Data Communication and Networks Assignment

Purpose of the assignment:

The purpose of this assignment is to exercise and develop skills required to analyse and design networks to address the need of clients. In this assessment, students will be able to

• Understand the basic concepts and principles of technology relating to electronic data communications and computer networking
• Demonstrate a basic understanding of terminology of network communications technology, network operating systems and network applications
• Articulate the difference between different types of network configurations and indicate the situations in which various options are best/most appropriate
• Understand and explain different role of networking and network operating systems for information systems
• Appreciate the need for different types of networks

Assignment requirements:

All three scenarios should be addressed. Use the instructions within each scenario to prepare a report.

Scenario 1:

You must install a network with 20 computers for a new business that wants to run TCP/IP and have access to the Internet. The ISP in town will assign you only two public IP addresses, so you decide to assign the computers addresses in the range of 172.16.1.1/16 to 172.16.1.125/16. You also need to install a network monitoring tool to the central server to monitor network activities which shows status of each computer in the network. You need to report the following to your supervising boss before you are assigned with the project.

Part I:

Identify a freeware tool that can monitor the entire network and show status of each computer in the network. Install and explore this freeware.

Produce a report which details the identified tool and its features. You should use a number of screenshots of the tool and its features that will help you to monitor network activities.

Scenario 2:

You are hired as a consultant to place a WiFi network (for 50-60 customers) for which you need to carry out WiFi scanning, to notify you of all the nearest and closest Access points (APs), as well as identify if the networks are 802.11/a, 802.11/b or 802.11/g. Also, its main features should include AP information (SSID, MAC Address) and signal quality chart. Your wireless network should be supported by 2 servers (Web and email servers) that are connected to LAB of 20 users. You need to report the following to your supervising boss before you are assigned with the project.

Part I:

Identify a freeware tool for wifi scanning that can report all the required activities mentioned in the case details of scenario 2. Install and explore this freeware.

Produce a report which details the identified tool and its features. You should use a number of screenshots of the tool and its features that will help you to monitor network activities.

Scenario 3:

You have been called in to consult on a new network design for CNT Books. The requirements of this design are summarized as follows:

• The building has three floors.
• There are 300 user workstations and 10 servers.
• Users must be grouped according to the projects they're working on, but the users for each project are located on all three floors.
• There must be fault tolerance for communicating between the floors.
• Performance analyzing tool to evaluate performance and QoS of the network.

Part I:

Identify a freeware tool for performance and QoS evaluation tool. Install and explore this freeware.

Produce a report which details the identified tool and its features. You should use a number of screenshots of the tool and its features that will help you to monitor network activities.