1.3

Question 1

What is a network?

Answer 1

A network is two or more devices connected together to share resources.

Question 2

What is an advantage of having a network?

Answer 2

Users can share resources like printers and internet connection and users can access files and communicate easily from any computer on the network.

Question 3

What is a disadvantage of having a network?

Answer 3

There is an increased security risk to data from malware or hackers.

Question 4

What are the 5 key factors that affect network performance?

Answer 4

The 5 factors that affect network performance are:

Number of users

Bandwidth

Latency

Error rate

Transmission media

Question 5

Define latency.

Answer 5

Latency is the delay between data being sent and received.

Question 6

Describe the client-server model.

Answer 6

The client-server model has dedicated server machines that provide services to client machines.

Question 7

What is an advantage and disadvantage of a client-server network?

Answer 7

Centralised backups, updates, and security makes managing the network easier.
Servers are expensive to purchase and maintain, and require specialist IT staff.

Question 8

What is the role of a server?

Answer 8

A server manages resources like internet access, printing, email, backups, and security.

Question 9

Describe the peer-to-peer model.

Answer 9

In a peer-to-peer model, all computers are equal peers with no dedicated servers. Each computer is responsible for managing its backups, security and connections.

Question 10

What is an advantage and disadvantage of a peer to peer network?

Answer 10

Peer-to-peer networks are very easy to maintain and cheap to set up.
Each user must manage their own backups, updates, and security on their device.

Question 11

What is a network interface card (NIC)?

Answer 11

A NIC allows a computer to send and receive data on the network.

Question 12

What is the difference between the Internet and World Wide Web?

Answer 12

The Internet is a massive collection of interconnected networks spanning the world.
The Internet provides connectivity, while the World Wide Web is the collection of web pages accessed via browsers.

Question 13

What is a network topology?

Answer 13

A network topology is the physical structure of the network. It defines how the network hardware will be arranged to create the network.

Question 14

What is Ethernet?

Answer 14

Ethernet is a wired networking standard to carry electrical signals between devices.

Question 15

Why is Ethernet considered a standard?

Answer 15

Ethernet is considered a standard because it is used by most manufacturers to allow compatibility with other devices.

Question 16

What is an IP address?

Answer 16

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique identifier given to devices which communicate over the Internet (WAN).

Question 17

What is the difference between IPv4 and IPv6 addresses?

Answer 17

An IPv4 address is represented as 4 blocks of denary numbers between 0 and 255, separated by full stops.

An IPv6 address is represented as 8 blocks of 4 hexadecimal digits, separated by colons.

Question 18

Describe the format of a MAC address.

Answer 18

A MAC address is represented as 12 hexadecimal digits (48 bits), usually grouped in pairs, with the first three pairs being the manufacturer ID number (OUI) and the last three pairs being the serial number of the network interface card (NIC).

Question 19

What is a standard in computing?

Answer 19

A computing standard is a set of guidelines that when used with different hardware and software allows them to work with each other (compatibility) and allow data exchange (interoperability).

Question 20

What is a protocol?

Answer 20

A protocol is a set of rules that govern communication on a network.

Question 21

What is TCP/IP?

Answer 21

TCP/IP is two protocols, transmission control protocol (TCP) and internet protocol (IP) that combined allow communication over the internet (WAN).

Question 22

State the role of TCP and IP(in the context of TCP/IP).

Answer 22

TCP is responsible for making sure communication between two routers is error free.
IP is responsible for making sure data is delivered to the right device on a wide area network (WAN).

Question 23

Define layer.

Answer 23

A layer is a division of network functionality. The network is divided into layers as it reduces the complexity

Question 24

Define FTP?

Answer 24

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows sending and receiving files between computers.

Question 25

Define SMTP?

Answer 25

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is a protocol that allows communication between an email sender and the email server, and between different email servers using the internet.

Question 26

Define POP?

Answer 26

Post Office Protocol (POP) is a protocol for downloading emails to a device from an email server. Once the email has been retrieved it is removed from the server.

Question 27

Define IMAP?

Answer 27

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a protocol for downloading emails to a device from an email server. Once the email has been retrieved, a copy is retained on the mail server.

Question 28

State an advantage of POP

Answer 28

An advantage of POP is that it frees up storage space on email servers and is faster on slow connections.

Question 29

State an advantage of IMAP.

Answer 29

An advantage of IMAP is that you can view and manage emails from any device with internet access, and changes made on one device are synchronised on all connected devices.

Question 30

Give an advantage of using layers.

Answer 30

Layers are self-contained which makes managing, repairing and upgrading easier as each layer can be worked on independent of other layers.