Network Design For Public Relations Company - Report Example

NETWORK DESIGN REPORT FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS COMPANY Student Name Institutional Affiliation Executive Summary This report contains a network design and also the requirements for the design for the network. The purpose of the network is to provide recommendations to the public relations company for the development of an overall network design and procurement specification for individual components, which will make up the secure network. The report contains description of the state of the art network protocols and all layers of the networks as well as the physical layouts of the network in diagrammatically format. It also contains the benefits of the network and highlight the weakness of the proposed network that will require more efforts to improve its safety and function. Introduction Through examining a range of recently or most common network designs used by various organizations this report describes a secure topography type of network that can be reliable to the organization. From the outline of the company needs, this task describes the network design, summarizes the different approaches that are being proposed for IT solution and proposes a new approach with some of the positive aspects of prior work. The network design proposed is intended to be easier to implement and used by both members of the organization. This network design is the most appropriate because the organization has less staff members therefore making it easy for the star network design to work appropriately, (Siponen, & Willison, 2009, 267). Also, the advantage of choosing a common, but secure network topology is to enhance connection of computers or peripherals in a linear version where employees can be able to share same network in the same organization. Star network topology requires less cable length than other network design and is up time and bandwidth distribution is constant regardless of the traffic flowing in the network. Also the cables connected have a limited length. The main purpose of this report is to briefly describe how the network design proposed can be used by the company and also show the diagrams on how the network operates in the small public relations organization. Assumption In the proposed network, the assumptions that the network analysts make is that the company is on limited budget because it is a startup. Therefore, the network that will be set up need to be affordable and cost-effective. Another significant assumption that analysts make is that several resources have been explored and to develop a network that comprise with reliability and security. Also, network infrastructure and company needs are different hence the network developer will determine the specific needs of the company including possible future expansion. The network will be completed on time and on budget for the company to start using it. NETWORK DESIGN Figure 1: The above figure shows the physical layout of the network design This network operates in a simple and secure lay out. The network design is star topology whereby the computer systems are connected to the same internet through the same server. The purpose of the hub is to distribute the internet to the different sections or levels of the organization. In this design the visitors and guests are considered whereby they are also connected to the network through the same server, but their LAN connection is separate from the LAN of the company for security purposes (Siponen, & Willison, 2009, 267). Due to the issues of data security, the firewall is introduced to all levels of the company to keep data from being accessed by unauthorized users through the internet. Users in the organization who has no physical data access in the network need to pass through the firewall so as to share files and access data so as to keep organization data safe. Working through the firewall require data encryption, which is considered a safer network technology. In this network design, the users can share printers which are located in each floor and that connects through LAN. Only those users connected to the network are the ones who are able to share files through any printer. There is only one server in this network design. Since the cost of the server is expensive I recommend using one server to connect the entire organization. Another reason why we use one server is that the organization has few computer networks which do not need to use several servers. The organization also has three floor building where one server is sufficient. Even though more than one server is recommended for purpose of performance and safety net in case of down time, this organization still growing and second server can only be required if the organization is operating another office in another town or if the organization was operating another office in the same town, but different buildings, (Fenz et al., 2007, 381). To expand the network to different facilities within the organization for multimedia purposes, LAN ports are placed in the board rooms to provide internet to the projectors and the OLED televisions available. These ports are connected using LAN cables directly from the server. But due to consideration of the data security, there are some security measures which are set that members of the organization need to be aware about. A good example, if password training for all employees who should understand that the company might be connecting to the internet during office and non-office hours hence the need to provide the password before accessing the internet, (Mallado, Fernandez-Medina, & Piattini, 2007, 244). It is thus important that there is a designed private information program that does not allow any confidential information be accessed by everyone to avoid the misuse of information by unauthorized users. To make all the accounts in the network safer, the networking resources and services vendors are certified in the industry in providing internet connectivity from a safe and reliable network (Grimes, 2012). In this network the firewall will be enabled and configured to allow the flow of safe information from personal computer to the internet, which will be through the installation of an active antivirus and antispyware software. The antivirus software will also be installed in all the computers in the network to make sure that no virus is able to destroy the data and files. The antivirus programs are part of the organization’s need to secure information. In the organization arrangement, floor one and two has the most staff members in the organization and thus the need for a high speed network. The bandwidth of the network is increased in both floors so as to make their work easy and also to increase the network speed. More LAN cable ports will be provided in each floor to cater for mobile employees who will be required to work in different floors any time they are required to do so. Justification This network design is the most appropriate to this small public relations organization keeping in consideration the number of staff members as provided in the network requirements. The network design is the common and mostly used in other organizations and is now being known as the most appropriate, is secure and cost effective in servicing. This is because this network design operates at a high speed thus making it reliable to use especially in small organization where member staffs need to communicate and exchange large files among employees. Also the network design offers high security measures for the organization since the firewalls are placed so as to avoid data from being accessed by unauthorized users (Rid, & Buchanan, 2015, 4). That is why this network design is widely in use among many organization and has become the most popular when it comes to installation of the small company network system. The cost of installation of this network is low and maintenance is affordable. Since the network only needs one server which operates on the entire organization, purchasing of the server from a recommended vendor is affordable. Each floor is equipped with one printer, but anybody connected in the company’s LAN can connect and print from any of the three printers hence this arrangement will make the work easy for the staff members to print files using the same network. All the computers are connected to the printers to make this easy (Levitin, & Dai, 2007, 42). Although this network design is recommended for this organization, it is necessary to put in place safety measure within the system. When comparing this network to other designs, advantages exceed the disadvantages hence making it the most appropriate network design method which is frequently used by other similar organizations. One of the most sought after benefit for this network design is affordability in terms of installation and servicing. Since the organization requires only one server to operate the whole organization, it cost effective to the small organization. Also paying for labor during the entire process of the network installation is affordable. This network design also is useful in terms of management especially most core areas such as data security. The network administrator is able to track all the activities in the network since the organization is not that large and the members in the organization are easily monitored throughout the day, (Bassey, Ogbulezie, & Effiom, 2016, 1124). Another major benefit of the network is that it provides high speed service. Since each organization mostly requires high speed network this design is popular for up time purpose. Even when there is down time, it is easy to track the resources, which has brought the down time. Also another benefit is that there is no disruption of the network when one is connecting or disconnecting a device. In case of disruption due to physical infrastructure damage, not all section for the organization will be affected. This network design has its drawbacks though but they are very few as compared to other designs used by different organization. One of the major drawbacks is that when it comes to maintenance of the network might be slightly high. Especially when an issue such as network failure occurs in the organization, employing personnel to troubleshoot the network is expensive since there is no network department in place (Jianyong, 2011, 30). However, this is a cost that many small organizations have. Also detecting and troubleshooting fault in the network might take longer time. But this problem always occurs in all the network designs and these issues are always solved. Another disadvantage is that this network requires length of cabling. Since the organization has many devices that are connected e.g. the printers, computer, printers and others extra ports, cabling may be long and this may lead to low speed network operation within the organization. Recommendations Although this network design is simple to operate the seniors management of the organization should develop and allow the staff members to go through technical training from the network administrator and also the designer so as to be familiar with the network. Also the network administrator should be contacted always in case the organization want to make some changes to the network. These changes may include either when the organization want to increase the number of computers used within the organization and also the security matter of the data. The network administrator must be always the first person to be considered when an issue arises within the network. The security matter of the data is also the most important part of the organization. So as to keep the information stored in the organization systems, passwords should be set in every computer including those computers used by senior members and the staff members. They must provide the password so that they can be able to log in to the system. The password should be provided by the network administrator only and it should be only known by the staff members. It is also recommended that the password should be changed severally so as to avoid hackers and other malicious people from accessing the data of the organization. Other guests who visit the organization must use the network but they may not access the company’s physical LAN network. Different rooms are set aside or they must pass through several security stages before and after accessing the internet. The network administrator should keep surveillance on them on a 24/7 system and they should be closely monitored each and every time the use the network Conclusion The main purpose of this report was to describe how the network design proposed can be used by the company and also show the diagrams on how the network operates in the small public relations organization. Considering all the networking designs that are common the star topography is the most appropriate. The organization should choose or consider this network design because it is the most reliable when it comes to networking. They must also consider the benefits of the network design as compared to other designs and also the cost keeping in mind that also about the most important of all which is the security which the network provides. References Bassey, D.E., Ogbulezie, J.C. and Effiom, E.O., 2016. Local Area Network (LAN) Mock-up and Prevention of Cybernetics Related Crimes in Nigermills Company Using Firewall Security Device. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 7(3), pp.1124-1130. Siponen, M. & Willison, R. 2009. Information security management standards: Problems and solutions. Information & Management, 46 (5): 267-270. Fenz, S.; Goluch, G.; Ekelhart, A.; Riedl, B.; Weippl, E., 2007. "Information Security Fortification by Ontological Mapping of the ISO/IEC 27001 Standard," in Dependable Computing, 2007. PRDC 2007. 13th Pacific Rim International Symposium on, vol., no., pp.381-388, 17-19 Dec. 2007. Jianyong, T., 2011. Formation of Star Topology Design of Campus LAN. Journal of Anshun University, 1, p.030. Mallado, D., Fernandez-Medina, E. & Piattini, M. 2007. A common criteria based security requirements engineering process for the development of secure information systems. Computer Standards & Interfaces. 29(2): 244-253 Grimes, R.A. 2012. IT’s 9 biggest security threats. InfoWorld. Retrieved on April 1, 2017 http://www.infoworld.com/article/2614957/security/it-s-9-biggest-security-threats.html?page=3 Rid, T., & Buchanan, B. (2015). Attributing Cyber Attacks. Journal of Strategic Studies, 38(1-2), 4-37. Levitin, G. and Dai, Y.S., 2007. Service reliability and performance in grid system with star topology. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 92(1), pp.40-46. 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