CASE STUDY SOLUTIONS

Case Study A
A cable company decides to provide Internet access over cable in a neighborhood consisting of 5000 houses. The
company uses a coaxial cable and spectrum allocation allowing 100 Mbps downstream bandwidth per cable. To
attract customers, the company decides to guarantee at least 2 Mbps downstream bandwidth to each house at any
time. Describe what the cable company needs to do to provide this guarantee. (Tanenbaum CH.2 - Problem 52)

SOLUTION

Setup Requirements:

1. 5000 houses, assuming 1 internet connection per house 5000 internet subscriber connections
2. Spectrum allocation for each house (connection) 2 Mbps downlink/downstream bandwidth per house
(connection)
3. Spectrum allocation on COAXIAL cable 100 Mbps downlink/downstream bandwidth per COAXIAL cable

(1 MARK)

Calculation:

100 Mbps downlink speed per coaxial cable
----------------------------------------------------- = 50 connections per coaxial cable
2 Mbps downlink speed per connection

For 50 connections, 1 coaxial cable can be used, hence
For 5000 connections, 100 coaxial cables can be used.

(1 MARK)

Illustrative Connection Diagram:



Figure (a) Cable television. Figure (b) The fixed telephone system.
(2 MARKS)

Description / Justification:

Internet over Cable - Over the course of the years the cable system grew and the cables between the various cities
were replaced by high-bandwidth fiber, similar to what was happening in the telephone system. A system with
fiber for the long-haul runs and coaxial cable to the houses is called an HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) system. The
electro-optical converters that interface between the optical and electrical parts of the system are called fiber
nodes. Because the bandwidth of fiber is so much more than that of coax, a fiber node can feed multiple coaxial
cables. Part of a modern HFC system is shown in the Figure (a) above.

In recent years, many cable operators have decided to get into the Internet access business, and often the
telephony business as well. However, technical differences between the cable plant and telephone plant have an
effect on what has to be done to achieve these goals. For one thing, all the one-way amplifiers in the system have
to be replaced by two-way amplifiers.

However, there is another difference between the HFC system of Figure (a) and the telephone system of Figure (b)
that is much harder to remove. Down in the neighborhoods, a single cable is shared by many houses, whereas in the
telephone system, every house has its own private local loop. When used for television broadcasting, this sharing
does not play a role. All the programs are broadcast on the cable and it does not matter whether there are 10
viewers or 10,000 viewers. When the same cable is used for Internet access, it matters a lot if there are 10 users or
10,000. If one user decides to download a very large file, that bandwidth is potentially being taken away from
other users. The more users, the more competition for bandwidth. The telephone system does not have this
particular property: downloading a large file over an ADSL line does not reduce your neighbor's bandwidth. On the
other hand, the bandwidth of coax is much higher than that of twisted pairs.

The way the cable industry has tackled this problem is to split up long cables and connect each one directly to a
fiber node. The bandwidth from the headend to each fiber node is effectively infinite, so as long as there are not
too many subscribers on each cable segment, the amount of traffic is manageable. Typical cables nowadays have
5002000 houses, but as more and more people subscribe to Internet over cable, the load may become too much,
requiring more splitting and more fiber nodes.

(2 MARKS)


Case Study B
Suppose you want to build a computer network, one that has the potential to grow to global proportions and
support applications as diverse as teleconferencing, video-on-demand, distributed computing, and digital libraries.
What available technologies would serve as the underlying building blocks, and what kind of software architecture
would you design to integrate these building blocks into an effective communication service? (Peterson CH.1
Introduction)

SOLUTION

Setup Requirements:

1. Build up LAN, which can grown to MAN and WAN
2. Applications supported
a. Teleconferencing (typical bandwidth requirements 16 kbps to 128 kbps),
b. video-on-demand (typical bandwidth requirements 2 Mbps to 54 Mbps),
c. distributed computing (typical bandwidth requirements 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps),
d. digital libraries (typical bandwidth requirements 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps)
3. Identify the technologies used for setting up the network.
4. Identify the kind of software architecture designed to integrate the network for effective communication
service.

(1 MARK)

Analysis:

To start us on the road towards understanding how to build a network, based on three things.
1. First, we need to explore the motivation for building networks, which is primarily to support network
applications.
2. Second, we look at the requirements that different applications and different communities of people (such
as network users and network operators) place on the network.
3. Finally, we introduce the idea of a network architecture.

Part A
Identify and list the various entities needed in a network for
a. Teleconferencing (typical bandwidth requirements 16 kbps to 128 kbps)
i. PSTN

b. video-on-demand (typical bandwidth requirements 2 Mbps to 54 Mbps)
i. packet gateway
ii. multimedia client

c. distributed computing (typical bandwidth requirements 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps)
i. server
ii. networked clients

d. digital libraries (typical bandwidth requirements 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps)
i. server
ii. networked clients

Part B
Applications
1. Multi-user applications
2. Video streaming over internet
3. Client-server applications
4. FTP access over intranet/ internet

Part C
Network Architecture LAN/ MAN/ WAN

Topology selected Mesh / Star / Ring / Bus / Hybrid

Physical medium selected Fiber / Ethernet / Wireless / Coaxial

Servers in network DHCP / FTP / Multimedia / Storage

Gateway functions in network PSTN / Firewall / NAT

(3 MARKS)

Diagram:

<COMPLETE AND LABEL THE DIAGRAM EXPLAINED BELOW, AS PER YOUR UNDERSTANDING>

Draw a diagram showing interface to PSTN, Multimedia gateway, Firewall, LAN (DHCP) Servers, Client terminals,
topology

(2 MARKS)

Case Study C
A seven-story office building has 15 adjacent offices per floor. Each office contains a wall socket for a terminal in
the front wall, so the sockets form a rectangular grid in the vertical plane, with a separation of 4 m between
sockets, both horizontally and vertically. Assuming that it is feasible to run a straight cable between any pair of
sockets, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, how many meters of cable are needed to connect all sockets using
(a) a star configuration with a single router in the middle? (b) an 802.3 LAN? (Tanenbaum CH.4 Problem 15)

SOLUTION

Setup Requirements:

1. 15 network connections (sockets) per floor, 7 floors of network connections; hence, 15 x 7 = 105 network
connection points totally, in the building.
2. Sockets form rectangular grid in vertical plane, 4 meters distance between sockets horizontally (on the
same floor) and vertically (across any two floors)
3. A Cable can run through the sockets in horizontal, vertical or diagonal manner.
4. Need to find out total length of cable if star configuration with single router used, exactly at the centre of
the configuration.
5. Need to find out total length of cable if IEEE 802.3 LAN standard is deployed.

(1 MARK)

Analysis:

For the first requirement, the router can be placed at the location of 4
th
floor at 8
th
point from either side. Due to
this, the distance to that point of intersection is almost zero and hence, we have 104 sockets to cover using star
configuration using either 10Base5 or 10Base-T.
We will consider the shortest distance from the centrally placed router to each network socket, i.e. diagonally
stretched directly to the socket. Since we know the horizontal and vertical spacings between any two sockets, so
the distance covered will be equal to Square-Root (Horizontal
2
+ Vertical
2
)
So the length of complete cable used, will be sum of all diagonal calculations for each socket.

For the second requirement, we need to use an IEEE 802.3 LAN i.e. Ethernet configuration.
For Ethernet, the cabling options are 10Base5, 10Base2, 10Base-T. The fourth cabling option for Ethernet is 10Base-
F, which uses fiber optics. This alternative is expensive due to the cost of the connectors and terminators, but it
has excellent noise immunity and is the method of choice when running between buildings or widely-separated
hubs. Runs of up to km are allowed. It also offers good security since wiretapping fiber is much more difficult than
wiretapping copper wire.
The different ways of wiring using 10Base-F are (a) Linear topology in which a single cable is snaked from room to
room, with each station tapping into it at the nearest point. (b) Backbone topology in which a vertical spine runs
from the basement to the roof, with horizontal cables on each floor connected to the spine by special amplifiers
(repeaters). (c) Tree topology in which, because a network is split with two paths between some pairs of stations,
it would suffer from interference between the two signals. (d) Segmented topology in which, each version of
Ethernet has a maximum cable length per segment. To allow larger networks, multiple cables can be connected by
repeaters.

We can use Backbone topology configuration of 10Base-F, as described above running a vertical backbone through
the 8
th
column (from either side) of points. Then at each floor, we can lay out segmented cables on either sides,
each cable covering 7 points each side on the floor.

(1 MARK)














Diagrams: (for (a) and (b))

<COMPLETE AND LABEL THE DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATED BELOW>





















































(2 MARKS)

Calculation:

A) Star Configuration using a Central Hub/Router -

Initially, we will not consider the common portion of horizontal and vertical lines since they are common

For Quadrant 1

Row 4 ( 4
2
+ 4
2
) + ( 8
2
+ 4
2
) + ( 12
2
+ 4
2
) + ( 16
2
+ 4
2
) + ( 20
2
+ 4
2
) + ( 24
2
+ 4
2
) + ( 28
2
+ 4
2
) +
Row 5 ( 4
2
+ 8
2
) + ( 8
2
+ 8
2
) + ( 12
2
+ 8
2
) + ( 16
2
+ 8
2
) + ( 20
2
+ 8
2
) + ( 24
2
+ 8
2
) + ( 28
2
+ 8
2
) +
Row 6 ( 4
2
+ 12
2
) + ( 8
2
+ 12
2
) + ( 12
2
+ 12
2
) + ( 16
2
+ 12
2
) + ( 20
2
+ 12
2
) + ( 24
2
+ 12
2
) + ( 28
2
+ 12
2
) =

Row 4 ( 16 + 16) + ( 64 + 16) + ( 144 + 16) + ( 256 + 16) + ( 400 + 16) + ( 576 + 16) + ( 784 + 16) +
Row 5 ( 16 + 64) + ( 64 + 64) + ( 144 + 64) + ( 256 + 64) + ( 400 + 64) + ( 576 + 64) + ( 784 + 64) +
Row 6 ( 16 + 144) + ( 64 + 144) + ( 144 + 144) + ( 256 + 144) + ( 400 + 144) + ( 576 + 144) + ( 784 + 144) =

Row 4 ( 32) + ( 80) + ( 160) + ( 272) + ( 416) + ( 592) + ( 800) +
Row 5 ( 80) + ( 128) + ( 208) + ( 320) + ( 464) + ( 640) + ( 848) +
Row 6 ( 160) + ( 208) + ( 288) + ( 400) + ( 544) + ( 720) + ( 928) =

Row 4 (5.657 + 8.944 + 12.649 + 16.492 + 20.396 + 24.331 + 28.284) +
Row 5 (8.944 + 11.314 + 14.422 + 17.888 + 21.540 + 25.298 + 29.120) +
Row 6 (12.649 + 14.422 + 16.970 + 20.000 + 23.324 + 26.833 + 30.463) =

Row 4 (117.293) +
Row 5 (128.526) +
Row 6 (144.661) =

Row 4 + Row 5 + Row 6 = 390.48

(A) For all 4 Quadrants = 390.48 x 4 = 1561.92

(B) Horizontal Line = (4 + 8 + 12 + 16 + 20 + 24 + 28) x 2 = 112 x 2 = 224

(C) Vertical Line = (4 + 8 + 12) x 2 = 24 x 2 = 48

Adding, (A) + (B) + (C)

1561.92 + 224 + 48 = 1833.92

ANS: APPROX. 1832 MTS

B) IEEE 802.3 Configuration

For convenience sake, we will assume the configuration of a vertical backbone acting as a Bus for each floor
which is then segmented horizontally using taps/repeaters for network points on each floor

Initially, we will not consider the common portion of vertical line / bus since it is common

For Any one of the floors, from the central vertical line

On each side, for 7 points 7 x 4 = 28

For both the sides 28 x 2 = 56

(A) For all 7 floors = 56 x 7 = 392

(B) Vertical Line, from center of arrangement to top and bottom = (12) x 2 = 24

Adding, (A) + (B)

392 + 24 = 416

ANS: 416 MTS

(2 MARKS)

Case Study D
Consider an application which transmits data at a steady rate (e.g., the sender generates a N bit unit of data every
k time units, where k is small and fixed). Also, when such an application starts, it will stay on for relatively long
period of time. Answer the following questions, briefly justifying your answer:
(a) Would a packet-switched network or a circuit-switched network be more appropriate for this application? Why?
(b) Suppose that a packet-switching network is used and the only traffic in this network comes from such
applications as described above. Furthermore, assume that the sum of the application data rates is less that the
capacities of each and every link. Is some form of congestion control needed? Why? (Kurose CH.1)

SOLUTION

Setup Requirements:
1. An application which transmits data at a steady rate (e.g., the sender generates a N bit unit of data every
k time units, where k is small and fixed)
2. Packet-switched or Circuit-switched more appropriate.
3. For Packet-switching case, assume data only from these applications in the network and no other sources.
Also assumed in this case that, combined data rate of these applications in less than link capacity.

(1 MARK)

Concepts:

Circuit Switching <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

Packet switching <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

Congestion Control <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

(3 MARKS)

Description:

a) A circuit-switched network would be well suited to the application described, because the application involves
long sessions with predictable smooth bandwidth requirements. Since the transmission rate is known and not
bursty, bandwidth can be reserved for each application session circuit with no significant waste. In addition, we
need not worry greatly about the overhead costs of setting up and tearing down a circuit connection, which are
amortized over the lengthy duration of a typical application session.

b) Given such generous link capacities, the network needs no congestion control mechanism. In the worst (most
potentially congested) case, all the applications simultaneously transmit over one or more particular network links.
However, since each link offers sufficient bandwidth to handle the sum of all of the applications' data rates, no
congestion (very little queueing) will occur.

(2 MARKS)


Case Study E
Let us consider some of the pros and cons of a connection-oriented versus connectionless architecture.
a) Suppose that in the network layer, routers were subjected to "stressful" conditions that might cause them to fail
fairly often. At a high level, what actions would need to be taken on such router failure? Does this argue for a
connection-oriented or a connectionless environment? (Kurose CH.4)

SOLUTION

Setup Requirements:
1. To discuss on Connection-oriented and Connectionless mechanisms based on network layer condition.
2. In the network layer, routers are subjected to "stressful" conditions that might cause them to fail fairly
often, i.e. router capacity is often exceeded from all links connected.
3. To prevent router failure, how can upper layers (actions at higher level) co-operate, particularly transport
layer in terms of Connection-oriented and Connectionless mechanisms.

(1 MARK)

Concepts:

Connection-oriented <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

Connectionless <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

(2 MARKS)

Description:

With a connection-oriented network, every router failure will involve the routing of that connection. At a
minimum, this will require the router that is upstream from the failed router to establish a new downstream part
of the path to the destination node, with all of the requisite signaling involved in setting up a path. Moreover, all
of the router on the initial path that are downstream from the failed node must take down the failed connection,
with all of the requisite signaling involved to do this.

With a connectionless datagram network, no signaling is required to either set up a new downstream path or take
down the old downstream path. We have seen, however, that routing tables will need to be updated (e.g., either
via a distance vector algorithm or a link state algorithm) to take the failed router into account. We have seen that
with distance vector algorithms, this routing table change can sometimes be localized to the area near the failed
router. Thus, a datagram network would be preferable. Interesting, the design criteria that the initial ARPAnet be
able to function under stressful conditions was one of the reasons that a datagram architecture was chosen for this
Internet ancestor.

(3 MARKS)

Case Study F
Let us consider some of the pros and cons of a connection-oriented versus connectionless architecture.
b) Suppose that in order to provide a guarantee regarding the level of performance (e.g., delay) that would be
seen along a source-to-destination path, the network requires a sender to declare its peak traffic rate. If the
declared peak traffic rate and the existing declared traffic rates that have been declared are such that there is no
way to get traffic from the source to the destination that meets the required delay requirements, the source is not
allowed access to the network. Would such an approach be more easily accomplished within a connection-oriented
or connectionless paradigm? (Kurose CH.4)

SOLUTION

Setup Requirements:
1. Network requires a sender to declare its peak traffic rate.
2. Assuming declared peak traffic rate is less than existing declared traffic rates.
3. Which approach IS BETTER - connection-oriented or connectionless paradigm.

(1 MARK)

Concepts:

Quality of Service / Delay requirements <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

Peak traffic rate <COMPLETE THE EXPLANATION>

(2 MARKS)

Description:

In order for a router to determine the delay (or a bound on delay) along an outgoing link, it would need to know
the characteristics of the traffic from all sessions passing through that link. That is, the router must have per-
session state in the router. This is possible in a connection-oriented network, but not with a connectionless
network. Thus, a connection-oriented network would be preferable.

(3 MARKS)