Skip to main content

Switches and broadcast domains

Switches and broadcast domains 
4.3.8 This page will describe the three methods of data transmission that are used in a network.
Communication in a network occurs in three ways. The most common way of communication is by unicast transmissions. In a unicast transmission, one transmitter tries to reach one receiver.
Another way to communicate is known as a multicast transmission. Multicast transmission occurs when one transmitter tries to reach only a subset, or a group, of the entire segment. 
The final way to communicate is by broadcasting. Broadcasting is when one transmitter tries to reach all the receivers in the network. The server station sends out one message and everyone on that segment receives the message.
When a device wants to send out a Layer 2 broadcast, the destination MAC address in the frame is set to all ones. A MAC address of all ones is FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF in hexadecimal. By setting the destination to this value, all the devices will accept and process the broadcasted frame.
The broadcast domain at Layer 2 in referred to as the MAC broadcast domain. The MAC broadcast domain consists of all devices on the LAN that receive frame broadcasts by a host to all other machines on the LAN.
A switch is a Layer 2 device. When a switch receives a broadcast, it forwards it to each port on the switch except the incoming port. Each attached device must process the broadcast frame. This leads to reduced network efficiency, because available bandwidth is used for broadcasting purposes. 
When two switches are connected, the broadcast domain is increased. In this example a broadcast frame is forwarded to all connected ports on Switch 1. Switch 1 is connected to Switch 2. The frame is propagated to all devices connected to Switch 2. 
The overall result is a reduction in available bandwidth. This happens because all devices in the broadcast domain must receive and process the broadcast frame.
Routers are Layer 3 devices. Routers do not propagate broadcasts. Routers are used to segment both collision and broadcast domains.
The next page will explain how a workstation connects to a LAN.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OSI layers / Peer-to-peer communications / TCP/IP model

OSI layers 2.3.4 This page discusses the seven layers of the OSI model. The OSI reference model is a framework that is used to understand how information travels throughout a network. The OSI reference model explains how packets travel through the various layers to another device on a network, even if the sender and destination have different types of network media. In the OSI reference model, there are seven numbered layers, each of which illustrates a particular network function. - Dividing the network into seven layers provides the following advantages: • It breaks network communication into smaller, more manageable parts. • It standardizes network components to allow multiple vendor development and support. • It allows different types of network hardware and software to communicate with each other. • It prevents changes in one layer from affecting other layers. • It divides network communication into smaller parts to make learning it easier to understand. In the foll...
Post a Comment
Read more

Advantages and disadvantages of link-state routing

Advantages and disadvantages of link-state routing 2.1.5  This page lists the advantages and disadvantages of link-state routing protocols. The following are advantages of link-state routing protocols:  Link-state protocols use cost metrics to choose paths through the network. The cost metric reflects the capacity of the links on those paths. Link-state protocols use triggered updates and LSA floods to immediately report changes in the network topology to all routers in the network. This leads to fast convergence times. Each router has a complete and synchronized picture of the network. Therefore, it is very difficult for routing loops to occur. Routers use the latest information to make the best routing decisions. The link-state database sizes can be minimized with careful network design. This leads to smaller Dijkstra calculations and faster convergence. Every router, at the very least, maps the topology of it...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ports for services

Ports for services 10.2.2  Services running on hosts must have a port number assigned to them so communication can occur. A remote host attempting to connect to a service expects that service to use specific transport layer protocols and ports. Some ports, which are defined in RFC 1700, are known as the well-known ports. These ports are reserved in both TCP and UDP.  These well-known ports define applications that run above the transport layer protocols. For example, a server that runs FTP will use ports 20 and 21 to forward TCP connections from clients to its FTP application. This allows the server to determine which service a client requests. TCP and UDP use port numbers to determine the correct service to which requests are forwarded. The next page will discuss ports in greater detail.
Post a Comment
Read more