Chapter 2 Lab Manual

Samuel Lee
NT1210 Intro to Networking
Instructor. Bobbie Casteel III
Chapter 2 Manual

Lab 2.1
Exercise 2.1.1
Explain why all of these elements are necessary for allowing one device to communicate with another. What happens if one of them is not present? Explain this circumstance for all five elements.

Exercise 2.1.2
Most modern computers have device drivers for network interfaces that manage most of these elements automatically. What characteristics of modern computer networks allow this type of integration? Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer.

Exercise 2.1.3
For this exercise, you will enable peer-to-peer communication on your Windows XP machine. Complete the steps that follow to enable this service. What other networking services are available for installation?

Exercise 2.1.4
Briefly explain why wireless connections between peer devices do not need specialized equipment like a crossover cable to connect to each other. Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer

Exercise 2.1.5
For this exercise, you will be creating a new network connection on your Windows PC. List the types of connections that are available to choose. Record the settings that you choose in each step.

Lab 2.1 Review
1. Explain the difference between a network device and a peripheral device and give examples of each. You can use your textbook and the Internet to research your answer.

2. Explain why you would want to limit the type of incoming connections that you allow on a computer. Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer

3. Explain the purpose and benefits of a peer-to-peer network.

Lab 2.2

Exercise 2.2.1
If an organization has 30 users, each with his or her own PC, what is the comparative cost of buying a $120 printer for each user versus the cost of buying a single, higher-capacity $500 printer that can be used by the entire office? What is the drawback to having only a single printer? What is the cost of having two additional backup printers for the office compared to having individual printers? How many shared printers can be purchased and still be less expensive than individual printers?

Exercise 2.2.2
If each of the 30 users in an organization prints an average of 22 pages per hour and a shared printer has the capacity to print 180 pages per hour, how many shared printers will be needed to prevent overloading each printer’s capacity? Would there be a benefit to having more than the exact number needed? Justify your answer.

Exercise 2.2.3
In this exercise, you will map a network location to your local machine. Record the steps that you follow for the process, and record the network location that is mapped to the letter you choose.

Exercise 2.2.4
What are the drawbacks of using a networked drive for storing important documents? Use your textbook and the Internet to support your conclusion.

Exercise 2.2.5
For this exercise, you will create a link to a web resource on your desktop. You should record the address of the link that you create.

Exercise 2.2.6
How often should you verify that the network resource is connected correctly? What will happen to your connection if the web-based resource gets moved or taken offline? Justify your conclusions.

Lab 2.2 Review

1. Why is it infeasible to create a shortcut to every web-based resource (such as a website) that you use frequently? What is a better alternative to creating shortcuts on your desktop for frequently visited sites?

2. Should you create multiple mounted drives for different folders on the same network computer? What will this accomplish, and why is it a good or bad idea? Justify your conclusion with support from your textbook or Internet research.

3. The two primary functions of a network are sharing resources and communicating between devices. Why is the ability to share resources advantageous in a network? What benefit does it provide?

Lab 2.3

Exercise 2.3.1
Briefly define LAN, MAN, PAN, and WAN. What is the critical distinction for these networks? What is the classification metric used here?

Exercise 2.3.2
Briefly define the term network topology. What is the metric used to define networks by topology?

Exercise 2.3.3
Using the ring topology shown in Figure 2-10, how many actual messages would it take (the number of hops on the network) to send a message from A to B? How many actual messages would it take to send a message from B to A? How many additional links would be required to add a new node E between C and D? How would this affect the number of messages it takes to traverse the ring?

Exercise 2.3.4
Using the bus topology from Figure 2-11, how many actual messages would it take to send a message from A to D? How many actual messages would it take to send a message from D to A? How many additional links would be required to add a new node E between C and B? How would the added node affect the network?

Exercise 2.3.5
Using the star topology in Figure 2-12, consider the number of actual messages necessary to send a message from A to B. How many messages are sent if the central device is a hub when A sends a message to B? How many messages are sent if the central device is a switch when A sends a message to B? What effect does adding a new node E between C and D have on the network?

Exercise 2.3.6
Using the mesh topology shown in Figure 2-13, how many actual messages are necessary to send a message from A to D? How many actual messages are needed to send a message from A to B? How many links would be required to add a new node E between C and D? How many links would be required to add a new node F if E is already added?

Lab 2.3 Review
1. What are some devices that you can connect to a PAN? You can use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer.

2. Of the network topologies covered in this lab, which of them have a single point of failure for the network? A single point of failure is where one device or connection going down will stop all network traffic. Justify your position.

3. What are the limiting factors for growing mesh networks (adding new nodes)? What are the limiting factors for growing star networks? Use your textbook and Internet research to justify your answer.

4. Give an example of a MAN and describe why this type of network would be useful. Use your textbook and Internet research to justify your answer.

Lab 2.4
Exercise 2.4.1
For this exercise, you will follow the instructions for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (or whatever subset of these operating systems is available to you in the lab). Record the steps that you take, and copy the output from the command into your lab report.

Lab 2.4 Review
1. Compare the output of two of the operating systems in which you entered the ipconfig or ifconfig command. What common information was given by the operating systems?

2. Outside of networking, is there a benefit to knowing how to access the command-line interface of an operating system? Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer.

3. Windows and Mac OS focus more on the graphical user interface of the operating system instead of the command-line interface. Why has this focus been selected, and what marketing advantage is there to this emphasis? Use your textbook and Internet research to support your answer.

Lab 2.5
Exercise 2.5.1
For this exercise, you will use the man page for the man command to get more information on man pages. To complete this, type man man in the Terminal window at the > prompt. From the information given in the man page for the man command, what is the purpose of a man page and why are they useful?

Exercise 2.5.2
What are the sections contained in a man page?

Exercise 2.5.3
What are four of the available options for use with the man command?

Lab 2.5 Review
1. According to the man page for ifconfig, what is the purpose of the ifconfig command and what information does it return by default?

2. List three of the command-line options available for the ifconfig command. You can get this information directly from the man page.

3. What information is returned when you enter the following commands in Linux? man –f ifconfig man –w ifconfig