NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

51

CHAPTER 6

TRANSPORT LAYER PROTOCOLS

EXERCISES
Exercise 6-1: TCP Header Fields
Match the TCP header field in the left column with the correct description in the right column. 1. Source Port 2. Sequence Number 3. Checksum 4. Window 5. Urgent Pointer 6. Data Offset 7. Destination Port 8. Acknowledgment Number 9. Control Bits 10. Data a. Specifies how many bytes the sender can transmit b. Specifies the number of bytes in the sequence that have been successfully transmitted c. Specifies the functions of messages used to initiate and terminate connections d. Contains information for the application layer e. Specifies which of the bytes in the message should receive special treatment from the receiving system f. Identifies the application or protocol that generated the data carried in the TCP message g. Used to reassemble segments that arrive at the destination out of order h. Specifies the length of the TCP header i. Contains error detection information j. Specifies the application that will use the data in the message
ANSWER

1. f, 2. g, 3. i, 4. a, 5. e, 6. h, 7. j, 8. b, 9. c, 10. d.

52

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

Exercise 6-2: TCP and UDP Functions

Specify whether each of the following statements describes TCP, UDP, or both. 1. Provides flow control: ________________________________ 2. Used for DNS communications: ________________________ 3. Detects transmission errors: ___________________________ 4. Used to carry DHCP messages: _________________________ 5. Divides data to be transmitted into segments: _____________ 6. Acknowledges transmitted messages: ____________________ 7. Used for Web client/server communications: _____________ 8. Requires a connection establishment procedure: __________ 9. Contains a Length field: ______________________________ 10. Uses a pseudo-header in its checksums: _________________
ANSWER

1. TCP 2. Both 3. Both 4. Both 5. TCP 6. TCP 7. TCP 8. TCP 9. Both 10. Both

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

53

Exercise 6-3: Port Numbers

Specify the application or service associated with each of the following wellknown port numbers: 1. 23 2. 21 3. 80 4. 25 5. 110 6. 53 7. 20
ANSWER

1. Telnet 2. FTP (Control) 3. HTTP 4. SMTP 5. POP3 6. DNS 7. FTP (Data)

REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. In TCP, what does delayed acknowledgment mean? a. A predetermined time interval must pass before the receiving system can acknowledge a data packet. b. Data segments are not acknowledged until the entire sequence has been transmitted. c. The receiving system doesnt have to generate a separate acknowledgment message for every segment. d. A data segment must be acknowledged before the next segment is transmitted.
ANSWER

c.

54

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

2. What does the Data Offset field in the TCP header specify? a. The length of the TCP header b. The location of the current segment in the sequence c. The length of the Data field d. The checksum value used for error detection
ANSWER

a. 3. What is the combination of an IP address and a port number called? a. A sequence number b. A checksum c. A data offset d. A socket
ANSWER

d. 4. Which of the following TCP/IP systems uses an ephemeral port number? a. The client b. The server c. The system initiating the TCP connection d. The system terminating the TCP connection
ANSWER

a.

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

55

5. What flag does the first message transmitted in any TCP connection contain? a. ACK b. SYN c. FIN d. PSH
ANSWER

b. 6. What TCP header field provides flow control? a. Window b. Data Offset c. Acknowledgment d. Sequence Number
ANSWER

a. 7. Which of the following services does UDP provide? a. Flow control b. Guaranteed delivery c. Error detection d. None of the above
ANSWER

c.

56

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

8. Which of the following is not true about the SPX protocol? a. It is connection-oriented. b. It operates at the transport layer only. c. Clients use it to access server files. d. It provides flow control.
ANSWER

c. 9. At which layers of the OSI reference model does NCP provide functions?
ANSWER

The transport, session, presentation, and application layers. 10. Which of the following protocols requires the receiving system to transmit a separate acknowledgment message for each packet received? a. IPX b. SPX c. NCP d. NCPB
ANSWER

c.

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

57

CASE SCENARIOS
Case Scenario 6-1: Troubleshooting TCP
The manager of your companys Sales department calls the help desk and reports a general slowdown of the Sales network and intermittent failures when users try to access files on the Sales server. As part of your troubleshooting process, you use a protocol analyzer to capture a sample of the networks traffic. While analyzing the traffic sample, you notice the server is transmitting large numbers of TCP packets with the same Sequence Number value. Judging from this information, which of the following statements are true? (Choose all answers that are correct.) 1. The server is failing to receive acknowledgments of its transmissions from clients. 2. The server is failing to receive clients file access requests. 3. Clients are sending multiple file request messages with the same Sequence Number value to the server. 4. Clients are sending multiple acknowledgment messages with the same Acknowledgment Number value to the server.
ANSWER

Answers 1 and 4 are correct. Answer 1 is correct because if the server fails to receive acknowledgments to its transmissions from the clients, it will retransmit the same data repeatedly, resulting in packets with the same Sequence Number value. Answer 4 is correct because if a client continuously receives packets that fail the checksum test, it will send repeated acknowledgment messages back to the server containing the same Acknowledgment Number value, indicating that it has not received any further data that is valid. Answer 2 is incorrect because if the server failed to receive the clients access requests, it would transmit nothing at all. Answer 3 is incorrect because if the server were processing multiple file requests from the clients, it would still respond with messages having different sequence numbers.

58

NETWORK+ CERTIFICATION: TEXTBOOK ANSWERS

Case Scenario 6-2: Using Port Numbers

While you are installing an Internet Web server on a clients network, the owner of the company tells you that he also wants to build a Web server for internal use by the companys employees. This intranet Web server will not contain confidential information, but it should not be accessible from the companys Internet Web site. To do this, you create a second site on the Web server. The Internet site uses the well-known port number for Web servers, which is 80. For the intranet site, you select the port number 283. Assuming that the Web servers IP address on the internal network is 10.54.3.145, what will the users on the company network have to do to access the intranet Web site with Microsoft Internet Explorer? 1. Type http://283:10.54.3.145 in the Address field. 2. Type http://10.54.3.145:283 in the Address field. 3. Type http://10.54.3.145 in the Address field and then specify the port number in the company home page. 4. Configure Internet Explorer to use port 283 in its Options dialog box and then type http://10.54.3.145 in the Address field.
ANSWER

Answer 2 is correct. To access a Web page using a port number other than the well-known port 80, you follow the IP address or DNS name in the URL with a colon and then the port number, as in http://10.54.3.145:283. There is no need to reconfigure the client program or type the port number in a Web page.