Computer Networks VIVA Questions

1. Explain What is Network?

Anetwork is a set of devices connected by physical media links. A network is
recursively is a connection of two or more nodes by a physical link or two or more
networks connected by one or more nodes.

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 fber. Such a physical medium is
called as Links and the computer it connects is called as Nodes.

4. What is a gateway or Router?

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

5. What is point-point link?

If the physical links are limited to a pair of nodes it is said to be point-point link.

6. What is Multiple Access?

If the physical links are shared by more than two nodes, it is said to be Multiple

Access.

7.What are the advantages of Distributed Processing?

a. Security/Encapsulation
b. Distributed database
c. Faster Problem solving
d. Security through redundancy
e. Collaborative Processing

& 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.

9. Name the factors that affect the performance of the network?

1. Number of Users
2. Type of transmission medium
3. Hardware
4. Software

10. Name the factors that affect the reliability of the network?

Frequency offailure
Recovery time of a network after a failure

11. Name the factors that affect the security of the network?

uthorized Access
.Viruses
12. What is Protocol?
A protocol is a set of rules that govern all aspects of information communication.

13. What are the key elements of protocols?

The key elements of protocols are
a. Syntax
It refers to the structure or format of the data, that is the order in which they are
presented.
b. Semantics
It refers to the meaning of each section of bits.
c. Timing
Timing refers to two characteristics: When data should be sent and how fast they can
be sent.

14. What are the key design issues of a computer Network?

a. Connectivity
b. Cost-effective Resource Sharing
c. Support for common Services
d. Performnance

15. Define Bandwidth and Latency?

Network performance is measured in Bandwidth (throughput) and Latency (Delay).
Bandwidth of a network is given by the number of bits that can be transmitted over
the network in a certain period of time. Latency corresponds to how long it tSakes a
message to travel from one end off a network to the other. It is strictly measured in
terms of time.

16. Define Routing?

The process of determining systematically hoe to forward messages toward the
destination nodes based on its address is called routing

17. What is a peer-peer process?

The processes on each machine that communicate at a given layer are called peer
peer process.

18. When a switch is said to be congested?

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.

19. What is semantic gap?

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.

20. What is Round Trip Time?

The duration of time it takes to send a message from one end of a network to the
other and back, is called RTT.
21. Define the terms Unicasting, Multiccasting and Broadcasting?

I f the message is sent from a source to a single destination node, it is called

Unicastinng
I f the message is sent to some subset of other nodes, it is called Multicasting
I f the message is sent to all the m nodes in the network it is called
Broadcasting

22. What is Multiplexing?

Multiplexing is the set of techniques that allows the simultaneous transmission of
multiple signals across a single data link.

23. Name the categories of Multiplexing?

a. Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
b. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
Synchronous TDM
i. ASynchronous TDM Or Statistical TDM.
c. Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM)

24. What is FDM?

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.

25. What is WDM?

WDM is conceptually the same as FDM, except that the multiplexing and
demultiplexing involve light signals transmitted through fiber optics channel.

26. What is TDM?

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.

27. What is Synchronous TDM?

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.

28. List the layers of OSI

a. Physical Layer
b. Data Link Layer
c. Network Layer
d Transport Layer
e. Session Layer
f. Presentation Layer
g Application Layer

29. Which layers are network support layers?

a. Physical Layer
b. Data link Layer and
c. Network Layers

30. Which layers are user support layers?

a. Session Layer
b. Presentation Layer and
C. Application Layer

31. Which layer links the network support layers and user support layers?
The Transport layer links the network support layers and user support layers
32. What are the concerns of the Physical Layer?
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
& Transmission mode

33. What are the responsibilities of Data Link Layer?

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

34. What are the responsibilities of Network Layer?

The Network Layer is responsible for the source-to-destination delivery of packet
possibly across multiple networks (links).
a. Logical Addressing
b. Routing

35. What are the responsibilities of Transport ILayer?

The Transport Layer is responsible for source to-destination delivery of the entire
message.
a. Servicepoint 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

37. What are the responsibilities of Presentation Layer?

The Presentation layer is concerned with the syntax and semantics of the
information exchanged between two systems.

a. Translation
b. Encryption
c. Compression

38. What are the responsibilities of Application Layer?

The Application Layer enables the user, whether human or software, to access the
network. It provides user interfaces and support for services such as enail, 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

39. What are the two classes of hardware building blocks?

Nodes and Links.
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

41. What are the categories of Transmission media?

a. Guided Media
i.Twisted- Pair cable
1. Shielded TP
2. Unshielded TP
ii. Coaxial Cable
ii. Fiber-optic cable
b. Unguided Media
i Terrestrial microwave
ii. Satellite Communication

42. What are the types of errors?

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.

43. What is Error Detection? What are its methods?

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

44. What is Redundancy?

The concept of including extra information in the transmission solely for the purpose
of comparison. This technique is called redundancy.

45. What is VRC?

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.

46. What is LRC?

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.

47. What is CRC?

CRC, is the most powerful of the redundancy checking techniques, is based on binary
division.

48. What is Checksum?

Checksum is used by the higher layer protocols (TCP/IP) for error detection

49. List the steps involved in creating the checksum

a. Divide the data into sections
b. Add the sections together using 1's complement arithmetic
c. Take the complement of the final sum, this is the checksum.

50. What are the Data link protocols?

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

51. Compare Error Detection and Error Correction:

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.
52. What is Forward Error Correction?
Forward error correction is the process in which the receiver tries to guess the
message by using redundant bits.

53. Define Retransmission?

Re transmission is a technique in which the receiver detects the occurrence of an
error and asks the sender to resend the message. Re sending is repeated untila
message arrives that the receiver believes is error-freed.

54. What are Data Words?

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.

55. What are Code Words?

"T" 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.

56. What is a Linear Block Code?

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 Cyelic Codes?

Cyclic codes are special linear block codes with one extra property. In a cyclic code,
ifa codeword is eyclically shifted (rotated), the result is another codeword

58. Define Encoder?

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.

59. Define Decoder?

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.

60. What is Framing?

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 anda
destination address. The destination address defines where the packet has to go and
the sender address helps the recipient acknowledge the receipt.

Computer Networks VTVA Questions and Answers

61. What is Fixed Size Framing?
In fixedsize framing, there is no need for defining the boundaries of the frames. The
size itself can be used as a delimiter.

62. Define Character Stuffing?

In byte stufñing (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

63. What is Bit Stuffing?

Bit stufñing is the process of adding one extra O whenever five consecutive Is follow a
0 in the data, so that the receiver does not mistake the pattern 0111110 for a flag

64. What is Flow Control?

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 re transission.
66. What Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)?
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 calledd
automatic repeat request (ARQ).

67. What is Stop-and-Wait Protocol?

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.

68. What is Stop-and-Wait Automatic Repeat Request?

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.

69. What is usage of Sequence Number in Relaible Transmission?

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 nurmber of
that frame. Since we want to minimize the frame size, the smallest range that
provides unambiguous communication. The sequence numbers can wrap around.

70. What is Pipelining?

In networking and in other areas, a task is often begun before the previous task has
ended. This is known as pipelining

71. What is sliding Window?

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.

72. What is Piggy Backing?

A technique called piggybacking is used to improve the effciency of the bidirectional
protocols. When a frame is carrying data fromA to B, it can also carryy control
information about arrived (or lost) frames from B; when a frame is carrying data
from B to A, it can also carry control information about the arrived (or lost) frames
from A.

73. What are the two types of transmission technology available?

(i) Broadcast and (i) point-to-point

74. What is subnet?

A generic term for section of a large networks usually separated by a bridge or
router.

75. Difference between the communication and transmission.

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.

76. What are the possible ways of data exchange?

i) Simplex (i)Halfduplex (ii) Full-duplex.

77. What is SAP?

Series of interface points that allow other computers to communicate with the other
ers of network protocol stack.

78. What do you meant by "triple X" in Networks?

The function of PAD (Packet Assembler Disassembler) is des cribed in a document
known as x.3. The standard protocol has been defined between the terminal and the
PAD, called X.28; another standard protocol exists between hte PAD and the network,
called x.29. Together, these three recommendations are often called "triple X°".

79. What is frame relay, in which layer it comes?

Frame relay is a packet switching technology. It will operate in the data link layer.

80. What is terminal emulation, in which layer it comes?

Telnet is also called as terminal emulation. It belongs to application layer.

81. What is Beaconing?

The process that allows a network to self-repair networks problems. The stations on
the network notify the other stations on the ring when they are not receiving the
transmissions. Beaconing is used in Token ring and FDDI networks.
82. What is redirector?
Redirector is software that intercepts file or prints I/0 requests and translates them
into network requests. This comes under presentation layer

83. What is NETBIOS and NETBEUI?

NETBIOS is a programming interface that allows I/0 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.

84. What is RAID?

A method for providing fault tolerance by using multiple hard disk drives.

85. What is passive topology?

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.

86. What is Brouter?

Hybrid devices that combine the features of both bridges and routers.

87. What is cladding?

A layer of a glass surrounding the center fiber of glass inside a fiber-optic cable.

88. What is point-to-point protocol?

A comnunications protocol used to connect computers to remote networking
services including Internet service providers.

89. How Gateway is different from Routers?

A gateway operates at the upper levels of the OSI model and translates information
between two completely different network architectures or data formats.

90. What is attenuation?

The degeneration of a signal over distance on a network cable is called attenuation.

91. What is MAC address?

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.

92. Difference between bit rate and baud rate.

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 Nis no-of-bits represented by each signal shift.

93. What is Bandwidth?

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.
94. What are the types of Transmission media?
Signals are usually transmitted over some transmission media thhat 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 gdass 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.

95. What is Project 802?

It is a project started by IEEE to set standards to enable intercommunication
between equipment from a variety of manufacturers. It is a way for specifying
functions of the physical layer, the data link layer and to some extent the network
layer to allow for interconnectivity of major LAN protocols.
It consists of the following
1. 802.1 is an internetworking standard for compatibility of different LANs and
MANs across protocols.
2. 802.2 Logical link control (LLC) is the upper sublayer of the data link layer which
is non-architecture-specific, that is remains the same for all IEEE-defined LANs.
3. Media access control (MAC) is the lower sublayer of the data link layer that
contains some distinct modules each carrying proprietary information specific to the
LAN product being used. The modules are Ethernet LAN (802.3), Token ring LAN
(802.4), Token bus LAN (802.5).
4. 802.6 is distributed queue dual bus (DQDB) designed to be used in MANS.

96. What is Protocol Data Unit?

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 frane is a
information frame (I- frame) or a supervisory frame (S - frame) or a unnumbered

frame (U- frame).

97. What are the different type of networking/ internetworking devices?

1. Repeater: Also called a regenerator, it is an electronic device that operates only at
physical layer. It receives the signal in the network before it becomes weak,
regenerates the original bit pattern and puts the refreshed copy back in to the link.
2. Bridges: These operate both in the physical and data link layers of LANS of same
type. They divide a larger network in to smaller segments. They contain logic that
allow them to keep the traffic for each segment separate and thus are repeaters that
relay a frame only the side of the segment containing the intended recipent and

control congestion.
3. Routers: They relay packets among multiple interconnected networks (i.e. LANS of

different type). They operate in the physical, data link and network layers. They
contain software that enable them to determine which of the several possible paths
is the best for a particular transmission.
4. Gateways: They relay packets among networks that have different protocols (e.g
between a LAN and a WAN). They accept a packet formatted for one protocol and
convert it to a packet formatted for another protocol before forwarding it. They
operate in all seven layers of the OSI model.

98. What is ICMP?

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.

100. What is difference between ARP and RARP?

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.

100. What is difference between ARP and RARP?

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.

102. What is the range of addresses in the classes of internet addresses?

Class A- 0.0.0.0-127.255.255.255
Class B- 128.0.0.0- 191.255.255.255
Class C- 192.0.0.0-223.255.255.255
Class D-224.0.0.0- 239.255.255.255
Class E- 240.0.0.0-247.255.255.255

103. What is the difference between TFTP and FTP application layer protocols?
The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TF TP) 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 standardmechanism provided by TCP /IP for
copying a fle from one host to another. It uses the services offer by TCP and so is
reliable and secure. It establis hes two connections (virtual circuits) between the
hosts, one for data transfer and another for control information.

104 What are major types of networks and explain?

Server-based network: provide centralized control of network resources and

rely on server computers to provide security and network administration
Peerto-peer network: computers can act as both servers sharing resources and
as clients using the resources

105. What are the important topologies for networks?

1. BUS topology: In this each computer is directly connected to primary network

cable in a single line.
Advantages: Inexpensive, easy to install, simple to understand, easy to extend
2. STAR topology: In this all computers are connected using a central hub.
Advantages: Can be inexpensive, easy to install and reconfigure and easy to

trouble shoot physical problems.

3. RING topology: In this all computers are connected in loop. Advantages: Al
computers have equal access to network media, installation can be sinple, and
signal does not degrade as much as in other topologies because each computer
regenerates it.

106. What is mesh network?

Anetwork in which there are multiple network links between computers to provide
multiple paths for data to travel.

107. What is difference between baseband and broadband transmission?

Ina 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.

108. Explain 5-43 rule?

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.

109. What MAU?

In token Ring, hub is called Multistation Access Unit(MAU).

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 witha router.
111. Why should you care about the OSI Reference Model?
It provides a framework for discussing network operations and design.

112. What is logical link control?

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 betweenm
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.

114 What is virtual path?

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.

115. What is packet filter?

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

116. What is traffic shaping?

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 trafîic shaping

117. What is multicast routing?

Sending a message to a group is called multicasting, and its routing algorithm is
called multicast routing

118. What is region?

When hierarchical routing is used, the routers are divided into what we will all
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.

119. What is silly window syndrome?

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.

120. What are Digrams and Trigrams?

The most common two letter combinations are called as digrams. e.g th, în, er, re
and an. The most common three letter combinations are called as trigrams. e.g the,
ing, and, and ion.