Backbone Design

A backbone is a means of connecting two or more LANs. It provides a

transmission channel for packets being transmitted from one LAN to another. After
connection to a backbone, a LAN may remain distinct or be merged with another.
Individual LANs are connected to the backbone network using some type of
device. The type of device used to connect to the backbone can varyit may be a
hub, a repeater, a bridge, a router, or a gatewaydepending on the purpose of the
backbone.
Backbone networks can be applied to a single building environment as well as to
campus environments, where the backbone is used to connect LANs in different
buildings. It is possible to find both types of backbone networks in a single facility
there is a backbone network in place in each building and a separate campus
backbone is used to connect these in-building backbones.
Backbone networks may also be used to implement a LAN environment that
provides for centralized management. In such an environment, all network servers
are moved to one central location. The servers are connected to each other via a
high-speed network backbone. The different LANs are also connected to this same
backbone using bridge technology. The network backbone allows the stations on
the LANs to communicate with the servers.

Backbone network classification

A backbone network can be broadly classified into five categories on the basis of
transmission media, topology, access control, transmission mode and speed
1. Transmission Media
It is recommended that the media to be used as a transmission channel for a local
(i.e., non wide-area) backbone network follow the specifications made in the
ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A standard. ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A recognizes four backbone
transmission media, which shall be used individually or in combination:
100 UTP backbone cable.
150 STP-A cable.
62.5/125 m multi-mode optical fiber cable.
Single-mode optical fiber cable.
2. Topology
As is the case in LAN architecture, the backbone network has both a physical
topology and a logical topology. The physical topology describes the actual
appearance of the networkthe manner in which the transmission media are
placed and how devices are attached to the backbone network. That is, the actual
pathway for transmissions. The logical topology describes how signals are sent
over the backbone network. This is largely a factor of the technology used to
access the backbone.
Physical design
The physical design of the backbone network differs very little from other LAN
designs. Often, it follows a linear bus, a ring or a hierarchical star topology.
a) Linear bus backbone
Using a linear bus configuration for the backbone network requires a separate
backbone cable to which backbone access devices are connected. These devices
also connect to their respective LANs.

b) Hierarchical star backbone

The hierarchical star is the topology recommended by ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A. In
such a configuration, the devices connecting to the LANs are also connected to a
central device, forming the star.

 Logical design
The two choices for carrying backbone network traffic are the distributed
environment and the centralized environment. They differ in the manner with
which multiple networks are connected.
a) Distributed backbone network
A distributed backbone network is one where the backbone transmission media is
shared among all of the devices accessing this backbone. An example of such an
environment is an FDDI backbone.
b) Centralized optical cabling
Because of the increased distance capabilities of optical fiber, selected users of
fiber-to the- desk are taking the collapsed backbone one step further. This approach
allows the telecommunications closet to be entirely passive; however, it does
require a two fiber path in the backbone for each station.
3. Accessing the backbone Network
The various devices used to link LAN segments operate at different layers of the
OSI model. These linking devices, or relay devices, can be categorized as
belonging to one of four basic types. These are as follows:
The repeater.
The bridge.
The router.
The gateway.
a) Repeater
A repeater is considered to be the simplest form of an interconnection device and is
used to link networks at the Physical layer of the OSI model. It is essentially a nonintelligent device used to move all data packets or frames received from one LAN
segment to another LAN segment. A repeater makes no decision regarding the
source or destination of a packet. The main function of a repeater is to extend the
length of a network. Repeaters are add-on devices used to strengthen a
transmission signal. In the case where digital signaling is used, the repeater
actually regenerates the signal.

b) Bridges
A bridge is a device that provides a communications pathway between two LANs,
typically using the same network technology. Bridges are used to create a single
logical network and are sometimes used to interconnect networks that have already
been extended using repeaters. In its simplest form, the bridge is considered to be
an intelligent repeater because it is capable of deciding whether to forward a frame
or not. A bridge functions at the Data Link layer of the seven-layer OSI reference
model.
c) Routers
Routers operate at the Network Layer of the OSI model. The addressing scheme of
this protocol is used to move data frames through the system from a source device
to a destination device. Routers can provide interconnectivity in local and/or wide
area environments. They also provide traffic control and filtering functions when
there are multiple pathways between the end LANs.
d) Gateways
Gateways are devices used to translate transmissions between two computer
systems. They are used when there are significant differences between the network
architectures which need to communicateincluding differences in
communications protocols, data formatting structures, and/or languages. Most
gateways operate at the Application layer of the OSI model. A common use of
gateways is to interconnect and translate two proprietary protocol stacks such as
SNA (Systems Network Architecture) to DNA (Digital Network Architecture) or
AppleTalk to TCP/IP.