Networks & Topologies (OCR GCSE Computer Science)

Exam Questions

1 hour20 questions
11 mark

A law company currently use a Local Area Network (LAN) linked to a Wide Area Network (WAN).

Define what is meant by a Wide Area Network.

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2a2 marks

A university has buildings in two sites that are 5 miles apart.

Describe the difference between a LAN and a WAN.

2b2 marks

Site A has 4 classrooms. Site B has 2 classrooms. The network on each site between the classrooms is a star topology using a switch. The two sites are connected over the Internet.

Complete the network diagram for site A of the University.

Four labeled boxes layout: "Site A, Classroom 1" top-left, "Site A, Classroom 2" top-right, "Site A, Classroom 3" bottom-left, "Site A, Classroom 4" bottom-right.

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31 mark

Devices on a network do not currently have Internet access.

Identify one device that can be used to connect a home network to the Internet.

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42 marks

Naomi’s office has five computers connected into a Local Area Network (LAN). There is also one printer that all the devices can print to.

The LAN is set up as a mesh topology

Draw connections to show one way that the devices could be connected using a mesh topology.

Diagram showing five labeled rectangles for computers (Computer 1 to Computer 5) and one labeled rectangle for a printer. Computers 1-3 are on the top row, 4-5 and printer are below.

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53 marks

An office has a LAN (Local Area Network). The office has four employees who each have a laptop.

The office also has one server and one networked printer.

The office is set up as a star network with a switch at the centre.

All devices are connected to the network using cables.

Draw the devices and connections in the office star network.

All devices must be clearly labelled.

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61 mark

A user enters a uniform resource locator (URL) into a web browser on one of the computers in the house.

A system is then used to find the IP address of the web server associated with the URL.

Name the system which matches URLs to IP addresses on the web.

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1a3 marks

A library has a LAN (Local Area Network).

The LAN allows access by both wired and wireless devices. Users have reported that the network sometimes runs very slowly.

Explain why the number of devices using the network at the same time can affect the performance of the network.

1b1 mark

Identify one other factor that can affect the performance of the network

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2a4 marks

Explain two advantages to a law company of storing their data in the Cloud.

Advantage 1

Advantage 2

2b4 marks

Explain two disadvantages to a law company of storing their data in the Cloud.

Disadvantage 1

Disadvantage 2

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33 marks

Hope has a network in her house. The main devices are shown in the diagram.

State whether Hope’s network is a LAN or a WAN.

Q2_Paper 1_Nov 2020_OCR GCSE Computer Science

Justify your choice.

LAN or WAN

Justification

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43 marks

Hope has a network in her house. The main devices are shown in the diagram.

Q2_Paper 1_Nov 2020_OCR GCSE Computer Science

Explain why Hope’s network uses a peer-to-peer model and not a client-server model.

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52 marks

Describe the role of the switch in an office network.

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6a2 marks

The office introduces a WAP (Wireless Access Point) to allow network access to wireless devices.

The office manager has noticed that the performance of the network has recently decreased.

Describe how introducing wireless access could have slowed down the network.

6b2 marks

Identify two other factors that can affect the performance of a network.

1

2

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73 marks

A house has computers in each room and a central router.

Every room allows both Ethernet and WiFi connections to the router.

Identify if the house network is a LAN (local area network) or a WAN (wide area network).

Justify your choice.

Network type

Justification

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8a2 marks

Describe the purpose of the router in a home network.

8b2 marks

Identify two additional items of network hardware, apart from cables and a router, that may be used within the house network.

1

2

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13 marks

A network has several routers.

Identify three tasks carried out by a router.

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22 marks

Give two reasons why a bakery may use a star network topology for their LAN.

Reason 1

Reason 2

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34 marks

Site B has a higher network performance than site A.

Explain how each of the following can contribute to the performance of a network.

Wifi frequency

Interference

Number of concurrent users

Type of network traffic

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46 marks

Hope’s files are stored on the cloud.

Describe the benefits and drawbacks to Hope of storing her files on the cloud.

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53 marks

Computer 1 enters the URL www.ocr.org.uk into a web browser. This is then converted into the IP address of the webserver that hosts the website.

Explain how the URL www.ocr.org.uk is converted into the IP address

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65 marks

The IP address 192.149.119.226 is linked to the website with a URL of https://www.ocr.org.uk

When https://www.ocr.org.uk is entered into a browser, the website homepage is loaded.

Describe the relationship between the website URL (https://www.ocr.org.uk), the IP address and the webserver.

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