Midterm Study Notes COS 327

The midterm questions on networking will come from the Kurose book chapters 1 – 3.
The questions will not involve calculations harder than adding or subtracting small
numbers. The questions will not involve code. The question will not involve wireshark,
although hopefully looking at network traffic in wireshark has helped you to understand
how the network works. Therefore, the test is primarily about vocabulary. These notes
will attempt to make clear what sort of questions will be covered.

Chapter 1
Distinguish circuit switching from packet switching
Compare / contrast TDM and FDM
Define protocol
Define layered architecture and state its chief advantages
Describe the 5 layer internet protocol model.
 Be able to write a brief description (3 or 4 sentences) describing the main purpose
of each layer and what the primary problem it solves is
Explain in a general way what happens to data as it is passed down through the stack and
back up through the corresponding stack. (envelopes get added by each layer going down
and removed going up)

Chapter 2
Define, compare, and contrast client-server and P2P architectures, be able to give
examples of each.
Conceptually explain the purpose of a socket
Explain the purpose of the DNS application
Explain how DNS is used to resolve a name (such as google.com) to an internet address.
Put another way be able to draw and explain Figure 2.21.
Be able to explain the 4 different DNS resource types (A, NS, CNAME, and MX) and the
primary purpose for each
Describe how BitTorrent distributes a file
Be able to explain DHT

Chapter 3
Compare / contrast the role of the transport layer to that of the network layer
Explain the delay components involved in sending a packet
Compare / contrast TCP and UDP explain why both are useful
Define reliable vs. unreliable transport service
Define congestion control
Define flow control make clear the difference between this and congestion control
Explain the point to multiplexing and demultiplexing at the transport layer
Compare / contrast the advantages of a connection oriented vs. a connectionless transport
approach
Compare / contrast selective repeat and go back n protocols
Be able to explain a sliding window protocol, particularly be able to explain how many
outstanding requests are available and how error recovery occurs
Figure 3.29 shows the fields in a TCP segment. Given a similar drawing with the parts
labeled be able to explain in a couple of sentences the purpose of each of the fields. For
example why is there a checksum?
Explain the sequence of messages to set up and tear down a TCP connection.
Explain the sequence of message to start and stop sending data for UDP
Compare and contrast Go-Back-N and Selective Repeat protocols
Be able to calculate the sequence number and acknowledgement number within TCP and
how they change during an exchange of segments.