LANs 1 Local Area Networks: Ethernet Prof. Jean-Yves Le Boudec Prof. Andrzej Duda Prof. Patrick Thiran ICA, EPFL CH-1015 Ecublens
[email protected] http://icawww.epfl.ch LANs 2 Objective o Understand shared medium access methods of Ethernet; o Describe network aspects of an Ethernet network; PART A: The CSMA/CD method PART B: Network Aspects (Ethernet) PART C: CSMA/CA and wireless LANs The access method is a way of sharing a common transmission medium (cable, wireless link) between several hosts. Ethernet is built upon the medium access method called CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection). The network aspects explain how a local area network is built today. We will see that the resulting network is very far away from the original design. LANs 3 Part A: Motivation for LANs o goal: connect computers in same site (building, small campus) o experience from host centric networks:bursty traffic o basic idea: share a cable, no complex software in the end systems o alternatives ? switch based LANs: connection oriented: ATM switch based LANs: connectionless. Switched Ethernet If you want to understand something in the world of local area networks, you should keep in mind the design requirements. Today, they are: •(1) interconnect many pieces of equipment without complex cabling, inside a limited geographical area, and inside one organization •(2a) be easy to manage, in particular, detect cable faults easily. When Ethernet was first conceived, the requirements were a little bit different. The second requirement was replaced by: •(2b) use one shared cable for the entire network.