ICND1 questions

p1xels

Hi
I got this questions from cisco website-
A)What are two major benefits of adding a bridge to a network? (Choose two)

1)isolating potential network problems to specific segments

2)increasing the speed of a network

3) extending a LAN to cover greater distances by joining multiple segments

4) creating fewer collision domains

5) forwarding data frames between LAN segments

The correct answers are marked as 1 & 3 but isn't the 2nd option also correct?

Nimal-sl

as far as I know bridges are hardly used anymore. switches have replaced them.

the function as i remember is like a two port switch. they way you thought was right in a way, that the bridge maybe re-generating the signal like a repeater but that does not really speed anything up.

the longer the LAN segment becomes due to bridges, repeaters, switches or hubs, the longer the delay is. so as you can understand they may expand the LAN segment but doesn't really speed anything up. that's what i have understood about it.

p1xels

Hi Nimal-sl,
Bridges are still required to be studied because the term BPDU itself came from concept of bridges! Further to understand the evolution of switches maybe it is necessary.
Anyways thanks for clearing up my doubt.

PCSPreston

We only use Hubs if we need to extend a network for our customers. They are not increasing speed at all by any means. If you can use a Switch use them please they can help in the flow of our network.

theodoxa

1)isolating potential network problems to specific segments -- If they mean using a bridge to segment a Bus Topology (used decades ago)...yes. But, for a Star Topology (used nowadays), the failure of one node doesn't take down the network, unless it starts generating garbage traffic.

2)increasing the speed of a network -- Devices on a single bus or hub share the bandwidth. Adding a bridge would double the effective bandwidth in a sense, because it would halve the number of users sharing the bandwidth.

3) extending a LAN to cover greater distances by joining multiple segments -- Though, not its primary purpose (which is #4) a Bridge will serve this function.

4) creating fewer collision domains -- This is the Big One. Bridges and Switches break up collision domains. This is very important. A collision domain that gets too large will slow to a crawl.