A large insurance firm wants to design a network for 150 remote stores and branch offices. What are three basic design approaches for the wide area network? (Choose three.)

Question

Options

• Afully meshed
• Bpeer-to-peer
• Cring
• Dpartially meshed
• Ehub-and-spoke

• A
  91% (60)
• B
  6% (4)
• C
  3% (2)

Explanation

For wide area networks (WANs) connecting many geographically dispersed sites like 150 branch offices, the three standard design topologies are fully meshed (A), partially meshed (D), and hub-and-spoke (E). A fully meshed WAN connects every site directly to every other site, maximizing redundancy but at high cost. Hub-and-spoke (also called star topology) connects all branches back to a central hub, making it cost-effective but creating a single point of failure. Partially meshed is the practical middle ground - critical sites get direct links while less important branches route through hubs.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B (peer-to-peer) is a network relationship model (how resources are shared between nodes), not a WAN physical/logical topology design.
• C (ring) is a LAN topology (used in Token Ring networks) rarely applied to enterprise WAN design at scale, and it's not one of the three canonical WAN design approaches.

Memory tip: Think "FPH - Full, Partial, Hub" - these three represent a spectrum of cost vs. redundancy. Full mesh = maximum paths, maximum cost. Hub-and-spoke = minimum paths, minimum cost. Partial mesh = the real-world compromise. If an answer describes how devices share resources (peer-to-peer) or a LAN topology (ring), it's a WAN design distractor.

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