Hardware, cables, topologies, transmission types

Question 1

What speed is 10GBASE-T and what are the wires made of?

Answer 1

10Gbit/s speed over twisted copper pairs.

Question 1

What is the speed of 1000BASE-SX and what media does it use?

Answer 1

1Gbit/s FIBER connection. SX stands for Short Wavelength.

Question 2

What type of light source does multi-mode fiber use?

Answer 2

LED is generally used for multi-mode fiber as its short range (up to 2km) and inexpensive.

Question 3

Does single or multi mode fiber signal reach further?

Answer 3

Single-mode fiber technology travels a lot further (up to 100km) than multi-mode. Thanks in part to using a LAZER.

Single lazer beam.

Question 4

What speed does twin axial (twinax) cable support and over what maximum distance?

Answer 4

Twin-axial Cable is low cost cable with lower latency than twisted copper pair cable with a maximum cable length of 5m.

Question 5

What is a transceiver?

Answer 5

A transmitter and receiver of signals in a single component. E.g. an ethernet transceiver that you can plug into a switch port.

Question 6

What does SFP stand for in an SFP Transceiver?

Answer 6

Small Form-factor Pluggable Transceiver - e.g. 1Gbit/s fiber or copper/RJ45.

Question 7

What max. speed does an SFP+ transceiver support vs SFP?

Answer 7

SFP+ 16Gbit/s. SFP 1Gbit/s. Both transceivers are the same physical size/form factor.

SFP+ = Small Form-factor Pluggable Enhanced+

Question 8

Does a Quad SFP (QFSP) have a bigger form factor than single SFP?

Answer 8

Yes, but only slightly, not 4x the size so it saves space.

Question 9

What is the max. speed supported by a QFSP transceiver?

Answer 9

4x a single SFP so 4Gbit/s (SFP = 1Gbit/s).

Question 10

Which has a bigger form-factor of LC (Local Connector) or SC (Subscriber Connector) fiber connectors?

Answer 10

LC (Little) is slightly smaller than SC (SCaled up) connector but both come in pairs and lock in with a clip.

Question 11

What connector type does ST fiber connector use?

Answer 11

Straight Tip Fiber connector is a bayonet connector - which means you stick it in and twist it to lock in place.

Question 12

How many individual fibres are contained within a single MPO fiber connector?

Answer 12

MPO - Multi-fiber Push On connector contains 12 fibers in one cable to save space. It clips into place.

Question 13

What type of connection uses RJ11 connector?

Answer 13

Phoneline/DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection uses the RJ11 connector 6P2C (6 position, 2 conductor).

Question 14

What type of connection has 8 positions and 8 conductors?

Answer 14

RJ45 has 8P8C - Ethernet.

Question 15

What type of connector would you use with DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification)?

Answer 15

F-connector, RJ6 cable, cable modem - TV and internet, screw in.
Or
BNC Connector, bayonet connector.

Question 16

What is the most commonly used network topology type in big businesses?

Answer 16

Star/Hub and Spoke topology is the most frequently used. With an ethernet switch in the middle.

Question 17

What topology is based on multiple data paths between devices on the LAN to provide redundancy (and can load balance)?

Answer 17

Mesh topology - relies on multiple paths between network devices for redundancy and load balancing.

Question 18

What is a network topology called that consists of multiple different types of topology?

Answer 18

Hybrid Network Topology.

Question 19

In a spine and leaf topology what does and does not connect to what?

Answer 19

Spine switches connect to every leaf switch which then connect to end points/devices like PC’s. But spine switches do NOT connect directly to each other.

Broken spine.

Question 20

What are the 3 tiers of the 3-tier architecture?

Answer 20

Tier 1: Core (Servers, databases, critical stuff)
Tier 2: Distribution (switches)
Tier 3: Access (end users, printers, switches close to users, etc)

Question 21

In the collapsed core/two-tier network architecture model what layers of the 3-tier model get compressed into one tier?

Answer 21

Core and Distribution tiers are one tier in the collapsed core model.

This is a good model for smaller organizations, sacrifices some resiliency/redundancy for simpler implementation and lower cost to setup and maintain than the 3-Tier model.

Question 22

What is data ingress?

Answer 22

Ingress = data entering a system/network.

Question 23

What is data egress?

Answer 23

Data Exiting a network/system.

Question 24

Does an East to West data flow leave a data center?

Answer 24

No, East-West data flow moves across devices WITHIN a data center, therefore security is a much lesser concern than North-South flow which ingresses and egresses the data center.

Question 25

What is the name of a one-to-one data transfer directly between two systems only?

Answer 25

Unicast: one-to-one transmission from one point in the network to another point. E.g. web surfing, file transfers. Uses IPv4 or IPv6.

Question 26

What is a one to many delivery of data network communication called?

Answer 26

Multicast - where one source sends out data simultaneously to multiple other systems such as streaming to multiple users.

Requires good hardware.

Question 27

What is anycast?

Answer 27

Anycast is a communication from one to one OF many choices. It is sent (like a unicast) to the closest/optimal device of a bunch of devices on its network.

Question 28

What communication method sends data packet from one system to all other systems on the domain at once?

Answer 28

Broadcast - sends data from one device to all connected/subnet devices (broadcast domain) at once.

Like a hub. Used for routing updates, ARP requests.

Only works with IPv4.