Final information

Computer Science & Software Engineering

CSCI 466
Networks
Fall 2013

FINAL INFORMATION

Exam details:

2 hours, 11:30am - 1:30pm, Thursday, December 12th
No makeups will be considered without an official University excuse
Closed book, closed notes
You are allowed a two-sided 8 1/2 x 11 note sheet, hand-written
Bring a calculator, no other electronic devices are allowed

Material covered:

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, Chapters 1-3, 4 (except for multicast), 5.1-5.4, 5.7, 6.1-6.3
Review exercises from Chapter 1-6 of book (exercises listed on schedule page)
Lectures 0-27
Labs and programming assignments

Detailed topics:

Topics from the midterm, but with an emphasis on the topics below
Job of the network layer, services you might like from it
What devices run the network layer
Forwarding vs. routing
Datagram connectionless vs. virtual-circuits
Virtual circuits, VC numbers, methods of setting up
Datagram forwarding, longest prefix match
What goes on inside a router, types of switching fabrics
Router buffering, head-of-line blocking
What happens when buffer fills, FIFO vs RED
IPv4 packets, important fields in the packet
How IPv4 handles fragmentation, MTU
IPv4 addressing, splitting into network and host
CIDR addressing
Private IP addresses, what they are good for
NAT, how it works, why it was needed, trouble it causes
How NAT traversal works via UDP hole punching technique
DHCP, goal of protocol, request/response process, what information comes back
ICMP, use for ping and traceroute
IPv6, why it was needed, difference in packet format from IPv4
IPv6, why deployment has been slow, techniques for allowing slow migration
Autonomous System (AS), what is is, types of ASes
Network as a graph representation
Three classes of routing algorithms: distance vector, link state, path vector
Example protocols of each routing class, where used in Internet and why
Distance vector routing, how it works, count to infinity problem, attempts to fix
RIP protocol
Link state routing, what information distributed, how routing decisions made
Why a packet might go in a circle for awhile
OSPF, hierarchical OSPF with backbone and areas
Problems with distance vector or link state, how path vector solves them
Hot potato routing
BGP protocol, how it works, messages sent around, import policy
Different roles played by intra-AS and inter-AS routing protocol
Broadcast, why we need it, what protocols use it, flooding vs. controlled flooding vs. spanning tree
Link layer, what it is, how it differs from network layer, services provided by, what implements it
Error detection/correction using parity (1D and 2D), checksums, CRC
Media access control, why it is necessary
Basic approaches to sharing a channel, partitioning, random access, taking turns
Channel partitioning: TDMA, FDMA, CDMA
ALOHA random access protocol
CSMA, CSMA/CD (what wired Ethernet uses)
Multiple access on cable modems
MAC addresses, ARP protocol
How a link layer packet makes it way on a LAN
Ethernet, variants, frame format, CSMA/CD and backoff procedure
Ethernet hub vs. switch
Self-learning nature of Ethernet switches
VLANs, why a required updated frame format
Wireless link layer protocols, 802.11, 2G, 3G, 4G
Base station (infrastructure) vs. ad-hoc (mesh)
Unique problems with wireless
Wireless switching between physical layer protocols based on conditions
CDMA, how multiple senders can be decoded by receiver
CSMA/CA, what the CA is about in 802.11
RTS-CTS protocol in 802.11
802.11 frame format, why so many MAC addresses
802.11 types of encryption

Page last updated: August 23, 2015