INDEX

Introduction LAN Emulation Requirements for LANE Components of LANE Phases of LANE LANE Connections Strength and Weakness of LANE Impact over ATM Conclusion References

INTRODUCTION
ATM capable of supporting a wide base of current and emerging applications. The success of ATM depends on many factors other than technological such as the build of LAN infrastructure that are migrated to ATM. The ATM forum has introduced a standard called LAN emulation that provides a means for traditional LAN technologies like Ethernet and Token-ring. So, in this tem paper ,the elaboration over LANE requirements, components, phases, connections , strength and weaknesses is to be performed.

LAN EMULATION
LANE is Local Area Network Emulation. The LAN Emulation over ATM service allows end systems such as ATM attached hosts, routers and LAN bridges access ATM network as if they were attached to a traditional LAN. LANE provides the backbone infrastructure that allows existing Ethernet and Token Ring- attached stations to keep their current application interfaces while allowing high bandwidth servers and routers to be connected directly via ATM. The LANE protocol defines a service interface for network layer protocols that is identical to the one in the traditional LANs, so that the data sent across the ATM network is packed in the appropriate LAN MAC packet format LANE does not attempt to emulate the actual MAC protocol of the LAN and it does not require any modifications to higher-layer protocols to enable their operation over an ATM network.

REQUIREMENTS OF LANE
In order to collaborately work with ATM, LAN emulation requires some requirements that will provide LAN features. Such requirements of LANE are elaborated below :-

1) Connectionless Service
In a connectionless service, each message carries the full destination address and each one is routed through the system independent of all others. Ethernet and Token ring provide connectionless services that means no connection is established prior to data transfer. In case of LANE, ATM must provide connectionless service. There are two basic techniques namely sever-based method and connection-based method. a) Service-Based Method :2

The additional network entities in the form of connectionless servers are used to provide connectionless services in case of service based method. These entities either reside in switch themselves or are physically distinct entities. Each ATM endsystem has at least one connection with connectionless server. These servers are also connected amongst themselves by using ATM virtual channels. Packets received from higher layers are transmitted by the end-systems to the connectionless server after appending the destination address. b) Connection-Based Method :A connection is established between every pair of communicating ends in this method. The connectionless service is emulated by forwarding packets between the source and destination end-systems over a separate ATM virtual channel for each source and destination pair. This method offers better performance that is the number of virtual channels required is quite large. For a network with n end-systems, duplex connections are required. The number of end-systems can be reduced because an end-system does not communicate with every end-system simultaneously. This reduction can be done by having active connections only with those end-systems for which packets are being transmitted.

2)

Broadcat/Multicast service
LAN technologies support broadcast and multicast services. Broadcasting or multicasting is done by using the six bytes address format. In case of ATM, emulated broadcast or multicast is quite challenging because packets are send only to those end-systems for which they are due. The two techniques that provides these features are namely point-to-multipoint connections and multipoint-to-multipoint connections. a) Point-to-Multipoint Connection :A point-to-multipoint connection utilizes the capability of an ATM switch that is cell on at one input port is replicated by many output ports. There are again two techniques for providing broadcast or multicast services. Firstly, each end-system establishes a point-to-multipoint connection with every end-system in the network. Secondly, a multicast sever is used to broadcast or multicast packets.
b) Multipoint-to-Multipoint Connection :-

In a multipoint-to-multipoint connection, any end-system can send or receive packets from any other end-system. Also, one can use multiplexing identifier to demultiplex cells from different sources. An end-system must be able to recognize the identity of each cell received. One can also use virtual channel identifier as the multiplexing identifier and use virtual path connections for data transfer.

3) MAC Device Driver Interface

The LAN emulation service needs to offer the same MAC driver device primitives thus keeping the upper protocol layers unchanged. The three key standards for MAC driver interfaces are Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS), Open Data-Link Interface(ODI) and Data Link Provider Interface(DLPI). Each of the standard interfaces specifies its own primitives and parameter sets but the essential services remain the same. LAN emulation provides these interface and services to the upper layers.

4) Address Resolution
Address resolution is a mechanism to bind a high level protocol address to a low level hardware address. In ATM broadcast based method is used. An end-system broadcasts an address resolution request to all other end-systems in ATM subnet. All end-systems check the destination MAC address in the received frame and respond if their address matches with that contained in the frame.Also, address resolution server which maintains a centralized database.The database contains a mapping between ATM addresses and MAC or higher layer address for each ATM end-system in the network. ATM end systems send their address resolution requests to the address resolution server which responds back with appropriate mapping.

COMPONENTS OF LANE
There are several components of LAN emulation (LE) protocol operation namely the LAN Emulation Client (LEC), the LAN Emulation Server (LES), the LAN Emulation Configuration Server (LECS) and the Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS). Each of these is described below : 1) LAN Emulation Client (LEC) :- LEC implements the LANE layer in an end system and performs: data forwarding, address resolution, establishment of the various VCCs, registration of MAC addresses with the LAN emulation server (LES) and provision of a standard LAN interface to higher-level protocols on LANs. The LEC is the user requiring
LAN emulation services. Typically, it is the workstation running the application or the ATM bridge which connects the ATM network with the legacy LAN. There can be many LAN Emulation Clients in an emulated LAN.

2) LAN Emulation Server (LES) :- LES is a central control point to which LECs forward registration and control information. Its main control function is resolving destination MAC addresses into ATM addresses. The LES implements address registration
and provides address resolution (answers ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) requests by converting between MAC and ATM addresses. Each emulated LAN can have only one LES. However, a physical LAN can serve several emulated LANs, each with its own LES.

3) Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS) :- BUS is a multicast server , its main function is to flood traffic with unknown destination address and to forward multicast and broadcast traffic to clients of a specific ELAN. BUS works in a store-and-forward mode. BUS is the component which simulates the shared-media LAN over an ATM network.The
BUS performs all broadcasts and multicasts. Frames are sent through the BUS in two instances. Firstly, When the information is to be transferred (broadcast) to all stations. Secondly,when a source LEC has sent an ARP to the LES, and does not wish to wait for a response before starting the data transfer to the destination LEC. In this case, the source LEC transmits the information to the BUS which, in turn, floods the entire network with it. Each emulated LAN can have only one BUS. However, a physical LAN can serve several emulated LANs, each with its own BUS.

4) LAN Emulation Configuration Server (LECS) :- LECS provides configuration information to clients. It manages a database of LECs and their corresponding ELANs. The LECS gets requests from LECs and responds with the correspondent ELAN identifier, meaning and ATM address of the LES that serves that ELAN. The LECS
provides configuration information, including the address of the LE server, the type of emulated LAN and the maximum frame size. Each network can only have one LECS.

PHASES OF LANE
LANE components have to go through various phases in order to emulate LAN. The phases are namely initialization, registration, address registration and data transfer.

1) Initialization
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In the very beginning during initialization LE client discovers its ATM address either through configuration or through some other names. The LE clients later on determine the ATM address of LECS. After establishing a connection with LECS, LE clients requests the LECS to provide the necessary configuration parameters. The information provided by LECS includes LAN type being emulated by either Ethernet or token-ring., the maximum frame size of ELAN, emulated LAN name and the address of LES. The LES assigned to the LE clients may depend upon LECS policies, configuration database or upon information provided by LE clients in its request.

2) Registration
LE client sends a request to the LE server to add it to the ELAN. The request consists of clients ATM address and the name of emulated LAN obtained from LECS. The request also contains the information whether the LE client is acting as a proxy for other unicast MAC address. After receiving the forwarded request from LES, LEC client checks if the MAC address received is one of the addresses for which it is acting as a proxy. If it confirms then the LE client responds to the LES on the control direct VCC. After this, the LES forwards the reply to the requesting LE client. When the registration process is finished then the LE client establishes a connection with the BUS. In order to find the address of BUS, LE client sends an address resolution request to LES with broadcast MAC address. Now the response in relation to the request is provided by which the LE client then establishes the default multicast VCC. Now BUS automatically establishes t he multicast forward VCC with the requesting LE client for forwarding any multicast frames to the LE client.

3) Data Transfer
While getting on data transfer phase, the LE client receives frames from higher layer transfer to remote LAN destination. If LE client doesnt know the ATM address of LAN Destination, it finds the address by using LE_ARP procedures. After getting the ATM addressof the destination, it establishes a data direct VCC by using obtained ATM address. Now this VCC is used to transfer any frame between LEC peers. If another request to send a frame to the same destination is received and there is no active VCC corresponding to that destination then instead of sending an LE_ARP request to LES, the address resolution may be done.
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4) Address Registration
The address registration phase prvides LE clients to register additional LAN destination addresses that were not registered during the time of intial registration. It also provides LE clients with the mechanism to deregister any LAN destinations registered earlier. The procedures for adding a client are the same as those for adding multiple LAN destinations during the initialization phase. The response of this request is sent at either the control direct VCC or the control distribute VCC.

LANE CONNECTIONS
The various control and configuration connections are namely Configuration Direct VCC, Control Direct VCC and Control Distribute VCC. Also, LANE involves various data connection namely Data Direct VCC, Multicast send VCC and Multicast Forward VCC. Configuration Direct VCC :- This is bidirectional, point-to-point VCC established by LEC with LECS to obtain configuration information from LECS. After obtaining the necessary configuration information from the LECS, LEC may terminate this VCC connection. Control Direct VCC :- This is bidirectional, point-to-point VCC with LES to send and receive control information established by LEC. VCC is established at the time of initialization after the LEC has obtained the ATM address of the LES from the LECS. Control Distributive VCC :- This is unidirectional, point-to-multipoint VCC which is established by LES with LECs to distribute control information. The establishment of this VCC by LES is optional . Data Direct VCC :- This is bidirectional, point-to-point VCC set up between LECs that want to exchange data. LEC establishes a Data Direct VCC with another LEC after the process of address resolution is over.When LEC has a frame to send and the destination ATM address is not known then it generates LE_ARP request.
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Multicast Send VCC :- This is bidirectional, point-to-point VCC set up by LEC with BUS and is used to send broadcast or multicast data. A multicast send VCC is used to send unicast data till a data direct VCC with destination is not established. Multicast Forward VCC :- This is unidirectional, point-to-multipoint connection established by BUS with LECs to distribute data from the BUS. At least one multicast forward VCC is required by LEC to participate in emulated LAN.

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES OF LANE Strength:1. Flexibility 2. Data Transmission 3. Emulation Architecture 4. Fault Tolerance

Weakness:1. Complexity resulting in software bugs 2. Limited to small network

IMAPCT OVER ATM

LANE allows coexistence and interoperability for LAN stations and ATM stations. LANE user network interface is defined interface between LAN switches, routers and ATM networks. LANE does not impact over ATM switches. LANE requires no modifications to higher-layer protocols to enable their operation over an ATM network. LANE service has proven to be important to the acceptance of ATM as it provides a simple and easy means for running existing LAN applications in the ATM environment.LAN Emulation is a software protocol allowing ATM networks to behave like LAN, running existing applications unchanged. It also allows connectivity between ATM networks and existing LANs. LAN Emulation is necessary for two reasons. Firstly, High-speed LANs is a major ATM application. The extra bandwidth (155
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instead of 10 Mbps) and the dedicated links appeal to many users. Secndly, To achieve widespread deployment, ATM must allow todays LAN applications to run over the new ATM hardware, making migration from todays Ethernet and Token Ring LANs to tomorrows ATM LANs easier.

CONCLUSION
LAN Emulation is a key ATM protocol. Its importance to the deployment of successful and useful ATM networks cannot be underestimated. By a combination of three logical entities, the LECS, the LES and the Broadcast Unknown server, a LAN Emulation Client can receive emulated LAN services keeping its upper-layer applications untouched. The existing LAN techniques are connectionless and can easily support broadcast or multicast capabilities. Despite inherent strength of ATM, the cost factor seems so predominant that the transition is financially challenging.

REFERNCES
1. ATM Networks, Concepts and Protocols (2nd edition) : By Sumit Kasera 2. Network World (magazine) 3.

http://www.pulsewan.com/data101/lane_basics.htm