Networks and Topologies Flashcards
What is a LAN
A local area network covers a small geographical area. It consists of computers and peripheral devices (e.g. printers) connected together usually on a single site.
What is a WAN
A wide area network. A wide area network is a collection of computers connected to each other using the resources supplied by a third party carrier such as BT. It uses cables, telephone lines, satellites and radio waves to connect the component, which are usually spread over a wide geographical area
What are the factors that effect the performance of a network
Bandwidth - The measure of the amount of data that can be transferred from place to another in a certain amount of time.Copper ethernet cables speed this up. Wireless slows it down.
Interference - Packets need to be retransmitted which increases the time taken.
Latency - The measure of delay. Measures the time it takes for data to get from one place to another
What is a client server network
In a client server network the server is a powerful computer which provides services or resources required by any of the clients.
The client is a computer which requests the services or resources providedd by the server.
What is a peer-to-peer network
In a smaller office it is not cost effective to have someone run the network. So the computers will be cabled or wirelessly connected together. This is called peer-to-peer as all the computers have equal status as each other.
Explain how a star topology is connected
All of the computers have their own cable connecting them to a hub,switch or computer which acts as a server.
adv - if one cable fails the other workstations aren’t effected
disadvantage - can be costly to install because there is a lot of cabling and extra hardware.
What is a hub
A hub is a hardware device which enables multiple devices or connections to connect to a computer.
What is a WAP
A wireless access point receives data from a netwwork via its physical connection. The transmitter converts data to radio waves which are transmitted. Any device on the network receives this signal via a Wi-Fi adaptor.
What is a switch
A switch is a component of a LAN that finds the MAC address of each device connected locally. Its function is to forward inbound packages to only its recipient’s MAC address.
What is a router
A router is designed to route data packets across wide area networks like the internet.
Each router in a network acts a node so data packets are passed between node to node till the correct destination.
what is a NIC
a network interface card is required to connect any network enabled device.
This can be a physical component or operates wirelessly. All devices connected to the internet have a NIC
Explain how a mesh topology is connected
A mesh topology has every single device connected to the internet. A full mesh network had each and every node connected to every other node.
A partial mesh network, some nodes are not directly connected.
Only one node needs to be physically connected to a modern.
This is used in a LAN
What is DNS
When you enter a URL into the internet it goes to the DNS system which maps the domain names to IP addresses so it can translate to a domain name.
If an IP address is not found then it is sent to the next DNS server
What is Hosting
Hosting is where you pay for an internet company that stores your files and makes them available to you or others from internet connected computers.
Web hosting includes domain name registeration which makes sure the name chosen has not already been taken and is acceptable.
What is the Cloud
The cloud is a software which saves data offsite using a third party storage system, for example dropbox, google, microsoft.
