
minology to communicate more ef-
are hardware-centric protocols, and the upper levels deal primarily with software.
fectively with the network expert at
your next jobsite.
In the late ’70s, a proposal was Physical Layer Deals With Hardware
Networking World Ruled by made to the IOS describing a proto- Like NICs, Hubs
Standards and Protocols col stack of seven different layers, At the very bottom of the OSI stack
Unlike the traditional CCTV industry, each relating a different component resides the Physical layer, or Layer 1.
the network universe is all based on pre- of intercommunication on a network. This layer is responsible for taking the
determined agreements and sets of From the network interface card and digital bits, changing them into elec-
rules called standards and protocols. the wires used to carry the data all tronic impulses and sending them
Without them, we wouldn’t have net- the way up to the applications, the down the line.
works, the Internet, or much of the PC user created the data with each You are probably very familiar with
and wireless technology we enjoy today. layer dealing with a specific part of the hardware that belongs to Layer 1.
There are two main sets of stan- the process. If you were reading this article online,
dards that govern networking today. This way, hardware and software the network interface card (NIC) that
They are the 802.x standards, created manufacturers could concentrate connects your PC with the Internet is
by the Institute of Electrical and Elec- their efforts only on the techno- a Layer-1 device.
tronic Engineers (IEEE); and the Open logies they were specifically respo- Another very common hardware
Systems Interconnect (OSI) seven- nsible for and know that their prod device at Layer 1 is a hub. We’ll dis-
layer model, created by the Interna- uct would work on just about cuss hubs and other hardware devices
tional Organization for Standardiza- any machine. in detail in the next article.
tion (IOS). We will look at each, The OSI model (see diagram above) is
beginning with the OSI model. a reference in almost every network doc- Data Link Layer Ensures Network
ument used today and is still a central Node Connections, Checks Info
7-Layer Model Defines Components part of any network education. As a The second level is called the Data
of Network Intercommunications practical matter, however, the TCP/IP Link layer. Layer 2 provides an inter-
In the early days of networking (late protocol stack — which roughly maps face, or link, between the higher lay-
1960s-early ’70s), when computers to the OSI model and that we’ll look at ers and the network hardware. This
took up entire rooms, there wasn’t a later — is implemented more often in layer allows us to bind the higher
good, easy way to get information from hardware and software layer protocols (in some cases, more
one to the next. At the time, those com- While all the OSI layers together are than one) to our network cards,
puters were mostly proprietary hard- necessary to communicate, we will for example.
ware/software combinations, so each focus primarily on the bottom four — The Data Link layer is primarily re-
machine was essentially isolated from Physical-1, Data Link-2, Network-3, sponsible for three things: It makes
the others. This dilemma was known Transport-4 — and the devices that sure a connection is available between
as islands of automation. reside at each one. two network nodes, it encapsulates

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Networked Video for

the data into frames for transmission,

and it ensures that incoming data is Comparing an IP Address to Computer’s Binary Interpretation
received correctly by performing some
error-checking routines.
Layer 2 is divided into two sublay-
ers, logical link control and media ac-
192.168.1.0
cess control. For our purposes, we will
concentrate on the media access con-
11000000.10101000.00000001.00000000
trol sublayer. This name should sound
familiar for those with any network A proper IP address (top ) consists of four sets of numbers, separated by periods, or
experience, but is better known by the dots. Underneath, the IP address is shown in a different way, in binary. This is the way
acronym MAC. Many of you have the computer actually sees it.
probably heard of a MAC address.
A MAC address is a hard-coded ad- devices on a network are ultimately (LLC). The LLC takes the raw data bits
dress assigned to every network in- made by MAC address, not IP ad- from the upper layers and encapsu-
terface on any device made to attach dresses or domain names. Those lates them in preparation for trans-
to a network. This address is assigned methods simply assist a device in mission. It organizes the data into
by the manufacturer of the device, finding the MAC of another device. frames, adding information such as
and is ultimately the way a connec- The first part of a MAC address, or addressing, error checking, etc.
tion is established between two the first three octets, is unique to the After framing and addressing is
nodes. The MAC address is unique manufacturer of the device. It is called complete, the frames are then sent to
throughout the entire world; in fact, the organizational unique identifier. Layer 1 to be converted into electrical
the current MAC addressing scheme Every company that makes network- pulses and sent across the wires.
should supply us with addresses based devices has one, or several. The Switches are the most common
through the year 2100. second part of the MAC, or the last Layer-2 devices. Later, we will see that
The address itself is a hexadecimal three octets, is unique to each device. they can also operate at higher layers,
48-bit address, broken into six octets No two devices in the world should with more intelligent processing
(eight-digit numbers, in binary). Being have the same MAC address. There of packets.
48 bits long, it will give us 248 unique have been some cases where devices
addresses, or 281,474,976,710,656 with duplicate MACs have left facto- Network Layer Handles Addressing
possibilities. ries, but they were caught and re- and Routing Tasks
It is important to understand the called before they hit the streets. The next level is known as the Net-
structure of MAC addresses (see dia- As mentioned, the second sublayer work layer. This is the layer that has
gram below). Connections between in Layer 2 is the logical link control defined most of what we do on a net-
work or the Internet today.
How a Media Access Control (MAC) Address Is Structured The Network layer is primarily re-
sponsible for two things: addressing
and routing. Both of these functions
MAC address are related. This layer contains the IP
protocol, part of the TCP/IP protocol
stack. Once again, you probably have
heard the term “IP address” if you’ve
00:0A:27:02:01:FC done anything with computers in the
past five to 10 years. This is the Net-
work layer’s responsibility.
An IP address is a 32-bit address
Organizational unique identifier Device ID (remember, when we talk about bits
(Mfg. ID) we are referring to binary counting)
that is purely logical. This means it
needs to be assigned by a user or ad-
The first part of the address, or the first three octets, is unique to the manufacturer of the
device. It is called the organizational unique identifier. This one happens to belong to Apple. ministrator somewhere, not set at the
Every device with 00:0A:27 in the MAC is made by Apple. The second part of the MAC, or the factory. The fact that it is user-assign-
last 3 octets, is unique to each device. able means there is great flexibility in
addressing. But this also means care

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must be taken as an incorrectly as-

signed address will prevent you from Breaking Down 3 Classes of Network Addresses Into Binary
communicating on a network.
In order for a device to be used direct-
ly on the Internet, that address has to be Bit
Class A
78 31
unique throughout the entire world. #0

This is very important when it comes to Network Host information

information
allowing DVR access across the Internet. Class B
Bit
A great many providers, however, are #0 15 16 31
becoming more resistant to giving out
Network information Host information
unique addresses, for reasons we will
discuss below. Bit
#0
Class C 23 24
31
A proper IP address (see diagram
on page A4) consists of four sets of Network information Host
information
numbers, separated by periods, or
dots (as we in the biz like to say). That
is the way we are most familiar with The gray lines represent IP addresses in binary, from bit 0 to 32. Under Class A, the first
them. However, computers actually eight bits are titled network information. This identifies the network itself, and is
see the IP address in binary. If you are shared by all devices on that network segment. After the vertical divider line, the host
information part uniquely identifies each device.
going to get into networking with any
seriousness, you will need to be very
familiar with binary.
The current IP address format is How IP Version 4 Assigns IP Addresses
called IP version 4, or Ipv4. In the
Ipv4 scheme, there are 232, or Network class Beginning octet Number of Host addresses
4,294,967,296, possible addresses. networks per network
Unfortunately, the original method of A 1-126 126 16,777,214
allocating addresses was based on B 128-191 >16,000 65,534
classes and extremely inefficient. C 192-223 >2,000,000 254
Take a look at the diagram on the
upper right-hand side of this page. As
you look at each class, you will notice
that the dividing line moves. Class B ad- The current IP address format is called IP version 4, or Ipv4. Unfortunately, the original
method of allocating addresses was based on classes and extremely inefficient. For ex-
dresses are divided in the middle, with
ample, if a company needed 50 addresses, the smallest allocation it could get would
two octets for the network ID, and two be 254 as a Class-C network. Subnetting helps overcome these limitations.
for the device ID. Class C addresses have
the first three octets for the network,
and the last one for the device.
Moving that dividing line and chang- Dissecting an IP Address/Subnet Mask
ing classes determine how many differ-
ent networks we can create, and how Dotted decimal notation Binary notation
many hosts are on each. A host is any
device with an assigned address. IP address 166.144.40.33 10100110 10010000 00101000 00100001
If a company needed, let’s say, 50
addresses, the smallest allocation it Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000
could get would be 254 addresses. Re-
member, at the time, every address in
Indicates that this octet Indicates that this octet
the business had to be globally unique is part of an extended represents host information
if they wanted access to the Internet. network prefix
At the opposite end of the scale, the
big corporations that needed lots of Notice where all the No. 1s are in this comparison of an IP address and subnet mask in
addresses, got lots of addresses. binary. Anywhere you see a No. 1 indicates the network portion of the IP address. Any-
A single class-A network could where there is a zero shows the host portion.
give a company 16,777,214 globally

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Networked Video for

unique addresses. You can kind of get an

idea why people are saying that we are IEEE 802 Project Standards
now running out of addresses. The large
majority of addresses have already been
allocated. What the powers that be dis- • 802.1 HLI Higher level interface (architecture)
covered very quickly was they needed a • 802.1d Spanning tree brdge
better way of assigning addresses, as • 802.1q Qos
they were running low. This is where • 802.2 LLC
subnett-ing comes in.
If you ask any network expert what
• 802.3 CSMA/CD or ethernet
• 802.3c 10Mbps ethernet
his least favorite part of networking is,
there’s a good chance he’ll tell you ad-
• 802.3u 100 Mbps (fast ethernet)
dressing or subnetting. That’s because • 802.3ab 1000 Mbps (gigabit ethernet)
in spite of the fact that dealing with IP • 802.3ae 10 gigabit ethernet
addresses is fairly simple for us, • 802.3af power over ethernet
there’s a lot going on behind the
scenes to make those addresses work.
• 802.4 Token passing bus
We said earlier that communication • 802.5 Token passing ring
paths between devices are actually es- • 802.6 MAN DQDB (distributed queue dual bus)
tablished through MAC addresses, but • 802.7 Broadband LANs (video, voice & data)
because everyone in the world might
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) standard (or family of standards)
not want to be sharing a network with
known as Project 802 was created in 1980 as a way to unite and standardize the many dif-
everyone else in the world there had to ferent networking technologies that were rapidly being developed at the time. As the charts
be a better way of dividing up resources. above and at right show, almost every aspect of networking is defined in these standards.
With all the privacy issues we have,
imagine what it would be like if every-
one was on the same network! ber, if two addresses are not on the The other thing the Network layer,
The better way came about in the same subnet, they won’t be able to specifically the IP protocol, handles is
form of IP addresses. Those sets of talk to each other. Comparing the the routing of packets between different
numbers we are so familiar with actu- sending address and subnet mask networks. Routers are the original Layer-
ally do more than just identify a de- with the receiving address and subnet 3 hardware devices, but are being joined
vice. Like a MAC address, an IP ad- mask, in binary, will show you if rapidly by more intelligent switches. We
dress identifies two things: the actual there’s a difference. will discuss hardware functions and fea-
device itself and the network to which So is there any relief from all this tures in the next article.
that device belongs. nonsense? Actually, there is. Some
Remember, the host portion of an relief will come in the form of IPv6. IP Transport Layer Gets Data Packets
IP address is unique for each device version 6 is 128 bits long, compared From Point A to Point B
on a network, while the network por- to v4’s 32, giving us 3.4 X 1,038 possi- The last OSI level we’ll talk about is
tion is the same on all devices that ble addresses, a few more than ver- the Transport layer, or Layer 4. This
share a network. The way we tell sion 4 to be sure. A version 6 IP ad- layer is responsible for reliably getting
which part of an address is which is dress is also hexadecimal, and looks the packets from point A to point B.
called the subnet mask. The subnet like this: fe80:0000:0000:0000:020a: This layer supports two different
mask is another 32-bit number that 95ff:fef4:a3b1. transmission methods: connection-
looks similar to an IP address, but IPv6 implementation is rather oriented and connectionless.
does something entirely different. spotty at the moment, and it’s kind of Connection-oriented transmis-
Take a look at an IP address and a catch 22. Providers don’t want to sions are handled by Transmission
subnet mask in binary (see diagram spend the money to implement it as Control Protocol ( TCP). These are
on page A5). there aren’t too many users yet, and point-to-point connections for guar-
When you put the two together, no- there aren’t too many users because anteed reception of data. An E-mail
tice where all the No. 1s are in the sub- there aren’t too many providers that message, accessing a Web page or
net mask. Anywhere you see a No. 1 support it. It is the wave of the future, downloading a file are all examples of
indicates the network portion of the however, and it remains to be seen connection-based exchanges.
IP address. Anywhere there is a zero how soon we’ll see it in DVRs and Because there is a guarantee of data
shows the host portion. Just remem- other industry products. reception, error checking is performed.

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While not many people refer to Eth-

IEEE Standards ernet as 802.3, we are familiar with
one of the higher levels, 802.11, com-
monly used to refer to wireless net-
• 802.8 Fiber optic TAG working (see, you knew these stan-
• 802.9 ISLANs Integrated digital & video networking dards without even realizing it!).
• 802.10 LAN/MAN Security Aside from Ethernet and wireless,
• 802.11 Wireless MAC & physical layers Project 802 defines several other net-
• 802.11a 5 Ghz 52 MBs working technologies. Token Ring and
Token Bus are two competing tech-
• 802.11b 2.5 Ghz 11 Mbs Wi-Fi
nologies to Ethernet.
• 802.11g Dual mode 802.11a & 802.11b compatible Token Ring was a technology pro-
• 802.11i Wireless security moted and developed by IBM in the
• 802.12 100 BASE VG AnyLAN ‘80s. While Ethernet used the line-
• 802.13 Nothing superstition sensing collision detection scheme
we talked about earlier, Token Ring
• 802.14 Cable TV-based broadband
used a small piece of data called a
• 802.15 Working group WPANs token, and only the node in posses-
• 802.16 Wireless MAN Air Interface sion of the token could transmit. It
• 802.16a Broadband wireless WIMAX never really caught on for widespread
• 802.17 Resilient packet ring working group use and is not found too much any-
more. While it would be possible to
do video over Token Ring, perform-
If packets are received incorrectly or created in 1980 as a way to unite and ance limitations would not make it a
damaged, they will be present. You can standardize the many different net- real practical application.
probably imagine this wouldn’t work working technologies that were rap-
too well for video. It would be a little idly being developed at the time. You May Exhale Now:The Worst Is
annoying if a sending device kept re- The base standards in the group Over! Next Up: Implementation
transmitting parts of a video clip; it were drawn from Ethernet technolo- Protocols and standards are not
would be unwatchable. gy, which had been around since the very interesting to read about. How-
For video streaming, we use a con- early ‘70s. Specifically, 802.3 was set ever, it is important to understand the
nectionless protocol, user datagram up to describe Ethernet itself, and impact they have on networking
protocol (UDP), which does not guaran- even more specifically the method today. Without this basic foundation,
tee delivery of data. In other words, if Ethernet used to avoid data colli- we would not have many of the tech-
you get it, you get it … if not, oh well. sions: carrier-sense, multiple ac- nological advances we enjoy.
This is the way large amounts of video cess/collision detection (CSMA/CD). These standards go beyond just hook-
will be moved in future network-based With CSMA/CD, when an Ethernet ing computers together, though. Many
systems that require access from multi- device wants to transmit, it senses the of the cell phone systems today use
ple receivers or workstations. line. If it is clear to send, out goes the some or many of the networking tech-
UDP is also the foundation of video data. If a collision is detected, the nologies defined by these groups. The
multicasting, which is a one-to-many transmitter waits a pre-determined impact those early groups of people had
method of streaming. It is also a cru- period of time before it tries again. on our lives today is immeasurable.
cial element of networked video sys- While this is a slight oversimplifica- In the final part of this series in the
tems. We’ll discuss multicasting in de- tion, it’s important to understand that September issue, we will look at how
tail in the next article. the main thing that separates the dif- some of these technologies are imple-
For an interesting and easy to under- ferent types of networks (Ethernet mented and the hardware that holds
stand analogy for the OSI model, check and Token Ring, etc) is how they han- it all together. We’ll also look at the
out www.lewistech.com/rlewis/re- dle collisions. how’s and why’s of getting video onto
sources/jamesbondOSI2.aspx. As the 802 chart shows (above), al- a network successfully. ■
most every aspect of networking is
Project 802 Standards Spell Out defined in these standards. They even Robert (Bob) Wimmer is president of Video Security
Nearly All Aspects of Networking had the foresight to make room for Consultants and has more than 33 years of experi-
ence in CCTV. His consulting firm is noted for tech-
The IEEE standard (or family of technologies that were, at the time, nical training, system design, technical support and
standards) known as Project 802 was just sparkles in their inventors eyes. overall system troubleshooting.

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