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System Architecture & Design Flashcards

7 cards from real CTE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning โ€” missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 System Architecture & Design flashcards as text
  1. In a multi-vendor telecom environment, what is the primary purpose of implementing TM Forum Open APIs?

    Answer: To achieve standardized interoperability between OSS/BSS components from different vendors

    TM Forum Open APIs provide standardized REST-based interfaces that enable OSS/BSS components from different vendors to interoperate without custom integration work.

  2. A telecom architect proposes using a 'strangler fig' migration pattern for a legacy BSS replacement. What does this approach entail?

    Answer: Incrementally replacing legacy system components by routing specific functions to the new system over time

    The strangler fig pattern gradually replaces a legacy system by intercepting requests and routing increasing portions to the new system until the old one is fully retired.

  3. In designing a telecom data center network, what is the primary advantage of a spine-leaf topology over a traditional three-tier (core-distribution-access) topology?

    Answer: It provides predictable, low-latency east-west traffic paths with a maximum of two hops between any two servers

    Spine-leaf ensures any server can reach any other server in exactly two hops (leaf-to-spine-to-leaf), providing consistent low latency for the east-west traffic dominant in cloud-native telecom.

  4. Which concept describes the telecom architecture strategy of placing compute and storage resources at the edge of the network, near the RAN, to enable ultra-low latency applications?

    Answer: Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC)

    MEC (formerly Mobile Edge Computing) brings cloud computing capabilities to the network edge, typically at or near base stations, enabling sub-millisecond latency for applications.

  5. What does the concept of 'network slicing' in 5G allow a telecom operator to do?

    Answer: Create multiple independent logical networks on a shared physical infrastructure with different QoS profiles

    Network slicing creates isolated end-to-end logical networks (e.g., one for autonomous vehicles needing URLLC, another for IoT needing mMTC) over the same physical 5G infrastructure.

  6. In evaluating vendor proposals for a new IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) core, which component is responsible for session control and SIP routing?

    Answer: CSCF (Call Session Control Function)

    The CSCF handles SIP signaling and session control in IMS, with three variants: P-CSCF (proxy), I-CSCF (interrogating), and S-CSCF (serving) each handling different routing stages.

  7. A telecom executive is reviewing an architecture where all configuration changes flow through a 'single source of truth' repository with automated deployment pipelines. This best describes which practice?

    Answer: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with GitOps-based network automation

    GitOps-based IaC stores all network and infrastructure configurations in version-controlled repositories, using automated pipelines to apply changes consistently and traceably.