Dhirubhai Ambani institute of Information & Communication Technology Mid Semester Test-2, 1st Semester 2011- 12

Course Title IT304 Computer Networks Date 7 October 2011 CLOSED BOOK Max Marks Time
20 1 Hour

1. Explain the functioning of a shared hub (hub) and a switched hub (switch). Draw the schematic of the expected throughput vs offered load for the two devices on an Ethernet LAN. Also plot the expected throughput vs offered load for a Token ring LAN. [2+1]

2. In the context of IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) LAN protocol, answer the following: a. Derive an expression for the maximum length Lmax of a LAN as a function of relevant LAN parameters (e.g. link capacity C, min packet size Pmin, max packet size Pmax, signal attenuation rate q, propagation speed V etc.) b. Ethernet protocol uses p-persistent CSMA/CD with exponential backoff with p=1. Why not p=0.1 or some other value? Explain. [2+1]

3. What is ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) used for? Explain the functioning of the protocol. Can you think of a scenario where the reverse of ARP (RARP) mapping might be required? [2+1]

4. List the services offered by the layers of Internet protocol stack. Reliability at the link layer does not imply end to end reliability in an Internet like network. Explain using an appropriate example. [2+1]

5. A router is said to be congested if its buffer and packet forwarding resources are inadequate to handle incoming flows for a sustained period. TCP has the mechanism to manage congestion. In this context, a. What is the effect of congestion on the TCP and UDP flows passing through the congested router? b. What is the effect of congestion on the two TCP flows with unequal round trip times passing through the congested router. c. How is TCP protocol ack-timeout calculated? Give justification. d. Briefly describe the connection establishment mechanism in TCP. Explain the rationale for using such a mechanism and the role of the initial sequence number. [4*2]