Chapter 6
Network Design
True-False Questions
The following are possible True/False questions for tests. The statement is given and the answer
is provided. The level of difficulty (easy, medium, hard) and the section(s) relevant to the topic
are also furnished.
1.
A key problem when designing data communications networks is how to adapt to
new technologies while organizations change.
2.
A traditional network design approach follows a structured systems analysis and
design process similar to that used in building applications.
3.
The traditional network design approach works very well for rapidly changing
networks.
4.
Today, most network designers use a three to five year planning horizon.
5.
Today, the most expensive part of the network is the hardware.
6.
Today, many organizations design networks using the building-block approach.
7.
Needs analysis is the final step in the building block approach to network design.
8.
In technology design, a network designer looks at available technologies to see which
options will satisfy users’ needs.
9.
Cost assessment is used to look at the relative cost of technologies used in a network
design.
10.
The goals in the needs analysis step of network design are exactly the same when
designing LANs vs. when designing WANs.
11.
The step of understanding current traffic on a network provides a baseline against
which future network requirements can be compared.
12.
The goal of the needs analysis step in network design is to develop a physical
network design.
13.
Today, all network traffic is due to traffic from internal application systems.
14.
Networks requirements can be divided into mandatory, desirable, and wish-list
requirements.
15.
Capacity planning is used to design circuit capacity.
16.
The turnpike effect results when a network is used at a much lower rate than was
anticipated when it was designed.
17.
Simulation is a tool that can be used in designing networks.
18.
Cost assessment is the step in the network design in which many complex factors
related to costs are documented.
19.
When obtaining the support of senior management for a proposed network, it is
important to use as much technical network jargon as possible.
20.
The campus backbone is usually faster than the backbones used inside buildings.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
The following are possible multiple-choice questions for tests. The question is posed and the
answer is provided under the choices. The level of difficulty (easy, medium, difficult) and the
section(s) relevant to the topic is also furnished.
1.
Which of the following is not a step under the traditional network design approach?
a. An analyst develops cost estimates of the circuits needed to support the
network.
b. An analyst takes the traffic on the current network and then multiplies that by
a factor of 3.65 to come up with the estimate of the total traffic for the new
network.
c. An analyst meets with users to identify user needs.
d. An analyst develops a precise estimate of the amount of data that users will
send and receive to estimate the total amount of traffic on each part of the
network.
e. An analyst designs the circuits to support the estimated traffic, allowing for
modest growth.
2.
The traditional network design approach does not work well for _________
networks.
a. slowly evolving
b. rapidly growing
c. static
d. modestly growing
e. not growing
3.
Which of the following is not making the traditional design approach less appropriate
for today’s networks?
a. The underlying technology of networking devices is changing very rapidly
b. The underlying technology of client and server devices is changing very
rapidly
c. The underlying technology of circuits is changing very rapidly
d. Growth in network traffic is very high
e. The most expensive part of any network is the hardware
4.
Which of the following is not contributing to the dramatic increase in network traffic
today?
a. Video applications on networks are becoming common.
b. Electronic mail is now used by most people who work in organizations.
c. Web searches are now commonly performed by network users.
d. Client computers today can have 2GB of RAM, a 300 GB hard drive, and 2
Ghz processors.
e. Multimedia applications on networks are becoming common.
5.
Which of the following is false about staff costs for a network?
a. The most expensive part of the network today is the staff who design, operate,
and maintain it
b. The emphasis is on network designs that reduce staff time needed to operate
them
c. Network staff are often required to learn to operate a variety of devices
d. Network staff are often required to maintain a variety of devices
e. When a variety of devices are used in a network, it takes less time to perform
network management activities
6.
The building block design approach is sometimes called:
a. wide and shallow
b. narrow and deep
c. wide and deep
d. narrow and shallow
e. narrow and flat
7.
Nowadays, most organizations use a simpler approach to network design called the
___________ approach.
a. building-block
b. frame definition
c. prototype
d. systems development life cycle
e. guided network
8.
Which of the following is not a step used in newer types of network design
processes?
a. cost assessment
b. technology design
c. implementation
d. needs analysis
e. none of the above is a correct answer
9.
In __________, the network designer attempts to understand the fundamental current
and future network needs of the various users, departments, and applications.
a. technology design
b. needs analysis
c. narrow and deep analysis
d. cost assessment
e. distribution layering
10.
In __________, the network designer examines the available technologies and
assesses which options will meet the users’ needs.
a. technology design
b. needs analysis
c. narrow and deep analysis
d. cost assessment
e. distribution layering
11.
In __________, the network designer considers the relative cost of the technologies.
a. technology design
b. needs analysis
c. narrow and deep analysis
d. cost assessment
e. distribution layering
12.
Which of the following is not true about network design?
a. In designing LAN networks, network designers tend to err on the side of
building too big a network
b. In designing BN networks, network designers tend to err on the side of
building too big a network
c. In designing WAN networks, network designers tend to err on the side of
building too small a network
d. In designing LAN networks, network designers tend to err on the side of
building too small a network
e. In designing MAN networks, network designers tend to err on the side of
building too small a network
13.
In needs analysis:
a. a great deal of the work has probably never been done
b. the goal is to understand what users and applications the network will support
c. the geographic scope is not an important consideration
d. a baseline of current operations is not important
e. the rate of growth of network traffic is not an issue
14.
Gaining an understanding of the current application system and messages provides a
_________ against which future design requirements can be gauged.
a. backplane
b. baseline
c. turnpike document
d. wish list
e. RFP
15.
The goal of the needs analysis step is to produce a ___________, or a statement of
the network elements necessary to meet the needs of the organization.
a. building block
b. access layer
c. core layer
d. cost assessment
e. logical network design
16.
__________ is not an important consideration when network designers review old
and new applications.
a. Reviewing the NFL scores
b. Reviewing the organization’s possible changes in product mix
c. Understanding the organization’s strategic plans
d. Understanding development plans for new uses of electronic commerce
e. Reviewing the organization’s projections of sales
17.
Which of the following is not an example of identifying protocols that are needed to
support hardware and software requirements of applications that will use the
network?
a. an application will use HTTP over TCP/IP
b. an application will run on an IBM mainframe and so the network will require
SNA traffic
c. an application will need a gateway to translate SNA traffic into TCP/IP
protocols
d. an application will use SPX/IPX with a Novell file server
e. an application will have drop down menu choices
18.
Which of the following is not a way in which network requirements, identified in the
needs analysis of the network design process, are organized?
a. non-necessary requirements
b. wish list requirements
c. desirable requirements
d. mandatory requirements
e. none of the above is an appropriate answer
19.
Which of the following is not included in the key deliverable for the needs
assessment stage, the set of logical network diagrams?
a. applications of the proposed network
b. servers in the proposed network
c. circuits in the proposed network
d. specific routers that have been chosen to implement the proposed network
e. clients in the proposed network
20.
Which of the following is not an example of a building block used in technology
design?
a. typical application
b. typical user
c. high traffic application
d. standard network circuit
e. specifications for a particular lighting fixture in the network operating center
21.
Once the needs have been defined in the logical network design, the next step is to
develop a(n) __________.
a. application
b. baseline
c. technology design
d. turnpike design
e. backplane design
22.
Which of the following is a type of protocol that needs to be considered in
technology design?
a. Ethernet
b. 10 Mbps
c. 100 Mbps
d. WAN
e. SNA
23.
Estimating the size and type of the “standard” and “advanced” network circuits is
called _________.
a. needs categorization
b. turnpike design
c. cost assessment
d. capacity planning
e. soliciting RFPs
24.
Which of the following would not be a type of circuit that needs to be considered
when planning for technology design capacity?
a. 1000 Mbps
b. Ethernet
c. 10 Mbps
d. 100 Mbps
e. 1 Gbps
25.
In the technology design stage of network design,
a. the fundamental technology/protocols to be chosen have no relationship with
the circuit capacity
b. the decision for fundamental technology/protocols can be made without
considering circuit capacity
c. the decision for circuit capacity can be made without considering fundamental
technology/protocols
d. the decisions for fundamental technology/protocols and circuit capacity are
interrelated
e. the decision for fundamental technology/protocols and/or circuit capacities is
not made at this stage
26.
___________ refers to the amount of data transmitted on a circuit.
a. Circuit loading
b. Leading edge deployment
c. Capacity planning
d. Calculating message volumes
e. Requirements documentation
27.
__________ is an estimate of the highest data volume on a link.
a. Data mode
b. Backplane load
c. Peak circuit traffic
d. Leading edge data flow
e. Circuit transfer
28.
To establish circuit loading, the designer usually starts with the:
a. total characters transmitted per day on each circuit, or, if possible, the number
of characters transmitted per two-second intervals if peaks must be met
b. individual user training
c. bus diameter, disk cache that is used at the server station
d. channel bandwidth and baud rate used at each client
e. local, trunk, IXC, DDD, and leased-line circuit bandwidth for each node
29.
According to one rule of thumb, ______ percent of circuit loading information is
easy to gather.
a. 50
b. 25
c. 80
d. 19
e. 20
30.
A _________ results when a network is used to a greater extent than was originally
anticipated by the network designer.
a. leading edge data flow
b. circuit load
c. turnpike effect
d. protocol volume
e. capacity plan
31.
There are some network modeling tools that can ________ the existing network.
a. discover
b. disassemble
c. sensitize
d. maintain
e. implement
32.
________ is used to model the behavior of the planned communication network once
the proposed network map is complete.
a. Implementation
b. Post-implementation review
c. Documentation
d. Simulation
e. Training users
33.
Which of the following are not costs that are generally considered during the cost
assessment stage of the network design process?
a. cost of advertising brochures for new products to be offered by an
organization
b. internetworking devices cost
c. network management costs
d. circuit costs
e. software costs for network operating system
34.
Which of the following is not a main item for which network designers estimate
costs for the proposed network?
a. software
b. hardware
c. purchasing and installing circuits
d. ergonomic chairs for users
e. circuits provided by common carriers
35.
To estimate costs for large network purchases, organizations often:
a. purchase all network purchases ‘off the shelf’
b. obtain ‘book value’ information for the existing network from the accounting
department
c. ask other users what they paid for their network bought in the past
d. multiply old network costs by a factor of 3
e. issue an RFP to vendors
36.
RFP stands for:
a. Request for Proposal
b. Ring Fault Path
c. Routing File Protocol
d. Record Facsimile Program
e. Redundant File Protocol
37.
Estimating the cost of a network is ______ complex than estimating the cost of one
new piece of data processing hardware.
a. much more
b. much less
c. about the same
d. exactly the same
e. a little more
38.
Which of the following is a way to sell the network proposal to management?
a. talk about upgrades from 10Mbps to 100Mbps
b. give many details about using routers vs. gateways for a particular connection
c. concentrate on a discussion about token ring vs. Ethernet protocol
d. focus on the growth in network use
e. discuss SNA architecture
39.
Which of the following is not a key deliverable for the cost assessment step?
a. RFP
b. list of wish list requirements
c. revised physical network diagram
d. business case, defined in business objectives and business language, that
supports the network design
e. none of the above is an appropriate choice
40.
The large network purchases are done:
a. before the vendor(s) are selected
b. before the RFP is sent out
c. after the RFP is sent out, but before the vendor(s) are selected
d. after the vendor(s) are selected
e. after the network has been implemented
41.
The network architecture component which enables users to access the network is the
a. LAN
b. building backbone
c. campus backbone
d. enterprise edge
e. WAN
42.
The network architecture component that is sometimes referred to as the distribution
layer is the
a. LAN
b. building backbone
c. campus backbone
d. enterprise edge
e. WAN
43.
The network architecture component which contains the organization’s servers is
called the a. LAN
b. building backbone
c. data center
d. enterprise edge
e. WAN
44.
The network architecture component that is a special LAN with a group of servers
that enables electronic data exchange of between the organization and the external
entities it does business with is called the
a. LAN
b. building backbone
c. data center
d. enterprise edge
e. e-commerce edge
45.
A circuit that is filled almost to its capacity and thus is the critical point that
determines whether users get good or bad response times is referred to as a(n)
a. bottleneck
b. building backbone
c. breakneck
d. congested network
e. e-commerce edge
Short Answer and Essay Questions:
1. Describe the RFP process in detail.
2. Describe the concept of linking the RFP to the vendor contract.
3. Why is the RFP so important?
4. Why is it important to “sell” a proposal to management? How should this be
done?
5. In a quickly evolving network, which design method is recommended? Why?
6. Describe the tools that can be used in designing a network.
7. List and describe each of the seven network architecture components.
8. Describe the difference between a building backbone network and the campus
backbone.
9. Compare and contrast the building-block network design process with the
traditional network design process.
10. What are some of the considerations that network designers have when planning
for circuit capacities across a LAN and backbones?
11. Describe some of the network design tools that can be helpful in the design
process.