EE555: "Broadband Networks Architecture"

Professor A. Zahid, Summer Semester 2003

Reading Assignment #1
"Warland and Varaiya" Text: "William Stalling" Text:

• Chapter 1: Sections 1.1 through 1.3 • Chapter 1: Sections 1.1 through 1.3
• Chapter 2: Sections 2.1 through 2.7 • Chapter 2: Sections 2.1 through 2.4
• Chapter 3: Sections 3.1, 3.2 • Chapter 3: Sections 3.1 through 3.4
• Chapter 4: Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.1,
4.6.3

Problems Assignment #1

1. List at least three differences (in a table format) between the following

• Circuit switching vs. Packet switching

2. Compare the header fields of IPv.4 and IPv.6 and explain the differences. What are
the limitations of IPv.4 and what are some proposed solutions for these limitations?
This is question 3.12 in Stalling's book

3. List at least three advantages in subnetting. A class B network on the Internet has a
subnet mask of 255.255.240.0. What is the maximum number of hosts per that
subnet? A host on that subnet has an IP address of 128.125.100.100. What is the
subnet address?

4. Suppose machine C receives an ARP request sent from A looking for the MAC
address of B, and suppose C has the binding from the IP address of B and the MAC
address of B in its cache. Should C answer the request? Why?

5. What are the pros and cons of intermediate re-assembly of an Internet fragmented
packet vs. re-assembly at the final destination? This is question 3.4 in Stalling's book

6. A 4480-Octet packet is to be transmitted over an Ethernet with a maximum MTU of

1
7. Assume that all packets use only the basic 20-byte IP header.

a) If a 1000-byte packet encounters a link with a 300-byte MTU, how many

b) If these fragments now encounter a network with a 100-byte MTU, how many
fragments will traverse this link?

c) Think of a jumbo IPv4 datagram of size 65,535 bytes. If the original jumbo
datagram is fragmented into as many Datagrams as possible, then how many
Datagrams will be produced?

8. Explain how one might implement a program to discover the smallest MTU along a
path from source host A to destination host B. The program should operate using only
standard protocols, and any new code must be constrained to run only on host A.

9. Suppose that there are 22 hops from source A to destination B, but 7 of the hops are
through an IP tunnel. If the TTL of the packet was set to 31 by A, then what will be
the value of the TTL when the packet arrives at B?

10. An organization has a class C network 200.1.1.0 and wants to form subnets for four
departments, with hosts as follows: A (72 hosts), B (35 hosts), C (20 hosts) and D (18
hosts). Give a possible arrangement of subnet masks to make this possible. Suggest
what the organization might do id department D grows to 34 hosts?

11. An application generates chunks of 40 bytes of data every 20 msec. Each chunk gets
encapsulated in a TCP segment and then in an IP packet. What percentage of the IP
packet is a header and what percentage is data?

12. A disadvantage of legacy (shared) LANs is that the capacity is wasted due to
collisions when multiple stations attempt to transmit at the same time. Suppose the
time is divided into discrete slots with each of N stations attempting to transmit, with
probability "p", during each time slot. What fraction of time slots is wasted due to
multiple simultaneous transmission attempts? (Hint: You can use the Binomial
distribution here). This is question 6.3 in Stalling's book