Question One: (10 Marks)
Using the SONET/SDH STS–1 basic frame structure as given in the following figure to answer the
questions:
1. The data rate of an STS–1 signal. (2 marks)
2. The user data rate of an STS–1 frames (without considering the overheads). (2 marks)
3. The data rate of an STS–3 signal. (2 marks)
4. The duration of an STS–1 frame, STS–3 frame and STS–n frame. (2 marks)
5. The payload rate for STM–1. (2 marks)
Hint: Provide detailed calculations steps to get the results
Question Two: (20 Marks)
This question requires you to collect and evaluate a packet trace using the Wire shark software tool
and a command line tool for your operating system. Take clear screenshots of the steps you have
taken to prove you have implemented them.
Part 1: Retrieve your PC interface addresses.
1. Find your IP address for your device. (2 Mark)
2. Find the Ethernet address of the main network interface or the wireless address of your
device. (2 Marks)
3. Find the IP address of the local router or default gateway that your device uses to reach the rest of the Internet. (2 Marks)
Page 3 of 4
Part 2: Start Wireshark and begin capturing data.
A) In the Windows Command Prompt, use the ping command to ping the web server
www.google.com then start up the Wireshark packet sniffer, and begin Wireshark packet
capture. When the Ping command terminates, stop the packet capture in Wireshark. and
answer the following questions:
1. Examine one of the ping request packets sent by your host. What are the ICMP type and code
numbers? What other fields does this ICMP packet have? How many bytes are the checksum,
sequence number and identifier fields? (3 Marks)
2. Examine the corresponding ping reply packet. What are the ICMP type and code numbers?
What other fields does this ICMP packet have? How many bytes are the checksum, sequence
number and identifier fields? (3 Marks)
B) In the Windows Command Prompt, use traceroute command (tracert) to trace the route of
web server www.google.com then start up the Wireshark packet sniffer and begin Wireshark
packet capture. When the traceroute, command terminates, stop the packet capture in
Wireshark. and answer the following questions:
1. Examine the ICMP echo packet in your screenshot. Is this different from the ICMP ping query
packets in the first half of this question? If yes, how so? (3 Marks)
2. Examine the ICMP packets received by the source host. How are these packets different from
the ICMP error packets? Why are they different? (3 Marks)
3. Within the tracert measurements, is there a link whose delay is significantly longer than
others? (2 Marks)
You need to provide four clear screenshots, two for every part, one for the command line and the
other for Wireshark packet sniffer tool.
Hint: The question mark will be deducted if the screenshots and the information inside it is not
clear
Question Three: (15 Marks)
In this question you should prepare short research (report) on one of the five recent computer
networking topics listed below.
1. Plastic optical fiber (POF).
2. Network Quality of Service.
3. Network Function Virtualization.
4. Multi–Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Network.
Page 4 of 4
5. DSL technologies.
Your research (report) should include a brief explanation of the chosen topic, its implementations,
requirements, how it differs from standard technologies, applications and examples, benefits and
drawbacks. As much as you can, use diagrams to support your research (report).
Your research (report) should have a good introduction and conclusion. Three to five diverse sources
should be used to support your research (report). The Harvard Reference System should be followed
for citing sources, and a reference list should be provided at the end of your research (report). The
final word count for your report should be no less than 300 and no more than 400.
Hint: Use your own words to answer the question, all similar answers and copied answers from
the internet will get zero.
Question Four: (15 Marks)
1. Compare between intra–AS routing and inter–AS routing? (3 Marks)
2. List 2 examples for intra–AS and 1 example for inter–AS routing protocols. (6 Marks)
3. What are the purposes of a Label Switching Router (LSR)? (Give 3 purposes) (6 marks)
