Networking concepts (64 Questions and there answers)

Networking concepts

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

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

2.      What is subnet?

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

3.      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.

4.      What are the possible ways of data exchange?

            (i) Simplex       (ii) Half-duplex           (iii) Full-duplex.

5.      What is SAP?

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

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

The function of PAD (Packet Assembler Disassembler) is described 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"

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

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

           

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

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

9.      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.

10.  What is redirector?

            Redirector is software that intercepts file or prints I/O requests and translates them into network requests. This comes under presentation layer.

11.  What is NETBIOS and NETBEUI?

            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.

12.  What is RAID?

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

13.  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.

14.  What is Brouter?

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

15.  What is cladding?

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

16.  What is point-to-point protocol

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

17.  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

18.  What is attenuation?

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

19.  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.

20.  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 N is no-of-bits represented by each signal shift.

21.  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.

22.  What are the types of Transmission media?

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.

23.  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:

Ø  802.1 is an internetworking standard for compatibility of different LANs and MANs across protocols.

Ø  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.

Ø  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).

Ø  802.6 is distributed queue dual bus (DQDB) designed to be used in MANs.

24.  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 frame is a information frame (I - frame) or a supervisory frame (S - frame) or a unnumbered frame (U - frame).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

    

26.  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.

27.  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.

28.  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.

29.  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.  

                    

30.  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        

31.  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.

32.  What are major types of networks and explain?

Ø  Server-based network

Ø  Peer-to-peer network

Peer-to-peer network, computers can act as both servers sharing resources and as clients using the resources.

Server-based networks provide centralized control of network resources and rely on server computers to provide security and network administration

33.  What are the important topologies for networks?

Ø  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.

Ø  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.

Ø  RING topology:

                        In this all computers are connected in loop.

Advantages:

                        All computers have equal access to network media, installation can be simple, and signal does not degrade as much as in other topologies because each computer regenerates it.

34.  What is mesh network?

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

35.  What is difference between baseband and broadband transmission?

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.

36.  Explain 5-4-3 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.

37.  What MAU?

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

38.  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

39.  Why should you care about the OSI Reference Model?

It provides a framework for discussing network operations and design.

40.  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 between computers when they are sending data across the physical network connection.

41.  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.

42.  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.

43.  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.

44.  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 traffic shaping.

45.  What is multicast routing?

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

46.  What is region?

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.

47.  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.

48.  What are Digrams and Trigrams?

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.

49.  Expand IDEA.

IDEA stands for International Data Encryption Algorithm.

50.  What is wide-mouth frog?

Wide-mouth frog is the simplest known key distribution center (KDC) authentication protocol.

51.  What is Mail Gateway?

It is a system that performs a protocol translation between different electronic mail delivery protocols.

52.  What is IGP (Interior Gateway Protocol)?

It is any routing protocol used within an autonomous system.

53.  What is EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol)?

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.

54.  What is autonomous system?

It is a collection of routers under the control of a single administrative authority and that uses a common Interior Gateway Protocol.

55.  What is BGP (Border 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).

56.  What is Gateway-to-Gateway protocol?

It is a protocol formerly used to exchange routing information between Internet core routers.

57.  What is NVT (Network Virtual Terminal)?

It is a set of rules defining a very simple virtual terminal interaction. The NVT is used in the start of a Telnet session.

58.  What is a Multi-homed Host?

It is a host that has a multiple network interfaces and that requires multiple IP addresses is called as a Multi-homed Host.

59.  What is Kerberos?

It is an authentication service developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Kerberos uses encryption to prevent intruders from discovering passwords and gaining unauthorized access to files.

60.  What is OSPF?

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.

61.  What is Proxy ARP?

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.

62.  What is SLIP (Serial Line Interface Protocol)?

It is a very simple protocol used for transmission of IP datagrams across a serial line.

63.  What is RIP (Routing Information Protocol)?

It is a simple protocol used to exchange information between the routers.

64.  What is source route?

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.

ANSWERS TO SELECTED QUESTION

1. What are the two types of transmission technology available? Explain in detail.

There are basically two types of transmission technologies available :

1. Broadcast: In this type every host sends the packet/message to all the hosts. The message has a source address and a destination address. Destination address helps the host to identify whether the message is indeed for them or somebody else. The source address allows them to identify from whom the message has come.

2. Point to Point: Point-to-point networks consist of many connections between individual pairs of machines. To go from the source to the destination, a packet on this type of network may have to first visit one or more intermediate machines. Often multiple routes, of different lengths are possible, so routing algorithms play an important role in point-to-point networks.

2. What Is a MAC Address? Explain in detail.

MAC address

The Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to most network adapters or network interface cards (NICs) by the manufacturer for identification, and used in the Media Access Control protocol sublayer. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer's registered identification number. It may also be known as an Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA), hardware address, adapter address, or physical address.

They uniquely identify an adapter on a LAN. MAC addresses are 12-digit hexadecimal numbers (48 bits in length). By convention, MAC addresses are usually written in one of the following two formats:

MM:MM:MM:SS:SS:SS

MM-MM-MM-SS-SS-SS

The first half of a MAC address contains the ID number of the adapter manufacturer. These IDs are regulated by an Internet standards body (see sidebar). The second half of a MAC address represents the serial number assigned to the adapter by the manufacturer. In the example,

00:A0:C9:14:C8:29

The prefix 00A0C9 indicates the manufacturer is Intel Corporation.

Why MAC Addresses?

Recall that TCP/IP and other mainstream networking architectures generally adopt the OSI model. In this model, network functionality is subdivided into layers. MAC addresses function at the data link layer (layer 2 in the OSI model). They allow computers to uniquely identify themselves on a network at this relatively low level.

3. What is the difference between bit rate and baud rate?

The bit rate and baud rate are dependent and inter-related. But the simplest explanation is that a Bit Rate is how many data bits are transmitted per second. A baud Rate is the measurement of the number of times per second a signal in a communications channel changes.

Bit rates measure of the number of data bits (that's 0's and 1's) transmitted in one second in a communication channel. A figure of 2400 bits per second means 2400 zeros or ones can be transmitted in one second, hence the abbreviation "bps". Individual characters (for example letters or numbers) which are also referred to as bytes are composed of several bits.

A baud rate, by definition, means the number of times a signal in a communications channel changes state or varies. For example, a 2400 baud rate means that the channel can change states up to 2400 times per second. The term "change state", means that it can change from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0 up to X (in this case, 2400) times per second. It also refers to the actual state of the connection, such as voltage, frequency or phase level).

The main difference of the two is that one change of state can transmit one bit - or slightly more or less than one bit, that depends on the modulation technique used. So the bit bate (bps) and baud rate (baud per second) have this connection:

bps = baud per second x the number of bit per baud.

4. What is the difference between baseband and broadband transmission?

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.

Baseband transmission

1) Uses digital signaling

2) No frequency-division multiplexing

3) Bi-directional transmission

4) Signal travels over short distances

Broadband transmission

1) Uses analog signaling

2) Unidirectional transmission

3) Frequency-division multiplexing is possible

4) Signal can travel over long distances before being attenuated

5.What is the difference between node, host, terminal, system and hub?

Hub: A network hub or repeater hub is a networking device that is used to connect several devices for a single network segment.

Fig. A HUB

It is a device for connecting multiple twisted pair or fiber optic Ethernet devices together and thus making them act as a single network segment. Hubs work at the physical layer (layer 1) of the OSI model. The device is thus a form of multiport repeater. Repeater hubs also participate in collision detection, forwarding a jam signal to all ports if it detects acollision.

Node: It can be any device connected to a network for example in a LAN, computers and printers can be called as nodes.

Host: It can be any end system connected to a network, for example it may be a computer, home security system, cell phone, printer, etc.,

Terminal: A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system.

System: The system includes not only the computer, but also any software and peripheral devices that are necessary to make the computer function. Every computer system, for example, requires an operating system.

6. What are the major types of networks? Explain.

Different types of (private) networks are distinguished based on their size (in terms of the number of machines), their data transfer speed, and their reach. Private networks are networks that belong to a single organisation. There are usually said to be three categories of networks:

LAN (local area network)

MAN (metropolitan area network)

WAN (wide area network)

LAN

LAN stands for Local Area Network. It's a group of computers which all belong to the same organization, and which are linked within a small geographic area using a network, and often the same technology (the most widespread being Ethernet).

A local area network is a network in its simplest form. Data transfer speeds over a local area network can reach up to 10 Mbps (such as for an Ethernet network) and 1 Gbps (as with FDDI or Gigabit Ethernet). A local area network can reach as many as 100, or even 1000, users.

By expanding the definition of a LAN to the services that it provides, two different operating modes can be defined:

In a "peer-to-peer" network, in which communication is carried out from one computer to another, without a central computer, and where each computer has the same role.

in a "client/server" environment, in which a central computer provides network services to users.

MAN

MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks) connect multiple geographically nearby LANs to one another (over an area of up to a few dozen kilometres) at high speeds. Thus, a MAN lets two remote nodes communicate as if they were part of the same local area network.

A MAN is made from switches or routers connected to one another with high-speed links (usually fibre optic cables).

WANs

WAN

A WAN (Wide Area Network or extended network) connects multiple LANs to one another over great geographic distances.

The speed available on a WAN varies depending on the cost of the connections (which increases with distance) and may be low.

WANs operate using routers, which can "choose" the most appropriate path for data to take to reach a network node. The most well-known WAN is the Internet.

7. Why should we care about the OSI Reference Model? What is the main purpose for creating this OSI model? Why it is a layered model?

We should care about this model because this was the 1st model to be created for internet standard. So this is an internet standard model and all the standards made after this model follow all the rules of this model too.

Main purpose for creating this model was to send data from one terminal to another terminal without any loss in the transmitted data.

It is a layered model because every layer is used for some specific work and it is not possible for one layer to handle all the tasks of transmitting data.

8. What is an email client? What is difference between email client and web mail?

Email Client:

Email clients download your emails onto your computer. Using a specialized email program such as Outlook Express or Apple Mail has the advantage of giving you complete control over your email; every email you receive is placed on your computer and you can keep as many large file attachments as you want.

Webmail:

If you host with Needmore Designs you have a limited amount of space available for your web mailbox. For daily use you will want to use an email client. Nevertheless you might find that you want to check your email while traveling.

Checking your email through our webmail is similar to using Hotmail or YAHOO! Mail. You never actually copy your messages to your computer; in fact you are looking at them through your web browser on somebody else's computer. When you are not online you are not able to see your email.

9. If a person is accessing his corporate network from home. How is the connection established and how does the data flow from internet to intranet?

If aperson wants to access his corporate network from home he have to establish a VPN (virtual private network): He will require the following in case if want to connect by wireless technology: · A notebook PC, Pocket PCs, or Tablet PC equipped with wireless WAN access cards or with built-in support for wireless WANs · A wireless WAN card and WAN connectivity provider

» Step 1: Set up VPN tunnelling into your corporate resources » Step 3 Ensure secure wireless email transmission » Step 5 Get a cost-effective data roaming plan

» Step 2: Deliver wireless connectivity through your VPN » Step 4 Choose a wireless service provider » Step 6 Equip your computer or handheld for wireless WAN access

10. What is difference between dial-up internet connection and broadband connection?

The fundamental difference between dialup and broadband connections is the manner in which the connection is made from PC to the Internet.

A dialup service connects to the Internet through a phone line with a maximum speed of 56kbps.

Broadband refers to a connection that has capacity to transmit large amount of data at high speed. Presently a connection having download speeds of 256kbps or more is classified as broadband.

Broadband comes in a number of forms - depending how the data is delivered - for example via cable, satellite and most commonly using a telephone line where as a dialup service always connects to the Internet through a phone line.

While using a dialup connection, we need to pay for a local call every time we dial the Internet. In addition phone line is engaged while we are on the Internet. With a broadband connection, phone line (if existing phone line is used) can still be used while using the Internet and both the phone and the Internet work simultaneously and no dialup costs are incurred. Telecommunication systems were originally built to carry analogue signals. In a dial up connection, modems are used to translate digital into analogue signals and communicating with Internet.

Dialup connection speeds make it more difficult to view certain types of media, such as video, and it can take much longer to download and open emial attachments, play online games and so on.

In an broadband system, digital data does not have to be converted into analogue. it uses a different part of the line's frequency spectrum, offers much wider bandwidth 9more lanes) and does not interfere with the use of the line for voice transmission. When connected to the Internet, such a connection allows surfing or downloading much faster than a dial-up connection. Dialup connection users a built-in modem to connect and does not require a special router, whereas broadband requires a special router or modem.

In terms of security for attack, dialup is more secured then broadband, Broadband users need to use a firewall to keep the computer "invisible" to the outside.