UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2014/2015
ORDINARY EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 2311 NETWORK SYSTEMS DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT
DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: APRIL, 2015 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE: TOTAL – 30 MARKS (COMPULSORY)
KCA University has considered creating a network for their complex that has just been
completed. The building is composed of five floors including the ground floor. You have
been tasked to be the designer of this network which will later be connected to the rest of
the University’s network. It is assumed that you will base your design on Ethernet and all
the floors will be cabled. It is further assumed that each floor will have approximately
200 computers. On each floor, there will be administrative computers which must be
separated from the student computers.
(a) Describe four goals that are common to any network design. [4 Marks]
(b) (i) What is the minimum number of wiring closets you would create for this
particular network? [1 Mark]
(ii) Where would you place your MDF and why? [2Marks]
(iii) What would be the minimum number of 24-port switches you will use for this
network? [2 Marks]
(c) Assuming that the average UTP cable run for each computer is 40 metres. How
many reels of UTP cable would you require for wiring the whole building? Show
your working. (N.B. Assume that the length of one reel of UTP cable is 300m.)
[5 Marks]
(d) Suppose the network you were to design was not for the company but for a home.
Home networking has some fundamentally different properties than other network
types. Describe briefly six of these properties. [6 Marks]
(e) Discuss the stages involved when gathering symptoms for a network problem.
[5 Marks]
(f) State and briefly discuss five (5) consequences of a network security breach.
[5 Marks]
QUESTION TWO: TOTAL – 20 MARKS
(a) You are a systems administrator and you are about to assign static IP addresses to
various servers on your network. For the network 192.168.20.24/29 the router is
assigned to the first usable host address, while the last usable host address goes to
your Sales server. Which address would you use for the router, the Sales server
and the subnet broadcast? [6 Marks]
(b) Continuity strategies and tactics should be devised in light of well-defined
mission goals. Outline any three objectives to be followed when conducting
network continuity planning in order to avoid superfluous or unwanted outcomes.
[6 Marks]
(c) Why is it difficult for some organizations to make a decision to move towards
converged networks? [3 Marks]
(d) Give the functions or applications of the following network troubleshooting
commands
(i) hostname [1 Mark]
(ii). ipconfig /all [1 Mark]
(iii). ping [1 Mark]
(iv). tracert [1 Mark]
(v) nslookup [1 Mark]
QUESTION THREE: TOTAL – 20 MARKS
(a) Study the diagram below carefully. How many collision domains and broadcast
domains can you identify?Explain. [6 Marks]
(b) An operating system can be defined generally as the software that manages
computer resources. Briefly explain how a NOS manages processes that are
running in a networked environment. [4 Marks]
(c) Ethernet technology defines how information communication is done at the Data
Link and Physical Layers of the OSI Reference Model. Briefly discuss the reasons
behind the success of this technology when it comes to networking. [3 Marks]
(d) KCA University has purchased the Class B IP address 169.248.0.0. The Network
Engineer has discovered that he needs to create 50 subnetworks for the
University. You have been assigned the task of implementing these subnetworks
using the purchased Class B address.
(i) What is the subnet mask for entire network? Show your working.
[3 Marks]
(ii) Determine the increment and list the IP address ranges for the first four
(4) subnetworks. [4 Marks]
QUESTION FOUR:TOTAL – 20 MARKS
(a) Explain briefly the concept of intranets and extranets. [4 Marks]
(b) Define the following terminologies as used in computer networks:
(i) Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) [1 Mark]
(ii) Virtual Private Network (VPN) [1 Mark]
(iii) Throughput [1 Mark]
(iv) Packet [1 Mark]
(c) Describe briefly
(i) Peer-to-peer networks [2 Marks]
(ii) Client/server networks [2 Marks]
(d) List any four factors that can determine throughput [4 Marks]
(e) State any four uses for a “crossover cable”. [4 Marks]
QUESTION FIVE: TOTAL – 20 MARKS
(a) Describe the steps a client goes through to get an IP address from a DHCP server.
[6 Marks]
(b) Describe simplex, half-duplex and full duplex transmission. [6 Marks]
(c) (i) Define the term convergence s used in Computer networks. [1 Mark]
(ii) Converged networks have existed for a while now, but were only feasible
in large enterprise organizations. Why? [4 Marks]
(d) Explain briefly three functions of routers [3 Marks]
