Question 1

A 10-Mb/s Classic Ethernet transmits data packets obtained from the Network Layer.
Assume for simplicity that the obtained data packets are directly placed into the MAC
Ethernet frame, i.e. that no extra bytes are added in the LLC sub-layer.

(i) Consider the case when a 45-byte packet (IPv4 Header plus data) to be placed in [40%]
the data field of the Ethernet frame. How long does it take to transmit this Ethernet
frame?

(ii) Consider now the case when the packet has total size (IPv4 Header plus payload) [60%]
of 1510 bytes. What do you think will happen when the Network Layer will try to
submit this packet to Data Link Layer to be placed in the data field of the Ethernet
MAC frame? How this situation will be resolved? How long will it take to transmit
the obtained Ethernet frame or frames?

Hint: Take care in deciding which fields should be considered as a part of the Ethernet
Frame. The inter-frame gap should be used where this is necessary.

Question 2

A Gigabit Ethernet uses the CSMA/CD protocol and operates at B = 1 Gb/s speed.

(i) The Ethernet uses 3 repeaters located at equal distances from each other along the [65%]
fibre of the length L = 4 km. Assuming that the velocity of propagation of a signal
through the cable is v = 2108 m/s and that the additional one-way delay introduced
by each repeater is 2 s, find the minimum frame size which is necessary in order to
use the CSMA/CD protocol.

(ii) Write a brief essay about peer-to-peer (P2P) and client-server networking, support [35%]
your answer with schematic drawings, discuss advantages and drawbacks of each
model.

Question 3

The point-to-point link which is a part of a more complex network connects two [100%]
hosts, H1 and H2, via two routers R1 and R2, as is shown in the Figure 3.1 below.
Both hosts H1 and H2 use the IPv4 protocol. The packets are transmitted between H1
and H2 over the non-IPv4 links in frames with a 24-byte header. The link between the
Host 1 and the router R1 has the MTU of 600 bytes (including the 24-byte frame
header), the link R1 – R2 has the MTU of 512 bytes (including the 24-byte header),
and the link between R2 and Host 2 has the MTU of 600 bytes (including the 24-byte
header). The transport layer at the Host 1 passes to its IPv4 Network Layer a datagram
which contains 1200 bytes of the data and 20 bytes of the TCP header for
transmission to the Host 2. Calculate the sizes of all fragments for each link, (Host 1 –
R1), (R1 – R2), and (R2 – Host 2), assuming that the network operates in a non-
transparent fragmentation mode.

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 Figure 3.1.

Question 4

Analyse the header of the IPv4 datagram shown in Figure 4.1 in order to solve the
following problems:

(i) Prove using the information available there that the IPv4 datagram cannot carry [30%]
payload obtained from the Transport Layer which is larger than 65, 495 bytes.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Figure 4.1 The IPv4 datagram header.

(ii) The value of IHL field in a particular IPv4 datagram is 12. How many Option [25%]
bytes are present in the datagram?

(iii) Explain how the datagram security is implemented in IPv4 protocol. [20%]

(iv) Explain what is the purpose and the main functions of the Options field in IPv4? [25%]

Question 5

(i) Convert the IP addresses whose hexadecimal representation are: [15%]

(1) ABC23EF7; (2) 3FDA0599; (3) C721EA07; (4) 7D5F3A2B

to dotted decimal notation and to binary notation. Find the class and derive the netid
and hostid of each of these addresses.

(ii) A campus has been allocated the 163.120.0.0/16 class B network address space. It [25%]
is necessary to support maximum 950 hosts per subnet and accommodate the maxi-
mum number of subnets possible. Find the subnet mask which should be used, and the
number of subnets supported by this mask. (Hint: Assume that the subnetids with “all

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0s” and “all 1s” (i.e. when the subnet part of the IP address consists either of all zeros
or all ones) must be excluded. This requirement is relaxed in modern networks).

(iii) Explain what are advantages and disadvantages of CIDR. Compare the router’s [20%]
operation in networks with and without CIDR.

(iv) Using the CIDR addressing scheme, a network within a larger network has been [15%]
allocated a block of addresses which in the dotted decimal representation is
210.48.48.0/20. Determine the lowest and highest address in the block (expressed in
dotted decimal notation) and the total number of addresses in the network.

(v) A CIDR router contains in its routing table the mask M=255.255.224.0 and the [25%]
base address BA=198.57.160.0 of the corresponding attached network. A packet with
the destination address P=198.57.223.148 arrives at the router. Will the router forward
this packet to the attached network? Explain why.

Question 6

(i) Explain concept of adjunct (control) protocols, list the main control protocols, and [10%]
explain briefly their functions. In which layer are these protocols located?

(ii) Why some of the adjunct protocols are not generally used nowadays? [10%]

(iii) Consider ARP/RARP frame shown in Figure 6.1: [40%]

Figure 6.1 ARP/RARP message format.

Explain in detail the entries into the last four fields (Sender MAC address, Sender IP
address, Target MAC address, and Target IP address) for the following messages: (a)
ARP Request; (b) ARP Reply; (c) RARP Request; (d) RARP Reply. Comment on the
size (length) of each of these messages. Are all ARP/RAP messages of the same size?

(iv) Explain how the error control is implemented in the Data Link Layer. [10%]

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(v) Consider the LLC which uses the flag bits with bit stuffing method for data [15%]
framing. If the sending LLC receives the stream of data shown below:

1111111111011111011110111111111111111000111011111

Write down the stream of the data as they appear on the line after the framing with the
bit stuffing.

(vi) If the LLC uses the odd parity bit method for error control, what is a parity bit for [15%]
a stuffed stream which you obtained in part (v)?

Question 7

(i) Explain what the congestion control in computer networks is, and how it differs [15%]
from the flow control. Which layers are responsible for the flow control and
congestion control?

(ii) Explain what are the Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) and Congestion [10%]
Window Reduced (CWR), and how they work.

(iii) Draw schematically the dependence of the congestion window Wc (in kilobytes) [50%]
on the transmission time t (in the RTT units) for congested internet assuming the
following scenario: At t  33RTT the first three duplicate ACKs have been received
by the sender host before the RTO. After this another three duplicate ACKs were
received at t  67 RTT , and then at t  75RTT the first RTO of the sender’s
acknowledgement clock has occurred. Between t  75RTT and t = 85 RTT the
network operates without disruptions. You need to draw the dependence for a time
interval between t=0 and t = 85 RTT and explain in detail each stage of the
congestion window evolution. Assume that at t  0 the first packet loss took place
due to the RTO and the initial window size is set to Wc  MSS  1 kilobyte. The
slow-start threshold for a fully open congestion window is SST0 = 64 kilobytes.

(iv) Consider that in the case from part (iii) at t = 85 RTT the receiver reports to the [25%]
sender that its sliding window is Ws  30 kilobytes, and Ws is kept at this value in the
following transmissions. Find how long it will take (beginning from t = 85 RTT )
before the full window will be sent. Your answer should be in units of RTT .

Question 8

(i) Explain in detail how the Jacobson algorithm is used in order to calculate the RTO [30%]
(Retransmission Time-Out) for a TCP connection. Your answer should include all
relevant key equations.

(ii) The current estimate of the RTT (round-trip time) is RTT0 = 5.0 ms and the initial [70%]
value of the mean deviation (dispersion) D0 = 0.7 ms. The further measurements
resulted in the following values for RTT: M1 = 3.8 ms; M2 = 3.8 ms; M3 = 3.8 ms; M4

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= 2.3 ms; M5 = 2.3 ms; M6 = 5.0 ms; M7 = 7.0 ms. Using the Jacobson algorithm cal-
culate the RTO corresponding to each measurement (assume the smoothing factor  =
0.875). Explain the impact of the value of the parameter  on evaluation of the RTT.

Question 9

A client host sends a W = 800-byte file to a server which is L = 1200 km away over a
B = 2.5 Gb/s optical fibre network.

(i) Calculate the upper bound of the link efficiency ( LEUB ) for this transmission [30%]
assuming that the speed of light in optical fibre is c = 200,000 km/s.

(ii) What would be the LEUB for a link with transmission speed B = 2.5 Mb/s? [30%]
Explain why the results for the calculated values of LEUB are different.

(iii) Calculate the necessary size of the file W which will allow to achieve a 50% [40%]
LEUB for a link you considered in part (i).

Question 10

(i) Explain, what is a purpose of Dijksra algorithm. Apply Dijkstra algorithm to [70%]
compute the shortest path from any one node of your choice to all other nodes in the
network shown in Figure 10.1. The numbers on each line shows the cost of the
corresponding line. Show in a table or describe in the text each step undertaken in the
calculations. The final routing table should show the obtained routes and their costs.

Figure 10.1

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(ii) Explain general architecture of the Internet routing. What is a definition of [30%]
Autonomous System (AS) and Area in global internetworks? Explain how hierarchy
of the Internet is used for optimisation of the packet routing, list the main classes of
routers used in global Internet and the corresponding protocols.

Question 11

(i) Discuss the main reasons behind the definition of IP version 6, IPv6, protocol, [20%]
including the main new features associated with it.

(ii) List the main fields in IPv6 packet header and explain the role of each field. (You [20%]
may sketch the IPv6 Main Header to support your explanation).

(iii) Explain IPv6 address structure and IPv6 address representation. Explain the three [20%]
address types used in IPv6.

(iv) What is the address aggregation in IPv6? [20%]

(v) What is a role of Extension Headers in IPv6 packets? List the six types of [20%]
Extension Header and state their use. What are the positions of Extended Headers
with respect to the Main Header in IPv6 packet?

Question 12

(i) Explain in detail how authentication and security services are provided in IPv6. [20%]
What is IPSec?

(ii) With the aid of diagrams explain the Transport Mode and Tunnel Mode [25%]
encryption. What is the difference between these modes?

(iii) Explain Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption algorithms and how are they [20%]
implemented in IPv6.

(iv) Give a brief description of ICMPv6 and discuss its implementation in IPv6. [10%]

(v) Explain what is a purpose of DNS? What are the Iterative and Recursive Name [25%]
Resolution protocols? How are the DNS packets transmitted? Imagine a situation
when all DNS servers in the world would crash simultaneously. Would it be still
possible in principle to use the Internet? If yes, what the users would need to know to
continue using the Internet? If no, explain why.