COMPUTER NETWORKS

Q.You are a network consultant and have been invited by a small company
to submityour recommendations for expanding their network. This company is
presentlyoccupying a small office in a single floor in a large building and their small
networkuses the TCP/IP protocol. The company is expanding and will soon be
occupyingfive floors in that building

(I)Analyze the need for the network and propose a suitable network design (5marks)
Ans:Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a computer network that interconnects
users withcomputer resources in a geographic region of the size of a
metropolitan area. The termMAN is applied to the interconnection of local area
networks (LANs) in a city into a singlelarger network which may then also offer
efficient connection to a wide area network. Theterm is also used to describe the
interconnection of several local area networks in ametropolitan area through the
use of point-to-point connections between them.
• A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans
a city or a large campus.
• A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than a LAN, ranging from
several blocks of buildings to entire cities.

• A MAN might be owned

and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be usedby many individuals
and organizations. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
• A MAN often acts as a
high-speed network to allow sharing of regional resources.
• A MAN typically covers an area
of between 5 and 50 km diameter.
• Examples of MAN: Telephone company network that provides a
high-speed DSL tocustomers and cable TV network.
II.Write a detailed setup of network devices needed for this network (5marks)
Ans:Following is the list of hardware's required to setup a computer network.
1.Network Cables
2.Distributors
3.Routers
4.Internal Network Cards
5.External Network Cards
6.Network Cables

Network cables are used to connect computers. The most commonly used cable is
Category5 cable RJ-45
.Distributors
A computer can be connected to another one via a serial port but if we need to
connectmany computers to produce a network, this serial connection will not work.
The solution isto use a central body to which other computers, printers, scanners etc.
can be connectedand then this body will manage or distribute network traffic.
Router
A router is a type of device which acts as the central point among computers and
otherdevices that are part of a network. A router is equipped with holes called ports
andcomputers and other devices are connected to a router using network cables. Now-
a-daysrouter comes in wireless modes using which computers can be connected
without anyphysical cable.
Network Card:
Network card is a necessary component of a computer without which a
computer cannot beconnected over a network. It is also known as network adapter or
Network Interface Card(NIC). Most branded computers have network card pre-
installed

CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK

HAMMING CODES
ODD 1-0
2-1
3-0
4-1
5-0
6-1
7-0
8-1
9-0
10-1

EVEN 1-1
2-0
3-1
4-0
5-1
6-0
7-1
8-0
9-1
10-0
 CHECK SUM

Uppercase:
A - 01000001
B - 01000010
C - 01000011
D - 01000100
E - 01000101
F - 01000110
G - 01000111
H - 01001000
I - 01001001
J - 01001010
K - 01001011
L - 01001100
M - 01001101
N - 01001110
O - 01001111
P - 01010000
Q - 01010001
R - 01010010
S - 01010011
T - 01010100
U - 01010101
V - 01010110
W - 01010111
X - 01011000
Y - 01011001
Z - 01011010

Lowercase:
a - 01100001
b - 01100010
c - 01100011
d - 01100100
e - 01100101
f - 01100110
g - 01100111
h - 01101000
i - 01101001
j - 01101010
k - 01101011
l - 01101100
m - 01101101
n - 01101110
o - 01101111
p - 01110000
q - 01110001
r - 01110010
s - 01110011
t - 01110100
u - 01110101
v - 01110110
w - 01110111
x - 01111000
y - 01111001
z - 01111010
NUMBERS
0 - 00110000
1 - 00110001
2 - 00110010
3 - 00110011
4 - 00110100
5 - 00110101
6 - 00110110
7 - 00110111
8 - 00111000
9 - 00111001

QUESTION ONE (25 marks)a.

The office of a small real estate company has
four agents. They agreed to keep allcommon
documents in a central location to which
everyone has access. They alsoneed a place
to store their individual listings so that only
the agent who has thelisting should have
access to. It is expected that in the near future
the office willemploy ten more agents and
three assistant secretaries. Would
you recommendimplementation of peer-to-
peer or server-based architectural networking?
1.

Give reasons to justify your choice of

networking architecture. (4 Marks)?
Ans:server-based architectural networking:
because the Server-based network can be
appliedfor various uses and applications. Some
of them are as follows:
Centralization:
The server administers the whole set-up in the
network. Access rights andresource allocations
are also done by the server.
Proper Management:
Due to centralized storage, it becomes easy to
find a file or someother resource.
Backup and Recovery:
A centralized server makes data backup
and recovery possible in aconvenient manner.
Upgradation and Scalability:
Changes in the network can be made very
easily by justupgrading the server. Also, the
network is easily scalable.
Accessibility:
Servers can be accessed remotely from
various platforms in the network.
Security:
Rules defining security and access rights can
be defined at the time of the set-up ofthe
server.
2Q.Justify the need of each hardware device
you may use in the network atdifferent
locations. (4 Marks)
Ans:Computers need networking hardware in
order to connect to each other. Routers,
hubs,switches and bridges are all pieces of
networking equipment that can perform
slightlydifferent tasks. A router can often
incorporate hubs, switches and wireless access
within thesame hardware.
Routers:
A router can form a LAN by connecting
devices within a building. It also makes it
possible toconnect different networks together.
Homes and businesses use a router to connect
to theinternet. A router can often incorporate a
modem within the hardware.
Modems:
A modem enables a computer to connect to the
internet over a telephone line. A
modemconverts digital signals from a
computer to analogue signals that are then sent
down thetelephone line. A modem on the other
end converts the analogue signal back to a
digitalsignal which another computer can
understand.
Hubs:
A hub broadcasts data to all devices on a
network. This can use a lot of bandwidth as
itresults in unnecessary data being sent - not
all computers might need to receive the data.
Bridges
A bridge is used to connect two separate LAN
networks. A computer can act as a
bridgethrough the operating system. A bridge
looks for the receiving device before it sends
themessage. This means that it will not send a
message if the receiving computer is not there.
Itwill check to see if the receiver has already
had the message. This can help save
unnecessarydata transfers, which improves the
performance of a network.
Switches
A switch performs a similar role to a hub and a
bridge but is more powerful. It stores theMAC
addresses of devices on a network and filters
data packets to see which devices haveasked
for them. This makes a switch more efficient
when demand is high. If, for example, agame
involved lots of data being passed
between machines, then a switch could reduce
theamount of latency.
 3Q.Explain the best hardware and software
that can be used in the networkto implement
the security. (3 Marks)
Ans:Firewall
A firewall device is one of the first lines of
defence in a network because it isolates
onenetwork from another. Firewalls can be
standalone systems or they can be included in
otherinfrastructure devices, such as routers or
servers. You can find both hardware and
softwarefirewall solutions; some firewalls are
available as appliances that serve as the
primary deviceseparating two
networks.Firewalls exclude unwanted and
undesirable network traffic from entering the
organization’s systems. Depending on the
organization’s firewall policy, the firewall
may
completely disallow some traffic or all traffic,
or it may perform a verification on some or
allof the traffic.

Web application firewall (WAF)

Web application firewalls are built to provide
web applications security by applying a set
ofrules to an HTTP conversation. Because
applications are online, they have to keep
certainports open to the internet. This means
attackers can try specific website attacks
against theapplication and the associated
database, such as cross-site scripting (XSS)
and SQL injection.While proxy firewalls
generally protect clients, WAFs protect
servers. Another great featureof WAFs is that
they detect distributed denial of service
(DDoS) attacks in their early stages,absorb the
volume of traffic and identify the source of the
attack.

Q.You are to advice the CEO on the

transmission media to use for a section of
thenetwork that will pass through a factory
with many motors. Discuss whileconsidering
the cost your choice giving arguments for
and against the availablecable (6 marks)
Ans:Coaxial cable (or coax) carries signals of
higher frequency ranges than those in twisted
paircable. coax has a central core conductor of
solid or stranded wire
(usually copper) enclosedin an insulating
sheath, which is, in turn, encased in an outer
conductor of metal foil, braid,or a combination
of the two. The outer metallic wrapping serves
both as a shield against noise and as the
second conductor, which completes the circuit.
This outer conductor is alsoenclosed in an
insulating sheath, and the whole cable is
protected by a plastic cover.A Coaxial cable
resembles the cable that is used to connect
television antenna to atelevision set.The Two
types of coaxial cables.Thin coaxial cable
(Thinnet): - it has 1 dielectric insulator around
the core.Thick coaxial cable (Thicknet): - it
has 2 dielectric insulators around the core,
Advantages of coaxial cables.
They are very stable even under
high loads.They have a large bandwidth (up to
1Gbps) compared to twisted pair cables.They
can carry voice, data and video signals
simultaneously.They are more resistant to
radio and electromagnetic interference
than twisted pair cables.
Disadvantages of coaxial cables.
Thick coaxial cable is hard to work with.They
are relatively expensive to buy & install
compared to twisted pair cables.