LLC

The LLC sublayer is primarily concerned with:

• Multiplexing protocols transmitted over the MAC layer (when transmitting) and decoding
them (when receiving).
• Providing flow and error control

The protocol used for LLC in IEEE 802 networks, such as IEEE 802.3/Ethernet (if the
EtherType field isn't used), IEEE 802.5, and IEEE 802.11, and in some non-IEEE 802 networks
such as FDDI, is specified by the IEEE 802.2 standard.

Some non-IEEE 802 protocols can be thought of as being split into MAC and LLC layers. For
example, while HDLC specifies both MAC functions (framing of packets) and LLC functions
(protocol multiplexing, flow control, detection, and error control through a retransmission of
dropped packets when indicated), some protocols such as Cisco HDLC can use HDLC-like
packet framing and their own LLC protocol.

Another example of a Data Link Layer which is split between LLC (for flow and error control)
and MAC (for multiple access) is the ITU-T G.hn standard, which provides high-speed local area
networking over existing home wiring (power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables).

An LLC header tells the Data Link layer what to do with a packet once a frame is received. It
works like this: A host will receive a frame and look in the LLC header to find out where the
packet is destined for - for example, the IP protocol at the Network layer or IPX.

The GPRS LLC layer also does ciphering and deciphering of SN-PDU (SNDCP) packets.

Logical Link Control (LLC)

LLC is a subset of High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) and uses the Asynchronous
Balanced Mode (ABM) subclass of HDLC. It sits in the Data Link layer between the MAC
layer and the layer 3 protocols and forms an important part of the 802.2 specification.

There are three Classes of LLC:

1. LLC Class 1 - This service sends and recieves Link Service Data Units (LSDU)
without the need for acknowledgement. It supports point-to-point, multipoint and
broadcast communication and is suitable for higher level protocols that do all the
sequencing, addressing, routing and recovery. These include IPX, TCP/IP, Vines, XNS,
AppleTalk etc. LLC1 is less intense on network resources than LLC2 or LLC3 as there is
less requirement for the data-integrity measures included within the following two
methods. The responsibility for data flow and integrity rests with the layer 3 protocols.
LLC1 operates Type 1 operations which means that Protocol Data Units (PDU) are
 exchanged without connections, there is no sequencing, acknowledgement or error-
checking of PDUs.
2. LLC Class 2 - This is a connection-oriented service that provides a point-to-point link
between Link Service Access Points (LSAP). Although LLC2 responds to the higher
layer protocol with respect to opening and closing connections, LLC2 is responsible for
flow control, sequencing the frames and error recovery. LLC2 can operate Type 1 or
Type 2 operations, where a connection has to be established, acknowledgement,
sequencing and error checking all take place in the LLC sublayer. LLC2 is generally
required in environments that run protocols such as NetBIOS and SNA.
3. LLC Class 3 - This is a 'connectionless-acknowledged' implementation that is rarely
used.

The following table lists the LLC command PDUs:

Operation Command Response
Type 1 Unnumbered Information (UI) No Response
Exchange Identification (XI) Exchange Identification (XI)
Test (TEST) Test (TEST)
Type2 Information (I) Information (I)
Receiver Ready (RR) Receiver Ready (RR)
Receiver Not Ready (RNR) Receiver Not Ready (RNR)
Reject (REJ) Reject (REJ)
Set Asynchronous Balance Mode Extended Unnumbered Acknowledgement
(SABME) (UA)
Disconnect (DISC) Disconnected Mode (DM)
No Command Frame Reject (FRMR)

The following diagram shows the structure of the LLC PDU.

This sits at the start of the data part of the Ethernet frame (ref. figure 25l in the IPX/SPX
document).

The LLC SAP's job is to sort the up and coming MAC frames and direct them to the appropriate
application or upper layer protocol. NetBIOS uses the SAP address of F0, IP uses 06 whilst
DLSw uses 04 and Network Management uses F4. The Null SAP, address 00 does not identify
any SAP to any protocol.

The Control field identifies sequencing and/or commands/responses. There are three types:

• The Information Transfer (I) PDU carries out a numbered information transfer in Type
2 operations.
• The Supervisory (S) PDU carries out acknowledgement, retransmit requests and
suspends of I PDUs in Type 2 operations.
• The Unnumbered (U) PDU carries out some control functions and unsequenced
information transfer in Type 1 operations.

There is the special case of Subnetwork Access Protocol (SNAP) where the DSAP and SSAP
are set to AA and the Control field set to 03. Then, immediately after the control field there are
three bytes set aside for the Organisational Unique Identifier (OUI) and then two bytes for the
Protocol Identifier (PID) (see figure 25k in the IPX/SPX document).

The SAP is generally used for the 802.x compliant protocols, however, the idea of SNAP is to
allow non-IEEE compliant protocols to become pseudo-compliant without a major re-write of
code for network drivers. An OUI of 00-00-00 indicates that the frame is an Ethernet frame
rather than an 802.3 frame that is not assigned to any particular vendor. This useful for when the
frame crosses different media. On coming out the other side it will be rebuilt as an Ethernet
frame rather than something else.