Structure of the Internet ( Topologies )

Question 1

What is a standalone?

Answer 1

One computer, not connected to any other computing devices.

Question 2

When is a network formed?

Answer 2

When you connect two or more computers together.

Question 3

What are the two types of network?

Answer 3

• Wide Area Network ( WAN )

* Local Area Network ( LAN )

Question 4

What is a local area network?

Answer 4

• Two or more computers connected together within a small geographical area.
• Consists of a number of computing devices on a single site, or in a single building, connected together by cables.

Question 5

What can a LAN network consist of?

Answer 5

Number of PCs, printers and scanners and a central server.

Question 6

What is a wide area network?

Answer 6

• One that relies on a third party carriers or connection.

* WANs are typically spread over a large geographical area.

Question 7

What is a network topology?

Answer 7

Arrangement of the various computing devices which make up a computer network.

Question 8

What is a bus topology?

Answer 8

• An arrangement where nodes are connected in a daisy chain by a single central communications channel.
• All computers are connected to a single cable, ends of the cable are plugged into a terminator.

Question 9

what is a star topology?

Answer 9

• An arrangement where a central node or hub provides a common connection point for all other nodes.
• A star network has a central node, which may be a switch or computer which acts as a router to transmit messages.

Question 10

What does a switch do?

Answer 10

• Keeps a record of the unique MAC address of each device on the network.
• Can identify which particular computer on the network it should send the data to.
• Sends each communication to the specific computer it is intended for

Question 11

What are the contents of the star topology?

Answer 11

• A star network has a central node, which may be a switch or computer which acts as a router to transmit messages.

Question 12

How does a bus network function?

Answer 12

• All nodes are connected to a single backbone cable.
• Each end of the backbone is connected to either a terminator or a computer which stops signals bouncing back.
• Each node is passive
• Data is sent in one direction at a time only
• Only one computer can transmit successfully at any one time.

Question 13

What are the advantages of a bus topology?

Answer 13

• Inexpensive to install, as it requires less cable and does not require any additional hardware.
• Good for small networks
• Devices can be easily added.

Question 14

What are the advantages of a star network?

Answer 14

• Easy to isolate problems
• Good performance
• More secure if a switch is used as data is sent only to the recipient
• Higher transmission speeds can give better performance than a bus network
• No problems with collisions of data since each station has its own cable to the server
• System is more secure as messages are sent directly to the central computer and cannot be intercepted by other stations
• Easy to add new stations without disrupting the network
• if one cable fails, only one station is affected, so it is simple to isolate faults.

Question 15

What are the disadvantages of a star network?

Answer 15

• Can be expensive to set up because of the length of cable required
• Central device is point of failure

Question 16

What is the physical topology of a network?

Answer 16

Actual design layout, defines how the devices are physically connected

Question 17

What is the logical topology?

Answer 17

• Defines how devices communicate across the physical topologies.
• Shape of the path the data travels in, and describes how components communicate across the physical topology.

Question 18

What is a key feature of physical and logical topologies?

Answer 18

They are independent of each other

Question 19

What is Wi-Fi?

Answer 19

• A wireless networking technology providing high speed internet and network connections.
• A local area wireless technology that enables you to connect to a device such as a PC.

Question 20

How do devices connect to the internet?

Answer 20

Via a wireless network access point, WAP

Question 21

What does a station consist of?

Answer 21

• A computer and an NIC

* An NIC is a wireless network interface card.

Question 22

What does a WAP require?

Answer 22

A connection to a router, and the router requires a connection to a MODEM.

Question 23

What does a wireless network require?

Answer 23

A wireless access point.

• This broadcasts on a fixed frequency, and all devices within range can connect.