Access methods

In networking, to access a resource is to be able to use that resource. The set of rules that defines
how a computer puts data onto the network cable and takes data from the cable is called an
access method. Once data is moving on the network, access methods help to regulate the flow of
network traffic.
If data is to be sent over the network from one user to another, or accessed from a server, there
must be some way for the data to access the cable without running into other data (a collision).
And the receiving computer must have reasonable assurance that the data has not been destroyed
in a data collision during transmission.
Access methods need to be consistent in the way they handle data. If different computers were to
use different access methods, the network would fail because some methods would dominate the
cable. Access methods prevent computers from gaining simultaneous access to the cable. By
making sure that only one computer at a time can put data on the network cable, access methods
ensure that the sending and receiving of network data is an orderly process.

There are three major access methods:

 carrier-sense multiple-access
 token passing and
 demand priority.
Carrier sense multiple access methods
Carrier sense multiple access methods can be divided into two subtypes:
 Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) and
 Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA).

 Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection

In CSMA/CD, each computer on the network, including clients and servers, checks the cable
for network traffic. Only when a computer "senses" that the cable is free and that there is no
traffic on the cable can it send data. Once the computer has transmitted data on the cable, no
other computer can transmit data until the original data has reached its destination and the cable
is free again. Remember, if two or more computers happen to send data at exactly the same time,
there will be a data collision. When that happens, the two computers involved stop transmitting
for a random period of time and then attempt to retransmit. Each computer determines its own
waiting period; this reduces the chance that the computers will once again transmit
simultaneously. The waiting time is calculated using an algorithm known as exponential backoff:
the first time a collision occurs each computer waits a random time t 1, 0 ≤ t1 ≤ d (where d is a
constant). If a second collision occurs with the same packet, the wait time will be t 2, 0 ≤ t2 ≤ 2d.
The third time the wait time will be t 3, 0 ≤ t3 ≤ 4d, and so on: the maximum waiting time will be
doubled after each successive collision. This will continue for a maximum of 10 times, when the
maximum waiting time will reach a peak of 2 10d (= 1024d). After 16 successive collisions,
transmission of the packet is aborted and an error is reported.
CSMA/CD is known as a contention method because computers on the network contend, or
compete, for an opportunity to send data. This might seem like an inefficient way to put data on
the cable, but current implementations of CSMA/CD are so fast that users are not even aware
they are using a contention access method.
With CSMA/CD, the more computers there are on the network, the more network traffic there
will be. With more traffic, collisions tend to increase, which slows the network down, so
CSMA/CD can be a slow-access method.
After each collision, both computers will have to try to retransmit their data. If the network is
very busy, there is a chance that the attempts by both computers will result in collisions with
packets from other computers on the network. If this happens, four computers (the two original
computers and the two computers whose transmitted packets collided with the original
computer's retransmitted packets) will have to attempt to retransmit. These retransmissions can
slow the network to a near standstill.

 Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance

CSMA/CA is the least popular of the major access methods. In CSMA/CA, each computer
signals its intent to transmit before it actually transmits data. In this way, computers sense when a
collision might occur; this allows them to avoid transmission collisions. Unfortunately,
broadcasting the intent to transmit data increases the amount of traffic on the cable and slows
down network performance.
CSMA/CA is not commonly used in wired networks, but it has become the standard for wireless
networking. We will return to wireless networking standards later in this handout.
 Collision domains
A collision domain is a part of a LAN (or an entire LAN) where two computers transmitting at
the same time will cause a collision. Because switches, bridges and routers do not forward
unnecessary packets the different ports of these devices operate in different collision domains.
Repeaters and hubs broadcast all packets to all ports, so their ports are in the same collision
domain.

Figure 3.1 – Illustration of collision domains

Figure 3.1 shows a simple network with one repeater („R‟), two hubs, a switch and 10 computers
(„C‟). Because hubs broadcast all packets to all ports, if computers 2 and 4 attempted to send at
the same time there would be a collision, hence they are in the same collision domain. However,
because a switch will only forward a packet if it is intended for the other subnet, every port of the
switch is in a separate collision domain. So if computer 2 tried to send to computer 4 at the same
time as computer 7 tried to send to computer 10, there would be no collision.
  Token passing
In Hand-out 1 (Network Topologies), we briefly discussed a type of network known as a token
ring network. Token ring LANs use the token passing network access method. In token passing, a
special type of packet, called a token, circulates around a cable ring from computer to computer.
When any computer on the ring needs to send data across the network, it must wait for a free
token. When a free token is detected, the computer will take control of it if the computer has data
to send. The computer can now transmit data. Data is transmitted in frames, which consist of the
data to be sent, plus some additional information, such as addressing.
While the token is in use by one computer, other computers cannot transmit data. Because only
one computer at a time can use the token, no contention and no collision take place, and no time
is spent waiting for computers to resend tokens due to network traffic on the cable.

 Demand priority
Demand priority is a relatively new access method. Figure 3. 2 show a demand priority network.
Hubs or repeaters manage network access by searching for requests to send data from all nodes
on the network. The hub is responsible for noting all addresses and links and verifying that they
are all functioning. As in CSMA/CD, two computers using the demand-priority access method
can cause contention by transmitting at exactly the same time. However, with demand priority, it
is possible to implement a scheme in which certain types of data will be given priority if there is
contention. If the hub or repeater receives two requests at the same time, the highest priority
request is serviced first. If the two requests are of the same priority, both requests are serviced by
alternating between the two.
In a demand-priority network, there is communication only between the sending computer, the
hub, and the destination computer. This is more efficient than CSMA/CD, which broadcasts
transmissions to the entire network.

Figure 3.2 – A demand priority network

 Access methods summary
The following table summarizes the major features of each access method:

Demand
Feature/function CSMA/CD CSMA/CA Token passing
priority
Type of Broadcast Broadcast
Token based Hub based
communication based based
Type of access
Contention Contention Non-contention Contention
method

 Common network architectures

The term network architecture refers to the combination of network topology, communication
method, hardware components and access method used to construct a particular network. Over
the years a number of network architectures have become very popular.
 Token ring
The token ring architecture was developed in the mid-1980s by IBM. It is the preferred method
of networking by IBM and is therefore found primarily in large IBM mini- and mainframe
installations.
The table below gives a summary of the features of token ring LANs.

Feature Description
Physical topology Star
Logical topology Ring
Type of communication Baseband
Access method Token passing
Transfer speeds 4-16 Mbps
Cable type STP or UTP

Hardware for token ring networks is centered on the hub, which houses the actual ring. This
combination of a logical ring and a physical star topology is sometimes referred to as a “star-
shaped ring”. A token ring network can have multiple hubs. STP or UTP cabling connects the
computers to the hubs. Fiber-optic cable, together with repeaters, can be used to extend the range
of token ring networks. Token ring networks are not that commonly used these days.

 The Ethernet
Ethernet has become the most popular way of networking desktop computers and is still very
commonly used today in both small and large network environments.

Standard specifications for Ethernet networks are produced by the Institute of Electronic and
Electrical Engineers (IEEE) in the USA, and there have been a large number over the years. The
original Ethernet standard used a bus topology, transmitted at 10 Mbps, and relied on CSMA/CD
to regulate traffic on the main cable segment. The Ethernet media was passive, which means it
required no power source of its own and thus would not fail unless the media is physically cut or
improperly terminated. More recent Ethernet standards have different specifications.
Packets in Ethernet networks are referred to as frames. The format of an Ethernet frame has
remained largely the same throughout the various standards produced by the IEEE, and is shown
below.

Ethernet frame format

Destination Source
Preamble SFD Length Data FCS
Address Address
7 bytes 1 byte 6 bytes 6 bytes 2 bytes 46-1500 bytes 4 bytes

Each frame begins with a 7-byte preamble. Each byte has the identical pattern 10101010, which
is used to help the receiving computer synchronies with the sender. This is followed by a 1-byte
start frame delimiter (SFD), which has the pattern 10101011. Next are the source and destination
addresses, which take up 6 bytes each. The data can be of variable length (46-1500 bytes), so
before the data itself there is a 2-byte field that indicates the length of the following data field.
Finally, there is a 4byte frame check sequence, used for cyclic redundancy checking. Therefore,
the minimum and maximum lengths of an Ethernet frame are 72 bytes and 1526 bytes
respectively.
Although there have been a number of different standards for the Ethernet architecture over the
years, a number of features have remained the same the table below summarizes the general
features of Ethernet LANs.
Feature Description
Traditional topology Linear bus
Other topologies Star bus
Type of communication Baseband
Access method CSMA/CD
Transfer speeds 10/100/1000 Mbps
Cable type Thicknet/thinnet coaxial or UTP

The first phase of Ethernet standards had a transmission speed of 10Mbps. Three of the most
common of these are known as 10Base2, 10Base5 and 10BaseT. The following table summarizes
some of the features of each specification.

Ethernet standards
10Base2 10Base5 10BaseT
Topology Bus Bus Star bus
UTP (Cat. 3 or
Cable type Thinnet coaxial Thicknet coaxial
higher)
Simplex/half/full
Half duplex Half duplex Half duplex
duplex
Manchester, Manchester, Manchester,
Data encoding
asynchronous asynchronous asynchronous
Connector BNC DIX or AUI RJ45
Max. segment length 185 metres 500 metres 100 metres
Note that although the 10BaseT standard uses a physical star-bus topology, it still used a logical
bus topology. This combination is sometimes referred to as a “starshaped bus”. In addition to
these three, a number of standards existed for use with fiber-optic cabling, namely 10BaseFL,
10BaseFB and 10BaseFP.

The next phase of Ethernet standards was known as fast Ethernet, and increased transmission
speed up to 100Mbps. Fast Ethernet is probably the most common standard in use today. The
Manchester encoding technique used in the original Ethernet standards is not well suited to high
frequency transmission so new encoding techniques were developed for fast Ethernet networks.
Three of the most common fast Ethernet standards are summarized below, although others do
exist (e.g. 100BaseT2).

Fast ethernet standards

100BaseT4 100BaseTX 100BaseFX
Topology Star Bus Star Bus Star Bus
UTP UTP
Cable type (Cat. 3 or (Cat. 5 or higher) Fibre-optic
higher)
SC, ST or FDDI
Connector RJ45 RJ45
MIC
Max. segment length 100 metres 100 metres 2000m
Communication type Half duplex Full duplex Full duplex
The most recent phase of Ethernet standards has increased transmission speeds up to 1000Mbps,
although sometimes at the expense of some other features, such as maximum segment length.
Because of the transmission speed, it has become known as Gigabit Ethernet, and the most
common standards are summarized below.

Gigabit ethernet standards

1000BaseT 1000BaseCX 1000BaseSX 1000BaseLX
Topology Star Bus Star Bus Star Bus Star Bus
UTP Twinax
Cable type (Cat. 5 or (shielded Fibre-optic Fibre-optic
higher) copper wire)
Connector RJ45 HSSC SC SC
Max. segment length 100m 25m 275m 316-550m
Communication type Full duplex Full duplex Full duplex Full duplex

Finally, the IEEE has also published a number of standards for wireless Ethernet networks. The
original standard was known as 802.11, was very slow (around 2Mbps) and was quickly
superseded by more efficient standards. 802.11 now usually refers to the family of standards that
followed after this original standard.
 Wireless ethernet standards
802.11b 802.11a 802.11g
Max. speed 11Mbps 54Mbps 54Mbps
Ave. speed 4.5Mbps 20Mbps 20Mbps
Max. distance
120m 30m 30m
outdoors
Max. distance
60m 12m 20m
indoors
Broadcast
2.4Ghz 5Ghz 2.4Ghz
frequency

The CSMA/CA access method has become the standard access method for use in wireless
networking.

Summary of Key Points

 Data on a network is not sent in one continuous stream. It is divided up into smaller, more
manageable packets. These packets of data make timely interaction and communications
on a network possible
 Communication over a network using packets is known as packet switching
 Circuit switching is where communication uses a direct dedicated connection for the
duration of the transmission
 In connect-oriented (CO), or virtual, circuit packet switching, all packets follow the same
predetermined route through the network
 In connectionless (CL) circuit packet switching, no such route exists, and each packet is
routed independently
 Packets of data contain extra control information to ensure that the data reaches its
destination and can be reconstructed upon arrival. All packets contain at least the source
address, the data and the destination address.
 The set of rules that governs how network traffic is controlled is called the access method
 When using the CSMA/CD access method, a computer waits until the network is quiet
and then transmits its data. If two computers transmit at the same time, the data will
collide and have to be re-sent. If two data packets collide, both will be destroyed
 The ports of switches, bridges and routers are on separate collision domains, whereas
those of hubs and repeaters are in the same collision domain.
 When using the CSMA/CA access method, a computer transmits its intent to transmit
before actually sending the data
 When using the token-ring access method, each computer must wait to receive the token
before it can transmit data. Only one computer at a time can use the token
 When using the demand-priority access method, each computer communicates only with
a hub. The hub then controls the flow of data
 The term network architecture refers to the combination of physical/logical topology,
communication method, physical hardware and access method chosen to implement the
network
 Ethernet and token ring are two of the most popular network architectures
 There have been many standards published by the IEEE for Ethernet networks: the
original standards had a transmission speed of 10Mbps; fast Ethernet has a speed of
100Mbps; and Gigabit Ethernet has a speed of 1000Mbps
 Wireless networking is becoming increasingly popular – the three wireless Ethernet
standards are known as 801.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g