04 Computer Networks

Answers
1. List three different items of hardware in a microcomputer network system.
1. Network Interface Card
2. Securely fitted cabling system
3. Workstations
2. A school has several microcomputers and monitors in different rooms, linked together to form a network.
The network has a file server. State two other hardware items, which usually form part of a network.
1. Network Interface Card
2. Securely fitted cabling system
3. Computers may be used in telecommunications systems for sending and receiving mail. Give one advantage
and one disadvantage of electronic mail over ordinary mail.
Advantage: Independent of geographical position. You still have the access to your mails even if you have
moved to a new location or when you are traveling.
Disadvantage: Both the senders and recipient must have a valid email and access to internet.
4. A local area network connected to a wide area network uses a file server, a print server and a gateway.
a. What is the purpose of
The file server: It is used to store data of all the user who are using the network as well as it stores the
software that are to be used by the network users.
The print server: Data sent by users of the network for printing is stored on this computer. From this
computer data gets printed one-by-one. This is required because printer by itself can not handle large
volume of data arriving simultaneously.
The gateway: LAN and WAN are two different types of network and hence we need a gateway to
connect these two dissimilar networks.
b. List two application packages which may run on the network.
1. Office Automation like MS-Office that includes word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc
2. Media Players like Real Player through which many different tasks related with videos can be done
c. List two different items of systems software which are needed to run the network.
• Network management software.
• Network storage software
5. The following operations all have to be carried out when sending a message by electronic mail.
A. log-out
B. enter user number
C. enter password
D. send message
E. enter message
F. dial electronic mail computer.
Write the letters A to F to show the correct order of doing these operations.
F, B, C, E, D, A
6. A salesman uses electronic mail to communicate with head office.
a. Describe what hardware the salesman would need to carry with him if he sends his orders to head office
every evening through a telephone line.
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Modem
Modem is a hardware device that allows a computer to send and receive data over a telephone line or a
cable or satellite connection. MODEM stands for modulator-demodulator
b. The salesman wishes to leave a message for another salesman using electronic mail. Explain how the
second salesman would get hold of his message.
The second salesman must be informed about the message, then he would login to his email account and
can access the message from his inbox
7. A computer network is used in a single room of an insurance company. The network is used by the staff to
answer enquiries about insurance policies.
a. Draw a clearly labelled diagram of a typical computer network.

b. What type of applications package would the staff use to help them answer customer enquiries?
DBMS/RDBMS with SQL (Structured Query Language) facility.
c. Some enquiries require a printed reply. What type of printer would be suitable to give a very high quality
output?
Laser printer
d. Give one advantage of using a network instead of standalone computers
Expensive hardware resources like high speed and high-quality printers, scanners, etc can be shared.
8. Draw a diagram which illustrates a star network.
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9. Give one feature available on a WAN that is not available on a LAN

Online Services like Online Shopping, Net Banking, etc are not available on LAN.
10. A school wants to enable their pupils to communicate with other computers on a wide area network (WAN).
a. State two on-line services which would be available on the WAN that could help pupils with their
schoolwork.
1. Search Engine: to search for the material related to their subjects/syllabus.
2. Communication Services to enable them to chat and share data among each other.
b. Describe two ways the school should deal with computer viruses.
1. Install a good anti virus software and update it regularly
2. Use firewall to allow the access t o reliable sites only.
11. a. Why is a modem required when communicating with other computers on a wide area network (WAN)?
In most of the places, WAN uses telephone lines as their main communication medium. These lines can
carry signals in analogue form whereas computer can deal only with digital signals. Hence a modem is
required to convert digital signals of computer into analogue form so that it can be carried by telephone
lines.
b. Describe two ways that being able to access the WAN can change the way that some subjects are studied.
1. Practically unlimited study material is available on-line without any extra cost.
2. Latest developments in study field are available from around the world.
12. State three tasks that a network operating system does for the user
1. Authenticates the users before giving access to the server/computer.
2. Manages the files of users in his space on the server/computer.
3. Loads the required software in the RAM of user’s computer.
13. Students now use computer based information retrieval systems to view data for topics they are studying
rather than using text books.
a. State two advantages, to students of being able to do this.
1. They can search the topic of their choice quickly and efficiently. They don’t need to flip through the
pages of their books, all they need is specify the topic in the search window of the system and it,
along with other related topics would be displayed in a flash.
2. Multimedia used in the system will make it lot easier for the students to understand topics with
animation and videos.
b. Describe two ways of reducing the cost of obtaining such computerized information.
1. Use high speed internet connection so that large volume of data can be downloaded in less period of
time.
2. Save the retrieved information on nodes, so that they don’t need to connect to internet when it is
required again.
14. A college has linked its stand-alone computers together to form a local area network (LAN).
a. State three advantages for doing this.
1. Expensive hardware resources like printers, scanners, etc can be shared.
2. Data on one computer can be shared/used from any other computer.
3. Software can be shared.
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b. State two disadvantages of networking computers.

1. Viruses on one computer can affect all the computers in the network.
2. Breakdown in network hardware/cable may affect the network.
15. a. A network has more than one printer attached to it. Explain how the network operating system is able
to send a user's document to the correct printer.
NOS maintains a list of available printers, when a user gives the print command, the NOS displays the
list of available printers, from where the user can select one printer. The NOS sends the print job to that
printer.
b. State three other file management tasks that a network operating system does for a user.
Task 1: Allows the user to create new files in his area.
Task 2: Maintain security of his files.
Task 3: saves new/edited files in his area.
16. Abacus College has a local area network (LAN) which is used by its students. Students log on at a
workstation and use software such as word processors and spreadsheets,
a. Explain what the operating system of a LAN does when a user logs on and selects a spreadsheet package.
The NOS will load a copy of spreadsheet package in the RAM of the workstation of the user
b. Explain how the operating system allows users to share printer.
Printers on the network are visible to all the users. When a user sends his data for printing, it is stored
in the print server along with the name of the printer on which it is to be printed. From here the data is
sent to chosen printers according to their job priority.
17. A police station has installed a ring network with five terminals.
a. Name two other items of hardware that would be attached to the network and describe their purpose.
Hardware 1: Digital Camera to take photographs of suspects/criminals.
Hardware 2: Fingerprint scanner to obtain fingerprints of suspects/criminals.
b. A ring network was chosen in preference to a star network. Give one reason why.
Transmission of data is fairly simple as it only travels in one direction.
c. The staff using the terminals is concerned about the effects on their health. Give two reasons why they
might be worried.
Reason 1: Radiation from VDUs may effect their eyesight and may cause skin disorders on face
Reason 2: Prolong use of mouse may cause wrist and elbow pain.
18. a. Describe two ways that a network manager could protect shared data and programs from corruption.
• Way 1: By restricting the “edit” rights to competent users only.
• Way 2: By taking regular backups.

b. Explain why an office may install a star network rather than a linear network
Performance of star network does not get effected by the number of nodes and the nodes can be added
or removed without shutting down the server. It is more secure because all the data and software are
stored on the server.
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19. Explain the following terms:

i. Local Area Network: It is the network of computers which is limited to a small area such as a school, an
office or a factory.
ii. Wide Area Network: It is the network of computers which spread over a large geographical area spanning
across continents using broad band leased communication lines. Internet is an example of Wide Area
Network.
iii. Modem: It is a device that modulates outgoing digital signals from a computer or other digital device
to analog signals for a conventional copper twisted pair telephone line and demodulates the incoming
analog signal and converts it to a digital signal for the digital device.
iv. Computer Networking: It refers to the interconnection of many computers and peripherals that allows
hardware, software, and data sharing between the participating devices.
v. Multiplexer It is a hardware device that accepts data signals from several low speed peripheral devices
and transmits them over a single high speed communication channel to the host
vi. Gateway: It is a collection of hardware and software facilities that enable devices on one network to
communicate with devices on another, dissimilar network.
vii. Network topology: It is the physical arrangement of computers and peripherals in Local Area Network.
viii. Token: It is a carrier that transports data from one source node to destination node in Ring Topology
of computer networks.
ix. Packet: It is a unit of data that is transmitted over internet that contains a header, body, and footer.
Header contains the destination IP address, body conations the data and the footer contains the serial
number of the data portion in the file that is being transmitted.