3a LAN, WAN, Virtual Network *

Question 0

Identify three characteristics of a local area network (LAN).

Answer 0

 connected by high speed connections (1)
Within a locally defined area (1)
 can have direct connections between machines (1)
 connected by cables owned by the company (1)
 able to share local peripherals (1)

Question 1

Identify three characteristics of a wide area network (WAN).

Answer 1

geographically remote (1)
external telecommunications/external hardware (1)
connected by third party cables (1)

Question 2

The computers in this second building must still be part of the LAN….describe how the wedding outfitters could use a virtual network within their LAN

Answer 2

 two or more of their departments could exist on the LAN (1) but each computer would only communicate with others in the same department (1)
 services such as file sharing, printing and application sharing would be the same as on the single LAN (1) but on a virtual network these services could be allocated to just those individuals within a particular department (1)
 to offer secure remote access to existing resources (1) as if working locally (1)
 to provide a secure extension of their private network (1) into an insecure environment such as the internet for workers (1)
 to separate the traffic of different user groups (1) over their
underlying network with strong security features (1) [4]

Question 3

Give 2 comparisons between a WAN and a LAN

Answer 3

 a LAN is connected by high speed connections within the business whereas a WAN uses external telecommunications / external hardware
 communication in a LAN is handled by internal hardware such as switches and servers whereas a WAN needs an ISP to connect externally to the internet to enable communication between sites
connectivity
 a LAN is connected by cables owned by the business whereas a WAN is connected by third party cables (1)
configuration
 a virtual network can be configured to exist across both multiple LANs and a WAN