Nova Southeastern University MSIT 650 Final Exam Solution, Winter 2019

This document presents a comprehensive solution to the MSIT 650 Platform and Network Tech final exam at Nova Southeastern University. The assignment covers several key concepts, including the differences between cloud computing and client-server models, exploring their resource usage, application types, and security features. It delves into journaling file systems, discussing their advantages, disadvantages, size limitations, and impact on operating system housekeeping, along with relevant security features. The solution differentiates between MBR and Master File Table, BIOS and Hardware Abstraction Layer, and virtual desktop, virtual machines and virtual servers. It also examines DSL technologies, comparing ADSL and VDSL, along with a comparison of DSL and T1 lines. The solution further explores the components of CORBA's RMI framework and differentiates between web services and web applications. It defines pervasive computing and its applications, particularly in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT). The assignment also addresses the differences between page files and swap files, and provides a comparative analysis of Linux, Mac, and Windows operating systems. Finally, it examines the advantages of cloud computing over server hardware within a company's intranet.

Running head: MSIT 650 PLATFORM AND NETWORK TECH
MSIT 650 Platform and Network Tech
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1MSIT 650 PLATFORM AND NETWORK TECH
Answer 1
In case of the client–server model this can be thought as the distributed application
structure which divides workloads between different providers of a service/resource. The
examples of the client server applications include web based email servers. On the other
hand, in case of the cloud computing it defines the way in which applications are to be
hosted. In this architecture anything that may be applications, services or the resources are
made available to end users according to their demand through the help of the internet,
opposed to the direct connection to server (as required in Client server architecture).
Answer 2
Advantages of Journaling file system
Journaling file systems creates as well as allocates inodes according to the
requirement instead of pre-allocating some specific inodes whenever file system is generated.
In this way, it removes the overhead of managing the lists of inodes which yet to be allocated
as well as management of the file system metadata.
Answer 3
MBR is responsible for storing information about the available partitions on a disk, locations
of the partitions, size, and other related information.
Master file table acts as a database that contains information about all the file, directories on
the NTFS volume. This tables consist of at least a single entry for all the file /directory on the
mounted logical volume.
BIOS is small sized program preinstalled in the non-volatile ROM. The preinstalled generic
code segment is required for the accessibility to display, keyboard, available disk drives as

2MSIT 650 PLATFORM AND NETWORK TECH
well as other functionalities. The BIOS sets up hardware in order load up operating system.
Availability of the BIOS on the volatile memory helps in ensuring that there are minimal
chances of the accidental disk failure.
The Hardware abstraction layer is helpful in allowing the operating system in order to
interact with hardware components the at some abstract level to complete different operations
instead of detailed hardware level. This somehow works similar to the BIOS in order to
manage the proper functioning of the different components.
Answer 4
Virtual desktop
The virtual desktop can be considered as a computing resources that can be accessed
by the users over the internet.
Virtual machine
The virtual machines are applications that are installed over a guest operating system
that using an application that resembles to the deployment of the operating system as
dedicated hardware deployment.
Virtual server
The virtual servers are mainly used for the hosing services and are scalable according
to the user’s requirement come with dedicated processor cores as well as memory allocations.
The virtual server has the largest domain.
Answer 5
The most common type of DSL is the ADSL or the Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line. Compared to different type of DSL, the VDSL is the fastest one. VDSL provides

3MSIT 650 PLATFORM AND NETWORK TECH
downstream speed up to 52 Mbps and upstream rates up to 2 Mbps. In case of the DSL
connections the total speed is shared among the users thus with an oversubscribed DSL
connection provides a slower speed to all the users on the other hand for T1 line, it provides a
dedicated channel to a connection as well as user which is not shared. Thus it can be said that,
speed of T1 is better than DSL connections.
Answer 6
The main components of the CORBA’s language-independent RMI framework are listed
below; ORB - Object Request Broker, IDL (Interface Data Language), DII (Dynamic
Invocation Interface), IR (Interface Repository), OA (Object Adapters). The ORB is
responsible for the communication among the different objects. The IDL is responsible for
the separation of the ORB from the servers/clients. The DII or the Dynamic Invocation
Interface helps the users to use the objects. The IR or the interface repository contains the
DII. OA is responsible for making an intermediate layer among the ORB and CORBA Layer.
Answer 7
According to the standard definition of the web service, these are the system of software
applications which allows different applications or computing devices so that these
applications can interact with one another usually through the internet network. On the other
hand, the web applications are software applications that are accessed by the users through
the internet network. The web services are used through the methods like GET, POST, PUT
and DELETE where as in case of the web applications the users interact with the GUI
through user controls. Example of web service is Google maps API and the example of a
website is facebook.com.

4MSIT 650 PLATFORM AND NETWORK TECH
Answer 8
The pervasive computing can be defined as the computation ability of the objects
with the embedded microprocessors. The devices with the embedded microprocessors are
connected through the wired/wireless links to one another. These devices are also connected
to the global networking infrastructure in order to provide integrated services and relevant
information. As the existing methodologies in order to building distributed applications such
as client/server architecture are not suitable to meet the criteria’s as well as challenges.
The main domain of the use of the pervasive computing is the IoT or the internet of
things. Through the use of the pervasive computing, the devices can personalize the services
for the user.
Answer 9
Even though the page and swap files are used for the same reason which is freeing up the
overcommitted system memory but there are certain differences in them and their
functionality. The Page file holds the processes or objects that have not been retrieved or
accessed for some longer time period. On the other hand, swap holds items that were recently
taken out of memory. The processes/ objects in the paging file were not accessed for a long
time compared to the time objects are not accessed in swap file.
In case of the paging file, there are different requirements according to the processes or
operating system along with the dynamic growth of space as well as read/write policies.
Answer 10
The Linux is the best operating system among the Linux, Mac or windows OS. Windows is
popular for wide range of hardware support, numerous software applications available for it.

5MSIT 650 PLATFORM AND NETWORK TECH
On the other hand, this OS is also well known for some of the greatest computing headaches
such as vulnerability to the spyware, malware, viruses. In addition to that, gradual
performance decay as well as BSOD is also other issues users face.
In case of Mac OS, this OS is only compatible with the hardware developed by Apple
restricting the extended user base compared to the windows.
At the end, Linux is open sources compared to both the closed sourced above mentioned
operating systems. Due to this, for any Linux distribution the users can find out the bugs,
security loop holes, or any issues in different segments of the source code. The users can
easily either fix it by the users or post their findings to some expert who can fix the issue. In
addition to that, Linux also provides wide range of hardware support, along with the free
programs, like GNOME, KDE, Compiz etc. Most of the application programs that work on
the Windows/Mac OS are most likely to be supported in Linux,
Answer 11
When compared to the Server Hardware enclosed in a company’s Intranet, it can be said that,
the connectivity to the data as well as other resources can be lost in case Internet connectivity
goes down. Again, in case of the data recovery issue, the cost related to that can easily
outweigh the benefits available from cloud computing. For any unfortunate case, if full data
recovery the cloud computing is proven to be very time consuming.