Factors that affect network design

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A school has a small budget for a new computer lab network. Which design choice is driven by cost?

A Choosing the most expensive equipment so the network is as fast as possible

B Choosing cheaper Ethernet cable and an unmanaged switch instead of fibre and high-end gear

2. A company expects to grow from 20 to 200 staff over the next three years. Which factor should the designer focus on?

A Latency, because more staff always means slower ping times

B Scalability, so more devices can be added without rebuilding the network

3. A workshop floor has heavy machinery that produces a lot of electrical interference. Which cabling is the better design choice?

A Fibre optic cable, because it is not affected by electrical interference

B Unshielded copper cable, because it is cheaper and interference does not matter

4. A design team is planning for 100 students who will all stream HD video at once. Which factor matters most here?

A The bandwidth needs of the application, which decide the network capacity required

B The colour of the cables, because it affects video quality

5. Which statement about the number of users and devices is correct?

A More users and devices need more ports, more capacity and often more access points

B The number of users has no effect on which devices a network needs

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1budget = 5000		Aif app == "video": bandwidth = "high"
2users = 250		BSets a cost limit that restricts which devices and cables can be chosen
3Applications such as video streaming need high bandwidth, so the design must provide enough capacity		COnly cost is considered. The design ignores user needs, performance and reliability, so the network may be too slow or fail often.
4The physical environment can rule out some options, so a long distance between buildings suggests fibre cable		Dif distance > 100: cable = "fibre"
5design = cheapest_option # ignore users		ERecords how many people and devices the network must support
6plan = buy_equipment # no support, no growth		FMaintenance, support and scalability are ignored, so the network is hard to repair and cannot grow with more users.

Definitions

network design factors

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

IF totalCost _ budget THEN chooseCheaperCable() END IF

IF users > 100 THEN _________() END IF

IF distance > 100 THEN _____ ← "fibre" END IF

IF app _ "video" THEN bandwidthNeed ← "high" END IF

IF sparePorts < 2 THEN ___________() END IF

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A budget == 8000

B cost = 9500

C if cost > budget:

D print("Over budget")

Question 2

A users = 250

B if users > 200

C plan = "add switch"

D else:

E plan = "one switch"

Question 3

A def cost(cable_m, rate)

B return cable_m * rate

C print(cost(50, 2.5))

Question 4

A video_mbps = 25

B users = 10

C total = video_mbps + users

D print(total)

Question 5

A needs_security = True

B wifi = "open"

C if needs_security:

D wifi = "open, no password"

E print(wifi)

Answer Key

Factors that affect network design

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Choosing cheaper Ethernet cable and an unmanaged switch instead of fibre and high-end gear

B — Scalability, so more devices can be added without rebuilding the network

A — Fibre optic cable, because it is not affected by electrical interference

A — The bandwidth needs of the application, which decide the network capacity required

A — More users and devices need more ports, more capacity and often more access points

Section B: Match the Pairs

budget = 5000 → Sets a cost limit that restricts which devices and cables can be chosen

users = 250 → Records how many people and devices the network must support

Applications such as video streaming need high bandwidth, so the design must provide enough capacity → if app == "video": bandwidth = "high"

The physical environment can rule out some options, so a long distance between buildings suggests fibre cable → if distance > 100: cable = "fibre"

design = cheapest_option # ignore users → Only cost is considered. The design ignores user needs, performance and reliability, so the network may be too slow or fail often.

plan = buy_equipment # no support, no growth → Maintenance, support and scalability are ignored, so the network is hard to repair and cannot grow with more users.

Section C: Definitions

network design factors — The needs and limits, such as cost, performance, reliability, security, scalability and user needs, that decide which devices, cables and layout a network should use.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

IF totalCost > budget THEN
  chooseCheaperCable()
END IF

IF users > 100 THEN
  addSwitch()
END IF

IF distance > 100 THEN
  cable ← "fibre"
END IF

IF app = "video" THEN
  bandwidthNeed ← "high"
END IF

IF sparePorts < 2 THEN
  planUpgrade()
END IF

Section E: Spot the Error

A — The cost and budget limit must be stored with = (assignment). == compares values, so budget is never created and the program fails. It should be budget = 8000.

B — The if statement that adjusts the design for the number of users is missing its colon. It should be if users > 200:.

A — A function header that calculates cabling cost must end with a colon. It should be def cost(cable_m, rate):.

C — The bandwidth needed is the speed per user multiplied by the number of users, not added. It should be total = video_mbps * users.

D — When security is a design factor, the Wi-Fi must be protected with encryption and a password. Setting it to open again ignores the security need. It should be wifi = "WPA3 password".