Computer Networks | Set 1

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2012

exam.
1) The protocol data unit(PDU) for the application
layer in the Internet stack is
(A) Segment
(B) Datagram
(C) Message
(D) Frame
Answer (C)
The Protocol Data Unit for Application layer in
the Internet Stack (or TCP/IP) is called Message.

2) Which of the following transport layer protocolss

is used to support electronic mail?
(A) SMTP
(B) IP
(C) TCP
(D) UDP
Answer (C)
E-mail uses SMTP as application layer protocol. SMTP
uses TCP as transport layer protocol.

3) In the IPv4 addressing format, the number of

networks allowed under Class C addresses is
(A) 2^14
(B) 2^7
(C) 2^21
(D) 2^24
Answer (C)
In class C, 8 bits are reserved for Host Id and 24 bits are
reserved for Network Id. Out of these 24 Network Id bits,
the leading 3 bits are fixed as 110. So remaining 21 bits
can be used for different networks. See this for more
details.

4) An Internet Service Provider(ISP) has the

following chunk of CIDR-based IP addresses
available with it:245.248.128.0/20. The ISP wants to
give half of this chunk of addreses to Organization
A, and a quarter to Organization B, while retaining
the remaining with itself. Which of the following is a
valid allocation of addresses to A and B?
(A) 245.248.136.0/21 and 245.248.128.0/22
(B) 245.248.128.0/21 and 245.248.128.0/22
(C) 245.248.132.0/22 and 245.248.132.0/21
(D) 245.248.136.0/22 and 245.248.132.0/21
Answer (A)
Since routing prefix is 20, the ISP has 2^(32-20) or 2^12
addresses. Out of these 2^12 addresses, half (or 2^11)
addresses have to be given to organization A and
quarter (2^10) addresses have to be given to
organization B. So routing prefix for organization A will
be 21. For B, it will be 22. If we see all options given in
question, only options (A) and (B) are left as only these
options have same number of routing prefixes. Now we
need to choose from option (A) and (B).
To assign addresses to organization A, ISP needs to
take first 20 bits from 245.248.128.0 and fix the 21st bit
as 0 or 1. Similarly, ISP needs to fix 21st and 22nd bits
for organization B. If we take a
closer look at the options (A) and (B), we can see the
21st and 22nd bits for organization B are considered as
0 in both options. So 21st bit of organization A must be
1. Now take the first 20 bits from 245.248.128.0 and
21st bit as 1, we get addresses for organization A as
245.248.136.0/21

Computer Networks | Set 2

Following Questions have been asked in GATE 2012

CS exam.

1) Consider a source computer (S) transmitting a

file of size 106 bits to a destination computer
(D) over a network of two routers (R1 and R2)
and three links (L1, L2 and L3). L1 connects S
to R1;L2 connects R1 to R2; and L3 connects
R2 to D. Let each link be of length 100km.
Assume signals travel over each link at a speed
of 10^8 meters per second. Assume that the
link bandwidth on each link is 1Mbps. Let the
file be broken down into 1000 packets each of
size 1000 bits. Find the total sum of
transmission and propagation delays in
transmitting the file from S to D?
 (A) 1005ms
(B) 1010ms

(C) 3000ms
(D) 3003ms
Answer (A)

Propagation delay to travel from S to R1 = (Distance) /

(Link Speed) = 10^5/10^8 = 1ms
Total prorogation delay to travel from S to D = 3*1 ms =
3ms
Total Ttransmission delay for 1 packet = 3 * (Number of
Bits) / Bandwidth = 3*(1000/10^6) = 3ms.
The first packet will take 6ms to reach D. While first
packet was reaching D, other packets must have been
processing in parallel. So D will receive remaining
packets 1 packet per 1 ms from R2. So remaining 999
packets will take 999 ms. And total time will be 999 + 6 =
1005 ms

2) Consider an instance of TCP’s Additive Increase

Multiplicative Decrease(AIMD) algorithm where the
window size at the start of the slow start phase is 2
MSS and the threshold at the start of the first
transmission is 8 MSS. Assume that a time out
occurs during the fifth transmission. Find the
congestion window size at the end of the tenth
transmission.
(A) 8 MSS
(B) 14 MSS
(C) 7 MSS
(D) 12 MSS
Answer (C)

Since Slow Start is used, window size is increased by

the number of segments successfuly sent. This happens
until either threshold value is reached or time out occurs.
In both of the above situations AIMD is used to avoid
congestion. If threshold is reached, window size will be
increased linearly. If there is timeout, window size will be
reduced to half.
Window size for 1st transmission = 2 MSS
Window size for 2nd transmission = 4 MSS
Window size for 3rd transmission = 8 MSS
threshold reached, increase linearly (according to AIMD)
Window size for 4th transmission = 9 MSS
Window size for 5th transmission = 10 MSS
time out occurs, resend 5th with window size starts with
as slow start.
Window size for 6th transmission = 2 MSS
Window size for 7th transmission = 4 MSS
threshold reached, now increase linearly (according to
AIMD)
Additive Increase: 5 MSS (since 8 MSS isn’t permissible
anymore)
Window size for 8th transmission = 5 MSS
Window size for 9th transmission = 6 MSS
Window size for 10th transmission = 7 MSS
Computer Networks | Set 3

Following Questions have been asked in GATE 2011

CS exam.

1) A layer-4 firewall ( a device that can look at all

protocol headers up to the transport layer) CANNOT
(A) block HTTP traffic during 9:00PM and 5:00AM
(B) block all ICMP traffic
(C) stop incoming traffic from a specific IP address but
allow outgoing traffic to same IP
(D) block TCP traffic from a specific user on a specific IP
address on multi-user system during 9:00PM and
5:00AM
Answer (A)
HTTP is an application layer protocol. Since firewal is at
layer 4, it cannot block HTTP data.

2) Consider different activities related to email.

m1:Send an email from a mail client to
mail server

m2:Download an email from mailbox server

to a mail client

m3:Checking email in a web browser

Which is the applicable level protocol user in each
activity?
(A) m1:HTTP, m2:SMTP, m3:POP
(B) m1:SMTP, m2:FTP, m3:HTTP
(C) m1:SMTP, m2:POP, m3:HTTP
(D) m1:POP, m2:SMTP, m3:IMAP
Answer (C)
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is typically used
by user clients for sending mails.
Post Office Protocol (POP) is used by clients for
receiving mails.
Checking mails in web browser is a simple HTTP
process.

3) Consider a network with five nodes, N1 to N5, as

shown below.

The network uses a a Distance Vector Routing

Distance Vector Routing protocol. Once the routes
have stabilized, the distance vectors at different
nodes are as following.
N1:(0, 1, 7, 8, 4)
N2:(1, 0, 6, 7, 3)
N3:(7, 6, 0, 2, 6)
N4:(8, 7, 2, 0, 4)
N5:(4, 3, 6, 4, 0)
Each distance vector is the distance of the best
known path at that instance to nodes, N1 to N5,
where the distance to itself is 0. Also, all links are
symmetric and the cost is identical in both
directions. In each round, all nodes exchange their
distance vectors with their respective neighbours.
Then all nodes update their distance vectors. In
between two rounds, any change in cost of a link
will cause the two incident nodes to change only
that entry in their distance vectors.
The cost of link N2-N3 reduces to 2 (in both
directions). After the next round of update what will
be the new distance vector at node, N3?
(A) (3, 2, 0, 2, 5)
(B) (3, 2, 0, 2, 6)
(C) (7, 2, 0, 2, 5)
(D) (7, 2, 0, 2, 6)
Answer (A)
In the next round, every node will send and receive
distance vectors to and from neighbors, and update its
dostance vector.
N3 will recieve (1, 0, 2, 7, 3) from N2 and it will update
distances to N1 and N5 as 3 and 5 respectively.

4) After the update in the previous question, the link

N1-N2 goes down. N2 will reflect this change
immediately in its distance vector as cost, ∞. After
the NEXT ROUND of update, what will be cost to N1
in the distance vector of N3?
(A) 3
(B) 9
(C) 10
(D) ∞
Answer (C)
In the next round, N3 will receive distance from N2 to N1
as infinite. It will receive distance from N4 to N1 as 8. So
it will update distance to N1 as 8 + 2.
Computer Networks | Set 4

Following Questions have been asked in GATE 2010

CS exam.

1) One of the header fields in an IP datagram is the

Time to Live (TTL) field. Which of the following
statements best explains the need for this field?
(A) It can be used to priortize packets
(B) It can be used to reduce delays
(C) It can be used to optimize throughput
(D) It can be used to prevent packet looping
Answer (D)
Time to Live can be thought as an upper bound on the
time that an IP datagram can exist in the network. The
purpose of the TTL field is to avoid a situation in which
an undeliverable datagram keeps circulating.

2) Suppose computers A and B have IP addresses

10.105.1.113 and 10.105.1.91 respectively and they
both use the same netmask N. Which of the values
of N given below should not be used if A and B
should belong to the same network?
(A) 255.255.255.0
(B) 255.255.255.128
(C) 255.255.255.192
(D) 255.255.255.224
(D)
The last octets of IP addresses of A and B are 113
(01110001) and 91 (01011011). The netmask in option
(D) has first three bits set in last octet. If netmask has
first 3 bits set, then these bits nmust be same in A and
B, but that is not the case. In simple words, we can say
option (D) is not a valid netmask because doing binary
‘&’ of it with addresses of A and B doesn’t give the same
network address. It must be same address as A and B
are on same network. See this for more details.

3) Consider a network with 6 routers R1 to R6

connected with links having weights as shown in
the following diagram

All the routers use the distance vector based routing

algorithm to update their routing tables. Each router
starts with its routing table initialized to contain an
entry for each neighbour with the weight of the
respective connecting link. After all the routing
tables stabilize, how many links in the network will
never be used for carrying any data?
(A) 4
(B) 3
(C) 2
(D) 1
Answer (C)
We can check one by one all shortest distances. When
we check for all shortest distances for Ri we don’t need
to check its distances to R0 to Ri-1 because the network
graph is undirected.
Following will be distance vectors of all nodes.

Shortest Distances from R1 to R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6

R1 (5, 3, 12, 12, 16)
Links used: R1-R3, R3-R2, R2-R4, R3-R5, R5-R6

Shortest Distances from R2 to R3, R4, R5 and R6

R2 (2, 7, 8, 12)
Links used: R2-R3, R2-R4, R4-R5, R5-R6

Shortest Distances from R3 to R4, R5 and R6

R3 (9, 9, 13)
Links used: R3-R2, R2-R4, R3-R5, R5-R6

Shortest Distances from R4 to R5 and R6

R4 (1, 5)
Links used: R4-R5, R5-R6

Shortest Distance from R5 to R6

R5 (4)
Links Used: R5-R6

If we mark, all the used links one by one, we can see

that following links are never used.
R1-R2
R4-R6

4) Suppose the weights of all unused links in the

previous question are changed to 2 and the distance
vector algorithm is used again until all routing
tables stabilize. How many links will now remain
unused?
(A) 0
(B) 1
(C) 2
(D) 3
Answer (B)
After the weights of unused links () are changed to
following graph.

Following will be distance vectors of all nodes

R1 (2, 3, 9, 10, 11)
Links used: R1-R2, R1-R3, R2-R4, R4-R5, R4-R6

R2 (2, 7, 8, 9)
Links used: R2-R3, R2-R4, R4-R5, R4-R6

R3 (9, 9, 11)
Links used: R3-R2, R2-R4, R3-R5, R4-R6

R4 (1, 2)
Links used: R4-R5, R4-R6

R5 (3)
Links Used: R5-R4, R4-R6
If we mark, all the used links one by one, we can see
that all links are used except the following link

R5-R6

Computer Networks | Set 5

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2005

exam.
1) Packets of the same session may be routed
through different paths in:
(a) TCP, but not UDP
(b) TCP and UDP
(c) UDP, but not TCP
(d) Neither TCP nor UDP
Answer (b)
Packet is the Network layer Protocol Data Unit (PDU).
TCP and UDP are Transport layer protocols. Packets of
same session may be routed through different routes.
Most networks don’t use static routing, but use some
form of adaptive routing where the paths used to route
two packets for same session may be different due to
congestion on some link, or some other reason.

2) The address resolution protocol (ARP) is used

for:
(a) Finding the IP address from the DNS
(b) Finding the IP address of the default gateway
(c) Finding the IP address that corresponds to a MAC
address
(d) Finding the MAC address that corresponds to an IP
address
Answer (d)
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a request and
reply protocol used to find MAC address from IP
address.

3) The maximum window size for data transmission

using the selective reject protocol with n-bit frame
sequence numbers is:
(a) 2^n
(b) 2^(n-1)
(c) 2^n – 1
(d) 2^(n-2)
Answer (b)
In Selective Reject (or Selective Repeat), maximum size
of window must be half of the maximum sequence
number.

4) In a network of LANs connected by bridges,

packets are sent from one LAN to another through
intermediate bridges. Since more than one path may
exist between two LANs, packets may have to be
routed through multiple bridges. Why is the
spanning tree algorithm used for bridge-routing?
(a) For shortest path routing between LANs
(b) For avoiding loops in the routing paths
(c) For fault tolerance
(d) For minimizing collisions
Answer (b)
The main idea for using Spanning Trees is to avoid
loops. See Spanning Tree Protocol for more details.

Computer Networks | Set 6

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2005 exam.
1) An organization has a class B network and wishes to form subnets for 64
departments. The subnet mask would be:
(a) 255.255.0.0
(b) 255.255.64.0
(c) 255.255.128.0
(d) 255.255.252.0
Answer (d)
The size of network ID is 16 bit in class B networks. So bits after 16th bit must be
used to create 64 departments. Total 6 bits are needed to identify 64 different
departments. Therefore, subnet mask will be 255.255.252.0.

2) In a packet switching network, packets are routed from source to

destination along a single path having two intermediate nodes. If the message
size is 24 bytes and each packet contains a header of 3 bytes, then the
optimum packet size is:
(a) 4
(b) 6
(c) 7
(d) 9
Answer (d)
Dividing a message into packets may decrease the transmission time due to
parallelism as shown in the following figure.
But after a certain limit reducing the packet size may increase the transmission time
also.
Following figure shows the situation given in question.

Let transmission time to transfer 1 byte for all nodes be t. The first packet will take
time = (packet size)*3*t. After the first packet reaches the destination, remaining
packets will take time equal to (packet size)*t due to parallelism.
If we use 4 bytes as packet size, there will be 24 packets
Total Transmission time = Time taken by first packet +
Time taken by remaining packets
= 3*4*t + 23*4*t = 104t

If we use 6 bytes as packet size, there will be 8 packets

Total Transmission time = 3*6*t + 7*6*t = 60t

If we use 7 bytes as packet size, there will be 6 packets

Total Transmission time = 3*7*t + 5*7*t = 56t

If we use 9 bytes as packet size, there will be 4 packets

Total Transmission time = 3*9*t + 3*9*t = 54t

3) Suppose the round trip propagation delay for a 10 Mbps Ethernet having 48-
bit jamming signal is 46.4 ms. The minimum frame size is:
(a) 94
(b) 416
(c) 464
(d) 512
Answer (c)
Transmission Speed = 10Mbps.
Round trip propagation delay = 46.4 ms
The minimum frame size = (Round Trip Propagation Delay) * (Transmission Speed)
= 10*(10^6)*46.4*(10^-3) = 464 * 10^3 = 464 Kbit
The concept behind the above formula is collision detection. Consider a situation
where a node A wants to send a frame to another node B. When Node A begins
transmitting, the signal must propagate the network length. In the worst-case
collision scenario, Node B begins to transmit just before the signal for Node A’s
frame reaches it. The collision signal of Node A and Node B’s frame must travel back
to Node A for Node A to detect that a collision has occurred.
The time it takes for a signal to propagate from one end of the network to the other is
known as the propagation delay. In this worst-case collision scenario, the time that it
takes for Node A to detect that its frame has been collided with is twice the
propagation delay. Node A’s frame must travel all the way to Node B, and then the
collision signal must travel all the way from Node B back to Node A. This time is
known as the slot time. An Ethernet node must be transmitting a frame for the slot
time for a collision with that frame to be detected. This is the reason for the minimum
Ethernet frame size.

Computer Networks | Set 7

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2008

exam.
1) Which of the following system calls results in the
sending of SYN packets?
(A) socket
(B) bind
(C) listen
(D) connect
Answer (D)
socket() creates a new socket of a certain socket type,
identified by an integer number, and allocates system
resources to it.
bind() is typically used on the server side, and
associates a socket with a socket address structure, i.e.
a specified local port number and IP address.
listen() is used on the server side, and causes a bound
TCP socket to enter listening state.
connect() is used on the client side, and assigns a free
local port number to a socket. In case of a TCP socket, it
causes an attempt to establish a new TCP connection.
When connect() is called by client, following three way
handshake happens to establish the connection in TCP.
1) The client requests a connection by sending a SYN
(synchronize) message to the server.
2) The server acknowledges this request by sending
SYN-ACK back to the client.
3) The client responds with an ACK, and the connection
is established.
Sources: Berkeley sockets, TCP Connection
Establishment and Termination

2) In the slow start phase of the TCP congestion

control algorithm, the size of the congestion window
(A) does not increase
(B) increases linearly
(C) increases quadratically
(D) increases exponentially
Answer (D)
Although the name is slow start, during the slow start
phase, window size is increased by the number of
segments acknowledged, which means window size
grows exponentially. This happens until either an
acknowledgment is not received for some segment or a
predetermined threshold value is reached. See this for
more details.

3) If a class B network on the Internet has a subnet

mask of 255.255.248.0, what is the maximum number
of hosts per subnet?
(A) 1022
(B) 1023
(C) 2046
(D) 2047
Answer (C)
The binary representation of subnet mask is
11111111.11111111.11111000.00000000. There are 21
bits set in subnet. So 11 (32-21) bits are left for host ids.
Total possible values of host ids is 2^11 = 2048. Out of
these 2048 values, 2 addresses are reserved. The
address with all bits as 1 is reserved as broadcast
address and address with all host id bits as 0 is used as
network address of subnet.
In general, the number of addresses usable for
addressing specific hosts in each network is always 2^N
– 2 where N is the number of bits for host id.
Computer Networks | Set 8

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2008

exam.
1) What is the maximum size of data that the
application layer can pass on to the TCP layer
below?
(A) Any size
(B) 2^16 bytes-size of TCP header
(C) 2^16 bytes
(D) 1500 bytes
Answer (A)
Application layer can send any size of data. There is no
limit defined by standards. The lower layers divides the
data if needed.

2) A client process P needs to make a TCP

connection to a server process S. Consider the
following situation: the server process S executes a
socket(), a bind() and a listen() system call in that
order, following which it is preempted.
Subsequently, the client process P executes a
socket() system call followed by connect() system
call to connect to the server process S. The server
process has not executed any accept() system call.
Which one of the following events could take place?
(A) connect () system call returns successfully
(B) connect () system call blocks
(C) connect () system call returns an error
(D) connect () system call results in a core dump
Answer (C)
Since accept() call is not executed then connect () gets
no response for a time stamp to wait & then return no
response server error.

3) A computer on a 10Mbps network is regulated by

a token bucket. The token bucket is filled at a rate of
2Mbps. It is initially filled to capacity with
16Megabits. What is the maximum duration for
which the computer can transmit at the full 10Mbps?
(A) 1.6 seconds
(B) 2 seconds
(C) 5 seconds
(D) 8 seconds
Answer (B)
New tokens are added at the rate of r
bytes/sec which is

2Mbps in the given question.

Capacity of the token bucket (b) = 16 Mbits
Maximum possible transmission rate (M) =
10Mbps
So the maximum burst time = b/(M-r) = 16/(10-
2) = 2 seconds
In the above formula, r is subtracted from M to calculate
the maximum burst time. The reason for this subtraction
is, new tokens are added at the rate of r while
transmission happens at maximum transmission rate M.
Computer Networks | Set 9

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2007

exam.
1) Which one of the following uses UDP as the
transport protocol?
(A) HTTP
(B) Telnet
(C) DNS
(D) SMTP
Answer (C)
DNS primarily uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) on
port number 53 to serve requests. DNS queries consist
of a single UDP request from the client followed by a
single UDP reply from the server.

2) In Ethernet when Manchester encoding is used,

the bit rate is:
(A) Half the baud rate.
(B) Twice the baud rate.
(C) Same as the baud rate.
(D) none of the above
Answer (A)
In Manchester encoding, the bitrate is half of the baud
rate.

3) There are n stations in a slotted LAN. Each station

attempts to transmit with a probability p in each time
slot. What is the probability that ONLY one station
transmits in a given time slot?
(A) (1-p)^(n-1)
(B) np(1-p)^(n-1)
(C) p(1-p)^(n-1)
(D) 1-(1-p)^(n-1)
Answer (B)
The probability that a particular station transmits and no
body else transmits = p*(1-p)^(n-1)
The probability that any station can transmit =
n*(probability that a particular station transmits) =
n*p*(1-p)^(n-1). See this for details.

4) In a token ring network the transmission speed is

10^7 bps and the propagation speed is 200
metres/micro second. The 1-bit delay in this network
is equivalent to:
(A) 500 metres of cable.
(B) 200 metres of cable.
(C) 20 metres of cable.
(D) 50 metres of cable.
Answer (C)
Transmission delay for 1 bit t = 1/(10^7) = 0.1 micro
seconds.
200 meters can be traveled in 1 micro second.
Therefore, in 0.1 micro seconds, 20 meters can be
traveled.
Computer Networks | Set 10

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2007

exam.

1) The address of a class B host is to be split into subnets

with a 6-bit subnet number. What is the maximum
number of subnets and the maximum number of hosts in
each subnet?
(A) 62 subnets and 262142 hosts.
(B) 64 subnets and 262142 hosts.
(C) 62 subnets and 1022 hosts.
(D) 64 subnets and 1024 hosts.
Answer (C)
Maximum number of subnets = 2^6-2 =62.
Note that 2 is subtracted from 2^6. The RFC 950 specification
reserves the subnet values consisting of all zeros (see above)
and all ones (broadcast), reducing the number of available
subnets by two.
Maximum number of hosts is 2^10-2 = 1022.
2 is subtracted for Number of hosts is also. The address with
all bits as 1 is reserved as broadcast address and address with
all host id bits as 0 is used as network address of subnet.
In general, the number of addresses usable for addressing
specific hosts in each network is always 2^N – 2 where N is
the number of bits for host id.
See this for details
2) The message 11001001 is to be transmitted using the
CRC polynomial x^3 + 1 to protect it from errors. The
message that should be transmitted is:
(A) 11001001000
(B) 11001001011
(C) 11001010
(D) 110010010011
Answer (B)
The polynomial x^3+1 corresponds to divisor is 1001.
11001001 000 <--- input right padded by 3
bits

1001 <--- divisor

01011001 000 <---- XOR of the above 2

1001 <--- divisor

00010001 000

1001

00000011 000

10 01

00000001 010

1 001

00000000 011 <------- remainder (3 bits)

See this for division process.

After dividing the given message 11001001 by 1001, we get
the remainder as 011 which is the CRC. The transmitted data
is, message + CRC which is 11001001 011.

3) The distance between two stations M and N is L

kilometers. All frames are K bits long. The propagation
delay per kilometer is t seconds. Let R bits/second be the
channel capacity. Assuming that processing delay is
negligible, the minimum number of bits for the sequence
number field in a frame for maximum utilization, when
the sliding window protocol is used, is:

Answer (C)
Distance between stations = L KM

Propogation delay per KM = t seconds

Total propagation delay = Lt seconds

Frame size = k bits

Channel capacity = R bits/second

Transmission Time = k/R

Let n be the window size.

UtiliZation = n/(1+2a) where a = Propagation
time / transmission time

= n/[1 + 2LtR/k]

= nk/(2LtR+k)

For maximum utilization: nk = 2LtR + k

Therefore, n = (2LtR+k)/k

Number of bits needed for n frames is Logn.

See this for details.

4) Match the following:

(P) SMTP (1) Application layer

(Q) BGP (2) Transport layer

(R) TCP (3) Data link layer

(S) PPP (4) Network layer

(5) Physical layer

(A) P – 2 Q – 1 R – 3 S – 5
(B) P – 1 Q – 4 R – 2 S – 3
(C) P – 1 Q – 4 R – 2 S – 5
(D) P – 2 Q – 4 R – 1 S – 3
Answer (B)
SMTP is an application layer protocol used for e-mail
transmission.
TCP is a core transport layer protocol.
BGP is a network layer protocol backing the core routing
decisions on the Internet
PPP is a data link layer protocol commonly used in
establishing a direct connection between two networking
nodes.
Computer Networks | Set 11

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2006

exam.
1) Station A uses 32 byte packets to transmit
messages to Station B using a sliding window
protocol. The round trip delay between A and B is 80
milliseconds and the bottleneck bandwidth on the
path between A and B is 128 kbps. What is the
optimal window size that A should use?
(A) 20
(B) 40
(C) 160
(D) 320
Answer (B)
Round Trip propagation delay = 80ms

Frame size = 32*8 bits

Bandwidth = 128kbps

Transmission Time = 32*8/(128) ms = 2 ms

Let n be the window size.

UtiliZation = n/(1+2a) where a = Propagation
time / transmission time

= n/(1+80/2)

For maximum utilization: n = 41 which is

close to option (B)

2) Two computers C1 and C2 are configured as

follows. C1 has IP address 203.197.2.53 and
netmask 255.255.128.0. C2 has IP address
203.197.75.201 and netmask 255.255.192.0. which
one of the following statements is true?
(A) C1 and C2 both assume they are on the same
network
(B) C2 assumes C1 is on same network, but C1
assumes C2 is on a different network
(C) C1 assumes C2 is on same network, but C2
assumes C1 is on a different network
(D) C1 and C2 both assume they are on different
networks.
Answer (C)
Network Id of C1 = bitwise '&' of IP of C1
and subnet mask of C1

= (203.197.2.53) &
(255.255.128.0)

= 203.197.0.0
C1 sees network ID of C2 as bitwise '&' of IP
of C2 and subnet mask of C1

= (203.197.75.201) &
(255.255.128.0)

= 203.197.0.0

which is same as Network Id of C1.

Network Id of C2 = bitwise '&' of IP of C2

and subnet mask of C2

= (203.197.75.201) &
(255.255.192.0)

= 203.197.64.0

C2 sees network ID of C1 as bitwise '&' of IP

of C1 and subnet mask of C2

= (203.197.2.53) &
(255.255.192.0)

= 203.197.0.0

which is different from Network Id of C2.

Therefore, C1 assumes C2 is on same network, but C2

assumes C1 is on a different network.

3) Station A needs to send a message consisting of

9 packets to Station B using a sliding window
(window size 3) and go-back-n error control
strategy. All packets are ready and immediately
available for transmission. If every 5th packet that A
transmits gets lost (but no acks from B ever get
lost), then what is the number of packets that A will
transmit for sending the message to B?
(A) 12
(B) 14
(C) 16
(D) 18
Answer (C)
Total 16 packets are sent. See following table for
sequence of events. Since go-back-n error control
strategy is used, all packets after a lost packet are sent
again.
Sender Receiver

2 1

3 2

4 3

5 4

7 6

7
[Timeout for 5]
5

6 5

7 6

8
9

[Timeout for 7]

8 7

9 8

[Timeout for 9]

9
Computer Networks | Set 12

Following questions have been asked in GATE CS 2009

exam.
1) Let G(x) be the generator polynomial used for
CRC checking. What is the condition that should be
satisfied by G(x) to detect odd number of bits in
error?
(A) G(x) contains more than two terms
(B) G(x) does not divide 1+x^k, for any k not exceeding
the frame length
(C) 1+x is a factor of G(x)
(D) G(x) has an odd number of terms.
Answer (C)
Odd number of bit errors can be detected if G(x)
contains (x+1) as a factor. See this for proof.

2) Frames of 1000 bits are sent over a 10^6 bps

duplex link between two hosts. The propagation
time is 25ms. Frames are to be transmitted into this
link to maximally pack them in transit (within the
link).
What is the minimum number of bits (i) that will be
required to represent the sequence numbers
distinctly? Assume that no time gap needs to be
given between transmission of two frames.
(A) i=2
(B) i=3
(C) i=4
(D) i=5
Answer (D)
Transmission delay for 1 frame = 1000/(10^6) = 1 ms
Propagation time = 25 ms
The sender can atmost transfer 25 frames before the
first frame reaches the destination.
The number of bits needed for representing 25 different
frames = 5

3) Consider the data of previous question. Suppose

that the sliding window protocol is used with the
sender window size of 2^i where is the number of
bits identified in the previous question and
acknowledgments are always piggybacked. After
sending 2^i frames, what is the minimum time the
sender will have to wait before starting transmission
of the next frame? (Identify the closest choice
ignoring the frame processing time.)
(A) 16ms
(B) 18ms
(C) 20ms
(D) 22ms
Answer (B)
Size of sliding window = 2^5 = 32
Transmission time for a frame = 1ms
Total time taken for 32 frames = 32ms
The sender cannot receive acknoledgement before
round trip time which is 50ms
After sending 32 frames, the minimum time the sender
will have to wait before starting transmission of the next
frame = 50 – 32 = 18
Computer Networks | Set 13

These questions for practice purpose for GATE CS Exam.

Ques-1: How many bits are allocated for network id (NID)
and host id(HID) in the IP address 25.193.155.233?
(A) 24 bit for NID, 8 bits for HID
(B) 8 bit for NID, 24 bits for HID
(C) 16 bit for NID, 16 bits for HID
(D) none
Explanation:
It is class A IP address and you know, that class A has 24 bits
in HID and 8 bits in NID part.
So, option (B) is correct.
Ques-2: The bandwidth of the line is 1.5 Mbps with round
trip time(RTT) as 45 milliseconds.If the size of each packet is
1 KB(kilobytes), then what is the efficiency in Stop and wait
protocol?
(A) 20.3
(B) 10.0
(C) 10.8
(D) 11
Explanation:
So in order to find the efficiency, lets first calculate the
propagation delay (p) and transmission delay(t). You know
that,
(2*p) = RTT = 45 ms

Therefore,
p = 45/2 = 22.5 ms
Now, lets find transmission delay (t), you know that, t = L/B
(where, L= size of packet and B= bandwidth). Therefore,
L = 1KB = (1024*8) = 8192 bits

And

B = (1.5*106)

So,
t = L/B = 8192/(1.5*106) = 5.461 ms
Thus efficiency,
= 1/(1 + 2a) {where a = p/t = 22.5/5.461 =
4.12}

= 1/(1 + 2*4.12)

= 0.108

= 10.8 %

So, option (C) is correct.

Ques-3: A 1 km long broadcast LAN has bandwidth (BW) of
107 bps and uses CSMA/CD, then what is the minimum size
of the packet?
Given:
velocity(v) = 2*108 m/sec
(A) 200 bits
(B) 10
(C) 50
(D) 100
Explanation:
Here,
Distance(d) = 1 km = 1*103 meter,
and BW = 107 bps

So,
p = propagation delay
= (d/v) = (103/2*108) = 5*10(-6)
Therefore, minimum size of the packet is,
= (2*p*BW)

= 2*5*10(-6)*107
= 100 bits
So, option (D) is correct.
Ques-4: Consider Subnet mask of class B network on the
internet is 255.255.240.0 then, what is the maximum number
of hosts per subnets?
(A) 4098
(B) 4096
(C) 4094
(D) 4092
Explanation:
To find number of hosts per Subnet, you need to check
number of zeroes in the host id part.
Here, Subnet mask
= 255.255.240.0

= 11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
Therefore, number of zeroes is 12 so,
Number of hosts
= (212 - 2)
= 4096 - 2
= 4094
Since, one of them is used for network id of entire network
and the other one is used for the directed broadcast address of
the network so, two is subtracted.
So, option (C) is correct.
Ques-5: What is the maximum window size for data
transmission Using Selective Repeat protocol with n-bit frame
sequence number?
(A) 2n
(B) 2n-1
(C) 2n-2
(D) 2n-1
Explanation:
Since, window size of sender(W) = window size of the
receiver(R) and we know that,
(W + R) = 2n
or, (W + W) = 2n since, (W = R)
or, 2*W = 2n
or, W = 2n-1
Hence, option (D) is correct.

1
Computer Networks | Set 14

This question for practice purpose for GATE CS Exam.

Ques-1: Which of the following is not true about
Subnetting?
(A) It can be applied only for single network.
(B) It is used to improve security.
(C) Here, bits are borrowed from network ID portion.
(D) Here, bits are borrowed from host ID portion.
Explanation:
In Subnetting bits are borrowed from host ID portion.
So, option (C) is false.
Ques-2: Which device uses logical addressing system?
(A) Hub
(B) Switch
(C) bridge
(D) Router
Explanation:
Since, Router can use logical as well as physical
addressing system.
So, option (D) is true.
Ques-3: In which of the following protocol(s) it is
possible for sender to receive acknowledgement for a
packet that falls outside its current window?
(A) Selective repeat protocol
(B) Stop and wait protocol
(C) Go back N protocol
(D) All of the above
Explanation:
Here, All of the above protocols allow delayed
acknowledgement. For more about these protocols
see Selective repeat protocol, Stop and wait protocol,
and Go back N protocol.
So, option (D) is true.
Ques-4: What is the network ID of the IP address
225.100.123.70?
(A) 225.100.123.71
(B) 225.100.123.72
(C) 225.100.123.75
(D) It does not has any network ID
Explanation:
It is Class D IP and class D IP does not has any network
ID part, i.e., no division of network ID and host ID part.
So, option (D) is true.
Ques-5: Which of the following is not true about
Supernetting?
(A) It is used to increase security.
(B) It is applicable for two or more networks.
(C) Bits are borrowed from network ID portion.
(D) It is used to improve flexibility of IP address
allotment.
Explanation:
Since, Supernetting can not be used to improve security
of the network.
So, option (A) is untrue.