Sublayers of the Data Link Layer
Sublayers of the data link layer
The data link layer has two sublayers: logical link control (LLC) and media access control (MAC).
Logical link control sublayer
The uppermost sublayer, LLC, multiplexes protocols running atop the data link layer, and optionally provides flow control, acknowledgment, and error notification. The LLC provides addressing and control of the data link. It specifies which mechanisms are to be used for addressing stations over the transmission medium and for controlling the data exchanged between the originator and recipient machines.
Media access control sublayer
MAC may refer to the sublayer that determines who is allowed to access the media at any one time (usually CSMA/CD). Other times it refers to a frame structure with MAC addresses inside.
There are generally two forms of media access control: distributed and centralized. Both of these may be compared to communication between people. In a network made up of people speaking, i.e. a conversation, we look for clues from our fellow talkers to see if any of them appear to be about to speak. If two people speak at the same time, they will back off and begin a long and elaborate game of saying "no, you first".
The Media Access Control sublayer also determines where one frame of data ends and the next one starts – frame synchronization. There are four means of frame synchronization: time based, character counting, byte stuffing and bit stuffing.
The time based approach simply puts a specified amount of time between frames. The major drawback of this is that new gaps can be introduced or old gaps can be lost due to external influences.
Character counting simply notes the count of remaining characters in the frame's header. This method, however, is easily disturbed if this field gets faulty in some way, thus making it hard to keep up synchronization.
Byte stuffing precedes the frame with a special byte sequence such as DLE STX and succeeds it with DLE ETX.
The data link layer has two sublayers: logical link control (LLC) and media access control (MAC).
Logical link control sublayer
The uppermost sublayer, LLC, multiplexes protocols running atop the data link layer, and optionally provides flow control, acknowledgment, and error notification. The LLC provides addressing and control of the data link. It specifies which mechanisms are to be used for addressing stations over the transmission medium and for controlling the data exchanged between the originator and recipient machines.
Media access control sublayer
MAC may refer to the sublayer that determines who is allowed to access the media at any one time (usually CSMA/CD). Other times it refers to a frame structure with MAC addresses inside.
There are generally two forms of media access control: distributed and centralized. Both of these may be compared to communication between people. In a network made up of people speaking, i.e. a conversation, we look for clues from our fellow talkers to see if any of them appear to be about to speak. If two people speak at the same time, they will back off and begin a long and elaborate game of saying "no, you first".
The Media Access Control sublayer also determines where one frame of data ends and the next one starts – frame synchronization. There are four means of frame synchronization: time based, character counting, byte stuffing and bit stuffing.
The time based approach simply puts a specified amount of time between frames. The major drawback of this is that new gaps can be introduced or old gaps can be lost due to external influences.
Character counting simply notes the count of remaining characters in the frame's header. This method, however, is easily disturbed if this field gets faulty in some way, thus making it hard to keep up synchronization.
Byte stuffing precedes the frame with a special byte sequence such as DLE STX and succeeds it with DLE ETX.