Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

Work-Integrated Learning Programmes Division

Second Semester 2018-2019

Comprehensive Examination
(EC-3 Regular)

Course No. : ES ZC481

Course Title : COMPUTER NETWORKS
Nature of Exam : Open Book
Weightage : 50% No. of Pages =2
Duration : 3 Hours No. of Questions = 10
Date of Exam : 05/05/2019 (AN)
Note:
1. Please follow all the Instructions to Candidates given on the cover page of the answer book.
2. All parts of a question should be answered consecutively. Each answer should start from a fresh page.
3. Assumptions made if any, should be stated clearly at the beginning of your answer.

Q.1. What would be the time taken to communicate the packet of 106 bytes from site A to site
B which are 2.5x103 Km apart. The properties of link are as follows. The propagation
speed is 2.5x106 m/s and transmission rate is 1 Mbps. The total queuing delay for entire
communication is 1 sec and nodal processing delay is also 1 sec. [3]

Q.2. In an organization at Pilani, a person (P) with laptop joins the existing organization
network. It starts communicating with the node (A) in University of California and Los
Angles (UCLA) at USA. After some time the person (P) moves to UCLA to attend
conference. From there (at UCLA) person P communicates with node A in UCLA.
Discuss how the indirect routing solves the problem of mobility. Does it pose any
additional overhead? Discuss the problem(s) and solution to the problem(s) incurred by
indirect routing. [3 + 1 + 3 = 7]

Q.3. POP3 has been used to transfer mail from mail server to user agent. Later on IMAP
became famous. Now as days web based email is pervasive. Discuss the limitations of
POP3 that were overcome by IMAP and web based e-mail. [3]

Q.4. A datagram of 2520 bytes (2500 bytes of IP payload) is to be communicated through

routers A, B, and C (all in straight line). The MTU of the link between routers A and B is
1000 bytes. The MTU of link between routers B and C is 700 bytes. Discuss the
fragmentation of datagram as it moves from routers A to B and from B to C. Assume IP
header to be 20 bytes. [2 + 2 = 4]

Q.5. Consider the following network (Fig. 1). With the indicated link costs, use Dijkastra’s
shortest-path algorithm to compute the shortest path from A to all the network nodes.
Show how the algorithm work by computing a table as discussed in class. [7]

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Figure 1

Q.6. One of the friends enquired you, the place where the link layer is implemented? Being a
computer network student you need to answer him specifically. Is it implemented in
software or in hardware? If it is implemented in software, how? If it is implemented in
hardware, in which equipment? Along with the answer to his question mention the two
important services provided by the link layer. [2 + 2 = 4]

Q.7. The figure (Figure 2) below shows the bits received and the corresponding two-
dimensional even parity checksum. Check if all the bits are received properly at the
receiver. If there is any one bit error, correct it. No explanation is expected. [3]

Figure 2

Q.8. We know that MAC addresses are unique. Why do we need separate network layer
addresses? Why can’t we use only MAC addresses for routing instead of IP addresses?
[3]
Q.9. Routers are store-and-forward packet switches that forward packets using Network layer
addresses. Switches are also store-and-forward packet switches that forward packets using
MAC layer. Routers are layer-3 packet switches whereas switches are layer-2 packet
switches. With this background and your knowledge throughout the course, discuss the
pros and cons of routers and switches. [1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 6]

Q.10. You are an expert in computer networks. You are having a discussion with your peer
expert in the same subject. You are discussing the protocols and steps that take place
when a user connects to the network (from anywhere in the world) and access the bits-
pilani web page. Write your technical discussion in detailed manner. [10]

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