Basic Networkin Questions - 2, 142

What does the Mount protocol do ?
The Mount protocol returns a file handle and the name of the file system in which a requested file resides. The message is sent to the client from the server after reception of a client's request.

What is anonymous FTP and why would you use it?
Anonymous FTP enables users to connect to a host without using a valid login and password. Usually, anonymous FTP uses a login called anonymous or guest, with the password usually requesting the user's ID for tracking purposes only. Anonymous FTP is used to enable a large number of users to access files on the host without having to go to the trouble of setting up logins for them all. Anonymous FTP systems usually have strict controls over the areas an anonymous user can access.

What is the Network Time Protocol?
The Network Time Protocol is a protocol for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. NTP uses UDP port 123 as its transport layer. It is designed particularly to resist the effects of variable latency (Jitter).NTP is one of the oldest Internet protocols still in use (since before 1985).

What is a pseudo tty?
In Unix, a pseudo terminal is a pseudo-device pair that provides a text terminal interface without associated virtual console, computer terminal or serial port hardware. Instead, a process replaces the role of the underlying hardware for the pseudo terminal session.For each pseudo terminal, the operating system kernel provides two character devices: a master device and a slave device.The master and slave devices, in their most common deployment, form an association between a Unix shell and a terminal emulation program or some sort of network server.The slave device file, which generally has a nomenclature of /dev/ttyp*, has the appearance and supported system calls of any text terminal. Thus it has the understanding of a login session and session leader process (which is typically the shell program).The master device file, which generally has a nomenclature of /dev/ptyp*, is the endpoint for communication with the terminal emulator. It receives the control requests and information from the other party over this interface and responds accordingly.

What is External Data Representation?
eXternal Data Representation (XDR) is an IETF standard from 1995 of the presentation layer in the OSI model. XDR allows data to be wrapped in an architecture independent manner so data can be transferred between heterogeneous computer systems. Converting from the local representation to XDR is called encoding. Converting from XDR to the local representation is called decoding. XDR is implemented as a software library of functions that is portable between different operating systems and is also independent of the transport layer.

What is the difference between interior and exterior neighbor gateways?
Interior gateways connect LANs of one organization, whereas exterior gateways connect the organization to the outside world.

What are 10Base2, 10Base5 and 10BaseT Ethernet LANs ?
10Base2—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband
signaling, with a contiguous cable segment length of 100
meters and a maximum of 2 segments.
10Base5—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband
signaling, with 5 continuous segments not exceeding 100
meters per segment.
10BaseT—An Ethernet term meaning a maximum transfer rate of 10 Megabits per second that uses baseband
signaling and twisted pair cabling.

BOOTP helps a diskless workstation boot. How does it get a message to the network looking for its IP address and the location of its operating system boot files ?
BOOTP sends a UDP message with a subnetwork broadcast address and waits for a reply from a server that gives it the IP address. The same message might contain the name of the machine that has the boot files on it. If the boot image location is not specified, the workstation sends another UDP message to query the server

What protocol is used by DNS name servers ?
DNS uses UDP for communication between servers. It is a better choice than TCP because of the improved speed a connectionless protocol offers. Of course, transmission reliability suffers with UDP.

Which are the three types of routing tables ?
The three types of routing tables are fixed, dynamic, and fixed central. The fixed table must be manually modified every time there is a change. A dynamic table changes its information based on network traffic, reducing the amount of manual maintenance. A fixed central table lets a manager modify only one table, which is then read by other devices. The fixed central table reduces the need to update each machine's table, as with the fixed table. Usually a dynamic table causes the fewest problems for a network administrator, although the table's contents can change without the administrator being aware of the change.