MODULE 3: DATA-LINK LAYER

3.1 INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
• The Data Link layer is responsible
for communications between end-
device network interface cards.
• It allows upper layer protocols to
access the physical layer media
and encapsulates Layer3 packets
(IPv4 and IPv6) into Layer 2
Frames.
• It also performs error detection
and rejects corrupts frames.
INTRODUCTION
• The Internet is a combination of
networks linked together by
connecting devices (routers or
switches). If a packet is to travel
from a host to another host, it
needs to pass through these
networks.
FIGURE 3.2 NODES AND LINKS

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TWO SUBLAYERS
The Data Link Layer consists of two sublayers. data link control (DLC) and media
access control (MAC)
• The DLC sublayer communicates between the networking software at the upper
layers and the device hardware at the lower layers.
• The MAC sublayer is responsible for controlling the access to media.
3.2 DATA LINK CONTROL
ACCESS TO MEDIA
Packets exchanged between nodes may experience numerous data link layers and
media transitions.

At each hop along the path, a router performs four basic Layer 2 functions:
• Accepts a frame from the network medium.
• De-encapsulates the frame to expose the encapsulated packet.
 Re-encapsulates the packet into a new frame.
 Forwards the new frame on the medium of the next network segment.
FRAMING
Data is encapsulated by the data link control with a header and a trailer to form a
frame.
A data link frame has three parts:
• Header
• Data
• Trailer
FRAME FIELDS

Field Description
Frame Start and Stop Identifies beginning and end of frame
Addressing Indicates source and destination nodes
Type Identifies encapsulated Layer 3 protocol
Control Identifies flow control services
Data Contains the frame payload
Error Detection Used for determine transmission errors
ETHERNET FRAME FIELDS
• The minimum Ethernet frame size is 64 bytes and the maximum is 1518 bytes. The
preamble field is not included when describing the size of the frame.
• Any frame less than 64 bytes in length is considered a “collision fragment” or “runt
frame” and is automatically discarded. Frames with more than 1500 bytes of data are
considered “jumbo” or “baby giant frames”.
• If the size of a transmitted frame is less than the minimum, or greater than the maximum,
the receiving device drops the frame. Dropped frames are likely to be the result of
collisions.

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TWO DLC PROTOCOLS
The logical topology and physical media determine the data control link protocol
used. Two DLC protocols :
• Point-to-Point (PPP)
• High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC)

Each protocol performs media access control for specified logical topologies.
POINT-TO-POINT (PPP)
One of the most common protocols for point-to-point access is the point-to-point
protocol.
Purpose: A protocol used for point-to-point communication, designed to support
multiple network layer protocols.
Frame structure: Consists of start flag, address, control, data, and frame check
sequence (FCS).
HIGH-LEVEL DATA LINK CONTROL (HDLC)
It is a protocol for communication over point-to-point and multipoint links.
Purpose: A data link layer protocol for framing and error detection.
Frame structure: Consists of start flag, address, control, data, and frame check
sequence (FCS).
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HDLC AND PPP
3.3 MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL
MAC SUBLAYER
The MAC sublayer is responsible for data encapsulation and media access control and
provides data link layer addressing.

Data Encapsulation
IEEE 802.3 data encapsulation includes the following:
1. Ethernet frame - This is the internal structure of the Ethernet frame.
2. Ethernet Addressing - The Ethernet frame includes both a source and destination MAC address
to deliver the Ethernet frame from Ethernet NIC to Ethernet NIC on the same LAN.
3. Ethernet Error detection - The Ethernet frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) trailer
used for error detection.
3.4 LINK-LAYER ADDRESSING
LINK-LAYER ADDRESSING
• In an internetwork such as the Internet we cannot make a data reach its destination
using only IP addresses. The source and destination IP addresses define the two ends
but cannot define which links the packet should pass through.
FIGURE 3.40 IP ADDRESSES AND LINK-LAYER ADDRESSES IN A SMALL INTERNET

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MAC ADDRESS AND HEXADECIMAL
• An Ethernet MAC address consists of a 48-bit binary value, expressed using 12
hexadecimal values.
• Given that 8 bits (one byte) is a common binary grouping, binary 00000000 to
11111111 can be represented in hexadecimal as the range 00 to FF,
• When using hexadecimal, leading zeroes are always displayed to complete the 8-bit
representation. For example the binary value 0000 1010 is represented in
hexadecimal as 0A.
• Hexadecimal numbers are often represented by the value preceded by 0x (e.g.,
0x73) to distinguish between decimal and hexadecimal values.
• Hexadecimal may also be represented by a subscript 16, or the hex number
followed by an H (e.g., 73H).
MAC ADDRESS AND HEXADECIMAL
• In an Ethernet LAN, every network device is connected to the same, shared media. MAC
addressing provides a method for device identification at the data link layer of the OSI
model.
• An Ethernet MAC address is a 48-bit address expressed using 12 hexadecimal digits.
Because a byte equals 8 bits, we can also say that a MAC address is 6 bytes in length.
• All MAC addresses must be unique to the Ethernet device or Ethernet interface. To ensure
this, all vendors that sell Ethernet devices must register with the IEEE to obtain a unique 6
hexadecimal (i.e., 24-bit or 3-byte) code called the organizationally unique identifier
(OUI).
MAC ADDRESS AND HEXADECIMAL
An Ethernet MAC address consists of a 6 hexadecimal vendor OUI code
followed by a 6 hexadecimal vendor-assigned value.
THREE TYPES OF ADDRESSES
• Some link-layer protocols define three types of addresses: unicast, multicast, and
broadcast
• Unicast Address: is the unique address that is used when a frame is sent from a single
transmitting device to a single destination device.

A2:34:45:11:92:F1
THREE TYPES OF ADDRESSES
• Multicast Address: is received and processed by a group of devices that belong to the same
multicast group.
• A multicast address means one-to-many communication.
• There is a destination MAC address of 01-00-5E when the encapsulated data is an IPv4 multicast
packet and a destination MAC address of 33-33 when the encapsulated data is an IPv6 multicast
packet.
THREE TYPES OF ADDRESSES
• Broadcast Address: is received and processed by every device on the Ethernet LAN.
• A broadcast address means one-to-all address.
• It has a destination MAC address of FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF in hexadecimal (48 ones in binary).
• It is flooded out all Ethernet switch ports except the incoming port. It is not forwarded by a router.

FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL (ARP)
• Any time a node has a packet to send to another node, it has the IP address (network-layer
address of the next node);
• it needs the link-layer address of the next node. This is done by a protocol called ARP located in
the network layer.
• We discuss it when we discuss the network layer.