Книга: Linux Network Administrator Guide, Second Edition
Ethernets
Ethernets
The most common type of LAN hardware is known as Ethernet. In its simplest form, it consists of a single cable with hosts attached to it through connectors, taps, or transceivers. Simple Ethernets are relatively inexpensive to install, which together with a net transfer rate of 10, 100, or even 1,000 Megabits per second, accounts for much of its popularity.
Ethernets come in three flavors: thick, thin, and twisted pair. Thin and thick Ethernet each use a coaxial cable, differing in diameter and the way you may attach a host to this cable. Thin Ethernet uses a T-shaped "BNC" connector, which you insert into the cable and twist onto a plug on the back of your computer. Thick Ethernet requires that you drill a small hole into the cable, and attach a transceiver using a "vampire tap." One or more hosts can then be connected to the transceiver. Thin and thick Ethernet cable can run for a maximum of 200 and 500 meters respectively, and are also called 10base-2 and 10base-5. The "base" refers to "baseband modulation" and simply means that the data is directly fed onto the cable without any modem. The number at the start refers to the speed in Megabits per second, and the number at the end is the maximum length of the cable in hundreds of metres. Twisted pair uses a cable made of two pairs of copper wires and usually requires additional hardware known as active hubs. Twisted pair is also known as 10base-T, the "T" meaning twisted pair. The 100 Megabits per second version is known as 100base-T.
To add a host to a thin Ethernet installation, you have to disrupt network service for at least a few minutes because you have to cut the cable to insert the connector. Although adding a host to a thick Ethernet system is a little complicated, it does not typically bring down the network. Twisted pair Ethernet is even simpler. It uses a device called a "hub," which serves as an interconnection point. You can insert and remove hosts from a hub without interrupting any other users at all.
Many people prefer thin Ethernet for small networks because it is very inexpensive; PC cards come for as little as US $30 (many companies are literally throwing them out now), and cable is in the range of a few cents per meter. However, for large-scale installations, either thick Ethernet or twisted pair is more appropriate. For example, the Ethernet at GMU's Mathematics Department originally chose thick Ethernet because it is a long route that the cable must take so traffic will not be disrupted each time a host is added to the network. Twisted pair installations are now very common in a variety of installations. The Hub hardware is dropping in price and small units are now available at a price that is attractive to even small domestic networks. Twisted pair cabling can be significantly cheaper for large installations, and the cable itself is much more flexible than the coaxial cables used for the other Ethernet systems. The network administrators in GMU's mathematics department are planning to replace the existing network with a twisted pair network in the coming finanical year because it will bring them up to date with current technology and will save them significant time when installing new host computers and moving existing computers around.
One of the drawbacks of Ethernet technology is its limited cable length, which precludes any use of it other than for LANs. However, several Ethernet segments can be linked to one another using repeaters, bridges, or routers. Repeaters simply copy the signals between two or more segments so that all segments together will act as if they are one Ethernet. Due to timing requirements, there may not be more than four repeaters between any two hosts on the network. Bridges and routers are more sophisticated. They analyze incoming data and forward it only when the recipient host is not on the local Ethernet.
Ethernet works like a bus system, where a host may send packets (or frames) of up to 1,500 bytes to another host on the same Ethernet. A host is addressed by a six-byte address hardcoded into the firmware of its Ethernet network interface card (NIC). These addresses are usually written as a sequence of two-digit hex numbers separated by colons, as in aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff.
A frame sent by one station is seen by all attached stations, but only the destination host actually picks it up and processes it. If two stations try to send at the same time, a collision occurs. Collisions on an Ethernet are detected very quickly by the electronics of the interface cards and are resolved by the two stations aborting the send, each waiting a random interval and re-attempting the transmission. You'll hear lots of stories about collisions on Ethernet being a problem and that utilization of Ethernets is only about 30 percent of the available bandwidth because of them. Collisions on Ethernet are a normal phenomenon, and on a very busy Ethernet network you shouldn't be surprised to see collision rates of up to about 30 percent. Utilization of Ethernet networks is more realistically limited to about 60 percent before you need to start worrying about it.[7]
Оглавление книги
