IT/242 Week 1,, Week 5, and Week 7 Discussion Questions Week1 Dq1- What is a WAN?

Locate an example of a typical WAN setup and describe the components. Provide a picture, chart, or image if possible. Respond to your classmates and discuss how your examples differ. Dq2- What is the most commonly used cable in networking? What are the latest advancements in cabling? Week3 Dq1- Conduct an Internet search to locate an example of a private network and a public network. How is each network used? What are the pros and cons of each? Dq2- You are a consultant who has been hired to design a WAN for a startup business. How would you explain subnetting in a way your nontechnical client would understand? Week 5 Dq1- Identify the functions of a CSU and DSU. How are they used in a corporate environment? Dq2- ISDNs are sometimes used in locations that do not support DSL or cable modem connections. Your choices may be analog modems or an ISDN connection in those remote locations. Describe three benefits ISDNs have over regular dial-up modem connections. Week 7 Dq1- What are some of the greatest security risks to a WAN? Provide an example of one risk and discuss the potential consequences and possible precautions. Dq2- What is a key? What are the differences between private key and public key encryption? Provide examples of each.

Short for Wide Area Network, WAN is a collection of computers and network resources connected via a network over a geographic area. Wide-Area Networks are commonly connected either through the Internet or special arrangements made with phone companies or other service providers. A WAN is different from a MAN because of the distance between each of the networks. In a WAN, one network may be anywhere from several hundred miles away, to across the globe in a different country.
Week 1 Dq 1 answer-

For home routers the port the router connects to your Internet connection is often labeled as a WAN, Network or Internet port, since it is what allows your home network to communicate with the Internet network. I tried to provide a picture of the Internet port on the back of a home router, next to four standard Ethernet ports
Week1dq2answer- There are several different types of cables used in

networking, each is designed with a different purpose in mind. They were each state of the art when first developed but some have been used less as technology has moved forward. Coaxial cables are standard for 10mbps Ethernet, and networks use either a thinnet (10BASE2)or a thicknet (10BASE5) type. These were stiff and difficult to work with at times. Twisted pair cables were the leading standard for Ethernet in the 1990s. They contain 8 wires twisted together in pairs to cut down on electrometric interference. The two primary types are Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and Shielded Twisted Pair (STP), most people use UTP because it is lower in price. Fiber Optics network cables use strands of glass and pulses of light. They are useful in wide area networks (WANs) installations of underground or outdoor cable and in buildings where communication traffic is high volume. The two primary types of fiber optic cables are single-mode and multi-mode. Single-mode are known for higher bandwidth capacity but multi-mode are cheaper. USB cables connect the computer with outside devices like a keyboard or mouse, but special adapters can allow an Ethernet cable to connect to a USB port. USB cables have twisted-pair wiring Serial and Parallel cables used to connect one computer to another for the purpose of networking or transferring data from one to another because in the 1980s and early 1990s some computers lacked Ethernet capability and USB did not exist.

Crossover cables join two of the same type of networking devices together and used to be common when connecting two computer directly together. Cat5e is the most common used cable today. It is referred to as the LAN line and is used by industries. Some of the newer ones include metal shielding and crossover functions. References: Introduction to Network Cables, B. Mitchell, 2013, retrieved from About.com.
Week 3 Dq1answer- A private network is basically used only within a business

network that's only used by one or more users with an organization and in some cases a private network doesn't have a Internet connection. A private network in most cases can't be seen over the internet. A public network is a network anyone can connect to. A public network is similar to a wifi connection and anyone that's within the area of that location and if not password protected any one can use the connection freely it's an open network insecure connection. There are advantages and disadvantages when using these connections. The bad part about using an insecure network that's in secure and open to the public, its an insecure network which can cause a user also to be more prone to malware, virus attacks and hackers, and even if password protected or not there still can be computer threats still present. A private network is much safer than a public because the identity of the network can be hidden in such away where no hackers can identify the network because it is hidden nd using a Internet router can also keep the network from being a selected target over the Internet. A private network is very secure unlike a public network.
Dq2answer- Most of the people that I know are not very technical savvy,

so explaining subnetting could be a difficult process. If I were to explain to them what subnetting was, I would first want them to know what the definition of a subnet mask is. It is the IP address that belongs to a particular network. It could be looked at as different folders in a file cabinet. They are all part of the same cabinet, yet each folder has its own information within that cabinet. When the network reads this subnet mask, it can figure out what portion of the IP address that contains the network ID, and which one is the host ID. The network ID is what has been assigned to the particular subnet mask and the host ID is the

computer that the subnet mask belongs to. The administrator of the computer can separate the host ID into two or more subnets, and the subnet mask is the tool that accomplishes this. Just like the folders, if the owner of the file cabinet decides that there is too much information in one folder, and it can be separated into a few different folders, each with its own separate information.
Week 5 Dq1Answer- A channel service unit/data service unit, also known as CSU/DSU is a hardware comparable in size an external modem that can alter a digital data frame from the communications technology used in LAN into a WAN. How a CSU operates is that it gathers and sends out signals to and from the WAN line and does not allow electrical interference from either side of the unit. In addition, it can also repeat loopback signals from the telephone company as a test. On the contrary, DSU is responsible for managing how the line will function, the timing errors or signal renewal. It acts as a modem that interfaces between the computer and the data terminal equipment and CSU. Similar to a modem both units act as a modem, but tend to be faster and come with more power. In a corporate environment, CSU/DSUs can provide a service in the event that the network fails, which will immediately switch over to an ISDN which is an analog modem or any other standby link that is available when the connection fails. This is eliminates the slow process of the router computing the problem and giving periodic updates. Dq2Answer- ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN

is intended to allow digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires, which create better voice quality over analog. IDSN is capable of delivering voice, video, and data over several simultaneous connections. ISDN is mainly used by the broadcasting industry due to it being a reliable way of switching low latency, high quality, and long distance audio circuits. There are two main points of view when looking into ISDN. The first point that is of the end user, who wants to get a digital connection into the telephone/data network from home. The performance would also be better than an analog modem connection. The second point is that of the telephone industry where ISDN is a core technology. The telephone network can be looked at as a collection of wires between system switches. One of the main differences is speed where ISDN can offer data rates over 1 Mbit/s. Very good speeds compared to dial up which can only have about

56Kbit/s. Another difference to look at is reliability of the connection. Because the ISDN traffic is digital that also means that it is more dependable and reliable. One can also use ISDN line for data while using the telephone, which is a big factor over dial up.
Week 7 Dq1answer- There is quite a few security risks that can exist within a

WAN. A good example would be unauthorized access of an out side user such as hackers and Identity thieves, and this would be one of the greatest risks of a WAN because of all the personal details that consists within the data bases of a company. If the information some how was leaked out within the data bases through the WAN network and was accessed and got into the wrong hands it could cause a lot of problems and legal issues.The use of the information could be used by the unauthorized user for financial gain and this could be devastating to a business. If someone's personal information was leaked out over the internet, it could create a public safety issues and also a personal identity issues. If a client has personal information leaked out from them and financial loss has occured, that jeopardized the clients creditability. The client would have the right to file a law suit towards the company, if the loss wasn't repairable and was great. Security within the WAN is a huge threat and say for instance if. The data base of information had over one million clients and twenty thousand of those clients information was stolen from an unauthorized user from out side the network. This could be catastrophic to a company.One of the greatest security risks within a WAN is unauthorized user access. Viruses such as trojans and also malwares can be a large threat within a WAN network. Viruses and Malware can weaken the security within a WAN Network. Dq2answer- A key is a string or integer that "unlocks" an encryption. A private key
is a string that is assigned per user, so that only that user may know what it is. A public key is used by everyone that uses a public computer. There are applications that may prompt the user for a password before granting access, this is also something that exists on some websites as well. Only authorized users can gain access to the information on the site if it prompts for a password, this is so that unauthorized users can not use the program or access data. Encryption can be added to state "string to be encrypted", "password"; this would be considered a private key. This is used to help protect the data stored within the program or website so it remains inaccessible, even if the application or website had been hacked into. One example of public key encryption would be if you are trying out trial software

and it creates a generated serial number or unlocks the key string. The generated serial number would be the same key that you would receive to use for the same set of applications, for instance if you were checking out a trail version of Adobe Photoshop .