Computer Network
Assignment # 1
Assignment# 1 (TCP/IP Short Problems)
Problem 1
A process on host 1 has been assigned port p, and a process on host 2 has been
assigned port q. Is it possible for there to be two or more TCP connections between
these two ports at the same time?
Problem 2
TCP provides reliable transfer through a mixture of sequence number, receiver buffer,
cumulative acknowledgement, and fast retransmission. Answer the following True or
False problems. If it's False, explain why.
• a) Host A is sending host B a large file over a TCP connection. Assume host B
has no data to send to A. Host B will not send acknowledgements to host A
because host B cannot piggyback the acknowledgement on data.
• b) The size of the TCP advertised window (RcvWindow) never changes
throughout the duration of the connection.
• c) Suppose host A is sending host B a large file over a TCP connection. The
number of unacknowledged bytes that A sends cannot exceed the size of the
receiver's buffer.
• d) Suppose host A is sending host B a large file over a TCP connection. If the
sequence number for a segment of this connection is m, then the sequence
number for the subsequent segment will necessarily be m+1.
• e) Suppose host A sends host B one segment with sequence number 38 and 4
bytes of data. Then in the same segment the acknowledgement number is
necessarily 42.
• f) Suppose that the last sample RTT in a TCP connection is equal to 1 second.
Then timeout for the connection will necessarily be set to a value >= 1 second.
• g) With the selective repeat protocol, it is possible for the sender to receive an
ACK for a packet that falls outside of its current window.
• h) With the Go-Back-N, it is possible for the sender to receive an ACK for a
packet that falls outside of its current window.
Problem 3
TCP provides congestion control through slow start and AIMD (additive increase and
multiplicative decrease). Answer the following True or False problems. If it's False,
explain why.
• a) Consider congestion control in TCP. When a timer expires at the sender, the
threshold is set to one half of its previous value.
• b) The slow start is really slow, which is one of the overhead introduced by
congestion control.
Problem 4
• Consider the effect of using slow start on a line with a 10-msec round-trip
time and no congestion. The receive window is 24KB and the maximum
segment size is 2KB.
How long does it take before the first full window can be sent?
• Suppose the TCP congestion window is set to 18KB and a timeout occurs.
How big will the window be if the next four transmission bursts are all
successful? Assume that the maximum segment size is 1KB.