Understanding LAN Switching

Agenda

Shared LAN Technology LAN Switching Basics Key Switching Technologies

Shared LAN Technology

Early Local Area Networks

Thick Ethernet
Limited to 500 meters before signal degradation Required repeaters every 500 meters

Limitations on number and placement of stations

Expensive, large, and difficult to pull through buildings Relatively simple to add new users Provided 10-Mbps shared bandwidth

Thin Ethernet
Less expensive and required less space than thick Ethernet Still difficult to pull through buildings Adding users required network interruptions

Hubs Addressed Many of These Problems

Ethernet
10

Hub

All nodes share 10 Mbps One device sending at a time

Ethernet concentrator Self-contained Ethernet LAN in a box Passive Works at physical layer 1

Collisions: Telltale Signs

CRASH
Hub

I could have walked to Finance by now. I knew I should have stayed home. File transfers take forever.

Sluggish network response Increasing user complaints

Im waiting all the time.

Other Bandwidth Consumers

Unicast

Broadcast

Multicast

Broadcasts Consume Bandwidth

Apple TCP/IP

Resolve addresses Distribute route information Find network services

Broadcasts Consume Processor Performance CPU %

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 100
SPARC2 SPARC5 Pe nt ium 12 0 M z H

1000

3000

Broadcasts/Second

Broadcasts and multicasts interrupt all computers on the network

Hub-Based LANs
Shared resources Desktop connections wired to centralized closets Poor security within shared segments Routers provide scalability Adds, moves, and changes are easier than without hubs, but still a hassle Groups of users determined by physical location

10BaseT Hub

10BaseT Hub

Bridges
More intelligent than a hub Eavesdrop on conversations to learn and maintain address tables Collect and pass packets between two network segments Control traffic to the network
123 126

124

Bridge
127

Hub
125

Hub
128

Segment 1

Corporate Intranet

Segment 2

SwitchesLayer 2
Switched Ethernet
10

Ethernet Switch

Backbone

Each Node has 10 Mbps

Multiple devices sending at the same time

Switches versus Hubs

Hub
Ethernet
10

One device sending at a time

All nodes share 10 Mbps

Ethernet Switch

Backbone

Switched Ethernet

10

Multiple devices sending at the same time

Each node has 10 Mbps

The Need for Speed: Early Warning Signs

File transfers take forever You can take a coffee break between screen refreshes Network print jobs: sameday service? Multimedia applications

SLOW SLOW

Mbps

Typical Causes of Network Congestion

Too many users on a 10-Mbps segment Most users accessing one or two servers High-performance PCs such as EISA, PCI, and S-Bus Network-intensive applications such as color publishing, CAD/CAM, imaging, and relational databases
Bandwidth Requirements

Traditional Data Requirements Drive LAN Bandwidth

File Transfer Client/Server

Image Backup/Mng Transaction Processing Processing

E-Mail

Desktop Video

Network Traffic Impact from Centralization of Servers

Servers in Wiring Closets Centralized Servers in Data Center

Randomly Distributed Servers

Mainframe Data Center

Servers are gradually moving into a central area (data center) versus being located throughout the company to:

Ensure company data integrity

Maintain the network and ensure operability Maintain security Perform configuration and administrative functions

More centralized servers increase the bandwidth demands on campus and workgroup backbones

Todays LANs
Mostly switched resources; few shared Routers provide scalability Groups of users determined by physical location

10/100 Switch

10-Mbps Hub

10/100 Switch

LAN Switching Basics

LAN Switching Basics

Enables dedicated access Eliminates collisions and increases capacity Supports multiple conversations at the same time

LAN Switch Operation

Forwards packets based on a forwarding table
Forwards based on the MAC (Layer 2) address

10 Mbps

Operates at OSI Layer 2 Learns a stations location by examining source address

Sends out all ports when destination address is broadcast, multicast, or unknown address Forwards when destination is located on different interface

C
3 2 1 10 Mbps 4

Data from A to B

B
Interface 1 Stations 2 3 4

LAN Switch Operation

Forwards packets based on a forwarding table
Forwards based on the MAC (Layer 2) address

10 Mbps

Operates at OSI Layer 2 Learns a stations location by examining source address

Sends out all ports when destination address is broadcast, multicast, or unknown address Forwards when destination is located on different interface

C
3 2 1 10 Mbps 4

B
Interface 1 Stations A 2 3 X 4

LAN Switch Operation

Forwards based on the MAC (Layer 2) address
Data from A to B

Forwards packets based on a forwarding table

Operates at OSI Layer 2 Learns a stations location by examining source address
Sends out all ports when destination address is broadcast, multicast, or unknown address Forwards when destination is located on different interface

10 Mbps

C
3

1
Data from AMbps 10 to B

Data from A to B

Interface 1 Stations A 2 3 X 4

LAN Switch Operation

Forwards packets based on a forwarding table
Forwards based on the MAC (Layer 2) address

10 Mbps

Stations

Sends out all ports when destination address is broadcast, multicast, or unknown address Forwards when destination is located on different interface

Data from B to A

Operates at OSI Layer 2 Learns a stations location by examining source address

C
3 2 1 10 Mbps 4

Interface 1 A B 2 3 X X 4

LAN Switch Operation

Forwards packets based on a forwarding table
Forwards based on the MAC (Layer 2) address

10 Mbps

Operates at OSI Layer 2 Learns a stations location by examining source address

Sends out all ports when destination address is broadcast, multicast, or unknown address Forwards when destination is located on different interface

C
3 2 1 10 Mbps 4

Data from B to A

B
Interface 1 Stations A B 2 3 X X 4

Switching Technology: Full Duplex

Doubles bandwidth between nodes
e.g. switch and server

Collision-free transmission Two 10- or 100-Mbps data paths

10 or 100 Mbps 10 or 100 Mbps

Full Duplex
10 or 100 Mbps 10 or 100 Mbps

Switch

Key Switching Technologies

Key Switching Technologies

802.1d Spanning-Tree Protocol Multicasting

The Need for Spanning Tree

Problems with large switched networks Local multicast, broadcast, and unknown single-destination event storms become global events
Station A Segment A 1/1 Switch 1 1/2 2/2 2/1 Switch 2 Segment B

Station B

802.1d Spanning-Tree Protocol (STP)

Allows redundancy by using parallel links

Shuts down redundant links to eliminate loops

Switches communicate with each other using BPDUs (Bridge Protocol Data Units) Takes 3060 seconds to converge Cisco refinements:
PortFast UplinkFast

Multicasting
Emerging applications require increased bandwidth
E-mail, file transfers, and file sharing are easy to handle Emerging applications are bandwidth hungry Multipoint communications are required
Simultaneous communication between groups of computers

Video LAN TV Desktop conferencing Corporate broadcasts Collaborative computing

Multipoint Communications
Broadcast
Applications address each packet to a single broadcast address

Packets are broadcast to every station

Multicast
Applications address each packet to a group of receivers Network forwards the packets to only the networks that need to receive them

Multicast
Problem: How to prevent multicasting flooding? Multicast Routing Protocols IGMP

WAN

2
Video Servers Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Multicast routing protocols Switches typically flood all ports with multicast traffic

End-to-End Multicast
Multicast Routing Protocols IGMP
Wire-Speed Multicast

WAN

Video Servers Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3

CGMP

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Multicast routing protocols Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP)

End-to-End Multicast
Multicast Routing Protocols IGMP
Wire-Speed Multicast

WAN

Video Servers Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3

CGMP

Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) Multicast routing protocols Cisco Group Management Protocol (CGMP)

Why Use Multicast?

100-kbps Video Stream

0.8

Traffic 0.6 Mbps

0.4 0.2 0 1 20 40 60 80 100

Without multicast With multicast

Number of Clients

Highly scalable information delivery

Summary
Switches provide dedicated access Switches eliminate collisions and increase capacity Switches support multiple conversations at the same time Switches provide intelligence for multicasting

Are Switches A Commodity?

Not if the customer understands the value of an end-to-end solution Cisco IOS throughout the network offers: Guaranteed interoperabilityend-to-end One number to call for supportno finger pointing Enhanced network servicesend-to-end
Higher performance Quality of Service Reliability

Reduced cost for network administration The promise of policy-based management

What Are VPNs?

Service Provider Shared Network
VPN

Internet, IP, FR, ATM

Virtual Private Networks extend the classic WAN VPNs leverage the classic WAN infrastructure, including Ciscos family of VPN-enabled routers and policy management tools VPNs provide connectivity on a shared infrastructure with the same policies and performance as a private network with lower total cost of ownership