Local Area Networks

Question 1

Is the Internet LAN or WAN?

Answer 1

LAN

Question 2

What is LAN?

Answer 2

Short geographical area, all infrastructure is owned by company.

Question 3

Does pure LAN provide internet access?

Answer 3

No.

Question 4

What is a switch?

Answer 4

Central area in a system/

Question 5

How are computers linked to the switch?

Answer 5

Via ethernet cables.

Question 6

Are shorter or longer copper cables quicker?

Answer 6

Shorter, the longer the copper cable the slower it will be.

Question 7

What material is mainly used for long wires?

Answer 7

Fibre Optic

Question 8

Why are the Fiber Optic Cables better for long distance?

Answer 8

They do not get affected by electromagnetic radiation.

Question 9

Where do all the cables out of the switch feed in to?

Answer 9

Core switch in server room.

Question 10

Do star topologies have a central point of failure?

Answer 10

yes, the switch.

Question 11

What happens if one cable in a star topology fails?

Answer 11

The PC the cable was going to loses connection but the switch still works.

Question 12

What are the advantages of star topology?

Answer 12

Fast data transfer to the hub as each wire isn’t shared with other computers.

If one cable fails the other ones will not be affected.

Question 13

Disadvantages of star topology?

Answer 13

Requires additional hardware such as the central switch and network cables.

If the central switch fails the whole network goes down.

Question 14

With mesh topology, do more connections slow it down?

Answer 14

No, more connections = faster speed.

Question 15

What are the problems with mesh topology?

Answer 15

A lot of cables used, can be very disorganised.

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Question 16

What do nodes do?

Answer 16

Act as routers for data in order to relay and propagate data in the network.

Question 17

Why would you use a partial mesh topology?

Answer 17

to combine with a star topology to create larger networks.

Question 18

Is partial mesh and mesh topology popular?

Answer 18

Many parts of the internet operate as a partial mesh.

Many LANs that connect to the internet use a star topology although mesh wifi is increasing in popularity.

Question 19

What is 5Ghz connection speed like?

Answer 19

Faster, but the message degrades very quickly over time.

Question 20

What are the differences between LAN’s and WAN’s?

Answer 20

LAN’s are Local and located within one location such as a building

WAN’s connect networks at remote locations via leased lines

Question 21

What are the advantages of networks?

Answer 21

Computers can share resources such as printers.
Files can be accessed through any computer in the network.
Data is easy to back up as it is stored centrally on the server.

Question 22

Disadvantages of networks?

Answer 22

Purchasing the network hardware is expensive.
Managing a large network is complicated.
Viruses may be able to infiltrate the network and infect every computer.

Question 23

What is a topology?

Answer 23

How the network is connected.

Question 24

What is an example of abstraction?

Answer 24

London Underground, distance being shortened and not being accurate.

Question 25

What is Ethernet protocol?

Answer 25

Ethernet refers to a family of standard local networking protocols.
Describes how devices should format data ready for transmission between computers on the same network.

Question 26

What is transmission media?

Answer 26

The way communication is sent through the network.

Ethernet is sent through twisted copper cables, typically with 100 meters range or fibre optic cables.

Internet connections to UK houses are typically sent through copper cables or coaxial.

Question 26

What is transmission media?

Answer 26

The way communication is sent through the network.

Ethernet is sent through twisted copper cables, typically with 100 meters range or fibre optic cables.

Internet connections to UK houses are typically sent through copper cables or coaxial.