Computer Networks
Mid-Semester Exam (MAKEUP)
Solution Key and Marking Scheme
Rev-1.0
Note to the Students
1. Review the solution key and discuss any doubts through the technical question
answer forum of eLearn portal. Please DO NOT send any email to the faculty.
2. Marking scheme is also provided (in red colour) along with each solution. Review
the scheme carefully, before submitting any re-check request.
3. Re-check requests are considered only through the portal where you took the exam.
Please follow the WILP instructions for submitting the re-check requests. Please DO
NOT send any email to the faculty for any re-checks.
Page 1 of 17
Q.1A small business with 20 employees is setting up an email system. The business must select between POP3
and IMAP as email retrieving protocols. Few of its employees work remotely using multiple devices, while
others use only their office desktops. Answer with proper technical justification: [2.5 Marks]
i. Which email retrieval protocol would be better suited for remote employees?
ii. Which protocol would be more efficient if the business wants to reduce server storage?
i. IMAP is better suited for remote employees because it synchronizes emails across multiple devices
like laptops, smartphone and tablets. POP3 downloads emails to a single device and deletes them
from the email server, making it unsuitable for multi-device access. [1.25 marks]
ii. POP3 is suited for reducing server storage because it downloads emails and removes them from the
mail server, whereas IMAP keeps all emails on the server unless manually deleted. [1.25 marks]
Q.2 A video streaming application sends data over a packet-switched network. Each packet has a size of 5000
bytes and needs to travel through 5 routers before reaching the destination. Each link has a bandwidth of 100
Mbps, the average propagation delay per link is 3 ms, and the queuing delay at each router is 4 ms. The
processing delay per router is 1 ms. Calculate the total end-to-end delay for a packet. Show all the calculations
and maintain the reasonable accuracy. Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be
accepted. [2.5 Marks]
Queueing delay = 5x4 = 20 ms 0.5 marks
Processing delay = 5x1 = 5 ms 0.5 marks
Propagation delay (6 hops) = 6x3 = 18 ms 0.5 marks
Transmission delay (6 hops) = (6 x 5000 x 8) / (100 x 106) = 2.4 ms 0.5 marks
Total Delay = 20 + 5 + 18 + 2.4 = 45.4 ms 0.5 marks
Note: A diagram is not asked but it helps to solve the question.
Page 2 of 17
Q.3 The initial Slow Start Threshold (ssthresh) for TCP is set to 8 Maximum Segment Size (MSS) and the slow
start phase starts from transmission round 1 with Congestion Window (cwnd) of size 1 MSS. Triple-ACK
event occurs at the transmission round-8. Assuming no further timeout or triple-ACK event occurs, what will
be the cwnd size at the transmission round-11 in case of: (i) TCP-Reno (ii) TCP Tahoe? Justify your answer
with brief explanation or a plot. [2.5 Marks]
The cwnd at the transmission round-11: For TCP-Reno = 11, For TCP-Tahoe = 4.
At the transmission round 4, the cwnd size becomes 8 which is equal to ssthresh.
For transmission rounds 5 to 8, the cwnd size increase linearly when tripe-ACK event occurs.
The value of ssthresh is set to half of cwnd size at transmission round 8 and it will become 6.
TCP Reno: cwnd size is set to new ssthresh+3MSS = 9 MSS and it increases linearly. At
transmission round 11, the cwnd size becomes 11.
TCP Tahoe: cwnd size is set to 1 MSS and it enters into slow start phase. At transmission round
11, the cwnd size becomes 4.
1.25 marks for each. Answer must be supported with proper explanation or plot as shown above,
otherwise 50% marks will be deducted for the direct and correct answer. No marks for the
wrong answer with the wrong explanation.
Q.4 A TCP connection has a bandwidth of 10 Mbps and an average RTT of 100ms. Assuming MSS as 1500
bytes, no losses and no overheads, what is the maximum achievable throughput using the bandwidth-delay
product in terms of segments? [2.5 Marks]
Bandwidth delay product = 10x106 x 100 x 10-3 = 106 bits 1 mark
Segment size = 1500 x 8 = 12000 bits 0.5 marks
Achievable throughput in terms of segments = 106 / 12000 = 83.33 segments 1 mark
Page 3 of 17
Q.5 A TCP connection has an RTT of 200ms. If the sender sends a segment and does not receive an
acknowledgment (ACK) within the estimated RTT, the sender retransmits the segment. The second
transmission also fails and finally the ACK arrives near the end of the third timeout. How long did the TCP
sender wait before receiving the ACK? Assume an exponential back off strategy where each retransmission
timeout doubles. Provide proper details to justify your answer. [2.5 Marks]
First timeout = 200 ms, Second timeout = 400 ms, Third timeout = 800 ms 1.25 marks
So total wait by the TCP sender = 200+400+800 = 1400 ms = 1.4 sec 1.25 marks
Page 4 of 17
Q.6 Set. (A) A host-X sends a maximum size of file to host-Y in such a way that TCP sequence number starts
from 0 and not exhausted. Segment size is fixed as 1024 bytes in this transmission. Additional 58 bytes are
added in each segment for transport, network and link layer headers. There is no flow or congestion control
and the segments are transmitted back to back continuously without any other overhead. How long will it take
to transmit this file on a 256 Mbps link? Show all the calculations and maintain the reasonable accuracy.
Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
TCP sequence number field is 32 bits long so maximum file size is
= 232 = 4294967296 bytes 1 mark
4294967296
Total Segments = = 4194304 0.25 marks
1024
Additional Header bytes = 4194304 ∗ 58 = 243269632 0.25 marks
Total bytes to be transmitted = 4294967296 + 243269632 = 4538236928 0.25 marks
4538236928 ∗ 8
Transmission time = = 𝟏𝟒𝟏. 𝟖𝟐 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 0.75 marks
256 ∗ 106
Q.6 Set. (B) A host-X sends a maximum size of file to host-Y in such a way that TCP sequence number starts
from 0 and not exhausted. Segment size is fixed as 2048 bytes in this transmission. Additional 58 bytes are
added in each segment for transport, network and link layer headers. There is no flow or congestion control
and the segments are transmitted back to back continuously without any other overhead. How long will it take
to transmit this file on a 384 Mbps link? Show all the calculations and maintain the reasonable accuracy.
Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
TCP sequence number field is 32 bits long so maximum file size is
= 232 = 4294967296 bytes 1 mark
4294967296
Total Segments = = 2097152 0.25 marks
2048
Additional Header bytes = 2097152 ∗ 58 = 121634816 0.25 marks
Total bytes to be transmitted = 4294967296 + 121634816 = 4416602112 0.25 marks
4416602112 ∗ 8
Transmission time = = 𝟗𝟐. 𝟎𝟏 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 0.75 marks
384 ∗ 106
Page 5 of 17
Q.6 Set. (C) A host-X sends a maximum size of file to host-Y in such a way that TCP sequence number starts
from 0 and not exhausted. Segment size is fixed as 4096 bytes in this transmission. Additional 58 bytes are
added in each segment for transport, network and link layer headers. There is no flow or congestion control
and the segments are transmitted back to back continuously without any other overhead. How long will it take
to transmit this file on a 512 Mbps link? Show all the calculations and maintain the reasonable accuracy.
Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
TCP sequence number field is 32 bits long so maximum file size is
= 232 = 4294967296 bytes 1 mark
4294967296
Total Segments = = 1048576 0.25 marks
4096
Additional Header bytes = 1048576 ∗ 58 = 60817408 0.25 marks
Total bytes to be transmitted = 4294967296 + 60817408 = 4355784704 0.25 marks
4355784704 ∗ 8
Transmission time = = 𝟔𝟖. 𝟎𝟔 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬 0.75 marks
512 ∗ 106
Page 6 of 17
Q.7 Set. (A) A network engineer captured TCP header bytes in hexadecimal as EA F1 00 50 12 18 32 D5 66
C0 21 9C 50 18 01 02 B6 F6 00 00…. Based on this data answer the following questions providing proper
technical reasons. Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
i. Who is receiver for this TCP segment?
ii. Do you have the complete set of bytes for the TCP header?
(i) Destination port is 0x50 = 80 in decimal. So the receiver is HTTP web server. 1.25 marks
(ii) The first 4 bits of the 13 byte is 0x5. That means the TCP header is 20 bytes long. All the 20 bytes
th
are present in the given data. 1.25 marks
No marks for the direct answers which are not supported by the reasoning.
Q.7 Set. (B) A network engineer captured TCP header bytes in hexadecimal as 00 50 EA F1 66 C0 21 9C 12
18 36 D1 60 18 00 3D 76 88 00 00…. Based on this data answer the following questions providing proper
technical reasons. Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
i. Who is sender for this TCP segment?
ii. Do you have the complete set of bytes for the TCP header?
(i) Source port is 0x50 = 80 in decimal. So the sender is HTTP web server. 1.25 marks
(ii) The first 4 bits of the 13th byte is 0x6. That means the TCP header is 24 bytes long. Only 20 bytes are
provided in the question so we do not have the complete TCP header. 1.25 marks
No marks for the direct answers which are not supported by the reasoning.
Q.7 Set. (C) A network engineer captured TCP header bytes in hexadecimal as 06 B1 00 19 F7 8A E9 14 2D
7A 23 6F 70 18 FA 84 02 95 00 00…. Based on this data answer the following questions providing proper
technical reasons. Direct answers or copy and paste from web/any tool will not be accepted. [2.5 Marks]
i. Who is receiver for this TCP segment?
ii. Do you have the complete set of bytes for the TCP header?
(i) Destination port is 0x19 = 25 in decimal. So the receiver is SMTP server. 1.25 marks
(ii) The first 4 bits of the 13 byte is 0x7. That means the TCP header is 28 bytes long. Only 20 bytes are
th
provided in the question so we do not have the complete TCP header. 1.25 marks
No marks for the direct answers which are not supported by the reasoning.
Page 7 of 17
Q.8 Set. (A) Four-tuple DNS resource records are shown below along with their corresponding DNS servers.
Find the values of X and Y. To secure marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper
technical details. [2.5 Marks]
X = NS to indicate the Name Server type resource record 1.25 marks
Y = CNAME to indicate Canonical Name type resource record 1.25 marks
No marks for irrelevant details.
Q.8 Set. (B) Four-tuple DNS resource records are shown below along with their corresponding DNS server.
Find the values of X and Y. To secure marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper
technical details. [2.5 Marks]
X = CNAME to indicate Canonical Name type resource record 1.25 marks
Y = MX to indicate Mail Server type resource record 1.25 marks
No marks for irrelevant details.
Page 8 of 17
Q.8 Set. (C) Four-tuple DNS resource records are shown below along with their corresponding DNS server.
Find the values of X and Y. To secure marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper
technical details. [2.5 Marks]
X = CNAME to indicate Canonical Name type resource record 1.25 marks
Y = AAAA to indicate IPv6 type resource record 1.25 marks
No marks for irrelevant details.
Page 9 of 17
Q.9 Set. (A) Two friends are discussing about SMTP. Evaluate their statements if correct or wrong. To secure
marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
Jacob’s statement is correct, SMTP without MIME supports only 7-bit ASCII data. 1.25 marks
David’s statement is wrong. His agent needs to use email access protocol like IMAP or POP3. May be
those protocols are down. 1.25 marks
No marks for irrelevant details.
Q.9 Set. (B) Two friends are discussing about SMTP. Evaluate their statements if correct or wrong. To secure
marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
Jacob’s statement is wrong, He is talking about HTTP. 1.25 marks
David’s statement is correct. When the complete email body is entered, a CRLF.CRLF is put in the
end to mark the end of data. 1.25 marks
No marks for irrelevant details.
Page 10 of 17
Q.9 Set. (C) Two friends are discussing about SMTP. Evaluate their statements if correct or wrong. To secure
marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
Jacob’s statement is wrong, If TCP is the transport protocol, its 3-way handshaking is always
required. 1.25 marks
David’s statement is wrong. SMTP is a push protocol. SMTP client pushes to the messages to the
SMTP server. 1.25 marks
No marks for irrelevant details.
Page 11 of 17
Q.10 Set. (A) A snapshot of HTTP/1.1 request is given below. Are there any errors in it? If you do not see any
error, mention it clearly. To secure marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper
technical details. [2.5 Marks]
(i) Host header line not present. It is mandatory. 1.25 marks
(ii) After the last header line, one more <cr><lf> is required 1.25 marks
No marks for other irrelevant details.
Q.10 Set. (B) A snapshot of HTTP/1.1 request is given below. Are there any errors in it? If you do not see any
error, mention it clearly. To secure marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper
technical details. [2.5 Marks]
(i) HTTP version must be present in the request line . 1.25 marks
(ii) Host header value is not valid. It must be a fully qualified host name. 1.25 marks
No marks for other irrelevant details.
Page 12 of 17
Q.10 Set. (C) A snapshot of HTTP/1.1 request is given below. Are there any errors in it? If you do not see any
error, mention it clearly. To secure marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper
technical details. [2.5 Marks]
(i) There is no value called persistent for the Connection header. 1.25 marks
(ii) After the last header line, one more <cr><lf> is required 1.25 marks
No marks for other irrelevant details.
Page 13 of 17
Q.11 Set. (A) A Go-Back-N sender with sliding window size 3 start sending segments afresh as shown below.
Find out the values of X, Y and the event that will take place at the timeout (if at all). To secure marks,
your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
GBN receiver keeps sending the acknowledgement for the segments that is not received.
So, X = Y = 1 0.75x2 = 1.5 marks
At timeout, the sender will re-transmit segments-1, 2 and 3. 1 mark
No marks for other irrelevant details.
Q.11 Set. (B) A Selective Repeat sender with sliding window size 3 start sending segments afresh as shown
below. Find out the values of X, Y and the event that will take place at the timeout (if at all). To secure
marks, your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
SR receiver will acknowledge received segments irrespective of the fact previous segment is not
received. So, X = 2 and Y = 3 0.75x2 = 1.5 marks
At timeout, the sender will re-transmit segments-1 alone. 1 mark
No marks for other irrelevant details.
Page 14 of 17
Q.11 Set. (C) A Go-Back-N sender with sliding window size 3 start sending segments afresh as shown below.
Find out the values of X, Y and the event that will take place at the timeout (if at all). To secure marks,
your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
GBN receiver will acknowledge all three segments individually.
So, X = 1 and Y = 3 0.75x2 = 1.5 marks
GBN follows cumulative acknowledgement understanding. So timeout will not happen because after
receiving the acknowledgement for the Segment-3, sender will stop the timer. None of these
segments will be retransmitted. 1 mark
No marks for other irrelevant details.
Page 15 of 17
Q.12 Set. (A) Alice and Bob are discussing about networking. Find out the value of X and Y. To secure marks,
your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
Bob acknowledged the second segment with acknowledgement number 186 it means the second
segment had 186-134 = 52 payload bytes. So the first one had 97-52 = 45 payload bytes.
So Alice use the sequence number in the first segment as 134-45 = 89.
Therefore, X = 89 and Y = 45 payload bytes. 1.25x2 = 2.5 marks
X and Y values must match exactly the same with supporting details to get the marks.
Q.12 Set. (B) Alice and Bob are discussing about networking. Find out the value of X and Y. To secure marks,
your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
Bob received 30 payload bytes in the first segment. It means the second segment sequence
number was 134+30 = 164.
Since total 67 payload bytes were sent by Alice, it means the 37 payload bytes were present in
the second and its acknowledgement number was 164+37 = 201.
Therefore, X = 164 and Y = 201. 1.25x2 = 2.5 marks
X and Y values must match exactly the same with supporting details to get the marks.
Page 16 of 17
Q.12 Set. (C) Alice and Bob are discussing about networking. Find out the value of X and Y. To secure marks,
your answer should be in maximum 2-3 lines with proper technical details. [2.5 Marks]
Since the sequence number of the second segment was 234 and it contained 36 payload bytes,
Bob must have acknowledged it with acknowledgement number 234+36 = 270.
It also means the first segment had 87-36 = 51 payload bytes. So the sequence number of the
first segment = 234-51 = 183.
Therefore, X = 183 and Y = 270. 1.25x2 = 2.5 marks
X and Y values must match exactly the same with supporting details to get the marks.
Page 17 of 17
