Faculty of ICT
COMPUTER NETWORKS 125R
&
NETWORK SYSTEMS 226
CN2115D/CN2F15D/NWS216D
Semester Test 1 Memo 1st Examiner
Dr PS Maswikaneg
Semester 2 - 2024
I declare that I am familiar Moderator
with, and will abide to the
rules of Tshwane University Total: 79 Mr EM Letsoalo
of Technology Mr NP Makondo
Pages: 8 including cover page
Student Number
_____________________
Student Signature
Initials and Surname
26 August 2024
Student Total Mark (/79)
Student Percentage Mark (%)
INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Fill in your details above and sign.
2. Write your answers on the answer sheet that is provided.
3. No Tippex allowed.
4. Go to the toilet before the test starts
Question 1. [8]
1.1 The ports of a switch can be configured independently for different needs. By means of a
figure, illustrate the difference between full-duplex and half-duplex communication. (4)
Ans:
1.2 Provide the difference between Telnet and Secure Shell (SSH) operations (4)
Ans:
Telnet uses TCP port 23. It is an older protocol that uses unsecure plaintext transmission
of both the login authentication (username and password) and the data transmitted
between the communicating devices.
Secure Shell (SSH) is a secure protocol that uses TCP port 22. It provides a secure
(encrypted) management connection to a remote device.
Question 2. [18]
2.1 Switches make Layer 2 forwarding decisions very quickly. Layer 2 switches use one of two
methods to switch frames. Briefly discuss those two switching forwarding methods used
by Layer 2 switches to forward frames. (6)
Ans:
A. Store-and-forward switching - This method makes a forwarding decision on a frame after it
has received the entire frame and checked the frame for errors using a mathematical error-
checking mechanism known as a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). Store-and-forward switching
is Cisco’s primary LAN switching method.
B. Cut-through switching - This method begins the forwarding process after the destination MAC
address of an incoming frame and the egress port have been determined.
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2.2 Store-and-forward switching, as distinguished from cut-through switching, has two
primary characteristics. Briefly explain those two characteristics. (4)
Ans:
A. Error checking - After receiving the entire frame on the ingress port, the switch compares the
frame check sequence (FCS) value in the last field of the datagram against its own FCS
calculations. The FCS is an error checking process that helps to ensure that the frame is free of
physical and data-link errors. If the frame is error-free, the switch forwards the frame.
Otherwise, the frame is dropped.
B. Automatic buffering - The ingress port buffering process used by store-and-forward switches
provides the flexibility to support any mix of Ethernet speeds. For example, handling an
incoming frame traveling into a 100 Mbps Ethernet port that must be sent out a 1 Gbps
interface would require using the store-and-forward method. With any mismatch in speeds
between the ingress and egress ports, the switch stores the entire frame in a buffer, computes
the FCS check, forwards it to the egress port buffer and then sends it.
2.3 Switches interconnect LAN segments, use a MAC address table to determine egress ports,
and can lessen or eliminate collisions entirely. Briefly explain the characteristics of
switches that alleviate network congestion. (8)
Ans:
A. Fast port speeds - Ethernet switch port speeds vary by model and purpose. Switches with
faster port speeds cost more but can reduce congestion.
B. Fast internal switching - Switches use a fast internal bus or shared memory to provide high
performance.
C. Large frame buffers - Switches use large memory buffers to temporarily store more received
frames before having to start dropping them. This enables ingress traffic from a faster port
(e.g., 1 Gbps) to be forwarded to a slower (e.g., 100 Mbps) egress port without losing frames.
D. High port density - A high port density switch lowers overall costs because it reduces the
number of switches required.
Question 3. [30]
3.1 Explain the purpose of VLANs in a switched network. (4)
Ans:
Virtual LANs (VLANs) provide segmentation and organizational flexibility in a switched network.
VLANs in a switched network enable users in various departments (i.e., IT, HR, and Sales) to
connect to the same network regardless of the physical switch being used or location in a campus
LAN.
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3.2 Define a VLAN trunk and provide the purpose of using VLAN Trunk in a virtual local area
network. (4)
Ans:
A trunk is a point-to-point link between two network devices that carries more than one VLAN.
VLAN trunks allow all VLAN traffic to propagate between switches. This enables devices connected
to different switches but in the same VLAN to communicate without going through a router.
3.3 Some Cisco switches have a proprietary protocol that lets them automatically negotiate
trunking with a neighbouring device. What do we call that protocol? And what is it used
for? (6)
Ans:
Dynamic Trunking Protocol (DTP)
DTP can speed up the configuration process for a network administrator.
DTP manages trunk negotiation only if the port on the neighbor switch is configured in a trunk
mode that supports DTP.
3.4 Each VLAN in a switched network corresponds to an IP network. Therefore, VLAN
design must take into consideration the implementation of a hierarchical network-
addressing scheme. Name and explain benefits of designing a network with VLANs.
(12)
Ans:
Benefit Description
• Dividing a network into VLANs reduces the number of devices in
the broadcast domain.
Smaller broadcast domains • In the figure, there are six computers in the network but only three
broadcast domains (i.e., Faculty, Student, and Guest).
• Only users in the same VLAN can communicate together.
• Only users in the same VLAN can communicate without the
services of a router. The router may have a security feature such
Improved security
as an access control list to restrict communications between
VLANs.
• VLANs simplify network management because users with similar
network requirements can be configured on the same VLAN.
• VLANs can be named to make them easier to identify.
Improved IT efficiency
• In the figure, VLAN 10 was named “Faculty”, VLAN 20 “Student”,
and VLAN 30 “Guest.”
VLANs reduce the need for expensive network upgrades and use the
Reduced cost
existing bandwidth and uplinks more efficiently, resulting in cost savings.
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Benefit Description
Smaller broadcast domains reduce unnecessary traffic on the network
Better performance
and improve performance.
• VLANs aggregate users and network devices to support business
or geographic requirements.
Simpler project and • Having separate functions makes managing a project or working
application management with a specialized application easier; an example of such an
application is an e-learning development platform for faculty.
3.5 Refer to the two figures below. The administrator has created and configured the VLANs.
The problem is that when PC vlan 10 sends the broadcast, all the devices receive it. Study
the output of VLANs configuration and explain what the problem is with the
configurations. How can the problem be resolved? (4)
Ans:
The problem is that the VLANs are not assigned to the switch ports.
The problem can be resolved by assigning PCs in VLAN 10 to port fa0/1 and PCs in VLAN 20 to port
fa0/2.
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Question 4. [23]
4.1 Describe options for configuring inter-VLAN routing. (6)
Ans:
A. Legacy Inter-VLAN routing - This is a legacy solution. It does not scale well.
B. Router-on-a-Stick - This is an acceptable solution for a small to medium-sized network.
C. Layer 3 switch using switched virtual interfaces (SVIs) - This is the most scalable solution for
medium to large organizations.
4.2 There are several reasons why an inter-VAN configuration may not work. All are related
to connectivity issues. First, check the physical layer to resolve any issues where a cable
might be connected to the wrong port. If the connections are correct, complete the
following table to indicate how are you going to fix the indicated issues. (8)
Ans:
Issue Type How to Fix
• Create (or re-create) the VLAN if it does not exist.
Missing VLANs • Ensure host port is assigned to the correct VLAN.
• Ensure trunks are configured correctly.
Switch Trunk Port Issues • Ensure port is a trunk port and enabled.
• Assign correct VLAN to access port.
• Ensure port is an access port and enabled.
Switch Access Port Issues
• Host is incorrectly configured in the wrong subnet.
• Router subinterface IPv4 address is incorrectly
Router Configuration configured.
Issues • Router subinterface is assigned to the VLAN ID.
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4.3 In the figure, the R1 GigabitEthernet 0/0/1 interface is connected to the S1 FastEthernet
0/5 port. The S1 FastEthernet 0/1 port is connected to the S2 FastEthernet 0/1 port. These
are trunk links that are required to forward traffic within and between VLANs. (9)
To route between VLANs, the R1 GigabitEthernet 0/0/1 interface is logically divided into
three subinterfaces, as shown in the table. Complete the following table to show how the
three VLANs will be configured on the switches.
Ans:
Subinterface VLAN IP Address
G0/0/1.10 10 192.168.10.1/24
G0/0/1.20 20 192.168.20.1/24
G0/0/1.99 99 192.168.99.1/24
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