Experiment No.

: - 01
TITLE: -
Setup a wired LAN using layer 2 Switch.
PROBLEM STATEMENT: -
Setup a wired LAN using Layer 2 Switch. It includes preparation of cable, testing of
cable using line tester, configuration machine using IP addresses, testing using PING
utility and demonstrating the PING packets captured traces using Wireshark Packet
Analyzer Tool.
OBJECTIVES: -
1. To understand the structure and working of various networks including the
interconnecting devices used in them.
2. To get hands on experience of making and testing cables
THEORY: -
Transmission media: -
Transmission media is a communication channel that carries the information from the
sender to the receiver. Data is transmitted through the electromagnetic signals.
Classification Of Transmission Media: -

Guided Media: -
It is defined as the physical medium through which the signals are transmitted. It is also
known as Bounded media.
Types Of Guided media:
Twisted pair:
Twisted pair is a physical media made up of a pair of cables twisted with each other. A
twisted pair cable is cheap as compared to other transmission media. Installation of the
twisted pair cable is easy, and it is a lightweight cable. The frequency range for twisted
pair cable is from 0 to 3.5KHz.
A twisted pair consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a regular spiral pattern.
 The degree of reduction in noise interference is determined by the number of turns per
foot. Increasing the number of turns per foot decreases noise interference.

Types of Twisted pair: -

Unshielded Twisted Pair:

An unshielded twisted pair is widely used in telecommunication. Following are the
categories of the unshielded twisted pair cable:
o Category 1: Category 1 is used for telephone lines that have low-speed data.
o Category 2: It can support up to 4Mbps.
o Category 3: It can support up to 16Mbps.
o Category 4: It can support up to 20Mbps. Therefore, it can be used for long-
distance communication.
o Category 5: It can support up to 200Mbps.
Advantages Of Unshielded Twisted Pair:
o It is cheap.
o Installation of the unshielded twisted pair is easy.
o It can be used for high-speed LAN.
Disadvantage:
o This cable can only be used for shorter distances because of attenuation.
Shielded Twisted Pair
A shielded twisted pair is a cable that contains the mesh surrounding the wire that allows
the higher transmission rate.
Characteristics Of Shielded Twisted Pair:
o The cost of the shielded twisted pair cable is not very high and not very low.
o An installation of STP is easy.
o It has higher capacity as compared to unshielded twisted pair cable.
o It has a higher attenuation.
o It is shielded that provides the higher data transmission rate.
Disadvantages
o It is more expensive as compared to UTP and coaxial cable.
o It has a higher attenuation rate.
Coaxial Cable
o Coaxial cable is very commonly used transmission media, for example, TV wire is
usually a coaxial cable.
o The name of the cable is coaxial as it contains two conductors parallel to each other.
o It has a higher frequency as compared to Twisted pair cable.
o The inner conductor of the coaxial cable is made up of copper, and the outer
conductor is made up of copper mesh. The middle core is made up of non-
conductive cover that separates the inner conductor from the outer conductor.
o The middle core is responsible for the data transferring whereas the copper mesh
prevents from the EMI (Electromagnetic interference).

Coaxial cable is of two types:

1. Baseband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting a single signal
at high speed.
2. Broadband transmission: It is defined as the process of transmitting multiple
signals simultaneously.
Advantages Of Coaxial cable:
o The data can be transmitted at high speed.
o It has better shielding as compared to twisted pair cable.
o It provides higher bandwidth.
Disadvantages Of Coaxial cable:
o It is more expensive as compared to twisted pair cable.
o If any fault occurs in the cable causes the failure in the entire network.
Fibre Optic
o Fibre optic cable is a cable that uses electrical signals for communication.
o Fibre optic is a cable that holds the optical fibres coated in plastic that are used to
send the data by pulses of light.
o The plastic coating protects the optical fibres from heat, cold, electromagnetic
interference from other types of wiring.
o Fibre optics provide faster data transmission than copper wires.
Diagrammatic representation of fibre optic cable:

Basic elements of Fibre optic cable:

o Core: The optical fibre consists of a narrow strand of glass or plastic known as a
core. A core is a light transmission area of the fibre. The more the area of the core,
the more light will be transmitted into the fibre.
o Cladding: The concentric layer of glass is known as cladding. The main
functionality of the cladding is to provide the lower refractive index at the core
interface as to cause the reflection within the core so that the light waves are
transmitted through the fibre.
o Jacket: The protective coating consisting of plastic is known as a jacket. The main
purpose of a jacket is to preserve the fibre strength, absorb shock and extra fibre
protection.
Following are the advantages of fibre optic cable over copper:
o Greater Bandwidth: The fibre optic cable provides more bandwidth as compared
copper. Therefore, the fibre optic carries more data as compared to copper cable.
o Faster speed: Fibre optic cable carries the data in the form of light. This allows the
fibre optic cable to carry the signals at a higher speed.
o Longer distances: The fibre optic cable carries the data at a longer distance as
compared to copper cable.
 o Better reliability: The fibre optic cable is more reliable than the copper cable as it
is immune to any temperature changes while it can cause obstruct in the
connectivity of copper cable.
o Thinner and Sturdier: Fibre optic cable is thinner and lighter in weight so it can
withstand more pull pressure than copper cable.
Unguided Transmission
o An unguided transmission transmits the electromagnetic waves without using any
physical medium. Therefore, it is also known as wireless transmission.
o In unguided media, air is the media through which the electromagnetic energy can
flow easily.
Unguided transmission is broadly classified into three categories:
Radio waves
o Radio waves are the electromagnetic waves that are transmitted in all the directions
of free space.
o Radio waves are omnidirectional, i.e., the signals are propagated in all the
directions.
o The range in frequencies of radio waves is from 3Khz to 1 khz.
o In the case of radio waves, the sending and receiving antenna are not aligned, i.e.,
the wave sent by the sending antenna can be received by any receiving antenna.
o An example of the radio wave is FM radio.
Applications Of Radio waves:
o A Radio wave is useful for multicasting when there is one sender and many
receivers.
o An FM radio, television, cordless phones are examples of a radio wave.

Advantages Of Radio transmission:

o Radio transmission is mainly used for wide area networks and mobile cellular
phones.
o Radio waves cover a large area, and they can penetrate the walls.
o Radio transmission provides a higher transmission rate.
Microwaves
Characteristics of Microwave:
o Frequency range: The frequency range of terrestrial microwave is from 4-6 GHz
to 21-23 GHz.
o Bandwidth: It supports the bandwidth from 1 to 10 Mbps.
o Short distance: It is inexpensive for short distance.
o Long distance: It is expensive as it requires a higher tower for a longer distance.
o Attenuation: Attenuation means loss of signal. It is affected by environmental
conditions and antenna size.
Advantages Of Microwave:
o Microwave transmission is cheaper than using cables.
o It is free from land acquisition as it does not require any land for the installation of
cables.
o Microwave transmission provides an easy communication in terrains as the
installation of cable in terrain is quite a difficult task.
o Communication over oceans can be achieved by using microwave transmission.
Disadvantages of Microwave transmission:
o Eavesdropping: An eavesdropping creates insecure communication. Any
malicious user can catch the signal in the air by using its own antenna.
o Out of phase signal: A signal can be moved out of phase by using microwave
transmission.
o Susceptible to weather condition: A microwave transmission is susceptible to
weather condition. This means that any environmental change such as rain, wind
can distort the signal.
o Bandwidth limited: Allocation of bandwidth is limited in the case of microwave
transmission.
Infrared
o An infrared transmission is a wireless technology used for communication over
short ranges.
o The frequency of the infrared in the range from 300 GHz to 400 THz.
o It is used for short-range communication such as data transfer between two cell
phones, TV remote operation, data transfer between a computer and cell phone
resides in the same closed area.
Characteristics Of Infrared:
o It supports high bandwidth, and hence the data rate will be very high.
o Infrared waves cannot penetrate the walls. Therefore, the infrared communication
in one room cannot be interrupted by the nearby rooms.
o An infrared communication provides better security with minimum interference.
o Infrared communication is unreliable outside the building because the sun rays will
interfere with the infrared waves.
What is Ping
A ping is a basic Internet command that allows a user to test and verify whether a given
destination IP address exists and can accept requests in computer network
administration. Ping is also used for diagnosis to confirm that the computer the user
tries to reach is operational. Ping can be used with any operating system (OS) that
supports networking, including the majority of embedded network administration
software. Ping (Packet Internet Groper) is a method for determining communication
latency between two networks or ping is a method of determining the time it takes for
data to travel between two devices or across a network. As communication latency
decreases, communication effectiveness improves. A low ping time is critical in
situations where the timely delivery of data is more important than the quantity and
quality of the desired information.

How Does Ping Work?

Ping sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request to a network
interface and then waits for a response. When the ping command is executed, a ping
signal is delivered to the provided address. When the target host receives the echo
request, it answers with an echo reply packet. This method has two distinct purposes:
calculating round-trip time (RTT) or latency and ensuring that the target host is
available. RTT is a measure of the time it takes to receive a response. Measured in
milliseconds (ms), the process begins when a browser submits a request to a server and
concludes when the server responds. RTT is an important performance figure for online
applications.
CONCLUSION: -
Thus, we have successfully understood the structure and working of various networks
including hands on experience of wired LAN setup & connections.