Robert Spann October 17, 2013

COMP 204 Homework 5

Answer the following questions based on your reading of the text book, the module key points, and the instructors presentation this week. 1. [4 points] Describe two issues that could occur when a router or a bridge is connecting media with two different speeds and/or frame types? Two issues that could occur when a router or a bridge is connecting media with two different speeds and/or frame types causes the router to buffer the frames for transmission, if there are not enough buffers available, the packets can be lost (Dye, McDonald, & Rufi, 2008).

2. [4 points] If corrupted Ethernet frames are dropped (i.e. are like UDP with no retransmissions or acknowledgements), why does the frame header include the source address? Hint: explore switching and filtering.

The frame header includes the source address so that the switch can determine what to do with them (Dye, McDonald, & Rufi, 2008). Another reason is for security purposes. A switch can block frames from selective MAC addresses (Dye, McDonald, & Rufi, 2008).

3. [4 points] Why is throughput on a medium so much less than bandwidth? Why is goodput so much less than throughput?

Bandwidth is the theoretical maximum amount of data moved per unit time where as throughput is the actual measure of transmitted bits. Goodput is so much less than throughput because goodput is the measured usable data bits at the application layer (Dye, McDonald, & Rufi, 2008).

4. [4 points] Many fly-by-night cable contractors will just toss inexpensive UTP cable through drop ceilings. Name and describe several reasons why this could be a problem. Poor cabling is a very common culprit in poor network performance (Dye, McDonald, & Rufi, 2008). Several reasons why this could be a problem are that UTP cables are sensitive to radio and electromagnetic frequency interference, such as caused a microwave (Dauber, 2013). They are also more prone to electronic noise and interference than any other form of cable. It is for this reason, that they must be kept out of the wave range of electric motors and fluorescent lighting. Unlike coaxial and fiber-optic cables, UTP cable is not able to carry a signal for long distances without utilizing signal boosts (Dauber, 2013)

5. [4 points] Why do engineering standards bodies control Layer 1 (and some of Layer 2) in the OSI model encoding as opposed to software standards bodies? The physical layer of the OSI model was defined by electrical and communications engineering organizations as opposed to the upper layers that perform logical functions that are carried out by instructions in software. Cables, connectors, and media access devices, such as network interface cards, are designed by the standards set by the electrical and communications engineers (Dye, McDonald, & Rufi, 2008).

6. [5 points] Research random exponential backoff in CSMA/CD systems. Why is exponential backoff used? What does the randomness give us? CSMA/CD stands for carrier sense multiple access/collision detection. CSMA/CD is the most widely used protocol for determining how a network device responds in the event of a collision. Once a collision occurs, all participating devices wait for a brief, random amount of time before the devices attempt to transmit again. If there is a second collision, the time intervals of all devices are increased step-by-step in a process called exponential back off. Exponential back off is used to improve CSMA performance by preventing collisions (CSMA/CD Definition, 2005).