1. Advanced Computer Networks
CS716
Advanced Computer Networks
By Dr. Amir Qayyum 1

2. Lecture No. 15

3. Source Routing
Packet header contains sequence of address/ports on path from source to destination
One direction per switch: port, next switch; (absolute)
Switches read, use, and then discard directions

4. Source Routing
All forwarding/topology information required to switch a packet is provided by source host
Used in some system area networks (SANs)
Directions may be rotated instead of discarding

5. Data Transfer in Source Routing
Analogous to following directions 2
Switch 2
Switch 1 3 1 3 1
data 1 3 2
data 1 3
data 3 1
Switch 3 2
data 1 3
Host A
Host B 1 3
data 2 3 1
data 3 1

6. Source Routing Model
Source host needs to know the correct and complete topology of the network
Changes must propagate to all hosts
Packet headers may be large and variable in size: the length is unpredictable

7. Can be used in datagram or virtual circuit networks
Source Routing Model
Each switch needs to correctly and efficiently manipulate the header information
Rotation or stripping of address
Pointer to current address
Can be used in datagram or virtual circuit networks

8. Forwarding Performance
Assume switch is
General-purpose workstation
With DMA support
Multiple network adapters (NIC’s)
Switching process
Packet arrives on NIC 1
NIC 1 DMA’s packet into memory
CPU looks at header, decides to send on NIC 2
NIC 2 DMA’s packet into NIC 2 memory
Packet leaves via NIC 2

9. Implementation and Performance
Packet arriving at interface 1 has to go on interface 2
Point of contention for packets: I/O and memory bus

10. Implementation and Performance
The cost of processing small packets (parsing headers, deciding output port) dominates other restrictions
Throughput = packets/sec x bits/packet
Moving data from inputs to outputs in parallel may increase the aggregate throughput
Potential bottlenecks
I/O bus bandwidth
Memory bus bandwidth
Processor computing power

11. Bridges and Extended LANs

12. Building Extended LANs
Traditional LAN
Shared medium (e.g., Ethernet)
Cheap, easy to administer
Supports broadcast traffic
Problem
Want to scale LAN concept
Larger geographic area (> O(1 km))
More hosts (> O(100))
But retain LAN-like functionality
Solution: bridges

13. Bridges Connect two or more LANs with a bridge
Transparently extends a LAN over multiple networks
Accept & forward strategy (in promiscuous mode)
Level 2 connection (does not add packet header) A
Bridge B C X Y Z
Port 1
Port 2

14. Bridges vs. Switches Switch Bridge Receive frame on input port
Translate address to output port
Forward frame
Bridge
Connect shared media
All ports bidirectional
Repeat subset of traffic
Receive frame on one port
Send on all other ports

15. Uses and Limitations of Bridges
Extend LAN concept
Limited scalability
To O(1,000) hosts
Not to global networks
Not heterogeneous
Some use of address, but
No translation between frame formats

16. Learning Bridges Trivial algorithm
Forward all frames on all (other) LAN’s
Potentially heavy traffic & processing overhead
Optimize by using address information
“Learn” which hosts live on which LAN
Maintain forwarding table
Only forward when necessary (dest. not on same LAN)
Reduces bridge workload

17. Learning Bridges Learn table entries based on source address
Timeout entries to allow movement of hosts
Table is an optimization; need not be complete
Always forward broadcast frames
Uses datagram or connectionless forwarding A
Bridge B C X Y Z
Port 1
Port 2
Host Port A B C X Y Z

18. Learning Bridges Problem Solution: spanning treeC E D B2 B5 B B7 K F H B4 J B1 B6 G I
Problem
Redundancy (desirable to handle failures, but …)
Makes extended LAN structure cyclic
Frames may cycle forever
Solution: spanning tree

19. Spanning Tree Subset of forwarding possibilities
All LAN’s reachable, but
Acyclic
Bridges run a distributed algorithm to calculate the spanning tree
Select which bridge actively forward
Developed by Radia Perlman of DEC
Now IEEE specification
Reconfigurable algorithm

20. Spanning Tree Concept LAN’s and bridges make a bipartite graph
Ports are edges connecting LAN’s to bridges
Spanning tree required
Connect all LAN’s: all vertices of graph are covered
Can leave out bridges: all edges may not be covered

21. Spanning Tree Algorithm
Each bridge has a unique, totally-ordered identifier
Select bridge with lowest ID as root bridge

22. Spanning Tree Algorithm
Each bridge determines
Direction of shortest path to root (preferred port)
For each connected LAN, is it the designated bridge?
Select bridge on each LAN closest to root as designated bridge
Use ID (lowest) to break ties)
Ports connecting LAN’s to designated bridges called designated ports

23. Spanning Tree Algorithm
All designated bridges forward frames
On all designated ports
On preferred port (path leading to root) A B B3
LAN
Designated port
Preferred port
Designated bridge C B5 D B7 B2 K E F B1 B2 G H B6 B4 I J

24. Distributed Spanning Tree Algorithm
Bridges exchange configuration messages
ID for bridge sending the message
ID for what the sending bridge believes to be root bridge
Distance (hops) from sending bridge to root bridge

25. Distributed Spanning Tree Algorithm
Initially, each bridge believes it is the root
Sends a configuration message, and checks if any received message is better than the current best message
Each bridge records current best configuration message for each port

26. Distributed Spanning Tree Algorithm
Bridges forward configuration messages outward from root bridge i.e., on all designated ports
Bridge assumes it is designated bridge for a LAN until it learns otherwise A B B3 C B5 D B7 B2 K E F B1 G H B6 B4 I J

27. Algorithm Details
In steady state, only designated bridges forward configuration messages
Outward from root bridge, to all designated ports
Until they learn they are not designated bridge

28. Algorithm Details
In steady state, only root generates configuration messages periodically
Timeout restarts algorithm (claiming “I am root …”)
Although algorithm is reconfigureable, it is not possible to forward frames over alternative paths

29. Broadcast and Multicast
Forward all broadcast/multicast frames to all preferred and designated ports
Current practice
Lets hosts decide whether or not to accept frame

30. Broadcast and Multicast
Alternative: extend learning to handle groups
Learn when no group members downstream
Group members periodically identify themselves
Accomplished by having each group member sending a frame to the bridge with group address in source field

31. Limitations of Bridges
Do not scale
Broadcast does not scale
Spanning tree algorithm does not scale
Do not accommodate heterogeneity
Only supports networks with same address formats

32. Limitations of Bridges
Caution: beware of transparency
Frame drop because of bridge congestion
Large and variable latency between two hosts
Frames may reorder in extended LANs