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1.9: Case Study - Mapping the Internet to the Ethernet

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• Jerome H. Saltzer & M. Frans Kaashoek
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology via MIT OpenCourseWare

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This case study begins with a brief description of Ethernet using the terminology and network model of this chapter. It then explores the issues involved in routing that are raised when one maps a packet-forwarding network such as the Internet to an Ethernet.

A Brief Overview of Ethernet

Ethernet is the generic name for a family of local area networks based on broadcast over a shared wire or fiber link on which all participants can hear one another's transmissions. Ethernet uses a listen-before-sending rule (known as "carrier sense") to control access and it uses a listen-while-sending rule to minimize wasted transmission time if two stations happen to start transmitting at the same time, an error known as a collision . This protocol is named Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection , and abbreviated CSMA/CD. Ethernet was demonstrated in 1974 and documented in a 1976 paper by Metcalfe and Boggs [ Suggestions for Further Reading 1.1.3 ]. Since that time several successively higher-speed versions have evolved. Originally designed as a half duplex system, a full duplex, point-to-point specification that relaxes length restrictions was a later development. The primary forms of Ethernet that one encounters either in the literature or in the field are the following:

• Experimental Ethernet , a long obsolete 3 megabit per second network that was used only in laboratory settings. The 1976 paper describes this version.
• Standard Ethernet , a 10 megabit per second version.
• Fast Ethernet , a 100 megabit per second version.
• Gigabit Ethernet , which operates at the eponymous speed.

Standard, fast, and gigabit Ethernet all share the same basic protocol design and format. The format of an Ethernet frame (with some subfield details omitted) is:

The leader field contains a standard bit pattern that frames the payload and also provides an opportunity for the receiver’s phase-locked loop to synchronize. The destination and source fields identify specific stations on the Ethernet. The type field is used for protocol multiplexing in some applications and to contain the length of the data field in others. (The format diagram does not show that each frame is followed by 96 bit times of silence, which allows finding the end of the frame when the length field is absent.)

The maximum extent of a half duplex Ethernet is determined by its propagation time; the controlling requirement is that the maximum two-way propagation time between the two most distant stations on the network be less than the 576 bit times required to transmit the shortest allowable packet. This restriction guarantees that if a collision occurs, both colliding parties are certain to detect it. When a sending station does detect a collision, it waits a random time before trying again; when there are repeated collisions it uses exponential backoff to increase the interval from which it randomly chooses the time to wait. In a full duplex, point-to-point Ethernet there are no collisions, and the maximum length of the link is determined by the physical medium.

There are many fascinating aspects of Ethernet design and implementation ranging from debates about its probabilistic character to issues of electrical grounding; we omit all of them here. For more information, a good place to start is with the paper by Metcalfe and Boggs. The Ethernet is completely specified in a series of IEEE standards numbered 802.3, and it is described in great detail in most books devoted to networking.

Broadcast Aspects of Ethernet

Section 1.4.5  of this chapter mentioned Ethernet as an example of a network that uses a broadcast link. As illustrated in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), the Ethernet link layer is quite simple: every frame is delivered to every station. At its network layer, each Ethernet station has a 48­ bit address, which to avoid confusion with other addresses we will call a station identifier. (To help reduce ambiguity in the examples that follow, station identifiers will be the only two-digit numbers.)

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): An Ethernet.

The network layer of Ethernet is quite simple. On the sending side, ETHERNET_SEND does nothing but pass the call along to the link layer. On the receiving side, the network handler procedure of the Ethernet network layer is straightforward:

procedure ETHERNET_HANDLE ( net_packet , length )      destination ← net_packet.target_id      if destination = my_station_id then         GIVE_TO_END_LAYER ( net_packet.data , net_packet.end_protocol , net_packet.source_id )      else         ignore packet

There are two differences between this network layer handler and the network layer handler of a packet-forwarding network:

• Because the underlying physical link is a broadcast link, it is up to the network layer of the station to figure out that it should ignore packets not addressed specifically to it.
• Because every packet is delivered to every Ethernet station, there is no need to do any forwarding.

Most Ethernet implementations actually place ETHERNET_HANDLE completely in hardware. One consequence is that the hardware of each station must know its own station identifier, so it can ignore packets addressed to other stations. This identifier is wired in at manufacturing time, but most implementations also provide a programmable identifier register that overrides the wired-in identifier.

Since the link layer of Ethernet is a broadcast link, it offers a convenient additional opportunity for the network layer to create a broadcast network . For this purpose, Ethernet reserves one station identifier as a broadcast address , and the network handler procedure acquires one additional test:

procedure ETHERNET_HANDLE ( net_packet , length )      destination ← net_packet.target_id      if destination = my_station_id or destination = BROADCAST_ID then         GIVE_TO_END_LAYER ( net_packet.data , net_packet.end_protocol , net_packet.source_id )      else         ignore packet

The Ethernet broadcast feature is seductive. It has led people to propose also adding broadcast features to packet-forwarding networks. It is possible to develop broadcast algorithms for a forwarding network, but it is a much trickier business. Even in Ethernet, broadcast must be used judiciously. Reliable transport protocols that require every receiving station to send back an acknowledgment lead to a problematic flood of acknowledgment packets. In addition, broadcast mechanisms are too easily triggered by mistake. For example, if a request is accidentally sent with its source address set to the broadcast address, the response will be broadcast to all network attachment points. The worst case is a broadcast sent from the broadcast address, which can lead to a flood of broadcasts. Such mechanisms make a good target for malicious attack on a network, so it is usually thought to be preferable not to implement them at all.

Layer Mapping: Attaching Ethernet to a Forwarding Network

Suppose we have several workstations and perhaps a few servers in one building, all connected using an Ethernet, and we would like to attach this Ethernet to the packet-forwarding network illustrated in Figure \(1.5.4\) from Section 1.5.2 , by making the Ethernet a sixth link on router \(K\) in that figure. This connection produces the configuration of Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\). 

There are three kinds of network-related labels in the figure. First, each link is numbered with a local single-digit link identifier (in \(italics\)), as viewed from within the station that attaches that link. Second, as in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), each Ethernet attachment point has a two-digit Ethernet station identifier. Finally, each station has a one-letter name, just as in the packet-forwarding network in the figure from  Section 1.5.2 . With this configuration, workstation \(L\) sends a remote procedure call to server \(N\) by sending one or more packets to station 18 of the Ethernet attached to it as link number \(1\).

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Connecting an Ethernet to a packet forwarding network.

Workstation \(L\) might also want to send a request to the computer connected to the destination \(E\), which requires that \(L\) actually send the request packet to router \(K\) at Ethernet station 19 for forwarding to destination \(E\). The complication is that \(E\) may be at address 15 of the packet-forwarding network, while workstation \(M\) is at station 15 of the Ethernet. Since Ethernet station identifiers may be wired into the hardware interface, we probably can’t set them to suit our needs, and it might be a major hassle to go around changing addresses on the original packet-forwarding network. The bottom line here is that we can’t simply use Ethernet station identifiers as the network addresses in our packet-forwarding network. But this conclusion seems to leave station \(L\) with no way of expressing the idea that it wants to send a packet to address \(E\).

We were able to express this idea in words because in the two figures we assigned a unique letter identifier to every station. What our design needs is a more universal concept of network—a cloud that encompasses every station in both the Ethernet and the packet-forwarding network and assigns each station a unique network address. Recall that the letter identifiers originally stood for addresses in the packet-forwarding network; they may even be hierarchical identifiers. We can simply extend that concept and assign identifiers from that same numbering plan to each Ethernet station, in addition to the wired-in Ethernet station identifiers.

What we are doing here is mapping the letter identifiers of the packet-forwarding network to the station identifiers of the Ethernet. Since the Ethernet is itself decomposable into a network layer and a link layer, we can describe this situation, as was suggested in Section 1.3.6 , as a mapping composition—an upper-level network layer is being mapped to lower-level network layer. The upper network layer is a simplified version of the Internet, so we will label it with the name "internet," using a lower case initial letter as a reminder that it is simplified. Our internet provides us with a language in which workstation \(L\) can express the idea that it wants to send an RPC request to server \(E\), which is located somewhere beyond the router:

NETWORK_SEND ( data , length , RPC, INTERNET, E )

where \(E\) is the internet address of the server, and the fourth argument selects our internet forwarding protocol from among the various available network protocols. With this scheme, station \(A\) also uses the same network address \(E\) to send a request to that server. In other words, this internet provides a universal name space.

Our new, expanded, internet network layer must now map its addresses into the Ethernet station identifiers required by the Ethernet network layer. For example, when workstation \(L\) sends a remote procedure call to server \(N\) by

NETWORK_SEND ( data , length , RPC, INTERNET, N )

the internet network layer must turn this into the Ethernet network-layer call

NETWORK_SEND ( data , length , RPC, ENET, 18 )

in which we have named the Ethernet network-layer protocol ENET .

For this purpose, \(L\) must maintain a table like Table \(\PageIndex{2}\), in which each internet address maps to an Ethernet station identifier. This table maps, for example, address \(N\) to ENET , station 18, as required for the NETWORK_SEND call above. Since our internet is a forwarding network, our table also indicates that for address \(E\) the thing to do is send the packet on ENET to station 19, in the hope that it (a router in our diagram) will be sufficiently well connected to pass the packet along to its destination. This table is just another example of a forwarding table like the ones in  Section 1.5  of this chapter.

The Address Resolution Protocol

The forwarding table could simply be filled in by hand, by a network administrator who, every time a new station is added to an Ethernet, visits every station already on that Ethernet and adds an entry to its forwarding table. But the charm of manual network management quickly wears thin as the network grows in number of stations, and a more automatic procedure is usually implemented.

An elegant scheme, known as the address resolution protocol (ARP) , takes advantage of the broadcast feature of Ethernet to dynamically fill in the forwarding table as it is needed. Suppose we start with an empty forwarding table and that an application calls the internet NETWORK_SEND interface in \(L\), asking that a packet be sent to internet address \(M\). The internet network layer in \(L\) looks in its local forwarding table, and finding nothing there that helps, it asks the Ethernet network layer to send a query such as the following:

NETWORK_SEND (“where is M ?”, 11, ARP, ENET, BROADCAST)

where 10 is the number of bytes in the query, ARP is the network-layer protocol we are using, rather than INTERNET , and BROADCAST is the station identifier that is reserved for broadcast on this Ethernet.

Since this query uses the broadcast address, it will be received by the Ethernet network layer of every station on the attached Ethernet. Each station notices the ARP protocol type and passes it to its ARP handler in the upper network layer. Each ARP handler checks the query, and if it discovers its own internet address in the inquiry, sends a response:

NETWORK_SEND (“ M is at station 15”, 18, ARP, ENET, BROADCAST)

At most, one station—the one whose internet address is named by the ARP request—will respond. All the others will ignore the ARP request. When the ARP response arrives at station 17, that station's Ethernet network layer will pass it up to the ARP handler in its upper network layer, which will immediately add an entry relating address \(M\) to station 15 to its forwarding table, shown below. The internet network handler of station 17 can now proceed with its originally requested send operation.

Suppose now that station \(L\) tries to send a packet to server \(E\), which is on the internet but not directly attached to the Ethernet. In that case, server \(E\) does not hear the Ethernet broadcast, but the router at station 19 does, and it sends a suitable ARP response instead. The forwarding table then has a second entry as shown below. Station \(L\) can now send the packet to the router, which presumably knows how to forward the packet to its intended destination.

One more step is required—the server at \(E\) will not be able to reply to station \(L\) unless \(L\) is in its own forwarding table. This step is easy to arrange: whenever router \(K\) hears, via ARP , of the existence of a station on its attached Ethernet, it simply adds that internet address to the list of addresses that it advertises, and whatever routing protocol it is using will propagate that information throughout the internet. If hierarchical addresses are in use, the region designer might assign a region number to be used exclusively for all the stations on one Ethernet, to simplify routing.

Mappings from Ethernet station identifiers to the addresses of the higher network level are thus dynamically built up, and eventually station \(L\) will have the full table shown in Table \(\PageIndex{2}\). Typical systems deployed in the field have developed and refined this basic set of dynamic mapping ideas in many directions: The forwarding table is usually managed as a cache, with entries that time out or can be explicitly updated, to allow stations to change their station identifiers; the ARP response may also be noted by stations that didn’t send the original ARP request for their own future reference; a newly-attached station may, without being asked, broadcast what appears to be an ARP response simply to make itself known to existing stations (advertising); and there is even a reverse version of the ARP protocol that can be used by a station to ask if anyone knows its own higher-level network address, or to ask that a higher-level address be assigned to it. These refinements are not important to our case study, but many of them are essential to smooth network management.

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Title: modeling network architecture: a cloud case study.

Abstract: The Internet s ability to support a wide range of services depends on the network architecture and theoretical and practical innovations necessary for future networks. Network architecture in this context refers to the structure of a computer network system as well as interactions among its physical components, their configuration, and communication protocols. Various descriptions of architecture have been developed over the years with an unusually large number of superficial icons and symbols. This situation has created a need for more coherent systematic representations of network architecture. This paper is intended to refine the design, analysis, and documentation of network architecture by adopting a conceptual model called a thinging (abstract) machine (TM), which views all components of a network in terms of a single notion: the flow of things in a TM. Since cloud computing has become increasingly popular in the last few years as a model for a shared pool of networks, servers, storage, and applications, we apply the TM to model a real case study of cloud networks. The resultant model introduces an integrated representation of computer networks.

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In 2018 we extended the concepts behind citeis to an expanded internal cisco it cloud’s compute and storage service. this service is built upon a new private-cloud infrastructure utilizing cisco unified computing system™ (cisco ucs®) c-series servers and cisco application-centric infrastructure (aci), as well as openstack and other open-source software..

• Offering an Internal Cloud Service

Automated DC network operations (ACI/Segmentation)

A software-defined data center infrastructure, policy-based deployment, and white-list security., by moving our platform as a service (paas) application development and dev/ops private cloud to our aci fabric we are bringing greater automation, security, ease of use and cost-savings to our it data center infrastructure through open source and open apis..

• Cisco Nexus 9Ks
• Cisco Nexus 1000v
• Cisco UCS Manager
• Cisco UCS Director
• Cisco IT Nearing Final Phase of ACI Journey

Cisco IT uses NAE to transform ACI network operations from a reactive posture to a highly proactive approach. This approach substantially drives down MTTR for incidents, shrinks change windows, and optimizes planning in large scale data centers.

• Cisco Network Assurance Engine
• Cisco IT Advances Proactive, Predictive Operations with Cisco Nexus Dashboard
• Cisco IT Cisco Network Assurance Engine Deployment

Cisco is extending existing policies, governing tenants or workloads, across network fabrics that traverse on-premises and cloud environments, with centralized policy provisioning and management applied consistently across this multicloud network.

• Cisco Cloud ACI

Simplify network operations with policy automation and insights for your distributed applications, managed centrally across your multicloud environment

• Cisco Network Insights

• Explore journey
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IT networking stories

Providing secure, easy access to the corporate network from anywhere, at any time, on any device.

Preparing the enterprise for Wi-Fi 6

Migrating to a new Cisco wireless infrastructure

Automating Cisco home and remote access router updates

Cost-effective connectivity for small offices

Connecting branches to data centers and multi-cloud environments through a single fabric.

Bringing SD-WAN to Our Branch Offices: Our Journey and Lessons Learned

Go anywhere with Catalyst 9000s

Software-defined network

Delivering a centralized, programmable network, making it more flexible and easier to manage

Cisco Catalyst Center: early results from intent-based networking

Using Cisco Catalyst Center for network as a platform

SDN and its role in automating and scaling in the data center

• Read all networking stories

Meet the IT bloggers

Read the latest news on what's happening in Cisco IT from those on the front lines.  Read more

Zeroing in on network performance issues, with ThousandEyes

Network performance metrics for every hop from the branch to the cloud? They're at our fingertips, with ThousandEyes Enterprise Agent on Catalyst 9000 switches.

Journey Map – all paths lead to an intent-based network

Check out Cisco IT's interactive journey map to Intent-Based Networking. We share insights and lessons learned from our own ongoing network transformation journey.

Cisco IT is automating many steps in the device software upgrade process by leveraging the SWIM capability in Cisco Catalyst Center.

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Cisco retail store of the future

Cisco is updating an outdated retail space on its main campus with technologies that make the space easier to shop, easier to run, and capable of learning from customers.

• Cisco store and smart cameras (6:44)

Catalyst 9K in North Sydney

By deploying Catalyst 9000 on a parallel network, IT can learn about real-world challenges within the company and get a firsthand perspective of what Cisco customers experience.

• Catalyst 9K in North Sydney (7:57)

4800 access points | customer zero

We go behind the scenes to track a real-life product deployment of Cisco Aironet 4800 access points in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a few members of our IT staff.

• 4800 access points (8:03)

• Computers & Technology
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Network Design and Case Studies (CCIE Fundamentals) (2nd Edition) Subsequent Edition

Authorized preparation materials for CCIE candidates.

• Prepare for the CCIE lab exam while mastering essential protocols and technologies
• Learn new design and configuration strategies for ATM, IP multicasting, network management, switching architectures, CIP, and network security
• Implement practical networking techniques to build scalable, reliable, and secure networks
• Learn to identify key technologies and appropriate implementations for your internetwork design

Cisco CCIE Fundamentals: Network Design and Case Studies, Second Edition offers a comprehensive collection of updated configuration scenarios and design recommendations. By reading this book, you will gain insight into the implementation of practical internetworking strategies, identify features and capabilities of routers and switches, and begin the process of mastering the technologies and protocols necessary to become an effective Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE).

This two-part book is the compilation of design and configuration examples authored and previously released by Cisco Systems. Numerous subject matter experts have revised and restructured each chapter and added coverage of several new topics.

The design guide portion of this book is intended to support the network engineer who designs and implements router-based or switched internetworks. Practical design recommendations include coverage of large-scale networks with IGPs and BGP, ATM, APPN, DLSw+, DDR, ISDN, LAN switching, multicast networks, and more. The case study portion of this book presents real-world configurations that complement the design material. Implementation and troubleshooting advice is offered for EIGRP and OSPF redistribution, ATM, DDR, ISDN, network security, and HSRP.

• ISBN-10 1578701678
• ISBN-13 978-1578701674
• Edition Subsequent
• Publisher Cisco Systems
• Publication date October 19, 1999
• Language English
• Dimensions 7.5 x 2.5 x 9 inches
• Print length 1000 pages
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

From the back cover, about the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cisco Systems; Subsequent edition (October 19, 1999)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 1000 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1578701678
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1578701674
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.27 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 2.5 x 9 inches
• #201 in ISDN Networking
• #987 in LANs (Books)
• #3,957 in Computer Networking (Books)

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Our Network

• Network World
• Case studies in network and systems management

These case studies exemplify how corporate IT departments are using new tools and approaches to managing their networks and servers.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group , a unit of Mandarin Oriental International Ltd., Hong Kong

Mission: Owner and operator of 18 luxury hotels on three continents, in locations such as Hong Kong, London, Geneva, Bermuda, Bangkok and Singapore.

Challenge: As the hotel chain grew from its Asian base to other continents, it needed a way to manage its growing network, build its infrastructure quickly and remain agile — with little capital investment, says Nick Price, director of technology (the equivalent of a CIO) at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in Hong Kong.

Technology: To meet those goals, the hotel group decided to outsource network management to InteQ Corp. , a managed services provider in Bedford, Mass. The vendor’s InfraService offering monitors the hotel group’s servers, applications and network devices and remotely resolves problems. (The hotel group uses an Internet-based virtual private network because of the geographic dispersion.) The Web-based interface provides a window to how the network is doing, offers real-time alerts and demonstrates the value of the service to upper management.

Payoff: “InteQ did what would have taken us two years to do,” says Geoff McClelland, vice president of technology for hotel development, based in Sydney, Australia. And it would be hard for the hotel group to maintain the high-caliber staff expertise that InteQ has, McClelland adds.

Intellinex LLC , an independent business unit launched by Ernst & Young International, Cleveland

Mission: Intellinex provides sophisticated online and multimedia educational programs for major corporate clients.

Challenge: An e-learning division that catered to 30,000 people within Ernst & Young was spun off into a company serving 175,000 people — but its IT infrastructure couldn’t handle that scale, says Mark Bockeloh, Intellinex’s chief technology officer, who is based in Las Calinas, Texas. The training programs are full of multimedia content such as streaming video, and have complex, dynamic features like bookmarking the student’s place in an online course and providing different paths through the course depending on how the student answers the questions. In addition, there are registration and scheduling chores.

Technology: Intellinex obtained San Mateo, Calif.-based MetiLinx Inc. ‘s iSystem Enterprise server optimization and management software. The suite determines the transaction mix on the servers and optimizes the traffic in real time, finding the best route and the best server to handle it, Bockeloh says. “It routes the work to the server with the greatest health, which might be Machine 10 in Miami, and then routes it to Miami,” he says.

Payoff: The result of the optimization is “46% more throughput, and no downtime,” Bockeloh says, “and that means I don’t need 46% more hardware.”

Sony Online Entertainment Inc. , San Diego

Mission: This online gaming division of Sony Corp. runs “massively multiplayer” online games — including the blockbuster EverQuest — with more than 13 million registered users.

Challenge: Sony Online has more than 1,500 servers and 100,000 simultaneous players across three continents. The company needed a network monitoring tool that was inexpensive, easy to configure, easy to manage and easy to blend with custom applications that the gaming network uses, says Adam Joffe, vice president of IT. “Our custom applications wouldn’t fit real well with any of the standard network-monitoring packages that are out there,” he explains.

Technology: Sony Online selected NetVigil from Fidelia Inc. in Princeton, N.J. NetVigil is flexible and has open application programming interfaces “so we could plug in our own custom monitoring tools,” Joffe says.

Payoff: NetVigil was a better choice than larger network management packages, Joffe says. “They would have been overkill, and we’d have paid an awful lot of money for only certain features. NetVigil gives us a broad view of all of our devices — host and network devices. Other packages do either the network well or the host well, but not necessarily both,” he says.

• Taking Control

Stories in this report:

• The Story So Far: Network and Systems Management
• Coping with bandwidth hogs
• Field Report: Network and Systems Management Tools
• Simple Network Management Protocol
• Expediting Content Delivery
• How to Thrive in the Networking Market
• Partitioning: Your Mainframe becomes a Hotel for OS ‘Guests’
• Success With Content Delivery Networks Lies in the Planning

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Mitch Betts is an executive editor at IDG Enterprise. He was previously executive editor of CIO and Computerworld magazines.

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