Topic: Networks
Related Reading: Ch. 15 of Dale/Lewis, as well as our lecture notes.
Due: 8pm Thursday, 6 December 2007

1. (6 points)

   Certain IP addresses are reserved for special purposes and thus not available for general use (much as phone numbers are not allowed to start with a 0 or a 1).

   If we disregard those issues, the number of available IP addresses on a particular network is based upon the number of bits used for the network portion of the IP address and the number remaining for the host portion of the IP address. Recall that a Class A network is designated with a common first byte (e.g., 17.x.x.x), a Class B network with two common bytes (e.g., 165.134.x.x), and a Class C network with three common bytes (e.g., 205.221.205.x).

   1. What is the theoretical maximum number of Class A networks that can exist on the Internet?
   2. For a given Class A network, how many distinct hosts can be assigned IP addresses at any one time?
   3. What is the theoretical maximum number of Class B networks that can exist on the Internet?
   4. For a given Class B network, how many distinct hosts can be assigned IP addresses at any one time?
   5. What is the theoretical maximum number of Class C networks that can exist on the Internet?
   6. For a given Class C network, how many distinct hosts can be assigned IP addresses at any one time?

2. (4 points)

   Compare and contrast the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol. What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two?

3. (5 points)

   For each of the following kinds of network activity, would TCP or UDP be the preferred protocol. Give a brief explanation of why.

   1. Email

   2. A query to a Web Server

   3. A radio broadcast

   4. Purchasing a song from the iTunes store

   5. Sending a "Text Message" to a phone

4. (5 points)

   Write a few paragraphs in response to Thought Question 4 on page 503 of our text.

Overall, please type your answers to all of the problems in a single document to be submitted electronically. Please see details about the submission process.