TCP/IP Protocol Suite Underlying Technology

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on TCP/IP Protocol Suite, Chapter 3: Underlying Technology, including wired and wireless LANs, point-to-point WANs, switched WANs, and connecting devices.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A computer network designed for a limited geographic area such as a building or a campus.

Ethernet

The dominant technology in the LAN market.

LLC (Logical Link Control)

A sublayer of the data link layer in IEEE standards for LANs.

MAC (Media Access Control)

A sublayer of the data link layer (below LLC) in IEEE standards for LANs.

Preamble

56 bits of alternating 1s and 0s at the beginning of an Ethernet frame.

SFD (Start Frame Delimiter)

A flag (10101011) that marks the start of an Ethernet frame.

Minimum Ethernet Frame Length

64 bytes (512 bits).

Maximum Ethernet Frame Length

1518 bytes (12,144 bits).

Ethernet Address

A 6-byte (12 hexadecimal digits, 48 bits) physical address used on an Ethernet network.

Unicast Address

An Ethernet address where the least significant bit of the first byte is 0, addressing a single device.

Multicast Address

An Ethernet address where the least significant bit of the first byte is 1, addressing a group of devices.

Broadcast Address

A special case of multicast address in which all bits are 1s, used to send data to all devices on a network.

Standard Ethernet

Original Ethernet technology operating at 10 Mbps.

Fast Ethernet

Ethernet technology operating at 100 Mbps.

Gigabit Ethernet

Ethernet technology operating at 1 Gbps.

Ten-Gigabit Ethernet

Ethernet technology operating at 10 Gbps.

CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection)

A media access control method used by Standard Ethernet where devices listen before transmitting and stop if a collision is detected.

10Base5

Standard Ethernet implementation using thick coax cable with a maximum length of 500 meters.

10Base2

Standard Ethernet implementation using thin coax cable with a maximum length of 185 meters.

10Base-T

Standard Ethernet implementation using 2 UTP wires with a maximum length of 100 meters.

10Base-F

Standard Ethernet implementation using 2 Fiber cables with a maximum length of 2000 meters.

100Base-TX

Fast Ethernet implementation using STP cable with a maximum length of 100 meters.

100Base-FX

Fast Ethernet implementation using Fiber cable with a maximum length of 100 meters.

Full-Duplex Mode (Gigabit Ethernet)

An operating mode in Gigabit Ethernet where no collision occurs, and maximum cable length is determined by signal attenuation.

1000Base-SX

Gigabit Ethernet implementation using short-wave multi-mode fiber with a maximum length of 550 meters.

1000Base-LX

Gigabit Ethernet implementation using long-wave fiber with a maximum length of 5000 meters.

1000Base-T4

Gigabit Ethernet implementation using Cat 5 UTP with a maximum length of 100 meters.

10GBase-L

Ten-Gigabit Ethernet implementation using single-mode fiber with a maximum length of 10,000 meters.

Wireless LANs

Networks that connect devices without the use of cables, such as IEEE 802.11 LANs and Bluetooth.

IEEE 802.11 LANs

Wireless LANs, sometimes called wireless Ethernet.

Bluetooth

A technology for small wireless LANs, often referred to as piconets.

BSS (Basic Service Set)

A fundamental building block of an IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN, comprising stations and optionally an Access Point.

Ad Hoc Network

A BSS without an Access Point (AP).

AP (Access Point)

A device that acts as a central hub in an infrastructure BSS, connecting wireless clients to a wired network.

ESS (Extended Service Set)

Multiple BSSs connected together through a wired LAN.

CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance)

A media access control method used in wireless networks like IEEE 802.11, designed to avoid collisions.

NAV (Network Allocation Vector)

A timer used in CSMA/CA to help avoid collisions by reserving the medium for a specified duration.

RTS (Request to Send)

A control frame used in CSMA/CA to reserve the medium before sending data.

CTS (Clear to Send)

A control frame sent in response to RTS, granting permission to transmit and indicating the reservation of the medium.

ACK (Acknowledgment)

A control frame used to confirm the successful reception of a frame.

To DS (To Distribution System)

A flag in the FC (Frame Control) field indicating a frame is going from a wireless station to the distribution system.

From DS (From Distribution System)

A flag in the FC (Frame Control) field indicating a frame is coming from the distribution system to a wireless station.

Hidden Station Problem

Occurs when two stations are out of range of each other but both are in range of a third station (AP), leading to potential collisions at the third station.

Exposed Station Problem

Occurs when a station wanting to transmit hears another transmission, even though it could safely transmit without interfering.

Piconet

A small wireless network of up to eight devices, typically using Bluetooth, with one primary and up to seven secondary devices.

Scatternet

A network of interconnected piconets, where a device can be a primary in one piconet and a secondary in another.

Point-to-Point WANs

Wide Area Networks that connect two remote devices directly, often using a line available from a public network.

56K Modem

A traditional modem technology for point-to-point WANs, typically operating at speeds up to 56 kbps.

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)

An asymmetric communication technology designed for residential users, providing faster downstream than upstream speeds.

DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer)

A device at the telephone company office that separates voice and data signals for DSL connections.

Cable Modem

A device that enables data communication over cable television infrastructure.

CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System)

A device at the cable distribution hub that communicates with cable modems.

T-1 Line

A type of T-line offering a data rate of 1.544 Mbps.

T-3 Line

A type of T-line offering a data rate of 44.736 Mbps.

SONET (Synchronous Optical Network)

A standard for synchronous data transmission over optical fiber, used in high-speed WANs.

STS (Synchronous Transport Signal)

Electrical signals defined within the SONET standard.

OC (Optical Carrier)

Optical signals defined within the SONET standard, corresponding to STS rates.

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)

A data link layer protocol used to establish a direct connection between two networking nodes.

Switched WANs

Wide Area Networks that cover a large area and provide user access at multiple points, using a mesh of point-to-point networks connecting switches.

Cell Network

A network that uses fixed-size blocks of information, called cells, as the basic unit of data exchange.

Cell (in Networking)

A small, fixed-size block of information used as the basic unit of data exchange in cell networks like ATM.

ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)

A switched WAN technology that uses fixed-size cells for data transfer.

Virtual Connection (VPI/VCI)

In ATM, a connection defined by a pair of numbers: Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and Virtual Circuit Identifier (VCI).

VPI (Virtual Path Identifier)

Identifies a specific virtual path within an ATM network.

VCI (Virtual Circuit Identifier)

Identifies a specific virtual circuit within a virtual path in an ATM network.

AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer)

A layer above the ATM layer that provides services to higher-layer protocols.

AAL5

A specific ATM Adaptation Layer sublayer commonly used by the IP protocol.

ATM Cell

The basic unit of data in ATM, consisting of a 5-byte header and a 48-byte payload.

Connecting Devices

Devices used to connect LANs and WANs, operating at different layers of the Internet model.

Repeater (Hub)

A connecting device that regenerates and retransmits signals, operating at the physical layer without filtering capability.

Bridge (Two-layer switch)

A connecting device operating at the data link layer, using a table to make filtering decisions and forwarding frames.

Router (Three-layer switch)

A connecting device operating at the network layer, connecting independent LANs or WANs to create an internetwork.

Learning Bridge

A bridge that builds its filtering table by observing the source MAC addresses of frames it processes.

Router (Physical Addresses)

A router changes the physical (MAC) addresses in a packet as it forwards traffic between different networks.