1.10 Summary

We have covered a lot of territory in this tutorial. Beginning with the invention of Ethernet and how the Ethernet standards evolved, we went on to describe the operation of the basic Ethernet system, including the Ethernet medium access control mechanism. Following that, we took a look at the collision detection and backoff mechanism, which is an essential feature of the normal operation of an Ethernet.

Next we explained the Ethernet frame and the address that is assigned to each Ethernet interface. The way in which a high-level protocol finds the Ethernet address using the ARP protocol was also briefly described.

Finally, we described the topology of Ethernet and explained why the network segments used to build an Ethernet LAN must all obey certain round trip timing restrictions. The configuration rules in the IEEE 802.3 standard show how to combine segments with repeaters to make sure that the total system of segments meets the timing requirements for an Ethernet LAN. We also noted that multiple Ethernet LANs can be linked with packet switches.

The following chapters describe the configuration rules that apply to each media variety, and the multi-segment configuration rules that allow you to combine multiple segments while still maintaining the correct signal timing.

Quick Reference Guide to the Ethernet System - 04 SEP 95

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