Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network - Assignment Example

Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Wireless connectivity of Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network 3 Wireless Network Solution 3 4 Cisco Unified Wireless network 12 5 Firewall 13 Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network 1 Executive Summary There is a requirement of designing a proposed Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network. Likewise, for integrating these stores, the company is seeking a wireless network solution that will synchronize all the stores with wireless broadband service by incorporating wireless local area network in each store and provide connectivity to Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network employees on iPads. For this reason, wireless technology company is contacted for a complete wireless solution. The business challenge for Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network is to: Provide wireless access to their employees, as well as secure synchronization of all 10 stores Increase efficiency, synchronization and portability of computing devices Network Solution: By incorporating Cisco unified wireless network and Cisco adaptive security appliance, a secure and efficient wireless network will be implemented. 2 Wireless connectivity of Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network When designing a wireless point to point connectivity, the distance is always considered due to limitation of wireless technology. Cost is also a major factor when implementing and designing a wireless network. There are two methodologies which can be adopted for connecting all 10 sites to provide Internet connectivity. The first step is to deploy a local area network. A simple definition available on business source database defines it as (Local area network. 2011) “A network that links nearby computers to one another. A local area network (lan) is usually used to connect computers in the same room or on the same floor of a building, and often forms part of a much bigger corporate network” The second step will be to identify the requirements. This will include the network devices and functionality for fulfilling the requirements for the airport staff and passengers. The justification of the selected computing devices and the network equipment is required. The third step includes the network design. The design will clearly identify, floor connections, office connections, servers, workstations, printers, scanners and cable types. The fourth step is to implement a wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN). 2.1 Wireless Network Assessment For catering the needs of Airport Terminal Hotspot Wireless Network, there is a requirement of secure and effective wireless network connectivity for all the required areas of the airport. Moreover, security is a primary concern, as data channels will be established in the environment. For addressing the security issue, Cisco provides rich features and adds an extra layer of security on the wireless networks. The embedded security technologies on a wireless architecture are now standardized, as they are available by default in all vendor manufactured wireless devices. Some of these technologies are WEP, WPA etc. Moreover, after securing the data in transit by encryption, we have also proposed a wireless intrusion prevention system that will continuously monitor and prevent the network from cyber threats. However, there is no guarantee of the network security, if the iPads are misused and stolen or snatched from one of the employees of the airport. For addressing human threats, acceptable use policy and password policies will be implemented. 3 Wireless Network Solution As the Airport environment requires wireless connectivity, ‘access points’ are required. ‘Access points’ are the device which is used to connect devices equipped with wireless technology. ‘Access points’ transmits and receive radio signals adjacent to a network hub over a limited distance. However, distant varies from different model types and wireless technology adopted. Airport requirement are to provide access of Internet for public, intranet applications for the staff and connectivity on iPads and smart phones as well. Cisco delivers a borderless mobility experience which gives users access to the information and resources with the quality and performance. 3.1 WAN As per network encyclopedia wide area network is defined as (Wide Area Network. 2007) “a computer network covering multiple distance areas, which may spread across the entire world. WANs often connect multiple smaller networks, such as local area networks (LANs) or metro area networks (MANs)”.Airport premises will be equipped with a backbone broadband access defined as (Broadband Internet Access. 2007) “Broadband Internet Access is a high data-transmission rate Internet connection. DSL, ADSL, Wireless WAN and cable modem, all popular consumer broadband technologies, are typically capable of transmitting 256 kilobits per second or more, starting at approximately four times the speed of a modem using a standard digital telephone line” which can also be called Digital Subscriber line. The DSL is implemented for catering the needs of the airport wireless network. A device used to connect to the telephony company for Internet access. There is no superior requirement for downloading data from the Internet. The student network runs on the local area network. DSL supports up to 3 Mb/sec downstream speeds in an asynchronous mode means only the downstream. The upstream speed is from 128Kbps to 768 Kbps. 3.2 Cable Category 5 cables are used for the data transmission in a proposed network design. CAT-5 is in the form of twisted pairs. This cable consists of 4 copper wire pairs, connecting the network node with RJ 45 connectors.CAT-5 supports up to 100 to 1000 MHz speeds in a full duplex mode (Category 5 Cable. 2007). The length of the cable depends on the distance which needs measurement in the airport premises. 3.3 Switches What are switches and why they are required for deploying a network? A good illustration is available on network dictionary states (Network Switch. 2007) “A network switch is a device that joins multiple computers together at a low-level network protocol layer. Technically, network switches operate at layer two (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model” A simple definition is available on eFast Ethernet Cisco switches supporting VLAN functionality are implemented. As compared to the old 10 base-t, the 100 base-t provides 10 times more speed supporting the MAC and MTU. Almost all network adapters supports 100 base-t technology making it a cost saving and efficient choice for local area networks (Fast Ethernet. 2007). The fast Ethernet All the switches are of 24 ports, keeping in mind the expansion of the network will not affect by purchasing new network equipment. Total 6 switches are used on the first floor. Only 4 out of 6 are operational. Two switches are installed for future expansion of the network. On the second floor total 4 switches are installed. Three are operational and one is installed for future expansion of the network. 3.4 Routers Router is the core components of any network. They perform administrative and traffic distribution tasks. A good definition is available on the network encyclopedia which defines them as (Router. 2007) “Routers are physical devices or a software system within a switch operating a layer 3 of the OSI model. A router forwards and routes data packets along networks. A router connects at least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP network”. There are total 3 routers installed for routing the traffic from each floor. The access policies are applied for separating the airport administration staff, airport manager, technical staff and traffic from wireless network marked as ‘Public’. 3.5 Printers There are total 7 high quality printers installed in the airport administration department. These printers are connected by wireless access points installed within the respected region. 3.6 Servers There were total 3 servers including the file server, email server and the firewall / proxy server. The file server will be the airports information distribution system. The email server will route the email, inbound and outbound of the airport premises. The application layer for accessing email service will be “Microsoft outlook express”. The data servers which are located in the two specific departments are on an airport’s confidential network indicated by blue color Ethernet cables in the network diagram. They are being used for transmitting highly encrypted data that is separated from rest of the generic traffic. 3.7 Airport Floors There are two floor in the airport premises i.e. ground floor and first floor. 3.8 First Floor The first floor includes Staff office, administration, airport manager and technical staff. The staff office will access the file server which is the ‘airport information distribution server’ for uploading files. Airport staff will be facilitated at the same time for downloading the information, as it will be similar to an FTP access. The Airport staff will connect their laptops with the wireless access points installed equipped with the new 802.11n technology. Since the demand of high bandwidth multimedia transmission is increasing, improving the (QoS) (Quality of service) is essential. A comprehensive illustration of Quality of services is available on network dictionary as “Quality of Service (QoS) refers to the ability of a network to provide higher priority services, including dedicated bandwidth, controlled jitter and latency (required by some real-time and interactive traffic), and improved loss characteristics, to selected network traffic over various WAN, LAN and MAN technologies.”. Keeping this in mind a new technology 8.2.11n has been introduced by the IEEE (Kuo 2008). For keeping the network robust and efficient 802.11n protocol provides extensive support for voice and video services (Cai, Ling et al. 2009). These wireless access points will be connected with a Cisco switch. For providing security Virtual local area network (VLAN) will be implemented. The VLAN will separate the domain of the lecturers with the other. VLAN uses encryption techniques for transmitting data over the network. Access policy list will be created in the router for defining the routes. The router processes the data packets on parameters. Internet protocol and subnet is the parameter for the router to process the routes on the destination. The policy for airport staff can be accessed to the file server, printers and email server. In this way data transmission, for the airport staff, will be secure. No one can connect the wireless network because only airport staff Internet protocol pool is allowed to communicate. For the passengers and for public, another pool is allocated. If anyone tries to access the wireless network from outside, he or she will be prompt to enter the Wired Equivalent Privacy key (WEP). A good definition of WEP is available I the network dictionary which says ” Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol, specified in the IEEE Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard, 802.11b, that is designed to provide a wireless local area network (WLAN) with a level of security and privacy comparable to what is usually expected of a wired LAN.” WEP provides security by an encryption algorithm. No one in the airport can access the wireless network or the airport staff system. An extra Cisco switch installation has been proposed. Although one access point within a range of approximately 200 feet is enough for connecting 253 laptops. The airport staff can access the printer on the network. The printer will be shared on the network and will be visible at “My network places” in case of Microsoft operating systems. The administrative staff needs to access the email server, Microsoft office and the Internet. The team requires full access to the airport records for administrative purpose. A new VLAN will be created for that purpose. The definition of virtual LAN is available on network dictionary which states as (Virtual LAN. 2007) “Virtual LAN (VLAN) refers to a logical network in which a group of devices on one or more LANs that are configured so that they can communicate as if they were attached to the same wire, when in fact they are located on a number of different LAN segments” The VLAN will be considered as a broadcast domain. It concludes that the broadcast generates from one computer can only be received to the destination which is defined by some criteria in the broadcast domain. The advantages of VLAN implementation includes more efficient way of bandwidth utilization and eliminating the network from possible broadcast storms which may result in denial of service. By using VLANs the capacity of switching technology is utilized to its full potential. VLAN also supports VLAN trunking protocol. The VLAN trunking protocol will significantly reduce administration for the switched network. Considering the future network expansion considerations of the airport the requirement for creating new VLAN will be eliminated by using VLAN trunking protocol. On that VLAN an access policy will be applied for granting access to the file server, Internet and the Email server. For expansion in the network in the future, an extra switch is installed with the premises for coping up the network connectivity requirements, if a new system has been placed. Technical staff has access to all servers and configuration items within the airport premises. A file server, Email server, and a firewall / proxy server are installed. One scanner is also installed for any specific passport scans required by the law enforcement agencies. The router and the Wide Area network (WAN) connectivity is terminated in this department. A DSL modem is installed for that purpose. As it is the technical staff team, access to all network devices is granted for administrative and troubleshooting purpose. The router is installed in the technical department and providing connectivity to the second floor of the airport premises. 3.9 Second Floor On the second floor 12 staff offices rooms are available, which are connecting to the wireless access points. The same security methodology is implemented as on the first floor. 3.10 Wi-Fi 802.11 It is a relatively new wireless standard defined by IEEE 802.11 standards with more enhanced capabilities as compared to 802.11n. It operates on 3.6 to 3.7 GHz on 54 Mbps with the distance of 3 miles (Parsons, Oja 2009). The distance which is required to connect all of these 10 sites can be achieved by connecting via 802.11y Wi-Fi technology. However this technology is currently available only in United States of America. The hardware which is required to connect all these 10 sites is relatively of low cost. This is a low cost solution but it has certain limitations as it is available only in the United States. There are very few IEEE 802.11y complaint devices available. The router can be installed at any one end of either side to broadcast the signals compatible to 802.11y standards. The router must support functions such as Firewall, Network Address Translation, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, Local Area Network ports (more than one). Similarly, Voice over IP, Wireless Local Area Network and Max wireless data must support a transfer rate of 54 Mbps or more. The complaint standards requirements will be IEEE 802.11h, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11y, IEEE 802.11 IEEE 802.11a IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11d IEEE 802.11g etc.. As the router will support ranges up to 3 miles, users can connect to the wireless network directly. Security can also be applied as the wireless router must support a firewall and Wired Encryption Privacy and other security along with encryption techniques can be configured. Moreover, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol can be configured by defining the IP address range in the router IOS. The parameters for defining the DHCP server are DHCP Server, Start IP Address and End IP Address. By configuring the DHCP server, the router will automatically assign IP addresses to the host it connects. Total seven access point installation is required. Access points are the wireless devices which broadcast signals for Internet connectivity. The models of access points vary in the context of broadcasting signal strengths and ranges. In the airport premises three access points are used on the first floor for providing secure wireless connectivity to the required individuals. On the second floor, four access points are installed. Keeping in mind, the supporting network resources for network expansion two switches are installed for connecting any new access point in case of new development of the departments and staff hiring. (Angelescu 2010) Each ‘Cisco Aironet 1500 series access points’ are compatible to operate on the frequency range: ‘802.11/g’. Depending on the area of the store, minimum of two access points are recommended for each store, so that the employees can roam within the store premises without service disruption. ‘Access points’ will be configured to assign IP addresses automatically to the TAS staff by Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). For connecting the ‘access points’, workstations will require a Wi-Fi Ethernet card. If the iPad already has the capability of connecting to the wireless network, then there is no requirement of an operating system with a functional wireless Ethernet adapter. The ‘Cisco access point 1500 series’ will perform as a unified wireless network by integrating ‘Cisco 4400 wireless LAN controller’, ‘Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access points’ and ‘Cisco 3300 Series Mobility Services Engine’ to support these features: Cisco Clear air Technology Service mobility engines Context aware Services Mobility services from the local area network Unified application delivery integration with the Wi-Fi, LAN, Wi-max and cellular networks API on Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) Extensive Markup Language (XML) for third party application development Security policies Mobility 4 Cisco Unified Wireless network As there is no requirement of a hub on any of the stores, any one of the stores can be considered as the hub branch where implementation of wireless technology will be conducted. The wireless infrastructure of Cisco which is called a ‘Cisco Wireless Control System’ consists of following components: Cisco 4400 wireless LAN controller Cisco Aironet 1500 Series Access points Cisco 3300 Series Mobility Services Engine Integrated support for (wIPS) Built in support for ‘Cisco context-aware services’. 4.1 Cisco Wireless Control System The ‘Cisco Wireless Control System’ accomplishes planning, monitoring, deployment and reporting on indoor and outdoor wireless networks. The life comprehensive life cycle management platform of ‘Cisco Wireless Control System’ enables the reduction of operational cost with integrated tools, templates and guidelines. It enhances information technology efficiency via a spontaneous flexible graphical user interface (GUI). The centralized administration significantly eliminates the staffing requirements. For future perspective, the wireless architecture can also support the scalability of Local area network and Wireless Local Area Network to an enterprise level. The advantage for using Cisco technology gives the wireless network a stride forward by ‘Cisco Clean Air Technology’. This technology protects the performance of ‘802.11n’ by extenuating Radio Frequency (RF) interference. 4.2 Cisco 4400 Series Wireless LAN Controllers The ‘Cisco 4400 wireless LAN controller’ supports a variety of wireless LAN functionality consisting of security policies, intrusion detection system (IDS), quality of service (QoS) and mobility. The framework of ‘Cisco 4400 Wireless LAN Controllers’ consists of ‘Cisco access points’ and ‘Cisco wireless control system’ to support efficient wireless connectivity. ‘Cisco 4400 series Wireless LAN Controller’ provides scalability, security and reliability for the wireless network. 4.3 Cisco Clear air Technology The ‘Cisco Aironet 1500 series access points’ will transmit and receive data via wireless technology ‘802.11n’ which support up to 70 Mbps. However a minimum requirement for the wireless network of TAS is ‘802.11a’ which supports up to 54Mbps. By implementing the wireless devices empowered by Cisco, ‘clean air technology’ delivers this speed benchmark with high reliability to support the essential application, video and voice throughput. On the other hand this technology eliminates the interference which is caused by the characteristics of radio frequency transmission. The network administrator can analyze the wireless network due to visibility in to the wireless spectrum provided by ‘Cisco Clean Air Technology’. The uniqueness of this technology also includes the intelligent automatic adjustments of Radio Frequency (RF) interferences within the network to optimize wireless coverage. The user interface provides access to real time statistics of devices and systems located anywhere within the network so that the network administrators can apply policies on instant basis without disrupting services. 5 Firewall Firewalls are the most essential component in the context of network security. Viruses are generated on a daily basis adopting different methodologies to invade the networks and disrupt services. The first point of contact for viruses and malicious software are the firewalls. The firewall policies include the access list containing the file extensions, file names, data packet sizes, traffic from trusted networks etc. The rules and policies are set by the network administrator according to the network requirements. For connecting to another airport remote sites, ‘Cisco ASA 5500’ firewall with built in intrusion detection system is recommended. This security appliance will serve as an all-rounder to protect the network at an optimal level, at the same time saving the cost for purchase of a separate security appliance. As a fundamental part of the Cisco products family, Cisco Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) is a preference for small medium and corporate networks. They provide protection against more than 30,000 known threats, with timely signature updates and Cisco Global Correlation to dynamically evaluate, identify and eliminate emerging Internet threats. The most widely knows threats from which the ‘Cisco IPS’ protects are directed attacks, Worms, Malware, and Application abuse (Frahim, Santos 2013). The major element for the Cisco Secure Borderless Network, the Cisco ASA 5505 Series Adaptive Security Appliances deliver better scalability, a broad span of technology and solutions, and efficient, always on security considered to meet the requirements of a huge array of deployments. Due to incorporating the world’s most famous and secure firewall, a wide ranging, highly efficient intrusion prevention system (IPS) along with Cisco Global Correlation and assured coverage, high-performance VPN and always on remote access, the Cisco ASA 5505 Series supports secure, high-performance connectivity and protects critical assets in any organization for the utmost productivity. The Cisco ASA 5505 Series is the Adaptive Security Appliance for the next-generation. It is integrated with full-featured security appliance for undersized organizations, remote offices and enterprise teleworkers environment. The Cisco ASA 5505 Series offers high-performance firewall, SSL and IPsec VPN and rich networking services in a modular, “plug-and-play” appliance. While utilizing an integrated Cisco ASDM, the Cisco ASA 5505 is speedily deployed and easily managed. Thus enabling organizations to minimize operations cost. The Cisco ASA 5505 provides a supple 8-port 10/100 Fast Ethernet switch. These switches are dynamically joined together to generate up to three separate VLANs for home, business and Internet traffic enhanced network segmentation and security use. The Cisco ASA 5505 offers two powers over Ethernet (PoE) ports ease the installation of Cisco IP phones along with the zero-touch secure voice over IP (VoIP) functionalities. Moreover, the implementation of the external wireless access points is available for the extended network mobility. Another high-performance intrusion preventions and worm mitigation service is also available with the addition of the AIP SSC services. Therefore, multiple USB ports are used to allow the additional services and functionalities to access when needed. The Cisco ASA 5505 Series helps an organization to improve their effectiveness and efficiency related to the protection of their networks and applications that are linked with them. 5.1 Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (W IPS) (For Wireless Networks) This security feature is integrated within the ‘Cisco Unified Wireless Network Architecture’. ‘WIPS’ provide specific threat detection methodology and improved protection against malicious code, unauthorized access, security vulnerabilities and other sources which may disrupt the network performance. The ‘Cisco WIPS’ analyze and identify wireless threats and manages mitigation and resolution of security and performance concerns on a centralized point. Most wireless networks are not designed to protect the network core which is impenetrable by most wireless networks, while ‘Cisco WIPS’ has proactive threat protection to eliminate attacks on network cores. ‘Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers’ are integrated within the enterprise networks core infrastructure. They communicate with ‘Controller-based Access Points’ over ‘Layer 2’ or ‘Layer 3’ infrastructure of the ‘OSI’ model. These devices support automation of numerous ‘WLAN’ configuration and management functions across all enterprise locations. 5.2 Support Local technical department of the Airport will handle incident management. After the implementation of the network, new hiring of a qualified network administrator is required in order to manage the wireless network security related incidents. To troubleshoot issues related to system administration and support, a team is required for performing day to day issues within the airport premises. As the information related to passenger ticketing and boarding along with confidential information (required by law enforcement agencies), there should be minimum time between failures of the network. References ANGELESCU, S., 2010. CCNA Certification All-In-One For Dummies. Wiley. Broadband Internet Access. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 76-76. Category 5 Cable. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 88-88. CAI, L.X., LING, X., SHEN, X. and MARK, J.W., 2009. Supporting voice and video applications over IEEE 802.11n WLANs. Wireless Networks (10220038), 15(4), pp. 443-454. COM, J.W.N. and JIELIN, D., 2007. Network Dictionary. Javvin Press. Fast Ethernet. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 190-190. FRAHIM, J. and SANTOS, O., 2013. Cisco Asa: All-In-One Firewall, Ips, and VPN Adaptive Security Appliance. Cisco Press. KUO, W.-., 2008. Traffic scheduling for multimedia transmission over IEEE 802.11e wireless LAN. IET Communications, 2(1), pp. 92-97. Local area network. 2011. 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