DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, AGRA

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
EEM 720 COMPUTER NETWORKS
Syllabus
UNIT 1: Evolution and uses of Computer Networks, Network structure, concepts of data transmission, Analog
and digital data transmission. Transmission Media: Twisted pair, Coaxial cable, Optical Fibre, Terrestrial and
Satellite Microwave, Radio. [12]

UNIT II: The OSI Reference Model: Design Issues for various layers, OSI Layers and their functions, Data
Transmission in OSI Model, OSI Terminology.
Delay models in Networks, Little's Theorem, M/M/1 queues. [12]

UNIT III : Medium Access Sublayer : Static and Dynamic channel allocation in LANs, CSMA, CSMA/CD. IEEE
Standard 802 for LANs : IEEE standard 802.3, 802.4, 802.5, Comparison of 802 standards. Link level control (IEEE
802.2) : Stop and wait and sliding window protocols, Error control. [10]

UNIT IV: Network Layer: Design issues, Routing Algorithms, Congestion control algorithms. Internetworking:
Bridges, Gateways, Internet Protocol (IP). [10]

UNIT V: Transport Layer : Design Issues, services provided to the Session layer, Quality of Service. Transport
Protocols : TCP and UDP. Applications : TELNET, FTP, E-Mail, www. [8]

Suggested Reading

1. Behrouz A Forouzan, Data Communication and Networking, Fourth Edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 2008.
2. Tanenbaum, A.S., Computer Networks, Third Edition, Prentice Hall of India, 1997.
3. Stallings, W., Data and Computer Communications, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall of India, 1996.
4. James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross, Computer Networking- A Top-down Approach Featuring the Internet,
Pearson.
5. Bertsekas and Gallagher, Data Networks, Second Edition, Prentice Hall of India, 1996.
 DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE, AGRA
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
EEM 720/ PEE 113 COMPUTER NETWORKS
Question Bank
UNIT I

1. What are Computer Networks ? Briefly enumerate the goals for creating computer networks.
2. Explain the evolution of Computer Networks.
3. What are the two broad classifications under which Networks can be divided?
4. Mention different categories of computer networks (on the basis of scale) and distinguish one from the
other.
5. Mention important benefits of computer networks.
6. What are the various components of network structure ? Explain the functions of each component.
7. Consider 2n - 1 IMPs connected by the following topologies :(a) Star (b) Ring (c) Complete Inter-
connection. For each, give the number of hops needed for the average IMP - IMP packet. (No self traffic).
8. What are the characteristics of digital and analog transmission? Mention the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
9. Explain the characteristics of the three major classes of Guided media?
10. What are the four prominent wireless technologies? Briefly explain each.
11. Compare and contrast the Fiber optic transmission with Microwave terrestrial/ satellite transmission.
12. Broadly categorize and briefly explain the transmission impairments.
13. Describe various encoding techniques that are used to transmit digital data in digital form.
14. What are the encoding techniques used to transmit digital data in analog form? Explain the advantages
and disadvantages of each.
15. Briefly explain any two of the following: (a) Pulse Code Modulation (b) Delta Modulation (c) Amplitude
Shift Keying (d) Phase Shift Keying (e) Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.
16. What is the use of Multiplexing and concentration? What are the different ways of Multiplexing?
Describe briefly.
17. (a) State Nyquist's and Shannon's results for computing the maximum data rates of a channel. TV
channels are 6 MHz wide. How many bits/sec can be sent if four level digital signals are used. (b) What is
the maximum available data rate if a binary signal is sent over a 3 KHz channel whose Signal-to-noise
ratio is 30 dB ?

18. Briefly describe the properties, advantages and disadvantages of the various transmission media being
used in computer networks.
19. Why is PCM sampling time set to 125 microsecs?
20. Compare the maximum data rate of a noiseless 4KHz channel using: (a) Analog encoding with two bits
per sample. (b) The T1 PCM system.
21. For the bit stream 0001110101 sketch (a) Manchestor encoding (b) Differential Manchestor encoding.
Assume that the line is initially in the low state.
22. Distinguish between (a) Circuit Switching (b) Message switching (c) Packet Switching as Message
Transport technologies.
23. What do you think will be the media of future in communication networks? Give reasons for your
choices.
UNIT II
1. Discuss the OSI reference model in detail, explaining the various layers of communication.
2. Why are protocols needed? What are the two interfaces provided by protocols?
3. What are the features provided by layering? Group the OSI layers by function?

4. Distinguish between connectionless and connection oriented communication service stressing the
advantages and disadvantages of each.
5. Two networks both provide reliable connection oriented service. One of them offers a reliable byte
stream whereas the other offers a reliable message stream. Are these identical? If not, why is the
distinction made. If not, give an example where these are different.
6. What is the difference between confirmed service and unconfirmed service? Give an example of each.
7. (a) What are the various kinds of delays in each link? Explain. (b) Describe the various types of
multiplexing used on a communication channel. Comment on their properties.
8. What are the various parameters which are described to characterise queuing systems. Explain the
physical significance of each of these parameters.
9. State Little's theorem and give a graphical proof of the theorem. State clearly the assumptions made.
10. Why is Little's theorem of limited utility in the solution of practical design problems in computer
networks?
11. For the M/M/1 queue derive the expressions for the following : (a) Mean number of customers in the
system (b) Total waiting time of the customers.
12. Consider a terminal concentrator with 4 4800 bps input lines and one 9600 bps output line. The mean
packet size is 1000 bits. Each of the four lines delivers Poisson traffic with an average of 2 packets /
second. What is the mean delay experienced by the packet from the moment the last bit arrives at the
concentrator until the moment that bit is retransmitted on the output line? Also, what is the mean
number of packets in the concentrator, including the one in service?
13. Two computers are connected by a 64 kbps line. There are eight parallel sessions using the line. Each
session generates Poisson traffic with a mean of 2 packets per second. The packets are exponentially
distributed with a mean of 200 bits. The system designers must choose between giving each session a
dedicated 8-kbps piece of bandwidth (via TDM or FDM) or having all the packets compete for a single 64-
kbps shared channel. Which alternative gives a better response time?
14. A communication line is divided into two identical channels each of which will serve a packet traffic
stream where all the packets have equal transmission time T and equal inter-arrival time R > T. Consider,
alternatively, statistical multiplexing of the two traffic steams by combining the two channels into a
single channel with transmission time T/2 for each packet. Show that the average system time of a
packet will be decreased from T to something between T/2 and 3T/4, while the variance of waiting time
in queue will be increased from 0 to as much as T2 /16.
15. Customers arrive at a fast-food restaurant at a rate of 5 per minute and wait to receive their order for an
average of 5 minutes. Customers eat in the restaurant with a probability 0.5 and carry out their order
without eating with a probability 0.5. A meal requires an average of 20 minutes. What is the average
number of customers in the restaurant?
16. Consider a network of transmission lines where packets arrive at n different nodes with corresponding
rates I, i= 1 to n. If N is the average total number of packets inside the network, then find the average
delay per packet and average delay per packet arriving at node i.
17. Consider a queuing system with K servers and with room for at most N >= K customers. The system is
always full. If average service time is X’ find the average customer time in the system.
18. In Q17 above if the customers arrive at a rate  but are blocked from the system if they find it full. Find
the blocking probability .
 19. Consider a packet transmission system whose arrival rate (in packets/sec) is increased from λ to kλ,
where k>1 is some scalar factor. The packet distribution remains the same but the transmission capacity
is increased by a factor of k. What is the effect on the following:(i) Average packet transmission time (ii)
Utilization factor (iii) Average number of packets in the system (iv) Average delay per packet. Comment
on the result.
20. What is meant by saying that exponential distribution has a memoryless character? Prove it
mathematically.
21. “Mathematical Queuing models have a limited utility in analyzing practical queuing systems and more
often than not recourse is taken to systems simulation methodologies”. Comment on the statement.

UNIT III

1. Distinguish between (a) LANs and WANs (b) Static and Dynamic channel allocation in LANs.
2. Derive expressions for the throughput of an ALOHA channel in terms of the offered traffic under assumption
of infinite users in the case of (i) Pure ALOHA (ii) Slotted ALOHA.
3. Explain briefly the working of the following protocols : (i) Persistent, Non-Persistent and p - persistent CSMA
(ii) CSMA with Collision detection.
4. An infinite-population slotted ALOHA system has a frame time equal to k slot times. A frame can begin in any
slot. The channel load is G frames per frame time. What is the throughput in frames per frame time? Find the
throughput in the limiting cases of k = 1 and k -> infinity and interpret these results.
5. A large population of ALOHA users manages to generate 50 requests / second including both originals and
retransmissions. Time is slotted in units of 40 msecs. (a) What is the chance of success in the first attempt ?
(b) What is the probability of exactly k collisions and then a success ? (c) What is the expected number of
transmission attempts needed ?
6. A pure ALOHA network transmits 200-bit frames on a shared channel of 200 kbps. What is the throughput if
the system (all stations put together) produces: (i) 1000 frames per second (ii) 500 frames per second (iii)
250 frames per second?
7. Repeat Q6 for slotted ALOHA.
8. Briefly describe the various protocols that are commonly used in LANs.
9. (a) Analyse the performance of 802.3 under conditions of heavy and constant load i.e. k stations always
ready to transmit. State clearly any other assumptions made. (b) Why is Ethernet sometimes said to be
inappropriate for real-time computing?
10. Explain briefly the working of the TOKEN RING.
11. Compare the CSMA/CD and TOKEN RING LANs with special emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of
each.
12. Briefly describe the various functions of the data link layer in the OSI network model.
13. Explain some of the common framing methods used in the data link layer stressing the problems in each
method.
14. Describe what is meant by bit stuffing. Rewrite the following bit sequence after bit stuffing it:
0111110011101111111111010111.
15. What are error correcting codes? Describe the working of any two popular error correcting codes.
16. Compute the overheads required by error correcting codes for correcting one bit errors. Hence, explain why
error detection is preferred to error correction.
17. What is the idea of CRC codes? Show by means of an example how error detection is performed by
polynomial codes.
18. Describe the working of the simplex stop-and-wait protocol. What are the main problems and limitations of
this protocol?
19. What are sliding window protocols? Explain the utility of the sliding window protocol considering a simple
example.
20. Give performance analysis of sliding window protocols under varying conditions. State the assumptions
made for each analysis.

UNIT IV
1. What are the services provided by the network layer to the transport layer in the OSI reference model?
2. Describe the virtual circuit and datagram modes of subnet operation highlighting the differences.
3. (a) Give two example applications for which connection oriented service is appropriate. Now give two
examples for which connectionless service is best. (b) Are there any circumstances when a virtual circuit
service will (or should) deliver packets out of order? Explain.
4. What is routing? Explain various design goals for routing algorithms.
5. Distinguish between (a) Adaptive routing and Non-adaptive routing (b) Centralised and Decentralised
routing algorithms.
6. Explain Dijkstra’s algorithm with example for determining the shortest path between the source and the
destination router.
7. Explain Flooding and its different variations. Explain the significance of flooding.
8. Explain Distance Vector Routing/ Bellman-Ford routing algorithm with an example. Also explain Count-to-
infinity problem associated with this algorithm.
9. Consider the subnet of Fig. given below. Distance vector routing is used, and the following vectors have
just come in to router C: from B: (5, 0, 8, 12, 6, 2); from D: (16, 12, 6,0, 9,10); and from E: (7, 6, 3, 9, 0, 4).
The measured delays to B, D, and E, are 6, 3, and 5, respectively. What is C's new routing table? Give
both the outgoing line to use and the expected delay.

10. Describe any two common routing algorithms in detail.

11. Explain hierarchical routing.
12. For hierarchical routing with 4800 routers, what region and cluster sizes should be chosen to minimize
the size of the routing table for a three-layer hierarchy? A good starting place is the hypothesis that a
solution with k clusters of k regions of k routers is close to optimal, which means that k is about the cube
root of 4800 (around 16). Use trial and error to check out combinations where all three parameters are
in the general vicinity of 16.
13. Explain the following with an example
a. Unicast routing b. broadcast routing c. multicast routing
14. Compute a multicast spanning tree for router C in the following subnet for a group with
members at routers A, B, C, D, E, F, I, and K.
 15. What is congestion? Explain the general principles of congestion control and congestion prevention
policies.
16. Explain congestion control in datagram subnets.
17. Describe two common congestion control algorithms.
18. Distinguish between congestion control and flow control. How is flow control achieved?
19. What are the main requirements to be met in internetworking?
20. What is the utility of a Bridge? Explain the salient issues in the operation of a Bridge.
21. Describe the main features of the Internet Protocol.
22. Write short notes on (i) ICMP (ii) IGMP (iii) ARP (iv) RARP
23. Find the class of each IP address giving suitable explanation
a. 227.12.14.87
b. 193.14.56.22
c. 14.23.120.8
d. 252.5.15.111
e. 134.11.78.56
f. 00000001 00000001 00000001 00000001
g. 10000001 00000001 00000001 00000001
24. Explain the purpose of subnetting with suitable examples.

UNIT V

1. Describe the various services provided by the transport layer to the upper layers in the OSI model.
2. "The Transport layer is the heart of the whole protocol hierarchy." Comment.
3. What are the typical transport layer quality of service parameters? Explain.
4. Explain the issues in the establishment of a connection in the transport layer over a connection-oriented
network layer.
5. Draw the frame format for TCP header and discuss the fields.
6. Explain the working of a three - way handshake based connection release protocol.
7. Describe the main features of the Transport Control Protocol (TCP).
8. Describe the main features of the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
9. What are the uses of UDP protocol? List some well-known applications where UDP is used instead of
TCP.
10. Differentiate TCP versus UDP.
11. What is a socket address? As per IANA what are well-known ports, registered ports and dynamic ports.
List some well-known port numbers and their corresponding applications.
12. Write short notes on (i) SMTP (ii) E-Mail
13. Describe the various functions supported by a typical E-Mail system.
14. Write short notes on (i) FTP (ii) TELNET (iii) Instant Messenger
15. Write short notes on (i)HTTP (ii) www
16. Write short notes on any two of the following (i) VOIP (ii)Video over IP (iii) video streaming (iv) video-on-
demand (v)Video Conferencing
17. Write short notes on DNS
18. What would be the “killer applications” that would drive the development of computer networks in
future? Give reasons for your answer.

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