MAIN SIT EXAMINATION QUESTION PAPER: Year 2020/21

Module code: CT6054ES

Module title: Network Planning & Simulation

Module leader: Ms. Ama Kulathilake

Date: 23rd May 2021

Start time: 9.00 am

End time: 3.00 pm

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You are reminded that you should not access online materials, notes etc. during this
examination or discuss this assessment with others before the end of its time period.

By submitting this assessment, you confirm that you have read the above Statement and
are responsible for understanding and complying with Academic Misconduct regulations
as they relate to this assessment.

© London Metropolitan University

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Instructions to candidates
1) This exam is worth 50% of the assessment.
2) This paper contains 3 Sections of questions on 10 pages.
3) Candidates MUST answer ALL the questions in SECTION A, SECTION B &
SECTION C.
4) Type your answers on this paper itself. Please use Blue color fonts.
5) Answers for the MCQ questions should be highlighted in blue.
6) All illustrations/ diagrams/ graphs should be hand drawn and captured as
images. Then you can paste the image onto your answer sheet. (images
extracted from online sources / other material are not accepted for
marking)
7) Equations should be typed (not hand written).
8) Do not change the order or the numbering of the questions.
9) Each main question in Section C should start on a new page.
10) Clearly mention your London Met ID number on the first page of the
document.
11) Once finished answering, save your document as a PDF and name it as:
London Met ID No_NPS_WrittenExam
12) Upload the PDF to ICMS before the deadline.

READ INSTRUCTIONS THOROUGHLY BEFORE START ANSWERING

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LMU_Student ID - 20047938

E016323 D.K.S.A.Shevon

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QUESTIONS – MAIN SIT (Answer ALL the questions)

SECTION A – [4 marks*10=40 Marks]

Provide short answers to the below questions.

1. State the primary task of network designing.

The main task of a network design is to comfy the data communication and minimize the
cost. And to identify the network topology.
2. Briefly explain about Maxwell’s equations.
This is describing the relation of electric charges and the electric current create electric
and magnetic field.
3. What is the relationship between a radio signal frequency (f) and its wavelength (λ)?
Any frequency (f) multiplied by its wave length it is equals to the speed of light (c).
wave length = λ
frequency = f
Speed of light = c

λ= c / f

4. Explain Nyquist Theorem.

This is a way to digitize an analog signal. That a periodic sign has to be sampled at extra
than two times the best frequency thing of the signal.
5. Name the features of SNMPv3.
• Message integrity
• Encryption
• authentication

6. What is CIA? Define.

CIA is Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability in full form. When configuring security
into any network of any organization they are configuring based on these concepts.

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7. Describe Little’s Law with an example.
This is a principle that determines the average output of a queueing system. Based on the
time of average it takes for an object to arrive in a system and the amount of objects that
arrive in a single unit of time.
Ex: Server satisfies I/O request in average of 60 msec. I/O rate is about 1000 requests/sec.
What is the mean number of requests at the server?

Mean number at server = arrival rate x response time

= (1000 requests/sec) x (0.06 sec)

= 60 requests

8. Name network assets.

• Hardware
• Circuits
• Network software
• Organizational data

9. What is meant by “pushed by technology, or pulled by demand”?

10. Differentiate between physical and logical topologies.

Network topology means the arrangement of network physically and logically and how the
links and the nodes are connected. In arranging networks there are several ways. When it
comes to selecting a network topology there are various things to consider. Such as the
business type, goals, size and especially on the budget.
Physical topology means how the network actually been arranged or the actual connections
and functions. Ring topology, Star topology, Bus topology and Mesh topology are some
examples for this.

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SECTION B [2marks*10=20 Marks]
Select the correct answer/s (Highlight the answer/s in blue color)

1. Not a conceptual area defined in OSI network management model

a) Security
b) Configuration
c) Fault
d) Accounting
e) Asset

2. Goal of performance management is to

a) To increase the performance of the network
b) To constant monitoring of the network
c) To keep internetwork performance at an acceptable level
d) To improve the bandwidth
e) To reduce noise
3. An object-based environment for the development of distributed systems is,
a) LTE
b) WINSCP
c) FORTRAN
d) CORBA
e) QAM

4. The 3 IT optimization areas are,

a) Data centre, Network, Applications
b) Topology, Programs, Infrastructure
c) Network, Infrastructure, Applications
d) Data centre, Programs, Applications
e) Design, Programs, Infrastructure

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5. Which of the following is relating to ‘Authentication’?
a) Wiretapping
b) Inconsistency between data sent and data received
c) Unauthorized user gaining access to sensitive information
d) Flooded network
e) A student of XYZ university posting as the examination division has cancelled the
exam

6. Active threats (Choose 3)

a) Masquerade
b) Traffic analysis
c) Release of message contents
d) Replay
e) Denial of Service

7. According to Kendall notation M/M/2/5 stands for,

a) Interarrival time and the service time distributions are exponential, there are 2
servers and a maximum of 5 customers are allowed in the system at once
b) Interarrival time and the service time distributions are linear, there are maximum
of 2 customers and 5 servers
c) Interarrival time and the service time distributions are exponential, there are 2
customers and a maximum of 5 servers
d) Interarrival time and the service time distributions are linear, there are 2 servers
and a maximum of 5 customers are allowed in the system at once
e) Transmission time and the response time distributions are exponential, maximum
of 5 customers are allowed in the system at once, servers are not specified.

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8. Packets arrive at a rate of 250 packets per second (pps) at a gateway and the gateway
takes an average of two milliseconds to forward. What is the utilization?
a) 100%
b) 80%
c) 75%
d) 50%
e) 25%
9. Simulation checklist before developing simulation (Choose 3)
a) Are there any surprising results
b) Is the goal properly specified
c) Does the team include right mix
d) Is model reviewed regularly
e) Has sufficient time been planned

10. ‘Cruftiness’ in diagramming of physical design can be minimized by

a) Having a low budget
b) Using a good simulator
c) Hiring experts
d) Diligence in keeping up with modifications to the design
e) Above all

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SECTION C [40 Marks] (Answer All Questions, each main question
should be answered on a new page).
Question 01 [10 marks]

1. What is a network topology? (01 mark)

Network topology means the arrangement of network physically and logically and how the
links and the nodes are connected. In arranging networks there are several ways. When it
comes to selecting a network topology there are various things to consider. Such as the
business type, goals, size and especially on the budget.
• Physical topology means how the network actually been arranged or the actual
connections and functions. Ring topology, Star topology, Bus topology and Mesh
topology are some examples for this.
• Logical topology is how the connections between the nodes are connected and the
ways of the connections. In others words the way of the network is setup. As well
as how the data is been transferred through every connection. Logical bus, the
Logical ring, Ethernet, VLAN and Token ring are the examples for this topology.

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2. Graph theory is important when designing a network topology. Define what a graph is with
a suitable illustration. (02 marks)
The mathematical logic of the properties and applications of graphs. Used to design
topology in networking.
Graph theory is referred to the study of relations in the graphs, which can either be
mathematical systems used to represent the inter-relations between objects.
The below equation is a mathematical structure consisting of two sets V and E

G = (V, E)

V= Vertices / Nodes (Ex: switches, routers)

E = Edges / Communication links (Wired or Wireless)

A D

Vertices: [A, B, C, D]

Edges: [(A, B), (A, D), (B, D), (B, C)]

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3. Provide the adjacency matrix for the below graph (Figure 1) (02 marks)

Figure 1
This another way of representing a graph. This is a 2D array of size V*V where V is the
count of vertices of the graph.
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1 1 0 0 1 0
2 1 0 1 0 1 0
3 0 1 0 1 0 0
4 0 0 1 0 1 1
5 1 1 0 1 0 0
6 0 0 0 1 0 0

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4. Explain the importance of information theory in network planning. (01 mark)
Link capacities of the transmission technologies are defined using information theory.
The key measure of information theory is entropy. Entropy quantifies the value of
uncertainty mixed-up within the quantity of an arbitrary inconstant or the final results of a
random method.

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 5. Explain entropy with related to information theory using an appropriate example.
(04 marks)

Entropy is a metric to determining how the unpredictable condition is.

If we examine the above figure, we can observe that the likelihood of selecting a blue ball from
the first box is high due to the higher available information. Then, if we look at the second box, if
we are asked to select a blue ball from it, the likelihood of picking a blue ball is relatively low in
comparison to the first box, since the information level is lower in the second box. The likelihood
of selecting the blue ball in the final box is low due to the low level of information available. As a
result, the entropy is greater than that of the other boxes.
By the following scenario, we can come to a conclusion, that when information is high, entropy is
low, and vice versa.
𝑚

Info(D) = − ∑ 𝑃𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 (𝑃𝑖 )

𝑖=1

Info (D) = - [(P positive log2 (P positive) – (P negative log2 (P negative)]

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Question 02 [10 marks]

1. Illustrate the process control model. (02 marks)

Process control is the potential to monitor and alter a process to give a preferred output.
2. State and briefly explain the six (6) common elements in a communication channel with a
suitable illustration. (03 marks)

• Sender / information source – this is the creature of the message, chooses the
transmission channel and pass the message.
• Encoder (transmitter) – this is the information source who uses the machine which turn
the message into binary data.
• Channel – this is the way used to send message.
• Decoder (receiver) – this is the machine which is used to convert the binary data into
message.
• Receiver (destination) – this is the receiver of the message and provides the respond
according.
• Noise – this is the physical disturbance like environment, people which does not allow
the message get to the receiver as what’s sent.

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3. A certain electromagnetic wave has a wavelength of 625 nm.
a) What is the frequency of the wave? (01 mark)
C = velocity speed of the light (3 x 108 ms-1)
λ=Lambda
f=frequency

λ= 6.25nm x 10-9m
1nm

= 6.25 x 10-7m

V= c/λ

V= (3 x 108 ms-1) / (6.25 x 10-7m)

= (3 x 108+7 s-1) / 6.25

= 4.8 x 1014 hz

b) What region of the electromagnetic spectrum is it found? (01 mark)

625 nm = Color is red and it is a visible spectrum.
c) What is the energy of the wave? (02 marks)
E = Energy of the wave
F = Frequency
H = Plank’s constant 6.626 x 10-34 Js

E=hf
= 6.626 x 10-34 Js x 4.8 x 1014
= 3.180 x 10-19J

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4. Differentiate between Bit rate and Baud rate. (01 mark)

Bit rate is known as the transmission of number of bits per second. For this the unit is bits per
second (bps).

• Example: if the bit rate is 20kbps it means that the bit rate is 20000 bits are transferring
in a second.

Baud rate is known as the amount of signal level changes in a second. The unit for this is bauds
per second.

• Example: If the baud rate is 1000 that means 1000 changes of the signals are done in a
second.

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Question 03 [10 marks]

1. a) State and briefly explain the six (6) phases in network life cycle. (03 marks)

For doing these things in an effective manner cisco have defined several lifecycles. Among those
one of the main is PPDIOO. PPDIOO stands for (Prepare, Plan, Design, Implement, Operate,
Operate).

Optimize

Operate Prepare

Implement Plan

Design

Prepare: In this phase we could collect all the requirements and the goals of the business. And
according to that we have to create a high-level design.
Plan: When working with this phase we have to give the consideration to the existing network of
the organization and gather the information and compare the results with the created high-level
design in the previous phase.
Design: In this phase we have to prepare a detailed network design by taking the business goals
and the requirements into consideration. Also, design must be supported with the availability,
scalability, reliability, security and performance as well.
Implement: This is the phase we have to implement our system in the live environment. Before
implementing in the real environment, we have to create a implementation plan, if possible verify
the system in the lab environment, implement a pilot means that break the project into smaller
parts and while upgrading the system test it whether that part is successful or unsuccessful. After
that we have to do the full deployment by comparing with the baseline of the network created to
observe the effect for the network.
Operate: This is the lengthy phase in this lifecycle and this is the daily operations in the network.
Optimize: In this phase we are identifying the problems that can arise in future and identify the
needs and improvements that have to come more on the newly implemented network. And this is
the phase that the lifecycle begins again and moves circularly to start the new implementations.
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 b) Provide four (4) benefits of the network life cycle. (02 marks)
• It increases the availability of the network – the network availability will be much
higher by following the well-constructed of the phases in network lifecycle.
• It lowers the total cost – by following the above life cycle the cost can be reduced
considerably because of proper requirement gathering and planning.
• By improving the availability, scalability, security, performance and reliability it
gives a speedy access to applications
• Improves the business agility – by defining the business requirements and the
relevant technologies it increases the business efficiency.

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2. a) Explain the importance of Prim’s Algorithm in topological design. (01 mark)
This is the way to find the shortest path in a topological design.
b) ABC is an organization having data centers in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas,
Los Angeles, and San Francisco (Figure 3). The New York center is the central
database. All the other data centers must be able to communicate with the central
database. The plan is to connect the centers by leased communication lines. For
simplicity it is assumed the costs of the leased lines are proportional to the distances
between their endpoints which are given in Table 1.
Apply Prim’s Algorithm and illustrate the topological design for this scenario.
(04 marks)

Figure 3

Table 1

Requirement
• All the data centers should have the access to communicate with the central
database
• New York is the central database among all.
• Planning to connect the centers with leased communication lines.

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 Assumption
Distance is proportional to the cost.

Total distance = (719+585+727+1251+344)

= 3626

Therefore, total cost = 3626

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Question 04 [10 marks]

1. a) What is Borderless Network Architecture (01 mark)

This is a next generation architecture that gives access for the users to connect remotely
from any device within a secure and reliable way.
b) State the four (4) components in Cisco Borderless Network Architecture (02 marks)
• Sustainability
• Ease of operations
• Borderless security
• Borderless experience
2. Briefly explain Little’s Law. (01 mark)

This is a principle that determines the average output of a queueing system. Based on the time of
average it takes for an object to arrive in a system and the amount of objects that arrive in a single
unit of time.
Mean jobs in system = arrival rate x mean response time
Applies if jobs entering equals job serviced
• No newly jobs generated; no new jobs lost
• If lost, can adjust arrival rate
(Esoft lecture slides, 2021)

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3. Server satisfies I/O request in average of 50 msec. I/O rate is about 1000 requests/sec.
a) What is the mean number of requests at the server? (01 mark)

Mean number at server = arrival rate x response time

= (1000 requests/sec) x (0.05 sec)

= 50 requests

4. M/M/5/20/1600/FCFS
a) Explain the above Kendall’s notation for a single queue system. (01 mark)

• Exponentially distributed arrivals

• Exponentially distributed service times

• Five servers

• Capacity 20 (Queue size is 20-5 = 15)

• Population is 1600 totals

• Service discipline is First Come First Serve (FCFS)

b) For the same single queue system, Kendall’s notation is given as M/M/5. What can you
say about it? (01 mark)

• Exponentially distributed arrivals

• Exponentially distributed service times

• Five servers

• Capacity is infinite

• Population is infinite

• Service discipline is First Come First Serve (FCFS)

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5. Consider I/O system with one disk and one controller. If average time required to service
each request is 8 msec, what is the maximum request rate it can tolerate? (01 mark)
Mean service time = 8 msec
I/O system request processing time = 1 sec
Total requests process in 1 sec = 1000/ 8
= 125 request/ sec

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 6. Briefly describe the two (2) main types of firewalls, Packet level and Application-level.
(02 marks)

• Packet filter firewall

This is a security technique used in networks to examine the packets and test the packets transferred
through the network according to the rules set by the person who does the configurations in the
network. Here, if the packet passes the test of the firewall, it will be allowed to pass and if it fails,
it cannot get permission from the firewall to transfer through the network and it will be rejected.
The Packet filter works by inspecting the IP of the origin and the IP of the destination and port
addresses.

• Application proxy firewall

This is a program in server which have the knowledge to understands included information is being
transmitted. It functions in a higher level than the packet filtering firewalls. This acts in two ways.
When a client requests a service from another server then this act as the proxy for the client to get
the access for the service.

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 • Stateful packet filtering firewall
This is a more advanced firewall can configure in a network. They can keep track on the network
and on the active connections. They have the power to understand what are the legitimate and
malicious traffic. And this gives an extra protection to the network by giving more security
procedures for every active connection. And if it is a new connection they have to denote as a
handshake to be allowed for connecting to the network.

• Software firewall
This is type of firewall that is being installed on the devices having locally. There’s a huge benefit
for the network by these type of firewalls because of the defensing ability.

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 • Hardware firewall
These are physical firewalls that are organized in the network to secure the end devices from
malicious threats and risks that can come from the outside of the network.

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