SCOTT CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

UNIT TITLE: COMPUTER NETWORKS

UNIT CODE: BBIT 411

LECTURER: J. SIRMA

STUDENT: CARLOS KENGA

REGISTRATION NUMBER: BB/G01/18

DUE DATE: 24/10/2022

a) Explain four functions of OSI model’s physical layer.
 It defines the physical characteristics and functions of the physical devices and
interfaces so that transmission can occur.
 It lays out the transmission medium and type of signal for transmitting the bits, i.e.,
electrical pulses, optical pulses or radio signals.
 It defines the topology, i.e., physical layout, of the network devices.
 It also states the direction of transmission, i.e., whether the transmission is in
simplex mode, half-duplex mode or full-duplex mode.

b) Give three advantages of Ethernet as used in most Local Area Networks.

1. Security - an Ethernet connection has higher levels of security unlike Wifi where it is
prone to attacks. With an ethernet connection, one can always have the control over
who is using the network.

2. Reliability - Ethernet connections posses supreme reliability in that there are no

interruptions from the radio frequencies. Thus, there are less disconnections and
slowdowns in ethernet.

3. Speed - Speed offered by an ethernet connection is much more greater compared to

a wireless connection.

c) Differentiate between POP3 and Simple Mail Transfer as used in networking

POP3 Simple Mail Transfer

Used for accessing messages
Its implied between receiver and
receiver mail mail server
It’s a Message Access Agent (MAA) for
accessing the messages from the
inbox
Used for sending messages
Its implied between mail server and receiver
mail server
It’s a Message Transfer Agent (MTA) for
sending the message to the receiver

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 d) Explain any three differences between MAC and IP address

MAC Address IP Address

The term MAC address is an acronym
for Media Access Control Address.
The primary use of a MAC address is
to ensure the physical address of a
given device/ computer.
The MAC address primarily operates
on the data link layer.
Any third party can find out a device’s
MAC address.
The term IP Address is an acronym for
Internet Protocol Address.
The IP address, on the other hand, defines
a computer’s logical address.
The IP address primarily operates on the
network layer.
The IP address stays hidden from display in
front of any third party.

e) Describe the following LAN technologies used in networking

i. Fast Ethernet - Is fastest version of Ethernet and was introduced in 1995 as

the IEEE 802.3u standard
ii. Token ring - is a popular local area network (LAN) technology, which is
developed by IBM. It can send data in one direction to a certain number of
locations through a token. 

iii. Virtual LAN (VLAN) - is a logical overlay network that groups together a subset of
devices that share a physical LAN, isolating the traffic for each group. 

f) Explain any two reasons for sub-netting a network

 It improves network execution and speed. A solitary transmission parcel conveys
data that arrives at each gadget associated with that network because every gadget
has a section point into the organization.
 It reduce network congestion. Sub-netting guarantees that traffic bound for a gadget
inside a subnet remains in that subnet, which decreases blockage.

QUESTION TWO

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a) Using a diagram, explain the differences between OSI reference model and the TCP/IP
protocol suite

b) Differentiate between User Datagram (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol.

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 TCP UDP

TCP is a connection-oriented protocol. UDP is a connectionless protocol.

In TCP, the data is transmitted in a There is no sequencing of data in UDP

particular sequence which means that
packets arrive in-order at the receiver.
TCP is slower and less efficient in UDP is faster and more efficient than TCP.
performance as compared to UDP.
Retransmission of data packets is possible Retransmission of packets is not possible in
in TCP in case packet get lost or need to UDP.
resend.
Broadcasting is not supported by TCP. Broadcasting is supported by UDP.

QUESTION THREE

a) Explain the functions of the Functional Management Layers in Network Management

model
 Performance Management Layer – It measures and monitors the different
network components that impact the overall performance of a network.
 Fault Management Layer – Detect, isolate and correct any non-normal network
conditions.
 Configuration Management Layer – It monitor network configuration consistency,
change control and generate documentation to create redundancies and backup
systems.
 Accounting Management Layer – It regulates network resources and allocate costs
by tracking actions on a user-by-user basis.
 Security Management Layer – It prevent security and data breaches by analyzing
security policies, security-related events and access to network resources.

b) Show how you can create 5 subnets given 195.17.168.0 IP address

Raise 2 to the power of deduction (8-3 =5 Bits). Let’s call the bits n!

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 2**n = Subnet Size
2**5 = Subnet Sizes for each subnet.
2*2*2 = 8

c) Explain the concept of slash notation as used in subnet masking.

Slash notation, is also known as CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) notation. It used

for many purposes, such as policy configuration. Slash notation is use differently for IPv4
and IPv6 addresses.

Ipv4 - Slash notation is a compact way to show or write an IPv4 subnet mask. When you
use slash notation, you write the IP address, a forward slash (/), and the subnet mask
number.

In IPv6, slash notation is used to represent the network identifier prefix for an IPv6
network. The prefix is expressed as a slash (/) followed by the prefix size, which is a
decimal number between 1 and 128.

QUESTION FOUR

a) Describe the following components of Simple Network Management Protocol

i. SNMP Manager – It’s a system used to monitor network. Its also known as
Network Management Station (NMS)
ii. SNMP Agent – It’s a software module installed on a managed device. Managed
devices can be network devices like PC, routers, switches etc.
iii. Management Information Base – this consists of information on resources that
are to be managed. This information is organized hierarchically. It also consists
of objects instances which are essentially variables.

b) Discuss any four features of Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

 It operates in the physical and medium access control (MAC layer) of the Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) network model.

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 It is used in LANs up to 200 kilometers for long distance voice and multimedia
communication.
 It uses ring based token passing mechanism and is derived from IEEE 802.4 token
bus standard.
 It contains two token rings, a primary ring for data and token transmission and a
secondary ring that provides backup if the primary ring fails.
QUESTION FIVE

a) Explain any four benefits of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks

I. ATM is easy to integrate with LAN, MAN and WAN network types i.e. seamless
integration.
II. It is QoS oriented and high speed oriented.
III. ATM enables efficient use of network resources using bandwidth on demand
concept.
IV. ATM also uses simplified network infrastructure.

b) Explain the following cryptography techniques used to secure data being transmitted in a
computer network

i. A secret key is the piece of information or parameter that is used to encrypt and
decrypt messages in a symmetric, or secret-key, encryption. A secret key may also be
known as a private key.
ii. Public key cryptography is a method of encrypting or signing data with two different
keys and making one of the keys, the public key, available for anyone to use.

iii. A message digest is a cryptographic hash function containing a string of digits created

by a one-way hashing formula. Message digests are designed to protect the integrity of
a piece of data or media to detect changes and alterations to any part of a message.