Review Questions For Test-1 (With Answers) : Chapter 1: Introduction To Data Communications

CSN200 Introduction to Telecommunications, Winter 2000 Review Questions for Test-1 (with Answers)
Review Questions for Test-1 (with Answers):
Chapter 1: Introduction to Data Communications

Outline
1.1 Network Basics
1.2 Network Layer Model (most important)
1.3 Network Standards
1.4 Future Trends (least important)
Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions
1. Describe the progression of communications systems from the 1800s to the present.
Communications systems progression from the 1800s to the present:

1837 Invention of the telegraph
1876 Invention of the telephone
1877 Telephone system regulation begins in Canada
1878 Telephone system regulation begins in the United States
1879 Direct dialed long distance service begins
1880 Satellites begin to transmit international telephone calls
1881 Caterfone court decision permits non-Bell telephone equipment to be used
1970 Court permits MCI to provide long distance services
1984 Breakup of AT&T
1985 Cellular phones enter service
1996 Telecommunications Act of 1996 deregulates American telephone system
2. Why are network layers important?
Communication networks are often broken into a series of layers, each of which can be defined
separately, to enable vendors to develop software and hardware that can work together in the
overall network.
3. Describe the four layers in the network model used in this book and what they do.
 The application layer is the application software used by the user.

 The network layer takes the message generated by the application layer and if necessary, breaks
it into several smaller messages. It then addresses the message(s) and determines their route
through the network, and records message accounting information before passing it to the data
link layer.
 The data link layer formats the message to indicate where it starts and ends, decides when to
transmit it over the physical media, and detects and corrects any errors that occur in
transmission.
 The physical layer is the physical connection between the sender and receiver, including the
hardware devices (e.g., computers, terminals, and modems) and physical media (e.g., cables,
and satellites).
4. Explain how a message is transmitted from one computer to another using layers.
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The application layer is the application software used by the network user. The network layer takes
the message generated by the application layer and if necessary, breaks it into several smaller
messages. It then addresses the message(s) and determines their route through the network, and
records message accounting information before passing it to the data link layer. The data link layer
formats the message to indicate where it starts and ends, decides when to transmit it over the
physical media, and detects and corrects any errors that occur in transmission. The physical layer is
the physical connection between the sender and receiver, including the hardware devices (e.g.,
computers, terminals, and modems) and physical media (e.g., cables, and satellites).
5. Describe the three stages of standardization.
The formal standardization process has three stages: specification, identification of choices, and
acceptance. The specification stage consists of developing a nomenclature and identifying the
problems to be addressed. In the identification of choices stage, those working on the standard
identify the various solutions and choose the optimum solution from among the alternatives.
Acceptance, which is the most difficult stage, consists of defining the solution and getting
recognized industry leaders to agree on a single, uniform solution.
6. How are Internet standards developed?
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) sets the standards that govern how much of the
Internet will operate. Developing a standard usually takes 1-2 years. Usually, a standard begins as a
protocol developed by a vendor. When a protocol is proposed for standardization, IETF forms a
working group of technical experts to study it. The working group examines the protocol to
identify potential problems and possible extensions and improvements, and then issues a report to
IETF. If the report is favorable, the IETF issues a Request for Comment (RFC) that describes the
proposed standard and solicits comments from the entire world. Once no additional changes have
been identified, it becomes a Proposed Standard. Once at least two vendors have developed
software based on it, and it has proven successful in operation, the Proposed Standard is changed to
a Draft Standard. This is usually the final specification, although some protocols have been
elevated to Internet Standards, which usually signifies a mature standard not likely to change.
7. Describe two important data communications standards-making bodies. How do they differ?
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) makes technical recommendations about
data communication interfaces. The Telecommunications group (ITU-T) is the technical standards-
setting organization of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Postal
Telephone and Telegraphs (PTTs) are telephone companies outside of the United States. ITU-T
establishes recommendations for use by PTTs, other common carriers, and hardware and software
vendors.
8. What is the purpose of a data communication standard?
The use of standards makes it much easier to develop software and hardware that link different
networks because software and hardware can be developed one layer at a time. The software or
hardware defined by the standard at one network layer can be easily updated, as long as the
interface between that layer and the ones around it remains unchanged.
9. Discuss three trends in communications and networking.
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Pervasive networking will change how and where we work and with whom we do business. With
virtually every everyone able to connect to any other person or organization in the world, we will
see a rise in telecommuting, EDI, and the globalization of industries. The integration of voice,
video, and data onto the same networks will greatly simplify networks and enable anyone to access
any media at any point. The rise in these pervasive, integrated networks will mean a significant
increase the availability of information and new information services.
TRUE/FALSE
The the answer is provided in square brackets.
1. In an information society, the strategic resource is capital. [False, it is information.]
2. The information lag is the time it takes for information to be disseminated around the world. [True]
3. The World Wide Web was initially developed in a United States research lab. [False, it was
developed in a Swiss research lab.]
4. In the 1870’s, Alexander Graham Bell developed the first telephone that could transmit
understandable conversation. [True]
7. The Internet began in 1969 as a network of American military and academic computers. [True]
8. The most important aspect of computers is networking as we enter the new century. [True]
9. The strict definition of data communications is the movement of voice, video, and data information
from one point to another by means of electrical or optical transmission systems. [False, that is the
definition of telecommunications, a broader term.]
13. One of the most important models for describing network layers is the Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) Model. [True]
14. The data link layer of this book’s simplified four-layer network model is the physical connection
between the sender and receiver. [False, that is the definition of the physical layer.]
15. Data communication standards enable each layer in the sending computer to communicate with its
corresponding layer in the receiving computer. [True]
16. Network standards permit customers to purchase hardware and software from different vendors, as
long as the equipment meets the standards. [True]
17. In the formal standardization process, the specification stage consists of defining the solution and
getting recognized industry leaders to agree on a single, uniform solution. [False, that is the
Acceptance stage.]
18. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is based in Geneva, Switzerland. [True]
19. Pervasive networking, a key trend for the future, means that virtually any computer will be able to
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communicate with any other computer in the world. [True]
20. The high bandwidth requirements (high communications needs) for video has slowed its
integration into all types of networks. [True]
MULTIPLE CHOICE
The answer is provided under the choices.
1. An information society is dominated by:

A. capital and natural resources
B. computers, communications, highly skilled individuals
C. unions and transportation
D. farmers and agriculture
E. labor and management
Answer: b
2. The value of a current high speed data communication network is that it:
A. can handle or process all the quantities of information it receives
B. brings the message sender and receiver closer together in time
C. increases the information lag
D. can be used primarily for batch processing
E. can tie ‘dumb’ terminals to a central mainframe
Answer: b
3. The software used by the network user is located in the:

A. resident layer
B. application layer
C. network layer
D. data communication layer
E. physical layer
Answer: b
4. Which of the following is not a function of the network layer?

A. defining what messages are sent over the network
B. translating the destination of the message into an address understood by the network
C. deciding which route the message should take
D. breaking long messages into several smaller messages
E. none of the above are appropriate answers
Answer: a
5. Which of the following is not a function of the data link layer?

A. deciding when to transmit messages over the media
B. specifying the type of connection, and the electrical signals, radio waves, or light pulses that
pass through it
C. formatting the message by indicating where messages start and end, and which part is the
address
D. detecting and correcting any errors that have occurred in the transmission of the message
E. controlling the physical layer by determining when to transmit
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Answer: b
6. Which of the following is a type of network application software?

A. Web browser
B. router
C. gateway
D. hub
E. fiber optic cable
Answer: a
7. The primary reason for networking standards is to:

A. ensure that hardware and software produced by different vendors can work together
B. make it more difficult to develop hardware and software that link different networks
C. ensure that all network components of a particular network can be provided by only one
vendor
D. lock customers into buying network components from one vendor
E. simplify cost accounting for networks
Answer: a
8. Which of the following is not true about formal standards?

A. They can take several years to develop.
B. They can be developed by an official industry body.
C. One example exists for network layer software (TCP/IP).
D. They are always developed before de facto standards.
E. They can be developed by a government body.
Answer: d
9. Which of the following is not true about de facto standards?

A. They tend not to be developed by an official industry or government body
B. They never evolve into formal standards
C. They are those that standards that emerge in the marketplace
D. They are generally supported by more than one vendor
E. They tend to emerge based upon the needs/response of the marketplace
Answer: b
10. Which of the following is a stage of the formal standardization process?

A. implementation
B. identification of choices
C. post-implementation review
D. analysis
E. testing
Answer: b
11. Which of the following is not true about ISO:

A. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland
B. It is an acronym for title of the organization, International Organization for Standardization,
per the original language (French) used for the organization’s title
C. It is one of the most important standards-making bodies
D. It was formerly called the Consultative Committee on International Telegraph and Telephone
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E. It makes technical recommendations about data communications interfaces

Answer: d
12. Which of the following is not true about ITU-T:

A. It is the technical standards-setting organization of the United Nations International
Telecommunications Union
B. It was formerly called the CCITT
C. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland
D. Its membership is limited to U.S. telephone companies
E. Its membership is comprised of over 150 representatives
Answer: d
13. Which of the following is not a member of ITU-T?

A. PTTs
B. private telecommunications agencies
C. the Canadian Supreme Court
D. RBOCs
E. scientific organizations
Answer: c
14. Which of the following is not an important future trend in communication and networking?
A. pervasive networking
B. integration of voice, video, and data
C. all computers will be networked to other computers
D. using the same network for data, voice, and video
E. developing online batch systems
Answer: e
15. Pervasive networking means that:

A. the cost of computers will be higher in the future
B. virtually all computers will be networked in some way to other computers
C. the four-layer network model will be used to design all networks
D. common carriers must sell their services to all individuals
E. cable companies will offer more than 150 network selections for viewers
Answer: b
16. Which of the following is not a potential advantage for a telecommuter?

A. higher quality of life
B. more time driving to work
C. lower expenses for commuting
D. less stress
E. lower expenses for clothing
Answer: b
17. EDI is:

A. Electronic Data Interchange, the paperless transmission between companies of orders,
invoices, and other business documents
B. Electric Data Image, the wiring of buildings for electricity, data communications, voice
communications, image processing
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C. Electronic Document Interfacing, the automatic storage and forwarding of documents via
facsimile machines
D. Email Distribution Interchange, a new standard for email
E. none of these
Answer: a
18. As we enter the next century, we are moving from the ___________ era to the information era in
which ____________ is the single most valuable resource of an enterprise.
A. capital/labor, management
B. manufacturing/management, information
C. transportation/distribution, capital
D. batch processing, transaction processing
E. agricultural, management
Answer: b
19. The study of data communications provides an:

A. understanding of hardware, software, and transmission facility alternatives
B. ability to make informed decisions among the alternatives and to integrate these decisions
into a cohesive network design
C. understanding of how to remain informed about changing technology
D. understanding of the changing regulatory environment affecting the domestic and foreign
telephone marketplace
E. all of these
Answer: e
20. Which of the following is not an objective of data communications networks?

A. to reduce the time, effort, and cost required to perform various business tasks
B. to capture business data at its source and rapidly distribute it
C. to support improved management control, such as inventory control, of the organization
D. to provide the COBOL programming ‘fix’ for the Year 2000 problem
E. to support the ‘office of the future’ that can interconnects microcomputers, mainframe
computers, FAX machines, teleconferencing equipment, and other equipment
Answer: d
21. Which of the following business organizations would not benefit from the use of data
communications?
A. organizations using large numbers of microcomputers
B. organizations having a high volume of mail and messenger service or numerous telephone
calls between their various sites
C. organizations with repetitive paperwork operations, such as re-creating or copying
information
D. organizations, such as Wal-Mart, with strong value chain ties to suppliers and customers
E. all of these
Answer: e
22. Which of the following has not contributed directly to the growing demand for networking
expertise?
A. the invention of the mouse as an input device for the computer
B. the growth of use of the Internet and the World Wide Web
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C. the deregulation of the telephone industry

D. the wide variety of hardware innovations that have changed the nature of networking
E. the wide variety of software innovations that have changed the nature of networking
Answer: a
23. Which of the following magazines would not be useful in the study of data communications?
A. Communications Week
B. LAN Times
C. Network Computing
D. Datamation
E. all of the above would be useful
Answer: e
24. An information society is dominated by:

A. Capital and natural resources
B. Computers, communications, highly skilled individuals
C. Unions and transportation
D. Farmers and agriculture
Answer: b
25. Serial transmission is preferred over parallel transmission for longer distances. True or False?
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
26. Use the following list of Standards Organizations to select the correct answers for the following
question [Note: Not all choices in the list are valid Standards Organizations.]
A. OSI
B. EIA
C. ISO
D. IEEE
E. ANSI
27. Which standards organization created the 7-layer model for computer networks?
(A B C D E )
Answer: c
28. For the following three questions match the best example from the list below for each of the three
data communications modes identified:
A. A conversation on CB radio.
B. A television broadcast.
C. A modem connection on the Internet in which you are downloading a file at the same time as
you are searching for information using a browser.
29. Simplex (A B C )
Answer: b
30. Half Duplex (A B C)

Answer: a
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31. Full Duplex (A B C)

Answer: c
32. A walkie-talkie link uses:.

A. simplex transmission
B. half duplex transmission
C. full duplex transmission
D. triplex transmission
Answer: b
33. TV transmission of your favorite program is an example of:

A. simplex transmission
B. half duplex transmission
C. full duplex transmission
D. triplex transmission
Answer: a
34. Data is transmitted from one computer to another in the _________ layer.
A. top
B. data
C. physical
D. transmission
Answer: c
35. The predominant method of transferring information in data communications is _________ mode
transmission.
A. parallel
B. serial
C. broadbased
D. monospaced
Answer: b
36. The transmission of voice, graphics, images and video as well as data is called:
A. data communications
B. telecommunications
C. telephony
D. telegraphy
Answer: b
37. The Common Carriers are companies provide public services by carrying:
A. Nickel from Sudbury
B. electronic messages
C. Wood
D. all of the above
Answer: b
38. Standardization and layering of the communication network allows product development
modularized results in easy development and time saving..
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A. True
B. False
Answer: a
39. An important future trend in communication and networking is:

A. pervasive network
B. integration of voice, video, and data
C. new information services
D. all of the above
Answer: d
40. Pervasive networking means that:

A. the cost of computers will be higher in the future
B. virtually all computers will be networked in some way to other computers
C. the network model will be used to design all networks
D. common carriers must sell their services to all individuals.
Answer: b
41. Groupware can enable people in different places to communicate __________ or ___________.
A. on-line, off-line
B. by telephone, by telegraph
C. at the same time, at different times
D. all of the above
Answer: c
42. The earliest form of groupware was:

A. e-mail
B. Lotus 1-2-3
C. Lotus Notes
D. Video teleconferencing
Answer: a
43. Which of the following is not an e-mail standard?

A. SMTP
B. X.400
C. HTML
D. MAPI
Answer: c
44. ___________provides real-time transmission of video and audio signals to enable people in two
or more locations to have a meeting.
A. Picture group decision support systems (PGDSS)
B. Video conferencing
C. World Wide Access Transfer (WWAT)
D. Integrated Services Data Transmission
Answer: b
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Short Answer Questions
2. Explain what each layer does in transmitting messages from one computer to another.
The application layer is the application software used by the network user. The network layer takes
the message generated by the application layer and if necessary, breaks it into several smaller
messages. It then addresses the message(s) and determines their route through the network, and
records message accounting information before passing it to the data link layer. The data link layer
formats the message to indicate where it starts and ends, decides when to transmit it over the
physical media, and detects and corrects any errors that occur in transmission. The physical layer is
the physical connection between the sender and receiver, including the hardware devices (e.g.,
computers, terminals, and modems) and physical media (e.g., cables, and satellites).
3. Why are standards important?
Without standards, it would be impossible for computers to communicate. The primary reason for
standards is to ensure that hardware and software produced by different vendors can work together.
Without networking standards, it would be difficult -- if not impossible -- to develop networks that
easily share information. Standards also mean that customers are not locked into one vendor. They
can buy hardware and software from any vendor whose equipment meets the standard. In this way,
standards help to promote more competition and hold down prices.
4. How does the use of layers and standards simplify the development and management of networks?
The use of standards makes it much easier to develop software and hardware that link different
networks because software and hardware can be developed one layer at a time. The software or
hardware defined by the standard at one network layer can be easily updated, as long as the
interface between that layer and the ones around it remains unchanged.
5. Thought question: How will pervasive networking affect the way in which you will learn about
new technologies after you graduate?
Pervasive networking means that virtually any computer will be able to communicate with any
other computer in the world. In the future, communication networks will be everywhere. This is
due to both technological advances, and increasing competition driving down costs. Virtually all
computers will be networked to other computers. Therefore, learning about new technologies may
be as easy as using your computer. You can get information about technologies by pulling for the
information or allowing the information to be pushed to you. Searching on the various networked
computers may give you the information that you are looking for, and information from the other
computers can be sent to you. Also, you can learn using the networked computers by discussing
with other people all over the world. New information services will be available via email and
discussion groups.
Chapter 2: Network Applications
Outline
2.1 The Internet
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2.2 Internet Application Software (most important)

2.3 Groupware (least important)
2.4 Electronic Commerce
1. What is the Internet?
The Internet is a set of thousands of networks linked together all around the world. The Internet
enables any computer to communicate with any other computer.
2. Describe the history of the Internet and the Web.
The Internet was started by the U.S. Department of Defense in the 1969 as a network of four
computers called ARPANET. By 1974, there were 62 computers attached. In 1983, the Internet split
into two parts (Milnet and the Internet) that had just under 1000 host computers. In 1985, the
Canadian government completed its leg of BITNET. In 1986, U.S. National Science Foundation
created NSFNET to connect leading U.S. universities. By the end of 1987, there were 10,000 host
computers on the Internet and 1000 on BITNET.
In 1987, the National Science Foundation built a new high speed backbone network for NSFNET. In
1988 connected 13 regional Internet networks. The Canadian National Research Council followed in
1989, and replaced BITNET with CA*net. By the end of 1989 there were almost 200,000 host
computers on the combined U.S. and Canadian Internet.
Similar initiatives were undertaken by most other countries around world, so that by the early 1990s,
most of the individual country networks were linked together into one worldwide network of
networks. By the end of 1992, there were more than 1 million host computers on the Internet. In the
early 1990s, commercial networks began connecting into NSFNET, CA*net, and the other
government-run networks in each country. In 1994, with more than 4 million host computers on the
Internet (most of which were commercial), the U.S. and Canadian governments stopped funding their
few remaining circuits and turned them over to commercial firms.
The Web is one application that uses the Internet as its network. This is arguably the most important
application; although email generates more traffic, the Web is the application that changed the Internet
from a scientific network to everyone’s network.
3. Who are the primary users of the Internet?
The primary users of the Internet are companies (for marketing purposes) and educational institutions.
4. Describe the address structure of computers on the Internet.
Each address has two parts, the computer name and its domain. The domain is the specific part of the
Internet to which the computer is connected (e.g., Canada, Australia). The general format of an
Internet address is therefore: computer.domain.
5. What do the following tools enable you to do: the Web, email, FTP, Telnet?
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The Web enables the display of rich graphical images, pictures, full motion video, and sound. The
Web is the most common way for businesses to establish a presence on the Internet. Email enables
users to create and send messages to other users and receive messages from others. Email is faster and
cheaper than regular mail, and can substitute for telephone conversations in some cases. FTP enables
you to send and receive files over the Internet. Telnet enables users on one computer to login into
other computers on the Internet.
6. What is the worldwide Web? How is it different from the other Internet tools?
The WWW provides a graphical users interface and enables the display of rich graphical images,
pictures, full motion video, and sound clips over the Internet. The WWW has two major components:
a WWW browser and a WWW server. The browser is a software package that enables the user to
access the WWW server.
WWW addresses begin with seven characters: http://. A WWW server stores information in a series of
text files, called pages. These text files or pages use a structured language called HTML (Hypertext
Markup Language) to store their information. HTML enables the author of a page to define different
typestyles and sizes for the text, titles and headings, and a variety of other formatting information.
HTML also permits the author to define links to other pages that may be stored on the same WWW
server, or on any WWW server anywhere on the Internet. The idea behind these links is that you can
access an initial page that provides a menu of topics with links to other pages that provide more detail
or more in-depth menus. Because you can link to any WWW server on the Internet, you can
decentralize the storage of information.
7. What are some ways for finding information on the Internet?
There are three ways to discover interesting and useful Web pages. First, someone could tell you about
a page, or you could read an advertisement listing the Web address. Second, you could find a link from
one page to another. Third, and perhaps most useful, you could use a search engine. There are
literally dozens of search engines and directories on the Web. Three of the best are Yahoo
(www.yahoo.com), AltaVista (www.altavista.digital.com), and Excite (www.excite.com).
8. How can the Internet be used for business?
Uses of the Internet in business can be grouped into three broad categories: using Internet tools for
business purposes, providing information, and making business transactions, although very few
companies are making business transactions over the Internet, due to security concerns.
9. For what is HTTP used? What are its major parts?
The standard protocol for communication between a Web browser and a Web server is Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP). An HTTP request from a Web browser to a Web server has three parts.
Only the first part is required; the other two are optional.
 the request line, which starts with a command (e.g., GET), provides the URL, and ends with the
HTTP version number that the browser understands.
 the request header, which contains a variety of optional information such as the Web browser
being used (e.g., Internet Explorer), the date, and a userid and password for use if the Web page is
password-protected.
 the request body, which contains information sent to the server, such as information from a form.
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The format of an HTTP response from the server to the browser is very similar to the browser request.
It has three parts, but only the last part is required; the first two are optional:
 the response status, which contains the HTTP version number the server has used, a status code
(e.g., 200 means OK, 404 means page not found), and reason phrase (a text description of the
status code)
 the response header, which contains a variety of optional information such as the Web server being
used (e.g., Apache), the date, the exact URL of the page in the response body, and the format used
for the body (e.g., HTML)
 the response body, which is the Web page itself.
12. For what is HTML used? What are its major parts?
The response body of an HTTP response can be in any format, such as text, Microsoft Word, Adobe
PDF, or a host of other formats, but the most commonly used format is HTML. The major parts of
HTML are the heading (denoted by the <head> tag) and the body (denoted by the <body> tag) of the
response.
13. Describe how a Web browser and Web server work together to send a web page to a user.
In order to get a page from the Web, the user must type the Internet Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
for the page he or she wants, or click on a link that provides the URL. The URL specifies the Internet
address of the Web server and the directory and name of the specific page wanted. In order for the
requests from the Web browser to be understood by the Web server, they must use the same standard
protocol. The standard protocol for communication between a Web browser and a Web server is
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
14. What is webcasting?
Webcasting (or “push technology”) is a special application of the Web that has the potential to
dramatically change the way we use the Web. With Webcasting, the user signs up for a type of
information on a set of channels. Every so often (minutes, hours, days), the user’s browser will
contact the Web server providing these channels to see if they have been updated. If so, the browser
will load the new information and, if so desired by the user, will automatically display the
information on the user’s screen.
15. How is email useful?
With email, users create and send messages to one user, several users, or all users on a distribution list.
Most email software enables users to send text messages and attach files from word processors,
spreadsheets, graphics programs, etc. Most email packages allow you to do the same things you do
with regular paper mail. Email has several major advantages over regular mail. First, it is fast: delivery
of an email message typically takes seconds or minutes, depending upon the distance to the receiver. A
second major benefit is cost. Email is cheaper because it costs virtually nothing to transmit the
message over the network, compared to the cost of a stamp or a courier charge. Email is also cheaper
in terms of the time invested in preparing the message. Email can substitute for the telephone, thus
allowing you to avoid telephone tag.
16. How can you find an email address?
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Finding the email address of someone on the Internet can be difficult because there is no central
“phone book” for the Internet, although several commercial firms are trying to build Web sites to
provide this information (e.g., www.four11.com). Nonetheless, there are still no universal email
directories in the same way that universal telephone directory assistance is available for every country
and area code. (also, see the answer to # 21)
17. Describe how mail user agents and message transfer agents work together to transfer mail messages.
The sender of an email uses a user agent (an application layer software package) to write the email
message. The user agent sends the message to a mail server that runs a special application layer
software package called a message transfer agent. These agents read the envelope and then send the
message through the network (possibly through dozens of mail transfer agents) until the message
arrives at the receiver’s mail server. The mail transfer agent on this server then stores the message in
the receiver’s mailbox on the server. When the receiver next accesses his or her email, the user agent
on his or her client computer contacts the mail transfer agent on the mail server and asks for the
contents of the user’s mailbox. The mail transfer agent sends the email message to the client computer,
which the user reads with the user agent.
18. What roles do SMTP, POP, and IMAP play in sending and receiving email on the Internet?
SMTP defines how message transfer agents operate and how they format messages sent to other
message transfer agents. The SMTP standard covers message transmission between message transfer
agents (i.e., mail server to mail server). A different standard called Post Office Protocol (POP) defines
how user agents operate and how messages to and from mail transfer agents are formatted. POP is
gradually being replaced by a newer standard called Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP). While
there are several important technical differences between POP and IMAP, the most noticeable
difference is that before a user can read a mail message with a POP user agent, the email message
must be copied to the client computer’s hard disk and deleted from the mail server. With IMAP, email
messages can remain stored on the mail server after they are read.
19. What are the major parts of an email message?
The major parts of an email message are:

 the header, which lists source and destination email addresses (possibly in text form (e.g., “Kelly
Hilmer”) as well as the address itself (e.g., khilmer@arches.uga.edu)), date, subject, and so on
 the body, which is the message itself.
20. What is X.400 and CMC?
The X.400 email standard was developed by the CCITT in 1984. X.400 is a set of seven standards that
defines how email is to be processed by user agents and mail transfer agents. The Common Messaging
Calls (CMC) standard is a simpler version of the X.400 standard. CMC was developed by CCITT in
conjunction with IBM, Lotus, and Microsoft in 1994. CMC is more popular than X.400 because of its
simplicity and because of its support by a large number of leading vendors.
21. What do the X.500 and LDAP standards do and why are they important?
Several competing standards have been developed in an attempt to provide this universal directory
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service. X.500 is the directory service standard for X.400 mail users, but at present there are few
standard application software packages that conform to X.500, making widespread use of X.500
problematic.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a subset of X.500. Several vendors (e.g., Netscape)
have adopted LDAP for their mail software and are advocating its adoption as the primary Internet
standard for email directory services. The major advantage of LDAP is that it is simple and small. The
major disadvantage is that it lacks some features that many users see as important, but this is likely to
change as LDAP matures.
22. What is FTP and why is it useful?
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) enables you to send and receive files over the Internet. Almost anyone
can establish an FTP server, which permits anyone on Internet to login and send and receive files.
23. What is Telnet and why is it useful?
Telnet enables users on one computer to login into other computers on the Internet. Once Telnet makes
the connection from the client to the server, you can login into the server or host computer in the same
way as you would if you dialed in with a modem; you must know the account name and password of
an authorized user. Telnet enables you to connect to a remote computer without incurring long
distance telephone charges.
Telnet can be useful because it enables you to access your server or host computer without sitting at its
keyboard. Most network managers use Telnet to work on servers, rather than physically sitting in front
of them and using their keyboards.
24. What is groupware?
Groupware is software that helps groups of people to work together more productively. Groupware
allows people to exchange ideas, debate issues, make decisions, and write reports without actually
having to meet face-to-face. Even when groups do meet in the same room at the same time, groupware
can improve the meetings.
25. Describe four types of groupware. What are the benefits and limitations of each?
Four popular types of groupware are discussion groups, document-based groupware (e.g., Lotus
Notes), group support systems, and videoconferencing. However, the lines between these different
types of groupware are rapidly disappearing as Notes, for example, incorporates discussion and
videoconferencing capabilities.
Discussion groups are collections of users who have joined together to discuss some topic. Discussion
groups are formed around just about every topic imaginable. Some discussion groups may have so
much discussion that it takes too much time to read them. Discussion groups typically lacks a
structured way to support an ongoing discussion.
Document-based groupware allows for a structured way to support an ongoing discussion. Documents
can have different sections, and can be organized into a hierarchical structures of sections, documents,
and folders. Several topics and sub-topics can be created and everyone in an organization (or selected
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individuals) can be given access. At present, there are no standards for this type of groupware
software.
Group Support Systems (GSS) are software tools designed to improve group decision making.
Most GSS are used in special purpose meeting rooms. GSS software enables participants to
communicate, propose ideas, analyze options, evaluate alternatives, and so on. By typing ideas into
a GSS, everyone has the same opportunity to contribute, and ideas can be collected much faster.
For small groups, typing adds little value. At present, there are no standards for GSS, so products
from different vendors are not compatible.
Videoconferencing provides real-time transmission of video and audio signals to enable people in two
or more locations to have a meeting. Most videoconferencing systems were originally developed by
vendors using different formats so that many products are incompatible. Three commonly used
standards for videoconferencing have the promise to reduce many incompatibilities, once they are
widely adopted by vendors: H.320, H.323, MPEG-1, and MPEG-2.
26. What are usenet newsgroups? How might they help you as a student?
The newsgroups are just a series of discussions about each topic. The usenet newsgroups are a set of
huge bulletin boards on which anyone who wishes can read and post messages. Newsgroups may be
helpful to keep up-to-date on new technology or information on data communications.
27. What is a listserv and how could you use it to get information?
A listserver (or listserv) group is similar in concept to the usenet newsgroups, but is generally less
formal. Anyone with the right email server software can establish a listserv, which is simply a mailing
list. Listservs generally are more focused than the usenet newsgroups and have fewer members. They
are harder to find than the usenet newsgroups because literally anyone can create one. There is no
centrally managed list of listservs although many listservs keep track of some listservs on other
listservs.
28. What is Lotus Notes and how can it be used to improve productivity?
Lotus Notes contains document databases designed to store and manage large collections of text and
graphics. Documents can have different sections, and can be organized into a hierarchical structures of
sections, documents, and folders. Lotus Notes can be used as a computer bulletin board to support
ongoing discussions. Several topics and sub-topics can be created and everyone in the organization (or
selected individuals) can be given access. Users could ask questions about problems they face,
contribute advice, or post new company policies. These individuals can add messages to the different
topics and read those contributed by others. Messages can be easily linked so that it is clear which
messages are related to which others.
Notes might reduce the amount of time a team spent in face-to-face meetings, because many of the
issues might be discussed before the meeting actually started. Notes also could be used to replace
standard word processors in preparing the team’s reports. Each team member could use Notes to write
a portion of the report, which could then be passed to other team members for editing or comments.
Lotus Notes can also automate certain document-based processes (called workflow automation).
29. How can GSS improve productivity?
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GSS provide tools to support voting and ranking of alternatives, so that more structured decision-
making processes can be used. Studies of GSS have shown that its use can reduce the amount of
time taken to make decisions by 50 to 80 percent. By typing ideas into a GSS, everyone has the
same opportunity to contribute, and ideas can be collected much faster.
30. Describe two types of videoconferencing. Which do you think will be more common in five years?
Why?
Room-to-room videoconferences are held in special purpose meeting rooms with one or more cameras
and several video display monitors to capture and display the video signals. The fastest growing form
of videoconferencing is desktop videoconferencing. Small cameras installed on top of each computer
permit meetings to take place from individual offices.
Desktop videoconferencing will be more common in five years because it’s cheaper, more accessible,
and flexible. There is a growing demand for desktop systems; desktop systems now outsell room-
based systems three to one.
31. How does groupware change the way you manage in an organization?
Groupware dramatically changes the way people interact. Communication is simpler and faster.
Improved communication can provide large paybacks in increased productivity, especially when you
consider that the primary task of most office workers is the processing and communication of
information.
Nonetheless, groupware’s ability to greatly improve communication can also create problems due to
excessive communication. Managing in this glut of information can be difficult. Identifying priorities
and not being distracted by less important issues are key to success; otherwise, you can drown in an
endless sea of communication. Contributing information and helping others is important to help the
organization achieve its goals, but it takes time from the person contributing the information and slows
down their performance.
32. Will electronic commerce have a significant impact in North America?
Yes, electronic commerce will have a significant impact in North America. Many companies already
do business on the Web. Consumers are still leery about security issues with money transactions, but
improved data encryption will lessen that worry.
33. Compare and contrast an electronic store, an electronic marketing site, an information/ entertainment
provider, and a customer service site. In what ways are they similar and different? How do each make
money?
With an electronic store, a company develops the Internet equivalent of a local store or a mail order
catalogue. It develops a Web site that lists all of the products and services it wishes to sell and enables
customers to purchase them by calling a tollfree number or by using the Internet itself. Since there are
few additional costs to providing more information on the Web (unlike a catalogue in which each page
adds to the cost), electronic stores can provide much information Electronic stores can also add value
by providing dynamic information. One problem is verifying the transaction is accurate and is from
whom it claims to be from.
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An electronic marketing site supports the sales process, but does not make actually sales. The goal is
to attract and keep customers. Many companies use electronic marketing sites to provide newsletters
with information on latest products and tips on how to use them. Electronic marketing is cheaper in
many ways than traditional print, direct mail, TV, or radio marketing. It is also easier to customize the
presentation of information to a potential customer because the Web is interactive.
As the name suggests, an information/entertainment provider, supplies information and/or

entertainment. The key difference between electronic stores and information/entertainment providers
is the nature of the products. Electronic stores provide physical goods and services, while
information/entertainment providers provide intangible things. The key difference between electronic
marketing sites and information/entertainment providers is the nature of the information. Electronic
marketing sites focus on the products and services of one company; their goal is to increase sales.
Information/entertainment providers provide information from many sources; their goal is to help their
user. Information/entertainment providers can be very broad or very focused in topic coverage and can
present information in a variety of media. Like their print counterparts, information/entertainment
providers generate revenue by selling advertising.
A customer service site provides a variety of information for customers after they have purchased a
product or service. Customer service sites benefit both the company and its customers. They enable
the customer to more quickly access needed information and provide support 24 hours a day. They
also often reduce the number of staff needed by automating many of the routine information requests
that previously needed to be handled an employee.
34. What type of electronic store would you open? Justify you answer.
TRUE/FALSE
The answer is provided in square brackets.
1. During the 1990s, our vision of the computer changed when we realized that most people in
organizations tend to work more frequently as individuals, rather than as members of groups or
teams. [False, most people in organizations work in teams.]
2. The Internet is considered the most important network in the history of computing. [True]
3. When the Internet began in 1969, it already connected millions of computers around the world into
one extremely large network. [False, the Internet had modest beginnings.]
5. The Internet was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense as a network of four computers
called BITNET. [False, it was called ARPANET.]
6. In an Internet address, the domain is defined as the specific part of the Internet to which the
computer is connected. [True]
7. Applications, such as the Web, email, and Telnet, require special physical layer software to run on a
network. [False, they require special application layer software.]
8. The World Wide Web was developed at CERN laboratories in Geneva. [True]
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9. Webcasting is a special application of the Web in which the user’s browser contacts a Web server to
receive Webcast “push” information as it becomes available. [True]
10. Although electronic mail was one of the earliest applications on the Internet, it is one of the least
used today. [False, it is one of the most heavily used.]
11. Email is extremely effective for organizations which have people working in different time zones.
[True]
12. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) permits users to send and receive files over the Internet. [True]
13. Telnet permits users to use their personal computers as a telephone. [False, Telnet lets users on one
computer to login into other computers on the Internet.]
14. Groupware can be used by people in different places to communicate at the same time or at
different times. [True]
15. Group Support Systems are hardware tools that enhance group decision making. [False, they are
software tools.]
16. Videoconferencing provides real-time transmission of video and audio signals to support people to
‘meet’ across multiple locations. [True]
17. The primary task of most office workers is the processing and communication of information.
[True]
18. Electronic commerce is defined as conducting business on the Internet. [True]
19. Consumer products companies, such as Proctor and Gamble, were the earliest companies to use
Web advertising, and are now the largest users of Web advertising. [False, their use of Web
advertising has lagged behind the largest users, which are computer and telecommunications
companies.]
20. Companies, such as Federal Express and Dell Computer, are using the Web in innovative ways to
provide customer service. [True]
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Since there is no central administration for the Internet, each network on the Internet has its own
administrative structure, and has its own ___________ that define what behavior is permitted on
its network.
A. acceptable use policies
B. commercial traffic sites
C. BITNET server administrators
D. TCP/IP protocols
E. ARPANET network managers
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Answer: a
2. The general format of an Internet address is:

A. domain.computer
B. computer.edu
C. computer.domain
D. computer.com
E. computer.org
Answer: c
3. Internet application software privately used by organizations which support selected users outside
that organization are called:
A. extranets
B. telnets
C. internets
D. intranets
E. groupnets
Answer: a
4. The World Wide Web was developed by:

A. Tim Berners-Lee at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in 1990
B. Vinton Cerf, for U.S. Department of Defense in 1969 as a network of four computers called
ARPANET
C. Howard Flieshman of IBM in 1982 as part of the development of the IBM PC
D. Microsoft in 1994 as part of the Windows 95 project
E. the University of Minnesota as an extension of Gopher
Answer: a
5. The first graphical Web browser was called:

A. Navigator
B. Explorer
C. Mosaic
D. Netscape
E. Gopher
Answer: c
6. To interact with the World Wide Web, a client computer needs an application layer software
package called a:
A. Web server
B. Telnet package
C. Router package
D. Web browser
E. Uniform Resource Locator package
Answer: d
7. The acronym, URL, stands for:

A. Uniform Resource Locator
B. Unknown Resource Locator
C. Unknown Router Location
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D. Uniform Router Location

E. Uniform Resource Library
Answer: a
8. Which of the following include all the required and optional parts of an HTTP request?
A. request address, request header, request body
B. request line, request body
C. request line, request header, request body
D. request address, request body
E. request line, request header
Answer: c
9. Which of the following include all the required and optional parts of an HTTP response?
A. response address, response header
B. response address, response header, response body
C. response status, response body
D. response status, response header
E. response status, response header, response body
Answer: e
10. The acronym, HTML, refers to:

A. Hypertext Markup Locator
B. Hypertext Markup Language
C. Header Markup Language
D. Hypertext Modulating Language
E. Hypertext Markup Library
Answer: b
11. The problem with information on the Web is:

A. there is a substantial charge for any valuable information
B. the information is often too little and too late
C. trying to find it
D. the information is often classified or secret
E. that it is often out of date because it was last updated about 5 years ago
Answer: c
12. Which of the following is not a Web search or metasearch engine?

A. AltaVista
B. Yahoo
C. Excite
D. Lotus Notes
E. Metacrawler
Answer: d
13. Which of the following is not an advantage of email?

A. It is generally faster than snail-mail.
B. It usually takes days for an email message to be delivered to the recipient.
C. It is cheaper than regular mail.
D. It helps people avoid telephone tag.
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E.It is very effective for multi-national organizations whose employees work across different
time zones.
Answer: b
14. Which of the following is a commonly used email standard?

A. ISDN
B. X.400
C. X.25
D. ADSL
E. ATM
Answer: b
15. To send an email message across the Internet, a client computer needs to use an application layer
software package called a:
A. router agent
B. Webcast package
C. message transfer agent
D. gateway agent
E. user agent
Answer: e
16. Which of the following is not a user agent package?

A. Netscape Communicator
B. Lotus cc:Mail
C. Microsoft Access
D. Microsoft Mail
E. Eudora
Answer: c
17. The acronym, SMTP, stands for:

A. Standard Mail Transport Protocol
B. Simple Mail Transport Package
C. Simple Mux Transfer Protocol
D. Standard Mail Transport Package
E. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Answer: e
18. Post Office Protocol (POP):

A. covers message transmission between message transfer agents (mail server to mail server)
B. is exactly the same as SMTP
C. is a standard that defines how user agents operate
D. is a standard for non-text files that can operate with SMTP
E. is a set of seven standards that define how email is to be processed by user agents and mail
transfer agents
Answer: c
19. X.500:
A. is a directory service standard for X.400 mail users
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B. is a set of seven standards that define how email is to be processed by user agents and mail
transfer agents
C. is a standard that defines how user agents operate
D. is a standard for non-text files that can operate with SMTP
E. is a universal, formally standardized email directory
Answer: a
20. LDAP, or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol:

A. is complicated and large
B. is not a subset of X.500
C. is becoming the de facto primary Internet standard for email directory services because it has
been adopted by several vendors, such as Netscape
D. contains all important user features
E. is a groupware product
Answer: c
21. Which of the following is not true about File Transfer Protocol (FTP)?
A. There are two types of FTP sites: closed and anonymous.
B. The most common type of FTP site is an anonymous FTP site.
C. FTP requires an application layer program on a client computer and an FTP server application
program on a server.
D. It is very difficult for someone to set up an FTP server
E. An FTP server permits anyone on the Internet to login and send and receive files.
Answer: d
22. Which of the following is not true about Telnet?

A. It enables you to access your server or host computer without sitting at its keyboard.
B. Many network managers use Telnet to work on servers.
C. There are no security issues with respect to Telnet.
D. Telnet permits users on one computer to login into other computers on the Internet.
E. One program that conforms to the Telnet standard is EWAN.
Answer: c
23. Groupware can enable people in different places to communicate ____________ or

_____________.
A. online, off-line
B. by telephone, by telegraph
C. at the same time, at different times
D. with high chance for errors, with high chance for misunderstandings
E. none of the above
Answer: c
24. Which of the following is not a popular type of groupware?

A. discussion groups
B. spreadsheets, such as Microsoft Excel
C. document-based groupware, such as Lotus Notes
D. videoconferencing
E. group support systems
Answer: b
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25. The set of rules or generally accepted user behavior for the Internet is called:
A. netiquette (net etiquette)
B. GAUB
C. rule-based search engines
D. listserv group
E. Internet Rules of Order
Answer: a
26. If you had to use a computer network to organize a discussion among a formally organized group
of users, what type of groupware would you be using
A. mailer subscription
B. email distribution list
C. USENET newsgroup
D. listserv
E. global list
Answer: c
27. If you could use a computer network to process insurance claims that required individuals from
several different parts of the insurance company to work together to process them, which of the
following packages would you recommend installing?
A. Microsoft Excel
B. Novell WordPerfect
C. Lotus Notes or Lotus Domino
D. Microsoft Windows ’98
E. Microsoft Word for Windows
Answer: c
28. Which of the following packages is designed to compete directly with Lotus Notes?
A. Microsoft Excel
B. Microsoft Exchange
C. Microsoft Access
D. Microsoft Windows ’98
E. Microsoft PowerPoint
Answer: b
29. A limitation on email and Lotus Notes is that:

A. neither is very well suited to support the needs of groups working together at the same time in
the same room.
B. neither is very well suited to support the needs of individuals working at the same time in
different rooms.
C. neither is very well suited to support the needs of individuals working at different times in
different rooms.
D. neither is very well suited to provide simple tools such as text exchange for helping groups
exchange information
E. all of the above are limitations
Answer: a
30. Meetings that are use GSS require:
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A. online batch systems

B. special purpose GSS software
C. inventory control systems
D. asymmetric control systems
E. multistation access systems
Answer: b
31. GSS use computers to type ideas and information because:

A. typing is always faster than talking
B. typing is better for small groups of 2 - 3 people because it makes the process more
interpersonal
C. typing ideas is faster than talking for large groups because only one person can speak at one
time
D. typing on computers does not preserve anonymity, which is not important in group decision-
making
E. typing on computers makes people feel important
Answer: c
32. Which of the following is not an advantage of GSS?

A. GSS products from different vendors are all compatible because they all adhere to rigorous
standards.
B. GSS enable comments to be made anonymously.
C. GSS provide tools to support ranking of alternatives, so that more structured decision making
processes can be used.
D. GSS can reduce the amount of time to make decisions by 50-80 percent
E. GSS provide tools to support voting on alternatives, so that more structured decision making
processes can be used.
Answer: a
33. _____________ provides real-time transmission of video and audio signals to enable people in
two or more locations to have a meeting.
A. Multistation Access Units
B. Videoconferencing
C. World Wide Access Transfer (WWAT)
D. Integrated Service Data Transmission (ISDT)
E. Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM)
Answer: b
34. The most common complaint about videoconferencing is:

A. participants do not have to travel to a meeting
B. meetings are too long
C. the quality of the audio is poor
D. the quality of the video is poor
E. few organizations are currently using it
Answer: c
35. USENET newsgroups:

A. contain news about the topic, normally from one or more of the commercial new services
B. are a series of discussions about the topic
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C. are a set of huge bulletin boards to which anyone who wishes can read and post messages
D. both b and c
Answer: d
36. A general format for a listserv processor address is:

A. category.topic.topic
B. http://pagename/network.site
C. listserv@computer.domain
D. page:network.server
E. ##listserv
Answer: c
37. A _____________ is simply a mailing list that has two parts, a processor and a mailer.
A. USENET
B. listserv
C. Gopher
D. FTP
E. TELNET
Answer: b
38. To get a list of listservs:

A. call the Internet Society at 1-800-INTERNT and request the current list of listservs
B. login on home page http://pagemaster.doc.listservs
C. email to any listserv with the message: list global
D. check the quarterly Internet issue of BYTE Magazine for the current list of listservs
E. snail mail to any listserv with the message: help listserv
Answer: c
39. One major problem with using FTP is:

A. there is a substantial charge for any worthwhile files you want to transfer
B. the files you want to transfer are often in compressed form for which you don’t have the right
decompression program
C. using the FTP keyboard
D. the files are often in capital letters only
E. the files are often in small font only
Answer: b
40. An effective tool to do key word searches on a variety of publicly accessible databases on the
Internet is:
A. a search engine, such as Yahoo
B. FAQ
C. SUBSCRIBE
D. TELNET
E. SESSION
Answer: a
41. Which of the following statements about HTML is correct?

A. HTML is fairly easy to learn.
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B. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language.

C. HTML also permits the author to find links to other pages that may be stored on the same
WWW server, or on any WWW server anywhere on the Internet.
D. You can develop your own Web page using HTML.
E. all of the above
Answer: e
42. A web crawler is:

A. a type of Internet virus that consumes WWW pages
B. a bug or error in the HTML description of a home page that makes the text of a page appear
to be “crawling” cross the screen
C. a tool that searches through all the WWW servers it knows to find information about a
particular topic
D. a series of text files used to define different typestyles and size for the text, titles and heading,
and a variety of other formatting information displayed by a WWW server
E. a type of videoconferencing that can be used on the Web
Answer: c
43. Which of the following is an online service?

A. America Online
B. Multistation Access Unit
C. Microsoft Excel
D. ATM
E. ADSL
Answer: a
44. Which of the following is not a major way in which the Web can be used to support electronic
commerce?
A. electronic spreadsheets
B. electronic marketing
C. information/entertainment provider
D. customer service
E. electronic store
Answer: a
45. An electronic store:

A. is never operated by an existing catalogue companies such as Land’s End because business
generated from the Web would cannibalize business generated from the printed catalogue
B. has much higher overhead than traditional stores
C. have higher shipping costs because purchases are shipped to individual customers
D. can only provide static, not dynamic, information
E. has no issues with respect to security over transactions or verifying transactions
Answer: c
46. An electronic marketing site:

A. is the least common type of electronic commerce
B. is a poor way to provide product information
C. is more expensive than traditional print or TV marketing
D. can be customized for a potential customer because the Web is interactive
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E. is an extremely expensive way to send the information to customers

Answer: d
47. Information/entertainment providers:

A. are exactly the same as electronic stores
B. provide physical goods and services
C. always focus on the products and services of one company to increase sales of that company
D. do not include search engines such as Yahoo
E. generate revenue by selling advertising
Answer: e
48. A customer service site:

A. provides a variety of information for customers after they have purchased a product or service
B. is not being used by large companies such as Federal Express
C. cannot provide order tracking systems
D. provides benefits only to the company, not to the customer
E. often increases the number of customer service staff needed by a company
Answer: a
49. Which of the following is a true statement about the internet?

A. The Internet is also called the information superhighway.
B. The Internet is the world wide network of computers using TCP/IP
C. The Internet is one of the most important developments in the history of information systems.
D. all of the above.
Answer: d
50. The Internet was started by the:

A. Particle Physics Laboratory at CERN in 1990.
B. U.S. Department of Defense in 1969 as a network of four computers called ARPANET.
C. IBM Corporation in 1982 as part of the development of the IBM PC.
D. by Microsoft in 1984 as part of the initial work on Windows.
Answer: b
51. Which of the following is a basic function of the Internet?

A. e-mail
B. remote login
C. discussion groups
D. all of the above
Answer: d
52. The general format of an Inernet e-mail address is:

A. http://pagename/networksite.site
B. name.street@city_state.country
C. user@computer.domain
D. notebookpage#columnletter.rownumber
Answer: c
Use the following 4 choices to select the best definitions for each of the top level domain identified in
the following questions :
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A. An educational institute.
B. A government department or agency.
C. A non-profit organization.
D. A country .
53. The Internet address suffix .UK indicates: ( A B C D )

Answer: d
54. The Internet address suffix .ORG indicates: ( A B C D )

Answer: c
55. The Internet application that enables users on one computer to login into other computers on the
Internet is:
A. LOGIN
B. FINGER
C. TELNET
D. WHOIS
Answer: c
56. The most formally organized of the discussion groups on the Internet are the:
A. LOGIN groups
B. TELNET groups
C. USENET groups
D. SESSION groups
Answer: c
57. A __________ is simply a mailing list that has two parts.

A. USENET
B. HTML
C. LISTSERV
D. DejaNews
Answer: c
58. FTP stands for:

A. File Transfer Protocol
B. Fast Transform Processing
C. Future Trends and Predictions
D. Future Telecommunications Protocol
Answer: a
59. URL stands for:.

A. Unit Record Length
B. Universal Resource Locator
C. Universal Resource List
D. none of the above
Answer: b
60. Which of the following statements about HTML is correct.

A. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language.
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B. HTML is a Logical Markup Language.

C. HTML also permits the author to define links to other pages.
D. all of the above.
Answer: d
61. The main difference between the Internet and the other networks (e.g., Telephone) is that it is
__________________ not __________________.
A. packet-switched, circuit-switched
B. circuit-switched, packet-switched
Answer: a
62. Web is an Internet Software application.

A. True
B. False
Answer: a
63. During Web surfing your client computer uses ___________________ .

A. Web browser
B. Web server
C. all of the above
D. none of the above
Answer: a
64. An HTML document is a:.

A. Word file
B. text file
C. a text file with physical markup
D. a text file with logical markup
Answer: d
1. Describe two key trends in the history of the Internet.

Two key trends in the history of the Internet are email and the Web.
2. What are the three major parts of an HTTP request and what information does each part contain?
An HTTP request from a Web browser to a Web server has three parts. Only the first part is required;
the other two are optional.
 the request line, which starts with a command (e.g., GET), provides the URL, and ends with the
HTTP version number that the browser understands.
 the request header, which contains a variety of optional information such as the Web browser
being used (e.g., Internet Explorer), the date, and a userid and password for use if the Web page is
password-protected.
 the request body, which contains information sent to the server, such as information from a form.
3. Why does HTTP include a version number as part of the packet?

HTTP includes a version number as part of the packet so that the Web browser can display the
response in the way that the browser understands. Not all browsers display HTML the same way, so
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what looks good with one browser may not with another.
4. What do a user agent and message transfer agent do in an SMTP/IMAP email system? Describe
how they work together to send an email message.
The sender of an email uses a user agent (an application layer software package) to write the email
message. The user agent sends the message to a mail server that runs a special application layer
software package called a message transfer agent. These agents read the envelope and then send the
message through the network (possibly through dozens of mail transfer agents) until the message
arrives at the receiver’s mail server. The mail transfer agent on this server then stores the message in
the receiver’s mailbox on the server. When the receiver next accesses his or her email, the user agent
on his or her client computer contacts the mail transfer agent on the mail server and asks for the
contents of the user’s mailbox. The mail transfer agent sends the email message to the client computer,
which the user reads with the user agent.
5. How does an "electronic store" differ from an "electronic marketing site"?

Electronic stores provide physical goods and services. Electronic marketing sites focus on the products
and services of one company; their goal is to increase sales.
6. If you were going to open a business to make money from the Internet, what type of business
would you start? How would you earn a profit?
Answers may vary.
7. Compare and contrast group support systems and document-based groupware.

Document-based groupware is designed to support individuals and groups working in different
places and different times, but does not support the needs of groups working together at the same
time in the same place. Group support systems were initially designed to support groups working
together in the same place at the same time. Group support systems provide more advanced tools
for helping groups make decisions.
8. Thought question: Which do you think will become more prevalent over the next three years, group
support systems or document-based groupware.
It is very likely that group support systems will become more prevalent over the next three years,
due to the need to have meetings and group decision making. Individuals seldom have access to all
relevant information, so when truly important decisions have to be made, a group usually is formed
to make the decision or to advise the individual who must make it. Group discussion enables
participants to exchange information so that the group as a whole can access a larger pool of
information than any one person acting alone. With the global structure of many organizations, it is
often too costly and time consuming for people to meet face-to-face. Therefore, group support
systems that support different place and/or different time meetings are increasingly becoming more
imperative.
Likewise, document-based groupware is likely to become more prevalent over the next three years.
Mounds of documents are produced for meetings and other circumstances (business and otherwise)
everyday. Therefore, the ability to converse via documents is also increasingly essential.
Instead of one of group support systems or document-based groupware becoming more prevalent, I
think that there will be integration of the tools that will blur the difference between the two. For
example, in the years to come Lotus Notes will probably include more advanced tools for helping
groups make decisions. Already we see several applications of group support systems that are not
bound to the same place and time.
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9. Thought question: What implications does the trend toward pervasive networking have for
groupware?
Pervasive networking means that virtually any computer will be able to communicate with any
other computer in the world. This will allow people from all over the world to work together using
groupware. People will be able to communicate and work together from offices, home, airports -
anywhere. Therefore, groupware will become more important and more used.
10. Thought question: Some experts predict an increase in the number of Internet service providers
over the next three years. Other experts predict a decline. What do you think will occur? Justify
your predictions.
This question can be argued both ways.
an increase in the number of Internet service providers:
 small local providers will provide unique, better quality customer service than the giants (e.g.,
AOL)
 the giants may avoid small markets which will need service and therefore, small local providers
will grow
a decrease in the number of Internet service providers:
 the giants have a cost advantage
 ability to support business people who travel
 large companies deal with large providers, not small ones
Chapter 5: Data Link Layer
Outline
5.1 Media Access Control

5.2 Error Control (most important)
5.3 Data Link Layer Protocols
1. What does the data link layer do?
The data link layer controls the way messages are sent on the physical media. The data link layer
handles three functions: media access control, message delineation, and error control. The data link
layer accepts messages from the network layer and controls the hardware that actually transmits them.
The data link layer is responsible for getting a message from one computer to another without errors.
The data link layer also accepts streams of bits from the physical layer and organizes them into
coherent messages that it passes to the network layer.
2. What is media access control and why is it important?
Media access control handles when the message gets sent. Media access control becomes important
when several computers share the same communication circuit, such as a point-to-point configuration
with a half duplex line that requires computers to take turns, or a multipoint configuration in which
several computers share the same circuit. Here, it is critical to ensure that no two computers attempt to
transmit data at the same time -- or if they do, there must be a way to recover from the problem. Media
access control is critical in local area networks.
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3. Under what conditions is media access control unimportant?
With point-to-point full duplex configurations, media access control is unnecessary because there are
only two computers on the circuit and full duplex permits either computer to transmit at anytime.
There is no media access control.
4. Compare and contrast roll call polling, hub polling (or token passing), and contention.
With roll call polling, the front end processor works consecutively through a list of clients, first polling
terminal 1, then terminal 2, and so on, until all are polled. Roll call polling can be modified to select
clients in priority so that some get polled more often than others. For example, one could increase the
priority of terminal 1 by using a polling sequence such as 1, 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 1, 6, 7, 1, 8, 9.
Hub polling is often used in LAN multipoint configurations (i.e., token ring) that do not have a central
host computer. One computer starts the poll and passes it to the next computer on the multipoint
circuit, which sends its message and passes the poll to the next. That computer then passes the poll to
the next, and so on, until it reaches the first computer, which restarts the process again.
Contention is the opposite of controlled access. Computers wait until the circuit is free (i.e., no other
computers are transmitting), and then transmit whenever they have data to send. Contention is
commonly used in ethernet local area networks.
5. Which is better, hub polling or contention? Explain.
The key consideration for which is better is throughput -- which approach will permit the most
amount of user data to be transmitted through the network. In general, contention approaches work
better than controlled approaches for small networks that have low usage. In this case, each
computer can transmit when necessary, without waiting for permission. In high volume networks,
many computers want to transmit at the same time, and a well-controlled circuit prevents
collisions.
6. Define two fundamental types of errors.
There are two fundamental types of errors: human errors and network errors. Human errors, such as a
mistake in typing a number, usually are controlled through the application program. Network errors,
such as those that occur during transmission, are controlled by the network hardware and software.
There are two categories of network errors: corrupted data (data that have been changed) and lost data.
7. Errors normally appear in ______________________________, which is when more than one data bit
is changed by the error-causing condition.
Errors normally appear in bursts, which is when more than one data bit is changed by the error-
causing condition.
8. Is there any difference in the error rates of lower speed lines and of higher speed lines?
Yes, normally higher speed lines have higher error rates because (1) leased lines can be conditioned to
prevent noise, but dial-up lines can not and (2) dial-up lines have less stable transmission parameters.
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9. Briefly define noise.
Noise is undesirable electrical signals (for fiber optic cable, it is undesirable light). Noise is introduced
by equipment or natural disturbances, and it degrades the performance of a communication circuit.
Noise manifests itself as extra bits, missing bits, or bits that have been "flipped," (i.e., changed from 1
to 0 or vice versa).
10. Describe five types of noise. Which is likely to pose the greatest problem to network managers?
The following summarizes the major sources of error. The first six are the most important; the last
three are more common in analog rather that digital circuits.
Line outages are a catastrophic cause of errors and incomplete transmission. Occasionally, a
communication circuit fails for a brief period. This type of failure may be caused by faulty telephone
end office equipment, storms, loss of the carrier signal, and any other failure that causes a short circuit.
White noise or gaussian noise (the familiar background hiss or static on radios and telephones) is
caused by the thermal agitation of electrons and therefore is inescapable. Even if the equipment were
perfect and the wires were perfectly insulated from any and all external interference, there still would
be some white noise. White noise usually is not a problem unless it becomes so strong that it
obliterates the transmission. In this case, the strength of the electrical signal is increased so it
overpowers the white noise; in technical terms, we increase the signal to noise ratio.
Impulse noise (sometimes called spikes) is the primary source of errors in data communications. Some
of the sources of impulse noise are voltage changes in adjacent lines, lightning flashes during
thunderstorms, fluorescent lights, and poor connections in circuits.
Cross-talk occurs when one circuit picks up signals in another. It occurs between pairs of wires that
are carrying separate signals, in multiplexed links carrying many discrete signals, or in microwave
links in which one antenna picks up a minute reflection from another antenna. Cross-talk between
lines increases with increased communication distance, increased proximity of the two wires,
increased signal strength, and higher frequency signals. Wet or damp weather can also increase cross-
talk. Like white noise, cross-talk has such a low signal strength that it normally is not bothersome.
Echoes can cause errors. Echoes are caused by poor connections that cause the signal to reflect back to
the transmitting equipment. If the strength of the echo is strong enough to be detected, it causes errors.
Echoes, like cross-talk and white noise, have such a low signal strength that they normally are not
bothersome. Echoes can also occur in fiber optic cables when connections between cables are not
properly aligned.
Attenuation is the loss of power a signal suffers as it travels from the transmitting computer to the
receiving computer. Some power is absorbed by the medium or is lost before it reaches the receiver.
This power loss is a function of the transmission method and circuit medium. High frequencies lose
power more rapidly than low frequencies during transmission, so the received signal can thus be
distorted by unequal loss of its component frequencies. Attenuation increases as frequency increases
or as the diameter of the wire decreases.
Intermodulation noise is a special type of cross-talk. The signals from two circuits combine to form a
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new signal that falls into a frequency band reserved for another signal. On a multiplexed line, many
different signals are amplified together, and slight variations in the adjustment of the equipment can
cause intermodulation noise. A maladjusted modem may transmit a strong frequency tone when not
transmitting data, thus producing this type of noise.
Jitter may affect the accuracy of the data being transmitted because minute variations in amplitude,
phase, and frequency always occur. The generation of a pure carrier signal in an analog circuit is
impossible. The signal may be impaired by continuous and rapid gain and/or phase changes. This jitter
may be random or periodic.
Harmonic distortion usually is caused by an amplifier on a circuit that does not correctly represent its
output with what was delivered to it on the input side. Phase hits are short-term shifts "out of phase,"
with the possibility of a shift back into phase.
11. How do amplifiers differ from repeaters?
An amplifier takes the incoming signal, increases its strength, and retransmits it on the next section of
the circuit. They are typically used on analog circuits such as the telephone company’s voice circuits.
On analog circuits, it is important to recognize that the noise and distortion are also amplified, along
with the signal.
Repeaters are commonly used on digital circuits. A repeater receives the incoming signal, translates it
into a digital message, and retransmits the message. Because the message is re-created at each
repeater, noise and distortion from the previous circuit are not amplified.
12. What are three ways of reducing errors and the types of noise they affect?
Shielding (protecting wires by covering them with an insulating coating) is one of the best ways to
prevent impulse noise, cross-talk and intermodulation noise.
Moving cables away from sources of noise (especially power sources) can also reduce impulse noise
cross-talk and intermodulation noise. For impulse noise, this means avoiding lights and heavy
machinery. Locating communication cables away from power cables is always a good idea. For cross-
talk, this means physically separating the cables from other communication cables.
Cross-talk and intermodulation noise is often caused by improper multiplexing. Changing

multiplexing techniques (e.g., from FDM to TDM), or changing the frequencies or size of the
guardbands in frequency division multiplexing can help.
Many types of noise (e.g., echoes, white noise, jitter, harmonic distortion) can be caused by poorly
maintained equipment or poor connections and splices among cables. The solution here is obvious:
tune the transmission equipment and redo the connections.
To avoid attenuation, telephone circuits have repeaters or amplifiers spaced throughout their length.
13. Describe three approaches to detecting errors, including how they work, the probability of detecting
an error, and any other benefits or limitations.
Three common error detection methods are parity checking, longitudinal redundancy checking, and
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polynomial checking (particularly checksum and cyclic redundancy checking).
One of the oldest and simplest error detection methods is parity. With this technique, one additional bit
is added to each byte in the message. The value of this additional parity bit is based on the number of
1’s in each byte transmitted. This parity bit is set to make the total number of ones in the byte
(including the parity bit) either an even number or an odd number. Any single error (a switch of a 1 to
a 0 or vice versa) will be detected by parity, but it cannot determine which bit was in error. But, if two
bits are switched, the parity check will not detect any error. Parity can detect errors only when an odd
number of bits have been switched; any even number of errors cancel each other out. Therefore, the
probability of detecting an error, given that one has occurred, is only about 50 percent. Many networks
today do not use parity because of its low error detection rate.
The longitudinal redundancy checking (LRC) adds one additional character, called the block check
character (BCC), to the end of the entire message or packet of data. The value of the BCC is
determined in the same manner as the parity bit, but by counting longitudinally through the
message, rather than by counting vertically through each character. The first bit of the LRC is
determined by counting the number of 1’s in the first bits of all characters in the message, and
setting the first bit of the LRC to a 1 or a 0 depending upon whether the sum is odd or even. The
second bit of the BCC is determined by counting the number of 1’s in the second bits of characters
in the message, and so on for all bits in the BCC. LRC is usually used in conjunction with parity,
producing an error detection rate above 98 percent for typical burst errors of ten bits or more. LRC
is less capable of detecting single bit errors, but is still much better than parity -- and fortunately
single bit errors are rare.
Like LRC, polynomial checking adds a character or series of characters to the end of the message
based on a mathematical algorithm. With the checksum technique, a checksum (typically one byte) is
added to the end of the message. The checksum is calculated by adding the decimal value of each
character in the message, dividing the sum by 255, and using the remainder as the checksum. The
receiver calculates its own checksum in the same way and compares it with the transmitted checksum.
If the two values are equal, the message is presumed to contain no errors. Use of checksum detects
close to 95 percent of the errors for multiple bit burst errors. The most popular polynomial error
checking scheme is cyclical redundancy check (see the answer to # 16 below for more discussion).
The probability of detecting an error is nearly 100% or, in some cases, 100%.
14. Briefly describe how even parity and odd parity work.
Even parity is when the seven bits of an ASCII character have an even (2, 4, or 6) number of 1s, and
therefore a 0 is placed in the eighth parity position. Odd parity is when the seven bits of an ASCII
character have an odd (1, 3, 5, or 7) number of 1s, and therefore a 1 is placed in the eighth parity
position.
15. Briefly describe how polynomial checking works.
Polynomial checking adds a character or series of characters to the end of the message based on a
mathematical algorithm. Polynomial checking detects errors in blocks of data when transmitted
synchronously. A mathematical algorithm counts all the bits in the block, divides the total by a prime
number, and the remainder is transmitted with the block. Actually a far more rigorous algorithm is
used. The same algorithm is used at the receiving end. If the receiver gets the same result, the block
has been received correctly.
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16. How does cyclical redundancy checking work?
Cyclical redundancy check (CRC) adds 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits to the message. With CRC, a message is
treated as one long binary number, P. Before transmission, the data link layer (or hardware device)
divides P by a fixed binary number, G, resulting in a whole number, Q, and a remainder, R/G. So, P/G
= Q + R/G. For example, if P = 58 and G = 8, then Q = 7 and R = 2. G is chosen so that the remainder
R will be either 8 bits, 16 bits, 24 bits, or 32 bits.
The remainder, R, is appended to the message as the error checking characters before transmission.
The receiving hardware divides the received message by the same G, which generates an R. The
receiving hardware checks to ascertain whether the received R agrees with the locally generated R. If
it does not, the message is assumed to be in error.
17. How does forward error correction work? How is it different from other error correction methods?
Forward error correction uses codes containing sufficient redundancy to prevent errors by detecting
and correcting them at the receiving end without retransmission of the original message. The
redundancy, or extra bits required, varies with different schemes. It ranges from a small percentage of
extra bits to 100 percent redundancy, with the number of error detecting bits roughly equaling the
number of data bits.
18. Under what circumstances is forward error correction desirable?
Forward error correction is commonly used in satellite transmission. A round trip from the Earth
station to the satellite and back includes a significant delay. Error rates can fluctuate depending on the
condition of equipment, sun spots, or the weather. Indeed, some weather conditions make it
impossible to transmit without some errors, making forward error correction essential. Compared to
satellite equipment costs, the additional cost of forward error correction is insignificant.
19. Compare and contrast stop-and-wait ARQ and continuous ARQ.
With stop-and-wait ARQ, the sender stops and waits for a response from the receiver after each
message or data packet. After receiving a packet, the receiver sends either an acknowledgment (ACK)
if the message was received without error, or a negative acknowledgment (NAK) if the message
contained an error. If it is an NAK, the sender resends the previous message. If it is an ACK, the
sender continues with the next message. Stop-and-wait ARQ is by definition, a half duplex
transmission technique.
With continuous ARQ, the sender does not wait for an acknowledgment after sending a message; it
immediately sends the next one. While the messages are being transmitted, the sender examines the
stream of returning acknowledgments. If it receives an NAK, the sender retransmits the needed
messages. Continuous ARQ is by definition a full duplex transmission technique, because both the
sender and the receiver are transmitting simultaneously (the sender is sending messages, and the
receiver is sending ACKs and NAKs).
3. Prepare a brief position paper on the types of errors you can expect in the Saultc Colege network
and the steps you believe Saultc Colege can take to prevent, detect, and correct these errors.
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There are two basic types of errors: human errors and network errors. Human errors are (1)
mistakes resulting from doing a job, (2) intentional acts that are illegal or malicious by (a)
employees, and (b) outsiders who gain access to the network errors, such as a mistake in keying a
number. There are two categories of network errors: corrupted data (data that has been changed)
and lost data.
Human errors can be reduced by: (1) careful training of Saultc Colege personnel, (2) error checking
routines in application software and well designed user interfaces, (3) management attention to data
entry quality, and (4) good system security.
Network errors can occur for a variety of physical reasons. The 11 basic categories of errors on
networks, their effects, and what can be done about them, are given below.
a. White or Gaussian
(1) Occurs when electrons cause thermal agitation
(2) Manifests itself as a hiss or static
(3) Inescapable, regardless of protective measures
b. Impulse noise or spikes
(1) Occurs when there is a sudden surge of power
(2) Primary source of data communication errors
(3) Caused by
(a) Voltage changes in adjacent lines or circuitry
(b) Telephone switching equipment
(c) Arcing of relays at older telephone exchanges offices
(d) Tones used by network signaling
(e) Maintenance equipment during line testing
(f) Lighting and thunderstorm
(g) Intermittent electrical connections in the data communication equipment
(4) Prevention or reduction
careful installation of network equipment, attention to impulse noise or spikes when
locating equipment, and good equipment maintenance
c. Cross-talk
(1) Occurs when a line picks up a signal from an adjacent line
(2) Occurs in
(a) Line pairs carrying separate signals
(b) Multiplexed links carrying many discrete (digital) signals
(c) Microwave links where the antenna picks up part of a signal from another antenna on
the same tower
(d) Hardwired circuits that run parallel, are too close together, and are not balanced
electrically.
(3) Increases with
(a) Increased communication distance
(b) Increased proximity of two wires
(c) Increased signal strength
(d) Higher frequency signals
Careful installation of network equipment and cabling, good cable shielding
d. Echoes and echo suppressors
(1) Caused by echo suppressors changing balance in the line, making the signal reflect back
down the line at reduced strength
(2) Normally echoes are low signal strength, but cause errors when higher
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Use leased lines
e. Intermodulation noise
(1) A specialized type of cross-talk
(2) Occurs when signals from two independent lines intermodulate and form a new signal that
falls into a frequency band differing from both inputs and usually one reserved for another
signal.
(3) Caused by
(a) Slight maladjustment of multiplex equipment
(b) Poorly adjusted modem that transmits a frequency tone when not transmitting data
Good equipment maintenance
f. Amplitude noise
(1) Occurs when the power load changes suddenly
(2) Caused by
(a) Faulty amplifiers
(b) Dirty contacts with variable resistance
(c) Sudden loads when new circuits are switched on during busy times
(d) Maintenance work
(e) Switching to a different transmission line
g. Line outages
(1) Catastrophic cause of errors and incomplete transmissions
(2) Occurs when transmission power stops
(3) Caused by
(a) Faulty office exchange equipment
(b) Storms
(c) Loss of the carrier signal
(d) Brownouts by power companies during high usage periods
(e) Other failures that cause an open line or short circuit
Not much can be done, but good equipment maintenance is a help
h. Attenuation
(1) Occurs when the signal loses power as it travels down a line
(2) Caused by the transmission medium absorbing the power, which gradually weakens the
signal
(3) Prevented by repeaters/amplifiers that boost the signal strength before sending it on to the
next repeater/amplifier
(4) Is a function of both the transmission method and circuit medium
(5) Increases as the
(a) Frequency increases
(b) Wire diameter increases
i. Attenuation distortion
(1) Caused when high frequencies lose power and the received signal gets distorted by unequal
loss of its component frequencies
(2) Prevented by equalizers that compensate for attenuation distortion
j. Delay distortion
(1) Occurs when a signal is delayed more at some frequencies than at others and the bits arrive
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at their destination at different times

(2) Prevented by an equalizer that compensates for delay distortion
k. Jitter
(1) Impossible to eliminate
(2) Caused by minute variations in amplitude, phrase, or frequency
l. Harmonic distortion
(1) Caused by an amplifier that does not represent the correct output with what was delivered
to it as an input
(2) Phase hits are short-term shifts out of phase with the possibility of shifting back into phase
TRUE/FALSE
1. The data link layer is the only layer responsible for physical transmission. [False, that is the
physical layer.]
2. Senders and receivers have to agree on the rules or protocols that govern how they will
communicate with one another. [True]
3. Media access control refers to a function for controlling when computers transmit. [True]
4. Message delineation refers to the control that is needed when computers transmit. [False, it is
identifying the start and end of a message.]
5. Two fundamental approaches to media access control are: controlled access and contention. [True]
6. Most computer networks managed by a host mainframe computer use contention media access
control. [False, they use controlled access.]
7. Polling is the process of sending a signal to a client to give it permission to transmit or to ask it to
receive data. [True]
8. In a mainframe-based network, a front-end processor helps poll terminals more efficiently. [True]
9. Token passing is a term that refers to hub polling, in which one computer starts a poll and passes it
to the next computer on a multipoint circuit. [True]
10. Contention is never used with Ethernet local area networks. [False, it is commonly used.]
11. In a network, many errors caused by humans can be controlled by application programs. [True]
12. Two categories of network errors are: corrupted data and delimited data. [False, they are corrupted
data and lost data.]
13. Corrupted data refers to data that has been changed. [True]
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14. In data transmission, data errors appear generally appear in bursts. [True]
15. Noise, which can be introduced by equipment or natural disturbances, degrades the performance of
a communication circuit. [True]
16. Intermodulation noise is a special type of attenuation. [False, it is a special type of cross-talk.]
17. Eliminating jitter to generate a pure carrier signal in an analog circuit is impossible. [True]
18. The distance between repeaters or amplifiers on a telephone circuit is determined by the amount of
power gained per unit length of the transmission. [False, it is determined by the amount of power
lost.]
19. Repeaters are commonly used on analog circuits. [False, they are commonly used on digital
circuits.]
20. A conditioned circuit is more expensive than a regular telephone circuit because it has been
certified by the carrier to experience fewer errors. [True]
21. For effective error detection and correction, extra data must be included with each message. [True]
22. In an odd parity checking scheme, the parity bit is set to make the total number of ones in the byte
(including the parity bit) an odd number. [True]
23. The most commonly used method for error correction is retransmission. [True]
24. Another term for continuous ARQ is sliding window. [True]
25. One type of forward error correction is the Hamming code. [True]
26. Newer modem standards, such as the V.34 modem standard, include forward error checking. [True]
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following is not a responsibility of a data link protocol?

A. determining when a computer can transmit
B. determining where a message begins
C. determining the voltage to use when transmitting a message
D. determining where a message ends
E. determining how a receiver recognizes a transmission error
Answer: c
2. As part of the simplified four-layer network model, the data link layer sits directly between:
A. the physical and the application layers
B. the network and the application layers
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C. the physical and the network layers

D. the network and transport layers
E. the physical and the presentation layers
Answer: c
3. Which of the following is not true with respect to the data link layer?
A. It accepts streams of bits from the physical layer.
B. It is responsible for getting a message from one computer to another (one node to another)
without errors.
C. It accepts messages from the network layer.
D. It performs routing functions.
E. It organizes data from the physical layer and passes these coherent messages to the network
layer.
Answer: d
4. ____________ is not a function of a data link protocol.

A. Error control
B. Message delineation
C. Media access control
D. Amplitude shift keying
E. Indicating when a message starts and stops
Answer: d
5. Media access control:

A. is not very important in local area networks
B. is not very important in a point-to-point with a half duplex configuration
C. is not very important in a multipoint configuration
D. is not very important in point-to-point with full duplex configuration
E. does not control when computers transmit
Answer: d
6. Which of the following is not a controlled access method of media access control?
A. polling
B. X-ON/X-OFF
C. CSMA/CD
D. hub polling
E. roll call polling
Answer: c
7. Roll call polling:

A. is often used in a LAN multipoint configuration that does not have a central host computer
B. is also called token passing
C. can not be modified to increase priority of clients or terminals
D. typically involves some waiting because the front-end processor has to wait for a response
from the polled client or terminal
E. is a type of contention approach to media access control
Answer: d
8. With contention:
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A. the front end processor works consecutively through a list of clients to determine who should
have access to the media
B. one computer starts the poll and passes it to the next computer on the multipoint circuit
C. the front end processor must wait for a response from the polled client or terminal
D. computers wait until the circuit is free before they send data
E. there is never a chance for “collision,” or two computers trying to send data at the same time
Answer: d
9. Contention is the opposite of:

A. retention processing
B. distraction processing
C. controlled access
D. indirect access
E. media access
Answer: c
10. In general, contention approaches:

A. work better than controlled approaches for small networks that have low usage
B. work better than controlled approaches for large networks that have high usage
C. work better than controlled approaches for high volume networks
D. require a host or central control computer to assign media access control
E. require a front end processor to control the circuit
Answer: a
11. Which of the following is not an appropriate choice in this sentence, “Networks should be
designed to __________ both corrupted and lost data.”
A. aggravate
B. prevent
C. detect
D. correct
E. none of the above are appropriate choices
Answer: a
12. In a _________ , more than one data bit is changed by the error-causing condition.
A. uniform distribution
B. burst error
C. data rate shift
D. amplitude key shift
E. Trellis-coded modulation
Answer: b
13. Errors on a network can occur:

A. only on poorly maintained and conditioned networks
B. only on dial-up type of circuits
C. extremely rarely, so it is not worth studying
D. only due to lightning strikes
E. because of noise on the line
Answer: e
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14. In a dial-up network:

A. users might try to transmit the data at a higher speed to decrease the error rate
B. the network is less prone to errors than private dedicated lines
C. the error rate will vary because the circuits will change with each dial-up
D. constant transmission conditions will always create a constant error rate
E. users might try to transmit the data at a lower speed to speed up the data transmission
Answer: c
15. Which of the following lines are more prone to errors?

A. dial-up switched lines
B. private dedicated lines for LANs
C. leased lines
D. private dedicated lines for WANs
E. private dedicated lines for BNs
Answer: a
16. Which of the following media is less susceptible to noise?

A. coaxial cable
B. twisted pair
C. fiber optic
D. unshielded twisted pair
E. shielded twisted pair
Answer: c
17. Electrical media is:

A. less likely to suffer from noise than optical media
B. more likely to suffer from noise than optical media
C. has about the same likelihood of suffering from noise as optical media
D. not susceptible to noise
E. less prone to noise than fiber optic media
Answer: b
18. ____________ refers to bits that have been changed, in error, from 1 to 0, or vice versa, in a data
transmission.
A. Flipped bits
B. Polled bits
C. Inverse multiplexed bits
D. Bit delineation
E. Contracted bits
Answer: a
19. In a data communication network, noise manifests itself as:

A. extra bits in an message
B. missing bits in a message
C. flipped bits in a message
D. lost bits in a message
E. all of the above
Answer: e
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20. ____________ is not a major type of data transmission error.

A. White noise
B. Line outages
C. Impulse noise
D. Conditioning noise
E. Cross-talk
Answer: d
21. Another term for impulse noise is:

A. cross-talk
B. gaussian noise
C. echoes
D. intermodulation noise
E. spikes
Answer: e
22. The familiar background static on radios and telephones is called:

A. intermodulation noise
B. cross-talk
C. echoes
D. white noise
E. line outages
Answer: d
23. The primary source of error in data communications is:

B. spikes
C. cross-talk
D. echoes
E. jitter
Answer: b
24. Cross-talk:
A. decreases during wet or damp weather
B. decreases with increased proximity of two wires
C. is always bothersome because it has a high signal strength
D. occurs when one circuit picks up signals in another
E. increases with lower frequency signals
Answer: d
25. The loss of power a signal suffers as it travels from the transmitting computer to a receiving
computer is:
A. jitter
B. echo
C. spiking
D. intermodulation
E. attenuation
Answer: e
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26. A phase hit is likely to be:

A. white noise
B. impulse noise
C. a short term shift
D. intermodulation noise
E. gaussian noise
Answer: c
27. _____________ is an effective way to prevent impulse noise, cross-talk, and intermodulation
noise.
A. Adding repeaters to a circuit
B. Adding amplifiers to a circuit
C. Shielding wires
D. Shorting a circuit
E. Adding fluorescent lights
Answer: c
28. Which of the following is not an error detection method used in the data link layer?
A. parity checking
B. pulse code checking
C. longitudinal redundancy checking
D. polynomial checking
E. cyclic redundancy checking
Answer: b
29. The probability of detecting an error, given that one has occurred, using parity checking is about:
A. 0
B. 100%
C. 75%
D. 50%
E. 98%
Answer: d
30. With even parity and a 7-bit ASCII code, which of the following is incorrect?
A. 01101010
B. 00011011
C. 00100101
D. 10110111
E. 11111111
Answer: c
31. Using parity, the probability for detecting an error, given that one has occurred, is:
A. about 30% for even parity and 70% for odd parity
B. about 50% for either even or odd parity
C. about 70% for even parity and 30% for odd parity
D. about 100% for either even or odd parity
E. about 0% for either even or odd parity
Answer: b
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32. Longitudinal redundancy checking adds one additional character, called the ____________, to the
end of the data packet or frame.
A. parity byte
B. block check character
C. checksum character
D. cyclic redundancy character
E. polynomial check character
Answer: b
33. The probability of detecting an error, provided that one has occurred, using cyclic redundancy
checking is about:
A. 0
B. exactly 100%
C. 75%
D. 50%
E. > 99%
Answer: d
34. ARQ means that:

A. the common carrier Automatically Returns Queries to the subscriber upon receipt of such
queries
B. a receiver that detects an error in a message simply asks the sender to retransmit the message
until it is received without error
C. a fiber optic cable meets the American Registered Quality, a certification standard for use in
high-quality data communication transmission lines
D. a sender is using a data link protocol called Asynchronous Repeating reQuest
E. a sender is using a parity scheme called Array Resource Quality
Answer: b
35. In ARQ, a NAK:

A. is sent by the sender at the same time as it sends a data packet
B. is sent by the recipient if the message contains an error
C. is sent by the recipient if the message was received without error
D. refers to non-asynchronous kermit technique
E. means that the sender should continue with sending the next message
Answer: b
36. By definition, stop-and-wait ARQ uses ___________ type of data flow.

A. full simplex
B. full complex
C. half complex
D. full duplex
E. half duplex
Answer: e
37. With __________ ARQ, the sender pauses for a response from the receiver to alter each message
or packet of data.
A. halt and be recognized (HBR)
B. open windows
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C. stop and wait

D. slow
E. continuous
Answer: c
38. With __________ ARQ, the sender immediately sends the next message or packet of data.
A. immediate
B. open windows
C. continuous
D. stop-and-wait
E. fast
Answer: c
39. ______________ prevents errors by detecting and correcting them at the receiving end without
retransmission of the original message.
A. Huffman encoding
B. Forward error correction
C. Wave division multiplexing
D. Front end processing
E. Hub polling
Answer: b
40. One of the characteristics of many forward error correcting codes is that there must be a
minimum:
A. number of error-free bits between burst of errors
B. line speed of 4,800 bits per second
C. of 48 parity bits per byte
D. all of the above
E. b and c only
Answer: a
41. __________ is not true about token ring.

A. It is a byte-oriented protocol.
B. It uses a controlled access media access protocol.
C. It is a popular local area network protocol.
D. Each token ring frame starts and ends with a special delimiter, a special type of electrical
signal.
E. It suffers from the same type of transparency problem as SDLC.
Answer: e
42. In communication protocols, _________ are used for purposes such as error checking.
A. information bits
B. overhead bits
C. stop bits
D. start bits
E. flag bits
Answer: b
43. ARQ means that:
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A. the common carrier Automatically Returns Queries to the subscriber upon receipt of such
queries
B. a receiver that detects an error in a message simply asks the sender to retransmit the message
until it is received without error
C. a fiber optic cable meets the American Registered Quality, a certification standard for use in
high-quality data communication transmission lines
D. a sender is using a data link protocol called Asynchronous Repeating reQuest
E. a sender is using a parity scheme called Array Resource Quality
Answer: b
44. Which of the following tasks is NOT done by a data link layer protocol?
A. determines who can transmit at any given time (Media Access Control)
B. determines the route messages will take through a network
C. determine where a message begins and ends (message framing)
D. enable a receiver to recognize and correct transmission errors
Answer: b
45. One type of noise that might be called a primary source of errors in data transmission is caused by
lightening, poor electrical connections, flourescent lighting, etc. Its name is:
A. White noise
B. Attenuation
C. Cross-talk
D. Impulse noise
E. Harmonic distortion
Answer: d
46. A method of error detection that is NOT able to detect an even number of simultaneous bit errors
(2, 4 or 6) is called:
A. LRC
B. ARQ
C. CRC
D. CHECKSUM
E. Parity checking
Answer: e
47. The best known method of error detection is:

A. Parity checking
B. LRC
C. ARQ
D. CRC
E. CHECKSUM
Answer: d
48. In which error correction method must the sender wait for an acknowledgment for a packet before
it can send the next one?
A. Go-Back-N ARQ
B. Sliding Windows ARQ
C. Stop-and-Wait ARQ
D. Continuous ARQ
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Answer: c
49. The data link layer is the only layer responsible for physical transmission.
A. True
B. False
Answer: b
50. Two fundamental approaches to media access control are: controlled access and contention.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
51. Token passing is a term that refers to hub polling, in which one computer starts a poll and passes it
to the next computer on a multipoint circuit.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
52. Repeaters are commonly used on analog circuits.

A. True
B. False
Answer: b
53. Which of the following is not a responsibility of a data link protocol?

A. determining when a computer can transmit
B. determining where a message begins
C. determining the voltage to use when transmitting a message
D. determining where a message ends
E. determining how a receiver recognizes a transmission error
Answer: c
54. Which of the following is not true with respect to the data link layer?
A. It accepts streams of bits from the physical layer.
B. It is responsible for getting a message from one computer to another (one node to another)
without errors.
C. It accepts messages from the network layer.
D. It performs routing functions.
E. It organizes data from the physical layer and passes these coherent messages to the network
layer.
Answer: d
55. ____________ is not a function of a data link protocol.

A. Error control
B. Message delineation
C. Media access control
D. Amplitude shift keying
E. Indicating when a message starts and stops
Answer: d
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56. Media access control:

A. is not very important in local area networks
B. is not very important in a point-to-point with a half duplex configuration
C. is not very important in a multipoint configuration
D. is not very important in point-to-point with full duplex configuration
E. does not control when computers transmit
Answer: d
57. In an odd parity checking scheme, the parity bit is set to make the total number of ones in the byte
(including the parity bit) an odd number.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
58. In general, contention approaches:

A. work better than controlled approaches for small networks that have low usage
B. work better than controlled approaches for large networks that have high usage
C. work better than controlled approaches for high volume networks
D. require a host or central control computer to assign media access control
E. require a front end processor to control the circuit
Answer: a
59. For effective error detection and correction, extra data must be included with each message.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
60. The most commonly used method for error correction is retransmission.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
61. Errors on a network can occur:

A. only on poorly maintained and conditioned networks
B. only on dial-up type of circuits
C. extremely rarely, so it is not worth studying
D. only due to lightning strikes
E. because of noise on the line
Answer: e
62. Which of the following lines are more prone to errors?

A. dial-up switched lines
B. private dedicated lines for LANs
C. leased lines
D. private dedicated lines for WANs
E. private dedicated lines for BNs
Answer: a
63. Which of the following media is less susceptible to noise?
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A. coaxial cable
B. twisted pair
C. fiber optic
D. unshielded twisted pair
E. shielded twisted pair
Answer: c
64. The familiar background static on radios and telephones is called:

B. cross-talk
C. echoes
D. white noise
E. line outages
Answer: d
65. Cross-talk:
A. decreases during wet or damp weather
B. decreases with increased proximity of two wires
C. is always bothersome because it has a high signal strength
D. occurs when one circuit picks up signals in another
E. increases with lower frequency signals
Answer: d
66. One type of forward error correction is the Hamming code.

A. True
B. False
Answer: a
67. With even parity and a 7-bit ASCII code, which of the following is incorrect?
A. 01101010
B. 00011011
C. 00100101
D. 10110111
E. 11111111
Answer: c
68. Longitudinal redundancy checking adds one additional character, called the ____________, to the
end of the data packet or frame.
A. parity byte
B. block check character
C. checksum character
D. cyclic redundancy character
E. polynomial check character
Answer: b
69. ______________ prevents errors by detecting and correcting them at the receiving end without
retransmission of the original message.
A. Huffman encoding
B. Forward error correction
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C. Wave division multiplexing

D. Front end processing
E. Hub polling
Answer: b
70. By definition, stop-and-wait ARQ uses ___________ type of data flow.

A. full simplex
B. full complex
C. half complex
D. full duplex
E. half duplex
Answer: e
1. Compare and contrast hub polling and contention-based approaches to media access control.
Hub polling is often used in LAN multipoint configurations (i.e., token ring) that do not have a central
host computer. One computer starts the poll and passes it to the next computer on the multipoint
circuit, which sends its message and passes the poll to the next. That computer then passes the poll to
the next, and so on, until it reaches the first computer, which restarts the process again.
Contention is the opposite of controlled access. Computers wait until the circuit is free (i.e., no other
computers are transmitting), and then transmit whenever they have data to send. Contention is
commonly used in ethernet local area networks.
Most computer networks managed by a host mainframe computer use controlled access. In this case,
the mainframe or its front end processor controls the circuit and determines which clients can access
media at what time.
2. Under what conditions do contention-based media access control techniques outperform

controlled-access techniques (i.e., have lower response time)? Explain.
In general, contention approaches work better than controlled approaches for small networks that
have low usage. In this case, each computer can transmit when necessary, without waiting for
permission. In high volume networks, many computers want to transmit at the same time, and a
well-controlled circuit prevents collisions.
3. What are two major sources of error and how can you prevent them?
Two major sources of error are from humans and networks. Human errors, such as a mistake in typing
a number, usually are controlled through the application program. Network errors, such as those that
occur during transmission, are controlled by the network hardware and software. (See answers to
questions #10 and 12 for more detail.)
4. How would a message of THE be sent using even LRC if the ASCII codes for the letters are: T
0010011 H 0001111 E 0000101
Letter ASCII Parity bit
T 0010011 0
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H 0001111 1
E 0000101 1
BCC 1100110 1
5. How would the bit pattern 0110110 be sent using even parity?
01101101
6. Which is better, CRC-16 or LRC? Explain.

CRC-16 is better than LRC. LRC is usually used in conjunction with parity, producing an error
detection rate above 98 percent for typical burst errors of ten bits or more; while CRC-16 will
detect about 99.998% of all burst errors longer than 16 bits.
7. Suppose two computers transferred a series of two messages using Stop and Wait ARQ. Suppose
the first message is initially received with an error, and the second message initially not received at
all. Draw the pattern of messages, ACKs, etc. that would flow between the two to ensure successful
transfer of both messages..
Sender Receiver
Message 1 Error Detected
NAK
Message 1 No errors detected
ACK
Message 2 Not received
Message received,
Timed out Message 2
no errors detected
ACK
8. Describe how ethernet and SDLC mark the end of a message. Which is "better?"
Ethernet is a byte-count protocol because instead of using special characters or bit patterns to mark the
end of a packet, it includes a field that specifies the length of the message portion of the packet. The
packet ends with a CRC-32 frame check sequence used for error detection.
SDLC is a bit-oriented protocol, because the data contained in the frame do not have to be in 8-bit
bytes. SDLC is therefore more flexible than byte-oriented protocols. Each SDLC frame begins and
ends with a special bit pattern, known as the flag. It is possible that the user’s data to be transmitted
contains the same bit pattern as the flag. If this is not prevented, the receiver will mistakenly believe
that this data marks the end of the frame and ignore all the data that follows it. Therefore, ethernet is
“better” for detecting and not causing errors.
9. Explain bit stuffing and why it is needed in the SDLC protocol.

SDLC suffers from a transparency problem; that is, the protocol is not “transparent” because it cannot
automatically send all types of data with any bit patterns. It is possible that the user’s data to be
transmitted contains the same bit pattern as the flag (e.g., 01111110). The solution is called bit stuffing.
Anytime the sender encounters five 1’s in a row in the user’s data to be transmitted, the sender “stuffs”
one extra bit, a 0, into the message and continues to transmit. Anytime the receiver encounters five 1’s
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followed by a 0 (i.e., 111110), the receiver automatically deletes the 0 and continues to process the
data stream. Conversely, if the received encounters five 1’s followed by a 1 (i.e., 111111) it knows to
expect another zero as part of the flag. This technique works, but increases the complexity of the
protocol.
10. Which is better for file transfer, large packet sizes or small packet sizes? Justify your answer.
The general rule is that the larger the packet, the more efficient the protocol and the greater the
throughput. However, the probability that a packet contains an error increases with the size of the
packet; larger packets are more likely to contain errors than smaller ones, simply due to the laws of
probability, and require retransmissions. Thus in designing a protocol, there is a trade-off between
large and small packets. Small packets are less efficient, but are less likely to contain errors and “cost”
less (in terms of circuit capacity) to retransmit if there is an error.
Throughput is the total number of information bits received per second, after taking into account the
overhead bits and the need to retransmit packets containing errors. Generally speaking, small packets
provide better throughput for circuits with more errors, while larger packets provide better throughput
in less error-prone networks. Packet sizes vary greatly among different networks.
11. Thought question: It is sometimes said that statistical time division multiplexing increases
efficiency and at the same time decreases efficiency. Explain.
In STDM, selecting the transmission speed for the multiplexed circuit is based on a statistical analysis
of the usage requirements of the circuits to be multiplexed. The key benefit of STDM is that it
provides more efficient use of the circuit and saves money. You can buy a lower speed, less expensive
circuit than you could using FDM or TDM. Therefore, STDM is more efficient. However, STDM
requires the addition of addresses, which increases the number of overhead bits; therefore, reducing
“efficiency” in terms of the size of the protocol.
12. Thought question: Could 10-bit asynchronous transmission protocols be used on a multipoint
circuit? Explain.
No, 10-bit asynchronous transmission protocols cannot be used on a multipoint circuit. Multipoint
circuits require source and destination addresses and asynchronous transmission does not contain
them.
Chapter 6: Network Layer
Outline
6.1 Protocols
6.2 Addressing
6.3 Routing
6.4 TCP/IP example (most important)
1. What does the network layer do?
The network layer performs three important functions: addressing, routing, and breaking long
messages into smaller packets for transmission by the data link layer. The network layer sits between
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the application layer and the data link layer. The network layer accepts messages from the application
layer and formats and addresses them for transmission by the data link layer. The network layer also
accepts individual messages from the data link layer and organizes them into coherent messages that it
passes to the application layer.
2. What are the parts of TCP/IP and what do they do? Who is the primary user of TCP/IP?
TCP performs packetizing: breaking the data into smaller packets, numbering them, ensuring each
packet is reliably delivered, and putting them in the proper order at the destination. IP performs
routing and addressing. IP software is used at each of the intervening computers through which the
message passes; it is IP that routes the message to the final destination. The TCP software only needs
to be active at the sender and the receiver, because TCP is only involved when data comes from or
goes to the application layer.
TCP/IP is the network layer protocol now used on the Internet. It is also the world’s most popular
network layer protocol, used by almost 70 percent of all backbone, metropolitan, and wide area
networks. TCP/IP is commonly combined with Ethernet.
3. What are the parts of IPX/SPX and what do they do? Who is the primary user of IPX/SPX?
IPX/SPX is similar to TCP/IP in concept, but different in structure. SPX performs the same
packetizing functions of TCP: breaking the data into smaller packets, numbering them, ensuring each
packet is reliably delivered, and putting them in the proper order at the destination. IPX performs the
same routing and addressing functions as IP.
IPX/SPX is the primary network protocol used by Novell Netware, but Novell intends to replace
IPX/SPX with TCP/IP. About 35 percent of all local area networks currently use IPX/SPX.
IPX/SPX is often combined with Ethernet.
4. What are the parts of X.25 and what do they do? Who is the primary user of X.25?
X.25 also has two parts. Packet layer protocol (PLP) is the routing protocol that performs the
routing and addressing functions similar to IP. X.3 performs the packetizing functions of TCP.
X.25 is a standard developed by ITU-T for use in wide area networks. It is a mature, global
standard used by many international organizations. It is seldom used in North America, except by
organizations with WANs that have extensive non-North-American sections.
5. What are the parts of SNA and what do they do? Who is the primary user of SNA?
The transmission control layer performs functions similar to TCP, and the path control layer performs
functions similar to IP. SNA typically uses SDLC as its data link layer protocol.
SNA is used only on IBM and compatible mainframes (e.g., Amdahl). The major problem with
SNA is that it uses proprietary non-standard protocols, which makes it difficult to integrate SNA
networks with other networks that use industry standard protocols. Routing messages between
SNA networks and other networks, and even between IBM SNA networks and IBM LANs (which
use industry standard protocols) requires special equipment. In response to these problems, IBM
developed a new version of SNA called Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking (APPN) that supports
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TCP/IP in addition to SNA protocols.
6. Compare and contrast the three types of addresses used in a network.
When users work with application software, they typically use the application layer address (e.g.,
entering an Internet address into a browsers, such as www.cba.uga.edu). When a user types an Internet
address into a Web browser, the request is passed to the network layer as part of an application layer
packet formatted using the HTTP standard.
The network layer software translates this application layer address into a network layer address. The
network layer protocol used on the Internet is TCP/IP, so this Web address (www.cba.uga.edu) is
translated into an TCP/IP address (usually just called an IP address for short) which is four bytes long
when using IPv4 (e.g., 128.192.78.5).
The network layer then determines the best route through the network to the final destination. Based
on this routing, the network layer identifies the data link layer address of the next computer to which
the message should be sent. If the data link layer is running Ethernet, then the network layer IP address
would be translated into an Ethernet address (e.g., 00-0F-00-81-14-00).
7. What are the different classes of Internet addresses and how are they different?
There are five classes of Internet addresses. With a Class A address, an organization is assigned an IP
address whose first byte is fixed (e.g., 50.x.x.x). The organization is then free to assign the last three
bytes to any computer under its control. Any IP address whose first digit is between 1 and 127 is a
Class A address.
With a Class B address, an organization is assigned an IP address whose first two bytes are fixed (e.g.,
128.192.x.x). The organization is then free to assign the last two bytes to its computers. Any IP address
whose first digit is between 128 and 191 is a Class B address.
With a Class C address (also called a /24 address), an organization is assigned an IP address whose
first three bytes are fixed (e.g., 192.12.56.x). The organization is then free to assign the last byte to any
computer under its control. Any IP address whose first digit is between 192 and 223 is a Class C
address.
The remaining two types of addresses, Class D and Class E addresses, are reserved for special
purposes and are not assigned to organizations. All addresses starting with 240 and higher are Class D
or E addresses.
8. What is a subnet and why do networks need them?
Each organization must assign the IP addresses it has received to specific computers on its networks.
In general, IP addresses are assigned so that all computers on the same local area network have a
similar addresses. For example, suppose a university has just received a set of Class B addresses
starting with 128.184.x.x. It is customary to assign all the computers in the same LAN numbers that
start with the same first three digits, so the Business School LAN might be assigned 128.184.56.x
while the Computer Science LAN might be assigned 128.184.55.x (see Figure 6-8). Likewise, all the
other LANs at the university and the backbone network that connects them, would have a different set
of numbers. Each of these LANs are called a TCP/IP subnet because they are logically grouped
439577793.doc Page 58 (81)

together by IP number. Knowing whether a computer is on your subnet or not it very important for
message routing.
9. What is a subnet mask?
While it is customary to use the last byte of the IP address to indicate different subnets, it is not
required. Any portion of the IP address can be designated as a subnet by using a subnet mask. Every
computer in a TCP/IP network is given a subnet mask to enable it to determine which computers are
on the same subnet (i.e., LAN) as it is, and which computers are outside of its subnet.
For example, a network could be configured so that the first two bytes indicated a subnet (e.g.,
128.184.x.x) so all computers would be given a subnet mask giving the first two bytes as the subnet
indicator. This would mean that a computer with an IP address of 128.184.22.33 would be on the same
subnet as 128.184.78.90.
10. How does dynamic addressing work?
With dynamic addressing, a server is designated to supply a network layer address to a computer each
time the computer connects to the network. This is commonly done for client computers, but usually
not done for servers.
Instead of providing a network layer address in a configuration file, a special software package is
installed on the client that instructs it to contact bootp or DHCP servers using data link layer
addresses. This message asks the servers to assign the requesting computer a unique network layer
address. The server runs a corresponding bootp or DHCP software package that responds to these
requests and sends a message back to the client giving it its network layer address (and its subnet
mask).
11. What benefits and problems does dynamic addressing provide?
The bootp or DHCP server can be configured to assign the same network layer address to the
computer each time it requests an address (based on its data link layer address), or it can lease the
address to the computer by picking the “next available” network layer address from a list of authorized
addresses. Addresses can be leased for as long as the computer is connected to the network or for a
specified time limit (e.g., two hours). When the lease expires, the client computer must contact the
bootp or DHCP server to get a new address. Address leasing is commonly used by Internet service
providers (ISPs) for dial-up users.
Dynamic addressing greatly simplifies network management in non-dial-up networks too. With
dynamic addressing, address changes need to be done only to the bootp or DHCP server, not each
individual computer. The next time each computer connects to the network or whenever the address
lease expires, it automatically gets the new address.
12. What is address resolution?
In order to send a message, the sender must be able to translate the application layer address (or server
name) of the destination into a network layer address and in turn translate that into a data link layer
address. This process is called address resolution. There are many different approaches to address
resolution that range from completely decentralized (each computer is responsible for knowing all
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addresses) to completely centralized (there is one computer that knows all addresses).
13. How does TCP/IP perform address resolution for network layer addresses?
Server name resolution is the translation of application layer addresses into network layer addresses
(e.g., translating an Internet address such as www.cba.uga.edu into an IP address such as
128.192.98.3). This is done using the Domain Name Service (DNS). Throughout the Internet there are
a series of computers called name servers that provide DNS services. These name servers run special
address databases that store thousands of Internet addresses and their corresponding IP addresses.
These name servers are in effect the "directory assistance" computers for the Internet. Any time a
computer does not know the IP number for a computer, it sends a message to the name server
requesting the IP number.
When TCP/IP needs to translate an application layer address into an IP address, it sends a special TCP-
level packet to the nearest DNS server. This packet asks the DNS server to send the requesting
computer the IP address that matches the Internet address provided. If the DNS server has a matching
name in its database, it sends back a special TCP packet with the correct IP address. If that DNS server
does not have that Internet address in its database, it will issue the same request to another DNS server
elsewhere on the Internet.
Once your computer receives an IP address it is stored in a server address table. This way, if you ever
need to access the same computer again, your computer does not need to contact a DNS server. Most
server address tables are routinely deleted whenever you turn off your computer.
14. How does TCP/IP perform address resolution for data link layer addresses?
To send a message to a computer in its network, a computer must know the correct data link layer
address. In this case, the TCP/IP software sends a broadcast message to all computers in its subnet.
A broadcast message, as the name suggests, is received and processed by all computers in the same
LAN (which is usually designed to match the IP subnet). The message is a specially formatted
TCP-level request using Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) that says “Whoever is IP address
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, please send me your data link layer address.” The TCP software in the computer
with that IP address then responds with its data link layer address. The sender transmits its message
using that data link layer address. The sender also stores the data link layer address in its address
table for future use.
15. What is routing?
Routing is the process of determining the route or path through the network that a message will travel
from the sending computer to the receiving computer. Every computer that performs routing has a
routing table developed by the network manager that specifies how messages will travel through the
network.
16. How does decentralized routing differ from centralized routing?
With centralized routing, all routing decisions are made by one central host computer. Centralized
routing is used typically only in host-based networks (see Chapter 3), and in this case, routing
decisions are rather simple. All computers are connected to the central computer by individual point-
to-point circuits, so any message received is simply retransmitted on the point-to-point circuit
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connected to the destination.
Decentralized routing allows all computers in the network make their own routing decisions following
a formal routing protocol. In MANs and WANs, the routing table for each computer is developed by
its individual network manager. Most decentralized routing protocols are self-adjusting, meaning that
they can automatically adapt to changes in the network configuration (e.g., adding and deleting
computers and circuits).
17. How does static routing differ from dynamic routing? When would you use static routing? When
would you use dynamic routing?
With static routing, the routing table is developed by the network manager, and changes only when
computers are added to or removed from the network. For example, if the computer recognizes that a
circuit is broken or unusable (e.g., after the data link layer retry limit has been exceeded without
receiving an acknowledgment), the computer will update the routing table to indicate the failed circuit.
If an alternate route is available, it will be used for all subsequent messages. Otherwise, messages will
be stored until the circuit is repaired. When new computers are added to the network, they announce
their presence to the other computers, who automatically add them into their routing tables. Static
routing is commonly used in networks that have few routing options. For example, most LANs are
connected to the backbone network in only one place. There is only one route from the LAN to the
backbone, so static routing is used.
Dynamic routing (or adaptive routing) is used when there are multiple routes through a network and it
is important to select the best route. Dynamic routing attempts to improve network performance by
routing messages over the fastest possible route, away from busy circuits and busy computers. An
initial routing table is developed by the network manager, but is continuously updated by the
computers themselves to reflect changing network conditions, such as network traffic. This updating
can be done by monitoring outgoing messages to see how long they take to transmit and how long it
takes for the receiving computer to acknowledge them.
18. What are three types of dynamic routing?
Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is a commonly used dynamic routing protocol. The network
manager uses RIP to develop the routing table. When new computers are added, RIP simply counts the
number of computers in the possible routes to the destination and selects the route with the least
number. Computers using RIP send broadcast messages every minute or so (the timing is set by the
network manager) announcing their routing status to all other computers. RIP is used by both TCP/IP
and IPX/SPX.
Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), as the name suggests, is used on the Internet with TCP/IP.
Computers using ICMP use a combination of broadcast messages (usually sent only when a new
computer joins a network) and messages to specific computers to exchange routing information.
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is another commonly used dynamic routing protocol that uses the
number of computers in a route as well as network traffic and error rates to select the best route. OSPF
is more efficient than RIP because it normally doesn’t use broadcast messages. Instead it selectively
sends status update messages directly to selected computers. OSPF is used by TCP/IP.
19. What are the differences between connectionless and connection-oriented routing?
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Connectionless routing means each packet is treated separately and makes its own way through the
network. It is possible that different packets will take different routes through the network depending
upon the type of routing used and the amount of traffic. Because packets following different routes
may travel at different speeds, they may arrive out of sequence at their destination. The sender’s
network layer therefore puts a sequence number on each packet, in addition to information about the
message stream to which the packet belongs. The network layer must reassemble them in the correct
order before passing the message to the application layer.
Connection-oriented routing sets up a virtual circuit between the sender and receiver. In this case, a
temporary virtual circuit is defined between the sender and receiver. The network layer makes one
routing decision when the connection is established, and all packets follow the same route. All packets
in the same message arrive at the destination in the same order in which they were sent. In this case,
packets only need to contain information about the stream to which it belongs; sequence numbers are
not needed, although many connection-oriented protocols include a sequence number to ensure that all
packets are actually received.
Connection-oriented routing has greater overhead than connectionless routing, because the sender
must first “open” the circuit by sending a control packet that instructs all the intervening devices to
establish the circuit routing. Likewise, when the transmission is complete, the sender must “close” the
circuit. Connection-oriented protocols also tend to have more overhead bits in each packet.
20. What is a virtual circuit?
A virtual circuit is one that appears to the application software to use a point-to-point circuit, even
though it actually does not.
21. What is Quality of Service routing and why is it useful?
Quality of service (QoS) routing is a special type of connection-oriented dynamic routing in which
different messages or packets are assigned different priorities. For example, videoconferencing
requires fast delivery of packet to ensure that the images and voices appear smooth and continuous;
they are very time-dependent, because delays in routing will seriously affect the quality of the service
provided.
22. Compare and contrast unicast, broadcast, and multicast messages.
The most common type of message in a network is the usual transmission between two computers.
One computer sends a message to another computer (e.g., a client requesting a Web page). This is
called a unicast message. In the situation of a broadcast message, the message is sent to all
computers on a specific LAN or subnet. A third type of message called a multicast message is used
to send the same message to a group of computers.
23. Explain how multicasting works.
Computers wishing to participate in a multicast (e.g., for videoconferencing) send a message to the
sending computer or some other computer performing routing along the way using a special type of
TCP-level packet called Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP). Each multicast group is
assigned a special Class D IP address to identify the group. Any computer performing routing
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knows to route all multicast messages with this Class D IP address onto the subnet that contains the
requesting computer. The routing computer sets the data link layer address on multicast messages
to a matching multicast data link layer address. Each requesting computer must inform its data link
layer software to process incoming messages with this multicast data link layer address. When the
multicast session ends (e.g., the videoconference is over), the client computer sends another IGMP
message to the organizing computer or the computer performing routing to remove it from the
multicast group.
24. Explain how the client computer in Figure 6-11 (128.192.98.130) would obtain the data link layer
address of its subnet gateway.
When a computer is installed on a TCP/IP network (or dials into a TCP/IP network), it knows the
IP address of its subnet gateway. This information can be provided by a configuration file or via a
bootp or DHCP server. However, the computer does not know the subnet gateway’s Ethernet
address (data link layer address). Therefore, TCP would broadcast an ARP request to all computers
on its subnet, requesting that the computer whose IP address is 128.192.98.1 to respond with its
Ethernet address.
This request would be processed by all computers on the subnet, but only the subnet gateway would
respond with an ARP packet giving its Ethernet address. The network layer software on the client
would then store this address in its data link layer address table.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Several network standard protocols exist that specify how network layer packets are organized.
[True]
2. TCP/IP is a data link protocol that is used on the Internet. [False, it is a network layer standard.]
3. The network layer sits between the application layer and the data link layer in the simplified four-
layer network model. [True]
4. Some network protocols, such as TCP/IP, are compatible with a variety of different data link layer
protocols. [True]
5. SNA was originally developed as a complete networking architecture by Hewlett-Packard. [False,

it was developed by IBM.]
6. Software with multiprotocol stacks refers to the fact that the software supports several different
network protocols. [True]
7. Recently, TCP/IP has become the most common network protocol used on LANs. [True]
8. The TCP portion of TCP/IP performs a packetizing function. [True]
9. The IP portion of TCP/IP performs an data presentation/formatting function. [False, it provides a

routing and addressing function.]
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10. The error checking function of TCP duplicates some of the functions of the data link layer. [True]
11. A new version of SNA called Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking (APPN) which supports TCP/IP
has been recently developed. [True]
12. SNA typically uses SDLC as its data link protocol. [True]
13. An application layer address is also known as a client name. [False, it is a server name.]
14. The data link address for an Ethernet network is comprised of four bytes. [False, it is six bytes in
length.]
15. Typically, the data link layer address is permanently encoded in the network interface card, or LAN
adapter, that is installed in a computer that is connected to a network. [True]
16. A Class C Internet address is also called a /24 address. [True]
17. Class D and Class E Internet addresses are free to be used by any organization. [False, these are
reserved addresses which are not assigned to organizations.]
18. IPv4 addresses offer unlimited opportunity for expansion and growth on the Internet. [False, with
IPv4, the Internet is quickly running out of addresses.]
19. Partial bytes cannot be used as subnets. [False, although it is not common to do so, it can be done
because IP addresses are binary numbers.]
20. Subnet masks tell computers what part of an IP address is to be used to determine whether a
destination is in the same subnet or in a different subnet. [True]
21. Address resolution refers to the sender’s translation of the application layer address of the
destination into a network layer address. [True]
22. Two fundamental approaches to routing are centralized and decentralized. [True]
23. Dynamic routing requires less processing by each computer in the network. [False, it requires more
processing.]
24. Quality of Service (QoS) routing is a special type of connectionless dynamic routing. [False, it is a
special type of connection-oriented dynamic routing.]
25. QoS routing is common in ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks. [True]
26. When sending a Web page to another computer, the sender’s network layer software would break
that page into smaller packets and attach a TCP packet (with a sequence number for the packet) to
each. [True]
MULTIPLE CHOICE
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1. __________ is not an important function of the network layer.

A. addressing
B. encryption
C. routing
D. breaking long messages into smaller packets
E. interfacing with the data link layer
Answer: b
2. Network _______ are important to ensure that hardware and software from different vendors
operated by different companies can communicate.
A. topologies
B. directories
C. standards
D. directions
E. frequencies
Answer: c
3. It is predicted that _______ will become the dominant network protocol within the next five years.
A. SNA
B. SDLC
C. TCP/IP
D. IPX/SPX
E. X.25
Answer: c
4. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol was developed for ________ in 1974.

A. IBM
B. Hewlett-Packard
C. University of Minnesota
D. Xerox
E. ARPANET
Answer: e
5. TCP/IP:
A. is not very efficient and is prone to errors
B. is compatible with only one type of data link protocol, SDLC
C. is the least commonly used network protocol for LANs
D. refers to Telephone Control Procedures/Inter-exchange Procedures
E. performs packetizing, as well as routing and addressing functions
Answer: e
6. A typical TCP packet has a _______ header of control information.

A. 32-bit
B. 64-bit
C. 128-bit
D. 192-bit
E. 32-byte
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Answer: d
7. The newest version of IP has a ________ header of control information.

A. 128-bit
B. 192-bit
C. 1024-bit
D. 192-byte
E. 320-bit
Answer: e
8. IP:
A. is currently in use with only one form or structure
B. performs routing functions
C. performs packetizing functions
D. performs error control functions
E. does not have a header
Answer: b
9. The older form of IP, version 4 (IPv4) is:

A. running out of address space to support the growth of the Internet
B. being replaced by IPX/SPX
C. inherently connection-oriented when it bypasses TCP
D. all of the above
Answer: a
10. IPX/SPX:
A. is the primary network protocol used by Microsoft NT networks
B. is not similar to TCP/IP in function
C. performs packetizing, as well as addressing and routing functions
D. can not be used with Ethernet
E. refers to Intermodulation Protocol Exchange/Serial Protocol Exchange
Answer: c
11. A typical SPX packet has a ________ header of control information.

A. 12-byte
B. 32-byte
C. 64-byte
D. 128-byte
E. 128-bit
Answer: a
12. X.25:
A. is a network standard used in wide area networks
B. does not perform routing functions
C. is relatively new, therefore it is not used by many organizations
D. is extensively used in North America by domestic (non-international) companies
E. has three parts: one for addressing, one for packetizing, one for error control
Answer: a
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13. SNA:
A. was developed by Amdahl in 1988
B. is a proprietary non-standard network protocol
C. is a protocol that makes it easy to integrate SNA networks with other networks that use other
standard protocols
D. refers to Synchronous Novell Architecture
E. was developed originally for client-server network models
Answer: b
14. A network layer address using TCP/IPv4 looks like:

A. 128.192.78.5
B. www.cba.uga.edu
C. user@cba.uga.edu
D. 00-0F-00-81-14-00
E. Building 4, Room 2, User 3
Answer: a
15. One way that a client computer is assigned a static network layer address is by:
A. hardware manufacturers
B. software manufacturers
C. middleware manufacturers
D. network managers who configure a file in a computer’s network layer software package
E. ISO
Answer: d
16. InterNIC:
A. assigns data link layer addresses
B. approves which network layer addresses (usually, approved or assigned in groups or classes)
can be used by an organization for its computers that will connect to the Internet
C. refers to Interchange Novell Interfacing Computer
D. developed the IPX/SPX network layer protocol
E. developed X.25 network layer protocol
Answer: b
17. A Class A Internet address (IPv4):

A. has an address whose first three bytes are fixed
B. has an address whose first two bytes are fixed
C. has an address whose first byte is fixed
D. has an address with no fixed bytes
E. has an address whose first four bytes are fixed
Answer: c
18. IPv6 will be based upon _________ -byte addresses.

A. 24
B. 4
C. 32
D. 8
E. 16
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Answer: e
19. IPv4 uses ________ bytes per Internet address.

A. 24
B. 4
C. 32
D. 8
E. 16
Answer: b
20. A(n) ________ refers to a group of computers that are logically grouped together by IP number.
A. IPv6 group
B. TCP group
C. subnet
D. data link group
E. application net
Answer: c
21. A subnet mask of ___________ means that all computers with only the same first two bytes in
their IP addresses are on the same subnet.
A. 255.0.0.0
B. 255.255.0.0
C. 255.255.255.0
D. 255.255.255.255
E. 11111111.0.0.0
Answer: b
22. Dynamic addressing:

A. has only one standard
B. assigns a permanent network layer address to a client computer in a network
C. can solve many updating headaches for network managers who have large, growing,
changing networks
D. is always performed for servers only
E. makes network management more complicated in dial-up networks
Answer: c
23. ___________ is the translation of application layer addresses into network layer addresses.
A. IPv6
B. server name resolution
C. network interface card reversal
D. subnet masking
E. name service coding
Answer: b
24. When TCP/IP translates an application layer address into an IP address, it sends a special
__________ to the nearest DNS server.
A. broadcast message
B. multicast message
C. Class B message
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D. TCP-level packet
E. IP-level packet
Answer: d
25. When TCP/IP translates a network layer address into a data link layer address, it sends a special
____________ to all computers in the subnet.
C. Class B message
D. application layer packet
E. physical layer packet
Answer: a
26. ___________ is the process of determining the path that a message will travel from sending
computer to receiving computer.
A. Interfacing
B. Broadcasting
C. Addressing
D. Packetizing
E. Routing
Answer: e
27. A disadvantage of centralized routing is:

A. if anything happens to the computer developing the routing table, the routing tables cannot be
changed until that computer is fixed, or until a new computer is selected to perform the
function
B. routing usually does not reflect changing network conditions, such as computers that are
overloaded by many messages
C. when routing information is changed, network capacity is “wasted” to transmit the new
information to all computers
D. all of the above
Answer: d
28. With ________ routing, all computers in the network make their own decisions, following a
routing protocol.
A. circuitous
B. decentralized
C. subordinate
D. indirect
E. synchronous
Answer: b
29. ____________ refers to the type of routing in which the routing table is developed by the network
manager and modifications are made only when computers are added to or removed from the
network.
A. Adaptive routing
B. Static routing
C. Dynamic routing
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D. Circuitous routing
E. Distributed routing
Answer: b
30. _______________ refers to dynamic routing.

A. Adaptive routing
B. Static routing
C. Circuitous routing
D. Centralized routing
E. Distributed routing
Answer: a
31. A commonly used dynamic routing protocol is:

A. domain protocol
B. static protocol
C. adaptive protocol
D. routing information protocol
E. centralized information protocol
Answer: d
32. One drawback to dynamic routing is:

A. The transmission of status information “wastes” network capacity that could be used to send
user messages
B. Routing usually does not reflect changing network conditions, such as computers that are
overloaded by many messages
C. It cannot be used with non-government networks
D. all of the above
Answer: a
33. The _____________ specifies how messages will travel through the network.
A. configuration listing
B. linking loader
C. routing table
D. bus header assignment list
E. file allocation table
Answer: c
34. In its simplest form, the __________ has two columns: the first column lists every computer and
device in the network, while the second column lists the computer or device to which that
computer should send messages, if they are destined for the computer in the first column.
B. linking loader
C. routing table
Answer: c
35. The two fundamental ways that sets of packets can be routed through a network are:
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A. circuitous and direct routing

B. connectionless and connection-oriented
C. subordinate and insubordinate routing
D. master and slave routing
E. dynamic and adaptive routing
Answer: b
36. _____________ routing is a method of routing in which each packet makes its own way through
the network.
A. connection-oriented
B. asynchronous
C. adaptive
D. dynamic
E. connectionless
Answer: e
37. In connection-oriented routing, the _________ layer makes one routing decision when the
connection is established.
A. application
B. physical
C. network
D. data link
E. connection
Answer: c
38. A virtual circuit is established in the ___________ routing method.

A. connection-oriented
B. asynchronous
C. adaptive
D. dynamic
E. connectionless
Answer: d
39. With QoS routing different __________ are defined, each with different priorities.
A. domain names
B. data link layer addresses
C. application layer addresses
D. classes of service
E. classes of Internet addresses
Answer: d
40. A special type of message that is used when sending the same message to a specific group of
computers is called:
A. unicast message
C. broadcast message
D. guided message
E. radiated message
Answer: b
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41. With _______, the message is sent to all computers, but it is only processed by the computer to
which it is addressed.
A. fast forward routing
B. broadcast routing
C. hot potato routing
D. express routing
E. full complex routing
Answer: b
42. IGMP refers to:

A. Internet Giga Memory Parameters
B. Internet Guided Meta Protocol
C. Internet Group Management Protocol
D. Interchange Guided Meta Protocol
E. Interchange Group Management Parameters
Answer: c
43. Which of the following is not given to a client computer that is installed on a TCP/IP network so
that it has the appropriate routing/addressing information?
A. subnet mask
B. application layer address
C. its own IP address
D. IP address of its DNS server
E. IP address of a gateway, router, or a switch outside of its subnet
Answer: b
44. The network model used in the textbook to describe and analyze data communication networks
has _______ layers.
A. A. 2
B. B. 4
C. C. 7
D. D. 10
Answer: b
45. The software used by the network user is located in the :

A. Resident layer
B. Application layer
C. Network layer
D. Physical layer
Answer: b
46. In the 4-layer model of a network, the layer that is responsible for routing packets through the
nework is:
A. data link layer
B. application layer
C. network layer
D. physical layer
Answer: c
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47. In the 4-layer model, the layer that is concerned with transmitting bits over a communication
circuit is:
A. data link layer
B. physical layer
C. transport layer
D. application layer
Answer: b
48. The network layer sits between the physical layer and the data link layer in the simplified four-
layer network model.
A. True
B. False
Answer: b
49. An application layer address is also known as a domain name.

A. True
B. False
Answer: a
50. The data link address for an Ethernet network is comprised of four bytes.
A. True
B. False
Answer: b
51. Typically, the data link layer address is permanently encoded in the network interface card, or
LAN adapter, that is installed in a computer that is connected to a network.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
52. IPv4 addresses offer unlimited opportunity for expansion and growth on the Internet.
A. True
B. False
Answer: b
53. Subnet masks tell computers what part of an IP address is to be used to determine whether a
destination is in the same subnet or in a different subnet.
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
54. Address resolution refers to the sender’s translation of the application layer address of the
destination into a datalink layer address.
A. True
B. False
Answer: b
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55. When sending a Web page to another computer, the sender’s network layer software would break
that page into smaller packets and attach a TCP packet (with a sequence number for the packet) to
each
A. True
B. False
Answer: a
56. __________ is a function of the network layer.

A. addressing
B. routing
C. breaking long messages into smaller packets
D. interfacing with the data link layer
E. all of the above
Answer: e
57. Network _______ are important to ensure that hardware and software from different vendors
operated by different companies can communicate.
A. topologies
B. directories
C. standards
D. directions
E. frequencies
Answer: c
58. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol was developed for ________ in 1974.
A. IBM
B. Hewlett-Packard
C. University of Minnesota
D. Xerox
E. ARPANET
Answer: e
59. IP:
A. is currently in use with only one form or structure
B. performs routing functions
C. performs packetizing functions
D. performs error control functions
E. does not have a header
Answer: b
60. A network layer address using TCP/IPv4 looks like:

A. 128.192.78.5
B. www.cba.uga.edu
C. user@cba.uga.edu
D. 00-0F-00-81-14-00
E. Building 4, Room 2, User 3
Answer: a
61. InterNIC:
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A. assigns data link layer addresses

B. approves which network layer addresses can be used by an organization for its computers that
will connect to the Internet
C. refers to Interchange Novell Interfacing Computer
D. developed the IPX/SPX network layer protocol
E. developed X.25 network layer protocol
Answer: b
62. IPv6 will be based upon _________ byte addresses.

A. 24
B. 4
C. 32
D. 8
E. 16
Answer: e
63. IPv4 uses ________ bytes per Internet address.

A. 24
B. 4
C. 32
D. 8
E. 16
Answer: b
64. A ________ refers to a group of computers that are logically grouped together by IP number.
A. IPv6 group
B. TCP group
C. subnet
D. data link group
E. application net
Answer: c
65. ___________ is the translation of application layer addresses into network layer addresses.
A. IPv6
B. server name resolution
C. network interface card reversal
D. subnet masking
E. name service coding
Answer: b
66. When TCP/IP translates an application layer address into an IP address, it sends a special
__________ to the nearest DNS server.
C. Class B message
D. TCP-level packet
Answer: d
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67. When TCP/IP translates a network layer address into a data link layer address, it sends a special
____________ to all computers in the subnet.
C. Class B message
D. application layer packet
E. physical layer packet
Answer: a
68. ___________ is the process of determining the path that a message will travel from sending
computer to receiving computer.
A. Interfacing
B. Broadcasting
C. Addressing
D. Packetizing
E. Routing
Answer: e
69. The _____________ specifies how messages will travel through the network.
B. linking loader
C. routing table
Answer: c
70. Which of the following is not given to a client computer that is installed on a TCP/IP network ?
A. subnet mask
B. application layer address
C. its own IP address
D. IP address of its DNS server
E. IP address of a gateway, router, or a switch outside of its subnet
Answer: b
71. During Web surfing, and in case of an unknown address (IP) a client computer that is installed on
a TCP/IP network :
A. a HTML request packet would be sent to the Web server.
B. a TCP/IP DNS request packet would be sent to the name server (DNS).
C. An Ethernet broadcast message (ARP) will be sent to the subnet.
Answer: b
1. Suppose a client computer wants to access a web page on a web server. Assume that it knows all of
the IP addresses and data link layer addresses in the network, except those for the web server itself.
Describe how the client would obtain the IP address for the web server.
The network layer software of the client computer will realize it lacks the IP address for the Web
server after searching its network layer address table and not finding a matching entry. In this case,
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it will issue a DNS request to its name server. Using its subnet mask, if it recognizes that the name
server is outside of its subnet, it will create a TCP/IP DNS request packet and set the data link layer
address to its gateway’s address.
The gateway would process the message and would transmit the packet using the name server’s
Ethernet address. The name server would process the DNS request, and send the matching IP
address back to the client. Once the client received the IP address for the web server, it would store
it in its network layer address table.
2. Suppose a client computer wants to access a web page on a web server. Assume that it knows all of
the IP addresses and data link layer addresses in the network, except those for the web server itself.
If the web server was on the same subnet as the client, how would the client obtain the data link
layer address for the web server?
Once the client knows the IP address for the web server that is stored it in its network layer address
table, it would use its subnet mask to recognize that the Web server is on its subnet. However, it
does not know the Web server’s Ethernet address. Therefore, TCP would broadcast an ARP request
to all computers on its subnet, requesting that the computer, whose IP address matches the Web
server’s IP address, respond with its Ethernet address.
This request would be processed by all computers on the subnet, but only the Web server would
respond with an ARP packet giving its Ethernet address. The network layer software on the client
would store this address in its data link layer address table and send the original Web request to the
Web server using its Ethernet address.
3. What is the efficiency percentage if a 3,200 byte file is sent over the Web using TCP/IP (IP6) on
an Ethernet LAN. Assume the file uses a 100-byte HTTP packet. Show your work.
The efficiency percentage is calculated by the total number of information bits (i.e., bits in the
message sent by the user) divided by the total bits in transmission (i.e., information bits plus overhead
bits). The overhead bits for this file transfer consists of the bits from the TCP, IP, Ethernet, and HTTP
packets. Therefore, the efficiency percentage of the 3,200 byte file is 3200/(3200 + 3(24 + 40 + 26)
+ 100) = 89.6%.
4. Under what conditions does decentralized dynamic routing provide better performance than
decentralized static routing?
Dynamic routing provides better performance when there are multiple routes through a network and it
is important to select the best route. Dynamic routing attempts to improve network performance by
routing messages over the fastest possible route, away from busy circuits and busy computers.
5. What is DHCP and why would network managers want to use it?
Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) was developed in 1993 and is a standard commonly used
with dynamic addressing in TCP/IP networks. Instead of providing a network layer address in a
configuration file, a special software package is installed on the client that instructs it to contact a
DHCP server using data link layer addresses. This message asks the server to assign the requesting
computer a unique network layer address. The server runs a corresponding DHCP software package
that responds to these requests and sends a message back to the client giving it its network layer
address (and its subnet mask).
The DHCP server can be configured to assign the same network layer address to the computer each
time it requests an address (based on its data link layer address), or it can lease the address to the
computer by picking the “next available” network layer address from a list of authorized addresses.
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This greatly simplifies network management. With dynamic addressing, address changes need to be
done only to the DHCP server, not to each individual computer. The next time each computer connects
to the network or whenever the address lease expires, it automatically gets the new address.
6. Explain how multicasting works.

Computers wishing to participate in a multicast (e.g., for videoconferencing) send a message to the
sending computer or some other computer performing routing along the way using a special type of
TCP-level packet called Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP). Each multicast group is
assigned a special Class D IP address to identify the group. Any computer performing routing
knows to route all multicast messages with this Class D IP address onto the subnet that contains the
requesting computer. The routing computer sets the data link layer address on multicast messages
to a matching multicast data link layer address. Each requesting computer must inform its data link
layer software to process incoming messages with this multicast data link layer address. When the
multicast session ends (e.g., the videoconference is over), the client computer sends another IGMP
message to the organizing computer or the computer performing routing to remove it from the
multicast group.
7. What four pieces of information does a computer using TCP/IP need in order to send messages
using TCP/IP. Explain why each of these is required.
When a computer is installed on a TCP/IP network (or dials into a TCP/IP network), it must be
given four pieces of network layer addressing and routing information before it can operate. This
information can be provided by a configuration file, or via a bootp or DHCP server. The
information is:
1. its IP address;
2. a subnet mask, so it can determine what addresses are part of its subnet;
3. the IP address of a DNS server, so it can translate application layer addresses into IP addresses;
and
4. the IP address of a gateway computer leading outside of its subnet, so it can route messages
addressed to computers outside of its subnet (this presumes the computer is using static routing
and there is only one connection from it to the outside world through which all messages must
flow; if it used dynamic routing, some routing software would be needed instead).
These four pieces of information are the minimum required. A server would also need to know its
application layer address.
8. Suppose your manager asks which network protocol would be best for the company’s backbone
network, TCP/IP or IPX/SPX. How would you answer the question? Discuss two major points.
Your manager doesn't understand technical terms so be sure to explain any jargon you use.
Since TCP/IP will mostly likely become the dominant protocol within five years, I would suggest
using it. Both TCP/IP and IPX/SPX are protocols that are compatible with a variety of different data
link layer protocols (e.g., Ethernet, token ring) and can be used interchangeably in the same network.
However, TCP/IP is the world’s most popular network layer protocol, used by almost 70 percent of all
backbone, metropolitan, and wide area networks. In 1998, TCP/IP moved past IPX/SPX as the most
common protocol used on LANs.
TCP/IP allows reasonably efficient and error-free transmission. Because it performs error checking, it
can send large files across sometimes unreliable networks with great assurance that the data will arrive
uncorrupted.
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9. Thought question: Suppose we add a new web server on the university campus. How many DNS
servers need to be updated (at a minimum)? Suppose we start a new company and register a new
Internet address for its web server. How many DNS servers need to be updated (at a minimum)?
Explain.
If a new web server is added on the university campus, one DNS server would need to be updated
at the minimum. Name servers can exchange information about new and changed addresses among
themselves. This replication means that if only one DNS server knows the IP address, then other
servers will eventually be replicated with this information. [Note: Assuming the university has its own
DNS server, which is reasonable for most universities.]
Whenever you receive a set of Internet addresses (e.g., Classes A, B, or C), you must inform
InterNIC of the name and IP address of the name server that will provide DNS information for all
addresses in that Class. Almost every organization with a Class B Internet address also has its own
DNS server. Organizations with Class C addresses sometimes have their own DNS servers, but often
rely on a DNS server provided by an Internet service provider. Two DNS servers at the minimum
would have to be changed. [Note: A new internet address is registered. You have to set up your own or
change your ISPs DNS server, and have to change InterNIC’s DNS server.]
10. The diagram below shows a simple network using TCP/IP and ethernet. Computers F, G, Y, and T
are gateways. Describe the path taken by a message sent from computer D to computer L. For each
step in the path (i.e., from one computer to the next), state the: a) sending computer (e.g., D), b)
destination computer, c) destination IP address on the message and d) destination ethernet address
on the message. Assume that all addresses (IP and ethernet) are known by all computers, and that
all computers have a subnet mask in which the first three bytes indicate the subnet.
The path that the message would take would be from computer D to T to Y to G, then finally to
computer L. The following gives the information for each step of the path. The destination IP
address (128.192.21.33 - computer L’s IP address) on the message remains the same throughout the
entire path.
D to T:
a) computer D
b) computer T
d) 00-00-AA-33-33-33
T to Y:
a) computer T
b) computer Y
d) 00-00-DD-11-11-11
Y to G:
a) computer Y
b) computer G
d) 00-00-CC-22-22-22
G to L:
a) computer G
b) computer L
d) 00-00-CC-11-11-33
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W 128.192.40.22 D 128.192.55.44
00-00-AA-22-22-22 00-00-AA-44-44-44
F 128.192.40.1 T 128.192.55.3
00-00-AA-11-11-11 00-00-AA-33-33-33
128.192.250.1 128.192.251.2
00-00-BB-11-11-11 00-00-BB-22-22-22
Y 128.192.251.1
00-00-DD-11-11-11
128.192.250.3
00-00-BB-33-33-33
DNS
128.192.250.22
G 128.192.250.2 00-00-FB-33-33-33
00-00-CC-22-22-22
128.192.21.1
00-00-CC-11-11-11
L 128.192.21.33
00-00-CC-11-11-33
11. Another question for the diagram above: Describe the flow of messages (using the same format) if
D does not know the IP address of L.
If D does not know the IP address of L, then a TCP/IP DNS request packet would be sent to the
name server (DNS). The path of the request packet would be from computer D to T to Y, then to the
DNS. The destination IP address (128.192.250.22 - the name server’s IP address) on the message
remains the same throughout the entire path. The information from computer D to Y is the same as
in question #10.
Y to DNS:
a) computer Y
b) computer DNS
d) 00-00-FB-33-33-33
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The name server would process the DNS request, and send the matching IP address back to
computer D. The path of this message would be from the name server to Y to T, and then to D. The
destination IP address (128.192.55.44 - computer D’s IP address) on the message remains the same
throughout the entire path. Then the message from computer D to L would follow the path as
described in question #10.
DNS to Y:
a) computer DNS
b) computer Y
d) 00-00-BB-33-33-33
Y to T:
a) computer Y
b) computer T
d) 00-00-BB-22-22-22
T to D:
a) computer T
b) computer D
d) 00-00-AA-44-44-44
13. Another question for the diagram above: Describe the flow of messages (using the same format) if
D does not know the Ethernet address of T.
TCP (from computer D) would broadcast an ARP request to all computers on its subnet, requesting
that the computer whose IP address is 128.192.55.3 (computer T) to respond with its Ethernet
address. This request would be processed by all computers on the subnet, but only the computer T
would respond with an ARP packet giving its Ethernet address. The network layer software on
computer D would store this address in its data link layer address table and send the original
message to computer L using the newly acquired Ethernet address of computer T. The message
from computer D to L would follow the path as described in question #10.
14. Another question for the diagram above: When the message arrives at computer L, what IP address
will be listed as the source address and what ethernet address will be listed as the source address?
The source IP address will be 128.192.55.44 (computer D). The source ethernet address will be 00-
00-CC-11-11-11 (computer G).
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Review Questions For Test-1 (With Answers) : Chapter 1: Introduction To Data Communications

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CSN200 Introduction to Telecommunications, Winter 2000 Review Questions for Test-1 (with Answers)

Review Questions for Test-1 (with Answers):

Chapter 1: Introduction to Data Communications

Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions

Communications systems progression from the 1800s to the present:

2. Why are network layers important?

 The application layer is the application software used by the user.

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5. Describe the three stages of standardization.

6. How are Internet standards developed?

8. What is the purpose of a data communication standard?

9. Discuss three trends in communications and networking.

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The the answer is provided in square brackets.

1. In an information society, the strategic resource is capital. [False, it is information.]

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communicate with any other computer in the world. [True]

The answer is provided under the choices.

1. An information society is dominated by:

3. The software used by the network user is located in the:

4. Which of the following is not a function of the network layer?

5. Which of the following is not a function of the data link layer?

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6. Which of the following is a type of network application software?

7. The primary reason for networking standards is to:

8. Which of the following is not true about formal standards?

9. Which of the following is not true about de facto standards?

10. Which of the following is a stage of the formal standardization process?

11. Which of the following is not true about ISO:

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E. It makes technical recommendations about data communications interfaces

12. Which of the following is not true about ITU-T:

13. Which of the following is not a member of ITU-T?

15. Pervasive networking means that:

16. Which of the following is not a potential advantage for a telecommuter?

17. EDI is:

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19. The study of data communications provides an:

20. Which of the following is not an objective of data communications networks?

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C. the deregulation of the telephone industry

24. An information society is dominated by:

30. Half Duplex (A B C)

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31. Full Duplex (A B C)

32. A walkie-talkie link uses:.

33. TV transmission of your favorite program is an example of:

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39. An important future trend in communication and networking is:

40. Pervasive networking means that:

42. The earliest form of groupware was:

43. Which of the following is not an e-mail standard?

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Short Answer Questions

3. Why are standards important?

Chapter 2: Network Applications

2.1 The Internet

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2.2 Internet Application Software (most important)

Answers to End-of-Chapter Questions

1. What is the Internet?

2. Describe the history of the Internet and the Web.