Network Design Management - Literature review Example

? Network Design Supervisor] Literature Review Network management systems: Network management systems isa set of tools comprising if hardware and software components. Using these components an individual can monitor a complete network and in some cases a number of networks. A network management system enables a person to perform a number of tasks these tasks include: 1) Detecting all the devices that are connected to the network. 2) Helps monitor the status of components present on the network 3) Regularly monitoring various performance indicators to measure the performance of the network 4) Generates alerts through e-mails and various other electronic devices to inform the network administrator of the status of the network. Theoretical framework: OSI reference model: The OSI model (operation systems interconnection) is used to distribute the internal activities of a communications system into a number of layers (Kozierok, 2005). The model distributes the communication system into seven different logical layers where each layer is designed to perform a unique function. The seven layers are given below: Layer 1: The first layer is known as the physical layer. The first layer is used to specify the physical and electrical needs of the device. The physical layer basically provides a connection between the transmission medium i.e. the communication cable and the device itself. Other than that the physical layer sets up the connection with the communicating device, terminates the communication and the conversion of digital data into analogue signals (Kozierok, 2005). Layer 2: The second layer of the OSI model is the data link layer. The data link layer is responsible for detecting any errors that occur at the first level of the device. In addition the data link layer also handles the flow control of the packets of data. The data link layer is divided into two parts the MAC (Media Access Control) layer and the LLC (Logical Link Control) layer. The MAC layer handles all the activities that allow the device to gain permission to access a network and to transmit the data packet. While the LLC layer is responsible for handling the flow control, error checking and flow control of the data packet (Kozierok, 2005). Layer 3: The third layer is called the network layer and it creates virtual paths on which the data packet is transmitted. Moreover the network layer is responsible for congestion control and addressing the packet (Kozierok, 2005). Layer 4: The fourth layer is the transport layer ensures that the entire data packet layer is transferred from the sender’s end to the receiver’s end. Layer 5: The session layer is responsible for establishing sessions between the sender’s applications and the receiver’s application. Layer 6: The presentation layer encrypts and decrypts the message from the data packet. The application layer transforms the data into a form that the application can understand. The application layer encrypts the data in such a way that data transferred faces no compatibility issues (Kozierok, 2005). Layer 7: The application layer is the layer with which the user has the most interaction. The application layer supports all the user applications and the user’s activities. User authentication, quality of service and privacy are taken into account at this layer (Kozierok, 2005). E-governance engineering methodology: There has been a lot of work and research carried out regarding the performance measurements used within the public sector. Measuring the service quality and performance monitoring are just some of examples where significant progress has been made. However, there always has been an issue of how these factors are to be integrated with various process of designing and development processes that are regularly used for e-governance projects (Carter et al., 1995). By adopting and implementing the correct methodology the integration of e-governance process and planning and designing services could become a possibility. There have been a number of attempts by various researchers to come up with such methodologies. Gartner Consulting (Fraga, 2002) and Zeppou and Sotiraku (2003) are examples of a few who came up with integrated methodologies. However all the methodologies suggested by these researchers were impractical and could only be used for theoretical studies. Moreover most of these methods miss out on important phases of implementation, maintenance, design and development. The methodology that the scenario requires must be complete and comprehensive and must be tailored for real world use. The methodology suggested must be able to achieve the following points and must have the following features: 1) Make sure that the main goals of the methodology focus on providing e- governance services 2) The methodology must be able to integrate performance measures of government processes with the implementation and design services of the project. 3) Make sure that the prescribed methodology is able to support various activities that are a part of various government agencies of the country. 4) The methodology would propose system architecture that would help and support all the activities and needs of the government agencies using the system. 5) Along with supporting the processes and phases of designing and implementation the methodology must also be able to support processes for maintenance and various auditing system. E-governance engineering is one such methodology that performs to meet the above requirements (Saxena, 2006). The methodology serves the purpose of the integration of performance measures of government processes and the various phases of project development. As mentioned before a number of methodologies of such kind have been developed and have been worked on in the past however these methodologies are conceptual in nature and can only serve theoretical purposes. E-governance engineering however not only provides the design phases of project development but also maps out the implementation processes and maintenance of the system (Saxena, 2006). Phases of e-governance engineering: The first phase of the methodology is the planning phase where the processes of the entire project are planned out. The planning phase starts out by signing an agreement with the government and agrees to abide by all the government procedures and policies. The second step of the phase is identifying the various stakeholders of the project. Identification of stakeholders would include the users (that is the citizens), various politicians, government officers of various agencies and some other bureaucrats. The third step of the phase deals with understanding the aims and objectives of the project and reviewing them in greater depth. The fourth step involves the identification of the problems that is being faced by the current system implemented. This can be achieved by interacting with various stakeholders and conducting a research on the efficiency of the current implemented system (Saxena, 2006). The second phase deals with defining various procedures of the project and the performance measures of the activities that are to be performed by various government agencies. These performance indicators would measure the efficiency and progress of the activities carried out of the government activities. The next step involves the collection of data regarding the various performance indicators that are going to be used for the project. The last step of this phase deals with designing the architecture of the system (Saxena, 2006). The third phase deals with the implementation of the proposed system. Initially a plan is drawn out that explains how the transition would take place. The entire phase focuses on the transition of systems and the removal of old processes from the system and its replacement with the new modified or redesigned processes. Each process is to be replaced one at a time so that the focus remains on the process being implemented (Saxena, 2006). The fourth phase deals with the management and maintenance of the entire system. Through the entire phase progress of various processes are recorded using the performance key indicators defined earlier. Using these recordings a formal report is generated that explains the overall progress of the system. Further reports are then generated by monitoring the audit system. These reports help understand whether the new system is performing up to the standards and is providing the required results. Moreover, the feedback is obtained from the users of the system and all the stakeholders that are recognized in the previous phases (Saxena, 2006). Network architecture and requirements: The first issue that needs to be solved is that of connectivity. It is important to understand that the users of the services must be able to access services from any place at any time. To achieve that goal our focus would be on wireless technology rather than wired. Moreover wireless technology can be a cheaper alternate to wired technology in the long run (Basagni et al., 2013). In wireless connectivity we have a few options. The first is the use of a satellite based system which would help cover remote and inaccessible areas as well. However, the cost of implementing a satellite based communication system would have a high initial cost and its maintenance could become expensive over time. Cellular technology is a cheaper option and can be looked into. However, the coverage provided by cellular technology is not reliable, and fails to cover a large area (Brewer et al., 2002). For the given case, three wireless technologies look promising and suit the situation well. The first is the use of Wi-Fi technology. This paper would focus on the IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) series for the required solution. The proposed Wi-Fi technology would be the base of the network. The proposed model of Wi-Fi has been widely used around the world and with cost ranging as low as US$5 the technology can be easily be afforded by anyone. The 802.11 can support a bandwidth of up to 54 Mbps and using point to point high directional antennas the 802.11 can cover distances up to 88 Km (Choi & Lee, 2008). The second option we can used to provide connectivity to our network is the CDMA450. The cellular technology makes use of low frequency bandwidth. The use of low frequency enables CDMA 450 to cover a larger area than the regular GSM and CDMA networks. The average coverage radius of a CDMA 450 base station is close to 50Km compared to that of 35Km of the standard GSM. The origination of CDMA 450 concept came from the countries of China and Romania where the technology saw a great deal of success (Brewer et al., 2002). The third alternate that can be used for wireless communication is Wi-Max. The IEEE suggests the use of 802.16 standards for use of urban communication. The 802.16 is well suited for the problem at hand. Wi-Max allows multiple users to connect on to the network, makes use of the bandwidth more effectively, has a coverage range of more than 50 Km and can even provide better quality of service than most wireless networks. However it is important to note that standards regarding Wi-Max networks have not been presented in a finalized manner and equipment that is required for a Wi-Max network are a more expensive than its alternate (Vaughan & Steven, 2004). For connectivity the solution that best suits the needs of the given scenario is the use of Wi-Fi technology. Not only can a Wi-Fi network cover a large area but can also transmit data at speeds up to 54 Mbps. The Equipment used for a Wi-Fi network are readily available and are a lot more cheaper than the equipments used by other suggested methods (Brewer et al., 2002). The second vital component of the network is dealing with intermittent networking. Usually the focus of a network is on providing real time synchronous communication between its users. Synchronous communication for this project however would be unfeasible as the cost of implementing a synchronous system is too high. For the suggested scenario it would better if we use applications that are tailor made for asynchronous communications. These applications would be able to perform the desired functions and the cost of implementing such systems would be significantly less. Examples of these applications range from form filling at a government agency website to various simple activities such as e-mail applications (Mehmood et al., 2009). A delay tolerant network can be used to relay various asynchronous messages over unreliable networks; in this context unreliable network refers to networks that suffer frequent disruption. DTN messages can often be grouped together and can be sent off all at once to save power and make a significant reduction in operation cost (Brewer et al., 2002). The third vital components for the system are the necessary are the security measures that are to be taken to protect the network from any unauthorized access. The first measure that needs to be taken is that messages transmitted over the network must be encrypted using an encryption algorithm. AES (American Encryption Standard) is one of the widely used encryption algorithms. The algorithm would protect the message during its transmission from the sender to the receiver (Rijmen & Daemen, 2002). The second security measure that can be implemented to the network is the use of a firewall. Firewalls are used to protect the network against attacks from hackers trying to break into the network. Another protective measure that can be taken against any foreign attacks is purchasing a SSL certificate. SSL certificate help provide safe and secure connection with a server through a web browser (Sullivan, 2007). There are some attacks that cannot be prevented. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is one such example of an attack where a perpetrator uses a number of centrally controlled computers called bots to block the service of a particular website or a server. The perpetrator uses the bots to send a number of fake requests to a server blocking its service (Ec-Council, 2010). In case of such an attack the only thing that can be done is that the traffic of the server into a server that deletes all these requests (Ec-Council, 2010). Deciding on the user interface is another important prospect for the network. Even though a number of government officials working with the network are educated and can understand English, however their written English is not as good as it is suppose to be and can cause some problems in interacting with the network. To ease this problem is the introduction of a speech recognition system (Brewer et al., 2002). Speech recognition system not only would make it easier to input commands for the users but could also be used by employees who are physically challenged (Brewer et al., 2002). Next step would be procuring cheap computing devices. Recently there has been an increase in the availability of cheap computing devices. One could easily purchase a personal computer for less than US $50. Obviously these computers would not be of the latest model nor would they feature the latest software. However they could easily perform simple tasks that are required for our scenario (Brewer et al., 2002). E-governance engineering methodology as mentioned before can be used on a practical basis and can be used by various developing nations across the globe in their networks. E-governance engineering takes a top down approach to the problem which means it starts off by defining the aims and objectives of the project and then constructs a plan that revolves around the attainment of these objectives (Saxena, 2006). The methodology takes into consideration the performance measures and the design of phase comprises of architectural support as well. Using performance measures as a part of the design phase mitigates the chances of failure of the system to meet its requirements after the system is implemented. Moreover monitoring of the system after its implementation ensures that the system does not deviate from its main objectives and goals (Saxena, 2006). The system is heavily dependent on establishing the correct key performance indicators. If the performance indicators are not recognized properly the resulting system would be unable to yield the required results (Saxena, 2006). Secondly, the entire process requires a lot of interaction with the stakeholders of the project. Cloud computing methodology: Comparatively cloud computing in itself is a relatively new technology. For cloud computing to operate at optimum efficiency it is vital that hardware, software and connectivity operate as efficiently as possible. The combination of the three components mentioned above could make cloud computing a possibility for government entities (Jamsa, 2013). Cloud computing uses the concept of distributed computing that provide service to a number of clients at the same time. Cloud computing is basically a collection of various services and resources that are distributed amongst various users across the globe. The basic aim of cloud computing is providing IT services to various users using infrastructure that is shared (Jamsa, 2013). E-governance with respect to cloud computing can have numerous advantages for the government as well as for the stake holders. Cloud computing services are sold by various companies as commodities. An example of such transaction is selling and purchasing of memory as a commodity. Sizes of memory are sold at a particular rate (Jamsa, 2013). Cloud computing and servicing model: There are various reasons why companies and organizations turn to cloud computing. Even though there isn’t a particular service these companies look for however these services have been categorized by computer experts in four categories. 1) Infrastructure as a service: infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one of the most popular of services amongst cloud computing users. Infrastructure as service provides needs of computing i.e. storage services, hosting etc. the only difference is that cloud computing there is no physical form of these services they are simply virtual and hidden from the end user. Moreover these services can be provided on need basis (Jamsa, 2013). To put it in nutshell clients pay for virtual services and virtual infrastructure to meet their needs and purchase amounts of the service that they require rather than purchasing them in bulk. Clients have little control over the workings of the cloud service being provided to them. The pricing of IaaS depend upon two basic factors the first is the amount of the resource being consumed and the second is for the time that resource is consumed (Jamsa, 2013). 2) Platform as a Service: Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides the clients the opportunity to create their own applications. Usually the platforms offered by PaaS in cloud computing are Microsoft based, that is Windows, .Net or SQL Server, or open source platforms that is Apache, PHP and MySQL (Jamsa, 2013). 3) Software as a Service: this model is based on providing various organizations and clients with the option to access a number of IT related application and use them for a small fee. Usually organizations outsource their IT activities to different cloud computing companies and are relieved of any maintenance or management responsibilities of IT components. Clients access various required applications online through a web browser. SaaS examples are Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo mail (Jamsa, 2013). The first advantage of using cloud computing is the significantly low cost. One of the major challenges of designing a scalable network is keeping in mind the cost of the project. Initial cost of using cloud computing is significantly low (Beheshti, 2011). Cloud computing could provide its clients with a wide range of services with a significantly low initial cost. With the implementation of cloud computing organizations no longer have to deal with the hassle of maintenance. Maintenance costs can be quite high updating software and hardware can really become expensive over time. However, with cloud computing clients and users do not have to worry about the maintenance of the system nor about its security (Beheshti, 2011). Maintenance and security are both the responsibility of the vendor providing cloud services. Cloud computing is environmentally friendly. Since a number of users share services of the cloud it saves energy making a significant impact in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Scalability is another advantage of the cloud computing. Cloud services can accommodate a large number of users over the network without compromising on the networks performance (Beheshti, 2011). One of the major disadvantages of cloud computing is that with an organization’s entire data present on the cloud the organization and its activities became completely dependent on the cloud’s availability. If the cloud experiences any downtime activities within the organization come to a standstill. There have been a number of incidents in the past where cloud companies have suffered downtime (Gillam, 2010). Second is the issue with security, even though companies that provide cloud services take extra precaution regarding the security of client’s data there are still ways in which data could be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Any breach in security could mean the loss of sensitive information or the entire data of an organization. The third issue is that of cost of cloud computing (Gillam, 2010). Initially, cost of switching over to cloud computing might seem low however over a period of time the cost of cloud computing could become significantly high as compared to the designing a network. Only a proper feasible study would help determine whether cloud computing is suitable for an organization or not (Gillam, 2010). Empirical framework: One of the major issues of e-governance in developing countries is the lack of infrastructure. Developed countries such as United States and Canada have vast resources when it comes to IT infrastructure. Whereas, developing countries such as India and Nigeria have limited resources and their infrastructure is not as advance as developed countries. Part of success of e-governance within developing countries was largely influenced by the availability internet access at various public places and remote internet access for people on the move. Major cellular corporations such as AT&T provide low cost internet access to their users. By providing individuals with internet access at all times and at any place the government provided them with the option to access various facilities provided by their government agencies. Moreover, these agencies had already digitized all their internal operations and moved their databases online. On the other hand government agencies in India are still struggling with digitizing their internal operations and the use of IT is not as popular among the masses as it is in the United States (Bhatnagar & Bjorn-Andersen, 1988). By the above statement, it is apparent that the first step that was taken by developing nations towards the successful implementation of e-governance was the digitization of internal operations in the agencies. Second are the issues regarding the duration of implementation of e-governance. The concept of e-governance may seem like an easy and simple process to implement. However, in reality e-governance are processes that take place with time and a process that demands a large number of changes to take place. These processes are often risky financially and politically. It is vital that the development and implementation of such systems are performed properly. Improper implementation can lead to a waste of valuable resources, time and would be unable to provide the services that are expected from it (Misuraca, 2007). Other than that there are various external factors that contribute to the implementation of e-governance system. These factors can range from corruption to unequal educational opportunities for many; these factors have a direct impact on the system either direct or indirect. A case study observed in the rural parts of Madhya Pradesh a state in India where the locals frequently faced a great deal of problems in their governmental affairs. The Dhar district is home to more than 17 million people. Of these 17 million 54% hail from rural areas and more than 60% of these live below the poverty line (Saxena, 2006). Lack of education caused a number of complications for the people of these parts especially when it came to understanding government procedures and protocol (Saxena, 2006). To tackle this problem the government decided to turn to a computerized solution to help out the people living in these areas. He setup a number of cybercafes across the area of Dhar. These cybercafes acted like an interaction point for the locals and the system. Each cybercafe provided its services to a number of villages and made it provided access to more than 20,000 to 30,000 individuals to online government services (Rajora, 2002). The cyber cafes used Wi-Fi system as their network connection device. These cybercafes are in turn connected to the main office in one of the cities of Madhya Pradesh where all the records of the transactions being made are stored. In case a hard copy urgently needs to be delivered the cybercafes provide an option to the clients of delivering it to the concerned department through their head office in the state capital (Saxena, 2006). Security of the network is pretty low the entire network is protected by a firewall and has no other security measures. These services ranged from tax payments to registering online complaints about any particular incident. To oversee the operations of each cybercafe the government appointed a manager from the local village. The manager was required to have a high school diploma at the very least and was to have basic knowledge on the workings of various computerized components and must even have experiencing of dealing with small issues that arise within the network. The reason behind hiring local youngsters was to provide employment opportunities to the locals and to hire a manager at a very low cost. The government uses these cybercafes on a commercial basis that is they charge a certain amount of fees for the service. The service fee is a mere US$0.10 and for the locals can carry out a number of tasks, for urgent delivery the cafes charge and additional US $0.30.Within ten days of lodging their requests the individuals are informed of the status as in the progress of their applications (Saxena, 2006). Moreover, the service has been provided in the local language of Hindi something that has been a great deal of success amongst the locals. With services being provided in Hindi the locals can read and understand what has been presented to them and what has been written in their application. Any error or any modification that they need corrected within their application can easily be detected by the individuals (Saxena, 2006). The center has provided a great deal of services to the local villages perhaps the most prominent service has been of the removal of middle man from the farming business. In the past farmers used to sell their crops to the middle man at very low prices. The middle men used to forward these crops into the markets at almost triple the cost at which they were bought from the farmers. With the new system in place farmers have been made aware of the market rates of their products with a number of them targeting various markets all over the country (Saxena, 2006). Conceptual framework: There were a number of similarities observed in the case study discussed and the theoretical framework provided above. As seen from the case study the project within the rural areas of Dhar made a top to down approach that is the government first identified the problems being faced by the locals of the area of Dhar. Top to down approach has been seen as the recommended option for employing an e-governance system. Moreover the network was spread over a large area of the district and provided service to a large population through the physical presence of an entity that is cybercafes. Moreover, as mentioned in the literature implementation of a new system takes time and is not an easy task. The same was observed in the case study the implementation of the new system took a long time and it took even longer for the locals to get used to the new system of interaction with the government. It is interesting to note however that during the design of the system no specific key performance indicators were defined. A step that was vital to understanding the progress of the project. Some might argue that human satisfaction of the individuals of the area could be considered as key performance indicators in recording the progress of the system. However, the system implemented fails to record any kind of feedback from the individuals that utilize the system of in Dhar thus making it difficult to assess the satisfaction rate of the implemented system. Moreover, the system has been successfully working for quite some time now which means that key performance indicators might not be necessary to utilize at such a small scale of operations. It is when the scalability of the network increases does the need for proper key performance indicators arise. The literature moreover fails to report anything on the training of the staff. In the case study provided to us the government employed local high school graduates that had little or no training related to computer systems. These managers lacked training on what is to be done in case of an emergency or a system failure. Yet, the system has seen a great deal of success. There has to be a study regarding the training of individuals on maintenance of e-governance system in rural areas. Summary: The theoretical framework provided us with the three approaches towards solving the congestion problem that occurred with the network. The first is the discussion of the OSI model and the various layers that are a part of the OSI model. The second Methodology is of e-governance engineering. E-governance engineering plans out the entire phases of the project from planning and design to the implementation and maintenance of the network. The best feature of e-governance engineering is that it includes the recognition of performance measure as a part of the design phase. The methodology is based on four stages of planning, design, implementation and maintenance. Before selecting the components for the network there are two things that must be kept in mind the cost and quality of work that the component can provide. Usually, the quality of a network largely depends upon the connectivity device being used. For the given purpose, it was thought best to use Wi-Fi devices. Wi-Fi devices are cheap, easily available and can cover a large area. The second methodology that this paper looked into was of cloud computing. Cloud computing has numerous advantages. However under cloud computing an organization significantly becomes dependent on cloud computing after the switch. Moreover clouds have been known to experience significant down time in the past. List of References Basagni, S., Conti, M., Giordano, S. & Stojmenovic, I., 2013. Mobile Ad Hoc Networking: The Cutting Edge Directions. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Beheshti, S.A., 2011. Business Process on?Demand; Studying the Enterprise Cloud Computing and its Role in Green IT. Berlin: GRIN Verlag. Bhatnagar, S.C. & Bjorn-Andersen, N., 1988. Information Technology in Developing Countries. Amsterdam: Elsevier. Brewer, E., Demmer, M. & Du, B., 2002. The Case for Technology in Developing Regions. IEEE Computer Society, pp.25-37. Carter, N., Klein, R. & Day, P., 1995. How Organisations Measure Success: The Use of performance indicators in government sectors. London: Routledge. Choi, S. & Lee, B.G., 2008. 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