'Swabhaav' is a big NGO working in the field of Psychological Treatment and Counselling, having its Head Offic

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Q.'Swabhaav' is a big NGO working in the field of Psychological Treatment and Counselling, having its Head Office in Nagpur. It is planning to set up a center in Vijayawada. The Vijayawada Center will have four blocks - ADMIN, PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY, and ICU. You, as a Network Expert, need to suggest the best network-related solutions for them to resolve the issues/problems mentioned in questions

(i) to (v), keeping the following parameters in mind : Block to Block distances (in metres) : From To Distance ADMIN PSYCHIATRY 65 m ADMIN PSYCHOLOGY 65 m ADMIN ICU 65 m PSYCHIATRY PSYCHOLOGY 100 m PSYCHIATRY ICU 50 m PSYCHOLOGY ICU 50 m Distance of Nagpur Head Office from Vijayawada Center = 700 km Number of Computers in each block is as follows : Block No. of Computers ADMIN 16 PSYCHIATRY 40 PSYCHOLOGY 19 ICU 20

(i) Suggest the most appropriate location of the server inside the Vijayawada Center. Justify your choice.

(ii) Which hardware device will you suggest to connect all the computers within each block of Vijayawada Center ?

(iii) Draw a cable layout to efficiently connect various blocks within the Vijayawada Center.

(iv) Where should the router be placed to provide internet to all the computers in the Vijayawada Center?

(v)

(a) The Manager at Nagpur wants to remotely access the computer in Admin block in Vijayawada. Which protocol will be used for this ?

(OR)

(b) Which type of Network (PAN, LAN, MAN or WAN) will be set up among the computers connected with Vijayawada Center ?

Punjab PsebCBSE Class XII Board 2025Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★

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Part (a)Concept understanding — Network Fundamentals

Network Fundamentals

Think about how you send a message to a friend. You need a way to reach them — a phone call, a text, an email, a letter. Now imagine doing that not just with one friend, but with millions of people across the world, instantly. That is what a computer network does: it connects devices so they can share information and resources.

At its simplest, a network is two or more computers linked together. The link can be a physical wire, like the cable that connects your home router to the wall, or it can be wireless, like the Wi-Fi signals that travel through the air. The purpose is always the same — communication.

What Makes a Network Work

Every network has three essential ingredients. First, there are the devices themselves — computers, smartphones, printers, servers. Second, there is the transmission medium — the physical path the data travels on, such as copper wire, fibre optic cable, or radio waves. Third, there are the rules — called protocols — that govern how data is sent, received, and understood.

Without protocols, devices would speak different languages. The most important protocol family is TCP/IP, which is the foundation of the internet. It ensures that a message sent from a laptop in Mumbai can be correctly read by a server in New York, even though the two machines are completely different.

Important

A network is not just about hardware. It is a system of shared rules and shared resources. The value of a network grows as more devices join it — this is called the network effect.

Types of Networks by Size

Networks are classified by how far they stretch. A LAN (Local Area Network) covers a small area — one office, one building, one home. Your home Wi-Fi network is a LAN. A WAN (Wide Area Network) covers a large geographical area, often connecting multiple LANs across cities or countries. The internet itself is the largest WAN in existence.

Between these two extremes, you have MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), which covers a city, and PAN (Personal Area Network), which connects devices around a single person — your phone connected to your wireless earphones is a PAN.

How Devices Are Arranged: Network Topologies

The physical layout of a network matters. In a star topology, all devices connect to a central hub or switch. If one cable fails, only that device is affected, but if the central hub fails, the entire network goes down. This is the most common setup in homes and offices.

In a bus topology, all devices share a single cable. It is cheap but fragile — a break in the main cable brings everything to a halt. In a ring topology, each device connects to two others, forming a closed loop. Data travels in one direction, so a single break can disrupt the whole ring unless there is a backup path.

A mesh topology connects every device to every other device. It is extremely reliable — if one path fails, data can take another — but it is expensive and complex to wire. The internet uses a partial mesh: critical servers are multiply connected, but your home computer is not.

Note

In practice, most real-world networks are hybrids. A company might use a star layout inside each department and connect those stars in a ring across the building. …

Part (b)Concept understanding — Network Fundamentals

Network Fundamentals

What Makes a Network Work

Important

A network is not just about hardware. It is a system of shared rules and shared resources. The value of a network grows as more devices join it — this is called the network effect.

Types of Networks by Size

How Devices Are Arranged: Network Topologies

Note

In practice, most real-world networks are hybrids. A company might use a star layout inside each department and connect those stars in a ring across the building. …

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Part (a)

Server location — Place the server in the PSYCHIATRY block. Rule of thumb: put the server in the block with the maximum number of computers, because that block generates the heaviest network traffic. PSYCHIATRY has 40 computers (ADMIN 16, PSYCHOLOGY 19, ICU 20), the most of the four, so keeping the server there minimises overall cable length and traffic to the busiest block.
Device within a block — A switch connects all the computers inside a single block. (A hub also works but a switch is preferred as it forwards data only to the intended port.)
Cable layout — Use a star topology with the server block (PSYCHIATRY) as the central hub; each block is joined to it through the shortest available cable:

        ADMIN(65m)
           |
ICU(50m)--PSYCHIATRY(server)--PSYCHOLOGY(100m)

(PSYCHIATRY-ICU 50 m, PSYCHIATRY-ADMIN 65 m, PSYCHIATRY-PSYCHOLOGY 100 m.)

(iv) Router — Place the router in the PSYCHIATRY block, next to the server, so the incoming internet line reaches the server first and is then distributed to every block through the switches. …

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Part (a): Server + router go in PSYCHIATRY (40 computers, the most); each block uses a switch; a star layout is centred on PSYCHIATRY; remote access from Nagpur uses RDP.

Part (b): The internal network of the Vijayawada Center is a LAN.

Part (a)

The Vijayawada Center has four blocks with 16 (ADMIN), 40 (PSYCHIATRY), 19 (PSYCHOLOGY) and 20 (ICU) computers, connected over short (50-100 m) distances; the Nagpur head office is 700 km away.

Where should the server go? The standard networking rule is to place the server in the block that has the largest number of computers, because that is where most requests originate — a short path to the busiest block reduces congestion and total cabling. Here PSYCHIATRY has 40 computers, far more than any other block, so the server is placed in PSYCHIATRY.
Device to connect computers inside a block. Within one block every computer plugs into a switch, which creates the block's LAN and forwards each frame only to the destination port (unlike a hub, which broadcasts to all ports and wastes bandwidth).
Cable layout. The most efficient and fault-tolerant layout is a star topology with the server block (PSYCHIATRY) as the hub. From PSYCHIATRY run one cable each to ICU (50 m), ADMIN (65 m) and PSYCHOLOGY (100 m). If any single cable fails, only that block loses connectivity — the rest of the network keeps working.
Router placement. The router is placed in PSYCHIATRY, beside the server. The internet/leased line terminates here and the router feeds the server; the server then distributes connectivity to all blocks through their switches, avoiding an extra long cable run. (v)(a) Remote-access protocol. …

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Part (a)

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