FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING

NAME OF COURSE

I3621CN– COMPUTER NETWORKS

NQF NQF
LEVEL CREDITS QUALIFICATION & NQA ID COURSE CODE

BSc in ELECTRONICS AND

7 8 COMPUTER ENGINEERING/ TCMH3722

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Dr. John A. Adebisi

COURSE COORDINATOR
Senior Member, IEEE

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1. LABORATORY, HEALTH & SAFETY RULES AND REGULATIONS

1.1 LABORATORY RULES

1. No smoking, eating or drinking allowed in the laboratory.

2. You may be refused admission to the laboratory if:
3. The preparation, construction, or preparation report (whichever is applicable) for the
particular project was not done satisfactorily.
4. You are not in possession of the components needed to perform the particular project.
5. You are not in possession of this Laboratory Manual.
6. You are not in possession of your student card.
7. The completed laboratory assignment must be signed by the lecturer five minutes
before the end of the period. If the assignment is not signed, the particular experiment
or project will be considered unfinished.
8. Admission to theoretical examination depends upon a minimum practical semester
mark of 50%:
9. The completion of all prescribed projects.
10. The successful completion of two practical tests in week 7 and 11 after the preceding
projects are completed.
11. A minimum attendance at laboratory sessions of 85%.
12. You are only allowed to work at the work station allocated to yourself.
13. Faulty equipment must be reported immediately to the person in charge.
14. You, the student, will be held responsible for willful damage to equipment.
15. You may be tested on any of the projects which were supposed to have been finished
even if you had been absent from certain laboratory sessions.

COMPLETION OF PREPARATION REPORT

a. You, the student, may be denied access to the laboratory if the preparation report is:
i. Not done
ii. Incomplete
iii. Unavailable
b. All formulas and calculations must be shown
c. All diagrams must be named properly
d. All scripts (if any) must be written clearly and neatly
e. All Screenshot must be captured clearly
f. All questions must be answered
g. The blank pages in the laboratory manual may be used for the preparation report
h. All calculations and proofs must be presented systematically and logically

PERFORMING THE EXPERIMENT FOR EACH PROJECT

i. The method prescribed must be adhered to meticulously
j. You must ensure that the right programming languages are used
k. The responsibility for the correct representations of tasks lies with the student.
If the operating system malfunctions, it is the student's responsibility to do the
necessary fault‐finding. The process of fault‐finding must be written down by
the student, so that the lecturer may evaluate the student's initiative in
problem solving. Help may be requested depending on proof by the student of
effort exerted in solving the problem.
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 1.2 LABORATORY HEALTH AND SAFETY RULES AND REGULATIONS

Computer cables and monitors should be handled with care, keyboard, mouse and
other provided accessories should be taken care of properly. Please see caution!

1.3 USAGE OF CELL PHONES IN THE LABOTATORY

Students’ cell phones may be left on during lectures, to attend to family emergencies.
However, it will be expected to minimize disturbance during lectures and laboratory
sessions, by either turning ring tones to minimum volume or vibrate‐function if
possible. The lecturer or technician may be required to answer a cell phone to attend
to administrative arrangements during lectures or laboratory sessions

1.4 SECURITY OF PERSONAL POSSESSIONS

Students are urged to exercise special care not to lose personal possessions such as cell
phones, keys, purses, calculators, computers, books and electronic tools. Be aware of
where your personal belongings are during lectures, tests and laboratory periods.

1.5 RESPONSIBILITIES OF STUDENTS

It is your responsibility to make a success of learning in this course. To this end you are
encouraged to attend class, hand in your projects and write laboratory tests on the set
dates.

2. COURSE CONTENT

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROJECTS

You have to assemble components by connecting your computers together where
necessary in the correct way to obtain the desired result. You will gain confidence after
perseverance and success. The appropriate resources are available in the Laboratory.

PREPARATION ON ELECTRIC CIRCUIT THEORY

You have to revise all the theoretical concepts taught in class before this laboratory.

You may use your personal computer or any other computer accessible for this LAB for
convenience. The most important knowledge here is to do it yourself and be more familiar with
some of the basic features of Computer Networking.

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 PRACTICAL A: BASIC CONCEPTS

EXPERIMENT OBJECTIVES
After completing this experiment, you will be able to:

• check/monitor network connectivity

• use basic network commands
• identify IP classes and Subnet information
• identify network cabling fundamentals
• Check network speed and packet tracing
• Check network speed

Assessment Criteria:
• Correct network connectivity check
• Correct identification of IP Addresses and conversions
• Correct MAC Addresses and speed checks
• Correct Network commands usage
• Clear diagrams
• Correct answers to questions
• Neat formatting

Allocated Maximum
Assessment Areas
Mark Mark

Correct network connectivity check 10

Correct identification of IP Addresses and conversions
10
Correct MAC Addresses and speed checks
10
Correct Network commands usage and answers to questions 10
Clear diagrams and neat formatting 10
TOTAL 50

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SUMMARY OF THEORY
The primary focus of any engineering laboratory/ field work in the education system is to
develop the much-needed industry relevant competencies and skills. With this in view, you
have been given some field work so far which is also part of knowledge application in real life
scenarios, which must have gained some innovative insight through outcome-based education
as the focus and accordingly, relatively some amount of time is allotted for the
practical/alternative to practical for self-development and hands on. This practical has been
designed to serve as a ‘vehicle’ to develop basic industry identified competency in every
student. It is expected from each student that at your own pace, read through the practical
procedure and understand the minimum theoretical background associated with the practical.
Every practical in this manual begins by identifies with relevant industry skills and course
outcomes which serve as a key focal point for doing the practical. The students will then
become aware about the skills they will achieve through procedure shown, which will help
them to apply in solving real-world problems in their professional life. Computer network and
Data communication deals with the transmission of digital data through a network. Many
applications like Airline Reservations, Railway reservations, e-banking, e-governance, Online
Shopping, e-learning can be managed by a single click. As Engineers, you should be able to
select, classify, install, troubleshoot and maintain different industrial data communication
networks. This course gives the important introductory concepts and techniques related to
data communication and enable students to maintain and troubleshoot computer networks.
Although all care has been taken to check for mistakes in this laboratory manual, yet it is
impossible to claim perfection especially as this is the first edition. Any such errors and
suggestions for improvement can be brought to our notice and are highly welcome.

Figure 1-1

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A network refers to two or more connected computers that can share resources such as data,
a printer, an Internet connection, applications, or a combination of these resources. To enable
computers to get connected, different network-controlled devices and transmission media are
used. Several network accessories and control devices are required for performing the various
functions of a computer network. It also depends so much on the Open System
Interconnections (OSI) model, which is a layered networking framework that conceptualizes
how communications should be done between heterogeneous systems. A computer network
can be categorized by their size; mainly of four types: LAN (Local Area Network), PAN (Personal
Area Network), MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network). Network can
be of different topology (Logical and Physical). Popular network topologies are Bus, Ring, Mesh,
Tree, Star and Hybrid topologies

MATERIALS NEEDED
Personal Computer or Laptop connected to Internet (wireless/wired)
Operating System Installed
Mouse
Keyboard

EXPERIMENT 1: IP ADDRESS CHECKS, CLASSES, CONVERSION, PACKETS AND

SUBNET INFORMATION
PROCEDURE: Checking Network Connectivity
1. Connect the PC to the internet, check on the task bar, the network signal to verify its showing
internet access as shown in figures 1-2 (a and b) depending on your Operating system type.

(a) (b)

Figure 1-2 (a and b)

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2. Switch on the PC and navigate to control panel, in control panel -> click on Network and
Sharing center as indicated/highlighted in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3

Depending on the operating system installed on the PC, Capture the scree for Network and
Sharing center as indicated in Figure 1-4.

Figure 1-4

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 Based on your captured screen.
Specify the operating system version on the PC: __________________________________
Specify your Network access type: _____________________________________________
How many Active Networks do you have? _______________________________________
State the name of the network: _______________________________________________

3. Checking IP Addresses and Configuration. Click on change Adapter settings (Figure 1-5).

Figure 1-5

Capture your screen for this task and answer the following questions.

Figure 1-6

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4. Right click on any of the network access, Click on Properties -> Internet Protocol Version 4
(TCP/IPv4) or 6 -> Click on Properties and capture your screen for this task.

Figure 1-7

Figure 1-8

State the IP address, Subnet Mask, the default gateway and capture your screen. If No IP address
is displayed; check the selected option for the IP address and state, why you think you could not
see an IP Address.

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 Figure 1-9

IP address: _____________________________________________________________________
Subnet Mask: ___________________________________________________________________
Default gateway: ________________________________________________________________
If NO IP, State reasons: ___________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

5. Go back to network access, Right click on any of the network access, Click on STATUS

Figure 1-10

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Capture the screen for status and answer the following questions;

Figure 1-11

Is the connectivity showing Internet (Yes/No):__________________________________________

If No, troubleshoot your connection and ensure your system is connected to the internet.
State the Number of Packets already sent in Bytes: _____________________________________
State the number of packets already received in bytes: __________________________________
Record the Speed: : _______________________________________________________________
How will you describe the signal quality of the connection? _______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

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6. Click on details, from figure 1-11 and state the following information.
IPv4 address: ___________________________________________________________________
IPv4 Subnet Mask: _______________________________________________________________
MAC Address: ___________________________________________________________________
Default gateway: ________________________________________________________________
Class of IPv4 address: ____________________________________________________________
Convert the address class to binary equivalent and show your workings clearly based on the
theory taught in class. ____________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Capture the corresponding output screen.

Figure 1-12

7. Describe your experience in this section with respect to what you have been taught in theory
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

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 EXPERIMENT 2: COMPUTER NETWORK COMMANDS
PROCEDURE
1. Click on start to load the command prompt interface by right clicking and run it as an
administrator.
2. Type Command cls to clear the screen irrespective of what you have showing on the
command prompt.
3. Type command cd.. to change directory continuously as many times as possible until you get
to the root directory as shown in Figure 1-13

Figure 1-13

4. Type ipconfig command to check the same network parameters as you did in experiment 1 through
the command prompt.
5. Capture the corresponding screen and show the OUTPUT as figure 1-14

Figure 1-14

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 6. Provide the following information as shown with the command.
IPv4 address: ___________________________________________________________________
IPv4 Subnet Mask: _______________________________________________________________
MAC Address: ___________________________________________________________________
Default gateway: ________________________________________________________________
Class of IPv4 address: ____________________________________________________________

Which of the information requested from step six (6) is not available based on your observation
of this command action?

_______________________________________________________________________________
7. Type ipconfig/all or ipconfig /all command to check the same network parameters as you did in
experiment 1 through the command prompt.

Is the missing parameter in step six now showing? State the parameter

_______________________________________________________________________________

8. Complete the information table 1-1 by Typing the ping command followed by the list of
websites shown in table 1-1, to check how packets are being sent and how acknowledgements
are being received as explained in theory based on the different functions of protocols and OSI
Model layer functions.
Table 1-1
SRN Websites IP Address Bytes Sent Packets Received Packets % Loss
1 www.facebook.com
2 www.instagram.com
3 Www.twitter.com
4 www.google.com
5 www.unam.na

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9. Complete table 1-2 by stating the lowest response time and highest response time for each of
the ping test
Table 1-2
SRN Websites Lowest time (s) Highest time (s)
1 www.facebook.com
2 www.instagram.com
3 Www.twitter.com
4 www.google.com
5 www.unam.na

10. Complete table 1-3 by calculating the average response time for each of the ping test
Table 1-3
SRN Websites Average response time (s)
1 www.facebook.com
2 www.instagram.com
3 Www.twitter.com
4 www.google.com
5 www.unam.na

11. State the full meaning of TTL as observed from the ping command

_______________________________________________________________________________

Type ping www.google.com <space> -t, observe the operation of this command and use control
+ C (Exit Current Execution) to stop its execution. Describe your observation compared to the
previous ping command.

_______________________________________________________________________________

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12. Now lets practice another very important command in this section
Nslookup command
The nslookup command queries internet domain name servers in two modes. Interactive mode
allows you to query name servers for information about various hosts and domains, or to print a
list of the hosts in a domain. In noninteractive mode, the names and requested information are
printed for a specified host or domain. It can be used to find; Find the IP address of a host, domain
name of an IP address, mail servers for a domain and lots more.
This simply means as a network engineer you can lookup a domain name to get the ip address as
we saw in the ping command but also provide additional information as shown in figure 1-15, the
address, alias and even some other information.
E.g. type nslookup www.instagram.com (See Fig 1-15) Practice this command by using any
domain name(website) of your choice, you can also select anyone from the list of websites in
Table 1-1. Capture just a few section of your screen as shown.

Figure 1-15

13. The last command we will work with is the trace route command. This is a very interesting
command, Traceroute is a network diagnostic tool used to track in real-time the pathway taken
by a packet on an IP network from source to destination, reporting the IP addresses of all the
routers it pinged in between. Traceroute also records the time taken for each hop the packet
makes during its route to the destination.
Practice this command by typing tracert www.instagram.com or any website of your choice,
press enter and capture your screen as illustrated in figure 1-16.

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 Figure 1-16

This interface explains how many servers and routers/network devices that was passed
through before getting to Instagram server and returning packets, this demonstrates the
relevance of routing protocols you were taught in theory class, and you can see how many
servers we pass through some times before getting to a website through our single click.

This is a simple troubleshooting technique that you will be required of when you get to the
industry to address based networking problems especially when some websites are not
reachable. From the interface, you can also observe that the time table and number hop count
as you were taught part of the parameters is also demonstrated in practical.

14. From your practice, which website did you use for practice?

____________________________________________________________________________
15. How many servers that your own website passed through?

____________________________________________________________________________

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16. Complete table 1-4 by stating the list of ip addresses of the servers before the trace was
completed.
Table 1-4
SRN IP Addresses
1
2
3
4
5

17. Play around your command prompt window using the color command by typing color<space>
a or color b, type color<space> help i.e., color help to see the list of color codes. Change the
color of your command prompt and share the screen as illustrated in figure 1.-17.

Figure 1-17

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18. Upload and Download Speed check, to check this; navigate to any of your browsers and type
https://www.speedtest.net/, capture the screen, click on GO and answer the following
questions. This gives you how fast the speed of any network is at every point in time.

Figure 1-18

Figure 1-19

How many pings was recorded? ___________________________________________________

What is the download speed in Mbps? ______________________________________________
What is the upload speed in Mbps? ________________________________________________
What is the server IP through which this command is issued? ___________________________

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 EXPERIMENT 3: NETWORK CABLE IDENTIFICATION
1. Cables and Connectors: Cable is one way of transmission media which can transmit
communication. There are several types of cables as taught in the theory class (Unshielded
Twisted Pair (UTP) Cable, Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable, Coaxial Cable, Fiber Optic Cable

Shielded Twisted Pair Cable (STP) Shielded twisted pair cable has a metal foil or braided-mesh
covering that encases each pair of insulated conductors. The metal casing prevents the
penetration of electromagnetic noise. The twisted pair cable is one of the most common cables
used to connect nodes/workstations together and its of two standards to crimp the cable.

T568-A wires turn (Green-White/Green, Orange-White/Blue, Blue-White/Orange, Brown-

White/Brown)
T568-B wires turn (Orange-White/Orange, Green-White/Blue, Blue-white/Green, Brown-
White/Brown)

Ethernet Cable Tips:

Straight-through cable has both ends identical.
• A crossover cable has different ends.
• A straight-through cable is used as a patch cord in Ethernet connections.
• A crossover is used to connect two Ethernet devices without a hub or for connecting two
hubs. Crossover cable has both ends different: has one end with the Orange set of wires
switched with the Green set. Odd numbered pins are always striped, even numbered pins
are always solid colored.

Figure 1-20

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Crimped cables used for connecting computers to networking components.

Figure 1-21

Figure 1-21
2. Draw straight and cross-over cables wires sequence with coloured sketch-pens or Pencils
shown in Figure 1-22.

Draw straight cable wire sequence Draw cross-over cable wire sequence

Figure 1-22

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Write a comprehensive summary of what you have gained in this practical and
conclusion of the knowledge you have gained so far in this module generally.

______________________________________________________________________

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