Introduction to Networking for NonStop S-Series Servers

Introduction to Networking for HP NonStop S-Series Servers—520670-005
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Local Area Network (LAN)
Connections
This section describes HP products that allow HP NonStop S-series servers,
workstations, and other systems and devices to communicate across local area
networks (LANs).
HP offers LAN interface products based on industry-standard and de facto LAN
protocols. HP LAN connectivity products allow you to integrate NonStop S-series
servers and Expand networks with existing LANs. Programmatic interfaces support
cooperative processing between personal computers (PCs) and NonStop S-series
servers; your applications benefit from the economics and ergonomics of workstations
and from the fault-tolerance, high performance, and other advantages of NonStop
S-series servers for online transaction processing (OLTP).
A Brief Look at LANs
A local area network (LAN) is an interconnection of computer systems, workstations,
or devices in a limited geographical area, such as within a building or a group of
buildings like a campus or manufacturing plant. A LAN can provide services either for
an entire organization or for a single department as part of a larger, enterprise-wide
network. LANs typically offer high data-transmission speeds [1 to 16 megabits per
second (Mbps) for Ethernet, token-ring, and token-bus LANs—defined below—or up to
100 Mbps for fiber-optic implementations], low transmission-error rates, and sharing of
resources such as files and printers by users on the LAN.
The interconnection of devices in a LAN consists of physical communication lines that
connect the devices and a software interface between these devices and the network.
There are industry standards for LAN hardware interfaces and software interfaces.
LAN hardware interfaces have been codified in Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 802 standards, which are based on the OSI Reference Model:
802 Standard Description (page 1 of 2)
802.1 Defines a general architecture for LANs.
802.2 Defines a Logical Link Control (LLC) protocol, a uniform set of services to the
OSI Network Layer for support of LAN topologies and access methods. The
standard defines two LLC types: type 1 is a connectionless service, and
type 2 is a connection-oriented service.
802.3 Defines a media access control (MAC) protocol known as carrier sense
multiple access/collision detection (CSMA/CD) for baseband coaxial cable
configured in a bus topology. Derived from and similar to the Ethernet
protocol.
802.3ab Defines a standard for Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Base-T standard).