Networks for Distributed Systems n network types n Connection-oriented and connectionless communication n switching technologies l circuit l packet

Network Performance Parameters n latency – time (delay) from completion of send operation until data starts to become available to at the destination (measured in time it takes to send an empty message) n data transfer rate – speed at which data can be transferred from source to destination l time it takes to send message of size length: transmission time = latency + length/data transfer rate n bandwidth – total volume of data that can be transferred across network in a given time

Local Area Network n Local area network (LAN) — connects nodes in a small geographic area (e.g., single building, single campus) l nodes connected to single communication medium l media — twisted-pair, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable l Topologies n tree/bus (used in Ethernet) n ring (used in Token Ring) l generally faster (lower latency) than WAN’s and have lower error rates

Wide Area Network n Wide area network (WAN) — connects nodes in a wide geographic area (e.g., across the country) l media – set of communication circuits linking dedicated computers - routers n lines - leased telephone lines (T1 & T3 service), satellite channels, optical links (OC-1, OC-3 …) n Router (Switch) – special purpose computer primarily responsible for routing data from one point to another through an appropriate path while avoiding network congestion. l Arbitrary topology l Data loss due to size and unpredictable environment, routing introduces delays

Other Network Types n metropolitan area network (MAN) – connects nodes within a city (distance under 50km), uses either copper or fiber cables, variety of technologies – Ethernet, ATM, etc. n wireless networks – uses wireless technology to connect devices l variety of different technologies, usually restricted bandwidth and small (handheld devices) n infrared n low-power radio: BlueTooth n wireless phone networks: digital – GSM (Global System of Mobile Communication), analogue – AMPS (Cellular Radio Network)

Network Comparison

Transmission rates n WANs l Modems, etc n Modem = 56 Kbps (into home) n ISDN = 128 Kbps n Cable modems = Mbps into home n ADSL Kbps from hom (asymmetric digital subscriber line) l Dedicated lines n T1 = 1.5 Mbps n T3 = 45 Mbps (backbone, some sites) n New optical backbone: 155 Mbps, soon 600 Mbps, eventually more n LANs l Ethernet = 10 Mbps (originally 3 Mbps) l Fast Ethernet = 100 Mbps l Gigabit Ethernet = 1000 Mbps = 1Gbps

LAN network topologies doubly linked ring star linear bus ring fully connectedpartially connectedtree

Network topologies (cont.) n Point-to-point — links to specific nodes n Fully connected — each node connects to all other nodes 4Each message is fast; it takes only a single “hop” to reach its destination 4Failure of any one node does not affect communication except to it 8 Expensive! n Partially connected — each node connects to some, but not all, nodes 4Less expensive 8 A message may have to go though several other nodes 8 Less tolerant to failure n Tree — network hierarchy 4Messages between direct descendants are fast 8 Messages between “cousins” must go up to a common ancestor and back down 8 Not tolerant of failures

Network topologies (cont.) n Ring — all nodes connect in a circle l Doubly linked ring — each node connects to 1-node and 2- node-away neighbors 4Message may need at most n/4 hops 4Tolerates multiple failures 8 Expensive n Bus — all nodes connect to common network n Nodes connect directly to each other over a shared common bus using multiaccess bus technology 4Inexpensive, linear in number of nodes 4Tolerant of node failures 8 Only one node can send data at a time

Putting it all together n In practice a combination of all these technologies is used

Network communication n Connection-oriented communication l Information delivered as a stream of bytes, in correct order l Connect, exchange data, release n Connectionless communication l Information delivered as a set of packets l Packets may be delivered out of sequence, must be reassembled switched network broadcast circuit- switched packet- switched satellitelocalpacket radio datagram virtual circuit

Switching technologies n In a broadcast (or multiaccess) network, all hosts directly connect to a single shared communication medium l Each host checks the destination address on every message to decide whether or not to read that message n In a switched network, there is a partially-connected topology, and there may be multiple paths between two hosts l Messages may have to pass through intermediate nodes to reach destination n Circuit switching — a dedicated communication path is reserved, and then used to send the entire message l Connection occupies a fixed capacity (not necessarily entire capacity) of each link for the entire lifetime of the connection n Connection-oriented communication

Switching technologies (cont.) n Packet switching — data is broken up into a sequence of fixed-size packets l Each packet is passed through the network from source to destination along some (possibly different) route (path) l At each node, the entire packet is received, stored briefly, and then forwarded to the next node l Datagram package switching n Packets are called datagrams n Each packet is routed independently –A sequence of packets can be received out of order n Connectionless communication l Virtual circuit package (message) switching n All packets from one packet stream are sent along the same path (= virtual circuit) –Guarantees packets are received in sequence n Connection-oriented communication

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) n Designed for wide variety of data, including multimedia (voice, video) n ATM is a fast packet-switching network l Connected communication n Establishes a connection (virtual circuit) for all packets to use l Uses cell relay to achieve higher speed n No flow control or error checking at intermediate nodes n Transmits small, fixed-length packets called cells l Guaranteed bandwidth — connects only if sufficient resources are available

Routing n Routing software decides which path to use to move a message from the destination to source n Routing is usually hop-by-hop, meaning each host chooses the next host to send the message to n Static (fixed) routing — routing tables are stored, and change very infrequently (e.g., after major the network changes) 4Low setup cost, packets arrive in order 8 Can’t react to changes in network load n Dynamic routing — routing tables are updated frequently 4Can react to changes in network load 8 Higher setup cost for each packet 8 Packets can arrive out of order