0907422 Computer Networks Midterm Exam Spring 2011

4 Problems, 4 Pages 75 minutes April 4, 2011; 3:30 PM

Name (in Arabic):____Sample Solution_ ; ID #: ____________ Section:_____

Read The Following Carefully:

(a) This exam booklet has 4 numbered pages and 4 problems. Check that your exam includes all 8
pages. Show ALL of your work on these pages. Two blank pages are added at the end for your
scratch work.
(b) Please make your are answers BRIEF/ SHORT/and TO THE POINT.
(c) Write NEATLY. IF I HAVE DIFFICULTY READING YOUR ANSWER, YOU RECEIVE
NO CREDIT.

Problem Points Score

1 8
2 8
3 2
4 2
5 5
6 5
Total 30

Problem 1(8 pts ) basics of computer networks and the Internet

a) (2 pts) In the 5-layer Internet reference model which layers handle point-to-point functions and
which layers handle end-to-end functions?

Layers 1 and 2 are point-to-point and layers 3 and 4 are end-to-end.

0.5 each (2 pts total) Note: Will accept layer 3 as point-to-point

b) (2 pts) Name two standards created by IETF, name two standards created by IEEE.
1 pt each
IETF = TCP and HTTP (and many, many others)
IEEE = 803.3 Ethernet and 802.11 WiFi (and others)

c) (2 pts) What are the two primary causes of packet loss?

0.5 pt each (1 pt total rounded up)
1) Electrical noise that corrupts the signal and 2) buffer overflow in an intermediate node due to
congestion.

d) (2 pts) In a sliding window protocol, the receiver sends back an ACK for frame 15. What does this
mean if the following types of acknowledgements are used?

i) Cumulative acknowledgements?
All frames up to and including frame 15 have been received correctly

ii) Selective acknowledgement

Only frame 15 has been received correctly

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0907422 Computer Networks Midterm Exam Spring 2011
4 Problems, 4 Pages 75 minutes April 4, 2011; 3:30 PM

Problem 2(8 pts ) Answer the following questions regarding the Application Layer.
a) (2 pts) An application layer protocol typically defines four things. What are these four things?

1) Types of messages

2) Syntax of messages

3) Semantics of messages

4) Timing (when and how).

b) (3 pts)What is a web cache used for (i.e., what benefits are derived from using a web cache)? Where
can a web cache be located or placed?

1.5 pt each subquestion (3 pts total)

A web cache may be used to reduce response time as experienced by a user, reduce load on a link,
and/or reduce load on a web server. A web cache may be placed in the user client (e.g., within the
browser application), at “my” network edge (we call this a proxy server), and/or at the edge of the
network containing the server (we call this a transparent cache).

c) (3 pts)What is DNS and what is it used for? What are the different types of DNS servers and how
they are organized? If all DNS servers could be “crashed” (taken offline), how could the Internet keep
working (be precise)?
1.5 pts each for DNS use and for “what would happen” (3 pts total)
DNS is Domain Name Service and is used to associate host names (as in say, www.yahoo.com or
christen@csee.usf.edu) with IP addresses.
Types of DNS servers are: Hierarchy consisting of root servers; top-level domain (TLD) servers (com,
org, edu, etc..); authoritative DNS servers; Not part of hierarchy: local name servers
If all DNS servers were to be crashed one would be unable to use hostnames and could only use IP
addresses when using Internet services.

Problem 3(2 pts ).

Consider a buffer with 100 packets queued; each packet is 1500 bytes in length. The buffer is for an
intermediate node with a 100 Mb/s output link. How long will it take for all packets to be transmitted
(that is, for the buffer to empty out)?
1 for each calculation (2 pts total)
The transmission delay is 12000 bits per frame divided by 100 million bits per second, which is 120
microseconds per frame. The last frame in the queue must wait for 100 transmissions, so 100 x 120
microseconds is 12 milliseconds.

Problem 4(2 pts ).

Calculate the latency (from first bit sent to last bit received) for a 1-Gbps link with three store-and-
forward switches in the path, and a packet size of 5,000 bits. Assume that each link introduces a
propagation delay of 10 μs and that a switch begins retransmitting immediately after it has finished
receiving the packet.
For each link, it takes 5 kb /1 Gbps = 5 μs to transmit the packet on the link, after which it takes an
additional 10 μs for the last bit to propagate across the link to the next switch/node. Thus, for a LAN
with three switches such that each switch starts forwarding only after receiving the whole packet, the
total transfer delay is four transmit delays + four propagation delays = 60 μs

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0907422 Computer Networks Midterm Exam Spring 2011
4 Problems, 4 Pages 75 minutes April 4, 2011; 3:30 PM

Problem 5(5 pts ) Transport Layer Services.

RDT 1.0 is a reliable data transfer protocol where one assumes that there are no bit errors and no
packet loss. RDT2.0 provides both error detection and receiver feedback in the form of control
messages (ACK,NAK) to sender. The following is the FSMs for the sender and the receiver of
“RDT2.0”. Provide the FSMs for the sender and receiver of “RDT 1.0”

RDT 1.0

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0907422 Computer Networks Midterm Exam Spring 2011
4 Problems, 4 Pages 75 minutes April 4, 2011; 3:30 PM

Problem 6 (5 pts ) Selective Repeat.

Consider the selective repeat RDT protocol with a window size equal to 4 at the sender and the
receiver. As shown in the figure below both packets 1 and 3 are lost. Complete the figure by showing
all events/actions at the sender and receiver until packet 5 is received and acknowledged by the
receiver. When packets arrives at the receiver, indicate whether a packet is delivered or buffered and if
an acknowledgment is sent and for which packet is the acknowledgement. Assume the timeout
interval= 12 time units and RTT=10.

t pkt0 sent
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 pkt1 sent
2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3 pkt2 sent X(loss)
4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pkt0 rcvd, delivered, ACK0 sent
5 pkt3 sent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
7 X(loss) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pkt2 rcvd, buffered, ACK2 sent
9 ACK0 rcvd; pkt4 sent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
11 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
12 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
13 pkt 1 TIMEOUT, pkt 1 resent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
ACK2 rcvd; nothing sent
14 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pkt4 rcvd, buffered, ACK4 sent
15 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
16 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
17 pkt 3 TIMEOUT, pkt 3 resent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
18 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pkt1 rcvd,1&2 delivered, ACK1
sent
19 ACK4 rcvd; nothing sent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
21 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
22 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pkt3 rcvd, 3&4 delivered, ACK3
sent
23 ACK1 rcvd; pkt5 sent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
24 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
25 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
26 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
27 ACK3 rcvd; pkt6 sent 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
28 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 pkt5 rcvd, delivered, ACK5 sent
29 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
31 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
32 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
33
34
35

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