Data Communications and Network - Report Example

NETWORK DESIGN by Student’s Name Course’s Name Professor’s Name University’s Name City, State Date of submission Network Design Introduction A network can be defined as a set of interconnected computers together for the main purpose and objective of sharing data and information together. Through this interconnection of computers, data communication can easily be achieved and hence changing the way businesses is carried out. Good design goals and principles require that a network be well designed to promote the following functions. Sharing of personal resources and storage services such as files The centralization and the sharing of the company’s key resources like printers Accountability purposes like the usage of resources (Michalski & Wyant, 2012) Ease management: Antivirus can easily be installed to all the machines from the server Emails communications. Both from within and outside the domain of the company. This is a major time management approach A network must therefore be able to meet some certain criteria as defined below; Scalability-this refers to the ability of the network to be expanded in the future when need arises. A good design comes in an essence that allows future slots for expansion. This calls for other expansion switches slots in the cabinet and subnet masks that are flexible. The bandwidth should also be flexible enough in increasing its speed (Michalski & Wyant, 2012). In a dynamic business environment, it is therefore about more than scale. The key challenge experienced with scalability is less about how large the clusters are now, and more about how to gracefully scale for future deployments. If an infrastructure is architected for small deployments, how will it evolve as the number of nodes increases? Will it require a complete re-architecture at some point? The key point to remember is that scalability is less about the absolute scale and more about developing the path to a sufficiently scaled solution Reliability- this is in terms of the availability of the network to be used when required. It should be 100% available when required. Less failure defines a reliable network. Therefore the uptime of the system should be 99%. The downtime should always be minimal and just in case the system downtime is experienced, the same should be reverted within minimum time possible to save on the business processes. Resiliency. Distributed systems as well as network systems only function if the interconnection between the networked devices is reliable. This means the network must be fault-tolerant and resilient. Therefore, the power or strength of a reliable network includes resiliency and the backbone being the availability of the cost-effective redundancy of good design. Performance- performance of a network refers to both the transit time that the message takes when a request is initiated and the time when the response itself is received. Security-Data security is important in any network. Therefore a good network should be secured enough to protect the access of data or shared resources from unauthorized people. With data being the centralized item and being the key item in a network, this is the reason why more and more organizations are giving a closer eye on how they monitor the usage and the flow of data hence paying close attention to big data trends (Michalski & Wyant, 2012) Integration. The infrastructure must work in harmony with other network devices that exist within the company. It should be an orchestrated fashion to deliver application experience. This means that computer, storage devices, networking, applications and all the surrounding systems must be capable of frictionless coordination. A well-integrated and grounded network should have a network usage policy in place. All of this needs to be done in ways that can easily be automated. Assumptions The assumptions that were made in regards to the development of this network design include the following; The company will occupy four floors in the building. These floors are first floor, 2nd floor, and third floor. The secured wireless access point will be installed in first floor, and second floor. Network Design In the below network for the company, the following network devices have been included; 1. Switches: Switches are the linkage points of an Ethernet network. They are connection to computers, printers, and other switches through twisted pair cabling.  A switch unlike a hub is described as an intelligent device by having an in-built learning of the MAC address of the devices connected to it. The data and information or packets transmission speed in switches is quite high and hence can even double those that are transmitted in Ethernet hub. The transmission packets of around a 20Mbps connection into 30Mbps and a 200Mbps connection to become 300Mbps. 2. Routers: Routers are also key network devices and they are termed as network layer devices and are particularly identified as Layer- 3 devices of the OSI Model. They act as the first entry points for the inbound traffic from the internet once is allowed to come through by the firewall settings. It also has the ability to limit the flow of broadcasts. 3. Desktops: these are devices that are setup for information sharing. They are setup and installed with the relevant software to allow the users to access the shared resources and carry out their tasks. 4. Laptops: like desktop, they are end-user devices. The advantages of the laptop are their portability nature and being light in weight. 5. Wireless access points: this are stations that or small network devices that are used in broadcasting the internet packets in a wireless form. Any device that has a wireless capability to can connect to it using a specified username and password. The device will then be assigned a certain unique IP address which the device can use in accessing the internet. 6. Servers: they are used to store information for the company and run some sophisticated software for the company. They are located at the data centre and hence can only be logged in by the system administrator. 7. Printers: they act as devices that are used to convert the information or data stored in soft form to printed files. 8. Projectors: they are located at boardrooms and hence used in projecting information during meeting. Figure 1: Network design (draw using E-Draw Max software solution for network) Justifications The below are some of the key justification in regards the building the above network; 1. Use of firewall: this is implemented between the router and the internet. This is for security purposes and its function is to act as a barrier or a control point for network traffic which are inbound (from internet to the local network) or outbound (from internal network to the internet). 2. Use of domain login credentials: this is also another security feature that ought to be implemented. Through its implementation, the below will be realized; Authenticated login and access of the company’s network and internet Proper monitoring of the shared resources like the printers since everyone with the access can access any printer located within the building and printout or scan-out whatever he/she would like to achieve. To realize and use such resources one would be asked to provide the username and password. Proper use and management of resources will also be an added advantage. This is because everyone individual will be held accountable in regards the use of the resources. 3. Use of core switch: this will be the main switch that will be receiving network traffic from both internet and then routing them to the local network or subnet destinations. At this switch, traffic discriminations will be effected whereby; Board rooms will be assigned more network traffic than the rest of the floor Both 1st floor, 2nd floor and 3rd floor will share the same amount of network traffic. 4. Secured wireless access: this is configured in a way that whoever needs an access must sign an internet access form. This is where the IT individual will go ahead and create access login credentials as required. This ensures that all the internet access will be monitored and each and every user will be responsible for their access logins. 5. Hybrid topology: This is broken down into; Bus topology: this is the one implemented on both 1st floor, 2nd floor, and 3rd floor. This is where each and every computer is connected to a main single network cable. The strengths of using such a topology in this project include; It is cheap and hence is cost effective in terms of resources that will be used It is so practical in small scale projects such as within a building It is scalable and hence provides a room for future expansion Star topology: this is where all the network devices are connected to a main single hub. The nodes access all the information and data from the centralized hub. From the above project, all the switches the 1st floor, 2nd floor, and third floor and all connected to a centralized switch located at the data center called the core switch. The advantages of this topology includes; The performance is high and ensures that network traffic is low It is so easy to carry out troubleshoot activities when the network is down. For example it is so easy to identify which switch in the above network is faulty. It is so easy to carry out setup process. Vlan Setup and Subnetting This is configured on the FA0/1 interface of the core router. This is to outline the basic design of our LAN network. The usage of the Vlan’s is to allow the effectiveness and utilization as well as the implementation of the security/access controls in both the core router and the switches. Vlan are used to ensure that certain ports or group of ports in a switch can be assigned and can be used by a certain subnet (different level address) which in essence gives us more control as well as benefits in regards the usage and the management of network (Michalski & Wyant, 2012). The primary goal in this case is having the objective of having the various groups of users in different subnets within the same company. The below are the 3 Vlans that will be created in this VLan 3: 192.168.6.0/24. 3rd floor subnet will contain the following range of ip addresses: 192.168.6.11-254 VLan 2: 192.168.4.0/24. This network will have full access to the internet and other social sites at all time. The following range of ip addresses: 192.168.4.11-254 VLan 1: 192.168.5.0/24. 1st floor subnet will contain the following range of ip addresses: 192.168.5.11-254 VLan 6: 192.168.5.0/24. wifi adapter will broadcast the IP addresses---192.168.6.1-254 The reserved ip addresses for servers and other key pcs are 192.168.177.1-192.168.177.10 and 192.168.178.1-192.168.178.10 Security Concerns Virus threats: this includes both offline and online virus threats Remedies i. The development of a centralized anti-virus server that can be used in rolling out updates to all the client machines within the company. ii. Configuration of the router in such a way that will only allow/permit the traffic to pass through that are clean of viruses while blocking the suspicious files and or traffic Network hacking Remedies i. Use of network/domain passwords. Passwords should be encrypted and should contain numerals, characters, and special characters. It should also be not less than 10 characters in length. These passwords should also expire in every 30 days and hence the user should be prompted to change the password (Mahmoud & Pirovano, 2013). ii. Wi-Fi protected passwords: This is to avoid the users from outside from accessing the wifi and hence can get a chance of accessing into the internal controls Recommendations After an in-depth analysis of the above problem scenario and the subsequent design and the development of the network design, the below are also the recommendations that the company can venture in future to improve on their network; i. Use of a mail server: this will ensure that the mails for all the employees to receive and send emails using the company’s email addresses. This will avoid people accessing or receiving company emails using other mails like Yahoo or Gmail. ii. Use of advanced internet monitoring and controls tools such as proxy servers. This will allow the company to block some other sites from access will allowing others to be accessed (Mahmoud & Pirovano, 2013). iii. The company to consider improving the internet bandwidth. This is to increase from the current 100mbs speed. Conclusion In conclusion, the above network has taken into account the following in its design; 1. It is cost effective. The number of devices used and the arrangements are so efficient and the design in regards the arrangements of the network devices is cheap. 2. Security of the network: this is where a firewall has been erected to scan out both the inbound and outbound traffic for any viruses. The wireless access points have been configured to prompt for both username and password for any user before the internet is allowed. The usage of printers also requires login credentials. 3. Reliability: this is where both the bus topology and star topology was preferred. It ensures that down-times of the network are reduced significantly. We therefore recommend the company to adopt the above design and implement it. References Ben Mahmoud, M., Larrieu, N., & Pirovano, A. (2013). Risk propagation assessment for network security. Hoboken, N.J.: ISTE Ltd/John Wiley and Sons Inc. Michalski, J. & Wyant, F. (2012). Secure network design. Washington, DC: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Rgulatory Research. Spohn, D. (2002). Data network design. 1st ed. Berkeley[u.a.]: Osborne. Studytonight.com. (2017). Types of Network Topology | Computer Network Tutorial | Studytonight: http://www.studytonight.com/computer-networks/network-topology-types Teare, D. & Paquet, C. (2006). Campus network design fundamentals. Indianapolis, Ind.: Cisco Press. Appendices The diagram below shows the general structure of the network that will be deployed for the company Read More