NAME - KRUSHITHA.V.

P
ROLL NO. - 520791371
ASSIGNMENT SET 2
SUBJECT - MC0075
COMPUTER NETWORKS

Master of Computer Application (MCA) Semester 3

MC0075 Computer Networks
Assignment Set 2
1. Explain the following design issues regarding the Data Link Layer:
A) Framing

B) Error Control

C) Flow

Control
ANS:
A) Framing
Software design is a process of problem-solving and planning for a software
solution. After the purpose and specifications of software is determined, software
developers will design or employ designers to develop a plan for a solution. It includes
low-level component and algorithm implementation issues as well as the architectural
view. The software requirements analysis (SRA) step of a software development process
yields specifications that are used in software engineering. A software design may be
platform-independent or platform-specific, depending on the availability of the technology
called for by the design.
Design is a meaningful engineering representation of something that is to be
built. It can be traced to a customer's requirements and at the same time assessed for
quality against a set of predefined criteria for 'good' design. In the software engineering
context, design focuses on four major areas of concern, data, architecture, interfaces,
and components.
Designing software is an exercise in managing complexity. The complexity exits
within the software design itself, within the software organization of the company, and
within the industry as a whole. Software design is very similar to systems design. It can
span multiple technologies and often involves multiple sub-disciplines. Software
specifications tend to be fluid, and change rapidly and often, usually while the design
process is still going on. Software development teams also tend to be fluid, likewise
often changing in the middle of the design process. In many ways, software bears more
resemblance to complex social or organic systems than to hardware. All of this makes
software design a difficult and error prone process.

Software design documentation may be reviewed or presented to allow

constraints, specifications and even requirements to be adjusted prior to programming.
Redesign may occur after review of a programmed simulation or prototype. It is possible
to design software in the process of programming, without a plan or requirement
analysis, but for more complex projects this would not be considered a professional
approach.
Frame Technology is a language-neutral system that manufactures custom
software[1] from reusable, machine-adaptable building blocks, called frames. FT is used
to reduce the time, effort, and errors involved in the design, construction, and evolution
of large, complex software systems. Fundamental to FT is its ability to stop the
proliferation[2] of similar but subtly different components, an issue plaguing software
engineering, for which programming language constructs (subroutines, classes, or
templates/generics) or add-in techniques such as macros and generators failed to
provide a practical, scalable solution.
A number of implementations of FT exist. Netron Fusion specializes in
constructing business software and is proprietary. XVCL is a general-purpose, opensource implementation of FT. Paul G. Bassett invented the first FT in order to automate
the repetitive, error-prone editing involved in adapting (generated and hand-written)
programs to changing requirements and contexts. Independent comparisons of FT to
alternative approaches [11] confirm that the time and resources needed to build and
maintain complex systems can be substantially reduced. One reason: FT shields
programmers from softwares inherent redundancies: FT has reproduced COTS objectlibraries from equivalent XVCL frame libraries that are two-thirds smaller and simpler[2]
[6]; custom business applications are routinely specified and maintained by Netron
Fusion SPC frames that are 5% - 15% of the size of their assembled source files[7].
B) Error control
Error control (error management, error handling) The employment, in a computer
system or in a communication system, of error-detecting and/or error-correcting codes
with the intention of removing the effects of error and/or recording the prevalence of
error in the system. The effects of errors may be removed by correcting them in all but a

negligible proportion of cases. Error control aims to cope with errors owing to noise or to
equipment malfunction in which case it overlaps with fault tolerance (see fault-tolerant
system) but not usually with the effects of errors in the design of hardware or software.
An important aspect is the prevention of mistakes by users. Checking of data by
software as it is entered is an essential feature of the design of reliable application
programs. Error control is expensive: the balance between the cost and the benefit
(measured by the degree of protection) has to be weighed within the technological and
financial context of the system being designed. Software Quality Control is the set of
procedures used by organizations (1) to ensure that a software product will meet its
quality goals at the best value to the customer, and (2) to continually improve the
organizations ability to produce software products in the future. Software quality control
refers to specified functional requirements as well as non-functional requirements such
as supportability, performance and usability. [2] It also refers to the ability for software to
perform well in unforeseeable scenarios and to keep a relatively low defect rate.
C) Flow controls
In computer networking, flow control is the process of managing the rate of data
transmission between two nodes to prevent a fast sender from outrunning a slow
receiver. It provides a mechanism for the receiver to control the transmission speed, so
that the receiving node is not overwhelmed with data from tranceiving nodes. Flow
control should be distinguished from congestion control, which is used for controlling the
flow of data when congestion has actually occurred [1]. Flow control mechanisms can be
classified by whether or not the receiving node sends feedback to the sending node.
Flow control is important because it is possible for a sending computer to
transmit information at a faster rate than the destination computer can receive and
process them. This can happen if the receiving computers have a heavy traffic load in
comparison to the sending computer, or if the receiving computer has less processing
power than the sending computer.

In common RS 232 there are pairs of control lines:

RTS flow control, RTS (Request To Send)/CTS (Clear To Send) and

DTR flow control, DTR (Data Terminal Ready)/DSR (Data Set Ready),
which are usually referred to as hardware flow control. Oppositely, XON/XOFF is usually
referred to as software flow control. In the old mainframe days, modems were called
"data sets.

2. Describe the following Medium Access Control Sub Layers multiple access
protocols:
A) Pure ALOHA or Unspotted ALOHA
B) Slotted ALOHA or Impure ALOHA
ANS:
ALOHA net, also known as ALOHA, was a pioneering computer networking system
developed at the University of Hawaii. It was first deployed in 1970 by Bruce Rights, and
while the network itself is no longer used, one of the core concepts in the network is the
basis for the widely used Ethernet.
The ALOHA protocol is an OSI layer 2 protocol for LAN networks with broadcast
topology. The difference between ALOHA and Ethernet on a shared medium is that
Ethernet uses CSMA/CD, which broadcasts a jamming signal to notify all computers
connected to the channel that a collision occurred, forcing computers on the network to
reject their current packet or frame. The use of a jamming signal enables early release of
the transmission medium where transmission delays dominate propagation delays, and
is appropriate for many Ethernet variants..

A) Pure ALOHA or Unslotted ALOHA

The first version of the protocol (now called "Pure ALOHA") was quite simple:

If you have data to send, send the data

If the message collides with another transmission, try resending "later"

Note that the first step implies that Pure ALOHA does not check whether the channel is
busy before transmitting. The critical aspect is the "later" concept: the quality of the back
off scheme chosen significantly influences the efficiency of the protocol, the ultimate
channel capacity, and the predictability of its behavior.
To assess Pure ALOHA, we need to predict its throughput, the rate of (successful)
transmission of frames. (This discussion of Pure Alohas performance follows
Tanenbaum. First, let's make a few simplifying assumptions:

All frames have the same length.

Stations cannot generate a frame while transmitting or trying to transmit. (That is,
if a station keeps trying to send a frame, it cannot also be generating more
frames to send.)

The population of stations attempts to transmit (both new frames and old frames
that collided) according to a Poisson distribution.

Let "T" refer to the time needed to transmit one frame on the channel, and let's define
"frame-time" as a unit of time equal to T. Let "G" refer to the mean used in the Poisson
distribution over transmission-attempt amounts: that is, on average, there are G
transmission-attempts per frame-time.

Overlapping frames in the pure ALOHA protocol. Frame-time is equal to 1 for all frames.

Consider what needs to happen for a frame to be transmitted successfully. Let "t" refer to
the time at which we want to send a frame. We want to use the channel for one frametime beginning at t, and so we need all other stations to refrain from transmitting during
this time. Moreover, we need the other stations to refrain from transmitting between t-T
and t as well, because a frame sent during this interval would overlap with our frame.
For any frame-time, the probability of there being k transmission-attempts during that
frame-time is:

The average amount of transmission-attempts for 2 consecutive frame-times is 2G.

Hence, for any pair of consecutive frame-times, the probability of there being k
transmission-attempts during those two frame-times is:

Therefore, the probability (Probpure) of there being zero transmission-attempts between tT and t+T (and thus of a successful transmission for us) is:
Probpure = e 2G
The throughput can be calculated as the rate of transmission-attempts multiplied by the
probability of success, and so we can conclude that the throughput (Spure) is:
Spure = Ge 2G
The maximum throughput is 0.5/e frames per frame-time (reached when G = 0.5), which
is approximately 0.184 frames per frame-time. This means that, in Pure ALOHA, only
about 18.4% of the time is used for successful transmissions.

B) Slotted ALOHA or Impure ALOHA

An improvement to the original ALOHA protocol was "Slotted ALOHA", which introduced
discrete timeslots and increased the maximum throughput. A station can send only at the
beginning of a timeslot, and thus collisions are reduced. In this case, we only need to
worry about the transmission-attempts within 1 frame-time and not 2 consecutive frametimes, since collisions can only occur during each timeslot. Thus, the probability of there
being zero transmission-attempts in a single timeslot is:
Probslotted = e G
the probability of k packets is:
Probslottedk = e G(1 e G)k 1

The throughput is:

Sslotted = Ge G
The maximum throughput is 1/e frames per frame-time (reached when G = 1), which is
approximately 0.368 frames per frame-time, or 36.8%.

5. Explain the following with respect to OSPF Message Formats:

A) Hello
B) Database description
C) Link state request
D) Link state update
E) Link state acknowledgement
ANS:
As a routing protocol, the main job of OSPF is to facilitate the exchange of
routing information between routers. Each router in an OSPF autonomous system that
runs OSPF software that is responsible for various tasks, such as setting timers to
control certain activities that must occur on a regular basis, and the maintenance of
important data structures, such as the link-state database (LSDB). Most importantly,
each OSPF router must both generate and respond to OSPF messages. It is this
messaging system that allows important routing information to be shared within an AS or
area, which makes it crucial to understanding how OSPF works. So, it's worth taking a
look at the message types and how they are used
A) Hello Message Format
As the name suggests, these messages are used as a form of greeting, to allow a
router to discover other adjacent routers on its local links and networks

. The messages establish relationships between neighboring devices (called

adjacencies) and communicate key parameters about how OSPF is to be used in the
autonomous system or area

OSPF Hello Message Format

Size

Field Name

(bytes)

Network Mask

Hello Interval

Options

Rtr Pri

Router
Interval

Dead

Description

Network Mask: The subnet mask of the network the

router is sending to.
Hello Interval: The number of seconds this router waits
between sending Hello messages.
Options: Indicates which optional OSPF capabilities the
router supports.
Router Priority: Indicates the router's priority, when
electing a backup designated router.
Router Dead Interval: The number of seconds a router
can be silent before it is considered to have failed.
Designated Router: The address of a router designated

Designated
Router

for certain special functions on some networks

4
. Set to zeroes if there is no designated router.

Backup
Designated

Backup Designated Router: The address of a backup

4

Router
Neighbors

designated router. Set to all zeroes if there is no backup

designated router.

Multiple

Neighbors: The addresses of each router from which

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of 4

this router has received Hello messages recently.

OSPF Hello Message Format

Database Description:
These messages contain descriptions of the topology of the AS or area. That is, they
convey the contents of the link-state database for the autonomous system or area from
one router to another. Communicating a large LSDB may require several messages to
be sent; this is done by having the sending device designated as a master device and
sending messages in sequence, with the slave (recipient of the LSDB information)
responding with acknowledgements.

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OSPF Database Description Message Format

Field

Size

Name

(bytes)

Interface
MTU

Options

Flags

DD
Sequence 4
Number
LSA
Headers

Description

Interface MTU: The size of the largest IP message that can be

sent on this router's interface without fragmentation.
Options: Indicates which of several optional OSPF capabilities the
router supports.

DD Sequence Number: Used to number a sequence of Database

Description messages so they are kept in order.

Variable LSA Headers: Contains link-state advertisement headers, which

carry information about the LSDB. See near the end of the topic for

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more information on LSAs.

Database Description Message Format

Link State Request:

These messages are used by one router to request updated information about a
portion of the LSDB from another router. The message specifies exactly which link(s)
about which the requesting device wants more current information.

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OSPF Link State Request Message Format

Field Name

Size
(bytes)

LS Type

Link State ID

Advertising
Router

Description

Link State Type: The type of link state advertisement

(LSA) being sought.
Link State ID: The identifier of the LSA, usually the IP
address of either the router or network linked.
Advertising Router: The ID of the router that created the
LSA whose update is being sought.

OSPF Link State Request Message Format

14

Link State Update:

These messages contain updated information about the state of certain links on the
LSDB. They are sent in response to a Link State Request message, and also broadcast
or multicast by routers on a regular basis. Their contents are used to update the
information in the LSDBs of routers that receive them

OSPF Link State Update Message Format

Field

Size

Name

(bytes)

# LSAs

LSAs

Variable

Description

Number of LSAs: The number of link-state advertisements

included in this message.
LSAs: One or more link-state advertisements. See below for
more details.

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Link State Update Message Format

Link State Acknowledgment:

These messages provide reliability to the link-state exchange process, by explicitly
acknowledging receipt of a Link State Update message.

OSPF Link State Acknowledgment Message Format

Field Name

LSA
Headers

Size
(bytes)

Variable

Description

LSA Headers: Contains link-state advertisement headers, to

identify the LSAs acknowledged.

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