IT, Web

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

Explain the functions between hardware and software in a network
Design a simple network
Design and implement a secure interconnected network in support of an organization
Scenario
Throughout this course, you have been writing various reports as parts of Milestones One and Two for an advertising firm that is opening a new office in Fayetteville, NC.

This mid-size advertising firm already has offices in Albany, NY, and Springfield, MA. The Albany headquarters is home to the executive team and 150 employees. The headquarters also stores the corporate data and is the corporate internet backbone. It hosts the IT department that centrally manages all LAN services, including the wireless LAN. The IT department also manages the wide area network (WAN) that connects the two offices via site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) tunnels. The Springfield office hosts about 50 employees. Approximately 50% of these employees are mobile, defined as traveling more than 80% of the time.

To hire and retain the best talent, the firm allows employees to work from home. This removes the constraint that employees have to live within commuting distance from the firm’s offices. Remote and mobile employees are provided access to the corporate network via a VPN client. The VPN client requires employees to have access to reliable internet services to allow for effective collaboration across teams and for access to media content. The company provides all employees with a laptop with full disk encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), and antivirus software. The IT department manages all corporate laptops and has the ability to log into all systems for support. This means that all laptops are centrally managed by the one IT department.

Due to an increase in opportunities for expansion to new markets, the firm has embarked on an initiative to hire and train new college graduates for the company’s Future Vision program. Future Vision focuses on expansion beyond the regional northeast footprint. The initiative is to hire graduates into the marketing, finance, and IT departments. You were hired as part of the Future Vision program and have been working at this for some time now. You have spent a considerable portion of your time troubleshooting and analyzing the organization’s computer network to keep it running smoothly. Your direct supervisor and lead network administrator have been very impressed with your skills and fast learning abilities.

To determine whether you are ready to take on more responsibility, you have been asked for your input regarding the new Fayetteville, NC, office setup project. Your task is to conduct research on this area and deliver a report to the team with key considerations and recommendations for the setup of the network infrastructure. The Fayetteville office will be home to 50 employees, including the new executive vice president of sales and marketing. All the possible sites have offices located in an office building with access to fiber, cable, and T1 internet service providers. In addition to the standard network, the site must support live video teleconferencing calls with employees based at the other sites. It must also reliably send print jobs to billboard printers located in the company headquarters in Albany.

Directions
The primary goal of the project is to consolidate your findings from Milestones One and Two and compose a succinct and complete solution that you will present to the firm’s executive leadership team about the type of network they should design and implement at the new location.

It is recommended that you incorporate the feedback you received from your instructor on Milestones One and Two. You can use this feedback to succinctly refine your recommendations into a polished report.

Specifically, the following areas must be addressed in the report for the project:

I. Key Considerations

Explain your key considerations for the project.
Explain the OSI stack in relation to a modern communications network and how it influenced your network design.
Describe the important IP range considerations for a company of your size.
Summarize, in your own language, the strategic goals of the company, and detail how the network solution you are presenting aligns with these goals.
Remember that these key considerations were addressed in Milestone One:
Communications media and mode of data transport for the new network
Common network hardware components for this new location
In addition, you can make relevant changes to your report based on your instructor’s feedback from Milestone One.
II. LAN Topology

In Milestone One, you described the LAN topology possibilities and the strengths and weaknesses.
Provide your final revised solution for optimal support that may include any feedback from the instructor from previous milestones.
III. Internet Service Provider

In Milestone Two, you described the possible ISP solutions available to meet the needs of the company in its new location. The section was based on your research into actual providers at the Fayetteville, NC, location.
This section should include an explanation as to how the chosen internet provider meets the business goals and objectives of the firm.
Provide your solution, along with any feedback from the instructor.
IV. Hardware and Software, Printer, and Bandwidth: In this section, you will include these additional parts from Milestone Two in your report. You can use your diagram from Milestone Two as a starting point for these three items.

Explain your proposed hardware and software solutions to meet the needs of the new office location.
Describe your printer configuration solutions to meet the distance printing needs of the new office location.
This could include considerations for tracking devices, automating driver distribution, and controlling access.
Explain your bandwidth and device solutions to meet the teleconferencing needs of the new office location.
V. Potential Errors: In this section, you will discuss common network errors and how your proposed solution will minimize and address these issues.

Based on your previous report, anticipate common network errors that the new location may encounter.
Describe effective troubleshooting approaches to the errors you identified, such as problem isolation, trace routing, and pinging.
Explain how these approaches would ensure the resolution of the errors. Be sure your response is specific to the business location.
VI. Additional Considerations: In this section, you will make recommendations for industry standard documentation for ongoing network support.

Identify options for network monitoring that includes maintenance for network hardware and software (for example, port scanning, interface monitoring, packet flow monitoring, etc.).
Identify patch management options that will help acquire, test, and install multiple patches on existing applications.
Describe how you will control inventory, including how to discover and track assets on your network.
As you develop your work, continue to look back on and consider each of these key elements. Remember, writing is a process that unfolds over time, and it typically requires reconsideration and revision of key elements.

What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Your report must be 3 to 5 pages in length. Use double-spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA formatting.

ANSWER

Milestone 1: Network Infrastructure Set-up

Every business has different goals and objectives that need to be considered before deciding on the network infrastructure that needs to be structured for the organization. Understanding the network goals is also essential to create an ideal IT network for the company. The business should optimize the IT network according to the goals of the business thus ensuring that the network must fit the business specifications. Relatively, the capacity of the network will vary depending on the business needs. Relatively, the location of the business was determined by practicality, reliability, expense, and environment. These factors played a big role in determining the location since they enable businesses to get the best infrastructure in place for the business. For instance, Fayetteville is a low-cost point that has a good setup environment for business.

Because the network will be integrated within different locations in the new office, there is a need to be mindful of the different connected devices. Therefore, the network will have a virtual network setup that will enable the company to accommodate everyone in the network. The virtual network will allow the individuals and the business to develop a network that exists between the connection devices (Jyothi and Reddy, 2018). This will allow a lot of benefits from remote access abilities and fixing issues. The network will rely on Full-Duplex which entails data transmission mode where data tends to flow in both directions at the same time. This is a two-way communication that allows both stations to receive and transmit the data simultaneously. Since every device that has to be connected on a network has a unique identifier, most of the computers and devices to be used in the business have an IP which will be the standard to communicate to the network. The IP is a layered protocol but does not rely on all the OSI layers although all the layers are equivalent in function and operation.

Since the new office is only one floor that needs to accommodate 50 employees, the setup of network hardware components should be easier to manage. Therefore, the devices that will be set-up will include desktops for all employees, switches, routers, wireless access points, and laptops for the mobile employees. Ideally, the protocols will have to work on point-to-point routers, switches, servers, wireless access points, and firewalls. The infrastructure of VPN has to select devices that are user-friendly, interoperable and compatible with the network model and appliances (Comer, 2018).

There is a need to determine the type of network to be used as well as the LAN typology of the network. The typology is the logical and physical arrangement of the network The basic LAN typologies include Mesh, Bus, ring and Star typology (Bisht and Singh, 2015). The BUS typology would be ideal for the network design since its being used in an office within the same location. This is because it transmits data in one direction and connects all devices through a single cable. Bus typology is cost-effective, essential for small networks, and easily understood. However, in case one cable fails the network fails. The star typology will allow the use of a coaxial cable that will allow data flow with every node having its single connection to the central hub (Bisht and Singh, 2015). The setup is easy to troubleshoot and upgradable. In case one node fails the others will continue working smoothly. However, in case the central hub fails the whole network fails. The ring typology is easy to troubleshoot since each of the devices contains a repeater. However, it is challenging to install and reconfigure ring typology. Single loop failure leads to complete network failure. Mesh typology is easy to troubleshoot since every link is independent of the others. It’s also easy to recognize faults and isolate links with problems. However, with many devices, it becomes challenging to install and reconfigure.

For this case, Star Typology would be the most effective since it is easy to wire and install. There are no disruptions to the network while removing or connecting devices. Star typology allows easy detection of faults within the network. It is very reliable since in case one cable fails the others will continue to work smoothly. Additionally, it is high-performing since no data collision can be encountered. As compared to other typologies it offers better performance with a point-to-point connection. Ideally, the best networks are those that lower failures, increase flexibility, and have a redundancy factor.

Milestone 2:  Internet Service Provider

While choosing the Internet Service Provider, there are some factors that one needs to consider. These include availability, speed, reliability, cost, and type of connection (Joudeh and Dandis, 2018). It’s important to ensure that the internet is available and service with the area. Sufficient sped is essential to prevent disruption of daily use. Therefore, one has to consider bandwidth which is the volume of information per unit sustained by the transmission medium. An effective IPS needs to balance between price and speed in order to make sense. The type of connection determines the speed of the internet. Reliability is the biggest factor since unreliable internet is counterproductive and stressful (Joudeh and Dandis, 2018). Understanding the business needs and designing an effective network is important to the business operations. For instance, it is important to select an Internet service provider that can handle Newton Ad Agency’s tasks with good connectivity, reliability, and speed of transmission of the network outside the property.

The five best internet service providers within the Fayetteville area include AT&T, CenturyLink, Cox communication, Earth Link, and Windstream. After a close examination of the speed, security, availability, and reliability, EarthLink and AT&T were among the best internet service providers. AT&T relies on fiber and DSL for connection, while EarthLink relies on the fiber connection. EarthLink download speed is up to 1000mbps, while AT&T download speed is up to 940mbps. Both internet service providers indicate 99% reliability. Both internet providers have a high uptime guarantee despite the fact that there is a planned downtime that happens for maintenance and technical reasons. Ideally, high-security features within EarthLink and AT&T will be effective in securing information exchange within the network. Additionally, the high reliability and high-speed broadband will facilitate flexible operating models such as remote computer network access and smooth video conferencing. The data size capacity will also be effective in sharing data among clients and colleagues.

After reviewing the above-mentioned internet service providers and other internet service providers, there is seems to be a solution for the internet service demand at the new office. The most effective internet service provider would be AT&T which has both DSL and fiber connectivity, which will lend a great advantage to the company. Relatively, AT&T has unlimited speed and is extremely secure. AT&T will enable the advertising firm in global marketing communications and effectively provide advertising and branding services. AT&T has a high end to end solutions for clients and their information efficiently and swiftly. The high reliability and high-speed broadband will facilitate wide range of digital capabilities for the advertising company. Therefore, AT&T indicates high reliability and capability of achieving the business goals and objectives.

Hardware and software solutions will need to be considered to facilitate the success of the network. The hardware solutions include printers, laptops and computers, routers, and wireless access points (Comer, 2018). The office will require software solutions such as customer relationship management, sales and management tracking and automation, Microsoft office and accounting/financing software (Waszkowski, 2018). The developer team will be issued with Mackbook pros to generate and load customer requests. All other employees will be issued with Acer and HP laptops. Each floor will have its printer, most probably HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 All-in-One Printer, a multifunction printer with high connectivity. The printer has an outstanding quality output and great reliability, thus meeting the needs of each floor. The printer can print color pages in less than 10 seconds. This model provides an automatic two sided printing and the ability to scan to email, USB and the cloud. The printer can also print efficiently through the USB. This wireless printer will be effective in saving time, getting automatic two sided scanning, easy mobile printing, best in class security and seamless connections.

Everyone within the organization will be equipped with laptops that have cameras. Therefore, to meet the new office’s teleconferencing needs, the employees will rely on google hangouts and zoom for video conferencing, which are very affordable. The bandwidth for zoom high quality videos is 1.2mbps while google hangout uses 3.2mbps. Therefore, AT&T meets the required internet speed for high quality videos.  For instance, Google’s meeting room only goes for $5 per month and host about 15 individuals at a time. AT&T speed of up to 1000mbps, which offers the bandwidth solutions for the Google room meeting. The bandwidth qualifies for capability speed and performance with regards to Google room meeting requirements.

Network Layout

References

Bisht, N., & Singh, S. (2015). Analytical study of different network topologies. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 2(01), 88-90.

Comer, D. E. (2018). The Internet book: everything you need to know about computer networking and how the Internet works. Chapman and Hall/CRC.

Joudeh, J. M., & Dandis, A. (2018). Service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in internet service providers. International Journal of Business and Management, 13(8), 108-120.

Jyothi, K. K., & Reddy, B. (2018). Study on virtual private network (VPN), VPN’s protocols and security. International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology, 3(5), 919-932.

Waszkowski, R. (2018). Improving back office efficiency with business process management system. Research in Logistics & Production, 8.