BCS The Chartered Institute for IT THE BCS PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATIONS BCS Level 6 Professional Graduate Diploma in IT NETWORK

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Friday 23rd April 2010 - Morning Answer THREE questions out of FIVE. All questions carry equal marks. Time: THREE hours. Answer any Section A questions you attempt in Answer Book A Answer any Section B questions you attempt in Answer Book B
The marks given in brackets are indicative of the weight given to each part of the question.

Calculators are NOT allowed in this examination. Section A Answer Section A questions in Answer Book A A1 a) Figure 1 below shows the protocol layers in the ISO Open System Interconnection (OSI) protocol. Explain the function of each layer and give examples of actual protocols used in practice. (14 marks)

Figure 1: OSI Protocol Model

b) Inter-network protocols are overlaid on underlying networks as shown in Figure 2 below. The network interface layer accepts inter-network packets and converts them into packets suitable for transmission by the transport layer of a specific underlying network. The underlying network consists of the transport, network, data link and physical layers of all the real networks that constitute the inter-network. Discuss the following relevant issues: i) ii) iii) Packet assembly Virtual circuit packet delivery Datagram packet delivery (3 marks) (4 marks) (4 marks)

Figure 2: Inter-network Layers A2 A process group is a collection of processes that co-operate towards a common goal or that consume one or more common streams of information. Group structures are defined according to the pattern of communication in which the members of a group are involved. a) Figure 3 below shows one such group structure, referred to as client-server group. Explain how requests from clients are handled and the subsequent actions of the servers. (9 marks)

Figure 3. b) Using diagrams where appropriate, explain the principles of operation of each of the following examples of some other group structures. i) ii) iii) iv) A3 Peer group Server group Subscription group Hierarchical group (16 marks)

Two organisations wish to implement an online payment facility onto their Web sites. The first organisation is a small charity which is hoping to receive donations through the facility. The second organisation is a large stationery store which provides a local delivery service and wishes to receive orders and payments online rather than by telephone. a) For EACH of the organisation discuss the technical requirements, implementation details, and cost implications required to implement each of the following online payment methods on a Web site. i) Web site passes credit card details online to the bank for authorisation and debiting. (5 marks)

ii) Web site redirects user to a third party payment service such as NetBanx or PayPal. (5 marks) iii) Web site emails credit card details to the organisation for manual processing. (5 marks) b) For EACH of the organisations, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each online payment method and make recommendations as to which is the most cost effective method. (10 marks) Section B Answer Section B questions in Answer Book B B4 For each of the following network problems discuss the suitability of using a repeater, a bridge or a router to solve the problem. In each case describe, with the aid of a diagram, how the device can solve the problem and identify which device is the best solution, giving different scenarios where appropriate. Also discuss any IP addressing issues and label each subnet of the diagram with suitable IP addresses. a) The LAN interconnects several departments of an organisation. The total traffic exceeds the maximum bandwidth for a single segment Ethernet LAN. (5 marks) b) One department exchanges confidential information internally and does not want its data to be intercepted by a packet sniffer run from a machine in another department. (5 marks) c) Two departments have separate domains and IP address ranges. (5 marks) d) One department requires full Internet access. A second department is only allowed Web browsing Internet access. (5 marks) e) Several departments need to be on separate subnets. There are more computers than there are externally visible static IP addresses. (5 marks)

B5 A media research company has a Java Web application which includes a database of people who have contributed their email address. The Java web application allows users of the service to send targeted advertising emails which they select from the database. A client needs to be able to add and modify details of people and to generate reports. The company is considering using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) Web Services to implement the interface between the client systems and the Web application rather than other remote procedure call mechanisms such as Remote Method Invocation (RMI) or Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). a) Discuss the advantages of using SOAP versus RMI or CORBA to address each of the following considerations: i) ii) iii) iv) v) b) Network requirements for data transfer including firewall requirements. (4 marks) Data transfer protocols, number formats and differences between versions of the interface specification. (4 marks) Making the interface available and the programming language constraints on the client. (4 marks) Service location and security. (4 marks) The impact on the client of changes to the interface. (4 marks) (5 marks)

Discuss any disadvantages of using SOAP versus RMI or CORBA.

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