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Chapter 2
Network Infrastructure and Documentation
Review Questions
1. A technician from your ISP has arrived to help you troubleshoot a weak WAN
connection. To what location do you take her?
a. DF
b. Work area
c. CEO’s office
d. Entrance facility
2. A transceiver was recently damaged by a lightning strike during a storm. How
might you decide whether the ISP is responsible for replacing this device, or
whether your company must foot the bill?
a. Look at whether the device is located on the ISP’s side of the demarc.
b. Look at the manufacturer information on the device’s label.
c. Look at purchase records for the device to determine when it was
acquired.
d. Look at what kinds of cables are connected to this device.
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3. Which of the following devices are you likely to find in the MDF? Choose all that
apply.
a. Routers
b. Switches
c. Network printer
d. KVM switch
4. Which device converts signals from a campus’s analog phone equipment into IP
data that can travel over the Internet?
a. VoIP PBX
b. VoIP endpoint
c. VoIP gateway
d. VoIP switch
5. If you’re shopping for a rack switch, what component on the switch tells you it
can be mounted to a rack?
a. AC adapter
b. Rack ears
c. Padded feet
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d. Large fans
6. You need to connect a new network printer to a nearby wall jack. What kind of
cable should you use?
a. Fiber-optic cable
b. Patch cable
c. Backbone cable
d. Plenum-rated cable
7. You’ve decided to run an Nmap scan on your network. What app could you open
to perform this task? Choose all that apply.
a. Zenmap
b. Microsoft Edge
c. Command Prompt
d. PowerShell
8. What type of diagram shows a graphical representation of a network’s wired
infrastructure?
a. Rack diagram
b. Wiring schematic
c. Network map
d. Network topology
9. Which of these is considered a secure place to store a list of documented network
passwords?
a. The CEO’s smartphone
b. A sticky note under the keyboard
c. A password manager
d. The MDF
10. What is the first step of inventory management?
a. Interview users.
b. Back up network data.
c. List an administrative account’s username and password for each device
on a network.
d. List all components on the network.
11. There is only one ________ per network, but there can be many ________
connecting internal portions of the network.
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12. Why is it important to use a structured cabling standard when installing and
managing cabling systems?
13. Why is it important to use plenum-rated cabling in the area above the ceiling tile?
14. What is the unit of measurement that defines the space available in a rack? How
tall are standard racks?
15. Why is it important to minimize cable clutter in a rack?
16. What are some elements that are typically included in network diagrams?
17. How can you go about gathering the information needed to assemble a thorough
operations manual?
18. List some good names for devices on your home network or on the network in
your school’s lab. Demonstrate the use of best practices when creating a naming
scheme for devices on a computer network.
19. For what time period should you schedule a network change?
20. In a large organization, how do you typically request permission to perform a
network change?
Hands-On Projects
Project 2-1: Tour MDF and IDF Data Rooms
The equipment and spaces discussed in this chapter come alive when you can see them in
real-life situations. Ideally, you would connect with IT departments at schools and
businesses in your area and tour their networking facilities so you can see these things for
yourself. Additionally, your instructor might be able to give you a tour of the network
equipment at your school. In preparation for these real-life tours or as a suitable
replacement for them if necessary, find and watch video tours online of various MDF and
IDF facilities. Complete the following steps:
1. Do an online search for video tours of MDF and IDF facilities. Good search terms
include: “MDF IDF tour,” “main distribution frame tour,” “data room tour,” and
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“MDF data room.” Look for videos that show you around the MDF or IDF data
room, identifying major components and their connections. The best tour videos
include a walk to other buildings on the network’s campus.
2. Answer the following questions:
a. List the videos you watched. Include a URL for each video, or an
explanation of how to find it on a particular website.
b. What network components were shown?
c. What are three things you learned about the layout of the room, what
equipment is there, or how the equipment is installed?
Project 2-2: Create a Password Manager Account
Throughout this book, you will create several accounts at different websites in order to
access tools for various projects. As you learned in the chapter, a password manager can
help you document those passwords and store them securely.
In this project, you create a LastPass account where you can store all your account
information for the projects in this book. LastPass provides a free subscription option,
Note
You’ll learn more about how to create a secure password in Chapter 9. For now, keep in
Complete the following steps to create your password manager account online:
1. Go to lastpass.com and click Log In. On the Log In page, click Create an
account now.
2. Enter your email address and create a master password (the longer, the better—
just make sure you can remember it because there is only one, somewhat
4. Click Log In at the top of the page and log into your new LastPass account.
5. See Figure 2-33 for an orientation to the LastPass vault. Click through each menu
option in the left pane.
6. When you get to Account Settings, scroll down to SMS Account Recovery and
click Update Phone. Add a phone number where you can receive a recovery text
message should you forget your master password. The phone must be in your
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Note
7. Click the Add Site button. Enter information for a site you visit often, such as a
9. Log out of LastPass in your browser. Always remember to log out of your
Project 2-3: Create a Wiki
One way to collect information from members of your team is to use a wiki creator to
build your own wiki. There are many good wiki tools that require a purchase or
subscription, such as Google Sites and SharePoint. These paid apps provide impressive
features that really shine when you’re collaborating with several people or making your
wiki public as part of your business front. A free app such as Wikidot.com, though, can
give you all the features you need for tracking your own project information in this book.
And it will help you better understand which features are most important to you.
Complete the following steps to create your own wiki:
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1. Go to wikidot.com and create an account. Store your account information in your
LastPass account.
3. Once inside your Wikidot account, click on the Sites tab. Scroll down and click
Create site in the left pane.
4. Add information for your wiki. Give it a name and web address, and choose the
Standard Template.
Note
5. Select an access policy. Unless directed otherwise by your instructor, choose the
6. Confirm that you have read and agreed to the Terms of Service, and then click
Get my Wikidot site. Your Wikidot site is created with generic information that
will help you get started, as shown in Figure 2-34.
7. To see the admin link in the top navigation bar, click Create Admin CSS Page in
the First section on the welcome page. Without making any edits to the page,
click Save at the bottom of the page. There should now be a gear icon in the top
navigation bar, as shown in Figure 2-35. If you click on it, you can see the admin
navigation menu. We’ll come back to that soon.
8. Skim through the First Time User page and the User Guide to understand how to
create pages and categories and how to use modules.
9. Click each tab along the top navigation bar and skim the contents: Home, About,
Layout, Membership, User Guide, Help Docs, and Contact. This will help you
become familiar with the pages included in this template.
10. Click the Home link to go back to the Home page. At the bottom of the page,
click Edit, as shown in Figure 2-36.
11. In the Header box, change the text Welcome to Wikidot (See Figure 2-37) to say
This is my Wikidot. Save your changes.
12. Click the About link to go to the About page. In the side navigation bar, in the
Create a Page module, type Virtualization:VMclients (see Figure 2-38). Notice
that there is no space before or after the colon. This will create a new page named
VMclients in the category Virtualization. Click New page.
13. Type the information for the Capstone Project you completed in Chapter 1, as