Topic: Introduction to Networking

Objectives:
At the completion of the chapter, students should be able to:
1.) explain the concept of data communication and network design;
2.) identify and describe the elements of good network design;
3.) identify and enumerate the different LAN and WAN speeds; and
4.) describe the components and setup of the different Network Topology.

Internet and Networking Devices

Router
- a specialized network device that determines the
next network point to which it can forward a data
packet towards the ultimate destination of the packet.

Switch
- a switch transmits packets on a network, but instead
of sending them to all nodes on the network like a hub,
it sorts out the packets and only sends them to proper node.

Repeaters/WIFI Extender
- are devices that amplify signals along a network.
They are necessary on a WAN because signals often have
to travel farther than would otherwise be possible over the
wires or cables that carry them.

Elements of a GOOD Network Design

1. Cost
2. Speed
3. Availability
4. Reliability
5. Scalability
6. Security
7. Topology

1. Cost
One of the challenges that you may encounter once you manage a network is when you were asked to create a network
design for your company office.

For example:
One day, you were asked by your supervisor to create a network design proposal for the company. He said that the company
is growing and it needs an upgrade for its Network. You were asked to prepare a Network Design proposal, that also includes
 the list of equipment, devices, network topology, network layout, and suppliers that you might need if necessary. He said
that you will submit it and present it to the board of directors probably next week.

Now if you encounter this kind of scenario, the first thing that you will need to do is to ask your supervisor, how much is the
budget for the network upgrade?

All companies, from small to large businesses has a BUDGET allocated to every project or move of the company. That is
why, COST is the number one element of a good network design. Also, the other elements depend on the budget because
you will need to learn what equipment that you will acquire needs a bigger allocation of the budget and what equipment can
be low-priced.

The next thing that you will need to ask to your supervisor is the purpose of the network that you will design.

Take note, in Networking there are three types of traffic.

3 types of Traffic
1. Data (database, email, chat)
2. Voice (call center, VOIP app)
3. Video (video conference, training center language, thru video)
Why do you need to know these types of traffic?
The equipment that the network vendors including Cisco releases can be specifically for data, voice, or video. If
the company will use only data traffic, you can use cheap routers that Cisco or the other vendor is selling but when the
network will be used for voice and video traffic, there are this so called “ISR” routers.
ISR means Integrated Service Routers – these are the routers which has fast processor that can handle voice
and video traffic. These routers are far more expensive because of its speed.
That’s why you need to consider if you will use expensive routers or not.
Now, after you knew the budget and the routers that you will use for the network. The next thing that you need to consider
for the elements of a good network design is the Speed.
2. Speed
The speed depends on the side of the network that will be used.

2 sides of Network
1. LAN
➢ Local Area Network
2. WAN
➢ Wide Area Network
The speed of the Local Area Network is different to the speed of Wide Area Network.
What is the meaning of Local Area Network and Wide Area Network?
In networking, the definition of the terminologies always depends on where you will use it.
In Network Design, Local Area Network is the interconnection of the network devices that you personally connected or the
cabling was done by the owner while Wide Area Network is the interconnection of the network devices that uses Service
Provider.
LAN Ingredients
▪ Switches
▪ End Devices (PC, Servers, Network Printers)
 WAN Ingredients
▪ Routers
▪ WAN connection
o Leased Line
o Frame Relay
o Metro Ethernet
o MPLS
o VSAT
These WAN connections are the variations that can be offered by different service providers.
Metro Ethernet, MPLS and VSAT are the connections that you will encounter once you choose to pursue
another level in network management.
LAN SPEEDS
Ethernet – 10 Mbps
Fast Ethernet – 100 Mbps
o Fast Ethernet is the common network speed
Gigabit Ethernet – 1000 Mbps

Suppose you have this network diagram:

The diagram shows a switch wherein three pc is connected to it and the purpose of this network is to connect
the 3 PC, PC1, PC2, and PC3 to access a common database server.

100Mbps

Take note that normal switches use fast ethernet speeds or the 100 Mbps, this means that ( refer to the switch
above) this switch has 100 Mbps in every interface but in normal mode of operations of switch works in full duplex.

Full Duplex
➢ 2-way communication
o TRANSMIT and RECEIVE work simultaneously.
o TRANSMIT can also be known as Upload or Uplink
o RECEIVE can also be known as Download or Downlink
 o TRANSMIT happens when you throw data from the end device (for example PC1 refer to diagram below)
to the network. Transmit, Upload or Uplink is How fast is the sending of the data from the end device to
the network or the rate of transfer.

o RECEIVE happens when the end device (for example PC1 refer to diagram below) accepts data from the
network.

Again, when we talk about the normal switch nowadays, it always gives a 100mbps for its speed BUT the mode of
operation is full duplex. It means that the transmit and receive works simultaneously, this will give us a 100mbps for the
transmit and 100mbps for the receive or 100mbps per direction, so cumulatively the switch provides a total of 200mbps
speed per interface.

TX – 100mbps
RX – 100mbps
 Let’s go back to this diagram:

Suppose that this diagram shows that

the three PC (PC1, PC2, PC3) are
connected to the network to transmit
data into the server. Again, when the
PC transmits, the switch provides a
100mbps speed per interface. Since,
PC1 is only connected to a single
interface of the switch, it can transmit at
100mbps, full speed, same with the
other PC but that is for the computer
perspective since they are sending data
into the server. Now, their data will be
downloaded or received by the server
perspective and this server is also
connected to the switch. The problem
now is that, there are three PC that are
sending data simultaneously so the
100mbps speed for download will be
divided for the three users.

We have also 3 speed terminologies to remember, these are;

1. Bandwidth – Theoretical Maximum Speed that you can get, so it means that when you are connected to a network
with only one user, if you will use the diagram above, the bandwidth is 100mbps, because that is the maximum speed
that every PC can get.
2. Throughput – Actual Speed that users can get. In networking, there are many factors for the throughput that affects
it. Like, the number of users that is simultaneously using the shared resource, the switching and forwarding speed of
devices, and the encapsulations that are used for the data.
3. Latency – Network Delay/Milliseconds/Total Roundtrip Time

Now, suppose the company has 1000 users and the bandwidth is 100mbps, the throughput will be 100kbps only per user.
That’s very slow for the speed and near for a dial-up speed of 60kbps. If the user needs to use an application that requires
a throughput of 1mbps speed, that would be a problem. Right?
Another question is, how will you provide the required 1mbps speed for each user of the company?
Take a look at the LAN Speeds again, we also have a gigabit ethernet that has 1000mbps. When you use a switch that
gives gigabit ethernet, you can come up with the computation of 1000mbps / 1000users and that is exactly 1mbps.
Problem solved right? Is it possible?
If you will notice on the diagram, the
server is connected to a gigabit switch
that has 1000mbps bandwidth for each 1000mbps
interface and each direction.
Now, you will consider this as your
solution to the problem:
You can provide a 1mbps throughput
for each user by using only gigabit
switches because
1000mbps / 1000users = 1mbps

That is not possible. Why?

If you only use Gigabit Switches, it will

require a lot of money because gigabit
switches are very expensive than fast
ethernet switches.

Remember that you have a budget to

consider and also it will only be a waste
even if your company affords to buy
these kinds of switches because
switches have this so called
‘Auto-Negotiation Feature’

Auto-Negotiation
➢ Fast port will become slow once connected to a slow port.
So, for an instance, you only used giga switch for your network, so that will give 1000mbps per interface but your switches
are connected to the PC which has NIC Lan or the Network Interface Card that has only 100mbps. Now, if you use a gigabit
switch but the PC has a 100mbps speed, it will auto-negotiate and the speed of the switch will be 100mbps also that’s why
it will be a waste. But if you want to take advantage of the speed of your switch, the PC should also have the same speed
and that requires a lot of budget.

GIGA
1000mbps

100mbps
 Let’s go back to this diagram:
1000mbps
The diagram shows that the server is
connected to a gigabit switch and the
gigabit switch is connected to a normal
switch that has 100mbps speed. What
100mbps
will happen? It will auto-negotiate, so
the connection from the giga switch into
the normal switch will have 100mbps
only.
100mbps
The PC is connected to the normal
switch and will have a 100mbps speed,
that’s fast for the connection of the pc
to the normal switch.

As you can see, the connection

between the normal switch and the
gigabit switch narrows and that is what
we called ‘Network Bottleneck’

Network Bottleneck
➢ Affects network performance by slowing down the flow of information transmitted across networks.
How to handle Network Bottleneck? Buy a normal switch that has extra gigabit interface. This type of switch is cheaper than that
of pure gigabit switch.

What if the company hires another 1000 users that will simultaneously use the network? How are we going to give that 1mbps
throughput? Bundling Technologies will be necessary.
Bundling Technologies
LAN -> EtherChannel
To implement an EtherChannel, technically you will connect two separate cable from the switch up to the server and that
two cable will be bundled into one logical link.
What is Logical Link?
Note: In networking there are physical connections and logical connections. The difference between the two is that, Physical
Connection is what is visible to the eye.The connection of the cables and network devices that you see but it is not always what it
looks like, the manner operation can differ. Our physical connections can behave differently based on configured settings and that
is Logical Connections.

In this diagram, although you can see

that there are PHYSICALLY two cable
that are connected to a switch, but 2Gbps
LOGICALLY since that two cable are
bundled into one logical link, the switch
will treat these two as one. And that is
EtherChannel.
We are configuring the connections
such that two or more separate physical
links will act as one.
If you will configure an EtherChannel,
the switch will treat the two links as if it
is only a single cable such that if the
switch has data to pass on to the
server, it will be divided into two and will
be forwarded by the two cable
simultaneously and that’s when we
implement ‘Load Balancing’ into the
two interface of the switch.

Load Balancing happens when a network device, like switch, forwards packet to two or more links simultaneously.
Advantages of using EtherChannel
1. Effectively it increases the bandwidth without the need of an equipment upgrade.
2. It gives redundancy to the network.
Note: If you will configure an EtherChannel to the Network, it will provide a downtime to the network because when one
link is down the other is still connected.
WAN
When we talk about WAN, the ingredients for this are the routers and serial link that is presented by this symbol
Whenever you see that kind of symbol, it means that it can be a serial link either leased line or a frame relay connection or the
different type of Wide Area Network connection.

The reason why we use WAN service is

to connect to the other branch office.
As you can see in the diagram, that link
that is pointed by the arrow is where
WAN speeds apply.
WAN Speeds
T1 – 1.544 Mbps = 20k/month
E1 – 2.048 Mbps = 40k/month
T3/DS3 – 44.736 Mbps = 100k+/month
These speeds are provided by the Service Provider that means you will pay for it.

Can I use my DSL plan at home?

No.
Why does T1, E1, and T3/DS3 so expensive?
T1, E1 and T3/DS3 WAN Speeds are dedicated access speeds or the CIR (Committed Information Rate).
When we say committed and dedicated speed, it means that the speed that you can get is what you supposed to get. The service
provider is COMMITTED to give you the speed you pay. The speed is fixed not like the ordinary DSL plan at home.

Let’s say that the speed you want or need for your network is 90 Mbps. As you notice in the first three WAN Speeds, the highest
speed is 44.736 Mbps or 45 Mbps only. T1, E1, and T3/DS3 uses copper cable for its transmission medium, and the maximum speed
that can pass through a copper cable is only 45 Mbps. If you are in need of higher speed then you will use Fiber Optic Connections.
WAN Speeds - FIBER Speeds
OC-1 – 51.84 Mbps
OC-2 – 102 Mbps
OC-3/STM-1 – 155.52 Mbps
OC-12/STM-4 – 622.08 Mbps
Price = Hundred Thousands to Millions/month
The problem is some old buildings have copper cable installed to them and it is not possible to install fiber optic cables because of
the building structure. Now, how will you come up with 90 Mbps? In this type of situation, you may use the Bundling Technology
for WAN and this is what you called ‘Multilink’
Bundling Technologies
WAN -> Multilink
The concept of multilink is the same as the concept of EtherChannel.
 45 Mbps

45 Mbps

45 Mbps + 45 Mbps = 90 Mbps

Now the next element of a good network design is the Availability.

3. Availability
➢ Measure of how available your network is.
➢ Measure of Network Uptime

For example:
You want to know the percentage of Availability of your Network for a day. (Take Note that you can take the
Availability for a span of time, it can be the availability for a month, or for the entire year.) So, your network has 24/7 of operation.
Now, the problem is your network experience a failure with the connection, and the company got a network outage. It
means that the network had gone offline for example an hour. You will come up with this computation:
% Availability = 24 – 1
24
% Availability= 0.9583333 multiply it to 100 to get the percentage
% Availability = 95.83%
 To Achieve High Availability, you must have or consider:
1. Hierarchical Network Design – Core, Distribution Layer, Access Layer
2. Device Redundancy – you have two of everything or back-up.
3. Link hardening/Bundling – EtherChannel and Multilink
4. FHRP – First-Hope Redundancy Protocol – for automatic failover

4. Reliability
➢ Equipment to consider for the design
➢ The strength of the equipment that you will acquire.
➢ The availability of your network depends on the reliability of your network equipment.

5. Scalability
➢ Capability to adapt to network growth
➢ To achieve a highly scalable network depends on the hierarchical network design, when your network is
hierarchical it will be easy to add devices to the network.
6. Security
➢ Software/Hardware
➢ Software Security is the one we configure to prevent hackers, intruders or even the ill-disciplined employees, you
may use firewall that you will install to the network.
➢ Hardware Security means that you will use cabinets or service racks. Cabinets with lock should be included to
the budget to prevent unauthorized access to the server.
7. Topology
➢ Interconnection of the network devices

Campus LAN
▪ LAN created to support devices in a building or in multiple buildings
Topology Terminologies
1. Star – Common Topology (1 central device/many end devices)
2. Full Mesh – Gives Full Redundancy
3. Partial Mesh – Partially Interconnected
4. Hybrid – Combination of Full and Partial Mesh