Danny Tervooren

CS-005-1

Assignment #4

#5, 7, 8, 9, 13

10/3/06

5.) The address field of an Ethernet LAN protocol is needed so the correct recipient computer can receive the packets addressed to it. This address field might be omitted entirely or have a “special” address value if a message is intended for multiple or all computers on a network to receive.

7.) A centralized LAN with one node having the ability to direct packet traffic may be advantageous as it would prevent packet collisions and would increase the overall efficiency of the network, given that the dedicated node has the capacity to process and redirect packet traffic to all the computers on its network.

8.) The statement that every message in an Ethernet is guaranteed to be delivered in some maximum amount of time T is false; it is possible for Ethernet traffic to become so congested that packets are corrupted or lost en route to their destination address.

9.) a.) The smallest number of point-to-point communication links such that every node in a network with N nodes is able to talk to every other node is (N-1) links.

b.)

13.) a.) There are seven simple paths from node A to G

b.) The shortest path from node A to node G, with an overall delay of 10, can be achieved by going A-B-E-C-G or by going A-D-E-C-G.

c.) If node E fails, the shortest path will have an overall delay of 11 and can be achieved by going A-B-C-G, A-F-G, or A-D-C-G.