2009 Sample Examination (P-2)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
ESSAYS: A. You have been assigned to plan the setup of an IT infrastructure for a new UN peacekeeping mission. The mission will be physically located in a war-torn country, whose infrastructure has been ruined due to years of conflict. The mission HQ (Headquarters) will be located in the capital of the country. In addition, there are 2 (two) field locations positioned near the border of the country, where conflict is rife and the situation is not stable. This infrastructure will be available to all UN staff members (230 people) deployed to the mission (capital and field). Users will be able to use local and remote servers, their PCs/laptops and access the internet, intranet, e-mail services, network printers and access to word processing and spreadsheet software in a secure and stable fashion. There is no local infrastructure (electricity, communications, hardware, etc.) to support this project and all equipment and services will be flown in from a UN logistics base situated in a secure and safe location. Field personnel will be able to remotely access servers in the mission HQ and in the remote UN logistics base. The following details are provided: - The mission HQ building is a four-story building that will support the office work of 150 (one hundred and fifty) staff members. It has a large basement to support servers and network devices and a leveled backyard to support generators and satellite communications. - The 2 (two) field offices are remote from the mission HQ in the capital and situated in 4 (four) tents (2 tents for each field office). The conditions of the field offices are difficult, and there is a limited amount of space to support the work of the 40 (forty) staff members in each of the field offices. Each staff member in the field will require similar services to the ones offered in the mission HQ. - The UN logistics base will provide you with all the necessary equipment and satellite communications to support the IT infrastructure in the new UN peacekeeping mission. a.) Describe the IT infrastructure you are proposing for the new UN peacekeeping mission; list the necessary equipment and quantities for the mission HQ and the 2 (two) field offices; what communication services will you require from the remote UN logistics base? b.) Draw a diagram of your proposed IT infrastructure to support the new UN peacekeeping mission. c.) What measures should be taken to ensure the security of your proposed IT infrastructure?

2009 Sample Examination (P-2)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
B. 1. Develop the data model of an information system that will support an IT conference. The data model (ERD) should accurately represent the concepts described below and should include the information requested in the SQL queries listed below. Primary keys should be clearly identified. The conference includes a number of workshops. Each workshop is presented by one or more speakers, one of them being referenced as the lead speaker. Some workshops are repeated during the conference. Each workshop will be attended by a number of conference attendees. Speakers are conference attendees and may therefore attend workshops as well. Attendees (and speakers) are requested to register to each and every workshop they plan to attend. The conference workshops are spread over a number of locations or rooms, each room having a limited seating capacity. Each conference workshop is scheduled at a particular date and time. 2. Write SQL queries to answer the following requests: a) Mr. John Smith has registered for a number of workshops. List them in their chronological order. Include workshop titles and short descriptions, together with their location and start date & time. b) For each of the workshops that compose the Innovations of the 21st Century track, list the workshop identification number, the number of attendees that have registered to it and the capacity of the room that has been allocated to it. Order the information based on the number of attendees (highest to lowest). c) List the last name, first name and cell phone number of the conference attendees who are serving as lead speakers in workshops that are presented by three or more speakers. d) Calculate how many lead speakers did not register to attend any workshop. 3. Essential activities during database design include database normalisation and denormalisation. a) Explain the reasons behind database normalisation and describe the main normal forms. b) Looking at the data model you have produced, identify the entities that would be good candidates for denormalisation; explain why.

C. Define and explain the 6 (six) stages of Software Development Life Cycle for a mid-size application. What are the activities undertaken and outputs of each phase? Which stage is the most critical in the Software Development Process?

2009 Sample Examination (P-2)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
QUESTIONS: 1. Briefly describe the concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and the benefits of this approach.

2. What are the access modifiers that control the visibility (scope) of an objectoriented class and the members of a class?

3.

What is the definition of a stored procedure? Describe 4 of its benefits.

4. What is the difference between METHOD=POST and METHOD=GET when submitting a form to the Web server? What considerations should be taken when choosing POST over GET?

5. Write an algorithm to sort the elements of an array. Assume the array is composed on N integer elements. Describe your method and deliver your algorithm using either a traditional programming language or pseudo-code.

6. Describe the RAID technology used in data storage. Describe the key design goals of this technology and the key concepts behind it.

7. What is a multi-threaded application? How does it differ from a regular multi-process application? Provide a brief example for a multi-threaded application.

8. What is AJAX? Briefly describe the main advantages and the main disadvantages.