Assignment 2
CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
Assignment #2 - Networking
Due Date: June 27
Value: 12 points total
Submission:
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
Post to the appropriate forum with the URLs your upload to the classes.lt.unt.edu
system
Post to the forum containing the written part of the assignment (part 2).
Part 1 (6 pts)
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Configure and use a laptop over a wireless access point (AP).
o If you don't have one, visit any local business that provides free wireless
access.
Write up the process
o What it took to do?
o Any steps?
o What problems or issues did you face?
o How did it work?
o Explain what wifi standard is used and the specs (speed, bandwidth,
distance it operates, etc)
Provide a diagram of the wireless network and the network the AP is connected
that allows your connection to the Internet.
Upload to the classes.lt.unt.edu system (which is an exercise in the use of
SFTP).
Part 2 (6 pts)
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Locate and read, from any professional conference, journal, article, online
source, two articles relevant to the importance and/or impact of wireless
networking in today’s society. Write a two paragraph review for each article. The
1st paragraph should describe the contents of the article. The 2nd paragraph
should be your reaction to the article. Do not forget to include the reference cite.
Use APA format.
Post class forum the written part of the assignment.
Reply to at least two postings in a meaningful manner.
Assignment 2
CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
Part 1 – Guney Using WAP at Starbucks
Stacey’s
Laptop
AT&T
(soon to be
Google!)
DSL
CATS line
Unsecure
WAP
Rachel’s
Assignment 2
CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
Write up the process.
o
o
o
o
o
What it took to do?
Any steps?
What problems or issues did you face?
How did it work?
Explain what wifi standard use used and the specs (speed,
bandwidth, distance it operates, etc)
First, I had to buy a coffee. The wi-fi at Starbucks may be “free” but I always feel like it is kind of an
unwritten rule that you need to buy something in order to enjoy it. (I know others don’t necessarily
feel that way.) Once settled into (hopefully) one of the plush chairs, I power up my laptop.
I can see from the icon in the bottom right corner of my PC which wireless network connections are
available. To connect, I select attwifi (or Google Starbucks as they are now partnering with Google
and transitioning!). Open my browser (Google Chrome) and click “Connect.” It is that simple.
If I am lucky to be in one of the new Google Starbucks, then I am connecting through most likely a
brand-new Wi-Fi router which includes 802.11ac connectivity--which theoretically enables
data speeds up to 1 Gbps and perhaps Level 3 with an extensive fiber-optic backbone. If I
am in an old AT&T Starbucks, then I will be using the 1.5 Mbps T1 lines currently supporting
Starbucks Wi-Fi.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/google-lured-starbucks-100x-wi-fi-speed-uniquecontent/2013-08-01
At the hotel that I am currently in Atlanta, the room allows for connection to the internet through a
two step process. The browser requires you to choose the “free” daily internet by entering your
room number and last name. (I assume that there is some kind of authentication involved at that
point.) They are also offering the following for a whopping $12.95 a day! I asked at the front desk
and they said it was free. I hope that is the case!
Assignment 2
CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
When I tested the internet speed through a speed test, I received the following information:
I’m not sure exactly what standard the hotel is using. Each Wi-Fi standard is rated according to
its maximum theoretical network bandwidth:
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802.11b offered up to 11 megabits per second (Mbps)
802.11a and 802.11g offer up to 54 Mbps
802.11n offers up to 300 Mbps
802.11ac offers up to 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps)
The performance of Wi-Fi networks practically never approach these theoretical maximums.
802.11b networks, for example, generally operate no faster than about 50% of theoretical peak,
around 5.5 Mbps. Likewise, 802.11a and 802.11g networks generally run no faster than 20
Mbps. And even though 802.11n rates at 300 Mbps compared to wired Fast Ethernet at 100
Mbps, the Ethernet connection can often outperform 802.11n in real world usage.
The disparity between theoretical and practical Wi-Fi performance comes from network
protocol overhead, radio interference, physical obstructions on the line of sight between
devices, and distance between devices. In addition, as more devices communicate on the
network simultaneously, its performance will also decrease. Therefore, I would expect that the
hotel is using the 802.11b and the quantity of connections and the room configurations is
limiting the speed I am receiving to about 2.9 Mbps.
Wi-Fi range depends on the number and type of routers and/or wireless access points being
used. Factors that determine a device's range are:
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the specific 802.11 protocol employed
the overall strength of the device transmitter
the nature of obstructions and interference in the surrounding area
A general rule of thumb in home networking says that 802.11b/g/n and devices support a range
of up to 150 feet (46 m) indoors and 300 feet (92 m) outdoors. Another rule of thumb holds that
the effective range of 802.11a is approximately one-third that of 802.11b/g/n. Both of these
rough estimates represent the high end of the range seen in practice. Obstructions in home
such as brick walls and metal frames or siding greatly can reduce the range of a Wi-Fi network
by 25% or more. 5 GHz Wi-Fi connections like those of 802.11a are more susceptible to
obstructions than more the more common 2.4 GHz connections. Interference from microwave
ovens and other equipment also affects Wi-Fi network range. Because 2.4 GHz radios are
commonly used in consumer gadgets, 802.11b/g/n protocols are generally more susceptible to
interference inside residential buildings.
Assignment 2
CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
Part 2 (6 pts)

Locate and read, from any professional conference, journal, article, online
source, two articles relevant to the importance of computer networking in
todays society. Write a two paragraph review for each article. The 1st
paragraph should describe the contents of the article. The 2nd paragraph should
be your reaction to the article. Do not forget to include the reference cite.
Use APA format.
Article 1:
Fontaine, C. & Galand, F. (2007). A survey of homomorphic encryption for
nonspecialists.
EURASIP
Journal
on
Information
Security,
13801,
doi:10.1155/2007/13801.
Retrieved
from:
file:///C:/Users/s1594267/Downloads/013801.pdf
Last year, I had the opportunity to attend Dell Executive World. Is still carry the
notes around about what the seven most important trends were in IT. The one that
seemed like it had the most potential to literally “change the current data world as we
know it” was called homomorphic encryption. Apparently, when this is fully developed
and deployed, it will literally solve all of our cloud security problems. Homomorphic
encryption is the conversion of data into ciphertext that can be analyzed and worked
with as if it were still in its original form. (Ciphertext is encrypted text. Plaintext is what
you have before encryption and ciphertext is the encrypted result.) The article above is
quite technical, but it describes the development of different encryption methods and
how homomorphic has become the state of the art.
Homomorphic encryptions allow complex mathematical operations to be
performed on encrypted data without compromising the encryption. In mathematics,
homomorphic describes the transformation of one data set into another while preserving
relationships between elements in both sets. The term is derived from the Greek words
for "same structure." Because the data in a homomorphic encryption scheme retains the
same structure, identical mathematical operations -- whether they are performed on
encrypted or decrypted data -- will yield equivalent results. Homomorphic encryption is
expected to play an important part in cloud computing, allowing companies to store
encrypted data in a public cloud and take advantage of the cloud provider’s analytic
services.
Here is a very simple example of how a homomorphic encryption scheme might work in
cloud computing:
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Business XYZ has a very important data set (VIDS) that consists of the numbers 5
and 10. To encrypt the data set, Business XYZ multiplies each element in the set by
2, creating a new set whose members are 10 and 20.
Assignment 2
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CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
Business XYZ sends the encrypted VIDS set to the cloud for safe storage. A few
months later, the government contacts Business XYZ and requests the sum of VIDS
elements.
Business XYZ is very busy, so it asks the cloud provider to perform the
operation. The cloud provider, who only has access to the encrypted data set, finds
the sum of 10 + 20 and returns the answer 30.
Business XYZ decrypts the cloud provider’s reply and provides the government with
the decrypted answer, 15.
Assignment 2
CECS 4550 Summer 2014
Stacey VanderHeiden Guney
Article 2:
Chowdhury, N. M. M. K., & Boutaba, R. (2010). A survey of network
virtualization. Computer Networks, 54(5), 862-876.
doi:http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2073/10.1016/j.comnet.2009.10.017
One of the other notes that I took from Dell Executive World was the
development of network virtualization. I know that we are about to install virtual
desktops in my new project and I understand that those are going to be screens with a
small Wyse terminal attached, but that the real computing power is going to be done on
the server with VMWare software which will replicate the PC experience for each user.
But, what does it mean to virtualize a network? The way they explained it to me was
that software will be combined with hardware to form network resources and network
functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity. The way I understand it
is that finally, the idea of hardware being one thing and software being another will
finally come to an end. The two will be completed merged and blended. The IP service
provider and the network owner will no longer be separate.
The article describes how the current Internet architecture is now restricting
innovation and, as a result, alterations have become restricted to simple incremental
updates instead of radical changes by introducing and deploying new network
technologies. The authors define define network virtualization as an integral part of the
diversified Internet architecture, which supports multiple coexisting heterogeneous
network architectures from different service providers, sharing a common physical
substrate managed by multiple infrastructure providers. By decoupling service providers
from infrastructure providers, network virtualization introduces flexibility for innovation
and change. Still, it appears that most of the research currently being undertaken in the
area are attempts to fix some existing problems, rather than a conscious and focused
push to build a complete network virtualization environment. It appears that the current
network that has organically developed is ripe for a re-think and that virtualized
networks are a call to think about networking without the physical constraints from which
it was born.