Basic Computer Networking Quiz Questions and Answers

Computer Networking: A Summary

A computer network allows computers to share resources and communicate with each other using common communication protocols over digital interconnections made up of telecommunication network technologies based on physically wired, optical, and wireless radio-frequency methods.
Nodes in a computer network can include personal computers, servers, networking hardware or other specialized or general-purpose hosts, identified by network addresses and hostnames.
Computer networks can be classified by the transmission medium used to carry signals, bandwidth, communications protocols to organize network traffic, network size, topology, traffic control mechanisms, and organizational intent.
Computer networks support many applications and services, such as access to the World Wide Web, digital video and audio, shared use of application and storage servers, printers and fax machines, and use of email and instant messaging applications.
Network topologies can significantly affect a network's throughput and reliability, with many technologies requiring a single failure causing the network to fail entirely.
Overlay networks are a virtual network built on top of another network, used to improve Internet routing, quality of service, and content delivery.
Network links use electrical cable, optical fiber, free space, radio waves, or infrared signals to link devices to form a computer network.
Network nodes include network interface controllers, repeaters, hubs, bridges, switches, routers, modems, and firewalls, each performing multiple functions.
Communication protocols are a set of rules for exchanging information over a network, with many characteristics such as connection-oriented or connectionless, circuit mode or packet switching, and hierarchical or flat addressing.
Common communication protocols include the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP), the foundation of all modern networking, and IEEE 802, a family of IEEE standards dealing with local area networks and metropolitan area networks.
The use of protocol layering is ubiquitous across the field of computer networking to divide communications functions into protocol layers, where each layer leverages the services of the layer below it.
Firewalls are a network device or software for controlling network security and access rules, inserted in connections between secure internal networks and potentially insecure external networks such as the Internet.Overview of Computer Networks
Ethernet is a family of technologies used in wired LANs, described by a set of standards called IEEE 802.3.
Wireless LAN based on IEEE 802.11 standards is probably the most well-known member of the IEEE 802 protocol family for home users today.
SONET/SDH are standardized multiplexing protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams over optical fiber using lasers, originally designed to transport circuit mode communications from different sources, primarily to support circuit-switched digital telephony.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a switching technique for telecommunication networks that uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing and encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells, making it a good choice for a network that must handle both traditional high-throughput data traffic and real-time, low-latency content.
Cellular standards include Global System for Mobile Communications, General Packet Radio Service, cdmaOne, CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications, Digital AMPS, and Integrated Digital Enhanced Network.
Routing is the process of selecting network paths to carry network traffic, directing forwarding on the basis of routing tables that maintain a record of the routes to various network destinations.
Networks may be characterized by physical capacity, organizational purpose, user authorization, access rights, and other properties, as well as the physical extent or geographic scale.
Network types include nanoscale network, personal area network, local area network, home area network, storage area network, campus area network, backbone network, metropolitan area network, wide area network, enterprise private network, virtual private network, global area network, and darknet.
Intranet is a set of networks that are under the control of a single administrative entity, typically using IP-based tools and limiting the use of the intranet to authorized users.
Extranet is a network that is under the administrative control of a single organization but supports a limited connection to a specific external network.
The Internet is a global system of interconnected governmental, academic, corporate, public, and private computer networks based on the networking technologies of the Internet protocol suite.
Darknet is an overlay network, typically running on the Internet, that is only accessible through specialized software, where sharing is anonymous and users can communicate with little fear of governmental or corporate interference.
Network services include the World Wide Web, E-mail, printing, network file sharing, DNS, and DHCP.
Network performance is measured by bandwidth (consumed bandwidth corresponding to achieved throughput or goodput) and network delay (the latency for a bit of data to travel across the network from one communication endpoint to another).Overview of Computer Networks
Network delay is affected by various factors, including the location of the endpoints and network congestion.
Quality of service (QoS) parameters include throughput, jitter, bit error rate, and latency.
Network performance is measured differently for each network, and performance can also be modeled.
Network congestion can lead to queueing delay, packet loss, and blocking of new connections, and can be avoided or alleviated through congestion control, avoidance, and traffic control techniques.
Network resilience is the ability to maintain an acceptable level of service in the face of faults or challenges to normal operation.
Network security involves provisions and policies to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of network resources.
Network surveillance is the monitoring of data transferred over computer networks, and it may or may not be legal or require authorization.
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) protects data traveling between two communicating parties from intermediaries and generally protects confidentiality and integrity.
SSL/TLS is a secure protocol for authentication and encryption, and it requires a server with a certificate and preloaded CA root certificates.
Users and network administrators have different views of networks, and network administrators can see networks from physical and logical perspectives.
Intranets are under private administration for authorized users and do not have to be connected to the Internet, while extranets securely extend intranets to users outside the intranet.
The Internet is the set of subnets that share the registered IP address space and exchange information using the Border Gateway Protocol, and it supports B2B, B2C, and C2C communications.
VPN technology can securely superimpose intranets and extranets onto the Internet.