IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical for PGDLAN: Networking and Internet Technology Lab

IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical in PGDLAN: Networking and Internet Technology on a Lab PC

The IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical is the computer lab side of MLI-004 Networking and Internet Technology in the Post Graduate Diploma in Library Automation and Networking (PGDLAN). It is assessed twice: once through a 50-mark practical assignment (TMA-P) that you do at your study centre or Tele Learning Centre, and once in a two-hour term-end practical examination where 40 marks go to the tasks and 10 to the viva voce.

Across practical courses, learners who clear their theory papers comfortably often get stuck on the practical side, and it worries them far more. For MLIL-004 that side is a separate two-hour paper on a lab computer, with its own viva.

Many learners realise late in the session that their course has a practical component. The PGDLAN Programme Guide pairs each of the seven MLI courses with an MLIL practical, so MLIL-004 comes with MLI-004 from registration.

Across programmes we see three recurring causes: information arrives late and differs between centres, practical work assumes time and presence that distance learners rarely have, and the work gets treated as formatting rather than applied learning. For MLIL-004, the manual’s Section 2 is written for Windows 95/98, while the June 2026 paper asks you to ping ignou.ac.in on your centre’s PC.

The 2026 MLIL 004 assignment: five tasks done at your study centre

The MLIL 004 assignment for the IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical is Assignment No. 2 of the course, the TMA-P. The 2026 PGDLAN assignment file for MLI-004 (January 2026 and July 2026 sessions) says you do it in the Study/Tele Learning Centre, on documents and data the Counsellor or Practical Supervisor provides there. You make screen captures of all the answers, save them in one file, and the Counsellor or Practical Supervisor evaluates them on the spot.

The TMA-P carries 50 marks, covers Blocks 1 to 3 (Units 1 to 14) and makes every question compulsory; the file prints no marks against individual questions. Its code line reads AST/TMA-T/Jan. & July 2026, the same code as the theory TMA, while the 2021 and 2023 PGDLAN booklets printed AST/TMA-P for this practical. The five 2026 tasks, in our words:

1. Using Google Chrome, search five titles on “Library Science” in IndCat and explain the kinds of search IndCat offers.
2. Create a Gmail ID, make a folder named “Important Communication” with two sub-folders, Internal and External, and sort mail into them.
3. Identify the websites of at least three important Indian library networks and set out the services they share.
4. Evaluate the services ERNET offers.
5. Search “Library and Information Science as Career” with the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT, compare the results and keep a screenshot of each search.

Assignments carry 20% weightage in continuous evaluation. The last dates printed are 30 September 2026 for the January 2026 session and 31 March 2027 for the July 2026 session, at the concerned Study Centre/TLC. The file gives each set a validity of one year: a January 2026 learner who misses 30 September 2026 attempts the fresh set of the January 2027 session.

Some learners email their work in place of the route the course sets. The 2026 MLI-004 file has the MLIL-004 TMA-P done at the Study or Tele Learning Centre and evaluated there on the spot, and it prints no email address for it.

At our desk, 70 to 80 percent of learners start moving only in the final month before a due date. For the MLIL-004 TMA-P that month must include a centre visit, since the 2026 file requires the work to be done there; the January 2026 date is 30 September 2026.

Many learners expect each last date to be pushed back a month and wait for a second date. The 2026 MLI-004 file prints one date per session, 30 September 2026 for January 2026 learners and 31 March 2027 for July 2026 learners, and a January 2026 PGDLAN learner who misses 30 September 2026 attempts the fresh January 2027 set.

60 practical hours, and two block numbers in the PGDLAN guide

The IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical carries 60 hours in the practical-hours table of the July 2022 PGDLAN Programme Guide, against 40 for each of MLIL-001, MLIL-002 and MLIL-003, 60 for MLIL-005 and MLIL-007, and 80 for MLIL-006. The guide prints the blocks two ways, Blocks 2 and 3 in the table and Blocks 3 and 4 in the note under MLI-004, though MLI-004 has three blocks: Introduction to Networks, Library and Information Networks, and Internet Technology. The 2026 TMA-P covers Blocks 1 to 3.

Each PGDLAN practical runs beside counselling: the guide says there will be compulsory computer practical in all the courses besides counselling sessions, and it prints no attendance percentage. The Common Prospectus adds, as a general rule, that attendance at practical sessions is compulsory. Continuous evaluation counts for 20% and the term-end examination for 80%, and the guide asks for a minimum of 40% in practicals for clearing the course. The other PGDLAN lab pages on this site are MLIL-001, MLIL-002 and MLIL-003.

Most of our learners hold a job, run a home, or both; counselling for theory is usually optional, practical sessions generally are not, and missing them often means no seat in the practical exam. The PGDLAN guide calls the computer practical compulsory, so ask your centre what attendance record it keeps for MLIL-004.

Practical classes run on fixed dates, sometimes as long sessions far from home, and learners who do not check the Regional Centre or study centre website miss their slot and wait a cycle. For MLIL-004, the prospectus’s general rule is that practical schedules come from the Learner Support Centre, so check your centre’s notices.

IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical fee: Rs 300 with the term-end exam form

The IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical falls in the lower slab of the practical examination fee printed in the July 2026 Common Prospectus for the January 2023 admission cycle onwards: Rs 300 up to 4 credits, Rs 500 above 4 credits, paid with the Term-End Examination form and not refundable or adjustable once paid. The MLI-004 theory paper takes the separate theory examination fee of Rs 200.

No hall ticket is posted to you: IGNOU uploads hall tickets on its website 7 to 10 days before the term-end examination, and you need your valid IGNOU Student ID card at the examination centre. Ask your study centre or Regional Centre for the MLIL-004 practical date and lab once the practical schedule for your term is out.

Many learners are unsure of the practical examination fee and mix up the 300 and 500 rupee amounts. MLIL-004 sits in the up-to-4-credits slab, so its practical examination fee in the July 2026 prospectus is Rs 300, paid with the term-end form.

Plenty of learners ask us whether their course has a viva. For MLIL-004 the answer is yes: each of the six papers from June 2023 to June 2026 prints Viva Voce : 10 in its marks line, while the 2026 TMA-P instructions mention no viva.

Questions PGDLAN learners search about MLIL-004

Why your MLIL-004 screen captures and printouts have to be your own

For the IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical, both assessed pieces come from your own session at a computer: TMA-P captures made and marked at the centre, and exam output saved on the lab PC for the examiner. Three 2026 TMA-P tasks also ask for writing, on the kinds of IndCat search, on Indian library networks and on ERNET’s services, and that writing is marked as yours.

Ready-made practical files circulate online, and some learners hand one in after changing just the name and enrolment number; copies from one centre look alike at once, and the viva exposes them. For MLIL-004 the TMA-P captures are made at the centre and the exam allows no manual or handbook.

Some learners submit AI-written text as it stands, one reason near-identical work keeps turning up. Question 4 of the 2026 MLIL-004 TMA-P asks you to evaluate ERNET’s services, and the counsellor marks it at the centre, so the evaluation has to be your own.

Many learners copy material from websites without checking it for plagiarism. Question 3 of the 2026 MLIL-004 TMA-P sends you to at least three Indian library network websites; read them as sources and describe their common services in your own sentences.

IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical exam: two hours, 40 marks of tasks and a 10-mark viva

The IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical exam keeps one frame across the papers read: Time 2 Hours, Maximum Marks 50 (Practical Work 40, Viva Voce 10), Weightage 40%. You attempt all questions, show the output to your examiner and save it in your system; no manual or handbook is allowed. Five of the six papers, June 2023 to December 2025, add that printouts go on a sheet signed by the RD with stamp, carrying your Roll No., Study Centre and date of examination; the June 2026 paper only says to print the answer whenever required.

MLIL 004 question paper tasks, June 2023 to June 2026

Each of the six papers carries a task on your PC’s IP settings or a ping test, and five send you to a library or open-access site. Read any MLIL 004 question paper that way: the network check repeats, while the site and the search term change.

Computer practicals fail in familiar ways: no output, output that does not match the steps, or steps that did not run. The MLIL-004 papers ask you to show your output to the examiner and save it in your system, so the ping reply or sharing screen must be on the lab PC when checked.

We often see a wrong enrolment number, a wrong programme or a wrong study centre written on the first page of practical work. Five of the six MLIL-004 papers read, June 2026 excepted, ask for your Roll No., Study Centre and date of examination on the RD-signed printout sheet; check those lines before handing it in.

Many learners treat the viva as a formality, yet it carries real weight: a neat output scores poorly when the learner cannot explain the method, and learners who did their own work handle the questions with ease. In MLIL-004 the viva voce is 10 of the 50 marks, so know what each command and site was for.

Fifteen lab sessions in the manual, and the tasks recent papers set instead

The lab manual for the IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical is a 74-page PDF (printed pages 147 to 217) in five sections: Network Components; Network Connectivity under Windows; Network Services and Protocols; Web Browsers and Search Engines; and Library and Information Networks (INFLIBNET, DELNET, OCLC, the Library of Congress, CALIBNET). Its procedures are written for Windows 95/98, it calls Internet Explorer 6.0 and Netscape Communicator 7 the two most popular browsers in use, and it prints no marks, attendance, viva or submission rule.

Two things stand out in the table. The four sessions of Section 4 are e-mail and listserv tasks, though the section itself teaches browsers and search engines. And the six papers set no modem, telnet or Outlook Express task, while open-access directories and library portals recur, and Gmail and IndCat each appear in one paper and again in the 2026 TMA-P.

Learners often hold three versions of one practical, from the handbook, the counsellor and a senior or online sample, and cannot tell which to follow. For MLIL-004 the manual shows Windows 95/98 while the 2026 TMA-P names Google Chrome and Gmail, so the 2026 MLI-004 file and your counsellor decide the steps.

Advice from a friend at another study centre can mislead, because centres differ in attendance and in how work is shown. The PGDLAN guide attaches you to an identified Tele Learning Centre or Study Centre, so that centre’s arrangement is the one that counts for MLIL-004.

Hindi-medium learners often struggle to write technical material in English. PGDLAN is offered in English and the MLIL-004 manual, papers and TMA-P are printed in English, so subnet mask, gateway and Boolean operator are the words the examiner will expect.

MLI-004 reading we stock for this course

Before the IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical: rehearse on a current Windows PC

The IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical manual shows Windows 95/98 screens, while your centre’s lab is likely to run a current Windows version. Microsoft documents ipconfig for Windows 10 and 11: on its own it shows the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, subnet mask and default gateway, and ipconfig /all shows the full TCP/IP configuration.

The learners who come through well begin early, check the rules with their own centre, keep a dated record, collect signatures as they go and can explain each step in their own words. For MLIL-004 that means doing the TMA-P well before 30 September 2026 or 31 March 2027 and practising recent paper tasks on a lab PC.

The IGNOU MLIL 004 Practical rewards learners who have already typed ipconfig, shared a printer and searched IndCat on a lab PC before exam day; the documents below are the ones this page was built from.

shrichakradhar.com is an independent publisher, not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by IGNOU. Course codes, rules and dates belong to IGNOU and can change; the MLI-004 books listed here are study reading and do not replace your own TMA-P or practical exam work.