Question_5_Paper1_Dec_2010


 * Networks in schools**

**1. **** A primary school just created a computer lab inside their facilities to teach children basic computer knowledge and the use of the Internet. After consulting with many experts, the director decided to install a wired network for all the computers instead of a wireless one. He subscribed for a broadband Internet with a local ISP that offers 2 MB connection. The director expects to connect the computer lab which has 10 computers and the administrative computers which add up 5. They were also told to buy a firewall to control Internet traffic within their network, but they aren’t sure they should buy one. **

//(a) //Identify **two** hardware components that the wired network should have to work.

Ethernet cable Server Router Switches

//(b) // Describe **two** advantages of using wired network connections instead of a wireless connection.

First, wired connections are faster. As they don't rely on air signals like a wireless connection,that could be easily interrupted by many external factors such as walls, they work faster, because it hard to interrupt a physical connection, or if interrupted you can easily notice it and fix the problem faster than what a wireless connection will take

 Second, they are harder to crack. As they depend on physical wires, it would be very hard for an unwanted person to have access to it because in order to do so that person would have to physically get the cable and connect it to his/her computer, not as in wireless connection, that with a click in about 10min. you can crack a wireless network.

 Third, wired connections are relatively cheaper. Consider that the price here in Mexico for 1m of Ethernet cable is from 30-50 pesos and the price for a very cheap wireless antenna is around 300$, and even if we consider the different currencies around the world and the nowadays economic crisis it is still a lot cheaper to produce meters and meters of an 8-copper-cable-wire that to produce that same amount of wireless antennas. Also the prices given by an ISP for a wired connection are lower than the prices for the usage of a wireless one.

 Fourth, they are to a certain extent easier to maintain. With wireless connections, even though they seem to not need anything but a wireless antenna they are trickier to maintain because if there is a problem with the connection you cannot notice it as easy as you could with a wired one, this mainly because in a wired connection there are a lot of factors that could affect your connection that you may not be able to solve quite fast such as wind, thick walls, other wireless connections interfering, a problem with the ISP, a problem with your antenna among others. In a wired connection you don't have that many factors and if a problem occurs it could be a lot easier to solve. Also even though it looks like a lot of work to give regular maintenance to a wired connection, it is actually easier and more effective that to give regular maintenance to a WLAN.

//(c)// Explain why it is recommended to have a firewall in a school

This way you can prevent the kids to watch unwanted pages, or online game that will distract their attention from the teacher, making the lesson harder for the teacher. This will also prevent viruses from entering the computers and the system. The firewall block any page or content that the system(implemented by the director) wishes to block, by key words Example: any page with the word “game” on it would be automatically blocked, as well as any material trying to enter without the permission of the system into the computer.

//(d)// Evaluate the network solution implemented in the school by the director. If it is used only inside the it lab, then it is more efficient to have a wired connection, making the internet faster, and the installation cheaper, but if the teachers are also planning to use the internet with laptops, then the wired network would be useless, still more antennas would be needed to spread the signal through out the school, making the process more expensive. In conclusion, since the school is new on the it subject, it is doubtful that the teachers or students will bring their laptops to school the wired connection will be more efficient and cheap. 