In this video, we walk through 5 ISC practice questions on IT architecture. These questions are from ISC content area 1 on the AICPA CPA exam blueprints: Information Systems and Data Management.
The best way to use this video is to pause each time we get to a new question in the video, and then make your own attempt at the question before watching us go through it.
IT Architecture
Understanding an organization’s technology environment starts with knowing the pieces that make it up. Before questions about security, controls, or data management can be answered, the underlying components have to be clear: what exists, what each one does, and how they fit together.
What Is IT Architecture?
IT architecture is the overall structure of an organization’s technology environment. It covers what components exist, what role each one plays, and how they connect to one another. The term refers to the arrangement of all of it, not to any single piece of equipment.
A mid-size manufacturer might have laptops and tablets that employees work on, operating systems installed across those machines, servers in a locked room holding the accounting data, and switches, routers, and a firewall tying everything together. Any one of those is a component. All of them, arranged and interconnected, are the architecture.
End-User Devices
End-user devices are the hardware a person operates directly to do their work. Desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones are the most common examples, but the category is broader than that. Barcode scanners, point-of-sale terminals, and self-service kiosks also qualify.
What makes something an end-user device is not its size or whether it resembles a computer. It is the relationship: a person operates it directly, and it serves as that person’s entry point into the organization’s systems. A warehouse worker scanning pallets and an accountant working at a desktop are doing the same thing — using hardware directly to get work into the system.
Operating Systems
An operating system is the layer between a machine’s hardware and everything else installed on it. It controls the processor, memory, and storage, and distributes those resources to the programs that need them. It also provides the interface a user works through, including the screen, the desktop, and the ability to open a file. Without an operating system, no other software on the machine can run.
Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android are all operating systems. Every computer runs one, including servers, where Windows Server and Linux are common. Running an operating system is not what separates an end-user device from a server.
An operating system is also distinct from application software. Accounting software records the transaction, while the operating system is what allows that software to use the machine.
Servers
A server is a computer that provides something to other computers rather than to a person sitting in front of it. It runs continuously and handles requests from many users at once, and it is typically built with redundant drives, power supplies, and network connections so that a single component failure does not take it offline.
What makes a server a particular type of server is the role the software on it is playing, not the hardware:
- Database server: holds structured data organized into tables and answers queries against it, such as the general ledger
- File server: stores unstructured files like spreadsheets, documents, and PDFs that users open and save directly
- Web server: delivers websites and browser-based applications
- Application server: runs the business software that users work in
- Mail server: handles the organization’s email
- Print server: manages print jobs across the network
Database servers and file servers are the two most often confused. A general ledger may feel like a file, but it consists of structured records being queried rather than a document being opened.
Network Infrastructure
Network infrastructure is the equipment that makes a network work. It refers to the hardware and cabling that move the traffic, rather than the way the network is designed:
- Switch: connects devices within a single location so they can communicate with each other
- Router: moves traffic between different networks, such as an office network and the internet
- Firewall: filters traffic crossing a boundary, allowing what is permitted and blocking what is not
- Wireless access point: extends network access to devices connecting over Wi-Fi rather than a cable
- Cabling: the physical medium carrying traffic between all of it
A switch works inside one network, and a router works between networks. Traffic between two computers in the same office passes through a switch, while traffic leaving the building passes through a router.
