Chapter 1 Introduction to Networks

Question 1

Local Area Network (LAN)

Answer 1

Just as the name implies, a local area network (LAN) is usually restricted to spanning a particular geographic location such as an office building, a single department within a corporate office, or even a home office.

Question 2

WorkGroups

Answer 2

In a typical business environment, it’s a good idea to arrange your LAN’s workgroups along department divisions; for instance, you would create a workgroup for Accounting, another one for Sales, and maybe another for Marketing—you get the idea. Figure 1.2 shows two separate LANS, each as its own workgroup.

Question 3

all you need to know at this point:: is that hubs and switches are devices that connect other devices together and routers connect networks together.

Answer 3

Use routers to reach and share resources with other LANS

Question 4

Workstations

Answer 4

Workstations is a general purpose computer that is small enough and inexpensive enough to reside at a persons work area for his exclusive use .

Question 5

Servers

Answer 5

Servers are also powerful computers. They get their name because they truly are “at the service” of the network

a COMPUTER THAt shares its resources, such as printers and files with other computers on the network.
Here’s a list of common dedicated servers:

Question 6

List of Servers:

Answer 6

File Server:: Stores and dispenses filesFile Server Stores and dispenses files
Mail Server:: The network’s post office; handles email functions
Print Server:: Manages printers on the network
Web Server:: Manages web-based activities by running Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for storing web content and accessing web pages
Fax Server:: The “memo maker” that sends and receives paperless faxes over the network
Application Server:: Manages network applications
Telephony Server Handles the call center and call routing and can be thought of as a sophisticated network answering machine
Proxy Server Handles tasks in the place of other machines on the network, particularly an Internet connection.

Question 7

More about servers:

Answer 7

I want to make sure you know that servers must have considerably superior CPUs, hard-drive space, and memory—a lot more than a simple client’s capacity—because they serve many client machines and provide any resources they require. Because they’re so important, you should always put your servers in a very secure area. My company’s servers are in a locked server room because not only are they really pricey workhorses, they also store huge amounts of important and sensitive company data, so they need to be kept safe from any unauthorized access.

Question 8

Hosts

Answer 8

In TCP/IP-speak, host means any network device with an IP address.

Question 9

WAN (WIDE AREA NETWORK)

Answer 9

**Internet is a WAN

WAN networks are what we use to span large geographic areas and truly go the distance.

Question 10

Difference between WAN and LAN

Answer 10

Here’s a list of some of the important ways that WANs are different from LANs:
WANs usually need a router port or ports.
WANs span larger geographic areas and/or can link disparate locations.
WANs are usually slower.
We can choose when and how long we connect to a WAN. A LAN is all or nothing— our workstation is either connected permanently to it or not at all, although most of us have dedicated WAN links now.
WANs can utilize either private or public data transport media such as phone lines.

Question 11

MPLS

(Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) can give priority to voice data over standard data

Answer 11

One of the most popular WAN protocols in use today

MPLS has become one of the most innovative and flexible networking technologies on the market, and has some key advantages over other WAN technologies:
Physical layout flexibility
Prioritizing of data
Redundancy in case of link failure
One-to-many connection

MPLS is a switching mechanism that imposes labels (numbers) to data and then uses those labels to forward data when it arrives at the MPLS network,

The labels are assigned on the edge of the MPLS network, and forwarding inside the MPLS network (cloud) is done solely based on labels through virtual links instead of physical links. Prioritizing data is a huge advantage; for example, voice data could have priority over basic data based on the labels. And since there are multiple paths for the data to be forwarded through the MPLS cloud, there’s even some redundancy provided as well.

Question 12

NETWORKING

Answer 12

We’ve developed networking as a way to share resources and information

Question 13

(2) types of Network Architecture:

Answer 13

Peer-to-Peer or Client-Server

Question 14

Peer-to-Peer Networks (network architecture)

Answer 14

A network in which each machine can act as either a client or server.

Computers connected together in peer-to-peer networks do not have any central, or special, authority—they’re all peers, meaning that when it comes to authority, they’re all equals. The authority lies with the computer that has the desired resource being requested from it to perform a security check for proper access rights.

Question 15

Client-Server Networks

Answer 15

A network that has dedicated server machines and client machines.

Client-server networks are pretty much the polar opposite of peer-to-peer networks because in them, a single server uses a network operating system for managing the whole network.

Serious advantages.

First, because the network is much better organized and doesn’t depend on users remembering where needed resources are, it’s a whole lot easier to find the files you need because everything is stored in one spot—on that special server.

Your security also gets a lot tighter because all usernames and passwords are on that specific server, which is never ever used as a workstation. You even gain scalability—client-server networks can have legions of workstations on them. And surprisingly, with all those demands, the network’s performance is actually optimized—nice!

Question 16

Physical Network Topologies

Answer 16

Bus
Star
Ring
Mesh
Point-to-point
Point-to-multipoint
Hybrid

Question 17

(BUS): Physical Network Topologies

Answer 17

A network topology that uses a single bus cable that connects all the computers in a line, Bus topology must be terminated to prevent signal reflection.
NO FAULT TOLERANCE
Resembles a bus, but a BUS CRASH! haha

Question 18

Fault Tolerance

Answer 18

fault tolerance is the capability of a computer or a network system to respond to a condition automatically, often resolving it, which reduces the impact on the system. I

if fault-tolerance measures have been implemented correctly on a network, it’s highly unlikely that any of that network’s users will know that a problem ever existed at all.

Question 19

ring topology

Answer 19

a ring topology connects all computers on the network with a ring of cable. NO FAULT TOLERANCE

The problem is, the ring topology has a lot in common with the bus topology because if you want to add to the network, you have no choice but to break the cable ring, which is likely to bring down the entire network!

Question 20

Star Topology

Answer 20

Star Topology uses a cenral connection box for all the computers on the network,
HAS FAULT TOLERANCE

**Remember, a star topology really shines when it comes to making additions to the network, moving things around, and making any kind of changes happen quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively.

Question 21

Mesh Topology

Answer 21

IN a Mesh Topology every computer connects to every computer via two or more routes.

That’s a lot of connections—in fact, the mesh topology wins the prize for “most physical connections per device”! You won’t find it used in LANs very often, if ever, these days, but you will find a modified version of it known as a hybrid mesh used in a restrained manner on WANs, including the Internet.

A full mesh physical topology is least likely to have a collision, which happens when the data from two hosts trying to communicate simultaneously “collides” and gets lost.

Question 22

Point-to-Point Topology

Answer 22

Point-to-Point network is when two computers or routers connect directly together with no need for a central device.

Question 23

Point-to-Multipoint Topology

Answer 23

Point-to-Multipoint Network ***SIMILIAR TO MESH, Point to multipoint requires an intelligent device in the center

Question 24

Hybrid

Answer 24

a combination of two or more types of physical or logical network topologies working together within the same network.

Question 25

What are the three basic LAN topologies?

Answer 25

Bus, ring, and star

Question 26

What common WAN topology often results in multiple connections to a single site (leading to a high degree of fault tolerance) and has one-to-many connections?

Answer 26

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)

Question 27

What is the term for a device that shares its resources with other network devices?

Answer 27

Server

Question 28

What network model draws a clear distinction between devices that share their resources and devices that do not?

Answer 28

Client-Server

Question 29

Which network topology or connection type can be implemented with only two endpoints?

Answer 29

Point to Point

Question 30

What device is generally implemented as a star topology?

Answer 30

Hub or Switch

Question 31

What does MPLS stand for?

Answer 31

Multiprotocol Label Switching

Question 32

Will a computer that shares no resources most likely be connected to the backbone or to a segment?

Answer 32

A segment

Question 33

Which LAN topology is characterized by all devices being daisy-chained together with the devices at each end being connected to only one other device?

Answer 33

Bus