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Week 1 worksheet — Foundations

Name Date

1 — Two nodes, one cable

Predict. Are two computers and one cable enough to make a network? ☐ yes ☐ no

Why: __________

Observe.

Value
PC1 IP / MAC
PC2 IP / MAC
Ping, before addressing
Ping, after addressing
Ping, with PC1 on /25

Explain. Why did the /25 break it?




2 — Client-server vs peer-to-peer

Predict. Between client-server and peer-to-peer, which is more vulnerable to in single node failure?


Observe.

Client-server Peer-to-peer
Nodes with a listening socket
Conversations lost when H1 fails
Conversations lost when H2 fails

Apply. What one command would you run on an unknown machine to tell you whether it is acting as a server and why?



3 — Where are the layers

Predict. How many different kinds of metadata does a request need to carry to retrieve a web page?


Can you name them?



Observe — the PDU table. (Referred back to in weeks 3, 4 and beyond. Keep it.)

Wireshark layer Layer # Layer name PDU name Addresses here Bytes
Ethernet II
IPv4
TCP
HTTP
Data
Total

4 — Speak a protocol by hand

Predict. You mistype GET as GIT. Who notices? ☐ your computer ☐ the server ☐ neither

Observe.

Attempt Exact server response
no Host: header
nonexistent file
GIT instead of GET
no HTTP version

Explain. Your computer transmitted GIT without complaint. What does that tell you about where a protocol is enforced?