Networking - Interview Questions and Answers
Networking - Interview Questions and Answers
Networking - Interview Questions and Answers
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1. Define Network?
2. What is a Link?
At the lowest level, a network can consist of two or more computers directly connected by some
physical medium such as coaxial cable or optical fiber. Such a physical medium is called as
Link.
3. What is a node?
A network can consist of two or more computers directly connected by some physical medium
such as coaxial cable or optical fiber. Such a physical medium is called as Links and the
computer it connects is called as Nodes.
A node that is connected to two or more networks is commonly called as router or Gateway. It
generally forwards message from one network to another.
If the physical links are limited to a pair of nodes it is said to be point-point link.
If the physical links are shared by more than two nodes, it is said to be Multiple Access.
a. Security/Encapsulation
b. Distributed database
c. Faster Problem solving
d. Security through redundancy
e. Collaborative Processing
8. What are the criteria necessary for an effective and efficient network?
a. Performance
It can be measured in many ways, including transmit time and response time. b. Reliability
It is measured by frequency of failure, the time it takes a link to recover from a failure, and the
network's robustness.
c. Security
Security issues includes protecting data from unauthorized access and virues.
a. Number of Users
b. Type of transmission medium
c. Hardware
d. Software
10. Name the factors that affect the reliability of the network?
a. Frequency of failure
b. Recovery time of a network after a failure
11. Name the factors that affect the security of the network?
a. Unauthorized Access
b. Viruses
a. Connectivity
b. Cost-effective Resource Sharing
c. Support for common Services
d. Performance
The process of determining systematically hoe to forward messages toward the destination nodes
based on its address is called routing.
The processes on each machine that communicate at a given layer are called peer-peer process.
It is possible that a switch receives packets faster than the shared link can accommodate and
stores in its memory, for an extended period of time, then the switch will eventually run out of
buffer space, and some packets will have to be dropped and in this state is said to congested
state.
Defining a useful channel involves both understanding the applications requirements and
recognizing the limitations of the underlying technology. The gap between what applications
expects and what the underlying technology can provide is called semantic gap.
The duration of time it takes to send a message from one end of a network to the other and back,
is called RTT.
If the message is sent from a source to a single destination node, it is called Unicasting.
If the message is sent to some subset of other nodes, it is called Multicasting.
If the message is sent to all the m nodes in the network it is called Broadcasting.
Multiplexing is the set of techniques that allows the simultaneous transmission of multiple
signals across a single data link.
FDM is an analog technique that can be applied when the bandwidth of a link is greater than the
combined bandwidths of the signals to be transmitted.
What is WDM?
WDM is conceptually the same as FDM, except that the multiplexing and demultiplexing
involve light signals transmitted through fiber optics channel.
TDM is a digital process that can be applied when the data rate capacity of the transmission
medium is greater than the data rate required by the sending and receiving devices.
In STDM, the multiplexer allocates exactly the same time slot to each device at all times,
whether or not a device has anything to transmit.
a. Physical Layer
b. Data Link Layer
c. Network Layer
d. Transport Layer
e. Session Layer
f. Presentation Layer
g. Application Layer
a. Physical Layer
b. Data link Layer and
c. Network Layers
Which layer links the network support layers and user support layers?
The Transport layer links the network support layers and user support layers.
Physical layer coordinates the functions required to transmit a bit stream over a physical
medium.
a. Physical characteristics of interfaces and media
b. Representation of bits
c. Data rate
d. Synchronization of bits
e. Line configuration
f. Physical topology
g. Transmission mode
The Data Link Layer transforms the physical layer, a raw transmission facility, to a reliable link
and is responsible for node-node delivery.
a. Framing
b. Physical Addressing
c. Flow Control
d. Error Control
e. Access Control
The Network Layer is responsible for the source-to-destination delivery of packet possibly across
multiple networks (links).
a. Logical Addressing
b. Routing
The Transport Layer is responsible for source-to-destination delivery of the entire message.
a. Service-point Addressing
b. Segmentation and reassembly
c. Connection Control
d. Flow Control
e. Error Control
36. What are the responsibilities of Session Layer?
The Session layer is the network dialog Controller. It establishes, maintains and synchronizes the
interaction between the communicating systems.
a. Dialog control
b. Synchronization
The Presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and semantics of the information exchanged
between two systems.
a. Translation
b. Encryption
c. Compression
The Application Layer enables the user, whether human or software, to access the network. It
provides user interfaces and support for services such as e-mail, shared database management
and other types of distributed information services.
a. Network virtual Terminal
b. File transfer, access and Management (FTAM)
c. Mail services
d. Directory Services
40. What are the different link types used to build a computer network?
a. Cables
b. Leased Lines
c. Last-Mile Links
d. Wireless Links
a. Guided Media
i. Twisted - Pair cable
1. Shielded TP
2. Unshielded TP
ii. Coaxial Cable
iii. Fiber-optic cable
b. Unguided Media
i. Terrestrial microwave
ii. Satellite Communication
a. Single-Bit error
In a single-bit error, only one bit in the data unit has changed
b. Burst Error
A Burst error means that two or more bits in the data have changed.
Data can be corrupted during transmission. For reliable communication errors must be deducted
and Corrected. Error Detection uses the concept of redundancy, which means adding extra bits
for detecting errors at the destination. The common Error Detection methods are
a. Vertical Redundancy Check (VRC)
b. Longitudinal Redundancy Check (VRC)
c. Cyclic Redundancy Check (VRC)
d. Checksum
The concept of including extra information in the transmission solely for the purpose of
comparison. This technique is called redundancy.
It is the most common and least expensive mechanism for Error Detection. In VRC, a parity bit
is added to every data unit so that the total number of 1s becomes even for even parity. It can
detect all single-bit errors. It can detect burst errors only if the total number of errors in each data
unit is odd.
In LRC, a block of bits is divided into rows and a redundant row of bits is added to the whole
block. It can detect burst errors. If two bits in one data unit are damaged and bits in exactly the
same positions in another data unit are also damaged, the LRC checker will not detect an error.
In LRC a redundant data unit follows n data units.
CRC, is the most powerful of the redundancy checking techniques, is based on binary division.
Checksum is used by the higher layer protocols (TCP/IP) for error detection
List the steps involved in creating the checksum.
Data link protocols are sets of specifications used to implement the data link layer. The
categories of Data Link protocols are 1. Asynchronous Protocols
2. Synchronous Protocols
a. Character Oriented Protocols
b. Bit Oriented protocols
The correction of errors is more difficult than the detection. In error detection, checks only any
error has occurred. In error correction, the exact number of bits that are corrupted and location in
the message are known. The number of the errors and the size of the message are important
factors.
Forward error correction is the process in which the receiver tries to guess the message by using
redundant bits.
Retransmission is a technique in which the receiver detects the occurrence of an error and asks
the sender to resend the message. Resending is repeated until a message arrives that the receiver
believes is error-freed.
In block coding, we divide our message into blocks, each of k bits, called datawords. The block
coding process is one-to-one. The same dataword is always encoded as the same codeword.
"r" redundant bits are added to each block to make the length n = k + r. The resulting n-bit blocks
are called codewords. 2n - 2k codewords that are not used. These codewords are invalid or illegal.
A linear block code is a code in which the exclusive OR (addition modulo-2) of two valid
codewords creates another valid codeword.
57. What are Cyclic Codes?
Cyclic codes are special linear block codes with one extra property. In a cyclic code, if a
codeword is cyclically shifted (rotated), the result is another codeword.
A device or program that uses predefined algorithms to encode, or compress audio or video data
for storage or transmission use. A circuit that is used to convert between digital video and analog
video.
A device or program that translates encoded data into its original format (e.g. it decodes the
data). The term is often used in reference to MPEG-2 video and sound data, which must be
decoded before it is output.
Framing in the data link layer separates a message from one source to a destination, or from
other messages to other destinations, by adding a sender address and a destination address. The
destination address defines where the packet has to go and the sender address helps the recipient
acknowledge the receipt.
In fixed-size framing, there is no need for defining the boundaries of the frames. The size itself
can be used as a delimiter.
In byte stuffing (or character stuffing), a special byte is added to the data section of the frame
when there is a character with the same pattern as the flag. The data section is stuffed with an
extra byte. This byte is usually called the escape character (ESC), which has a predefined bit
pattern. Whenever the receiver encounters the ESC character, it removes it from the data section
and treats the next character as data, not a delimiting flag.
Bit stuffing is the process of adding one extra 0 whenever five consecutive Is follow a 0 in the
data, so that the receiver does not mistake the pattern 0111110 for a flag.
Flow control refers to a set of procedures used to restrict the amount of data that the sender can
send before waiting for acknowledgment.
65. What is Error Control ?
Error control is both error detection and error correction. It allows the receiver to inform the
sender of any frames lost or damaged in transmission and coordinates the retransmission of those
frames by the sender. In the data link layer, the term error control refers primarily to methods of
error detection and retransmission.
Error control is both error detection and error correction. It allows the receiver to inform the
sender of any frames lost or damaged in transmission and coordinates the retransmission of those
frames by the sender. In the data link layer, the term error control refers primarily to methods of
error detection and retransmission. Error control in the data link layer is often implemented
simply: Any time an error is detected in an exchange, specified frames are retransmitted. This
process is called automatic repeat request (ARQ).
In Stop and wait protocol, sender sends one frame, waits until it receives confirmation from the
receiver (okay to go ahead), and then sends the next frame.
Error correction in Stop-and-Wait ARQ is done by keeping a copy of the sent frame and
retransmitting of the frame when the timer expires.
The protocol specifies that frames need to be numbered. This is done by using sequence
numbers. A field is added to the data frame to hold the sequence number of that frame. Since we
want to minimize the frame size, the smallest range that provides unambiguous communication.
The sequence numbers can wrap around.
In networking and in other areas, a task is often begun before the previous task has ended. This is
known as pipelining.
The sliding window is an abstract concept that defines the range of sequence numbers that is the
concern of the sender and receiver. In other words, he sender and receiver need to deal with only
part of the possible sequence numbers.
A generic term for section of a large networks usually separated by a bridge or router.
Transmission is a physical movement of information and concern issues like bit polarity,
synchronisation, clock etc.
Communication means the meaning full exchange of information between two communication
media.
Series of interface points that allow other computers to communicate with the other layers of
network protocol stack.
Frame relay is a packet switching technology. It will operate in the data link layer.
Redirector is software that intercepts file or prints I/O requests and translates them into network
requests. This comes under presentation layer.
NETBIOS is a programming interface that allows I/O requests to be sent to and received from a
remote computer and it hides the networking hardware from applications.
NETBEUI is NetBIOS extended user interface. A transport protocol designed by microsoft and
IBM for the use on small subnets.
A method for providing fault tolerance by using multiple hard disk drives.
When the computers on the network simply listen and receive the signal, they are referred to as
passive because they don't amplify the signal in any way. Example for passive topology -linear
bus.
Hybrid devices that combine the features of both bridges and routers.
A layer of a glass surrounding the center fiber of glass inside a fiber-optic cable.
A gateway operates at the upper levels of the OSI model and translates information between two
completely different network architectures or data formats.
The address for a device as it is identified at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer in the
network architecture. MAC address is usually stored in ROM on the network adapter card and is
unique.
Bit rate is the number of bits transmitted during one second whereas baud rate refers to the
number of signal units per second that are required to represent those bits.
baud rate = (bit rate / N)
where N is no-of-bits represented by each signal shift.
Every line has an upper limit and a lower limit on the frequency of signals it can carry. This
limited range is called the bandwidth.
Signals are usually transmitted over some transmission media that are broadly classified in to
two categories.
a.) Guided Media: These are those that provide a conduit from one device to another that
include twisted-pair, coaxial cable and fiber-optic cable. A signal traveling along any of these
media is directed and is contained by the physical limits of the medium. Twisted-pair and coaxial
cable use metallic that accept and transport signals in the form of electrical current. Optical fiber
is a glass or plastic cable that accepts and transports signals in the form of light.
b.) Unguided Media: This is the wireless media that transport electromagnetic waves without
using a physical conductor. Signals are broadcast either through air. This is done through radio
communication, satellite communication and cellular telephony.
The data unit in the LLC level is called the protocol data unit (PDU). The PDU contains of four
fields a destination service access point (DSAP), a source service access point (SSAP), a control
field and an information field. DSAP, SSAP are addresses used by the LLC to identify the
protocol stacks on the receiving and sending machines that are generating and using the data.
The control field specifies whether the PDU frame is a information frame (I - frame) or a
supervisory frame (S - frame) or a unnumbered frame (U - frame).
ICMP is Internet Control Message Protocol, a network layer protocol of the TCP/IP suite used by
hosts and gateways to send notification of datagram problems back to the sender. It uses the echo
test / reply to test whether a destination is reachable and responding. It also handles both control
and error messages.
99. What are the data units at different layers of the TCP / IP protocol suite?
The data unit created at the application layer is called a message, at the transport layer the data
unit created is called either a segment or an user datagram, at the network layer the data unit
created is called the datagram, at the data link layer the datagram is encapsulated in to a frame
and finally transmitted as signals along the transmission media.
The address resolution protocol (ARP) is used to associate the 32 bit IP address with the 48 bit
physical address, used by a host or a router to find the physical address of another host on its
network by sending a ARP query packet that includes the IP address of the receiver.
The reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) allows a host to discover its Internet address
when it knows only its physical address.
101. What is the minimum and maximum length of the header in the TCP segment and IP
datagram?
The header should have a minimum length of 20 bytes and can have a maximum length of 60
bytes.
103. What is the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols?
The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) allows a local host to obtain files from a remote host
but does not provide reliability or security. It uses the fundamental packet delivery services
offered by UDP.
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the standard mechanism provided by TCP / IP for copying a
file from one host to another. It uses the services offer by TCP and so is reliable and secure. It
establishes two connections (virtual circuits) between the hosts, one for data transfer and another
for control information.
A network in which there are multiple network links between computers to provide multiple
paths for data to travel.
In a baseband transmission, the entire bandwidth of the cable is consumed by a single signal. In
broadband transmission, signals are sent on multiple frequencies, allowing multiple signals to be
sent simultaneously.
In a Ethernet network, between any two points on the network ,there can be no more than five
network segments or four repeaters, and of those five segments only three of segments can be
populated.
110. What is the difference between routable and non- routable protocols?
Routable protocols can work with a router and can be used to build large networks. Non-
Routable protocols are designed to work on small, local networks and cannot be used with a
router.
111. Why should you care about the OSI Reference Model?
One of two sublayers of the data link layer of OSI reference model, as defined by the IEEE 802
standard. This sublayer is responsible for maintaining the link between computers when they are
sending data across the physical network connection.
113. What is virtual channel?
Virtual channel is normally a connection from one source to one destination, although multicast
connections are also permitted. The other name for virtual channel is virtual circuit.
Along any transmission path from a given source to a given destination, a group of virtual
circuits can be grouped together into what is called path.
Packet filter is a standard router equipped with some extra functionality. The extra functionality
allows every incoming or outgoing packet to be inspected. Packets meeting some criterion are
forwarded normally. Those that fail the test are dropped.
One of the main causes of congestion is that traffic is often busy. If hosts could be made to
transmit at a uniform rate, congestion would be less common. Another open loop method to help
manage congestion is forcing the packet to be transmitted at a more predictable rate. This is
called traffic shaping.
Sending a message to a group is called multicasting, and its routing algorithm is called multicast
routing.
When hierarchical routing is used, the routers are divided into what we will call regions, with
each router knowing all the details about how to route packets to destinations within its own
region, but knowing nothing about the internal structure of other regions.
It is a problem that can ruin TCP performance. This problem occurs when data are passed to the
sending TCP entity in large blocks, but an interactive application on the receiving side reads 1
byte at a time.
The most common two letter combinations are called as digrams. e.g. th, in, er, re and an. The
most common three letter combinations are called as trigrams. e.g. the, ing, and, and ion.
Wide-mouth frog is the simplest known key distribution center (KDC) authentication protocol.
It is a system that performs a protocol translation between different electronic mail delivery
protocols.
It is the protocol the routers in neighboring autonomous systems use to identify the set of
networks that can be reached within or via each autonomous system.
It is a collection of routers under the control of a single administrative authority and that uses a
common Interior Gateway Protocol.
It is a protocol used to advertise the set of networks that can be reached with in an autonomous
system. BGP enables this information to be shared with the autonomous system. This is newer
than EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol).
It is a protocol formerly used to exchange routing information between Internet core routers.
It is a set of rules defining a very simple virtual terminal interaction. The NVT is used in the start
of a Telnet session.
It is a host that has a multiple network interfaces and that requires multiple IP addresses is called
as a Multi-homed Host.
It is an Internet routing protocol that scales well, can route traffic along multiple paths, and uses
knowledge of an Internet's topology to make accurate routing decisions.
It is using a router to answer ARP requests. This will be done when the originating host believes
that a destination is local, when in fact is lies beyond router.
It is a very simple protocol used for transmission of IP datagrams across a serial line.
It is a sequence of IP addresses identifying the route a datagram must follow. A source route may
optionally be included in an IP datagram header