SBM4104 IT Infrastructure-The Computer Network

Computer network is the interconnection of computing devices such as data, printers, servers for communication and of sharing resources (Mitchell, 2017) in an organization. There are many designs or topology related to organizational computer networking like iTech Company. This document therefore, gives a network design for iTech Company that ought to be implemented either using dedicated server or cloud hosting approach for better services for the organization.

Project Objective

The proposed network design project is focused on achieving certain objectives that are very important for tiTech organisation in dispensing its functions more efficiently and effectively contrary to the current situation (Coleman, 2012). The main objectives for this project are:

Scalability 

This involve enhancement of accommodation of additional network devices without affecting the structure of the set up network design.

Effective services

The new project is aimed at ensuring that iTech company is able to conduct is functions effectively without encountering network failures or delays as a result of network inefficiency.

iTech Network Security

The proposed network design should provide a secure environment for all the operations and functions of iTech Company. The network also should be secure in order to avoid external or internal attacks towards the company IT infrastructure

Easy troubleshooting and management 

The proposed design should be easy to manage and also troubleshoot in case of any problem. The network design should provide clear monitoring techniques across all the networks of iTech Company.

This report covers a number of tissues related to the proposed design. These are; analysis of the IT infrastructure components need, three-layered hierarchical network model design, dedicated server design, cloud-based network design and DCB network simulation using cisco packet tracer. Recommendations and conclusions are also provided in this report.

About of iTech Company

This is a software development related company being located between three adjacent five-story buildings in an office park. The company currently has 900-computers in its network with each building approximately having about 300 computers. The three adjacent buildings of ITech Company have similar Local Area Network with Data Center Buildng (DCB) located on the second floor of one of the buildings. The data center provides services such as web services and emailing as well as dynamic IP addresses, DNS and file sharing services to iTech employees. iTech domain name is www.iTech.org.au. And the company is currently experiencing challenges as a result of its poorly designed network.

IT Infrastructure Components

These are various hardware, software as well as facilities required for development, testing, monitoring and control of computer network in an organisation (Rush, 2017). In the case of iTech Company, the following are components of IT infrastructure that will be needed for designing the new network.

Computer Hardware Components

These are more important IT infrastructure of network designs. They consist of various hardware components such as:

1. Switches

This hardware device provides connectivity of devices on a Local Area Network (LAN). (Mitchell, 2017). In the case of iTech Company modular switches will be more appropriate as they enhance scalability since the number of ports can be increased in the case of additional device to the network.

1. Firewall

This is a security device that will be placed in the network and it filters what comes in and what goes out of iTech Network thus protecting the company from attacks or unautorised persons.

1. Fiber cable

This serves as a transmission media that connects various networking devices to the network.  Fiber cable will be used to connect network backbones from the core layer to distribution layer and finally to the access layer of the iTech network design.

1. Wireless Access Point (WAP)

This is a networking device that creates wireless LAN referred to WLAN. This device broadcast Wi-Fi signal within the buildings thus allowing more end user devices to be connected to the network.

1. Data center

This is where all the iTech Company servers will be located for access and storage of information by iTech employees or clients.

1. Router

The routers are devices that will connect the network to the internet. The router will provide embedded device encryption acceleration, slots for digital signal processing (DSP) slots, firewall, prevent intrusion, processing call, application services and voice calls.

1. Server/Storage Components

These are components that manage access to shared resources and services in a network. This include the mail server, DNS server, DHCP server, Web server, file server, Database server and print server.

Software Components

These are server operating systems, Network Operating System (NOS) and some directory software which are essential in managing resources shared across the iTech Network (Mbaocha, 2012).

Three-Layer Hierarchical Model

This model breaks down organization network into three layers. With each layer performing specific functions in simplifying the network design thus making it scalable and manageable (CISCO, 2014). These layers are;

Access layer which provides direct end user connection to the rest of the network.

Distribution layer which connects devices at access layer enabling connectivity of access layer to network services

Core layers. This connects distribution layers’ devices to large Network in the organization.

This model is diagrammatically represented below.

Therefore, if the proposed network design for iTech Company is implemented using this approach it will make it easy for iTech Company to manage the whole network as well as enhance extensibility of their network in future. The company will be able to manage the big number of workstations in its buildings as well as improve service delivery speed.

Current iTech Infrastructure

The current network design is not well organized. The network can be said to have a Flat network model in place which treats iTech networks to be on the same level. This makes it harder to manage iTech network and also perform its operations effectively. The current poorly designed network at iTech Company cannot be extended effectively without affecting the whole network operations. The network is difficult to trouble shoot considering there is no clear structure of the design and this make it more vulnerable to problems.  The network can be said to be of this model.

Future iTech Infrastructure

The intended future design is based on three-layer hierarchical design model. This network will highlight each component represented in each layer of the iTech Network. With the proposed design iTech network will be more simplified, flexible, scalable, and made easy to troubleshoot and manage (Cisco, 2013). The block structure of the future network will take the following structure.

Geographical scope of the network

Considering the location of iTech Company buildings and structure, the geographical scope requirement for this network design project would be many-to-many. This means that in many-to-many geographical scope, Devices in the network and iTech LANs will be interconnected with respect to hierarchical model discussed. This is discussed in details below.

Access Layer

This layer provides an interface with end user devices such as the computers, IP phones, printers, to enable access to the whole of the iTech Network. The main purpose of this layer is to ensure that it connects networking devices to the network and control the mode of communication located to each network (CISCO, 2014). Here many access layer devices may be connected to a number of switches on each of the iTech buildings considering the number of offices available on each building. The access layer in each building with about 300 computers interconnects and converges to the distribution layer of the network design. The access layer for each floor of the a given iTech Company Building will resemble the diagram below

Distribution Layer

The layer provides an interface between both the access layer components and the core components in the network.it is in this layer that network access functionalities, intelligent routing and switching services occurs. Differentiation of services is done where various services are grouped into classes at the edge of the whole network design. This, enhance high availability of the core services to the access layer end user devices

Core Layer

This layer consists of hardware devices such as routers which enables network functions such as routing in order for these devices to be able to access both the external and internal network. The data Center is also part of the core layer as it provides services to access layer devices. This layer joins distribution layer switches which interfaces access devices to the rest of iTech Network. The layer enables scalability, services access, availability and high speed operations.

The geographical scope of the iTech Company network design can be represented in the diagram below as per the three-layer hierarchical model discussed.

iTech Network Scalability

the proposed network design is grouped into modules which will enable iTech Company to replicate various network components and functionalities as the network expands. This will make the iTech Network able to conduct future network expansion more easily.  This can be done by introduction of more distribution layer switches to accommodate more access layer end users or addition of more core layer devices to accommodate additional workstations operations in the network (Guide, 2011) . 

A dedicated server is a centralized computer device that stores information and allows sharing and accessibility of that information by various workstations in a network (Hope, 2017). There is various numbers of servers that iTech Company will need in their network. These servers will perform various functions within the network and across the entire organization at large. Some of these servers include;

1. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server

This server automatically assigns IP addresses and default gateways to other devices connected to the network (Rouse, File Server, 2009).  .

1. Mail Server

This application manages transfer of emails between workstations

1. Web Server

Provides http services to the user’s requests resulting from calling of a web page file hosted in this server. iTech domain name www.iTech.org.au will be hosted here and accessed by its employees or clients.

1. DNS Server

This server matches the domain names with their associated IP addresses within the iTech network. It processes requests from the users and locate the response using the IP address of the respective users.

Logical Design for dedicated server design

The logical design for the dedicated server design for iTech network can be represented in the diagram below.Servers are hosted on the iTech Data Center. All the requests from the workstations in each building are being processed at the data center where all the servers are located.

IP addresses and Network Mask

Class B of IP address scheme would be appropriate for the proposed network design at iTech Company. This IP Addrssing Scheme should cataer for about 1500 network devices in this network with each iTech building approximately 500 users. The range of the IP address should cater for additional device into the network. The table below shows the proposed IP addressing Scheme to be used by iTech Company.Table a: IP addressing details

Table b: IP Addressing for iTech Buildings

The IP addressing shown above will accommodate any new person or device connected to the iTech Network thus facilitating scalability.There is various cloud based organization that offers networking services to business organizations such as iTech Company. Instead of designing its own dedicated server network, iTech Company could seek services from cloud computing organizations such as;

a) Navisite

This provides cloud services to enterprises, management of applications and hosting services for organizations in order to simplify IT resources management and reduce management costs. It uses the latest technologies for designing, building, deploying and management of information systems and applications for various organizations such as iTech Company. Organizations host their servers at Navisite cloud such as databases, web servers, file servers among others. It also provides infrastructure-as-a-service (Iaas) which enhances speed and flexibility in performing of business operations. With Navisite, itech would be able to manage its work force effectively via cloud desktop services which also allows scalability via accommodation of new devices into the cloud environment of an organization such as iTech (Navisite, 2017).

b) VMware Cloud Foundation

This is a cloud service provider which provides services such as storage, advanced networking integration of enterprise environment and data recovery services. VMware has advanced security measures for its services which include secure private network and compliance certificates. It also provides enterprise IT platforms for modernization of data centers which enables organizations to address their needs without having to change the processes (Rouse, VMware Cloud Foundation , 2017). This cloud service provider end to end support for application and network services deployment.

The two organizations are more appropriate for iTech Organization should it go for cloud base design approach. The two organizations are scalable, accessible and secured and this means iTech operations cannot be interfered with since services provided are more reliable (cloud-services, 2017).

The cloud design would depict this network design for communication across iTech network with data center in cloud.

iTech Network design can be simulated using cisco packet tracer software as below. This screenshot represents PCs and switches as devices of access layer with DHCP, DNS and Web servers. The IP address for this simulation is 192.30.1.0/24 which is a class B IP Address. 

The DHCP server is configured to assign IP addresses to all the devices in the network automatically (Meena, 2017). From this simulation the PCs in the network are able to view the web files hosted on the web server in this access network. The DNS server matches the iTech web files hosted on the web server while the web server hosts iTech Company website and web applications.

192. Assign the DHCP server an IP Address 192.30.1.1 and fill in the DNS server IP Address on the DNS Server field statically.
193. Select DHCP service. Then, fill the Pool Name, Default Gateway, DNS Server, Starting IP Address, Subnet Mask and Maximum number of users fields.

1. First, open DNS Server. then select desktop option, IP Configuration and the chose the DHCP option for automatic assignment of the IP Address.
2. Provides the Web Server name and IP address and click Add Button. The Web server will be added to the list of web servers available in the network.
3. Finally, select ON option to finish DNS Server configuration process.

Dynamic Network Configuration

Any client connected is dynamically assigned IP Address by the DHCP Server. To simulate this on clicking the client PC, open the desktop window and choose IP Configuration Tab. Then on opening the IP configuration Window select DHCP for automatic assignment of the IP Address. This can be demonstrated using PC1 interface below as demonstrated in cisco packet tracer.The PC1 connected to iTech network is assigned IP Address 192.30.1.2 dynamically as shown above.

Web Server Access 

Click on one of the the client’s PC in this case we are using PC1 as shown in the logical diagram above. Open the Desktop and select Web Browser.

Then on the url section type www.iTech.org.au and click go to access the web page on the web server as seen below..The url (www.itech.org.au) will connect PC1 to the web server where the referred web page is located.

Conclusions

Therefore, I suggest that iTech should implement their new network design based on the proposed structure explained in this report since it is clear that the proposed iTech network design would be easier to manage and more scalable than the current structure. The differentiation of functions in the network will also ensure that the company is able to avoid the current challenges it is facing as a result of its current poorly designed network.

Reference

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CISCO. (2014). Campus Design Summary. Singapore: Cisco.

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Macken, T. (2016). Azure Resource Manager and Classic Deployment. Microsoft.

Mbaocha, C. C. (2012). DESIGN OF CAMPUS LAN WITH FUTO AS A CASE STUDY. Federal University of Technology. Academic Research International.

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Navisite. (2017). Cloud Computing Companies. Retrieved September 11, 2017, from Navisite: https://navisite/Cloud Computing Companies _ Spectrum Enterprise _ Navisite.html

Rouse, M. (2009). File Server. Network Hardware, 1.

Rouse, M. (2017). VMware Cloud Foundation . VMworld 2017 conference coverage, 1-4.

Rush, J. (2017, May 2). Blogs. Retrieved September 12, 2017, from BMC: https://www.bmc.com/blogs/what-is-it-infrastructure-and-what-are-its-components.