Q1.

(a) “Before communicating with one another, individuals must use established rules or agreements to
govern the conversation.” Discuss this statement. (6 marks)
- Protocols are the rules that will be followed by communication, thus it is governing all the
communication.

- The purpose of establishing rules or agreement is to ensure the interoperability and compatibility
among different devices and systems that use different hardware, software and languages.

- All the information can be exchanged efficiently and safely only when all devices and systems are
using the same way of communication protocols. > Protocols are used for effective
communication.
- The purpose of having protocols is to ensure that rules and agreements are followed to ensure that
the message being sent is delivered correctly and successfully.
- In network communication, protocols can be used to define message encoding, message delivery
options, message formatting and encapsulation, message timing and message size.

Q2 (a) All communication whether face-to-face or over a network, is governed by predetermined rules called
protocols. Differentiate between a network protocol with a protocol suite. (6 marks)

Networking protocols:

define a common format and set of rules for exchanging messages between devices.

Protocol suite:

• A group of inter-related protocols necessary to perform a communication function

• Sets of rules that work together to help solve a function.

- These protocols are implemented in the hardware and software that is located in the host of a network device.

(b) Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model is created by International Standards
Organisation (ISO) to develop standards for networks and to facilitate multivendor equipment
interoperability. List the SEVEN (7) layers of the OSI model and also describe ONE function
for each layer. (14 marks)

Layer Function
7 - Application Contains protocols used for process-to-process communications.

6 - Presentation Provides for common representation of the data transferred

between application layer services.
5 - Session Provides services to the presentation layer and to manage data
exchange.
4 - Transport Defines services to segment, transfer and reassemble the data for
individual communications.
3 - Network Provides services to exchange the individual pieces of data over
the network.
 2 - Data Link Describes methods for exchanging data frames over a common
media.
1 - Physical Describes the means to activate, maintain and de-activate physical
connections.

(c) List TWO (2) protocols (name in full) that are associated with Layer 2, 3, 4 and 7 of the OSI
model respectively. (8 marks)

Layer of the Protocols

OSI Model
Layer 7 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Domain Name System
(DNS)
Layer 4 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol
(UDP)
Layer 3 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), Internet Protocol version 6
(IPv6)
Layer 2 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), Ethernet

Q3. (a) Describe segmentation. (2 marks)

Segmentation is a process which divides large streams of message data into smaller, more
manageable pieces to send over the network.

(b) Why is there a need to segment a large piece of message? (2 marks)

- When a large piece of message is being segmented, the speed of transmitting data over the
network will be increased without tying up a communications link.
- When a large piece of retransmitted message is being sent, it can cause delay in the
communication.

- When there is a failed segment which failed to reach the destination, only the specific segment
is needed to be instead of the entire data stream.
- Communication has increased reliability due to segmentation.
 (c) State any ONE (1) disadvantage of segmentation. (2 marks)
Segmentation may cost more memory and processing resources at both sender and receiver
to manage multiple segments.
-Segmentation increases the level of complexity for communication because larger data
would mean for smaller pieces of information are being sent.
- When segmentation is done, it can be time consuming as each segment would need to go
through the same process.

(d) List down the layers of the TCP/IP protocol suite and its protocol data unit (PDU).
(6 marks)
TCP/IP model PDU
Application Application layer PDU > Data
Transport Transport layer PDU > Segment

Internet Network layer PDU > Packet

Network Access Data Link Layer PDU > Frame and Bits

Extra questions:
Q2. b) Consider the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite, classify
which layer the following protocols belong to. (Notes: You need to answer the respective layer by
name but not in number. For example, “Network Access Layer” is a valid answer but not “layer
1”.) (Sept 2017-TARUC)

(i) Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) (1 mark)

Application Layer

(ii) Internet Protocol (IP) (1 mark)

Internet Layer

(iii) User Datagram Protocol (UDP) (1 mark)

Transport Layer

c) Differentiate between physical address and logical address. (4 marks)

Physical address Logical address

Physical address is an actual location in the memory. Logical address is generated by CPU during program
execution.

Physical address requires mapping from logical address. Logical address is used by the process to access the
memory.

Responsible for delivering the data link frame from one Responsible for delivering the IP packet from the original
network interface card (NIC) to another NIC on the same source to the final destination, which may be on the same
network. network or a remote network.
Q3. a) Discuss any TWO benefits of using a layered model. (4 marks)
A layered model can prevent technology changes in one layer from affecting other layers.
A layered model can provide a common language to describe networking functions and
capabilities.
Assisting in protocol design since protocols at each layer have defined functions.
Fostering competition because products from different vendors can work together.