Student_Questions-Part 1

1. What is the difference between a host and an end system? List several different
types of end systems. Is a Web server an end system?
Answer
There is no difference.
words “host” and “end system” are used interchangeably. End systems include PCs, workstations, Web
servers, mail servers, Internet-connected game consoles, etc.

2. Why are standards important for protocols?

Answer
Standards are important for protocols so that people can create networking systems and products that
interoperate.

3. List five access technologies. Classify each one as home access, enterprise access, or
widearea wireless access.
Answer
1. Dial-up modem over telephone line: home;
2. DSL over telephone line: home or small office;
3. Cable (HFC): home;
4. Wifi (802.11): home and enterprise:
5. 3G and 4G: wide-area wireless.

4. Is HFC transmission rate dedicated or shared among users? Are collisions possible
in a downstream HFC channel? Why or why not?
Answer
HFC bandwidth is shared among the users. On the downstream channel, all packets emanate from a
single source, namely, the head end. Thus, there are no collisions in the downstream channel.

5. Dial-up modems, HFC, DSL and FTTH are all used for residential access. For each
of these access technologies, provide a range of transmission rates and comment on
whether the transmission rate is shared or dedicated.
Answer
Dial up modems: up to 56 Kbps, bandwidth is dedicated;
DSL: (24-52) Mbps downstream and (3.5-16) Mbps upstream, bandwidth is dedicated;
HFC, rates up to (40 Mbps-1.2 Gb) downstream and (30-100 ) upstream rates, bandwidth is shared.
FTTH: 2-10Mbps upload; 10-20 Mbps download; bandwidth is not shared.

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6. Describe the most popular wireless Internet access technologies today. Compare
and contrast them
Answer

1. Wifi (802.11) In a wireless LAN, wireless users transmit/receive packets to/from an base
station (i.e., wireless access point) within a radius of few tens of meters. The base station is
typically connected to the wired Internet and thus serves to connect wireless users to the
wired network.
2. 3G and 4G wide-area wireless access networks. In these systems, packets are transmitted
over the same wireless infrastructure used for cellular telephony, with the base station thus
being managed by a telecommunications provider. This provides wireless access to users
within a radius of tens of kilometers of the base station.

7. What advantage does a circuit-switched network have over a packet-switched

network? What advantages does TDM have over FDM in a circuit-switched
network?
Answer:

A circuit-switched network can guarantee a certain amount of end-to-end bandwidth for the duration
of a call. Most packet-switched networks today (including the Internet) cannot make any end-to-end
guarantees for bandwidth. FDM requires sophisticated analog hardware to shift signal into
appropriate frequency bands.

8. Why will two ISPs at the same level of the hierarchy often peer with each other?
How does an IXP earn money?
Answer

If the two ISPs do not peer with each other, then when they send traffic to each other they have to
send the traffic through a provider ISP (intermediary), to which they have to pay for carrying the
traffic. By peering with each other directly, the two ISPs can reduce their payments to their provider
ISPs. An Internet Exchange Points (IXP) (typically in a standalone building with its own switches) is a
meeting point where multiple ISPs can connect and/or peer together. An ISP earns its money by
charging each of the ISPs that connect to the IXP a relatively small fee, which may depend on the
amount of traffic sent to or received from the IXP.

9. Some content providers have created their own networks. Describe Google’s
network. What motivates content providers to create these networks?
Answer

Google's private network connects together all its data centers, big and small. Traffic between the
Google data centers passes over its private network rather than over the public Internet. Many of
these data centers are located in, or close to, lower tier ISPs. Therefore, when Google delivers content
to a user, it often can bypass higher tier ISPs. What motivates content providers to create these
networks? First, the content provider has more control over the user experience, since it has to use

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few intermediary ISPs. Second, it can save money by sending less traffic into provider networks. Third,
if ISPs decide to charge more money to highly profitable content providers (in countries where net
neutrality doesn't apply), the content providers can avoid these extra payments.

10. Consider sending a packet from a source host to a destination host over a fixed
route. List the delay components in the end-to-end delay. Which of these delays are
constant and which are variable?
Answer
The delay components are processing delays, transmission delays, propagation delays, and queuing
delays. All of these delays are fixed, except for the queuing delays, which are variable.

11. How long does it take a packet of length 1,000 bytes to propagate over a link of
distance 2,500 km, propagation speed m/s, and transmission rate 2 Mbps? More
generally, how long does it take a packet of length L to propagate over a link of
distance d, propagation speed s, and transmission rate R bps? Does this delay
depend on packet length? Does this delay depend on transmission rate?
Answer:
10msec; d/s; no; no

12. Suppose end system A wants to send a large file to end system B. At a very high
level, describe how end system A creates packets from the file. When one of these
packets arrives to a router, what information in the packet does the router use to
determine the link onto which the packet is forwarded? Why is packet switching in
the Internet analogous to driving from one city to another and asking directions
along the way?

Answer:
End system A breaks the large file into chunks. It adds header to each chunk, thereby generating
multiple packets from the file. The header in each packet includes the IP address of the destination
(end system B). The packet switch uses the destination IP address in the packet to determine the
outgoing link. Asking which road to take is analogous to a packet asking which outgoing link it should
be forwarded on, given the packet’s destination address.

13. What are the five layers in the Internet protocol stack? What are the principal
responsibilities of each of these layers?
Answer:
The five layers in the Internet protocol stack are – from top to bottom – the application layer, the
transport layer, the network layer, the link layer, and the physical layer.
Application Layer: supporting network applications. The Internet’s application layer includes
many protocols, such as the HTTP, SMTP and FTP. The information at the layer is called a
message.

Transport Layer: The Internet’s transport layer transports application-layer messages between
application endpoints. Breaks long messages into shorter segments.

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Network Layer :
• Routing of datagrams from source to destination
o IP, routing Protocol
Link Layer :
• data transfer between neighboring network elements
o Ethernet, 802.11 (WiFi), …
o Link Layer packet is called Frame.

Physical Layer:
• bits “on the wire”

14. What is an application-layer message? A transport-layer segment? A network-

layer
datagram? A link-layer frame?
Answer:
Application-layer message: data which an application wants to send and passed onto the transport layer;
transport-layer segment: generated by the transport layer and encapsulates application-layer message
with transport layer header; network-layer datagram: encapsulates transport-layer segment with a
network-layer header; link-layer frame: encapsulates network-layer datagram with a link-layer header.

15. Which layers in the Internet protocol stack does a router process? Which layers
does a link-layer switch process? Which layers does a host process?
Answer:
Routers process network, link and physical layers (layers 1 through 3). (This is a little bit of a white lie,
as modern routers sometimes act as firewalls or caching components, and process Transport layer as
well.) Link layer switches process link and physical layers (layers 1 through2). Hosts process all five
layers.

16. Define Intranet, Extranet and Internet

Intranet, Extranet and Internet?
▪ Intranet is is a private computer network that uses Internet Protocol technologies to
securely share any part of an organization's information or operational systems within that
organization.
▪ Extranet An extranet is a private network uses Internet protocols, network connectivity.
Can be viewed as part of a company's intranet that is extended to users outside the company,
usually via the Internet.
▪ The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard
Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide.

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 What’s a protocol?
all communication activity in Internet governed by protocols.
Protocols define the format, order of messages sent and received among network entities, and
actions taken on msg transmission, receipt

17. List tha main differences between Packet switching and circuit switching
Circuit Switching Packet Switching

Reserves channels before data transfer Channels are not reserved before data transfer

Idle reserved resources can’t be used by any The idle resource can be used by any other ongoing
other ongoing communication communication

No waiting at the switches Waiting at the switches if data rate is more than the
link transmission capacity

Not efficient Efficient

Suitable for real-time services Not suitable for real time services

Connection oriented Connectionless

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Supports less users simultaneously Supports more users simultaneously

Allocates dedicated transmission rate Allocates variable transmission rate based on demand

18. Sketch the Internet structure Today with brief explanation.

Tier-1 ISPs are global transit ISP; There are approximately a dozen tier-1 ISPs, including
Level 3 Communications, AT&T, Sprint, and NTT.do not pay anyone as they are at the top
of the hierarchy.
There may be multiple competing regional ISPs in a region in a hierarchy, there is
customer-provider relationship at each level of the hierarchy.
Two ISPs can reduce their payments to their provider ISPs by peering. An Internet
Exchange Points (IXP) is a meeting point where multiple ISPs can connect and/or peer
together.
content-provider networks.
Google is currently one of the leading examples of such a content-provider network.
Google has over 50–100 data centers distributed across North America, Europe, Asia,
South America, and Australia.

The Google private network attempts to “bypass” the uppertiers of the Internet by peering
(settlement free) with lower-tier ISPs, either by directly connecting withthem or by
connecting with them at IXPs.

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