MOSES WAMUTI I.

T
SCIE/02152/2020

DATA COMMUNICATION; Assignment 1

Question one (20 Marks)

(a) A magazine publisher based in Nairobi has a branch in Kisumu, and one in Mombasa. The company has
kept in touch by telephone and courier service.
Each office is networked. The networks were implemented five years ago and each has a 10 Base 5
Ethernet network.
Lately, the company has been developing projects that involve teams consisting of members from more
than one office. Each office has resources that others do not; the current projects require all of these
resources.
The networks have frequent cable problems, and each time they have one, the entire network goes down
until the problem is resolved.

The management team would like a networking solution which would offer easier troubleshooting, less
downtime, and WAN communications between sites. They would like the WAN connections to support
256 Kbps of data and several telephone conversations. The combination of long distance calls and
courier service should be eliminated by the WAN. Management would like the WAN to be able to
continue operation even if one of the WAN links fails.

i) Identify at least two items at every site that needs upgrading [2marks]
-The data transmission rate
-Line efficiency

ii) What type of WAN connection (link) might you use to connect the three sites to each other?
[2marks]
High level Data link control

iii) How many WAN connections will it take to connect the three sites? Show the links in a diagram
WAN
[2marks]
Eldoret Kakamega

WAN WAN

Kisumu

iv) What type of device could be used to connect the multiple signals from both voice and data and
put them on the same WAN link? [2 marks]
ISDN Router

v) What type of connectivity device should be used to connect the LAN to the multiple paths in the
WAN created? What IP addresses should be used for the LANs/ WANs [2 marks]
A router
192.168.1.0 , 10.0.0.0
 vi) Discuss the media that is suitable for individual the branch offices, stating the merits and demerits
of each media.
[5marks]
Cloud computing
Merit: There is improved collaboration
Demerit: It is liable to hacking therefore low security

Email
Merit: Email is quick and simple to use
Demerit: Email could potentially cause information overload

Virtual Private Network

Merit: Cost – effective security.
Demerit: Slow connection speed

Question two (20 marks)

(a) Describe the Digital Subscriber Line technologies collectively referred to as Xdsl, stating their
bandwidths and applications [6 marks]

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL, originally, digital subscriber loop) is a communication medium, which

is used to transfer internet through copper wire telecommunication line. Along with cable internet, DSL
is one of the most popular ways ISPs provide broadband internet access. 
 
 Its aim is to maintain the high speed of the internet being transferred.
 If we ask that how we are going to achieve such a thing i.e., both telephone and internet facility, then
the answer is by using splitters or DSL filters. Basically, the use splitter is to splits the frequency and
make sure that they can’t get interrupted.

Types of DSL
 
1. Symmetric DSL – SDSL,  splits the upstream and downstream frequencies evenly, providing equal
speeds to both uploading and downloading data transfer. This connection may
provide  2Mbps upstream and downstream.it is mostly preferred by small organizations.
2. Asymmetric DSL –  ADSL, provides a wider frequency range for downstream transfers, which offers
several times faster downstream speeds. an ADSL connection may offer  20 Mbps downstream and
1.5 Mbps upstream, it is because most users download more data than they upload.
Benefits – 
 
 No Additional Wiring –  A DSL connection makes use of your existing telephone wiring, so you will
not have to pay for expensive upgrades to your phone system.

 Cost-Effective –  DSL internet is a very cost-effective method and is best in connectivity

 Availability of DSL modems by the service providers.

 Users can use both telephone lines and the internet at the same time. And it is because the voice is
transferred on other frequencies and digital signals are transferred on others.
 Users can choose between different connection  speeds  and pricing  from various providers.

DSL Internet service only works over a limited physical distance and remains unavailable in many
areas where the local telephone infrastructure does not support DSL technology. The service is not
 available everywhere. The connection is faster for receiving data than it is for sending data over the
Internet. 

(b) Discuss any four-data communication and network troubleshooting tools. [4marks]

1. Ping Tools

The ICMP ping tool is a basic network troubleshooting tool that lets you assess if a device is reachable on
the network. It reports on errors such as packet loss, round-trip-time

2. Tracert/ Trace Route

Tracert (Windows) or traceroute (Linux) is a network diagnostic and troubleshooting tool to view the
route and measure transit delays of data packets in a network. It displays the number of hops between the
source and destination devices based on the hop limit concept, modifying the Time To Live (TTL) values.

3. Browse

Browse allows you to connect to the built-in GUI of most network devices using a 'http/ https' request.
This allows you to access the device settings or configuration to troubleshoot network issues with ease.

4. Telnet/ SSH

Telnet or Secure Shell (SSH) utility allows you to troubleshoot issues by establishing a CLI session with
Linux/Unix devices.

(c) Describe the implementations of Virtual Private Networks and how the various VPN security protocols
secure Virtual Private Networks against attacks [10 marks]

A VPN stands for "Virtual Private Network" and describes the opportunity to establish a protected
network connection when using public networks. It encrypts your internet traffic and disguise your
online identity.
A VPN connection establishes a secure connection between you and the internet. Via the VPN, all your
data traffic is routed through an encrypted virtual tunnel. This disguises your IP address when you use
the internet, making its location invisible to everyone.
Site-to-Site VPN: A site-to-site VPN  is designed to securely connect two geographically-distributed
sites. VPN functionality is included in most security gateways today. For instance a next-generation
firewall (NGFW) deployed at the perimeter of a network protects the corporate network and also serves
as a VPN gateway. All traffic flowing from one site to the other passes through this gateway, which
encrypts the traffic sent to the gateway at the other site. This gateway decrypts the data and forwards it
on to its destination.

Remote Access VPN: A remote access VPN is designed to link remote users securely to a corporate
network. For instance when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020, many organizations transitioned
to a remote workforce, and set up  secure remote access VPNs from the remote clients to connect to
critical business operations at the corporate site.
 VPN as a Service: VPN as a Service or a cloud VPN is a VPN hosted in cloud-based infrastructure
where packets from the client enter the Internet from that cloud infrastructure instead of the client’s
local address. Consumer VPNs commonly use this model, enabling users to protect themselves while
connecting to the Internet via insecure public Wi-Fi and provide some anonymity while accessing the
Internet.

Benefits of a VPN

VPNs can provide users and companies with several benefits, such as:

 Secure Connectivity:  A VPN’s encrypted connection makes it impossible for a third party to eavesdrop
on the connection without knowledge of the secret keys used for encryption and securing the data while
in transit.

 Simplified Distributed Networks: Any computers accessible from the public Internet need to have
public IP addresses – either directly or via Network Address Translation (NAT). A site-to-site VPN
simulates a direct connection between the two networks, enabling them to use private IP addresses for
internal traffic.

 Access Control: Every organization has systems and resources that are designed to only be accessible
to internal users.  A VPN provides a remote user or site with “internal” access – since the VPN
endpoint is inside the network firewall – making it possible to allow access to these resources to
authorized remote users without making these resources publicly accessible.