Pa r t 1 : N e t w ork ing Ba sics Pa r t 2 : Addin g Spe e d Pa r t 3 : Sh a r ing D e vices

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Pa r t 1 : N e t w or k ing Ba sics
As com panies rely on applicat ions like elect ronic m ail and dat abase m anagem ent for core business operat ions, com put er net working becom es increasingly m ore im port ant . This t ut orial helps t o explain Et hernet and Fast Et hernet , which are t wo of t he m ost popular t echnologies used in net working.

LAN s ( Loca l Ar e a N e t w or k s)
A net work is any collect ion of independent com put ers t hat com m unicat e wit h one anot her over a shared net work m edium . LANs ar e net works usually confined t o a geographic area, such as a single building or a college cam pus. LANs can be sm all, linking as few as t hree com put ers, but oft en link hundreds of com put ers used by t housands of people. The developm ent of st andard net working prot ocols and m edia has result ed in worldwide proliferat ion of LANs t hroughout business and educat ional organizat ions.

W AN s ( W ide Ar e a N e t w or k s)
Oft en a net work is locat ed in m ult iple physical places. Wide area net working com bines m ult iple LANs t hat are geographically separat e. This is accom plished by connect ing t he different LANs using services such as dedicat ed leased phone lines, dial- up phone lines ( bot h synchronous and asy nchronous) , sat ellit e links, and dat a packet carrier services. Wide area net working can be as sim ple as a m odem and rem ot e access server for em ployees t o dial int o, or it can be as com plex as hundreds of branch offices globally linked using special rout ing prot ocols and filt ers t o m inim ize t he expense of sending dat a sent over vast dist ances.

I nternet
The I nt ernet is a syst em of linked net works t hat are worldwide in scope and facilit at e dat a com m unicat ion services such as rem ot e login, file t ransfer, elect ronic m ail, t he World Wide Web and newsgroups. Wit h t he m et eoric rise in dem and for connect ivit y, t he I nt ernet has becom e a com m unicat ions highway for m illions of users. The I nt ernet was init ially rest rict ed t o m ilit ary and academ ic inst it ut ions, but now it is a fullfledged conduit for any and all form s of inform at ion and com m erce. I nt ernet w ebsit es now provide personal, educat ional, polit ical and econom ic resources t o every corner of t he planet .

I n t r an e t
Wit h t he advancem ent s m ade in browser- based soft ware for t he I nt ernet , m any privat e organizat ions are im plem ent ing int ranet s. An int ranet is a privat e net work ut ilizing I nt ernet - t ype t ools, but available only wit hin t hat organizat ion. For large organizat ions, an int ranet provides an easy access m ode t o corporat e inform at ion for em ployees.

Et h er n e t
Et hernet is t he m ost popular physical layer LAN t echnology in use t oday. Ot her LAN t ypes include Token Ring, Fast Et hernet , Fiber Dist ribut ed Dat a I nt erface ( FDDI ) , Asynchronous Transfer Mode ( ATM) and LocalTalk. Et hernet is popular because it st rikes a good balance bet ween speed, cost and ease of inst allat ion. These benefit s, com bined wit h wide accept ance in t he com put er m arket place and t he abilit y t o support virt ually all popular net work prot ocols, m ake Et hernet an ideal net working t echnology for m ost com put er users t oday. The I nst it ut e for Elect rical and Elect ronic Engineers ( I EEE) defines t he Et hernet st andard as I EEE St andard 802.3. This st andard defines rules for configuring an Et hernet net work as well as specifying how elem ent s in an Et hernet net work int eract wit h one anot her. By adhering t o t he I EEE st andard, net work equipm ent and net work prot ocols can com m unicat e efficient ly.

Fa st Et h er n et
For Et hernet net works t hat need higher t ransm ission speeds, t he Fast Et hernet st andard ( I EEE 802.3u) has been est ablished. This st andard raises t he Et hernet speed lim it from 10 Megabit s per second ( Mbps) t o 100

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Mbps wit h only m inim al changes t o t he exist ing cable st ruct ure. There are t hree t ypes of Fast Et hernet : 100BASE- TX for use wit h level 5 UTP cable, 100BASE- FX for use wit h fiber- opt ic cable, and 100BASE- T4 w hich ut ilizes an ext ra t wo wires for use wit h level 3 UTP cable. The 100BASE- TX st andard has becom e t he m ost popular due t o it s close com pat ibilit y wit h t he 10BASE- T Et hernet st andard. For t he net work m anager, t he incorporat ion of Fast Et hernet int o an exist ing configurat ion present s a host of decisions. Managers m ust det erm ine t he num ber of users in each sit e on t he net work t hat need t he higher t hroughput , decide which segm ent s of t he backbone need t o be reconfigured specifically for 100BASE- T and t hen choose t he necessary hardware t o connect t he 100BASE- T segm ent s wit h exist ing 10BASE- T segm ent s. Gigabit Et hernet is a fut ure t echnology t hat prom ises a m igrat ion pat h beyond Fast Et hernet so t he next generat ion of net works will support even higher dat a t ransfer speeds.

Tok en Rin g
Token Ring is anot her for m of net work configurat ion which differs from Et hernet in t hat all m essages are t ransferred in a unidirect ional m anner along t he ring at all t im es. Dat a is t ransm it t ed in t okens, which ar e passed along t he ring and viewed by each device. When a device sees a m essage addressed t o it , t hat device copies t he m essage and t hen m arks t hat m essage as being read. As t he m essage m akes it s way along t he ring, it event ually get s back t o t he sender who now not es t hat t he m essage was received by t he int ended device. The sender can t hen rem ove t he m essage and free t hat t oken for use by ot hers. Various PC vendors have been proponent s of Token Ring net works at different t im es and t hus t hese t ypes of net works have been im plem ent ed in m any organizat ions.

Pr ot ocols
Net work prot ocols are st andards t hat allow com put ers t o com m unicat e. A prot ocol defines how com put ers ident ify one anot her on a net work, t he form t hat t he dat a should t ake in t ransit , and how t his inform at ion is processed once it reaches it s final dest inat ion. Prot ocols also define procedures for handling lost or dam aged t ransm issions or "packet s." TCP/ I P ( for UNI X, Windows NT, Windows 95 and ot her plat form s) , I PX ( for Novell Net Ware) , DECnet ( for net working Digit al Equipm ent Corp. com put ers) , AppleTalk ( for Macint osh com put ers) , and Net BI OS/ Net BEUI ( for LAN Manager and Window s NT net works) are t he m ain t ypes of net work prot ocols in use t oday. Alt hough each net work prot ocol is different , t hey all share t he sam e physical cabling. This com m on m et hod of accessing t he physical net work allows m ult iple prot ocols t o peacefully coexist over t he net work m edia, and allows t he builder of a net work t o use com m on hardware for a variet y of prot ocols. This concept is know n as "prot ocol independence," which m eans t hat devices t hat are com pat ible at t he physical and dat a link layers allow t he user t o run m any different prot ocols over t he sam e m edium .

M e dia
An im port ant part of designing and inst alling an Et hernet is select ing t he appropriat e Et hernet m edium . There are four m aj or t ypes of m edia in use t oday: Thick wire for 10BASE5 net works, t hin coax for 10BASE2 net works, unshielded t wist ed pair ( UTP) for 10BASE- T net works and fiber opt ic for 10BASE- FL or Fiber- Opt ic I nt er- Repeat er Link ( FOI RL) net works. This wide variet y of m edia reflect s t he evolut ion of Et hernet and also point s t o t he t echnologys flexibilit y. Thickwire was one of t he first cabling syst em s used in Et hernet but was expensive and difficult t o use. This evolved t o t hin coax, w hich is easier t o work wit h and less expensive. The m ost popular wiring schem es are 10BASE- T and 100BASE- TX, w hich use unshielded t wist ed pair ( UTP) cable. This is sim ilar t o t elephone cable and com es in a variet y of grades, wit h each higher grade offering bet t er perform ance. Level 5 cable is t he highest , m ost expensive grade, offering support for t ransm ission rat es of up t o 100 Mbps. Level 4 and level 3 cable are less expensive, but cannot support t he sam e dat a t hroughput speeds; level 4 cable can support speeds of up t o 20 Mbps; level 3 up t o 16 Mbps. The 100BASET4 st andard allows for support of 100 Mbps Et hernet over level 3 cable, but at t he expense of adding anot her pair of wires ( 4 pair inst ead of t he 2 pair used for 10BASE- T) ; for m ost users, t his is an awkward schem e and t herefore 100BASE- T4 has seen lit t le popularit y. Level 2 and level 1 cables are not used in t he design of 10BASE- T net works.

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For specialized applicat ions, fiber- opt ic, or 10BASE- FL, Et hernet segm ent s are popular. Fiber- opt ic cable is m ore expensive, but it is invaluable for sit uat ions where elect ronic em issions and environm ent al hazards are a concern. Fiber- opt ic cable is oft en used in int erbuilding applicat ions t o insulat e net working equipm ent from elect rical dam age caused by light ning. Because it does not conduct elect ricit y, fiber- opt ic cable can also be useful in areas w here large am ount s of elect rom agnet ic int erference are present , such as on a fact ory floor. The Et hernet st andard allows for fiber- opt ic cable segm ent s up t o 2 kilom et ers long, m aking fiber opt ic Et hernet perfect for connect ing nodes and buildings t hat are ot herwise not reachable wit h copper m edia.

Topologie s
A net work t opology is t he geom et ric arrangem ent of nodes and cable links in a LAN, and is used in t wo general configurat ions: bus and st ar. These t wo t opologies define how nodes are connect ed t o one anot her. A node is an act ive device connect ed t o t he net work, such as a com put er or a print er. A node can also be a piece of net working equipm ent such as a hub, swit ch or a rout er. A bus t opology consist s of nodes linked t oget her in a series wit h each node connect ed t o a long cable or bus. Many nodes can t ap int o t he bus and begin com m unicat ion wit h all ot her nodes on t hat cable segm ent . A break anyw here in t he cable will usually cause t he ent ire segm ent t o be inoperable unt il t he break is repaired. Exam ples of bus t opology include 10BASE2 and 10BASE5. 10BASE- T Et hernet and Fast Et hernet use a st ar t opology, in which access is cont rolled by a cent ral com put er. Generally a com put er is locat ed at one end of t he segm ent , and t he ot her end is t erm inat ed in cent ral locat ion wit h a hub. Because UTP is oft en run in conj unct ion wit h t elephone cabling, t his cent ral locat ion can be a t elephone closet or ot her area where it is convenient t o connect t he UTP segm ent t o a backbone. The prim ary advant age of t his t ype of net work is reliabilit y, for if one of t hese point - t o- point segm ent s has a break, it will only affect t he t wo nodes on t hat link. Ot her com put er users on t he net work cont inue t o operat e as if t hat segm ent were nonexist ent .

Figu r e 1

Collision s
Et hernet is a shared m edia, so t here are rules for sending packet s of dat a t o avoid conflict s and prot ect dat a int egrit y. Nodes det erm ine when t he net work is available for sending packet s. I t is possible t hat t wo nodes at different locat ions at t em pt t o send dat a at t he sam e t im e. When bot h PCs are t ransferring a packet t o t he net work at t he sam e t im e, a collision will result . Minim izing collisions is a cr ucial elem ent in t he design and operat ion of net works. I ncreased collisions are oft en t he result of t oo m any users on t he net work, w hich result s in a lot of cont ent ion for net work bandwidt h. This can slow t he perform ance of t he net work from t he users point of view. Segm ent ing t he net work, where a net work is divided int o different pieces j oined t oget her logically wit h a bridge or swit ch, is one way of reducing an overcrowded net work.

Et h er n e t Pr oduct s
The st andards and t echnology t hat have j ust been discussed help define t he specific product s t hat net work m anagers use t o build Et hernet net works. The following t ext discusses t he key product s needed t o build an Et hernet LAN.

Tr a nsce iver s
Transceivers are used t o connect nodes t o t he various Et hernet m edia. Most com put ers and net work int erface cards cont ain a built - in 10BASE- T or 10BASE2 t ransceiver, allowing t hem t o be connect ed direct ly t o Et hernet

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wit hout requiring an ext ernal t ransceiver. Many Et hernet devices provide an AUI connect or t o allow t he user t o connect t o any m edia t ype via an ext ernal t ransceiver. The AUI connect or consist s of a 15- pin D- shell t ype connect or, fem ale on t he com put er side, m ale on t he t ransceiver side. Thickwir e ( 10BASE5) cables also use t ransceivers t o allow connect ions. For Fast Et hernet net works, a new int erface called t he MI I ( Media I ndependent I nt erface) was developed t o offer a flexible way t o support 100 Mbps connect ions. The MI I is a popular way t o connect 100BASE- FX links t o copper- based Fast Et hernet devices.

N e t w or k I n t e r fa ce Ca r ds
Net work int erface cards, com m only referred t o as NI Cs, are used t o connect a PC t o a net work. The NI C provides a physical connect ion bet ween t he net working cable and t he com put ers int ernal bus. Different com put ers have different bus archit ect ures; PCI bus m ast er slot s are m ost com m only found on 486/ Pent ium PCs and I SA expansion slot s are com m only found on 386 and older PCs. NI Cs com e in t hree basic variet ies: 8bit , 16- bit , and 32- bit . The larger t he num ber of bit s t hat can be t ransferred t o t he NI C, t he fast er t he NI C can t ransfer dat a t o t he net work cable. Many NI C adapt ers com ply wit h Plug- n- Play specificat ions. On t hese syst em s, NI Cs are aut om at ically configured wit hout user int ervent ion, while on non- Plug- n- Play syst em s, configurat ion is done m anually t hrough a set up program and/ or DI P swit ches. Cards are available t o support alm ost all net working st andards, including t he lat est Fast Et hernet environm ent . Fast Et hernet NI Cs are oft en 10/ 100 capable, and will aut om at ically set t o t he appropriat e speed. Full duplex net working is anot her opt ion, wher e a dedicat ed connect ion t o a swit ch allows a NI C t o operat e at t wice t he speed.

H u bs/ Re pe a t e r s
Hubs/ repeat ers are used t o connect t oget her t wo or m ore Et hernet segm ent s of any m edia t ype. I n larger designs, signal qualit y begins t o det eriorat e as segm ent s exceed t heir m axim um lengt h. Hubs provide t he signal am plificat ion required t o allow a segm ent t o be ext ended a great er dist ance. A hub t akes any incom ing signal and repeat s it out all port s. Et hernet hubs are necessary in st ar t opologies such as 10BASE- T. A m ult i- port t wist ed pair hub allows several point - t o- point segm ent s t o be j oined int o one net work. One end of t he point - t o- point link is at t ached t o t he hub and t he ot her is at t ached t o t he com put er. I f t he hub is at t ached t o a backbone, t hen all com put ers at t he end of t he t wist ed pair segm ent s can com m unicat e wit h all t he host s on t he backbone. The num ber and t ype of hubs in any one- collision dom ain is lim it ed by t he Et hernet rules. These repeat er rules are discussed in m ore det ail lat er. A very im port ant fact t o not e about hubs is t hat t hey only allow users t o share Et hernet . A net work of hubs/ repeat ers is t erm ed a "shared Et hernet ," m eaning t hat all m em bers of t he net work are cont ending for t ransm ission of dat a ont o a single net work ( collision dom ain) . This m eans t hat individual m em bers of a shared net work will only get a percent age of t he available net work bandwidt h. The num ber and t ype of hubs in any one collision dom ain for 10Mbps Et hernet is lim it ed by t he following rules:

N e t w or k Type 10BASE- T 10BASE2 10BASE5 10BASE- FL

M a x N ode s Pe r Se gm e nt 2 30 100 2

M a x D ist a nce Pe r Se gm e nt 100m 185m 500m 2000m

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Pa r t 2 : Adding Spe e d
While repeat ers allow LANs t o ext end beyond norm al dist ance lim it at ions, t hey st ill lim it t he num ber of nodes t hat can be support ed. Bridges and swit ches, however, allow LANs t o grow significant ly larger by virt ue of t heir abilit y t o support full Et hernet segm ent s on each port . Addit ionally, bridges and swit ches select ively filt er net work t raffic t o only t hose packet s needed on each segm ent - t his significant ly increases t hroughput on each segm ent and on t he overall net work. By providing bet t er perform ance and m ore flexibilit y for net work t opologies, bridges and swit ches will cont inue t o gain popularit y am ong net work m anagers.

Br idge s
The funct ion of a bridge is t o connect separat e net works t oget her. Bridges connect different net works t ypes ( such as Et her net and Fast Et hernet ) or net works of t he sam e t ype. Bridges m ap t he Et hernet addresses of t he nodes residing on each net work segm ent and allow only necessary t raffic t o pass t hrough t he bridge. When a packet is received by t he bridge, t he bridge det erm ines t he dest inat ion and source segm ent s. I f t he segm ent s are t he sam e, t he packet is dropped ( "filt ered") ; if t he segm ent s are different , t hen t he packet is "forwarded" t o t he correct segm ent . Addit ionally, bridges do not forward bad or m isaligned packet s. Bridges are also called "st ore- and- forward" devices because t hey look at t he whole Et hernet packet before m aking filt ering or forwarding decisions. Filt ering packet s, and regenerat ing forwarded packet s enables bridging t echnology t o split a net work int o separat e collision dom ains. This allows for great er dist ances and m ore repeat ers t o be used in t he t ot al net work design. Most bridges are self- learning t ask bridges; t hey det erm ine t he user Et hernet addresses on t he segm ent by building a t able as packet s are passed t hrough t he net work. This self- learning capabilit y, however, dram at ically raises t he pot ent ial of net work loops in net works t hat have m any bridges. A loop present s conflict ing inform at ion on which segm ent a specific address is locat ed and forces t he device t o forward all t raffic. The Spanning Tree Algorit hm is a soft ware st andard ( found in t he I EEE 802.1d specificat ion) for describing how swit ches and bridges can com m unicat e t o avoid net work loops.

Et h er n e t Sw it ch es
Et hernet swit ches are an expansion of t he concept in Et hernet bridging. LAN swit ches can link four, six, t en or m ore net works t oget her, and have t wo basic archit ect ures: cut - t hrough and st ore- and- forward. I n t he past , cut - t hrough swit ches were fast er because t hey exam ined t he packet dest inat ion address only before forwarding it on t o it s dest inat ion segm ent . A st ore- and- forward swit ch, on t he ot her hand, accept s and analyzes t he ent ire packet before forwarding it t o it s dest inat ion. I t t akes m ore t im e t o exam ine t he ent ire packet , but it allows t he swit ch t o cat ch cert ain packet errors and keep t hem from propagat ing t hrough t he net work. Today, t he speed of st ore- and- forward swit ches has caught up wit h cut - t hrough swit ches so t he difference bet ween t he t wo is m inim al. Also, t here are a large num ber of hybrid swit ches available t hat m ix bot h cut - t hrough and st ore- and- forward archit ect ures. Bot h cut - t hrough and st ore- and- forward swit ches separat e a net work int o collision dom ains, allowing net work design rules t o be ext ended. Each of t he segm ent s at t ached t o an Et hernet swit ch has a full 10 Mbps of bandwidt h shared by fewer users, which result s in bet t er perform ance ( as opposed t o hubs t hat only allow bandwidt h sharing from a single Et hernet ) . Newer sw it ches t oday offer high- speed links, eit her FDDI , Fast Et hernet or ATM. These ar e used t o link swit ches t oget her or give added bandwidt h t o high- t raffic servers. A net work com posed of a num ber of swit ches linked t oget her via uplinks is t erm ed a "collapsed backbone" net work.

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Figu r e 2

Rou t er s
Rout ers filt er out net work t raffic by specific prot ocol rat her t han by packet address. Rout ers also divide net works logically inst ead of physically. An I P rout er can divide a net work int o various subnet s so t hat only t raffic dest ined for part icular I P addresses can pass bet ween segm ent s. Net work speed oft en decreases due t o t his t ype of int elligent forwarding. Such filt ering t akes m ore t im e t han t hat exercised in a swit ch or bridge, which only looks at t he Et hernet address. However, in m ore com plex net works, overall efficiency is im proved by using rout ers.

N e t w or k D e sign Cr it e r ia
Et hernet s and Fast Et hernet s have design rules t hat m ust be followed in order t o funct ion correct ly. Maxim um num ber of nodes, num ber of repeat ers and m axim um segm ent dist ances are defined by t he elect rical and m echanical design propert ies of each t ype of Et her net and Fast Et hernet m edia. A net work using repeat ers, for inst ance, funct ions wit h t he t im ing const raint s of Et hernet . Alt hough elect rical signals on t he Et hernet m edia t ravel near t he speed of light , it st ill t akes a finit e t im e for t he signal t o t ravel from one end of a large Et hernet t o anot her. The Et hernet st andard assum es it will t ake roughly 50 m icroseconds for a signal t o reach it s dest inat ion. Et hernet is subj ect t o t he "5- 4- 3" rule of repeat er placem ent : t he net work can only have five segm ent s connect ed; it can only use four repeat ers; and of t he five segm ent s, only t hree can have users at t ached t o t hem ; t he ot her t wo m ust be int er- repeat er links. I f t he design of t he net work violat es t hese repeat er and placem ent rules, t hen t im ing guidelines will not be m et and t he sending st at ion will resend t hat packet . This can lead t o lost packet s and excessive resent packet s, which can slow net work perform ance and creat e t rouble for applicat ions. Fast Et hernet has m odified repeat er rules, since t he m inim um packet size t akes less t im e t o t ransm it t han regular Et hernet . The lengt h of t he net work links allows for a fewer num ber of repeat ers. I n Fast Et hernet net w orks, t here are t wo classes of repeat ers. Class I repeat ers have a lat ency of 0.7 m icroseconds or less and are lim it ed t o one repeat er per net work. Class I I repeat ers have a lat ency of 0.46 m icroseconds or less and ar e lim it ed t o t wo repeat ers per net work. The following are t he dist ance ( diam et er) charact erist ics for t hese t ypes of Fast Et hernet repeat er com binat ions:

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Fa st Et he r ne t No Repeat ers One Class I Repeat er One Class I I Repeat er Two Class I I Repeat ers

Coppe r 100m 200m 200m 205m * Full Duplex Mode 2 km

Fibe r 412m * 272m 272m 228m

When condit ions require great er dist ances or an increase in t he num ber of nodes/ repeat ers, t hen a bridge, rout er or swit ch can be used t o connect m ult iple net works t oget her. These devices j oin t wo or m ore separat e net works, allowing net work design crit eria t o be rest ored. Swit ches allow net work designers t o build large net works t hat funct ion well. The reduct ion in cost s of bridges and swit ches reduces t he im pact of repeat er rules on net work design. Each net work connect ed via one of t hese devices is referred t o as a separat e collision dom ain in t he overall net work.

W h en Et h er n et s Becom e Too Slow

As m ore users are added t o a shared net work or as applicat ions requiring m ore dat a are added, perform ance det eriorat es. This is because all users on a shared net work are com pet it ors for t he Et hernet bus. On a m oderat ely loaded 10Mbps Et hernet net work being shared by 30- 50 users, t hat net work will only sust ain t hroughput in t he neighborhood of 2.5Mbps aft er account ing for packet overhead, int erpacket gaps and collisions. I ncreasing t he num ber of users ( and t herefore packet t ransm issions) creat es a higher collision pot ent ial. Collisions occur when t wo or m ore nodes at t em pt t o send inform at ion at t he sam e t im e - when t hey realize t hat a collision has occurred, each node shut s off for a random t im e before at t em pt ing anot her t ransm ission. Wit h shared Et hernet , t he likelihood of collision increases as m ore nodes are added t o t he shared collision dom ain of t he shared Et hernet . One of t he st eps t o alleviat e t his problem is t o segm ent t raffic wit h a bridge or swit ch. A swit ch can replace a hub and im prove net work perform ance. For exam ple, an eight - port swit ch can support eight Et hernet s, each running at a full 10 Mbps. Anot her opt ion is t o dedicat e one or m ore of t hese swit ched port s t o a high t raffic device such as a file server. Mult im edia and video applicat ions dem and as m uch as 1.5 Mbps of cont inuous bandwidt h - as we have seen above, a single such user can rarely obt ain t his bandwidt h if t hey share an aver age 10Mbps net work wit h 3050 people. The video will also look disj oint ed or "clunky" if t he dat a rat e is not sust ained. Great er t hroughput is required, t herefore, t o support t his applicat ion. When added t o t he net work, Et hernet swit ches provide a num ber of enhancem ent s over shared net works. For em ost is t he abilit y t o divide net works int o sm aller and fast er segm ent s. Et hernet swit ches exam ine each packet , det erm ine where t hat packet is dest ined and t hen forward t hat packet t o only t hose port s t o which t he packet needs t o go. Modern swit ches are able t o do all t hese t asks at "wirespeed," t hat is, wit hout delay. Aside from deciding when t o forward or when t o filt er t he packet , Et hernet swit ches also com plet ely regenerat e t he Et hernet packet . This regenerat ion and re- t im ing allows each port on a swit ch t o be t reat ed as a com plet e Et hernet segm ent , capable of support ing t he full lengt h of cable along wit h all of t he repeat er rest rict ions. Addit ionally, bad packet s are ident ified by Et hernet swit ches and im m ediat ely dropped from any fut ure t ransm ission. This "cleansing" act ivit y keeps problem s isolat ed t o a single segm ent and keeps t hem from disrupt ing ot her net work act ivit y. This aspect of swit ching is ext rem ely im port ant in a net work environm ent where hardware failures ar e t o be ant icipat ed. Full duplex doubles t he bandwidt h on a link, providing 20Mbps for Et hernet and 200Mbps for Fast Et hernet , and is anot her m et hod used t o increase bandwidt h t o dedicat ed workst at ions or servers. To use full duplex, special net work int erface cards are inst alled in t he server or workst at ion, and t he swit ch is program m ed t o support full duplex operat ion.

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I m plem ent ing Fast Et hernet t o increase perform ance is t he next logical st ep. Higher t raffic devices can be connect ed t o swit ches or each ot her via 100 Mbps Fast Et hernet , a great increase of bandwidt h. Many swit ches are designed wit h t his in m ind, and have Fast Et hernet uplinks available for connect ion t o a file server or ot her swit ches. Event ually, Fast Et her net can be deployed t o t he users deskt ops by equipping all com put ers wit h Fast Et hernet net work int erface cards and using Fast Et her net swit ches and repeat ers. Wit h an underst anding of t he underlying t echnologies and product s in use in Et hernet net works, we can now progress t o a discussion of som e of t he m ost popular real world applicat ions.

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Pa r t 3 : Sha r ing D e vice s

D e vice Se r ve r s
A device server is defined as a specialized, net work- based hardware device designed t o perform a single or specialized set of server funct ions. I t is charact erized by a m inim al operat ing archit ect ure t hat requires no per seat net work operat ing syst em license, and client access t hat is independent of any operat ing syst em or propriet ary prot ocol. I n addit ion t he device server is a "closed box," delivering ext rem e ease of inst allat ion, m inim al m aint enance, and can be m anaged by t he client rem ot ely via a Web browser. Print servers, t erm inal servers, rem ot e access servers and net work t im e servers are exam ples of device servers which are specialized for part icular funct ions. Each of t hese t ypes of ser vers have unique configurat ion at t ribut es in hardware or soft ware t hat help t hem t o perform best in t heir part icular arena.

Pr in t Se r ver s
Print servers allow print ers t o be shared by ot her users on t he net work. Support ing eit her parallel and/ or serial int erfaces, a print server accept s print j obs from any person on t he net w ork using support ed prot ocols and m anages t hose j obs on each appropriat e print er. The earliest print servers were ext ernal devices, which support ed print ing via parallel or serial port s on t he device. Typically, only one or t wo prot ocols were support ed. The lat est generat ion of print servers support m ult iple prot ocols, have m ult iple parallel and serial connect ion opt ions and, in som e cases, are sm all enough t o fit direct ly on t he parallel port of t he print er it self. Som e print ers have em bedded or int ernal print servers. This design has an int egral com m unicat ion benefit bet ween print er and print server, but lacks flexibilit y if t he print er has physical problem s. Print servers generally do not cont ain a large am ount of m em ory; print ers sim ply st ore inform at ion in a queue. When t he desired print er becom es available, t hey allow t he host t o t ransm it t he dat a t o t he appropriat e print er port on t he server. The print serv er can t hen sim ply queue and print each j ob in t he order in which print request s are received, regardless of prot ocol used or t he size of t he j ob.

Figu r e 3

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M u lt ipor t D e vice Ser ve r s

The ancest or of t odays m ult iport device server was a "Term inal Server" , used t o enable t erm inals t o t ransm it dat a t o and from host com put ers across LANs, wit hout requiring each t erm inal t o have it s own direct connect ion. And w hile t he t erm inal servers exist ence is st ill j ust ified by convenience and cost considerat ions, it s inherent int elligence provides m any m ore advant ages. Am ong t hese is enhanced rem ot e m onit oring and cont rol. Mult iport Device Servers t hat support prot ocols like SNMP m ake net works easier t o m anage. Devices t hat are at t ached t o a net work t hrough a m ult iport device server can be shared bet ween t erm inals and host s at bot h t he local sit e and t hroughout t he net work. A single t erm inal m ay be connect ed t o several host s at t he sam e t im e ( in m ult iple concurrent sessions) , and can swit ch bet ween t hem . Mult iport device servers are also used t o net work devices t hat have only serial out put s. A connect ion bet ween serial port s on different servers is opened, allowing dat a t o m ove bet ween t he t wo devices. Given it s nat ural t ranslat ion abilit y, a m ult i- prot ocol m ult iport device server can perform conversions bet ween t he prot ocols it knows, like LAT and TCP/ I P. While server bandwidt h is not adequat e for large file t ransfers, it can easily handle host - t o- host inquiry/ response applicat ions, elect ronic m ailbox checking, et c. And it is far m ore econom ical t han t he alt ernat ives of acquiring expensive host soft ware and special- purpose convert ers. Mult iport device and print servers give t heir users great er flexibilit y in configuring and m anaging t heir net works. Whet her it is m oving print ers and ot her peripherals from one net work t o anot her, expanding t he dim ensions of int eroperabilit y or preparing for growt h, m ult iport device servers can fulfill your needs, all wit hout m aj or rewiring.

Acce ss Se r ve r s
While Et hernet is lim it ed t o a geographic area, rem ot e users such as t raveling sales people need access t o net work- based resources. Rem ot e LAN access, or rem ot e access, is a popular way t o provide t his connect ivit y. Access servers use t elephone services t o link a user or office wit h an office net w ork. Dial- up rem ot e access solut ions such as I SDN or asynchronous dial int roduce m ore flexibilit y. Dial- up rem ot e access offers bot h t he rem ot e office and t he rem ot e user t he econom y and flexibilit y of "pay as you go" t elephone services. I SDN is a special t elephone service t hat offers t hree channels, t wo 64 Kbps "B" channels for user dat a and a "D" channel for set t ing up t he connect ion. Wit h I SDN, t he B channels can be com bined for double bandwidt h or separat ed for different applicat ions or users. Wit h asynchronous rem ot e access, regular t elephone lines are com bined wit h m odem s and rem ot e access servers t o allow users and net works t o dial anyw here in t he world and have dat a access. Rem ot e access servers provide connect ion point s for bot h dial- in and dial- out applicat ions on t he net work t o which t hey are at t ached. These hybrid devices rout e and filt er prot ocols and offer ot her services such as m odem pooling and t erm inal/ print er services. For t he rem ot e PC user, one can connect from any available t elephone j ack ( RJ45) , including t hose in a hot el room s or on m ost airplanes.

N e t w or k Tim e Se r ve r s
As organizat ions becom e global in t heir scope, t hey can begin t o encount er problem s which never before affect ed t hem . Tim e is one of t hese problem s. How does one begin t o coordinat e act ivit ies in several sit es t hat require precise t im ing of event s when net work t raffic bet ween t hose sit es is subj ect t o delays or inconsist encies? The answ er t o t his quest ion is t o obt ain t im ing inform at ion in all locat ions from a single source. A net work t im e server is a server specialized in t he handling of t im ing inform at ion from sources such as sat ellit es or radio broadcast s and is capable of providing t his t im ing dat a t o it s at t ached net work. Specialized prot ocols such as NTP or udp/ t im e allow a t im e server t o com m unicat e t o ot her net work nodes ensuring t hat act ivit ies t hat m ust be coordinat ed according t o t heir t im e of execut ion are synchronized correct ly. GPS sat ellit es are one source of inform at ion t hat can allow global inst allat ions t o achieve const ant t im ing.

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D e vice Se r ve r s
A Device Server is an appliance t hat net work- enables any device wit h a serial com m unicat ions port . By virt ue of it s independent operat ing syst em , prot ocol independence, sm all size and flexibilit y, Device Servers are able t o m eet t he dem ands of virt ually any net work- enabling applicat ion. The dem and for Device Servers is rapidly increasing because organizat ions need t o leverage t heir net working infrast ruct ure invest m ent across all of t heir resources. Many curr ent ly inst alled devices lack net work port s or require dedicat ed serial connect ions for m anagem ent - - Device Servers allow t hose devices t o becom e connect ed t o t he net work. Device Servers are current ly used in a wide variet y of environm ent s in w hich m achinery, inst rum ent s, sensors and ot her discret e devices generat e dat a t hat was previously inaccessible t hrough ent erprise net works. Device Servers are also used for securit y syst em s, point - of- sale applicat ions, net work m anagem ent and m any ot her applicat ions where net wor k access t o a device is required. As Device Servers becom e m ore widely adopt ed and im plem ent ed int o specialized applicat ions, we can expect t o see variat ions in size, m ount ing capabilit ies and enclosures. Device Servers are also available as em bedded devices, capable of providing inst ant net working support for builders of fut ure product s where connect ivit y will be required.

Con clu sion

We hope t his int roduct ion t o net working has been helpful and inform at ive. How ever, we cannot explain everyt hing t here is t o know about planning, inst alling, adm inist ering and t roubleshoot ing a net work in t his short t ut orial. There are m any I nt ernet websit es, books and m agazines available t hat explain all aspect s of com put er net works, from LANs t o WANs, net work hardware t o running cable. Check your local bookst ore, soft ware ret ailer or newsst and for m ore det ailed inform at ion.

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