Networks - Decision Factors Flashcards
What is cost (as a network factor)?
How much money is spent on building, running and maintaining the network.
How can cost be decreased?
By sacrificing other factors, such as speed.
What is the factor that usually governs the shape and size of a network?
Cost.
Even if you had an unlimited budget, what limitations would you face?
Current technology and physical space.
What is speed (as a network factor)?
Speed describes the rate that data can be transferred across the network, otherwise known as the bitrate of the network.
What speed and cable would be enough for most purposes?
A standard cable running from 100Mbps to 1Gbps.
What speed and cable would be needed for a network that needs to transfer vast amounts of data quickly?
Fibre optic cables, with rates greater than 10Gbps.
Compare the costs of fibre optic and ethernet.
Ethernet is cheaper.
What is availability (as a network factor)?
Availability describes how much of the time is the network available for use.
Give an example of a computer network where availability is critical?
The computer network in an Air Traffic Control centre.
How can availability of different networks be compared?
By looking at how many minutes of downtime the network has in any given year.
How can continuous availability be ensured?
How does this affect cost in turn?
By having backup network paths, duplicated switches and so on. This all increases the cost of the project.
What is reliability measured in?
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
Why is reliability an important factor to consider?
Networks are made up of physical equipment, such as witches and cables, which means they eventually break down.
How can you improve reliability?
1) Planning ahead for servicing or replacing equipment
before it is likely to fail.
2) Purchasing higher-quality components.
