1. Question (1.

0 mark): Identify and explain briefly the five components of a

data communications system.
a. Message. The message is the information (data) to be communicated. Popular
forms of information include text, number, pictures, audio, video.
b. Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset,
c. Receiver: The receiver is the device that receive the message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset,
d. Transmission medium: The transmission medium is the physical path by which a
message travels from sender to receiver such as coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable,
radio waves.
e. Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It
represents an agreement between the communicating devices. Without a protocol,
two devices may be connected but not communicating.
2. Question (1.0 mark): Distinguish simplex, half-duplex and full-duplex
transmission mode.(43,44)
a. Simplex: The the communication is unidirectional, as on a one-way street. Only
one of the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can only receive.
b. Half-duplex: each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same time.
When one device is sending, the other can only receive, and vice versa.
c. Full-duplex: both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously. The fullduplex modeis like a two way street with traffic flowing in bothdirections at the
same time.
3. Question (1.0 mark):
communications

Distinguishnunicast,

multicast

and

broadcast

a. Unicast: In unicast communication, there is one source and one destination. The
relationship between the source and the destination is one-to-one. In unicasting,
the router forwards the received packet through only one of its interfaces.
b. Multicast: In multicast communication, there is one source and a group of
destinations. The relationship is one-to-many. Inmulticasting, the router may
forward the received packet through several of its interfaces.
c. Broadcast: In broadcast communication, the relationship between the source and
the destination isone-to-all. There is only one source, but all the other hosts are
the destinations.

4. Question (1.0 mark): Describe briefly the differences between three technical
terms: (channel) bandwidth, transmission rate, throughput?
a. Bandwidth: The difference between the highest and the lowest frequencies of a
composite signal. It also measures the information-carrying capacity of a line or a
network
b. Transmission rate: The number of bits sent per second.
c. Throughput: The number of bits that can pass through a point in one second
5. Question (1.0 mark): Name the four basic network topologies and illustrate
them by figures: mesh, star, bus, and ring

6. Question (1.0 mark): What are the differences between physical, logical, port
and specific address? (83, )

Physical address:
It is also known as link address, is the address of a node as defined by its LAN or
WAN. It is used by Data Link layer to deliver data from one node to another within
the same network. It is generally the MAC address and is the lowest-level address.
The size and format vary depending on the network (it changes from hop to hop).
Most local-area networks use a 48-bit (6-byte) physical address written as 12
hexadecimal digits; every byte is seperated by a colon, as shown as:
07:01:02:01:2C:4B

 Logical address:
Is address at the Network layer and generally IP address.
A logical address in the Internet is currently a 32-bit address that can uniquely
define a host connected to the Internet. It remains the same from hop to hop. An
example of logical address is shown as: 200.100.50.100
Port address:
Is address at Transport layer, used to identify the particular application running
on the destination machine.
It remains the same from hop to hop.
A port address in TCP/IP is 16 bits in length.
Specific address:
Is address at the Application layer and is user-friendly address. For example, the
email address (someone@vnu.edu.vn) and the Universal Resource Locator (URL)
(vnu.edu.vn)
7. Question (1.0 mark): List the roles of the data link layer in the TCP/IP model.
Role: transform the physical layer (a raw transmission facility) to a link responsible
for node-to-node communications.
Specific responsibilities of the data link layer include framing, addressing, flow
control, error control, and media access control
8. Question (1.0 mark): What are the responsibilities of the network layer in the
TCP/IP model.
The network layer is responsible for the delivery of individual packets from the
source host to the destination host.
9. Question (1.0 mark): What are the responsibilities of the transport layer in
the TCP/IP model.
The transport layer is responsible for process-to-process delivery the delivery of a
packet, part of a message, from one process to another.
10. Question (1.0 mark): What are the responsibilities of the application layer in
the TCP/IP model.
The application layer is responsible for providing services to the user.
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Such as electronic mail, file access and transfer, access to system resources, surfing
the world wide web, and network management.
11. Question (1.0 mark): What are the differences between propagation delay and
transmission delay?
Propagation time measures the time required for a bit to travel from the sourceto the
destination

The propagation speed of electromagnetic signals depends on the mediumandon

The frequency of the signal (For example, in a vacuum, light is propagated with a
speed of 3 x10^8 mfs)
Transmission delay is a time between the first bit leaving the sender and the last bit
arriving at the receiver. The time required for transmission of a message depends on
the size of the message and the bandwidth of the channel.

12. Question (1.0 mark): What are multiplexing and its major goal?
Multiplexing is the set of techniques that allows the simultaneous transmission of
multiple signals across a single data link.
Major goal: When the bandwidth of a link is greater than the bandwidth needs of the
devices connected to it, the bandwidthis wasted. With multiplexing technique, the link
can be shared.
13. Question (1.0 mark): Why does statistical TDM have higher bandwidth
efficiency than synchronous TDM?
Because: In synchronous TDM, each input has a served slot in the output frame. This
can be inefficient if some input lines have no data to send. In statistical time-division
multiplexing, slots are dynamically allocated to improve bandwidth efficiency. Only
when an input line has a slot's worth of data to send it is given a slot in the output
frame
14. Question (1.0 mark): Discuss the efficiency of circuit switching and packet
switching?
Circuit switching ensure the connection but waste resource.

Packet switching uses the resource efficiency but less guarantee connection
15. Question (1.0 mark): Why is ATM so called virtual-circuit switching?
ATM is a cell-switched network. A cell is a small data unit of fixed size. ATM uses
switches to route the cell from a source end point to the destination end point. Cell
networks are based on virtual circuits. A transmission path is divided into several
virtual paths. A virtual path (VP) provides a connection or a set of connections
between two switches.
16. Question (1.0 mark): What are the roles of MAC sublayer?
The MAC sublayer uses MAC protocols to ensure that signals sent from different
stations across the same channel don't collide
17. Question (1.0 mark): Why are random access protocols also known as
contention protocols?

In random access method, no rules specify (quy nh) which station should send
next. Stations competes with one another to access the medium. This is why this
method is also known as contention method (phng php u tranh).
18. Question (1.0 mark): Why does slotted-ALOHA provide better performance
than pure- ALOHA ?
Because: Pure ALOHA, the station sends a frame whenever it has a frame to send, not
divided into time; while slotted-ALOHA the time divided into time slot and a station
which started at the beginning of this slot has already finished sending its frame.
19. Question (1.0 mark): Distinguish the major difference of CSMA/CD and
CSMA/CA.
CSMA/CD: Carrier Sense Multiple Access Collision Detection
CSMA/CA: Carrier Sense Multiple Access Collision Avoidance
CSMA CD takes effect after a collision while CSMA CA takes effect before a collision.
CSMA CA reduces the possibility of a collision while CSMA CD only minimizes the
recovery time.
CSMA CD is typically used in wired networks while CSMA CA is used mostly in
wireless networks.
20. Question (1.0 mark): What are Clear-to-Send (CTS) and Request-to-Send
(RTS) of wireless LAN designed for?
CTS and RTS are designed for controlling and detecting collision. Before sending a
frame, the source station sends a control frame called the request to send (RTS). After
the destination station receive the RTS, it will send a control frame called the clear to

send (CTS), to the source station. This control frame indicates that the destination
station is ready to receive data.
21. Question (1.0 mark): Why is ATM called a asynchronous network?
Because ATM uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing to multiplex cells corning
from different channels. It uses fixed-size slots. ATM multiplexers fill a slot with a cel
lfrom any input channel that has a cell; the slot is empty if none of the channels has a
cell to send.
22. Question (1.0 mark): Explain why connection at ATM layer is considered as
connection-oriented mode.
Connection at ATM layer is considered as connection-oriented mode because: a
station that wishes to send cells to another station must first establish a connection
and, after all the cells are sent, terminate the connection
23. Question (1.0 mark): Why is an IPv4 address considered unique and
universal?
IPv4 addresses are unique.They are unique in the sense that each address defines one,
and only one, connection to the Internet. Two devices on the Internet can never have
the same address at the same time.
TheIPv4 addresses are universal in the sense that the addressing system must be
accepted by any host that wants to be connected to the Internet.
24. Question (1.0 mark): How to distinguish IPv4address classes in the classful
addressing method? How many classes are there?

In the classful addressing method, there are 5 classes: A, B, C, D and E.

The distinction of these five classes bases on their first bits (if the address is given
in binary notation) as follow:

If the first bit is 0, it defines class A.

Class B always starts with two bits 10.
The first three bits of class C is always 110.
The first four bits of class D is always 1110.
And 1111 is the first four bits of class E.

25. Question (1.0 mark): What are the problems of classful addressing?
One problem with classful addressing is that each class is divided into a fixed number
of blocks with each block having a fixed size.
A large part of the available addresses were wasted.

Classful addressing, which is almost obsolete, is replaced with classless addressing

26. Question (1.0 mark): Describe briefly the classless addressing method.
In classless addressing, variable-length blocks are used that belong to no classes. We
can have a block of 1 address, 2 addresses, 4 addresses, 128 addresses, and so on. In
classless addressing, the whole address space is divided into variable length blocks.
The prefix in an address defines the block (network); the suffix defines the node
(device). Theoretically, we can have a block of 2^0, 2^1, 2^2...addresses. One of the
restrictions, as we discuss later, is that the number of addresses in a block needs to be
a power of 2. An organization can be granted one block of addresses.
27. Question (1.0 mark): List adress sets for private networks. Are they unique?
(603)

They are unique inside the organization, but they are not unique globally.
28. Question (1.0 mark): What is NAT?
Network Address Translation (NAT): A technology that allows a private network to
use a set of private addresses for internal communication and a set of global Internet
addresses for external communication.
29. Question (1.0 mark): By using a figure, describe briefly how NAT operates.

NAT enables a user to have a large set of addresses internally and one address, or a
small set of addresses, externally.
As Figure19.10 shows, the private network uses private addresses. The router that
connects the network to the global address uses one private address and one global
address. The private network is transparent to the rest of the Internet; the rest of the
Internet sees only the NAT router with the address 200.24.5.8
30. Question (1.0 mark): Explain why communication at the network layer in
Internet is connectionless.
Because: the Internet is made of so many heterogeneous networks that it is almost
impossible to create a connection from the source to the destination without knowing
the nature of the networks in advance.
31. Question (1.0 mark): Explain why IPv4 is considered as an unreliable and
connectionless datagram protocol (a best-effort delivery service) ?

Ipv4 is considered as an unreliable and connectionless datagram protocol because

it provides no error control or flow control (except for error detection on the
header).
IPv4 is also a connectionless protocol for a packet-switching network, each
datagram is handled independently, and each datagram can follow a different
route to the destination. The datagrams sent by the same source to the same
destination could arrive out of order.
32. Question (1.0 mark): What is the role of the Address Resolution Protocol.

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to glue the network and data-link
layers in mapping network-layer addresses to link-layer addresses. (19.1)
33. Question (1.0 mark): What are RIP, OSPF, BGP?
RIP: Routing Information Protocol: A routing protocol based on the distance vector
Routing algorithm.
OSPF: Open Shortest Path First: An interior routing protocol based on link state
routing
BPG: Border Gateway Protocol: An interautonomous system routing protocol based
on path vector routing
34. Question (1.0 mark): What is distance vector routing?
Distance vector routing: A routing method in which each router sends its neighbors a
list of networks it can reach and the distance to that network

35. Question (1.0 mark): What is link state routing?

The basic concept of link-state routing is that every node constructs a map of the
connectivity to the network, in the form of a graph, showing which nodes are
connected to which other nodes. Each node then independently calculates the next
best logical path from it to every possible destination in the network. The collection of
best paths will then form the node's routing table.
36. Question (1.0 mark): In shortest path slection algorithm, what does
shortest path mean?

There are many ways for a packet to go to node B from node A. There may be some
intermediate node from A to B such as node C, D, ... The distance between two
adjacent nodes is called cost, or weight. The shortest path from A to B is the one
whose cumulative cost is smallest.
37. Question (1.0 mark): Explain why UDP is considered as connectionless
transport layer protocol.
The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is called a connectionless, unreliable transport
protocol. It does not add any thing to the services of IP except to provide process-to
process communication instead of host-to-host communication. Also, it performs very
limited error checking
It is an unreliable (but fast) protocol that does not contain error detection or
correction, and is not a reliable delivery mechanism.
38. Question (1.0 mark): Explain why UDP is not a reliable transport protocol.
UDP is a very simple protocol. There is no flow control, and hence no window mechanism. The receiver may overflow with incoming messages. -There is no error control
mechanism in UDP except for the checksum. This means that the sender does not
know if a message has been lost or duplicated. -Since UDP is a connectionless
protocol, it does not provide congestion control
39. Question (1.0 mark): Explain why TCP is considered as connection-oriented
transport layer protocol.
Because: It add connection-oriented featuresto the services of IP. TCP creates a
stream-oriented environment in which it accepts the responsibility of delivering the
bytes in order to the other site.
40. Question (1.0 mark): List some reasons causing congestion in networks.
Congestion in a network occurs because routers and switches have queues-buffers
that hold the packets before and after processing
If the rate of packet arrival is higher than the packet processing rate, the input queues
become longer and longer.
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If the packet departure rate is less than the packet processing rate, the output queues
become longer and longer.
41. Question (1.0 mark): Briefly describe how Slow Start algorithm operates for
TCP congestion control?
This algorithm is based on the idea that the size of the congestion window (cwnd)
starts with one maximum segment size (MSS). The MSS is determined during
connection establishment by using an option of the same name. The size of the window
increases one MSS each time an acknowledgment is received. the window starts
slowly,but grows exponentially until it reaches a threshold.
42. Question (1.0 mark): Briefly describe how Congestion Avoidance algorithm
operates for TCP congestion control?
Undergoes an additive increase instead of an exponential one.When the size of the
congestion window reaches the slow-start threshold, the slow-start phase stops and
the additive phase begins. In this algorithm, eachtime the whole window of segments
is acknowledged(oneround), the size of the congestion window is increased by 1 until
congestion is detected.
43. Question (1.0 mark): Distinguish traffic parameters such as average data rate,
peak data rate and maximum burst size.
The average data rate is the number of bits sent during a period of time. It indicates
the average bandwidth needed by the traffic.
The peak data rate defines the maximum data rate of the traffic. It indicates the peak
bandwidth that the network needs for traffic to pass through without changing its data
flow.
The maximum burst size normally refers to the maximum length of time the traffic is
generated at the peak rate.
44. Question (1.0 mark): For best-effort traffic, which metric (delay, throughput)
is more important. Why ?

Throughput. Because for best-effort traffic, we want to transmit data as much as

possible but not care much about whether the data are delay or not.