1.2 Networking Devices

Question 1

What is the primary function of a router?

Answer 1

To route traffic between different IP subnets using Layer 3 IP addressing.

Question 2

At which OSI layer does a router operate?

Answer 2

Layer 3 – Network Layer.

Question 3

What is a Layer 3 switch?

Answer 3

A switch that includes routing capabilities, combining Layer 2 switching and Layer 3 routing in one device.

Question 4

What OSI layer do standard switches operate at?

Answer 4

Layer 2 – Data Link Layer.

Question 5

What hardware enables high-speed decision making inside enterprise switches?

Answer 5

ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit).

Question 6

What feature allows switches to deliver power over the Ethernet cable?

Answer 6

Power over Ethernet (PoE).

Question 7

What does a traditional firewall filter traffic based on?

Answer 7

TCP/UDP port numbers.

Question 8

What advanced capability does a Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) provide?

Answer 8

Application-layer inspection and control (e.g., blocking specific apps).

Question 9

What are common additional features of modern firewalls?

Answer 9

VPN support, NAT, routing, and dynamic routing protocol support.

Question 10

What does IDS stand for, and what does it do?

Answer 10

Intrusion Detection System – detects and alerts on known attacks.

Question 11

What does IPS stand for, and what does it do?

Answer 11

Intrusion Prevention System – detects and blocks known attacks.

Question 12

What types of attacks are IDS/IPS designed to detect?

Answer 12

Known vulnerabilities like buffer overflows, cross-site scripting, etc.

Question 13

What is the primary purpose of a load balancer?

Answer 13

To distribute network or application traffic across multiple servers.

Question 14

What happens when a server behind a load balancer fails?

Answer 14

The load balancer removes it from the pool and continues with available servers.

Question 15

What are common load balancing optimizations?

Answer 15

TCP offloading, SSL offloading, caching, and QoS prioritization.

Question 16

What is application-centric load balancing?

Answer 16

Directing specific application requests (like certain URLs) to specific servers.

Question 17

What is the primary role of a proxy server?

Answer 17

To act as an intermediary between a client and external server.

Question 18

What are benefits of using a proxy server?

Answer 18

Caching, content filtering, access control, malware scanning.

Question 19

What is the difference between an explicit and transparent proxy?

Answer 19

Explicit proxies require configuration; transparent proxies work automatically.

Question 20

What does NAS stand for, and how does it operate?

Answer 20

Network-Attached Storage – connect to a shared storage device across a network; provides file-level access.

Question 21

What does SAN stand for, and how does it operate?

Answer 21

Storage Area Network - a dedicated network that provides block-level access to storage, allowing servers to read and write to storage devices as if they were local drives—ideal for high-performance, large-scale data operations

Question 22

Why might a SAN be preferred for large files?

Answer 22

It allows modification of only changed blocks, increasing efficiency.

Question 23

What is the role of a wireless access point?

Answer 23

To connect wireless devices to the wired Ethernet network.

Question 24

What OSI layer does a WAP operate at?

Answer 24

Layer 2 – Data Link Layer.

Question 25

In an enterprise, why are standalone WAPs used instead of wireless routers?

Answer 25

For dedicated wireless service and centralized management.

Question 26

What is a Wireless LAN Controller (WLC)?

Answer 26

A centralized device used to manage multiple wireless access points.

Question 27

What are key functions of a WLC?

Answer 27

Config deployment, performance monitoring, roaming management, reporting.

Question 28

Are WLCs typically vendor-specific?

Answer 28

Yes, they are often proprietary and matched to the AP vendor.

Question 29

What is TCP offloading and why is it used in network appliances?

Answer 29

TCP offloading shifts TCP processing tasks (e.g., checksum calculation, segmentation, session handling) from the CPU to specialized hardware like a NIC or load balancer, improving performance and reducing CPU load.

Question 30

What is SSL offloading and why is it used?

Answer 30

SSL offloading moves the task of encrypting and decrypting SSL/TLS traffic from web servers to a dedicated device (like a load balancer), reducing CPU load on the servers and improving overall performance.

Question 31

What is file-level access and which storage type uses it?

Answer 31

File-level access allows users to open, modify, and save entire files over the network; it is used by Network-Attached Storage (NAS) systems. If users want to access information in the file, they need to pull the entire file across the network. If you change information in a file, you will need to write the entire file back to the NAS (AKA big bandwidth)