MBARARA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATICS

BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING
OKELLO PATRICK
2018/BCS/050/PS
QUESTIONS
What is a collision domain?

A collision domain is a network segment connected by a shared medium or

through repeaters where simultaneous data transmissions collide with one another. The collision
domain applies particularly in wireless networks, but also affected early versions of Ethernet. A
network collision occurs when more than one device attempts to send a packet on a network
segment at the same time. Members of a collision domain may be involved in collisions with one
another. Devices outside the collision domain do not have collisions with those inside.

How do we reduce collision?

To reduce a collision domain, physically segment the network by reducing the number of hosts

that share a network and create more than one physical network. Segmenting the network
physically creates separate networks that cannot communicate with each other. This can be done
with the help of LAN switches, LAN switches are able to filter and forward packets by their
MAC address (Media Access Control).

What is a Mac address table?

A MAC address table, sometimes called a Content Addressable Memory (CAM) table, is used on
Ethernet switches to determine where to forward traffic on a LAN. It would encapsulate an
Ethernet frame and send it off toward the switch.

State the three MUST parts of a Mac address table

MAC Address

VLAN ID/VSI Name

Outbound interface

What is a broadcast domain?

Broadcast is a type of communication, where the sending device send a single copy of data and
that copy of data will be delivered to every device in the network segment. Broadcast is a
required type of communication and we cannot avoid Broadcasts, because many protocols
(Example: ARP and DHCP) and applications are dependent on Broadcast to function.
The best broadcast domain example is the virtual local area network (VLAN) in which multiple
computers establish a broadcast domain via a virtual connection, they are not physically
connected. A broadcast domain provides fast and reliable communication for offices in different
locations
In the diagram below, "Computer A" is sending a broadcast and switch will forward it to every
ports and all the switches will get a copy of broadcast packet. Every switch will flood the
broadcast packet to all the ports. Router also will get a copy of broadcast packet.

What is a VLAN?
A VLAN (virtual LAN) is a subnetwork which can group together collections of devices on
separate physical local area networks (LANs). A LAN is a group of computers and devices that
share a communications line or wireless link to a server within the same geographical area.
Types of VLAN

Types of VLANs include Protocol based, static and dynamic VLANs.

 A Protocol VLAN- which has traffic handled based on its protocol. A switch will segregate
or forward traffic based on the traffics protocol.  
 Static VLAN- also referred to as port-based VLAN, needs a network administrator to assign
the ports on a network switch to a virtual network; while:

 Dynamic VLAN- allows a network administrator just to define network membership based
on device characteristics, as opposed to switch port location.

What are the components of a routing table?

A routing table is a set of rules, often viewed in table format, hat is used to determine
where data packets traveling over an Internet Protocol (IP) network will be directed.

The routing table has the following components.

 Network ID: The network-ID features the destination corresponding with the route.
 Subnet Mask: The mask employed to match a network ID to the destination IP address.
 Next Hop: The specific IP address over which the packet is transmitted (forwarded).
 Outgoing Interface: An outgoing interface is the interface where the packet has to go in
order to reach down the destination network.
 Metric: Most common usage of the metric is indicating the minimal number of hops (i.e.
routers crossed) to reach the network ID

What algorithms do the following routing protocols use?

RIP v 1

RIP is a Distance Vector protocol and uses the Bellmann-Ford algorithm for determining the

best route.

RIP v 2

RIP is a Distance Vector protocol and also uses the Bellmann-Ford algorithm for

determining the best route.

OSPF

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is an open link state routing protocol. OSPF uses the
shortest path first (SPF) algorithm to determine routes that should be added to the routing
table.
EIGRP

EIGRP is an enhanced distance vector protocol, relying on the Diffused

Update Algorithm (DUAL) to calculate the shortest path to a destination within a network.