Network topologies

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Network topology by: Jem Mercado

Network topology is the arrangement of the various elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a computer or biological network. Essentially, it is the topological structure of a network, and may be depicted physically or logically. Physical topology refers to the placement of the network's various components, including device location and cable installation, while logical topology shows how data flows within a network, regardless of its physical design. Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types may differ between two networks, yet their topologies may be identical.

A good example is a local area network (LAN): Any given node in the LAN has one or more physical links to other devices in the network; graphically mapping these links results in a geometric shape that can be used to describe the physical topology of the network. Conversely, mapping the data flow between the components determines the logical topology of the network

There are two basic categories of network topologies:

• Physical topologies• Logical topologies

The shape of the cabling layout used to link devices is called the physical topology of the network. This refers to the layout of cabling, the locations of nodes, and the interconnections between the nodes and the cabling. The physical topology of a network is determined by the capabilities of the network access devices and media, the level of control or fault tolerance desired, and the cost associated with cabling or telecommunications circuits.

The logical topology, in contrast, is the way that the signals act on the network media, or the way that the data passes through the network from one device to the next without regard to the physical interconnection of the devices. A network's logical topology is not necessarily the same as its physical topology. For example, the original twisted pair Ethernet using repeater hubs was a logical bus topology with a physical star topology layout. Token Ring is a logical ring topology, but is wired a physical star from the Media Access Unit.

The logical classification of network topologies generally follows the same classifications as those in the physical classifications of network topologies but describes the path that the data takes between nodes being used as opposed to the actual physical connections between nodes. The logical topologies are generally

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determined by network protocols as opposed to being determined by the physical layout of cables, wires, and network devices or by the flow of the electrical signals, although in many cases the paths that the electrical signals take between nodes may closely match the logical flow of data, hence the convention of using the terms logical topology and signal topology interchangeably.

Logical topologies are often closely associated with Media Access Control methods and protocols. Logical topologies are able to be dynamically reconfigured by special types of equipment such as routers and switches.

The study of network topology recognizes eight basic topologies:

• Point-to-point • Bus• Star• Ring or circular• Mesh• Tree• Hybrid• Daisy chain

Point-to-point

The simplest topology is a permanent link between two endpoints. Switched point-to-point topologies are the basic model of conventional telephony. The value of a permanent point-to-point network is unimpeded communications between the two endpoints. The value of an on-demand point-to-point connection is proportional to the number of potential pairs of subscribers, and has been expressed as Metcalfe's Law.

Permanent (dedicated)

Easiest to understand, of the variations of point-to-point topology, is a point-to-point communications channel that appears, to the user, to be permanently associated with the two endpoints. A children's tin can telephone is one example of a physical dedicated channel.

Within many switched telecommunications systems, it is possible to establish a permanent circuit. One example might be a telephone in the lobby of a public building, which is programmed to ring only the number of a telephone dispatcher. "Nailing down" a switched connection saves the cost of running a physical circuit between the two points. The resources in such a connection can be released when no longer needed, for example, a television circuit from a parade route back to the studio.

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Switch

Using circuit-switching or packet-switching technologies, a point-to-point circuit can be set up dynamically, and dropped when no longer needed. This is the basic mode of conventional telephony.

Bus

Bus network topologyIn local area networks where bus topology is used, each

node is connected to a single cable. Each computer or server is connected to the single bus cable. A signal from

the source travels in both directions to all machines connected on the bus cable until it finds the intended recipient. If

the machine address does not match the intended address for the data, the machine ignores the data. Alternatively, if the

data matches the machine address, the data is accepted. Since the bus topology consists of only one wire, it is rather inexpensive to implement when compared to other topologies. However, the low cost of implementing the technology is offset by the high cost of managing the network. Additionally, since only one cable is utilized, it can be the single point of failure. If the network cable is terminated on both ends and when without termination data transfer stop and when cable breaks, the entire network will be down.

Linear bus:

The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has exactly two endpoints (this is the 'bus', which is also commonly referred to as the backbone, or trunk) – all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this common transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the network simultaneously.Note: When the electrical signal reaches the end of the bus, the signal "echoes" back down the line, causing unwanted interference. As a solution, the two endpoints of the bus are normally terminated with a device called a terminator that prevents this echo.Distributed busThe type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has more than two endpoints that are created by adding branches to the main section of the transmission medium – the physical distributed bus topology functions in exactly the same fashion as the physical linear bus topology (i.e., all nodes share a common transmission medium).





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Star

In local area networks with a star topology, each network host is connected to a central hub with a point-to-point connection. In Star topology every node (computer workstation or any other peripheral) is connected to central node called hub or switch. The switch is the server and the peripherals are the clients. The network does not necessarily have to

resemble a star to be classified as a star network, but all of the nodes on the network must be connected to one central device. All traffic that traverses the network passes through the central hub. The hub acts as a signal repeater. The star topology is considered the easiest topology to design and

implement. An advantage of the star topology is the simplicity of adding additional nodes. The primary disadvantage of the star topology is that the hub represents a single point of failure.

Extended star A type of network topology in which a network that is based upon the physical star topology has one or more repeaters between the central node (the 'hub' of the star) and the peripheral or 'spoke' nodes, the repeaters being used to extend the maximum transmission distance of the point-to-point links between the central node and the peripheral nodes beyond that which is supported by the transmitter power of the central node or beyond that which is supported by the standard upon which the physical layer of the physical star network is based. If the repeaters in a network that is based upon the physical extended star topology are replaced with hubs or switches, then a hybrid network topology is created that is referred to as a physical hierarchical star topology, although some texts make no distinction between the two topologies.

Distributed Star A type of network topology that is composed of individual networks that are based upon the physical star topology connected in a linear fashion – i.e., 'daisy-chained' – with no central or top level connection point (e.g., two or more 'stacked' hubs, along with their associated star connected nodes or 'spokes')







Ring

A network topology that is set up in a circular fashion in which data travels around the ring in one direction and each device on the right acts as a repeater to keep the signal strong as it travels. Each device

incorporates a receiver for the incoming signal and a transmitter to send the data on to the next device in the ring.

The network is dependent on the ability of the signal to travel around the ring. When a device sends data, it must travel through each device on the ring until it reaches its destination. Every node is a critical link.

Mesh

The value of fully meshed networks is proportional to the exponent of the number of subscribers, assuming that communicating groups of any two endpoints, up to and including all the endpoints, is approximated by Reed's Law.

Fully connected mesh topology

A fully connected network is a communication network in which each of the nodes is connected to each other. A

fully connected network doesn't need to use switching nor broadcasting. However, its major disadvantage is

that the number of connections grows quadratically with the number of nodes, per the formula

And so it is extremely impractical for large networks. A two-node network is technically a fully connected network.

Partially connected

The type of network topology in which some of the nodes of the network are connected to more than one other node in the

network with a point-to-point link – this makes it possible to take advantage of some of the redundancy that is provided by a physical fully connected mesh topology without the expense and complexity required for a connection between every node in the network.





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Tree

This particular type of network topology is based on a hierarchy of nodes. The highest level of any tree

network consists of a single, 'root' node, this node connected either a single (or, more commonly, multiple) node(s) in the level below by (a) point-to-point link(s). These lower level nodes are also connected to a single or multiple nodes in the next level down. Tree networks are not constrained to any number of levels, but as tree networks are a variant of the bus network topology, they are prone to crippling network failures should a connection in a higher level of nodes fail/suffer damage. Each node in the network has a specific, fixed number of nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy, this number referred to as the 'branching factor' of the tree. This tree has individual peripheral nodes.

A network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology must have at least three levels in the hierarchy of the tree, since a network with a central 'root' node and only one hierarchical level below it would exhibit the physical topology of a star.

A network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology and with a branching factor of 1 would be classified as a physical linear topology.

The branching factor, f, is independent of the total number of nodes in the network and, therefore, if the nodes in the network require ports for connection to other nodes the total number of ports per node may be kept low even though the total number of nodes is large – this makes the effect of the cost of adding ports to each node totally dependent upon the branching factor and may therefore be kept as low as required without any effect upon the total number of nodes that are possible.

The total number of point-to-point links in a network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology will be one less than the total number of nodes in the network.

If the nodes in a network that is based upon the physical hierarchical topology are required to perform any processing upon the data that is transmitted between nodes in the network, the nodes that are at higher levels in the hierarchy will be required to perform more processing operations on behalf of other nodes than the nodes that are lower in the hierarchy. Such a type of network topology is very useful and highly recommended.

Advantages It is scalable. Secondary nodes allow more devices to be connected to a central

node. Point to point connection of devices. Having different levels of the network makes it more manageable hence easier

fault identification and isolation.Disadvantages







Maintenance of the network may be an issue when the network spans a great area.

Since it is a variation of bus topology, if the backbone fails, the entire network is crippled.

Definition: Tree topology is a combination of Bus and Star topology.An example of this network could be cable TV technology. Other examples are in

dynamic tree based wireless networks for military, mining and otherwise mobile applications. The Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey CA, demonstrated such tree based wireless networks for border security. In a pilot system, aerial cameras kept aloft by balloons relayed real time high resolution video to ground personnel via a dynamic self-healing tree based network.

Hybrid

Hybrid networks use a combination of any two or more topologies in such a way that the resulting network does not exhibit one of the standard topologies (e.g., bus, star, ring, etc.). For example a tree network connected to a tree network is still a tree network topology. A hybrid topology is always produced when two different basic network topologies are connected. Two common examples for Hybrid network are: star ring network and star bus network

A Star ring network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a multi-station access unit (MAU) as a centralized hub.

A Star Bus network consists of two or more star topologies connected using a bus trunk (the bus trunk serves as the network's backbone).While grid and torus networks have found popularity in high-performance

computing applications, some systems have used genetic algorithms to design custom networks that have the fewest possible hops in between different nodes. Some of the resulting layouts are nearly incomprehensible, although they function quite well.

A Snowflake topology is really a "Star of Stars" network, so it exhibits characteristics of a hybrid network topology but is not composed of two different basic network topologies being connected.

Definition: Hybrid topology is a combination of Bus, Star and ring topology.

Daisy chainExcept for star-based networks, the easiest way to add more computers into a

network is by daisy-chaining, or connecting each computer in series to the next. If a message is intended for a computer partway down the line, each system bounces it along in sequence until it reaches the destination. A daisy-chained network can take two basic forms: linear and ring.

A linear topology puts a two-way link between one computer and the next. However, this was expensive in the early days of computing, since each computer (except for the ones at each end) required two receivers and two transmitters.







By connecting the computers at each end, a ring topology can be formed. An advantage of the ring is that the number of transmitters and receivers can be cut in half, since a message will eventually loop all of the way around. When a node sends a message, the message is processed by each computer in the ring. If the ring breaks at a particular link then the transmission can be sent via the reverse path thereby ensuring that all nodes are always connected in the case of a single failure.

Centralization

The star topology reduces the probability of a network failure by connecting all of the peripheral nodes (computers, etc.) to a central node. When the physical star topology is applied to a logical bus network such as Ethernet, this central node (traditionally a hub) rebroadcasts all transmissions received from any peripheral node to all peripheral nodes on the network, sometimes including the originating node. All peripheral nodes may thus communicate with all others by transmitting to, and receiving from, the central node only. The failure of a transmission line linking any peripheral node to the central node will result in the isolation of that peripheral node from all others, but the remaining peripheral nodes will be unaffected. However, the disadvantage is that the failure of the central node will cause the failure of all of the peripheral nodes also,

If the central node is passive, the originating node must be able to tolerate the reception of an echo of its own transmission, delayed by the two-way round trip transmission time (i.e. to and from the central node) plus any delay generated in the central node. An active star network has an active central node that usually has the means to prevent echo-related problems.

A tree topology (a.k.a. hierarchical topology) can be viewed as a collection of star networks arranged in a hierarchy. This tree has individual peripheral nodes (e.g. leaves) which are required to transmit to and receive from one other node only and are not required to act as repeaters or regenerators. Unlike the star network, the functionality of the central node may be distributed.

As in the conventional star network, individual nodes may thus still be isolated from the network by a single-point failure of a transmission path to the node. If a link connecting a leaf fails, that leaf is isolated; if a connection to a non-leaf node fails, an entire section of the network becomes isolated from the rest.

To alleviate the amount of network traffic that comes from broadcasting all signals to all nodes, more advanced central nodes were developed that are able to keep track of the identities of the nodes that are connected to the network. These network switches will "learn" the layout of the network by "listening" on each port during normal data transmission, examining the data packets and recording the address/identifier of each connected node and which port it is connected to in a lookup table held in memory. This lookup table then allows future transmissions to be forwarded to the intended destination only.







Decentralization

In a mesh topology (i.e., a partially connected mesh topology), there are at least two nodes with two or more paths between them to provide redundant paths to be used in case the link providing one of the paths fails. This decentralization is often used to advantage to compensate for the single-point-failure disadvantage that is present when using a single device as a central node (e.g., in star and tree networks). A special kind of mesh, limiting the number of hops between two nodes, is a hypercube. The number of arbitrary forks in mesh networks makes them more difficult to design and implement, but their decentralized nature makes them very useful. This is similar in some ways to a grid network, where a linear or ring topology is used to connect systems in multiple directions. A multidimensional ring has a toroidal topology, for instance.

A fully connected network, complete topology, or full mesh topology is a network topology in which there is a direct link between all pairs of nodes. In a fully connected network with n nodes, there are n(n-1)/2 direct links. Networks designed with this topology are usually very expensive to set up, but provide a high degree of reliability due to the multiple paths for data that are provided by the large number of redundant links between nodes. This topology is mostly seen in military applications.





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Types of Network Cables

Networking cables are used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share printer, scanner etc. Different types of network cables like Coaxial cable, Optical fiber cable, Twisted Pair cables are used depending on the network's topology, protocol and size. The devices can be separated by a few meters (e.g. via Ethernet) or nearly unlimited distances (e.g. via the interconnections of the Internet).

While wireless may be the wave of the future, most computer networks today still utilize cables to transfer signals from one point to another.

There are SIX Types of Internet Wire Connections

1. Twisted pair2. Fiber Optic cable3. Coaxial cable

4. Patch cable5. Ethernet crossover cable6. Power lines

Twisted pairTwisted pair cabling is a form of wiring in which pairs of wires (the forward and return conductors of a single circuit) are twisted together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from other wire pairs and from external sources. This type of cable is used for home and corporate Ethernet networks.

There are three types of twisted pair cables: shielded, unshielded, and foil.

Fiber Optic cable

An optical fiber cable consists of a center glass core surrounded by several layers of protective material. The outer insulating jacket is made of Teflon or PVC to prevent interference. It is expensive but has higher bandwidth and can transmit data over longer distances.

While coax and twisted- pair cabling carry electronic signals, fiber optics uses light to transmit a signal. Ethernet supports two fiber specifications: • Single mode fiber – consists of a very small glass core, allowing only a single ray or mode of light to travel across it. This greatly reduces the attenuation





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and dispersion of the light signal, supporting high bandwidth over very long distances, often measured in kilometers. • Multi mode fiber – consists of a larger core, allowing multiple modes of light to traverse it. Multimode suffers from greater dispersion than single mode, resulting in shorter supported distances. Single mode fiber requires more precise electronics than multimode, and thus is significantly more expensive. Multimode fiber is often used for high-speed connectivity within a data center.

Optical fiber consists of a core and a cladding layer, selected for total internal reflection due to the difference in the refractive index between the two. In practical fibers, the cladding is usually coated with a layer of acrylate polymer or polyimide. This coating protects the fiber from damage but does not contribute to its optical waveguide properties. Individual coated fibers (or fibers formed into ribbons or bundles) then have a tough resin buffer layer and/or core tube(s) extruded around

them to form the cable core. Several layers of protective sheathing, depending on the application, are added to form the cable. Rigid fiber assemblies sometimes put light-absorbing ("dark") glass between the fibers, to prevent light that leaks out of one fiber from entering another. This reduces cross-talk between the fibers, or reduces flare in fiber bundle imaging applications.

*Left: LC/PC connectors; *Right: SC/PC connectorsAll four connectors have white caps covering the ferrules.For indoor applications, the jacketed fiber is generally enclosed, with a bundle of flexible fibrous polymer strength members like aramid (e.g. Twaron or Kevlar), in a lightweight plastic cover to form a simple cable. Each end of the cable may be terminated with a specialized optical fiber connector to allow it to be easily connected and disconnected from transmitting and receiving equipment.

An optical fiber breakout cableFor use in more strenuous environments, a much more robust cable construction is

required. In loose-tube construction the fiber is laid helically into semi-rigid tubes, allowing the cable to stretch without stretching the fiber itself. This protects the fiber from tension during laying and due to temperature changes. Loose-tube fiber may be "dry block" or gel-filled. Dry block

offers less protection to the fibers than gel-filled, but costs considerably less. Instead of







a loose tube, the fiber may be embedded in a heavy polymer jacket, commonly called "tight buffer" construction. Tight buffer cables are offered for a variety of applications, but the two most common are "Breakout" and "Distribution". Breakout cables normally contain a ripcord, two non-conductive dielectric strengthening members (normally a glass rod epoxy), an aramid yarn, and 3 mm buffer tubing with an additional layer of Kevlar surrounding each fiber. The ripcord is a parallel cord of strong yarn that is situated under the jacket(s) of the cable for jacket removal. Distribution cables have an overall Kevlar wrapping, a ripcord, and a 900 micrometer buffer coating surrounding each fiber. These fiber units are commonly bundled with additional steel strength members, again with a helical twist to allow for stretching.

A critical concern in outdoor cabling is to protect the fiber from contamination by water. This is accomplished by use of solid barriers such as copper tubes, and water-repellent jelly or water-absorbing powder surrounding the fiber.Finally, the cable may be armored to protect it from environmental hazards, such as construction work or gnawing animals. Undersea cables are more heavily armored in their near-shore portions to protect them from boat anchors, fishing gear, and even sharks, which may be attracted to the electrical power that is carried to power amplifiers or repeaters in the cable.Modern cables come in a wide variety of sheathings and armor, designed for applications such as direct burial in trenches, dual use as power lines, installation in conduit, lashing to aerial telephone poles, submarine installation, and insertion in paved streets.

Coaxial cable

Coaxial lines confine the electromagnetic wave to area inside the cable, between the center conductor and the shield. The transmission of energy in the line occurs totally through the dielectric inside the cable between the conductors. Coaxial lines can therefore be bent and twisted (subject to limits) without negative effects, and they can be

strapped to conductive supports without inducing unwanted currents in them and though.

The most common use for coaxial cables is for television and other signals with bandwidth of

multiple megahertz. Although in most homes coaxial cables have been installed for transmission of TV signals, new technologies (such as the ITU-T G.hn standard) open the possibility of using home coaxial cable for high-speed home networking applications (Ethernet over coax).In the 20th century they carried long distance telephone connections.







Patch cable

A patch cable is an electrical or optical cable used to connect one electronic or optical device to another for signal routing. Devices of different types (e.g. a switch connected to a computer, or a switch connected to a router) are connected with patch cords. It is a very fast connection speed. Patch cords are usually produced in many different colors so as to be easily distinguishable, and are relatively short, perhaps no longer than two meters.

Ethernet crossover cable

An Ethernet crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable used to connect computing devices together directly where they would normally be connected via a network switch, hub or router, such as directly connecting two personal computers via their network adapters. Some newer Ethernet devices support the use of

cross-over cables in the place of patch cables.

Power lines

Although power wires are not designed for networking applications, new technologies like Power line communication allows these wires to also be used to interconnect home computers, peripherals or other networked consumer products. On December 2008, the ITU-T adopted Recommendation G.hn/G.9960 as the first worldwide standard for high-speed powerline communications. G.hn also specifies communications over phonelines and coaxial





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REPEATER

a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.The term "repeater" originated with telegraphy in the 19th century, and referred to an electromechanical device used to regenerate telegraph signals. Use of the term has continued in telephony and data communications.In telecommunication, the term repeater has the following standardized meanings:

An analog device that amplifies an input signal regardless of its nature (analog or digital). A digital device that amplifies, reshapes, retimes, or performs a combination of any of these functions on a digital input signal for retransmission. A repeater that includes the retiming function is also known as a regenerator.In computer networking, because repeaters work with the actual physical signal, and do not attempt to interpret the data being transmitted, they operate on the physical layer, the first layer of the OSI model. Repeaters are used to increase the range of a transmitted signal by re-transmission. For a conducted signal, an amplifier is used. Optical systems don't amplify but all these devices give the appearance of doing so. Some of the energy traveling as direct current through a conductor is converted to heat energy. This causes a drop in potential energy (a voltage) across the ends of the conductor proportional to the current

times the inverse of the conductor's conductance. Energy passing as alternating current is also lost as it travels but, since it changes direction, there is an additional loss proportional to the capacitive reactance times the current. Since alternating voltage and its current are out of phase, total losses equal the vector sum (rather than linear sum) of the

two losses.Similarly, light, which consists of photons rather than electrons, suffer attenuation due to scattering and absorption. An optical communications repeater receives light as input and outputs light. The output signal power source is external to the input power, but the output power may be driven by input power. Radio repeaters are used in radio communication services such as Commercial or Amateur





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Radio. A radio repeater consists of a radio receiver connected to a transmitter. The radio signal is received, amplified and retransmitted, usually on a different frequency. Higher radio frequencies are limited to line-of-sight transmission, their range is blocked by mountains and the curvature of the Earth, and so repeaters are located on hills and mountains, to retransmit the signal beyond the obstruction. Radio repeaters are also used extensively in broadcasting, where they are known as broadcast relay stations. These extend the broadcast coverage area to remote communities, outside the range of the main broadcast station.

A digipeater is a blend meaning "digital repeater", particularly used in amateur radio. Store and forward digipeaters generally receive a packet radio transmission and then retransmit it on the same frequency.When providing a point-to-point telecom link using radio beyond line of sight, one uses repeaters in a microwave radio relay. A reflector, often on a mountaintop, that relays such signals around an obstacle, is called a passive repeater.Extraneous noises and other type of natural interference can cause the repeater to undesirably retransmit such a signal. To reduce this issue a tone (code) filter such as CTCSS can be added to the repeater's receiver. To access this type of arraignment the (input) user's signal would require the tone to be transmitted, along with other intelligence such as a (audio) voice transmission at the same time.

Advantages

• Makes it easy to expand a network over a large distance.• Connection between various types of media e.g. fibre optic, UTF, coaxial cable] is possible.

Disadvantages

• Traffic cannot be filtered to ease congestion.• A repeater cannot work across multiple network architectures.







Router by: Chelsea Alesna

A router is a device that forwards data packets between computer networks, creating an overlay internetwork. A router is connected to two or more data lines from different networks. When a data packet comes in one of the lines, the router reads the address information in the packet to determine its ultim ate destination. Then, using information in its routing table or routing policy, it directs the packet to the next network on its journey. Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the Internet. A data packet is

typically forwarded from one router to another through the networks that constitute the internetwork until it reaches its destination node.

The most familiar type of routers are home and small office routers that simply pass data, such as web pages, email, IM, and videos between the home computers and the Internet. An example of a router would be the owner's cable or DSL modem, which connects to the Internet through an ISP. More sophisticated routers, such as enterprise routers, connect large business or ISP networks up to the powerful core routers that forward data at high speed along the optical fiber lines of the Internet backbone. Though routers are typically dedicated hardware devices, use of software-based routers has grown increasingly common.

Functions and Purposes

When multiple routers are used in interconnected networks, the routers exchange information about destination addresses using a dynamic routing protocol. Each router builds up a table listing the preferred routes between any two systems on the interconnected networks. A router has interfaces for different physical types of network connections, (such as copper cables, fiber optic, or wireless transmission). It also contains firmware for different networking Communications protocol standards. Each network interface uses this specialized computer software to enable data packets to be forwarded from one protocol transm ission system to another.Routers may also be used to connect two or more logical groups of computer devices known as subnets, each with a different sub-network address. The subnets addresses recorded in the router do not necessarily map directly to the physical interface connections. A router has two stages of operation called planes:







Control plane: A router records a routing table listing what route should be used to forward a data packet, and through which physical interface connection. It does these using internal pre-configured addresses, called static routes.A typical home or small office router showing the ADSL telephone line and Ethernet network cable connections Forwarding plane: The router forwards data packets between incoming and outgoing interface connections. It routes it to the correct network type using information that the packet header contains. It uses data recorded in the routing table control plane.Routers may provide connectivity within enterprises, between enterprises and the Internet, and between internet service providers (ISPs) networks. The largest routers (such as the Cisco CRS-1 or Juniper T1600) interconnect the various ISPs, or may be used in large enterprise networks. Smaller routers usually provide connectivity for typical home and office networks. Other networking solutions may be provided by a backbone Wireless Distribution System (WDS), which avoids the costs of introducing networking cables into buildings.All sizes of routers may be found inside enterprises. The most powerful routers are usually found in ISPs, academic and research facilities. Large businesses may also need more powerful routers to cope with ever increasing demands of intranet data traffic. A three-layer model is in common use, not all of which need be present in smaller networks.

Access Distribution Security Core Internet connectivity and internal use

Access

Access routers, including 'small office/home office' (SOHO) models, are located at customer sites such as branch offices that do not need hierarchical routing of their own. Typically, they are optimized for low cost. Some SOHO routers are capable of running alternative free Linux-based firmware’s like Tomato, OpenWrt or DD-WRT.

Distribution

Distribution routers aggregate traffic from multiple access routers, either at the same site, or to collect the data streams from multiple sites to a major enterprise location. Distribution routers are often responsible for enforcing quality of service across a WAN, so they may have considerable memory installed, multiple WAN







interface connections, and substantial onboard data processing routines. They may also provide connectivity to groups of file servers or other external networks.

Security

External networks must be carefully considered as part of the overall security strategy. Separate from the router may be a firewall or VPN handling device, or the router may include these and other security functions. Many companies produced security-oriented routers, including Cisco Systems' PIX and ASA5500 series, Juniper's Netscreen, Watchguard's Firebox, Barracuda's variety of mail-oriented devices, and many others.

Core

In enterprises, a core router may provide a "collapsed backbone" interconnecting the distribution tier routers from multiple buildings of a campus, or large enterprise locations. They tend to be optimized for high bandwidth, but lack some of the features of Edge Routers.

Internet connectivity and internal use

Routers intended for ISP and major enterprise connectivity usually exchange routing information using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). RFC 4098 standard defines the types of BGP-protocol routers according to the routers' functions:

Edge router: Also called a Provider Edge router, is placed at the edge of an ISP network. The router uses External BGP to EBGP protocol routers in other ISPs, or a large enterprise Autonomous System.

Subscriber edge router: Also called a Customer Edge router, is located at the edge of the subscriber's network, it also uses EBGP protocol to its provider's Autonomous System. It is typically used in an (enterprise) organization.

Inter-provider border router: Interconnecting ISPs, is a BGP-protocol router that maintains BGP sessions with other BGP protocol routers in ISP Autonomous Systems.

Core router: A core router resides within an Autonomous System as a back bone to carry traffic between edge routers.







Within an ISP: In the ISPs Autonomous System, a router uses internal BGP protocol to communicate with other ISP edge routers, other intranet core routers, or the ISPs intranet provider border routers.

"Internet backbone:" The Internet no longer has a clearly identifiable backbone, unlike its predecessor networks. See default-free zone (DFZ). The major ISPs system routers make up what could be considered to be the current Internet backbone core. ISPs operate all four types of the BGP-protocol routers described here. An ISP "core" router is used to interconnect its edge and border routers. Core routers may also have specialized functions in virtual private networks based on a combination of BGP and Multi-Protocol Label Switching protocols.

Port forwarding: Routers are also used for port forwarding between private internet connected servers.

Voice/Data/Fax/Video Processing Routers: Commonly referred to as access servers or gateways, these devices are used to route and process voice, data, video, and fax traffic on the internet. Since 2005, most long-distance phone calls have been processed as IP traffic (VOIP) through a voice gateway. Voice traffic that the traditional cable networks once carried (clarification needed). Use of access server type routers expanded with the advent of the internet, first with dial-up access, and another resurgence with voice phone service.







Switch by: Glaiza Caracas

A switch is a telecommunication device that receives a message from any device connected to it and then transmits the message only to the device for which the message was meant. This makes the switch a more intelligent device than a hub (which receives a

message and then transmits it to all the other devices on its network). The network switch plays an integral part in most modern Ethernet local area networks (LANs). Mid-to-large sized LANs contain a number of linked managed switches. Small office/home office (SOHO) applications typically use a single switch, or an all-purpose converged device such as a residential gateway to access small office/home broadband services such as DSL or cable Internet. In most of these cases, the end-user device contains a router and components that interface to the particular physical broadband technology. User devices may also include a telephone interface for VoIP.A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that links network segments or network devices. The term commonly refers to a multi-port network bridge that processes and routes data at the data link layer (layer 2) of the OSI model. Switches that additionally process data at the network layer (layer

3) and above are often called layer-3 switches or multilayer switches.Switches exist for various types of networks including Fiber Channel,

Asynchronous Transfer Mode, InfiniBand, Ethernet and others. The first Ethernet switch was introduced by Kalpana in 1990







Role of switches in a networkSwitches may operate at one or more layers of the OSI model, including data link and network. A device that operates simultaneously at more than one of these layers is known as a multilayer switch.In switches intended for commercial use, built-in or modular interfaces make it possible to connect different types of networks, including Ethernet, Fiber Channel, ATM, ITU-T G.hn and 802.11. This connectivity can be at any of the layers mentioned. While layer-2 functionality is adequate for bandwidth-shifting within one technology, interconnecting technologies such as Ethernet and token ring is easier at layer 3.Devices that interconnect at layer 3 are traditionally called routers, so layer-3 switches can also be regarded as (relatively primitive) routers.Where there is a need for a great deal of analysis of network performance and security, switches may be connected between WAN routers as places for analytic modules. Some vendors provide firewall, network intrusion detection, and performance analysis modules that can plug into switch ports. Some of these functions may be on combined modules.In other cases, the switch is used to create a mirror image of data that can go to an external device. Since most switch port mirroring provides only one mirrored stream, network hubs can be useful for fanning out data to several read-only analyzers, such as intrusion detection systems and packet sniffers.

Layer-specific functionality

A modular network switch with three network modules (a total of 24 Ethernet and 14 Fast Ethernet ports) and one power supply.While switches may learn about topologies at many layers, and forward at one or more layers, they do tend to have common features. Other than for high-performance applications, modern commercial switches use primarily Ethernet interfaces.At any layer, a modern switch may implement power over Ethernet (PoE), which avoids the need for attached devices, such as a VoIP phone or wireless access point, to have a separate power supply. Since switches can have redundant power circuits connected to uninterruptible power supplies, the connected device can continue operating even when regular office power fails.





Technology

Network topologies