Data Communication

Fall 2004
Assignment No. 2
Total Marks: 50

Each question carries 10 Marks

Do your own work. If two solutions are found similar, no credit will be allocated to any
of the students.
Q. 1: If the unit exchanged at the data link level is called a Frame and the unit
exchanged at the Network layer level is called a Packet, do frames encapsulate
packet or do packets encapsulate frames? Explain your answer.

Q. 2: List two ways in which the OSI Reference Model and TCP/IP Model are the
same. Now list two ways in which they differ.

Q.3: What is the difference between a service-point address, a logical address and a
physical address?
The physical address is the local address of a node; it is used by the data link layer to
deliver data from one node to another within the same network.

The logical address defines the sender and receiver at the network layer and is used to
deliver messages across multiple networks.
The service-point address identifies the application process on the station.
Q4. Group the OSI layers by function.
The OSI layers can be grouped into:
a). Network support layers: physical, data link, network
b). User support layers: session, presentation, and application
c). Transport layer: functions as a liaison between the two groups of layers
Q.5: Why OSI is called Open System?
OSI model is not dependant on any architecture of the Network and Open system is the
one that allows two different systems to communicate with each other prior to the
underlying architecture therefore OSI Model is called Open System.