Topics List for Qualifying Examination: Computer Networking


The OSI Seven Layer Reference Model


The Physical Layer
    Fourier Analysis
    Manchester Encoding
    Base- and Broad-band
    RS-232-C protocol
 

The Data Layer
    Ethernet (IEEE 802.3)
    Aloha, slotted Aloha
    Persistent to non-persistent CSMA
    Collision Detection
    Collision Free Protocols
    Token Ring (IEEE 802.5)
    Framing by bit-stuffing
        byte-stuffing
        broken Manchester code
    Error detecting (Hamming) codes
    Error correcting (Hamming) codes
    Cyclic Redoudancy Check
        modulo 2 arithmetic
    Elementary protocols
        programs for these protocols.
    Sliding window protocols
    Finite state machines
        protocol models as finite state machines.
    Petri Nets
        protocol models as Petri Nets.
 

Network Layer
    Virtual circuits and connection oriented networks
    Connectionless networks and datagrams
    Routing Algrithums
        Dijkstra O(n**2)
        Bellman-Ford O(n**3)
        Floyd-Warshall O(n**3)
        (see Bertsekar & Gallager, ``Data Networks'', Prentice Hall)
    Backward Learning
    Flooding
    Other Routing Methods
    Congestion Control, Deadlocks, and avoidance
    Choke Packets
    Repeaters - Bridges - Gateways
    Internet Protocol: see at least one TCP/IP book!
                                  read the latest RFCs
 

Transport Layer
    Layer Service Primitives
    Addressing - name servers
    Sequence Numbers & Forbidden regions
        multi-accommodate machines that fail and restart
    Three-way-hand-shake (three army problem)
    Time-Outs and Resending
    TCP - Transport Control Protocol:
                read at least one book on TCP/IP, read latest RFCs
 

Session Layer
    Dialog Management
    Synchronization and restart due to application failures
    Activity Management
    Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
 

Presentation Layer
    Little Endian versus Big Endian
    EBCDIC versus ASCII
    Data Compression
    Huffman Codes
    Very Simple Ciphers for encoding
 

Application Layer:
    E-mail
    File Servers
    Virtual Terminals

Best reference for most of the above: A. Tanenbaum Computer Networking 2nd Edition Prentice Hall 1989
 

Practical Tools for Exploring and Managing Internet
Best refernce: W. Richard Stevens "TCP/IP Illustrated" pre-edition copy (1993)