n the previous

two parts of this

article series, I cov-
ered various aspects of
Ethernet. I discussed LANs as well as
100- and 1000-Mbps Ethernet. Ill con-
clude this series by examining the
many different hardware components
used to construct a LAN. The focus of
these articles has been the underlying
hardware in an Ethernet system. A
complete treatment must also include
the software required for proper net-
work communication, such as the
NetBEUI and TCP/IP protocols, as
well as network applications. Visit
my web site (www.sunybroome.edu/
~antonakos_j) and look for
Telecommunications III for more
information.
THE NIC
The Network Interface Card (NIC)
is the interface between the PC (or
other networked device) and the phys-
ical network connection. In Ethernet
systems, the NIC connects to a seg-
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April 2002 1
Technically
Speaking
????
ment of coaxial or UTP cable (fiber
NICs are available but not common
yet). The NIC is responsible for opera-
tions that take place in the physical
layer of the OSI network model. It is
only concerned with sending and
receiving zeros and ones, using the
IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard (or IEEE
802.5 token ring). Windows identifies
the installed NIC in network proper-
ties.
To use a protocol with a NIC you
must bind the protocol to the adapter
card. This is typically done automati-
cally when the protocol is added. The
driver type of the NIC may be
Microsofts Network Driver Interface
Specification (NDIS), which allows
multiple protocols to use a single NIC.
An Open Data-Link Interface (ODI)
driver, developed by Novell, performs
the same function for multiple proto-
col stacks used with the NetWare net-
work operating system. Figure 1
shows the NDIS/ODI interface. Both
are designed to decouple the protocols
from the NIC.
The protocols do not require any
specific information about the NIC.
They use the NDIS/ODI drivers to
perform network operations with the
drivers responsible for their specific
hardware. It is important to mention
that all NICs are manufactured with a
unique 48-bit MAC address (for exam-
ple, 00-60-97-2B-E6-0F). You can view
your NICs MAC address using the
Windows WINIPCFG utility.
James Antonakos
Ethernet Technology
Part 3Network Building Blocks
i
Application
Protocol stack
NDIS/ODI
Driver
NIC
TCP/IP
NetBEUI
NDIS
TCP/IP
IPX
ODI
Interface
Figure 1NDIS and ODI network driver interfaces.
2 April 2002
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REPEATERS AND TRANSCEIVERS
A repeater connects two network
segments and broadcasts packets
between them. Because signal loss is a
factor in the maximum length of a
segment, a repeater is used to amplify
the signal and extend the usable
length. A common Ethernet rule is
that no more than four repeaters may
be used to join segments together. This
is a physical limitation designed to
keep collision detection working prop-
erly. Repeaters operate at layer one
(i.e., physical layer) of the OSI model.
A transceiver converts from one
media type to another. For example, a
UTP-to-fiber transceiver acts like a
repeater, except it also interfaces UTP
cable with a fiber optic cable. It is
common to use more than one media
type in an installation; many different
kinds of transceivers are available.
HUBS
Hubs, also called concentrators,
expand one Ethernet connection into
many. For example, a four-port hub
connects up to four machines (or other
network devices) via UTP cables. The
hub provides a star connection for the
four ports. Many hubs contain a single
BNC connector as well to connect the
hub to existing 10Base-2 network
wiring. The hub also can be connected
via one of its ports. One port is
designed to operate in either Straight-
Through or Crossover mode, selected
by a switch on the hub.
A hub is similar to a repeater, except
it broadcasts data received by any port
to all other ports on the hub. Most
hubs contain a small amount of intelli-
gence as well, examining received
packets and checking them for integri-
ty. If a bad packet arrives or the hub
determines that a port is unreliable, it
will shut down the line until the error
condition disappears. Because of its
slight delay when processing a packet,
the number of hubs that may be con-
nected in series is also limited. Figure
2 shows how several hubs are used to
connect five Ethernet segments within
the accepted limits. Because each UTP
cable may be as long as 100 m, the
maximum distance between nodes is
500 m (the network diameter).
BRIDGES AND SWITCHES
When a network grows in size, it is
often necessary to partition it into
smaller groups of nodes to help isolate
traffic and improve performance. One
way to do this is to use a bridge,
whose operation is indicated in Figure
3. The bridge keeps segment A traffic
on the A side, and segment B traffic on
the B side. Packets from segment A
that are meant for a node in segment B
will cross the bridge (the bridge will
permit the packet to cross). The same
is true for packets going from B to A.
The bridge learns which packets
should cross as it is used.
A switch is similar to a bridge, but
with some important enhancements.
First, a switch may have multiple
ports, thus directing packets to several
different segments, and further parti-
tioning and isolating network traffic
in a way similar to a router. Figure 4
shows an eight-port N-way switch,
which can route packets from any
input to any output.
Some or all of an incoming packet is
examined to make the routing deci-
sion, depending on the switching
method that is used. One common
method is called store and forward,
which stores the received packet
before examining it to check for errors
before retransmitting. Bad packets are
not forwarded. In addition, a switch
typically has auto sensing 10/100-
Mbps ports and will adjust the speed
of each port accordingly. Furthermore,
a managed switch supports SNMP for
further control over network traffic.
Switches operate at layer two (i.e.,
data link) of the OSI model.
ROUTERS
A router is the basic building block
of the Internet. Each router connects
two or more networks together by pro-
viding an interface for each network
to which it is connected. The router
examines each packet of information
to determine whether the packet must
be translated from one network to
another, performing a function similar
to a bridge. Unlike a bridge, a router
can connect networks that use differ-
ent technologies, addressing methods,
media types, frame formats, and
speeds.
A router is a special-purpose device
designed to interconnect networks.
For example, three different networks
can be connected using two routers, as
illustrated in Figure 5.
If a computer in network A needs to
send a packet of information to net-
work C, both routers pass the packets
from the source network to the desti-
nation network. Routers maintain
routing tables in their memories to
store information about the physical
connections on the network. The
router examines each packet of data,
checks the routing table, and then for-
wards the packet if necessary. Every
other router in the path (between a
source and a destination network) per-
Segment 3
Segment 4
Segment 2
Segment 1
Segment 5
Figure 2In accordance with the five/four/three rule
(five segments, four repeaters, three segments with
nodes), five Ethernet segments are connected by four
hubs.
Network
devices
Packet
enters
here
Packet
exit
here
1
2
3 4
5
6
7 8
Figure 4An 8-port switch showing how network traffic
is forwarded between ports.
A B
Local packet
does not
cross bridge.
This packet crosses
bridge to locate
destination node. Bridge
This is also
a local packet.
Segment A
Segment B
Figure 3The bridge selectively allows packets to
cross from one network segment to another.
forms a similar procedure. Note that a
router does not maintain any state
information about the packets; it sim-
ply moves them along the network.
Routers operate at layer three (i.e.,
network) of the OSI model.
HUBS VERSUS SWITCHES
The essential difference between
hubs and switches is that hubs broad-
cast frames received on one port to all
other ports, while switches forward a
received frame to a specific port. This
is illustrated in Figure 6, where a
small network of six stations (AF) is
connected two different ways.
In Figure 6a, station A transmits a
frame with a destination of station F.
This does not matter to the four-port
hubs, which simply broadcast copies
of the frame from station A to the
other five stations. This amounts to a
good deal of wasted bandwidth.
Furthermore, all six stations operate
in the same collision domain, making
them compete for bandwidth. Figure
6b shows the same network with the
four-port hubs replaced by four-port
switches. A frame transmitted from
station A with a destination of station
F is forwarded between the switches
and sent directly to station F on port
4. Stations B, C, D, and E do not
receive copies of the frame, as they do
in Figure 6a. Thus, network traffic has
been reduced.
The switches also partition the net-
work into six separate collision
domains. Each station now has unre-
stricted access to its own dedicated
bandwidth (the speed of the switch
port). The switch is capable of specific
forwarding because it learns what
MAC addresses are associated with
each port. Recall that every Ethernet
frame contains a source MAC address
and a destination MAC address. When
a frame is received by a port on a
switch, the switch will save a
copy of the source MAC address
and its associated port number in
a special internal look-up table.
Although we are storing the
source MAC address, it is also a
destination MAC address to every
other station in the network.
When a frame requires forward-
ing, the switch examines the des-
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C without affecting the F-to-D trans-
mission.
INSIDE A SWITCH
If you wanted to start your own net-
working company and begin designing
and manufacturing switches, where
would you begin? Lets examine the
block diagram of a simple switch,
shown in Figure 8.
What would be required of each
component in the switch? Well, the
input port logic contains the Ethernet
receiving logic and buffers for received
frames. Buffering received frames low-
ers the rate of collisions and allows
the switching fabric to be busy for
short periods of time without losing
data. If the frame buffer fills up, any
new frame received by the port will
trigger a collision. The random delay
of CSMA/CD will then give the
switch time to empty a portion of the
input buffer before the station
attempts retransmission.
The second component, the output
port logic, contains an Ethernet trans-
mitter and output frame buffer. Again,
the buffer allows the switch fabric to
service multiple output ports on a
demand basis. For example, several
frames may arrive simultaneously,
with each frame directed to the same
output port. The buffer is required to
prevent the switching fabric from
stalling. In addition, the input and
output frame buffers allow different
speeds between ports (e.g., port 1 oper-
ating at 10 Mbps and port 3 operating
at 100 Mbps). The buffers may be
filled at one speed and emptied at
another speed.
The switching fabric is respon-
sible for directing the received
frames from each input port to
the appropriate output port. In
addition, the switching fabric
must be able to handle a broad-
cast to all output ports. In gener-
al, there are two ways to build
the switching fabric: crossbar
tination MAC address stored in the
frame and looks for it in the look-
up table. If the destination MAC
address is found in the table, the
frame is forwarded to the associated
port. If the destination MAC
address is not found, the frame is
broadcast to all ports. Eventually,
the destination station will most
likely respond with its own frame,
and its port will be identified.
Further broadcasts for that station
will not be required.
Figure 7 shows the results
obtained when a hub and switch
are used together. Stations A, B, and
C are in one collision domain (com-
peting for bandwidth).
Stations D, E, and F are in their
own collision domains. Each has
full access to the available band-
width. In Figure 7a, station A trans-
mits a frame destined for station F.
The frame is broadcast by the hub
and forwarded by the switch.
Stations B and C must contend
with the broadcast frame, waiting
their turn for access. Neither sta-
tion is allowed to transmit while
the hub is broadcasting or a colli-
sion will result. Even though sta-
tion A is sending a frame to station
F, stations B and C are affected.
Figure 7b shows station A sending a
frame to station C. The hub still
broadcasts the frame, which affects
station B, but not stations D, E, or F.
In Figure 7c, station F sends a
frame to station A. The frame is
forwarded by the switch and broad-
cast by the hub. Stations B and C
are affected by the frame of station
F; however, stations D and E are
not affected. Figure 7d shows sta-
tion F sending a frame to station D.
Station E is unaffected and may
transmit a frame to stations A, B, or
Network A Network B Network C
Routers
Figure 5Two routers used to connect three networks.
Figure 6aThe hubs broadcast received packets to all ports. b
The switches forward received packets to specific ports.
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
A A C B
D AF E
4-Port hub
4-Port hub
Collision domain
4 April 2002
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switch or high-speed multiplexed bus.
Both methods are shown in Figure 9.
The crossbar switch in Figure 9a is a
two-dimensional set of data buses. Any
combination of input-to-output con-
nections is possible, even broadcasting.
Each intersection of input wires and
output wires in the crossbar switch
contains an electronic switch that is
either open or closed. A small amount
of control information is required to
configure the crossbar switch. Changing
the control information changes the
input-to-output connections.
The multiplexed bus in Figure 9b
effectively makes one input-output
connection at a time, with each input
port getting its turn at using the bus.
When many signals are multiplexed in
this fashion, the data rate on the mul-
tiplexed bus must be much faster than
the individual speeds of each port. For
example, on a four-port switch with
each port running at 100 Mbps, the
multiplexed bus would need to oper-
ate at 400 Mbps. An eight-port switch
would require an 800 Mbps bus. The
speed requirement of this technique
makes it unsuitable for switching at
high speeds. However, this problem is
overcome by the parallel nature of the
crossbar switch.
The control logic is the fourth com-
ponent. It must perform several
chores, including: update and search
the MAC address table; configure the
switching fabric; and maintain proper
flow control through the switch fabric.
Recall that the switch learns which
ports are associated with specific sta-
tions by storing copies of the source
MAC address from each received
frame. The MAC address and port
number are stored in a special high-
speed memory called Content
Addressable Memory (CAM). The
hardware architecture of the CAM
allows its internal memory to be
quickly searched for a desired data
value, such as a 48-bit MAC address.
Figure 10 shows a simple example of a
CAM being searched for the MAC
address 00-C0-F0-3C-88-17.
It is important to note that all of the
MAC addresses stored in the CAM are
compared to the input value simulta-
neously. For example, the MUSIC
LANCAM MU9C1480 from Music
Semiconductors stores 1024 64-bit
entries and performs comparisons in
70 ns. The control logic uses the look-
up table results from the CAM to con-
figure the switching fabric. In the
event that an output port becomes
unavailable because of congestion or
some other problem, a flow control
mechanism will prevent access to the
port until it becomes available again.
SWITCHING METHODS
Initially, switches handled frames
using a technique called store-and-for-
ward. Using this technique, the entire
frame is stored as it is received. If the
FCS is valid, the destination MAC
address is used to select an output
port, and the frame is forwarded to the
appropriate output port via the switch-
ing fabric. Because the entire frame is
stored before any decisions are made,
there is a delay (or latency) between
the time the frame is received and the
time it begins transmission on the
appropriate output port. The latency
varies depending on the length of the
frame. The minimum latency is
obtained with a minimum size frame.
For 10 Mbps Ethernet, the minimum
latency is 57.6 s (576-bit times at 100
ns per bit, including the preamble).
Maximum length frames have a laten-
cy of just greater than 1.2 ms. Some
applications, such as streaming audio
and video, are sensitive to latency.
A second technique of switching is
cut-through switching. This method
reduces the latency of a switch
tremendously. As soon as the destina-
tion MAC address of an incoming
frame is received, the forwarding
process can begin (assuming there is a
free output port and the switching fab-
ric is available). This reduces the
latency to just 11.2 s plus any addi-
tional time for internal switch opera-
tions. In addition, the latency of the
cut-through method is fixed, because
forwarding can always begin as soon
as the destination MAC address is
received. Unfortunately, errors can be
propagated using the cut-through
method, because there is no way to
know if a frame being forwarded is
good until it has been completely
received. Cut-through switches will
revert to the store-and-forward
method when multiple errors occur
while using the cut-through method.
Control logic MAC storage
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
Switching
fabric
Input
ports
Output
ports
Figure 8A four-port switch contains the following
components: input port logic, output port logic, switch-
ing fabric, and control logic.
Figure 7Hubs and switches can be mixed in a network. You can follow the action: first, station A sends a frame
to station F (a); second, station A sends a frame to station C (b); third, station F sends a frame to station A (c);
and fourth, station F sends a frame to station D (d).
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
A A C B
D AF E
4-Port switch
4-Port hub
Collision domains
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
A A C B
D AF E
4-Port switch
4-Port hub
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
A A C B
D AF E
4-Port switch
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
A A C B
D AF E
4-Port switch
4-Port hub
4-Port hub
a)
b)
d)
c)
at the network layer in the TCP/IP
and OSI protocol stacks. Using
routers, various types of networks are
connected together to form one logical
network. The Internet is an example
of a logical network. On the Internet,
the routing protocols are based on the
Internet Protocol and use IP addresses.
Each router must follow some ground
rules to allow it to process network
layer data.
In general, communicating on a
LAN just like any other station. For
example, on an Ethernet network, a
router communicates using
CSMA/CD and monitors the media
for the MAC address and any broad-
cast messages. The first ground rule
for the router is that it must maintain
tables with routing information for all
reachable networks. The second rule
is to forward or block traffic based on
the destination network address. The
fourth rule is to drop all frames to
unknown destinations. The fifth rule
requires the router to block all broad-
cast messages between networks. And,
the sixth ground rule is to perform
CRC checks on each transferred packet.
Using a router, messages are passed
from one device (host computer or
router) to another until the message
eventually reaches the destination.
Figure 11 shows a typical network
connected to the Internet through a
router. Any traffic exchanged between
any of the nodes on the LAN can be
delivered directly without a router. All
traffic that is destined for the Internet
must be passed on to the router. A
Windows application program called
NETSTAT is used to show the routes
that are currently active on a PC run-
ning the Windows operating system
(see Listing 1).
To deliver a message to a
remote network, the message
must be transmitted from the
source host to a local router
(sometimes called the default
gateway). In the NETSTAT dis-
play, the default gateway has
the address 24.24.78.1. Do any
of the other addresses look
familiar, such as the loop-back
address or the network masks?
After the data is sent to the
default gateway router, it is
packets between networks in the most
efficient manner.
Choosing which type of routing pro-
tocols to use is complicated. An organi-
zation bases its choices on the answers
to (at least) the following questions.
What is the size and complexity of the
network? What types of physical net-
works must be connected? Which serv-
ice provider will handle the network
data? What are the network traffic lev-
els? What are the security needs? What
level of reliability is required? What are
the organizational policies within the
organization? How does the organiza-
tion implement changes? What type of
hardware and software support from
the manufacturer is required? How
long will it take to repair or replace the
equipment if it fails?
Routing protocols perform a differ-
ent type of switching than discussed
previously. Routing protocols operate
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SWITCHES VERSUS ROUTERS
Switches are considered layer-two
devices, using MAC addresses to for-
ward frames to their proper destina-
tion. Routers, layer-three devices, are
much more complex, using micro-
processor-based circuitry to route
packets between networks based on
their IP address. Routers provide the
following services: route discovery;
selection of the best route to a desti-
nation; adaptation to changes in the
network; translation from one tech-
nology to another, such as Ethernet to
token ring; packet filtering based on IP
address, protocol, or UDP/TCP port
number; and connection to a WAN.
Because of the additional processing
required for each packet, a router has a
higher latency than a switch. In addi-
tion, a router requires an initial set-up
sequence, in which the ports are pro-
grammed and certain protocols and
characteristics are enabled or
disabled. A switch may be
simply plugged into the net-
work, automatically learning
how to forward frames as the
network is used. Note that
some protocols (e.g.,
NetBEUI) cant be routed;
instead, they will pass
through a switch. Finally,
switches are used within net-
works to forward local traffic
intelligently. Routers are used
between networks to route
Figure 9Switching fabrics. (a) crossbar switch, (b) multiplexed bus.
1
2
3
4
1 2 3 4
In
Out
2 Connected to 3
4 Connected to 1
1
2
3
4
1 2 3 4
In
Out
1 Connected to 3
2 Connected to 1
3 Connected to 4
4 Connected to 2
1
2
3
4
1 2 3 4
In
Out
2 Broadcasting to
1, 3, and 4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
MUX DEMUX In
Out Data bus Port 1 Port 2 Port 3 Port 4 Port 5
Internal frame
transfer time
Less than the time of
a minimun frame
a)
b)
Figure 10Operation of content addressable memory.
00-C0-F0-27-64-E2
00-20-78-C6-78-14
<empty>
00-C0-F0-3C-88-17

00-C0-F0-26-FC-83
3
1
4
1
Destination MAC address
from received frame
00-C0-F0-3C-88-17
All address are
compared with the
input address at
the same time.
4 Output
1 Address match
1-Match
0-Not found
6 April 2002
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passed on to another router or to the
host computer on the destination
LAN. Each router implements the
routing process by forwarding mes-
sages (one hop at a time) toward their
final destination using information
stored in a routing table. The routing
table contains an entry that indicates
the best path (or interface) for sending
data to its destination.
The routing table can be created and
maintained using two different meth-
ods: static or dynamic. In a static
router, a number of predefined routes
are created and the router lacks the
ability to discover new routes. In a
router with statically configured rout-
ing tables, the network administrator
needs a detailed knowledge of the net-
work topology and must take the time
to manually build and update the
routing table as conditions change.
This involves programming all of the
routes into the router memory. Static
routers can work well for small net-
works, but do not work well in large
or dynamically changing networks
because of the manual effort required.
In addition, static routers are not
fault-tolerant. The lifetime of a manu-
ally configured static route is infinite.
Therefore, statically configured
routers do not recover from a bad link
or a malfunctioning router.
In contrast, using dynamic routing,
new routes can be discovered or old
routes updated as required. Dynamic
routing consists of maintaining rout-
ing tables automatically using either
periodic or on-demand messages
through an ongoing communication
between routers using the routing pro-
tocols. Except for their initial configu-
ration, dynamic routers require little
ongoing maintenance and are fault-tol-
erant. Dynamic routes learned from
other routers have a finite lifetime. If
a router or link goes down, the routers
sense the change in the network
topology through the expiration of the
lifetime of the learned route in the
routing table. This change then can be
propagated to other routers so that all
of the routers on the network realize
the new network topology. The router
chooses the best path to send the data
by implementing a distance-vector or
link-state algorithm. In the distance-
vector algorithm, each router in the
network contains a partial view of the
complete network topology. In the
link-state algorithm, each router is
aware of the entire network.
LAYER-THREE SWITCHING
A layer-three switch is essentially a
switch and a router combined into one
package. Layer-three switching has
become popular as a result of the ever-
increasing demand for bandwidth and
services. Traditional routers have
become bottlenecks in the campus
and corporate LAN environments
because of their microprocessor-based
operation and high latency. Layer
three switches use ASIC technology to
implement the routing functions in
hardware. This enables the layer-three
switch to perform router duties while
forwarding frames significantly faster
than an ordinary router. In fact, layer-
three switches are capable of forward-
ing millions of frames per second,
compared to only several hundred
thousand for a router.
Replacing the campus or corporate
routers with layer-three switches, or
adding layer-three switching to a
router-less network, has many bene-
fits. First of all, layer-three switches
are less expensive than routers. There
are fewer network components to man-
age (via SNMP). You get faster forward-
ing (close to wire speed, the speed of
the frames on the wire). Using switches
on layer three helps provide quality of
service (QoS) to the LAN environment.
Theyre compatible with existing rout-
ing protocols (RIP, OSPF). And, theyre
easier to configure than a router.
There is a great deal of information
about layer-three switching available
on the Internet. You should read one
of 3Coms write papers on the subject
(www.3com.com). Figure 12 summa-
rizes the layer-based networking com-
ponents we have examined, including
the layer-three switch. Lets see how
these hardware components and proto-
cols work together in an ISP.
INSIDE AN ISP
Figure 13 shows an overhead view
of the networking and telecommuni-
cations room at a small Internet
Service Provider. Along the east wall
are the incoming phone lines (200
pairs), modem bank (groups of 64 56-
Kbps modems in a rack-mountable
case), and the 44.7-Mbps T3 connec-
tion (to a higher-level ISP). The
Listing 1Running the NETSTAT program with the r option produces the output. As you can see, NETSTAT
shows the routing table and active connections for the computer.
C:\WINDOWS>netstat -r
Route Table
Active Routes:
Network Address Netmask Gateway Address Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 24.24.78.1 24.24.78.84 1
24.24.78.0 255.255.255.0 24.24.78.84 24.24.78.84 1
24.24.78.84 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
24.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 24.24.78.84 24.24.78.84 1
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
224.0.0.0 224.0.0.0 24.24.78.84 24.24.78.84 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 24.24.78.84 24.24.78.84 1
Active Connections
Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP server:1025 sbccab.cc.sunybroome.edu:139 ESTABLISHED
TCP server:4424 ftp-eng.cisco.com:ftp CLOSE_WAIT
TCP server:4970 mail3-1.nyroc.rr.com:pop-3 TIME_WAIT
TCP server:4981 sunc.scit.wlv.ac.uk:80 CLOSE_WAIT
Figure 11A router connecting a LAN to the Internet
Internet
Router
Host
computer #1
Host
computer #2
Host
computer #3

24.24.78.14
24.24.78.84
24.24.78.39
24.24.78.1
Figure 12Hierarchy of hubs, switches, and routers.
Network
Data-link
Physical
Layer 3
Router
Bridge, switch
Repeater, hub
Layer 3
switch
Layer 2
Layer 1
www.circuitcellar.com/online CIRCUIT CELLAR

ONLINE
April 2002 7
routers and switches that make up the
ISP topology and logical networks are
along the west wall. The center of the
room contains the server farm, where
all of the servers required for opera-
tion of the ISP reside. These include
servers for DNS, DHCP, e-mail, web
pages, and authentication. One
machine is dedicated to monitoring
the network via SNMP and another
for performing backups. Along the
south wall is server space for individ-
ual and corporate servers, which,
along with the dial-up users, help gen-
erate income for the ISP. Numerous
Uninterruptable Power Source (UPS)
units provide 30 min. of power in the
event of a main power loss.
Figure 14 illustrates the actual lay-
out of the network. The T3 connec-
tion is the WAN connection to the
higher-level ISP providing the actual
Internet connection. Traffic in the T3
connection is filtered by the firewall.
The I-router connects the individual
subnetworks together and acts as the
gateway to the Internet through the
firewall. Employee computers (some of
which have 100-Mbps switched serv-
ice) communicate with their own file
server or may tap into the server farm
via the I-router. Individual and corpo-
rate servers share their own switch, as
do the modems in the modem bank
and the servers in the server farm. The
F-router is used to lighten the load on
the I-router for traffic moving between
the server farm and the modem bank.
The network was designed in this
fashion to allow the subnetworks to
keep operating in the event that the
main I-router goes down. Dial-up
users can still check e-mail or work
on their web pages. Employees can
continue to work as well, although
without access to the Internet or the
server farm.
BIGGER, FASTER, MORE
The Internet continues to grow.
New computers and other networked
devices are added every day, increasing
the demand for bandwidth and reliable
communication. These demands are
being met by new technologies, such
as 10-Gbps Ethernet and dense-wave-
division multiplexing, with more to
come. What a long way weve come
since the use of acoustic-coupled 300-
bps modems! And where are we going?
The end is not in sight, but we are
moving there faster and faster each
day, with Ethernet leading the way. I
RESOURCE
3Com Corp., Title of White Paper
Needed, Need Number if
Available, Need Date of
Publication.
SOURCE
MUSIC LANCAM MU9C1480
Music Semiconductors
(732) 469-1886
www.music-ic.com
Figure 14Network diagram for the small ISP
Telephone lines
200 POTS
connections
64
64
64
64
Modem bank
F Router
100-Mbps
switch
100-Mbps
switch
Authentication
DHCP
Backup
DNS E-mail Web
T3 Interface
I Router
100-Mbps
switch
Company
file server
10/100-Mbps
switch
Server farm
T3 Cable
Employee stations
10/100-Mbps
switch
Individual/coraporate
servers
Firewall
Figure 13Communication room layout in a small ISP.
Air
conditioner
Air
conditioner
Router
and
switch
rack
Tools
and test
equipment
Individual/corporate servers
Modern
bank
T3
Dial-up
phone lines
Status
monitor
DNS
Authentication DHCP
Backup
Company
file server
E-mail E-mail
Web Web
Server farm
Door
Window
T3
MUX
CSU DSU
James Antonakos is a professor in the
Department of Electrical Engineering
Technology at Broome Community
College, with over 25 years of experi-
ence designing digital and analog cir-
cuitry and developing software. He is
also the author of numerous text-
books on microprocessors, program-
ming, and microcomputer systems.
You may reach him at antonakos_j
@sunybroome.edu or visit his web
site at www.sunybroome.edu/~anton-
akos_j.
Circuit Cellar, the Magazine for Computer
Applications. Reprinted by permission.
For subscription information,
call (860) 875-2199, or www.circuitcellar.com.
Entire contents copyright 2001 Circuit Cellar
Inc. All rights reserved.