Networking Fundamentals - Network design
Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping)
This assignment assesses the basic concepts of networking design; students should be able to demonstrate their achievements in the following unit learning outcomes:
- Recognize network topologies, media types and network components;
- Identify the network (OSI) layers at which various network devices operate;
- Use some basic tools/utilities for network analysis;
- Employ basic cabling and network design techniques to connect devices.
Assignment Description
Imagine you are a network administrator for Arr Company. The company has six offices in the city of Melbourne and the surrounding suburbs. You need to prepare a networking solution that enables employees in all six offices to communicate both internally in that office and, to a lesser extent, between the other offices. The farthest distance between any two offices is 70 kilometres. Most user resource requirements are met by servers located in the same office as the users who need to access them. The main communication requirements between offices relate to e-mail and periodic file transfers. You have been promised a budget sufficient to meet the requirements, but you have also been told to keep costs to a minimum.
The company's head office, on the other hand, occupies the top three floors of a building within the Melbourne CBD. Other companies have offices on the floors below. The head office consists of three departments: general support, marketing, and sales. General support occupies the first of the three floors, while marketing and sales are on the second floor and third respectively. General support has 32 workstations, marketing has 20 workstations, and sales has 38 workstations. Some applications require that data be transferred between departments, but generally, each department has its own applications. Everyone needs access to the Internet, the company internal Internet (intranet), and e- mail. You want to design the network that is as easy to manage as possible. You want to minimise the potential impact of problems on any one floor to the other two floors. You are implementing this network as a wired network.
Tasks
Write a report that address the following Criteria.
1. Your report should include a brief introduction at the beginning of the report
2. Report should include relevant references and should be properly cited in text using the IEEE style of referencing.
3. Design a wide area network solution for this company showing all the six office locations and any interconnecting devices such as routers, if any are used. What are some of the potential concerns related to the connections between the offices?
4. Design a local area network solution for the company's head office showing the locations of all workstations and interconnecting devices, such as hubs, switches, and routers, if any are used. Show also the connection that provides Internet access.
5. Discuss the type of local area network wiring you would recommend and provide reasons to support your recommendation.
6. Discuss the type of local area network topology and protocol that you would recommend.
7. Draw a floor plan for each floor at the company's head office. If possible, show both floor plans on one page.
Use the following assumptions:
- Available hubs and switches have a maximum of 24 ports.
- Some software applications and large data sets reside on departmental servers.
- To support e-mail, a server is needed.
- To support the company intranet, a server is needed.
- The company does not have an unlimited budget but is willing to invest in quality technology.
- The company does not have an unlimited budget but is willing to invest in quality technology.
8. Provides a comprehensive summary of the work done