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2015 Midterm 1 Exam Solution

This document appears to be instructions and questions for a midterm exam in an ECE374 class. It provides instructions for taking the exam such as putting name and student number on pages, being closed book, and showing work. It lists 4 problems worth a total of 100 points and an approximate time to spend on each. Problem 1 has 6 quick short answer questions worth a total of 32 points and is estimated to take 25 minutes. The questions cover topics like bandwidth, ports, internet tiers, propagation, the OSI model, and DNS mapping.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
222 views10 pages

2015 Midterm 1 Exam Solution

This document appears to be instructions and questions for a midterm exam in an ECE374 class. It provides instructions for taking the exam such as putting name and student number on pages, being closed book, and showing work. It lists 4 problems worth a total of 100 points and an approximate time to spend on each. Problem 1 has 6 quick short answer questions worth a total of 32 points and is estimated to take 25 minutes. The questions cover topics like bandwidth, ports, internet tiers, propagation, the OSI model, and DNS mapping.

Uploaded by

fikadu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ECE374:

 First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1  
 
First  Midterm  for  ECE374  
 02/25/15  
Solution!!  
 
Instructions:  
• Put  your  name  and  student  number  on  each  sheet  of  paper!  
• The  exam  is  closed  book.  
• You  have  90  minutes  to  complete  the  exam.  Be  a  smart  exam  taker  -­‐  if  you  
get  stuck  on  one  problem  go  on  to  another  problem.  Also,  don't  waste  your  
time  giving  irrelevant  (or  not  requested)  details.  
• The  total  number  of  points  for  each  question  is  given  in  parenthesis.  There  
are  100  points  total.  An  approximate  amount  of  time  that  would  be  
reasonable  to  spend  on  each  question  is  also  given;  if  you  follow  the  
suggested  time  guidelines,  you  should  finish  with  10  minutes  to  spare.  The  
exam  is  90  minutes  long.  
• Show  all  your  work.  Partial  credit  is  possible  for  an  answer,  but  only  if  you  
show  the  intermediate  steps  in  obtaining  the  answer.  If  you  make  a  mistake,  
it  will  also  help  the  grader  show  you  where  you  made  a  mistake.  
• Good  luck.  
 
Problem   Max.  Points     Points  
1   32    
2   20    
3   24    
4   20    
Total   100    
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2  

Problem  1:  (Quickies  32  Points  (4  each),  25  minutes)  


a. Briefly describe why the actual bandwidth on your cable access network
connection on, e.g., a Saturday evening, could be significantly lower than what
has been advertise by the provider (Comcast, Charter, etc.)? Would you see the
same with a DSL-based provider?
Answer: Cable is shared and the chances are high that many customers use the
Internet from the homes in the evening (especially on weekends). The sharing will
lead to reduced BW for the individual customer. DSL is not shared and that’s why
this behavior would not been seen in this case.

b. Server  A  runs  a  web  server  on  port  80  and  a  SMTP  server  on  port  25.  Client  1  
opens  local  port  5100  to  establish  a  TCP  session  to  the  web  server  on  Server  
A.  What  are  the  numbers  of  the  destination  and  source  ports  in  the  TCP  
segments  send  to  the  server?  Client  2  opens  local  port  6100  to  establish  a  
TCP  session  to  the  SMTP  server  on  Server  A.  What  are  the  numbers  of  the  
destination  and  source  ports  in  the  TCP  segments  send  to  the  server?  
Answer:  Client  1  D=80,  S=5100,  Client  2  D=25,  S=6100  

c. The  Internet  is  a  network  of  networks.  How  many  Tier  levels  to  classify  these  
individual  networks  exist?  At  what  level  would  your  residential  access  
network  reside?  How  likely  do  you  think  it  is  that  traffic  that  is  transmitted  
from  a  host  in  the  US  to  a  host  in  Europe  will  go  through  a  Tier-­‐1  network?  
How  are  the  points  called  at  which  Tier-­‐1  network  providers  and  large  
content  distributes  peer?  
Answer:  3,  3,  100%,  Internet  Exchange  points.  
 
d. A  caravan  of  10  cars  “propagates”  at  100  km/hr  on  a  100  km  long  toll  road.  
At  the  toll  booth  it  takes  12  seconds  to  service  each  individual  car.  How  long  
does  it  take  for  the  last  car  to  arrive  at  the  end  of  the  toll  road?  Cars  now  
“propagate”  at  1000  km/hr.  Will  cars  arrive  at  the  end  of  the  toll  road  before  
all  cars  are  serviced  at  first  booth?  If  so,  at  what  time  will  that  happen?  
A:120  seconds  +  60  minutes  =  62  minutes,  yes  after  7  minutes.  
 
e. Draw  a  sketch  that  shows  all  layers  of  the  Internet  protocol  stack  in  correct  
hierarchy!  
A:  Application,  Transport,  Network,  Link,  Physical.  
 
f. Suppose  that  we  want  to  change  the  IP  address  of  www.ecs.umass.edu  from  
128.119.91.47  to  128.119.91.50  and  change  this  mapping  in  the  DNS  
authoritative  name  server  for  www.ecs.umass.edu.  Once  this  mapping  is  
changed  in  the  authoritative  name  server,  will  all  future  references  
(generated  anywhere  in  the  Internet)  to  www.ecs.umass.edu  then  be  sent  to  
128.119.91.50?  Explain  briefly  (in  two  or  three  sentences).  
Answer:  Local  DNS  caches  throughout  the  Internet  will  not  time  out  the  old  
mapping  of  www.ecs.umass.edu  to  128.119.40.186  until  the  valid  interval  
originally  associated  with  that  mapping  times  out.  Until  that  happen,  local  DNS  
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        3  
 
caches  will  not  query  into  the  system  for  www.ecs.umass.edu  and  hence  would  
not  learn  the  new  mapping.  
 
g. Explain  why  you  can  actually  use  the  telnet  protocol  to  perform  a  simple  
communication  with  a  web  server?  
Answer:  Telnet  is  a  text-­‐based  communication  protocol,  likewise  is  HTTP.  If  a  
client  composes  a  text  message  that  is  HTTP  standard  compliant  the  server  
sends  back  the  expected  reply,  which  is  shown  in  text  (including  the  HTML  
content  at  the  client.  

h. Assume that in the case of a pipelined, reliable transport protocol, for which the
sender can have up to N=4 unacknowleged packets, packets with sequence
numbers 0-3 are transmitted. Only the packet with sequence number 2 gets lost
during the transmission. What are the sequence numbers of the packets that are
retransmitted in the case of Go-Back-N? What are they in the case of Selective
Repeat?
Answer: Go-Back-N: 2, 3; Selective Repeat: 2.
 
 
Problem  2:  Delays,  Throughput  (24  Points,  20  minutes)  
 
 

 
Figure  1  

Consider  the  network  shown  in  Figure  1.      


a. (4  Points)  Based  on  this  figure  explain  how  the  traceroute  application  
determines  the  round-­‐trip-­‐time  (RTT)  between  your  host,  the  individual  
routers  on  the  path  to  the  receiving  host,  and  the  receiving  host?  
A:  sends  three  packets  that  will  reach  router  i  on  path  towards  destination,  
router  i  will  return  packets  to  sender,  sender  times  interval  between  
transmission  and  reply.  
b. (2  Points)  The  following  line  represents  a  typical  single  output  line  from  
traceroute:  
ar01.needham.ma.boston.comcast.net(68.87.147.241) 14.682ms 13.927ms 19.944ms  
Why  do  the  values  for  the  three  RTTs  shown  at  the  end  of  that  line  change?  
Answer:  RTTs  highly  depend  on  the  queue  length  of  the  routers  located  between  
the  sender  and  the  receiver.  Based  on  other  traffic  there  can  be  more  or  less  
waiting  packets  in  a  routers  outgoing  queue  at  a  certain  instance  in  time.  Thus,  
the  RTT  between  individual  pings  can  vary.  
c. (4  Points)  Now  assume  a  static  RTT  of  136  milliseconds  between  the  two  
hosts.  How  long  will  it  take  in  this  case  of  an  HTTP  GET  request  to  receive  the  
first  bit  of  the  HTTP  response  from  Host  B?  How  long  will  it  take  to  transmit  
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  4  

a  50,000  bit  HTTP  object  from  Host  B  to  Host  A  if  the  bottleneck  bandwidth  
on  the  path  between  the  two  hosts  is  5  Mbit/s?  
A:  2  RTT  =  272  milliseconds,  10ms  
d.  (4  Points)  Name  the  four  sources  of  packet  delay?  Which  of  the  four  is  the  
most  significant  one?  
A:  dnodal  =  dproc  +  dqueue  +  dtrans  +    dprop,    dtrans  
 
Now,  consider  the  scenario  shown  in  Figure  2  in  which  a  server  is  connected  to  a  
router  by  a  100Mbps  link  with  a  50ms  propagation  delay.  Initially  this  router  is  also  
connected  to  two  routers,  each  over  a  50Mbps  link  with  a  200ms  propagation  delay.  
A  1Gbps  link  connects  a  host  and  a  cache  (if  present)  to  each  of  these  routers  and  we  
assume  that  this  link  has  0  propagation  delay.  All  packets  in  the  network  are  20,000  
bits  long.    

Server
100 Mbps
50 ms

50 Mbps 50 Mbps
200 ms 200 ms

1 Gbps 1 Gbps
0 ms 0 ms

Client Cache Client Cache  


Figure  2  
 
 
e. (4  Points)  What  is  the  end-­‐to-­‐end  delay  from  when  a  packet  is  transmitted  by  
the  server  to  when  it  is  received  by  the  client?  In  this  case,  we  assume  there  
are  no  caches,  there’s  no  queuing  delay  at  the  routers,  and  the  packet  
processing  delays  at  routers  and  nodes  are  all  0.  
Answer:  If  all  packets  are  20,000  bits  long  it  takes  200  usec  to  send  the  packet  
over  the  100Mbps  link,  400  usec  to  send  over  the  50Mbps  link,  and  20  usec  to  
send  over  the  1Gbps  link.  Sum  of  the  three-­‐link  transmission  is  620  usec.  Thus,  
the  total  end-­‐to-­‐end  delay  is  250.62  msec.  
f. (2  Points)  Here  we  assume  that  client  hosts  send  requests  for  files  directly  to  
the  server  (caches  are  not  used  or  off  in  this  case).    What  is  the  maximum  
rate  at  which  the  server  can  deliver  data  to  a  single  client  if  we  assume  no  
other  clients  are  making  requests?  
Answer:  Server  can  send  at  the  max  of  the  bottleneck  link:  50Mbps.  
 
 
 
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        5  
 
 
 
 
Problem  3:  Putting  it  all  together  (24  Points,  20  minutes)  
For  this  problem  you  should  familiarize  yourself  with  Figure  3  first.  Initially,  assume  
that  the  client  wants  to  retrieve  the  www.cnn.com  home  page  but  has  no  
information  about  the  www.cnn.com  web  server  IP  address.  All  links  have  10Mbps  
capacity  and  we  assume  there  is  no  queuing  delay  at  the  routers,  and  the  packet  
processing  delays  at  routers  and  nodes  are  all  0.  
 

www.cnn.com

DNS root server

Internet
DNS .com server

local DNS server

Client
Institutional Cache  
Figure  3  

a. (6  Points)  Describe  the  process  of  the  client  obtaining  the  IP  address  for  the  
hostname  www.cnn.com  under  the  assumption  that  it  is  not  cached  at  the  
local  DNS  server  BUT  that  the  .com  TLD  DNS  server  has  cached  an  entry  for  
the  .com  DNS  server.  The  local  DNS  server  also  does  NOT  have  cached  the  IP  
address  of  the  .com  TLD  DNS.  (Describe  this  for  the  iterated  case!)  
Answer:  Client  contacts  local  DNS,  local  DNS  contacts  root  DNS,  root  DNS  
replies  to  local  DNS,  local  DNS  contacts  authoritative  DNS,  authoritative  DNS  
replies  to  local  DNS,  local  DNS  send  IP  for  www.cnn.com  back  to  client.  
b. (2  Points)  After  that  first  client,  a  second  client  (connect  to  the  same  network  
as  the  first  client)  also  wants  to  obtain  the  IP  address  for  www.cnn.com.  
Describe  the  process  of  the  client  obtaining  the  IP  address  in  this  case.  
Answer:  Client  contacts  local  DNS,  local  DNS  has  entry  cached  and  returns  it  to  
client.  
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  6  

c. (2  Points)  Assume  that  the  round  trip  time  between  local  DNS  server  and  
DNS  root  server  is  3RTT,  between  local  DNS  server  and  DNS  TLD  server  is  
2RTT,  and  between  the  clients  and  the  local  DNS  server  is  RTT.  How  long  
does  it  take  for  the  first  client  to  obtain  the  IP  address  for  www.cnn.com?  
How  long  for  the  second?  
Answer:  6RTT,  RTT.  
d. (4  Points)  The  CNN  main  page  is  500Kbits  in  size  and  refers  to  7  additional  
web  object  (e.g.,  images)  that  all  also  have  a  size  of  1250Kbits.  Assume  that  
the  round  trip  time  between  client  and  server  is  3RTT.  Assuming  non-­‐
persistent  HTTP  with  no  parallel  TCP  connections,  how  long  does  it  take  to  
download  all  web  objects  to  the  client?  
Answer:  (6RTT  +  1250Kbits/10Mbps)*8  =  48RTT  +  10Mbits/10Mbps  =  48RTT  +    
1s    
e. (4  Points)  How  long  will  it  take  to  download  all  objects  in  the  case  of  
persistent  HTTP?  
Answer:  (6RTT  +  1250Kbits/10Mbits)  +  7*(3RTT  +  1250Kbits/10Mbits)  =  
27RTT  +  1s  
f. (2  Points)  We  know  that  www.cnn.com  is  a  very  popular  web  site  and  the  
many  client  requests  cannot  be  handled  by  a  single  server  but  rather  by  a  
cluster  of  web  servers  (each  having  a  different  IP  address).  Describe  the  
process  that  DNS  offers  for  load  balancing.  
Answer:  Server  responds  with  an  entire  set  of  IP  addresses  for  canonical  name  
but  rotates  ordering  within  each  reply.  Client  typically  sends  request  to  first  in  
list.  
g. (4  Points)  Now  let  us  assume  that  independent  of  the  URL,  30%  of  the  web  
requests  that  originate  from  the  local  network  can  be  satisfied  by  the  local  
cache  and  70%  of  the  requests  are  satisfied  at  the  origin  (in  this  specific  case  
we  assume  they  are  all  satisfied  by  www.cnn.com).  The  bandwidth  between  
client  and  cache  is  100Mbps  in  this  case.  What  is  the  total  average  delay  with  
which  web  objects  are  served  to  clients  in  the  local  network?  
Answer:  We  assume  that  requests  are  serially  satisfied.  30%  of  the  requests  can  
be  delivered  at  100Mbps  and  70%  at  10Mbps.  So  the  average  rate  is  37Mbps.  
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        7  
 
Problem  4:  Transport  Protocols  (24  Points,  25  minutes)  
a. (14  Points)  Consider  a  scenario  in  which  Host  A  wants  to  simultaneously  
send  packets  to  Hosts  B  and  C  via  a  broadcast  channel  -­‐  a  packet  sent  by  A  is  
carried  by  the  channel  to  both  B  and  C.  Suppose  that  the  broadcast  channel  
connecting  A,  B,  and  C  can  independently  lose  and  corrupt  packets  (for  
example,  a  packet  sent  from  A  might  be  correctly  received  by  B,  but  not  by  C).  
Design  a  stop-­‐and-­‐wait  like  error  control  protocol  for  reliably  transferring  
packets  from  A  to  B  and  C,  such  that  A  will  not  get  new  data  from  the  upper  
layer  until  it  knows  that  both  B  and  C  have  correctly  received  the  current  
packet.  Give  FSM  descriptions  of  A  and  C.  (Hint:  The  FSM  for  B  should  be  
essentially  the  same  as  for  C.)  Also,  give  a  description  of  the  packet  format(s)  
used.  
 
Answer:  

 
 
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  8  

b. (4  Points)  rdt3.0  in  action!  For  this  problem  assume  the  reliable,  error-­‐
correcting  stop  and  wait  protocol  rdt3.0.  Figure  4  shows  the  initial  
communication  between  sender  and  receiver.  In  this  example,  the  packet  
with  sequence  number  1  is  lost  on  the  way  to  the  receiver.  Complete  Figure  4  
to  illustrate  how  rdt3.0  recovers  from  that  packet  loss  by  illustrating  the  
(error-­‐free)  transmission  of  2  additional  packets.  
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure  4  
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        9  
 
 
Answer:  

 
 
c. (4  Points)  In  the  rdt  3.0  protocol  the  ACKs  flowing  from  the  receiver  to  the  
sender  do  NOT  have  sequence  numbers  (although  they  do  have  an  ACK  field  
that  contains  the  sequence  number  of  the  packet  they  are  acknowledging).  
Why  is  it  that  the  ACKs  do  not  require  sequence  numbers?  (Hint:  Think  about  
the  case  of  duplicated  ACKs.)  
Answer:  
To  best  answer  this  question,  consider  why  we  needed  sequence  numbers  in  the  
first  place.  We  saw  that  the  sender  needs  sequence  numbers  so  that  the  receiver  
can  tell  if  a  data  packet  is  a  duplicate  of  an  already  received  data  packet.    In  
the  case  of  ACKs,  the  sender  does  not  need  this  info  (i.e.,  a  sequence  number  on  
an  ACK)  to  tell  detect  a  duplicate  ACK.    A  duplicate  ACK  is  obvious  to  the  rdt3.0  
receiver,  since  when  it  has  received  the  original  ACK  it  transitioned  to  the  next  
state.    The  duplicate  ACK  is  not  the  ACK  that  the  sender  needs  and  hence  is  
ignored  by  the  rdt3.0  sender.  
 
d. (2  Points)  Figure  5  shows  the  trace  operation  of  a  pipelined  protocol.  Does  it  
show  the  trace  of  Go-­‐Back-­‐N  or  Selective  Repeat?  
 
ECE374:  First  Midterm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  10  

 
Figure  5  
 

Answer:  Go-­‐Back-­‐N  

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