Note that this is a guideline and does not provide a full coverage of the final exam
questions.

• Introduction
o Can you explain the TCP/IP stack?
o Can you compare the packet switching and circuit switching networks with a
number of users?
o Can you calculate various delays?

• Application layer
o Can you find and explain detailed information on a given application message
(e.g., HTTP request/ response, DNS request/response, DHCP)?
o Can you explain the request and response of application messages?

• Transport layer
o Can you explain the differences between UDP and TCP?
o Can you explain how to guarantee reliable delivery of application messages?
o Can you find information (port number, direction, application protocol etc)
given transport layer protocol header (TCP or UDP) dump?
o Can you calculate checksum and verify it?
o Can you explain the differences between flow control and congestion control?

• Network layer
o Can you explain the packet scheduling in a router?
o Can you explain the packet fragmentation and how it works?
o Can you explain the differences between the operation of distance vector and
link state routing algorithms?
o Given a network graph, can you make a table that contain the minimum-cost
routes from a source node to all other nodes using Dijkstra’s algorithm and
Distance Vector algorithm (Bellman-Ford algorithm), respectively?
o Can you explain NAT?
o Can you explain the difference between IPv4 and IPv6?

• Link layer
o Can you explain how odd/even parity bit works? Can you find parity bit given
binary digits? Can you explain the 2-D parity and its limitation?
o Can you calculate/show how CRC is used to detect error(s)?
o Can you explain why forward error correction (FEC) is used? Can you show
how FEC is used to detect and/or correct error(s)?
o Can you explain MAC address? Can you find relevant information given
MAC address?
o Can you explain how MAC addresses/IP addresses are used in a LAN and
between different LANs?
o Can you explain the MAC protocols and their differences (e.g., CSMA)?
o Can you explain how VLAN is working?
o Can you explain how MPLS is working?