Computer Networks Lab

Assignment 1

Note:
I.

Unlessstatedotherwiseinthequestion,usethefollowingURLtoaccesstherelevant
networkutilitytools.
NetworkUtilityToolsURL:http://ping.eu

II.

FeelfreetouseonlineresourcessuchasWikipediatoanswerthequestions.

III.

Answerstoallquestionswhicharentobjectiveinnatureshouldbeconciselywrittenin
2sentencesorless.

IV.

TheusageofthetermIPaddressinthisassignmentcorrespondstotheIPv4
address.YouwillbetaughtaboutIPv6infuturetheoryclasses.

Questions

Q1.WhatistheIPofthemachineyouareusing?CompareitwiththeIPofyourneighbors.
AretheIPsofyourneighborssame?WhyorWhynot?

Q2.Whatareproxyservers?Whyaretheyused(mention2points)?

Q3.Pingisatoolusedtodetermineifaserverisrespondingandtoestimatetheroundtrip
timeofamessagesenttothatserver.UsethepingcommandforthefollowingURLsand
recordthesuccessorfailurestatisticsalongwiththeaverageroundtriptime.
a)google.com
b)facebook.com
c)208.67.222.222(OpenDNSserver)
d)10.3.100.207(IITKharagpurLoadBalancerProxyServer)

Q4.WhatisaDNSserver?Whydoyouthinkthattheaverageroundtriptimerecordedin
Q3.cwouldalwaysbelessthantheaverageroundtriptimerecordedinQ3.a?

Q4.Tracetheroutethatistakenwhenyoutrytoaccess:
a)google.com
b)facebook.com
c)8.8.8.8

RecordthenumberofhopsrequiredforaccessingeachoftheURLs.Alsoprovideanordered
listofthegeographicallocationscorrespondingtothemachinesthroughwhichthepackets
travelledineachcase.Youmayusehttp://countrycode.orgtomapISOcodestocountry
name.

Q5.Whatisanetworkfirewall?Whatisitsmajorutility?RetrythepingrequestinQ1.d.Why
doyouthinkitfailseverytime?

Q6.RetrythepingrequestinQ1.dfromtheTerminalprogramonyourworkstation.Whydo
youthinktherequestsucceedswhenissuedfromterminal?
IssuethepingcommandfromyourmachineterminaltotheIITKharagpurloadbalancing
proxyserver(10.3.100.207)withdifferentpacketsizes(64KB,128KB,256KB,512KB,
1024KB,2048KB,4096KB).Send20pingpacketsforeverypacketsize,andfindoutthe
averageroundtriptime.Analyzetheoutputandreportyourobservations.[Note:Checkthe
manualforpingcommandtofindouthowtochangethepacketsize.]

HintforQ5&Q6:Theping.euserverexecutesallcommandswithrespecttotheirmachine
whichisexternaltotheIITKharagpurnetwork.

Q7.IssueDNSlookuprequestsfor:
a)google.com
b)facebook.com

MentiononeIPaddressresultforeachlookup.OpenyourbrowserandtypetheIPthatyou
receivedintheaddressbartoverifythattheIPaddressindeedcorrespondstotheservice
thatyoulookedup.
ForexampleIftheDNSlookupforfacebook.comgaveyoutheIPaddressa.b.c.d.Type
a.b.c.dinyourbrowsersaddressbarandverifythatittakesyoutofacebook.com

Q8.Whatisanetworkport?WhatarethestandardportsusedforHTTPrequests,secure
shellaccess(SSH)andHTTPSrequest?

Q9.Testifports80,443,22and8080areopenoniitkgp.ac.in

Q10.WhatisthemajordifferencebetweenHTTPandHTTPS?

Q11.Pulluptheregistrantemailforthedomainiitkgp.ac.in
Hint:UsetheWHOISlookuptooltofetchdetailsofaregistrantcorrespondingtoadomainor
IPaddress.

Q12.WhatisspecialabouttheIPaddress127.0.0.1?