CS402: Computer Communications and Networks

6.3: Technologies

• Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

  Read the beginning of section 6.3, "Datalink Layer Technologies," on page 229. Stop at section 6.3.1 "The Point-to-Point Protocol," which you will read below.

  It would take a library full of volumes to discuss all of the technologies used on the Internet. Your textbook has condensed this information into a discussion of six major categories. The following subunits address the datalink services of these technologies.

• 6.3.1: Point-to-Point Protocol

  • Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

    Read section 6.3.1, "The Point-to-Point Protocol," on pages 228-230.
    

• 6.3.2: Ethernet

  • Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

    Read the beginning of section 6.3.2, "Ethernet," on pages 230-234. Stop at "Ethernet switches," which you will read below. MAC addresses are the datalink services found in an Ethernet environment.

  • 6.3.2.1: Ethernet Switches

    • Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

      Read "Ethernet Switches" on pages 234-237. Stop at "The Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1d)," which you will read below. As you read, consider the following questions: What is an Ethernet switch? How does it function in the datalink layer? How does it utilize Medium Access Control mechanisms?

  • 6.3.2.2: The Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1d)

    • Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

      Read "The Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1d)" on pages 237-240. Stop at the "Virtual LANs" section, which you will read below. The spanning tree protocol is a distributed standard that is used by switches to reduce the network topology to a spanning tree by eliminating all cycles. Explore the examples in your textbook to see how this technology processes frames in the datalink layer.

  • 6.3.2.3: Virtual LANs

    • Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

      Read "Virtual LANs" on pages 2401-241. Stop at section 6.3.3 "802.11 wireless networks," which you will read below. As you read, consider the following question: How do Ethernet switches create virtual LANs?

• 6.3.3: 802.11 Wireless Networks

  • Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice" URL

    Read section 6.3.3, "802.11 Wireless Networks," on pages 241-246. Wi-Fi is a very popular wireless networking technology. There are hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi devices, resulting in multiple wireless networking standards that use different frequency ranges and different physical layers. Explore the wireless revolution into the datalink layer in this section.