Ethernet Local Area Networks

Fundamentals overview LANs, MAC and Frames

In modern environments you will find that, at a general level, computer data networks can be categorized in two types:

  • Local Area Networks - connecting nearby devices, in the same room, building or campus of buildings

  • Wide Area Networks - devices are somewhat geographically separated

The aggregate use of these two types of networks covers most of the communication requirements of modern businesses, they deliver data from one endpoint to another.

The Ethernet or Wired LAN

Ethernet is a general reference to any cable that conforms to any of several Ethernet Standards. However, the cables used for the links use copper wires more often than not.

In contrast to the Wired LAN, the Wireless LAN or WLAN uses radio-frequencies to transmit data between nodes instead of wires for the links.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) define the required elements to build an Ethernet-based Local Area Network. These elements, among others include:

Devices

Assuming an Ethernet-only Local Area Network we would need an Ethernet LAN _switch, _the switch's purpose is to increase the amount of ports that can be used to connect wires terminating into the client machines - this concept is also known as port density. These client machines are connected via their network interface card's Ethernet port using an Ethernet cable.

Cabling

Ethernet standards from Wikipedia's page on IEEE 802.3:

"IEEE 802.3 is a working group and a collection of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards produced by the working group defining the physical layer and data link layer's media access control (MAC) of wired Ethernet. This is generally a local area network (LAN) technology with some wide area network (WAN) applications. Physical connections are made between nodes and/or infrastructure devices (hubs, switches, routers) by various types of copper or fiber cable.

802.3 is a technology that supports the IEEE 802.1 network architecture.

802.3 also defines LAN access method using CSMA/CD."

Ethernet standardDateDescription

Experimental Ethernet

1973

2.94 Mbit/s (367 kB/s) over coaxial cable (coax) bus. Single byte node address unique only to individual network.

Ethernet I (DIX v1.0)

1980

10 Mbit/s (1.25 MB/s) over thick coax. Frames have a Type field. This frame format is used on all forms of Ethernet by protocols in the Internet protocol suite. Six byte MAC address.

Ethernet II (DIX v2.0)

1982

IEEE 802.3 standard

1983

10BASE5 10 Mbit/s (1.25 MB/s) over thick coax. Same as Ethernet II (above) except Type field is replaced by Length, and an 802.2 LLC header follows the 802.3 header. Based on the CSMA/CD Process.

1985

10BASE2 10 Mbit/s (1.25 MB/s) over thin Coax (a.k.a. thinnet or cheapernet)

1985

802.3c

1985

10 Mbit/s (1.25 MB/s) repeater specs

802.3-1985

1985

a revision of the base standard from 1983

1987

1987

1990

10BASE-T 10 Mbit/s (1.25 MB/s) over twisted pair

1993

10BASE-F 10 Mbit/s (1.25 MB/s) over Fiber-Optic

802.3q

1993

GDMO (ISO 10164-4) format for Layer Managed Objects

1995

100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4, 100BASE-FX Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbit/s (12.5 MB/s) with autonegotiation

1997

Full Duplex and flow control; also incorporates DIX framing, so there's no longer a DIX/802.3 split

1998

100BASE-T2 100 Mbit/s (12.5 MB/s) over voice-grade twisted pair

1998-07

1000BASE-X Gbit/s Ethernet over Fiber-Optic at 1 Gbit/s (125 MB/s)

802.3-1998

1998-07

(802.3aa) A revision of base standard incorporating the above amendments and errata

1999-06

1000BASE-T Gbit/s Ethernet over twisted pair at 1 Gbit/s (125 MB/s)

1998-09

Max frame size extended to 1522 bytes (to allow "Q-tag") The Q-tag includes 802.1Q VLAN information and 802.1p priority information.

2000-03

Link aggregation for parallel links, since moved to IEEE 802.1AX

802.3-2002

2002-01

(802.3ag) A revision of base standard incorporating the three prior amendments and errata

2002-06

10 Gigabit Ethernet over fiber; 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-SW, 10GBASE-LW, 10GBASE-EW

2003-06

2004-06

2004-02

10GBASE-CX4 10 Gbit/s (1,250 MB/s) Ethernet over twinaxial cables

802.3-2005

2005-06

(802.3am) A revision of base standard incorporating the four prior amendments and errata.

2006-06

10GBASE-T 10 Gbit/s (1,250 MB/s) Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair (UTP)

802.3ap

2007-03

Backplane Ethernet (1 and 10 Gbit/s (125 and 1,250 MB/s) over printed circuit boards)

2006-09

10GBASE-LRM 10 Gbit/s (1,250 MB/s) Ethernet over multimode fiber

P802.3ar

Cancelled

Congestion management (withdrawn)

802.3as

2006-09

Frame expansion

2009-09

Power over Ethernet enhancements (25.5 W)

802.3au

2006-06

Isolation requirements for Power over Ethernet (802.3-2005/Cor 1)

2009-09

10 Gbit/s EPON

802.3aw

2007-06

Fixed an equation in the publication of 10GBASE-T (released as 802.3-2005/Cor 2)

802.3ax

2008-11

Link aggregation – moved to and approved as 802.1AX

802.3-2008

2008-12

(802.3ay) A revision of base standard incorporating the 802.3an/ap/aq/as amendments, two corrigenda and errata.

2010-09

2010-06

40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet. 40 Gbit/s over 1 m backplane, 10 m Cu cable assembly (4×25 Gbit or 10×10 Gbit lanes) and 100 m of MMF and 100 Gbit/s up to 10 m of Cu cable assembly, 100 m of MMF or 40 km of SMF respectively

802.3-2008/Cor 1

2009

(802.3bb) Increase Pause Reaction Delay timings which are insufficient for 10 Gbit/s (workgroup name was 802.3bb)

802.3bc

2009-09

Move and update Ethernet related TLVs (type, length, values), previously specified in Annex F of IEEE 802.1AB (LLDP) to 802.3.

802.3bd

2011-06

Priority-based Flow Control. An amendment by the IEEE 802.1 Data Center Bridging Task Group (802.1Qbb) to develop an amendment to IEEE Std 802.3 to add a MAC Control Frame to support IEEE 802.1Qbb Priority-based Flow Control.

802.3.1

2011-05

(802.3be) MIB definitions for Ethernet. It consolidates the Ethernet related MIBs present in Annex 30A&B, various IETF RFCs, and 802.1AB annex F into one master document with a machine readable extract. (workgroup name was P802.3be)

802.3bf

2011-05

Provide an accurate indication of the transmission and reception initiation times of certain packets as required to support IEEE P802.1AS.

802.3bg

2011-03

Provide a 40 Gbit/s PMD which is optically compatible with existing carrier SMF 40 Gbit/s client interfaces (OTU3/STM-256/OC-768/40G POS).

802.3-2012

2012-08

(802.3bh) A revision of base standard incorporating the 802.3at/av/az/ba/bc/bd/bf/bg amendments, a corrigenda and errata.

802.3bj

2014-06

Define a 4-lane 100 Gbit/s backplane PHY for operation over links consistent with copper traces on "improved FR-4" (as defined by IEEE P802.3ap or better materials to be defined by the Task Force) with lengths up to at least 1 m and a 4-lane 100 Gbit/s PHY for operation over links consistent with copper twinaxial cables with lengths up to at least 5 m.

802.3bk

2013-08

This amendment to IEEE Std 802.3 defines the physical layer specifications and management parameters for EPON operation on point-to-multipoint passive optical networks supporting extended power budget classes of PX30, PX40, PRX40, and PR40 PMDs.

802.3bm

2015-02

100G/40G Ethernet for optical fiber

802.3bn

2016-09

10G-EPON and 10GPASS-XR, passive optical networks over coax

802.3bp

2016-06

1000BASE-T1 – Gigabit Ethernet over a single twisted pair, automotive & industrial environments

802.3bq

2016-06

25G/40GBASE-T for 4-pair balanced twisted-pair cabling with 2 connectors over 30 m distances

802.3br

2016-06

Specification and Management Parameters for Interspersing Express Traffic

802.3bs

2017-12

200GbE (200 Gbit/s) over single-mode fiber and 400GbE (400 Gbit/s) over optical physical media

2018-09

third generation Power over Ethernet with up to 100 W using all 4 pairs balanced twisted-pair cabling (4PPoE), including 10GBASE-T, lower standby power and specific enhancements to support IoT applications (e.g. lighting, sensors, building automation).

802.3bu

2016-12

Power over Data Lines (PoDL) for single twisted-pair Ethernet (100BASE-T1)

802.3bv

2017-02

Gigabit Ethernet over plastic optical fiber (POF)

802.3bw

2015-10

100BASE-T1 – 100 Mbit/s Ethernet over a single twisted pair for automotive applications

802.3-2015

2015-09

802.3bx – a new consolidated revision of the 802.3 standard including amendments 802.3bk/bj/bm

2016-06

802.3bz

2016-09

2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T – 2.5 Gigabit and 5 Gigabit Ethernet over Cat-5/Cat-6 twisted pair

802.3ca

2020-06

100G-EPON – 25, 50, and 100 Gbit/s over Ethernet Passive Optical Networks

802.3cb

2018-09

2.5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s Operation over Backplane

802.3cc

2017-12

25 Gbit/s over Single Mode Fiber

802.3cd

2018-12

Media Access Control Parameters for 50 Gbit/s and Physical Layers and Management Parameters for 50, 100, and 200 Gbit/s Operation

802.3ce

2017-03

Multilane Timestamping

802.3cf

2019-03

YANG Data Model Definitions

2019-11

10 Mbit/s Single Twisted Pair Ethernet

2020-06

Multi-Gig Automotive Ethernet (2.5, 5, 10 Gbit/s) over 15 m with optional PoDL

802.3-2018

2018-08

802.3cj – 802.3-2015 maintenance, merge recent amendments bn/bp/bq/br/bs/bw/bu/bv/by/bz/cc/ce

802.3ck

(TBD)

100, 200, and 400 Gbit/s Ethernet using 100 Gbit/s lanes – scheduled for fall 2021

802.3cm

2020-01

400 Gbit/s over multimode fiber (four and eight pairs, 100 m)

802.3cn

2019-11

50 Gbit/s (40 km), 100 Gbit/s (80 km), 200 Gbit/s (four λ, 40 km), and 400 Gbit/s (eight λ, 40 km and single λ, 80 km over DWDM) over Single-Mode Fiber and DWDM

802.3cp

(TBD)

10/25/50 Gbit/s single-strand optical access with at least 10/20/40 km reach – scheduled for summer 2021

802.3cq

2020-01

Power over Ethernet over 2 pairs (maintenance)

802.3cr

(TBD)

Isolation (maintenance)

802.3cs

(TBD)

"Super-PON" – increased-reach, 10 Gbit/s optical access with at least 50 km reach and 1:64 split ratio per wavelength pair, 16 wavelength pairs – scheduled for summer 2021

802.3ct

(TBD)

100 Gbit/s over DWDM systems (80 km reach using coherent modulation) – scheduled for fall 2021

802.3cu

(TBD)

100 Gbit/s and 400 Gbit/s over SMF using 100 Gbit/s lanes – scheduled for early 2021

802.3cv

(TBD)

Power over Ethernet maintenance

802.3cw

(TBD)

400 Gbit/s over DWDM Systems

802.3cx

(TBD)

Improved PTP Timestamping Accuracy

802.3cy

(TBD)

Greater than 10 Gbit/s Electrical Automotive Ethernet

802.3cz

(TBD)

Multi-Gigabit Optical Automotive Ethernet

802.3da

(TBD)

10 Mb/s Operation over Single Balanced Pair Multidrop Segments

802.3db

(TBD)

100 Gbit/s, 200 Gbit/s, and 400 Gbit/s Operation over Optical Fiber using 100 Gbit/s Signaling

Connector Terminals or Interfaces

Protocol Rules

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