Manipal

BCA REVAMPED PROGRAMME

IV SEMESTER
ASSIGNMENT
Name

VELMURUGAN C
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Registration No.

531210112
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Learning Center

KUWAIT EDUCATIONAL CENTER

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Learning Center Code

2527
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Course/Program

BCA
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Semester

IV Semester
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Subject Code

BC0048
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Subject Title

COMPUTER NETWORKS
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Date of Submission

26.02.2014
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Marks Awarded

:
____________________________________________________

Average marks of both assignments

_________________________________________________

_______________________________________________

Signature of Center Coordinator

Signature of Evaluator

Directorate of Distance Education

Sikkim Manipal University
II Floor, Syndicate House, Manipal 576 104

SMU

_________________________________________

Sikkim Manipal University

Directorate of Distance Education

Question 1: Briefly explain (i) Coaxial Cable and (ii) Optical fiber
Ans.:
COAXIAL CABLE:
Coaxial cables are widely used for long distance telephone network.
Coaxial cable, like twisted pair, consists of two conductors, but
constructed differently to permit it to operate over a wider range
frequency. It consists of hollow outer cylindrical conductor that surrounds
a single inner wire conductor.
The inner conductor is held in place by either regularly spaced insulating
rings or a solid dielectric material. The outer conductor is covered with
jacket or shield. A single coaxial cable has a diameter of from 1 to 2.5cm.

Coaxial cable is used to transmit both analog and digital signals. Coaxial
cable has frequency characteristics that are superior to those of twisted
pair, and can hence be used effectively at higher frequencies and data
rates.
There are two types of coaxial cable that are used in LAN.
1. Thick coax:
They are used for Ethernets but are difficult to work with and are
expensive. It has greater degree of noise immunity and is strong. It
requires vampire tap and a drop cable to connect to the network.
2. Thin coax:
They are easier to work and less expensive. It carries signal over shorter
distance and is preferred over thick coax as it needs simple BNC
connector. They are flexible, cheaper, soft and ideal for office cabling.

OPTICAL FIBER:
Optical fiber is a thin, flexible medium capable of guiding an optical ray.
Total internal reflection is the basic principle on which the transmission of
data takes place through fibers. An optical fiber has a cylindrical shape
and consists of three concentric sections; the core, the cladding and the
jacket.
The core is the inner most sections and consists of one or more very thin
strands, or fibers, made of glass or plastic.
The core has a diameter in the range of 8 to 100m. various glasses and
plastics can be used to make optical fibers. Optical fiber transmits a signal
encoded beam of light by means of total internal reflection.

Total internal reflection can occur in any transparent medium that has a
higher index of refraction than the surrounding medium.
The advantages of optical fiber over twisted pair and coaxial cable
become more compelling as the demand for all types of information
(voice,
data,
image
and
video)
increases.
Five basic categories of applications have become important for optical
fiber; they are Long-haul trunks, Metropolitan trunks, rural exchange
trunks, Subscriber loops, and Local area networks.

Question 2: Define LAN, WAN and differentiate them

Ans.:
LAN:

Local Area Networks are generally called LANs. They are privately owned
networks within a single building or campus of up to few kilometers in
size. Most of LANs use Bus or ring topology for connection.
A local area network (LAN) supplies networking capability to a group of
computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a
school, or a home. A LAN is useful for sharing resources like files, printers,
games or other applications. A LAN in turn often connects to other LANs,
and to the Internet or other WAN.

WAN:
A wide area network is referred as WAN. WAN spans a large geographical
area often a continent or country. WAN contains a collection of machines,
traditionally called as hosts. These hosts can be on LANs and are
connected by a subnet or also called communication subnet. WAN is a
network that spans over a large physical distance. The Worlds largest
WAN is the Internet.
WAN is geographically dispersed telecommunications network. The term
distinguishes a broader telecommunication structure from a local area
network (LAN).
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAN & WAN:

Definition
Data transfer rates

LAN
LAN is a computer
network that connects
computers in small
areas.
LAN offers high data
transfer rates.

WAN
WAN is a network that
covers a broad area
using private or public
network transports.
WAN has lower data
transfer rates due to

Speed

80-90 mbps

Technology

LANs use technologies

such as Ethernet and
Token Ring to connect
to other networks.

congestion
10-20 mbps
WAN uses technologies
such as MPLS, ATM,
Frame Relay and X.25
for data connection
over greater distances.

Bandwidth

Connection

High bandwidth is
available for
transmission.
One LAN can be
connected to other
LANs over any distance
via telephone lines and
radio waves.

Components

Layer 2 devices like

switches, bridges.
Layer 1 devices like
hubs, repeaters.

Problems

LANs tend to have

fewer problems
associated with them.

Ownership

LAN networks can be

owned up private
companies or people
that set it up at homes.

Low bandwidth
available for
transmission.
Computers connected
to a wide-area network
are often connected
through public
networks, such as the
telephone system.
They can also be
connected through
leased lines or
satellites.
Layers 3 devices
Routers, Multi-layer
Switches and
Technology specific
devices like ATM or
Frame-relay Switches
etc.
WANs have more
problems due to the
large amount of system
and data that is
present.
WAN are not owned up
any one organization
but exist under
collective or distributed
ownership.

Question 3: Explain the TCP/IP Reference Model with diagram

Ans.:
The TCP/IP reference model is the network model used in the current
Internet architecture. It was created in the 1970s by DARPA for use in
developing the Internets protocols, and the structure of the Internet is still
closely reflected by the TCP/IP model. It is considered as the grandfather
of the Internet the ARPANET. The reference model was named after two of
its main protocols, TCP (Transmission control Protocol) and IP (Internet
Protocol).

There are versions of this model with four layers and with five layers. The
original four-layer version of the model is shown below.
Layer 4 Process Layer or Application Layer: This is where the higher
level protocols such as FTP, HTTP, etc. operate. The original TCP/IP
specification described a number of different applications that fit into the
top layer of the protocol stack. These applications include Telnet, FTP,
SMTP and DNS.
Telnet is a program that supports the TELNET protocol over TCP, TELNET is
a general two-way communication protocol that can be used to connect to
another host and run applications on that host remotely.
FTP(File transfer Protocol) is a protocol that was originally designed to
promote the sharing of files among computer users.
SMTP (Simple Mail transport Protocol) is the protocol used to transport
electronic mail from one computer to another through a series of other
computers along the route.
DNS (Domain Name System) resoles the numerical address of a network
node into its textual name or vice-versa.

Layer 3 Host-To-Host (Transport) Layer: This is where flow-control and

connection protocols exist, such as TCP. This layer deals with opening and
maintaining connection, ensuring that packet are in fact received the
transport layer is the interface between the application layer and the
complex hardware of the network it is designed to allow peer entities on
the source and destination hosts to carry on conversations.

Layer 2 Internet or Internetworking Layer: This layer defines IP

addresses, with many routing schemes for navigating packets from one IP
address to another. The job of the network layer is to inject packets into
any network and have them travel independently to the destination. The
layer defines IP (Internet Protocol) for its official packet format and
protocol. Packet routing is a major job of this protocol.
Layer 1 Networking Access Layer: This layer describes the physical
equipment necessary for communications, such as twisted pair cables, the
signaling used on that equipment, and the low-level protocols using that
signaling.

Question 4: What are the advantages and disadvantages of

layered architecture in a network?
Ans.:
ADVANTAGES OF LAYERED ARCHITECTURE:
Layered architecture increases flexibility, maintainability, and scalability.
In Layered architecture we separate the user interface from the business
logic, and the business logic from the data access logic. Separation of
concerns among these logical layers and components is easily achieved
with the help of layered architecture.
Multiple applications can reuse the components. For example if we want a
windows user interface rather than a web browser interface, this can be
done in an easy and fast way by just replacing the UI component. All the
other components like business logic, data access and the database
remains the same. Layered architecture allows swap and reuse
components at will.
Layered architecture enables teams to work on different parts of the
application parallel with minimal dependencies on other teams.
Layered architecture enables develop loosely coupled systems.
Different components of the application can be independently deployed,
maintained, and updated, on different time schedules.
Layered architecture also makes it possible to configure different levels of
security to different components deployed on different boxes. So Layered
architecture, enables you to secure portions of the application behind the
firewall and make other components accessible from the Internet.
In short:

Any given layer can be modified or upgraded without affecting the

other layers.
Modulation by means of layering simplifies the overall design.
Different layers can be assigned to different standards,
committees, and design teams.
The relation between different control functions can be better
understood.
Common lower levels may be shared by different higher levels.
Functions (especially at lower levels) may be removed from
software to hardware and micro-codes.
Increases the compatibility of different machines.

DISADVANTAGES OF LAYERED ARCHITECTURE:

There might be a negative impact on the performance as we have the
extra overhead of passing through layers instead of calling a component
directly.
Development of user-intensive applications can sometime take longer if
the layering prevents the use of user interface components that directly
interact with the database.
The use of layers helps to control and encapsulate the complexity of large
applications, but adds complexity to simple applications.
Changes to lower level interfaces tend to percolate to higher levels,
especially if the relaxed layered approach is used.
In Short:

Total overhead is higher.

Two communicating machines may have to use certain functions
which they could do without layers.
As technology changes, the functions may not be in the most costeffective layer.

Question 5: Write notes on (i) Non-Persistent CSMA (ii) 1Persistent CSMA

Ans.:
Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) is a probabilistic Media Access
Control (MAC) protocol in which a node verifies the absence of other traffic
before transmitting on a shared physical medium, such as an electrical
bus, or a band of electromagnetic spectrum.
NON-PERSISTENT CSMA:
Non persistent CSMA is less aggressive compared to P persistent protocol.
In this protocol, before sending the data, the station senses the channel
and if the channel is idle it starts transmitting the data. But if the channel
is busy, the station does not continuously sense it but instead of that it
waits for random amount of time and repeats the algorithm. Here the

algorithm leads to better channel utilization but also results in longer

delay compared to 1 persistent.

Non-persistent CSMA is less greedy. The algorithm is given below:

Sense the channel.

IF the channel is idle, THEN transmit.

If the channel is busy, THEN wait a random amount of time and

start over.

1-Persistent CSMA:
When the sender (station) is ready to transmit data, it checks if the
transmission medium is busy. If so, it then senses the medium continually
until it becomes idle, and then it transmits the message (a frame). In case
of a collision, the sender waits for a random period of time and attempts
to transmit again. 1-persistent CSMA is used in CSMA/CD systems
including Ethernet.

1-Persistent CSMA is selfish. The algorithm is given below:

Sense the channel.
IF the channel is idle, THEN transmit.
IF the channel is busy, THEN continue to listen until channel is idle.
Now transmit immediately.

Question 6: Describe Circuit switching and message switching

Ans.:
CIRCUIT SWITCHING:
A circuit switching network is one that establishes a dedicated circuit (or
channel) between nodes and terminals before the users may
communicate. Each circuit that is dedicated cannot be used by other
callers until the circuit is released and a new connection is set up. Even if
no actual communication is taking place in a dedicated circuits then, that
channel still remains unavailable to other users. Channels that are
available for new calls to be set up are said to be idle. Circuit switching is
used for ordinary telephone calls. It allows communications equipment
and circuits, to be shared among users. Each user has sole access to a
circuit during network use.
Circuit switching can be relatively inefficient because capacity is wasted
on connections which are set up but are not in continuous use. On the

other hand, the connection is immediately available and capacity is

guarantee until the call is disconnected
Communication using circuit switching involves three phases
discussed below:

Connection establishment: Before any signal can be transmitted,

an end to end circuit must be established.
Data transfer: Information can now be transmitted from source
through the network to the destination using the dedicated path
established.
Termination: After some period of data transfer, the connection is
terminated

MESSAGE SWITCHING:
Message switching was the precursor of packet switching, where
messages were routed in their entirety and one hop at a time. It was first
introduced by Leonard Kleinrock in 1961. Message switching system is
nowadays mostly implemented over packet-switched or circuit-switched
data networks.
Hop-by-hoop Telex forwarding are examples of message switching
systems. E-mail is another example of a message switching system. When
this form of switching is used, no physical path is established in advance
in between sender and receiver. Instead, when the sender has a block of
data to be sent, it is stored in the first switching office then forwarded
later at one hop at a time.
Each block is received in its entity form, inspected for errors and then
forwarded or re-transmitted. It is a form of store-and-forward network.
Data is transmitted into the network and store in a switch. The network
transfers the data from switch to switch when it is convenient to do so, as
such the delays can happen. The source and destination terminal need not
be compatible, since conversions are done by the message switching
networks.
A delay for putting the message on the communications link is also
incurred at each node enrooted. Message lengths are slightly longer than
they are in circuit switching, after establishment of the header includes
information identifying must be included with each message.