Although Ethernet includes many physical layer standards, Ethernet acts like a single LAN technology because it uses the same data-link layer standard over all types of Ethernet physical links. That standard defines a common Ethernet header and trailer. (As a reminder, the header and trailer are bytes of overhead data that Ethernet uses to do its job of sending data over a LAN.) No matter whether the data flows over a UTP cable or any kind of fiber cable, and no matter the speed, the data-link header and trailer use the same format.
While the physical layer standards focus on sending bits over a cable, the Ethernet data-link protocols focus on sending an Ethernet frame from source to destination Ethernet node. From a data-link perspective, nodes build and forward frames. As first defined in Chapter 1, “Introduction to TCP/IP Networking,” the term frame specifically refers to the header and trailer of a data-link protocol, plus the data encapsulated inside that header and trailer. The various Ethernet nodes simply forward the frame, over all the required links, to deliver the frame to the correct destination.
Figure 2-4 shows an example of the process. In this case, PC1 sends an Ethernet frame to PC3. The frame travels over a UTP link to Ethernet switch SW1, then over fiber links to Ethernet switches SW2 and SW3, and finally over another UTP link to PC3. Note that the bits actually travel at four different speeds in this example: 10 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, and 100 Mbps, respectively.
Figure 2-4 Ethernet LAN Forwards a Data-Link Frame over Many Types of Links
So, what is an Ethernet LAN? It is a combination of user devices, LAN switches, and different kinds of cabling. Each link can use different types of cables, at different speeds. However, they all work together to deliver Ethernet frames from the one device on the LAN to some other device.
The rest of this chapter takes these concepts a little deeper. The next section examines how to build a physical Ethernet network using UTP cabling, followed by a similar look at using fiber cabling to build Ethernet LANs. The chapter ends with some discussion of the rules for forwarding frames through an Ethernet LAN.
The next section of this chapter focuses on the individual physical links between any two Ethernet nodes, specifically those that use unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling. Before the Ethernet network as a whole can send Ethernet frames between user devices, each node must be ready and able to send data over an individual physical link.
This section focuses on the three most commonly used Ethernet standards: 10BASE-T (Ethernet), 100BASE-T (Fast Ethernet, or FE), and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet, or GE). Specifically, this section looks at the details of sending data in both directions over a UTP cable. It then examines the specific wiring of the UTP cables used for 10-Mbps, 100-Mbps, and 1000-Mbps Ethernet.
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