Exam 1 Reading Material

Exam 1 will be held on February, 24^th, as originally scheduled. Following is the review material for the exam.

1. Fundamentals

• Protocol Architecture and Layering
• Understand the basic functionalities of each layer
• Understand the concept of layering and the way layers interact with other
• Issues include multiplexing, segmentation and reassembly, encapsulation, error and flow control, routing and congestion control, …
• Switching Techniques.
• Datagram vs. Message Switching vs. Circuit Switching
• Comparison of the switching techniques in terms of the service they provide
• Analysis of these techniques in terms of delays and overhead
• Connection-Oriented vs. Connectionless
• Service semantics and design issues related to each paradigm
• Impact of bandwidth and physical characteristics on network design issues
• Good understanding of the end-to-end argument and how it applies in different networking environments and for different application requirements
• Good understanding of the main design issues that impact and differentiate multi-service, high-speed networks from earlier data communication networks
• Good understanding of the simple models presented in the lecture notes
• Ability to reason and discuss these differences and their impact of the network architecture and protocol design.
• You should be able to work out problems similar to the ones asked in homework assignments.
• Concepts such as propagation delay, transmission time and queuing delay should be well understood.
• Relevant Material:
• Lecture notes (Introduction)
• Homework Assignments

2. Data Link Flow and Error Control

• Flow and Error Control-- ARQ Schemes
• Stop-and-Wait ARQ schemes
• Selective-Repeat
• Go-back-N ARQ
• Relevant Material:
• Lecture Notes
• You should be able to discuss different flow control strategies and solve problems related to their performance, similar to those asked in the homework assignments.
• Homework Assignments

3. Routing in Computer Networks

• Design issues in routing protocols
• Convergence, fairness, optimality,
• Understanding the difference and tradeoffs between routing in circuit-switching and packet-switching networks
• Be able to derive routing optimality and fairness for a given network topology and traffic patterns

• Understanding the difference between distance vector and link state protocols
• Asynchronous Bellman-Ford Algorithm vs. Dijkistra’s Algorithm
• Understand The difference between the two approaches, in terms of overhead, convergence rate, and handling loops
• Understand and discuss the mechanisms to deal with loops: split horizon, poison reverse, etc.
• Relevant Material
• Lecture Notes
• Homework Assignments

4. Homework Practice

The test will involve problems very similar to what has been asked in the homework assignments and practice assignment. You are strongly encouraged to re-work these problems and understand the techniques used for their solutions.