Note for Problems 1.1 –1.4: It is important that a network administrator be familiar with both the protocols employed in the network and the tools with which its operation may be investigated. There are several tools, which are fundamental for administration of an IP network; the most important are ping, nslookup, and traceroute. These commands should be available on Unix platforms. You may get the syntax of their usage by logging into Unix system and accessing the on-line manual by invoking the command man commandname. Similar tools or commands are available in Windows 95 / NT machines connected to the Internet. These problems are intended to familiarize you with exploring a network. You should be able to complete all of these exercises with the three tools just mentioned, by knowing how to telnet to nic.internic.net to do a whois query, and through research on the Web

In doing this exercise, if you have problem reaching the destination host, you may use any other equivalent destination site. It is important for you to learn to use the tools and interpret the results.

1.1 Who is the primary Internet Service Provider (ISP) in your institution? Find one other institution that is served by the same ISP by using traceroute tool.

1.2 The educational institutions of Georgia are connected by a network. Discover that network by tracing the route from Georgia Tech to the University of Georgia. (This exercise may be adapted to the local institution.)

1.3Between which two hosts on the route between your site and www.president.lv is the largest geographic distance probably traversed? Support your answer with evidence.

1.4 Ping ns1.bangla.net in this exercise. State what data you gathered and how it determined your conclusion.

(a) Measure the percent packet loss between a host at your site and the machine ns1.bangla.net, and record the time of your measurement.

(b) Then determine where along the route to ns1.bangla.net the packets are getting lost.

1.5 You can discover the hosts in your subnetwork by using the ping command with you network IP address and host address of decimal 255. Discover all the hosts in the subnetwork that you are logged in.

1.6 In Exercise 1.5, identify the gateway(s) from your subnetwork to other(s).