24   Selected Solutions

In this chapter we present solutions (in some cases partial solutions) to exercises marked with a ♢.

24.1   Solutions for An Overview of Networks

1.18   Exercises

Exercise 2.7

A
B,C,D	direct
E	D (or C)

B
A,C	direct
D	A
E	C

C
A,B,E	direct
D	E (or A)

D
A,E	direct
B	A
C	E (or A)

E
C,D	direct
A	C (or D)
B	C

Exercise 7.0(d) (destination D):

According to S1’s forwarding table, the next_hop to D is S2.

According to S2’s table, the next_hop to D is S5.

According to S5’s table, the next_hop to D is S6.

According to S6’s table, the next_hop to D is S12.

The path from S1 to D is thus S1–S2–S5–S6–S12.

Exercise 7.5(a)

The shortest path from A to F is A–S1–1–S2–2–S5–1–S6–F, for a total cost of 1+2+1 = 4.

24.2   Solutions for Ethernet

2.10   Exercises

Exercise 2.7

When A sends to D, all switches use fallback-to-flooding as no switch knows where D is. All switches S1-S4, though, learn where A is.

When D sends to A, S2 knows where A is and so routes the packet directly to S1, which also knows where A is. S3 and S4 do not learn where D is.

When A sends to B, all switches again use fallback-to-flooding, but no switch learns anything new.

When B sends to D, S4 uses fallback-to-flooding as it does not know where D is. However, S2 does know where D is, and so S2 forwards the packet only to D. S2 and S4 learn where B is.

switch	known destinations
S1	AD
S2	ABD
S3	A
S4	AB

Exercise 8.5

(a). S1, as root, keeps all three of its links to S3, S4 and S5. Of S2’s three links in the direction of the root (that is, to S3, S4 and S5), it keeps only its link to S3 as S3 has the lowest ID.

The path from S2 to S5 is S2–S3–S1–S5.

Exercise 12.0

1. h1→h2: this packet is reported to C, as destination h2 is not known by S. C installs on S the rule that h1 can be reached via port 1. The packet is then flooded.

2. h2→h1: this packet is not reported to C, as destination h1 is known by S. The packet is not flooded.

3. h3→h1: this packet is again not reported to C. S delivers the packet normally, without flooding.

4. h2→h3: this packet is reported to C, as destination h3 is not known by S. C installs on S the rule that h2 can be reached via port 2. The packet is then flooded.

Exercise 13.0

Table for S1 only:

h1→h2: S1 reports to C and learns where h1 is

h2→h1: S1 does not report, and forwards normally; destination h1 is known

h1→h3: S1 reports to C as h3 is not known, but S1 already knows where h1 is

h3→h1: S1 does not report, and forwards normally; destination h1 is known

h2→h3: S1 reports to C and learns where h2 is

h3→h2: S1 does not report, and forwards normally; destination h2 is known

S1’s table ends up with forwarding entries for h1 and h2, but not h3.

24.3   Solutions for Other LANs

3.11   Exercises

Exercise 3(b)

One simple strategy is for stations to compare themselves to one another according to the numeric value of their MAC addresses. The station with the smallest MAC address becomes S₀, the station with the next-smallest address becomes S₁, etc.

Exercise 4.5

The three sending nodes can be laid out at the vertices of an equilateral triangle, with the receiving node in the center. Alternatively, with impermeable walls the following arrangement works:

                         sender1
                       ───────────
receiver                 sender2
                       ───────────
                         sender1

The latter arrangement generalizes to almost any number of senders. For the former, senders can be laid out at the vertices of a square, or tetrahedron, or possibly a pentagon, but geometry enforces an eventual limit.

Exercise 5(b)

If T is the length of the contention interval, in µsec, then transmission and contention alternate with lengths 151–T–151–T–…. The fraction of bandwidth lost to contention is T/(T+151).

Exercise 10.5

The connections are as follows, where the VCI number is shown between the endpoints of each link:

A–1–S1–2–S2–3–S4–2–D

B–1–S2–2–S4–1–S3–3–S1–2–A

24.4   Solutions for Links

Exercise 3.5

The binary ASCII for the three letters is

N	0100 1110
e	0110 0101
t	0111 0100

If we look up the 4-bit “nybbles” in the right column above in the 4B/5B table at 4.1.4   4B/5B, we get

data	symbol
0100	01010
1110	11100
0110	01110
0101	01011
0111	01111
0100	01010

Putting all these symbols together, the encoding is (with spaces added for readability)

01010 11100 01110 01011 01111 01010

24.5   Solutions for Packets

5.6   Exercises

Exercise 3

(a). The bandwidth delay for a 600-byte packet is 300 µsec. The packet has a 300 µsec bandwidth delay and a 600 µsec propagation delay for each link, for a total of 2×900 = 1800 µsec. We have the following timeline:

T=0	A begins sending the packet
T=300	A finishes sending the packet
T=600	S begins receiving the packet
T=900	S finishes receiving the packet and begins sending to B
T=1200	S finishes sending the packet
T=1500	B begins receiving the packet
T=1800	B finishes receiving the packet

(b). The bandwidth delay for each 300-byte packet is now 150 µsec, so the first packet arrives at S at T=750. The second packet arrives one bandwidth delay – 150 µsec – later, at T=900 µsec. The first packet takes another 750 µsec to travel from S to B, arriving at T=1500; the second packet arrives 150 µsec later at T=1650. Here is the timeline:

T=0	A begins sending packet 1
T=150	A finishes sending packet 1, starts on packet 2
T=300	A finishes sending packet 2
T=600	S begins receiving packet 1
T=750	S finishes receiving packet 1 and begins sending it to B
	S begins receiving packet 2
T=900	S finishes receiving packet 2 and begins sending it to B
T=1350	B begins receiving packet 1
T=1500	B has received all of packet 1 and starts receiving packet 2
T=1650	B finishes receiving packet 2

Here’s the data for (b) in ladder-diagram format (not quite to scale):

The long propagation delay means that A finishes all transmissions before S begins receiving anything, and S finishes all transmissions before B begins receiving anything. With a smaller propagation delay, these A/S/B events are likely to overlap.

Exercise 15(a)

The received data is 10100010 and the received code bits are 0111. We first calculate the four code bits for the received data:

1: parity over all bits 1: parity over second half: 10100010 0: parity over these bits: 10100010 0: parity over these bits: 10100010

So the incorrect received code bits are 0111.

The first bit of the received code tells us that the error is in the data (rather than the code bits). The second – correct – bit of the received code tells us that the error is in the first half, that is, in the non-bold bits of 10100010.

The third bit of the received code tells us that the error is in the bold bits of 10100010, so we’re down to the third or fourth bit. Finally, the fourth bit of the received code tells us the error is in the bold bits of 10100010, which means the fourth bit is it, and the corrected data is 10110010 (making the data the same as that in the example in 5.4.2.1   Hamming Codes).

24.6   Solutions for Sliding Windows

6.5   Exercises

Exercise 2.5

The network is

(a). The second part of formula 4 of 6.3.2   RTT Calculations is queue_usage = winsize − bandwidth × RTT_noLoad. We know winsize = 6, bandwidth = 1 packet/sec and RTT_noLoad = 4, so this works out to 2 packets in the queue.

(b). At T=0, C sends packets 1-6 to S1. S1 begins sending packet 1 to S2; packets 2-6 are queued.

At T=1, S1 begins sending packet 2 to S2; S2 begins sending packet 1 to D

At T=2, S1 begins sending packet 3 to S2 and S2 begins sending packet 2 to D. Packet 1 has reached D, which begins sending ACK1 to S2.

At T=3, S1 begins sending packet 4 to S2, S2 begins sending packet 3 to D, D begins sending ACK2 to S2, and S2 begins sending ACK1 to S1.

At T=4, S1 begins sending packet 5 to S1, S2 begins sending packet 4 to D, D begins sending ACK3 to S2, and S2 begins sending ACK2 to S1. ACK1 has arrived at S1, and is instantly forwarded to C. The window slides forward by one, from [1-6] to [2-7], and C sends new packet 7, which instantly arrives at S1 and is placed in the queue there.

Here is the table. The column “S1→S2” is the data packet S1 is currently sending to S2; the column “S2→S1” is the ACK that S2 is currently sending to S1; similarly for “S2→D” and “D→S2”.

T	C sends	S1 queues	S1→S2	S2→D	ACK D→S2	S2→S1
0	1,2,3,4,5,6	2,3,4,5,6	1
1		3,4,5,6	2	1
2		4,5,6	3	2	1
3		5,6	4	3	2	1
4	7	6,7	5	4	3	2
5	8	7,8	6	5	4	3
6	9	8,9	7	6	5	4
7	10	9,10	8	7	6	5
8	11	10,11	9	8	7	6

Exercise 7.5

(a). The formula, from 6.2.1   Bandwidth × Delay, is winsize = bandwidth × RTT_noLoad = 1000 pkts/sec × 0.1 sec = 100 packets.

(b). This is the first line of formula 3 of 6.3.2   RTT Calculations. For convenience, we switch to units of ms. Queue_usage = throughput × (RTT_actual − RTT_noLoad) = 1 pkt/ms × (130ms − 100ms) = 30 packets.

(c). We use formula 4 of 6.3.2   RTT Calculations. We have RTT_actual = winsize / bandwidth = (100+50)/(1 pkt/ms) = 150 ms.

Exercise 9.0

If Data[8] is in the receiver’s window, then Data[4] must have been received. For the sender to have sent Data[4] it must have previously received ACK[0]. Therefore, all transmissions of Data[0] must precede the first transmission of Data[4], and so must precede the first successful transmission of Data[4]. Because of non-reordering, no Data[0] can arrive after Data[4].

24.7   Solutions for IPv4

7.15   Exercises

Exercise 4.0

Forwarding table for A:

destination	next_hop
200.0.5.0/24	direct
200.0.6.0/24	direct
default	B

Exercise 6.0(d)

The subnet prefix is 10.0.168.0/21. The /21 means that the prefix consists of the first two bytes (16 bits) and the first 5 (=21-16) bits of the third byte.

Expressing the third byte, 168, in binary, we get 10101|000.

We now convert the third byte of each of the four addresses to binary, and see which match this to the first five bits. Bits after the “|” mark are ignored.

10.0.166.1: 166 = 10100|110; not a match

10.0.170.3: 170 = 10101|010; this is a match

10.0.174.5: 174 = 10101|110; this is a match

10.0.177.7: 177 = 10110|001; not a match

Exercise 6.5

(a). 240 is 11110000 in binary, and so adds 4 1-bits. Together with the 16 1-bits from the first two bytes of the mask, this is /20

(d). /20 is 16 1-bits (two bytes) plus 4 additional 1-bits. Four 1-bits starting a byte is 11110000, or 240; the full mask is 255.255.240.0

24.8   Solutions for Routing-Update Algorithms

9.9   Exercises

Exercise 2.5

For destination A, R1’s report is likely the same as it sent earlier, when R’s route to A was first established. There is no change.

For destination B, R’s total distance using R1 would be 2+1 = 3. This is tied with R’s route to B using next_hop R2, and so there is no change.

For destination C, R1 is reporting an increase in cost. R’s next_hop to C is R1, and so R must increase its cost to C to 4+1 = 5.

For destination D, R’s total cost using R1 is 3+1 = 4, cheaper than R’s previous cost of 5 using next_hop R3. R changes to the R1 route.

The updated table is

destination	cost	next hop
A	2	R1	no change; same next_hop
B	3	R2	no change; tie
C	5	R1	source increase
D	4	R1	lower-cost route found

24.9   Solutions for Large-Scale IP Routing

10.8   Exercises

Exercise 0.5

(i) 200.63.1.1 matches only A, as 63 = 0011 1111 in binary and 64 = 0100 0000. The first two bits do not match, ruling out the /10 prefix.

(ii) 200.80.1.1 matches A and B, but not C, as 80 = 0101 0000. Destination B is the longer match.

(iii) 200.72.1.1 matches A, B and C, but not D, as 72 = 0100 1000. Destination C is the longest match.

(iv) 200.64.1.1 matches A, B, C and D; D is the longest match.

Exercise 5(a)

P’s table

destination	next hop
52.0.0.0/8	Q
53.0.0.0/8	R
51.10.0.0/16	A
51.23.0.0/16	B

Q’s table

destination	next hop
51.0.0.0/8	P
53.0.0.0/8	R
52.14.0.0/16	C
52.15.0.0/16	D

R’s table

destination	next hop
51.0.0.0/8	P
52.0.0.0/8	Q

Exercise 7(a)

P will receive a route from Q with AS-path ⟨Q,S⟩, and a route from R with AS-path ⟨R,S⟩.

24.10   Solutions for UDP

Exercise 2(a)

Two seconds after Data[3] was sent and lost, both sender and receiver will time out. The sender will retransmit Data[3]; the receiver will retransmit ACK[2]. The latter will be ignored, as the sender is not retransmitting on duplicates. When the retransmitted Data[3] arrives at the receiver, the receiver will send ACK[3] and the transfer will continue.

24.11   Solutions for TCP Reno

12.24   Exercises

Exercise 12.5(b)

Let t be the transit capacity; then the total cwnd_max is t(1+f). At this point it is convenient to normalize the units of capacity measurement so t(1+f) = 2. Then the link-unsaturated and queue-filling phases have lengths in the proportion t−1 to ft. The average height of the tooth during the link-unsaturated phase is (t+1)/2, and the average utilization percentage is thus (t+1)/2t. This gives a utilization of

(t+1)/2t × (t−1) + ft

We next eliminate t. After normalization, we have t(1+f) = 2, and so t = 2/(1+f). Plugging this in above and simplifying gives

utilization = (3 + 6f − f²)/4(1+f)

24.12   Solutions for Dynamics of TCP

14.13   Exercises

Exercise 2(a)

Because the window size of 50 is larger than the bandwidth×delay product is 40 packets, packets are sent at the bottleneck rate of 5 packets/ms. As packets spend 1 ms on the C–R1 link, on average this link must be carrying 5 packets. The same applies to the R2–D link; for the R1–R2 link with a 2.0 ms propagation delay, the number of packets carried will be 2.0×5 = 10.

Alternatively, from the bandwidth×delay product of 40 packets we conclude 40 packets are in transit. Of these, half are acknowledgments. The other half are distributed in proportion to the link propagation delays, yielding 5, 10, and 5 packets.

Exercise 2.5

At the point when A’s bandwidth is 2 packets/ms, B’s bandwidth is 4 packets/ms, and so B has 4×20 = 80 packets in transit. As B’s winsize is 120, this leaves 120−80 = 40 packets in R’s queue.

For A to have half as much bandwidth, it must have half the queue capacity, or 20 packets. With a bandwidth of 2 packets/ms and an RTT_noLoad of 40 ms, A will have 2×40 = 80 packets in transit. A’s winsize is then 20+80 = 100.

We can confirm this using the following formulas from 14.2.3   Example 3: competition and queue utilization:

𝛼Q = w_A − 2𝛼(d_A+d)

𝛽Q = w_B − 2𝛽(d_B+d)

However, these formulas were derived under the assumption that the bottleneck bandwidth was normalized to 1. To apply them here, we need to measure time in units of 1/6 ms; that is, all times need to be multiplied by 6. We have:

d_A = 90

d_B = 30

d = 30

w_B = 120

𝛼=1/3, 𝛽=2/3

Substituting these into the second formula, we get the total queue utilization Q = 180 − 120 = 60, in agreement with our earlier answer. From the first formula we now solve for w_A = 𝛼(Q + 2(d_A+d)) = (1/3)×(60 + 240) = 100, also in agreement with our earlier answer.

Exercise 3(a)

The bottleneck bandwidth is 5 packets/ms, and as the bottleneck link is saturated, this will be the transmission rate on all links. For 5 packets to be in transmission, we need a propagation delay of 5 packets / (5 packets/ms) = 1.0 ms.

Exercise 3.5

(a). If the A–B connection has a bandwidth of 3 packets/sec and a RTT_noLoad of 16 ms, then a window size of 3×16 = 48 is necessary. Similarly, the window size for the C–D connection is 3×10 = 30 packets.

It remains to show that these window sizes actually result in an equal division of bandwidth. The A–B bandwidth cannot exceed 50% in the steady state, because of the limitation imposed by the R2–R3 link. If the C–D bandwidth exceeds 50%, then the bandwidth-delay product exceeds 30 = w_C, and so the C–D connection can have no packets in the queue at R1, leaving the A–B connection with no queuing delays. This means A sends w_A packets in 16 ms, for a bandwidth of 3 pkts/ms.

Exercise 13.5(a)

The cwnd will vary between 500 and 1000, with an average of 750 packets. Losses occur at intervals of 500 RTTs, during which 500*750 packets have been sent.

24.13   Solutions for Mininet

Exercise 6.0(a)

When h1 sends its broadcast ARP, the controller learns where h1 is relative to s1, s2 and s3.

When h2 replies to h2, there is not yet a rule for h1 at s2, and so s2 sends the packet to the controller, which installs rules for destinations h1 and h2 in s2. The packet is then flooded. When it arrives at s1, the controller installs rules for h1 and h2 and s1. The packet also arrives at s3, by flooding, so the controller installs rules for h1 and h2 in s3.

When h3 sends its broadcast packet, all of s1-s3 see the packet. Because the packet is broadcast, all three switches report the packet to the controller.

When h1 replies to h3, no switches have a rule for destination h3, and the controller knows how to reach h1 and h3 from each switch, so a new rule for reaching h3 is installed at each switch.

24.14   Solutions for Queuing and Scheduling

Exercise 5.5(a)

Because all three subqueues are always active, the bit-by-bit virtual clock always moves in lockstep with the real clock, and we can calculate finishing times according to the real clock. Here are transmissions, in order, with finishing times taken to be cumulative bytes.

Queue	size	finishing time
1	190	190
1	190	380
1	190	570
1	190	760
1	190	950
2	1000	1000
1	190	1140
3	1200	1200
1	190	1330
1	190	1520
1	190	1710
1	190	1900
2	1000	2000
1	190	2090
1	190	2280
3	1200	2400
1	190	2470

Exercise 5.5(b)

Initially each subqueue has a deficit of 0.

Queue	packets sent	deficit
1	5, =950 bytes	50
2	1	0
3	pass	1000
1	5, =950 bytes	100
2	1	0
3	1	800
1	5, =950 bytes	150
2	1	0
3	1	600
1	6, =1140 bytes	10
2	1	0
3	1	400