Switching Techniques:

Message Switching and Packet Switching

4.2.1 Introduction
In the preceding lesson we have discussed about circuit switching. In circuit switching,
network resources are dedicated to a particular connection. Although this satisfies the
requirement of voice communication, it suffers from the following two shortcomings for
data communication:

o In a typical user/host data connection, line utilization is very low.

o Provides facility for data transmission at a constant rate.

However, for information transmission applications, the circuit switching method is very
slow, relatively expensive and inefficient. First of all, the need to establish a dedicated
connection before sending the message itself inserts a delay time, which might become
significant for the total message transfer time. Moreover, the total channel remains idle
and unavailable to the other users once a connection is made. On the other hand once a
connection is established, it is guaranteed and orderly delivery of message is ensured.
Unfortunately, the data transmission pattern may not ensure this, because data
transmission is bursty in nature. As a consequence, it limits the utility of the method. The
problem may be overcome by using an approach known as message switching, which is
discussed in Sec. 4.2.2. However, message switching suffers from various problems as
discussed in Sec. 4.2.3. To overcome the limitations of message switching, another
switching technique, known as packet switching was invented. Various aspects of packet
switching have been discussed in Sec. 4.2.4.

4.2.2 Message Switching

In this switching method, a different strategy is used, where instead of establishing a
dedicated physical line between the sender and the receiver, the message is sent to the
nearest directly connected switching node. This node stores the message, checks for
errors, selects the best available route and forwards the message to the next intermediate
node.
 Node 1
Message
Node 2
Message
Node 3
Message
Node 4

Figure 4.2.1 Message Switching Technique

The line becomes free again for other messages, while the process is being
continued in some other nodes. Due to the mode of action, this method is also known as
store-and-forward technology where the message hops from node to node to its final
destination. Each node stores the full message, checks for errors and forwards it.

In this switching technique, more devices can share the network bandwidth, as
compared with circuit switching technique. Temporary storage of message reduces traffic
congestion to some extent. Higher priority can be given to urgent messages, so that the
low priority messages are delayed while the urgent ones are forwarded faster. Through
broadcast addresses one message can be sent to several users. Last of all, since the
destination host need not be active when the message is sent, message switching
techniques improve global communications.

However, since the message blocks may be quite large in size, considerable
amount of storage space is required at each node to buffer the messages. A message
might occupy the buffers for minutes, thus blocking the internodal traffic.

x Each network node receives and stores the message

Basic idea:

x Determines the next leg of the route, and

x Queues the message to go out on that link.

x Line efficiency is greater (sharing of links).

Advantages:

x Data rate conversion is possible.

x Even under heavy traffic, packets are accepted, possibly with a greater delay in

x Message priorities can be used, to satisfy the requirements, if any.

delivery.

Disadvantages: Message of large size monopolizes the link and storage

4.2.3 Packet Switching

The basic approach is not much different from message switching. It is also based on the
same ‘store-and-forward’ approach. However, to overcome the limitations of message
switching, messages are divided into subsets of equal length called packets. This
approach was developed for long-distance data communication (1970) and it has evolved
over time. In packet switching approach, data are transmitted in short packets (few
Kbytes). A long message is broken up into a series of packets as shown in Fig. 4.2.2.
Every packet contains some control information in its header, which is required for
routing and other purposes.

Figure 4.2.2 A message is divided into a number of equal length short packets

Main difference between Packet switching and Circuit Switching is that the
communication lines are not dedicated to passing messages from the source to the
destination. In Packet Switching, different messages (and even different packets) can pass
through different routes, and when there is a "dead time" in the communication between
the source and the destination, the lines can be used by other sources.

There are two basic approaches commonly used to packet Switching: virtual-
circuit packet switching and datagram packet switching. In virtual-circuit packet
switching a virtual circuit is made before actual data is transmitted, but it is different from
circuit switching in a sense that in circuit switching the call accept signal comes only
from the final destination to the source while in case of virtual-packet switching this call
accept signal is transmitted between each adjacent intermediate node as shown in Fig.
4.2.3. Other features of virtual circuit packet switching are discussed in the following
subsection.

4.2.3.1 Virtual Circuit Packet Switching Networks

An initial setup phase is used to set up a route between the intermediate nodes for all the
packets passed during the session between the two end nodes. In each intermediate node,
an entry is registered in a table to indicate the route for the connection that has been set
up. Thus, packets passed through this route, can have short headers, containing only a
virtual circuit identifier (VCI), and not their destination. Each intermediate node passes
the packets according to the information that was stored in it, in the setup phase. In this
way, packets arrive at the destination in the correct sequence, and it is guaranteed that
essentially there will not be errors. This approach is slower than Circuit Switching, since
different virtual circuits may compete over the same resources, and an initial setup phase
is needed to initiate the circuit. As in Circuit Switching, if an intermediate node fails, all
virtual circuits that pass through it are lost. The most common forms of Virtual Circuit
networks are X.25 and Frame Relay, which are commonly used for public data networks
(PDN).

Packets
Node 1
1 2 3
Node 2
Call- 1 2 3
Node 3
Request Call-accept 1 3 Call-acknowledgement packet
Packet packet
Node 4

Figure 4.2.3 Virtual circuit packet switching technique

4.2.3.2 Datagram Packet Switching Networks

This approach uses a different, more dynamic scheme, to determine the route through the
network links. Each packet is treated as an independent entity, and its header contains full
information about the destination of the packet. The intermediate nodes examine the
header of the packet, and decide to which node to send the packet so that it will reach its
destination. In the decision two factors are taken into account:

x The shortest ways to pass the packet to its destination - protocols such as
RIP/OSPF are used to determine the shortest path to the destination.
x Finding a free node to pass the packet to - in this way, bottlenecks are eliminated,
since packets can reach the destination in alternate routes.

Thus, in this method, the packets don't follow a pre-established route, and the
intermediate nodes (the routers) don't have pre-defined knowledge of the routes that
the packets should be passed through.

Packets
Node 1
1 2 3
Node 2
1 2 3
Node 3
1 2 3
Node 4

Figure 4.2.4 Datagram Packet switching

Packets can follow different routes to the destination, and delivery is not
guaranteed (although packets usually do follow the same route, and are reliably sent).
Due to the nature of this method, the packets can reach the destination in a different order
than they were sent, thus they must be sorted at the destination to form the original
message. This approach is time consuming since every router has to decide where to send
each packet. The main implementation of Datagram Switching network is the Internet,
which uses the IP network protocol.

x Call setup phase is avoided (for transmission of a few packets, datagram will be
Advantages:

x Because it is more primitive, it is more flexible.

faster).

x Congestion/failed link can be avoided (more reliable).

x Packets may be delivered out of order.

Problems:

x If a node crashes momentarily, all of its queued packets are lost.

4.2.3.3 Packet Size

In spite of increase in overhead, the transmission time may decreases in packet switching
technique because of parallelism in transmission as shown in Fig. 4.2.5.

Figure 4.2.5 Reduction of transmission time because of parallelism in transmission in

packet switching technique
 However, question arises about the optimal size of size of a packet. As packet size
is decreased, the transmission time reduces until it is comparable to the size of control
information. There is a close relationship between packet size and transmission time as
shown in Fig. 4.2.6. In this case it is assumed that there is a virtual circuit from station X
to Y through nodes a and b. Times required for transmission decreases as each message is
divided into 2 and 5 packets. However, the transmission time increases if each message is
divided into 10 packets.

Figure 4.2.6 Variation of transmission time with packet size

4.2.3.4 Virtual Circuit Versus Datagram Packet Switching

x Node need not decide route

Key features of the virtual circuit packet switching approach is as follows:

x More difficult to adopt to congestion

x Maintains sequence order
x All packets are sent through the same predetermined route

x Each packet is treated independently

On the other hand, the key features of the datagram packet switching are as follows:

x Call set up phase is avoided

x Inherently more flexible and reliable
4.2.3.5 External and Internal Operations
There are two dimensions to the problem of whether to use virtual circuit or datagram in

x At the interface between a station and a network node, we may have connection-
a particular situation:

x Internally, the network may use virtual circuits or datagrams.

oriented or connectionless service.

This leads us to four different scenarios using different VC/DG combinations, which are
discussed below.

Scenario 1: External virtual circuit, Internal virtual circuit

In this case a user requests a virtual circuit and a dedicated route through the network is
constructed. All packets follow the same route as shown in Fig. 4.2.7.

Figure 4.2.7 External virtual circuit and internal virtual circuit

Scenario 2: External virtual circuit, Internal datagram

In this case, the network handles each packet separately. Different packets for the same
external virtual circuit may take different routes as shown in Fig. 4.2.8. The network
buffers packets, if necessary, so that they are delivered to the destination in the proper
order.

Scenario 3: External datagram, Internal datagram

In this case each packet is treated independently from both the user’s end and the
network’s point of view as shown in Fig. 4.2.9.

Scenario 4: External datagram, Internal virtual circuit

In this case, an external user does not see any connections - it simply sends packets one at
a time as shown in Fig. 4.2.10. The network sets up a logical connection between stations
for packet delivery. May leave such connections in place for an extended period, so as to
satisfy anticipated future needs.

A comparison of different switching techniques is given in Table 4.2.1

Figure 4.2.8 External virtual circuit and internal datagram

Figure 4.2.9 External datagram and internal datagram

Figure 4.2.10 External datagram and internal virtual circuit

 Table 4.2.1 Comparison of the three switching techniques

Fill In the Blanks:

1. A switched virtual circuit involves _____________.
2. A permanent virtual circuit involves ____________.
3. Two basic approaches are common to Packet Switching are _____________
packet switching and _________ packet switching.
4. X.25 is a standard for _________ communications.

Ans:
1. creation of link as and when needed
2. permanent link
3. virtual circuit … datagram
4. packet switched communication
Short Answer Questions
Q-1. How the drawback of circuit switching is overcome in message switching?
Ans: Message switching is based on store and forward technique. Instead of
establishing a dedicated path, the message is sent to the nearest directly connected node.
Each node stores the message, checks for error and forwards it. It allows more devices to
share the network bandwidth and one message can be sent to several users. Destination
host need not be on at the time of sending message.

Q-2. What is the drawback of message switching? How is it overcome in packet

switching?
Ans.: In message switching, large storage space is required at each node to buffer the
complete message blocks. On the other hand, in packet switching, messages are divided
into subset of equal length, which are generated in the source node and reassembled to
get back the initial complete message in destination node. Moreover, to transmit a
message of large size, link is kept busy for a long time leading to increase in delay for
other messages.

Q-3. What are the key differences between datagram and virtual-circuit packet
switching?
Ans: In datagram, the packets are routed independently and it might follow different
routes to reach the destination in different order. In virtual-circuit packet switching, first a
virtual connection is being established, and all the packets are sent serially through the
same path. In this case, packets are received in order.

Q-4. Distinguish between circuit switching and virtual-circuit packet switching.

Ans: - In circuit switching, a dedicated path is established. Data transmission is fast and
interactive. Nodes need not have storage facility. However, there is a call setup delay. In
overload condition, it may block the call setup. It has fixed bandwidth from source to
destination and no overhead after the call setup.
In virtual-circuit packet switching, there is no dedicated path. It requires
storage facility and involves packet transmission delay. It can use different speed of
transmission and encoding techniques at different segments of the route.

Q-5. How packet size affects the transmission time in a packet switching network?
Ans: Initially, transmission time decreases as packet size is reduced. But, as packet size is
reduced and the payload part of a packet becomes comparable to the control part,
transmission time increases.