COE 475: Computer Networking

Lecture1: Overview of Computer Networks

Lecture Objective
to introduce some basic terminology and concepts

Computer Networks
Computer networks can be described in two ways
1. Hardware/software component description 2. as an infrastructure that provides services to distributed applications

Hardware/software description
Made up of 3 main parts
Network edge
end systems/Hosts desktop PCs and Servers (traditional) PDAs, TVs, Cell phones, Web cams etc (non-traditional) have network applications running on them i.e. store and transmit information

Access networks
connect end systems to the network core

Network core
Interconnection of communication links and routers that transport data

Network edge
end systems (hosts):
run application programs
e.g. Web, email
at edge of network

Access networks
Q: How to connect end systems to edge router? residential access nets
Dial-up, DSL, Cable

institutional access networks (school, company)

Ethernet, Wi-Fi

mobile access networks

Network Core
mesh of interconnected routers the fundamental question:
how is data moved through a network of links and routers? circuit switching:
Resources needed along a path are reserved
telephone network

packet-switching:
Resources needed along a path are NOT reserved

Circuit Switching
End-to-end resources reserved for call
dedicated resources: no sharing
link bandwidth divided into pieces frequency division time division resource piece idle if not used

guaranteed performance call setup required

Packet Switching
each end-to-end data stream divided into packets
user A and user B packets share network resources each packet uses full link bandwidth resources used as needed

resource contention:
aggregate resource demand can exceed amount available
Leads to congestion, packets queued and wait for the use of link

store and forward:

Node receives complete packet before forwarding

Packet Switching: Statistical Multiplexing

A B
100 Mb/s Ethernet

statistical multiplexing
1.5 Mb/s

queue of packets waiting for output link

Sequence of A & B packets does not have fixed pattern, bandwidth shared on demand statistical multiplexing.

Computer Networks : a service view

Software pieces running on
different end systems need to send data to each other
end systems provide an Application Programming Interface (API) that
specifies how a software piece asks the network to deliver data to a specific destination software

Computer networks viewed as

communication infrastructure
that provides services to distributed applications:
email, Web, VoIP, P2P file sharing

communication services provided to apps:

reliable data delivery Throughput Timing security

Delay, Loss and Throughput

Ideally we would like computer networks to be able to move data
as much as we want (throughput) instantaneously (no delay) without any loss (no packet loss)

However, computer networks necessarily

constrain throughput (amount of data per second that can be transferred) introduce delay lose packets

There are many issues

surrounding how to deal with these problems

How do loss and delay occur?

If packet arrival rate to link exceeds output link capacity packets are queued in router buffers
to wait for turn of transmission
packet being transmitted

packets queued (delay) free (available) buffers: arriving packets dropped (loss) if no free buffers

Four sources of packet delay

1. nodal processing:
check bit errors determine output link

2. queuing
time waiting at output link for transmission
depends on congestion level

A B

transmission

propagation

nodal processing

queuing

Delay in packet-switched networks

3. Transmission delay:
R=link bandwidth (bps) L=packet length (bits) time to send bits into link = L/R

4. Propagation delay:
d = length of physical link s = propagation speed in medium (~2x108 m/sec) propagation delay = d/s

A B

transmission propagation

nodal processing

queuing

Nodal delay
d nodal d proc d queue d trans d prop
dproc = processing delay
typically a few microsecs or less

dqueue = queuing delay

depends on congestion

dtrans = transmission delay

= L/R, significant for low-speed links

dprop = propagation delay

a few microsecs to hundreds of msecs

Packet loss
buffer preceding link has finite capacity packet arriving to full queue dropped (aka lost) lost packet may be retransmitted by previous node, by source end system, or not at all

A
B

buffer (waiting area)

packet being transmitted

packet arriving to full buffer is lost

Throughput
throughput:
rate (bits/time unit) at which bits are moved between sender and receiver instantaneous:
rate at given point in time

average:
rate over longer period of time

Network Protocols
All activities in computer networks that
involve two or more communicating remote entities is
governed by a protocol

Protocols
control sending and receiving of messages define
format and order of messages sent and received among network entities actions taken on message transmission/receipt

Network Security
The field of network security is about:
how bad guys can attack computer networks
put malware into endsystems attack servers and network infrastructure use false source addresses record and playback information

how we can defend networks against attacks how to design architectures that are immune to attacks

Review Questions
What do you understand by the term network protocol What are the five layers in the Internet protocol stack
What are the principal responsibility of each layer

What is
An application layer message A Transport layer segment a network layer datagram A link layer frame

List the various delay components in a packet-switched network