Networks Notes

Medium Access Control Sublayer
``Data Link Layer for LANs''
Can divide networks into point-to-point and broadcast. Look at broadcast networks
and their protocols.
When many stations compete for a channel (e.g., broadcast channel such as an
Ethernet), an algorithm must arbitrate access to the shared channel.
Need a way of insuring that when two or more stations wish to transmit, they all wait
until doing so won't interfere with other transmitters. Broadcast links include LANs,
satellites (WAN), etc.
LAN's:
 diameter not more than a few kilometers

 data rate of at least several Mbps.
 complete ownership by a single organization.
MANs cover a city-wide area with LAN technology. For example, cable TV.
Can have higher speed, lower error rate lines with LANs than WANs.
Channel Allocation Methods

How to allocate the broadcast channel to multiple users (nodes, stations)?
 ALOHA--(Hawaii, 1970s). Packet radio. Simple, users transmit data whenever

they have data to be sent. On collisions frames are destroyed. Can detect
because of broadcast property. Resend after a random amount of time. What is
the problem?
Defn: frame time--amount of time to transmit a standard fixed-length frame

(frame size divided by transmission rate).
 Slotted ALOHA--divide time into discrete intervals of width frame time (slots).
Can only send at the beginning of a time slot. (need a means of
synchronization--station emit a pip at start of each interval). Double the
throughput (number of frames per frame time) vs. pure ALOHA. See Fig 4.3.
Carrier Sense Protocols

Problem with ALOHA is that frames are blindly sent--bound to be collisions.
Stations listen for a transmission before trying to send data--carrier sense. Only send if
channel is idle.
 1-Persistent CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access). Sense channel, if idle then
send, if busy wait until idle and then send. 1-persistent because it sends with
probability of one when senses channel is idle. Collisions?
Effect of propagation delay (takes time for signal to propagate from one
channel to another). Even if zero could have collisions.
 nonpersistent CSMA--less greedy. Sense channel. If idle then send. If busy then
wait random amount of time before repeating the same routine. Collisions go
away? No, can still send at the same time.
 p-persistent CSMA--applies to slotted channels. If channel idle then send with
probability p, with probability q=(1-p), it defers to the next time slot. Delay for
random time if channel busy. Look at Fig 4-4.
Note: p = 1 implies we transmit immediately, p = .1, we transmit with

probability .1.
The primary advantage of p-persistent protocols is that they reduce the number
of collisions under heavy load. The primary disadvantage is that they increase
the average delay before a station transmits a frame. Under low loads, the
increased delay reduces efficiency.
Protocol Efficiency
The following table gives maximum efficiency percentages for some of the protocols
we have studied so far:
CSMA/CD
Another way to reduce the number of collisions is to abort collisions as soon as they
are detected. CSMA networks with Collision Detect (CSMA/CD) do just that. How
long does it take to detect collisions:
 at least twice the propagation delay, or (in worst case, for the signal to
travel from one end of cable to the other, another for the collision indication
to travel back)
 we'll call this interval the contention period
 what does this say about building broadcast networks that span large distances?
(increase propagation delay)
 small frames? (could send entire frame before detecting a collision)-pad out the
frames in the standard
Skip over some protocols.
IEEE Standard 802 for LAN's

The IEEE has produced a set of LAN protocols known as the IEEE 802 protocols.
These protocols have been adopted by ANSI and ISO:
 802.2: logical link standard (device driver interface)

 802.3: CSMA/CD
 802.4: token bus
 802.5: token ring
Ethernet is a specific product implementing (or nearly so) the IEEE standard.
Interesting to note that having an Ethernet port on a machine has become a standard
(certainly for workstations).
The 802.3 protocol is described as follows:
 1-persistent CSMA/CD LAN

 its history is as follows:
1. started with ALOHA
2. continued at Xerox, where Metcalf & Boggs produced a 3 Mbps LAN
version
3. Xerox, DEC, and Intel standardized a 10Mbps version
4. IEEE standardized a 10Mbps version (with slight differences from the
Xerox standard
 the maximum length of a segment of cable is 500 meters
 segments can be separated by repeaters, devices that regenerate or ``amplify''
signals (not frames); a single repeater can join multiple segments
 maximum distance between two stations 2.5 km, maximum number of
repeaters along any path: 4 (why these limits?)
802.3 Frame Layout
At the Medium Access (MAC) sublayer, frames consist of the following:
1. Frames begin with 56-bit preamble consisting of alternating 1s and 0s.

Purpose? Similar to start bit in RS-232-A. It allows the receiver to detect the
start of a frame.
2. Start of the frame designated by the byte ``10101011''. That is, two consecutive
1 bits flag the end of the preamble.
3. 48-bit destination address (16-bit for lower speed version).
4. 48-bit source address (16-bit for lower speed version).
5. 16-bit data length field; maximum data size 1500 bytes.
6. 32-bit checksum field. The checksum is a number dependent on every bit in the
frame. The sender computes a checksum and appends it to the frame. The
receiver also recalculates the checksum, comparing result with value stored in
frame. If the two checksums differ, some of the bits in the frame must have
changed and the packet is discarded as having errors.
There are two types of addresses:
1. Unicast addresses start with a high-order bit of 0. Unicast addresses refer to a

single machine, and every Ethernet address in the world is guaranteed to be
unique (e.g., address is sort of like a serial number).
2. Multicast (group) addresses start with a high-order bit of 1. Multicast addresses
refer to a set of one or more stations.
A broadcast address (all 1's) is a special case of multicasting. All machines
process broadcast frames.
The management of multicast addresses (e.g., entering or leaving a group) must

be managed by some outside mechanism (e.g, higher-layer software).
802.3 LANs use a binary exponential backoff algorithm:
 if a station wished to send a frame, and the channel is idle, transmission

proceeds immediately
 when a collision occurs, sender generates a noise burst to insure that all stations
recognize the condition, and aborts transmission
 after the collision, wait 0 or 1 contention period time before attempting again (1
contention period time )
 if another collision occurs:
o wait 0, 1, 2, or 3 slot times before attempting transmission again
o in general, wait between 0 and times, where r is the number of

times we've already retransmitted
o finally, freeze interval at 1023 slot times after 10 attempts, and give up
altogether after 16 attempts.
Note: our goal is to keep delays low at low loads, but avoid collisions under high load.
Also, note that there are no acknowledgements; a sender has no way of knowing that a
frame was successfully delivered.
Switched 802.3 LANs
Can connect hosts to a hub switch. Advantage is that stations use the same network
interface card, but they can run at higher speeds.
IEEE Standard 802.4: Token Bus

Physically a bus, logically a ring with each station having a number.
Use of a special control frame called a token. Can only send a message by first
capturing the token which passes between stations. No collisions because only one
station at a time may hold the token.
Different priority levels at each stations with each getting a fraction of the amount of
time for the station.
Periodically broadcast special tokens to allow new stations to enter the ring.
IEEE Standard 802.5: Token Ring

Token passed around the ring. It is seized to send a message then regenerated and
passed to the next station.
Comparison of LAN's
Non-deterministic nature of CSMA/CD protocol makes real time computing people
nervous.
802.3:
 most widely used of the three

 low delay under light loads
 simple to install and maintain
 analog circuitry required to handle collision detect features
 minimum frame size of 64 bytes is large when carrying single byte keystrokes
 delay characteristics non-deterministic
 originally limited to 10 Mbps and short distances (using hubs to get fast
ethernet (100Mbps))
 no support for multiple priorities
802.4:
 uses standard analog technology

 more deterministic access time (but not 100% either, due to ring maintenance
overhead)
 supports priorities
 works well under heavy load
 relatively high delay at low loads
 can be mixed with TV and voice equipment
802.5:
 all digital
 can use with fiber optic technology over long distances
 supports both large and small frames
 high efficiency at high loads
 low delays at low loads, bounded delay in any case
 ring monitor is a single point of failure

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Medium Access Control Sublayer

``Data Link Layer for LANs''

 diameter not more than a few kilometers

Channel Allocation Methods

 ALOHA--(Hawaii, 1970s). Packet radio. Simple, users transmit data whenever

Defn: frame time--amount of time to transmit a standard fixed-length frame

Carrier Sense Protocols

Note: p = 1 implies we transmit immediately, p = .1, we transmit with

Skip over some protocols.

IEEE Standard 802 for LAN's

 802.2: logical link standard (device driver interface)

The 802.3 protocol is described as follows:

 1-persistent CSMA/CD LAN

802.3 Frame Layout

At the Medium Access (MAC) sublayer, frames consist of the following:

1. Frames begin with 56-bit preamble consisting of alternating 1s and 0s.

There are two types of addresses:

1. Unicast addresses start with a high-order bit of 0. Unicast addresses refer to a

The management of multicast addresses (e.g., entering or leaving a group) must

802.3 LANs use a binary exponential backoff algorithm:

 if a station wished to send a frame, and the channel is idle, transmission

o in general, wait between 0 and times, where r is the number of

Switched 802.3 LANs

IEEE Standard 802.4: Token Bus

IEEE Standard 802.5: Token Ring

 most widely used of the three

 uses standard analog technology

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