Network Design

Introduction

The proposal provided in this essay is based on the requirements of the customer and the limitations of the network. The operational requirements are based on an upgradable physical structure that lies within the budget of the organization. The response time is a critical requirement of the network. Also, the network provides high security and privacy as other forms of non-functional requirement of the customer. To achieve this, robust and frequently updated products are used in the implementation of the network. In order to ensure that the company is not confined within its present development area, room for expansion and future growth has been taken into account in the design. The future proofing techniques and selection of quality products are aimed at providing the customer with long-term return on investment.

The aim of this report is to provide a detailed report for the design of a network model suitable for implementation in Dooma-Flochies. Dooma-Flochies, which has its offices at Trumansburg, NY, is a manufacturing company which aims at moving its business to an online based sales model. Furthermore, the company has three locations all of which have to be interconnected. The module of E-commerce is necessary to enable the company to participate in online transactions. Some of the major design considerations of the business include security and high performance. The design should also make it easy for the manager to remotely control the network.

Customer Requirement Analysis and Specification

Gathering the requirements of the customer is a crucial step to the success of the design of the network. Various requirement elicitation methods have been used to gather and document the requirements of the customer. To ensure that volatility of the requirements does not occur during the design and implementation of the network, a software requirement document has been developed. Thus, it serves as a contract between the customer and the developer to ensure that all the specifications of the customer are taken into account during the design of the network as cited during the elicitation process. In addition, it protects the contractor from any requirement changes that may be incorporated by the user in the midst of the design process. One of the major processes that have been extensively used to gather user requirements is the Joint Application Design. This method has been favorable due to some of the following advantages:

• Extensive user involvement in the process ensures that all requirements are taken into account. As a result, the user is provided with a chance to express their mind about their view of the system. The result of is a fully documented information system that solves any ambiguity that may rise if the system designer was to do it all alone;
• Group dynamics are effectively used. The involvement of a large number of the organizations personnel ensures that every section of the organization is addressed. This design model also provides the customer with the chance to contribute on necessary adjustments they may feel not comfortable within the system. This promotes teamwork with the customer since they feel to be a part of the development team;
• The method is successful because it lowers the development time and consequently the cost since the design is straight forward and avoids jumbled requirement design. The design is customer oriented and this framework is usually important since the end user readily accepts the result. Maintenance issues are resolved quickly since most of the implementation errors are addressed in the requirement analysis and specification phase.

The structure of the organization is made up of 8 departments with each department possessing 100 employees. The employees are randomly distributed in the three sites as tabulated.

Unlike the other sites, the department at the headquarters has employees from all the 8 functional departments. One can use the table to see how the other sites are fair in employee distribution per department.

Modes of Connectivity

The geographical dispersion of the company’s sites calls for the need of different modes of connectivity. With the headquarters situated in Trumansburg (New York) and a manufacturing unit in Lake Ridge (New York) the company has recently acquired another manufacturing unit in Dime Box (Texas). The company should interconnect the different branches in order to enhance a smooth running. Other additional connections involve connecting to the president’s summer and winter homes in order to enhance monitoring of the company whenever he is in any of the two places. The department of sales should also be able to have remote access to the network from any location. Delaware, an external company that manages the company’s network must also be able to access and control the network. This geographical dispersion simulates the need for a WAN connection. The service provider of every site must use an MPLS VPN. At the headquarters since all the branches of the company stem from it, a redundancy is provided using Cisco VPN. Thus, this provides a secure connection for the two site branches as well as providing room for any external connection. Doing this ensures that communication between the branches and the external world is monitored and filtered from a central point. A fast connection of fiber is introduced between the warehouse and the Datacenter in the Headquarter site. It is for a reason that extraction of requested data is not delayed in processing. The fiber cables are to go through a tube beneath the train tracks. This design is adopted from the assumption that the company owns the train tracks and they can pass the tubes below without undergoing a legal process of acquisition and possession.

Requirements of E-Commerce

The aim of the company is a transition into an online based sales structure. The company requires a website that is available at all times. The interface of the site must provide customers with the ability to place orders make payments with their preferred mode. Also, it should be able to track the orders they have chosen for effective billing. The details of the customer orders must be made available for the sales, finance, production, shipping and warehousing departments. To enhance security of the users, the module of the E-commerce shall be located in a DMZ which shall provide a link to the internal server. The DMZ is essential to ensure effective implementation of firewalls. The internal server will be running the Microsoft Dynamic ERP system. This software will provide with all necessary administrative tools that will enhance management of the company’s inventory and production resources. The transactions will also be secure since the ERP system will use the VPN concentrator to provide secure logins to financial companies including but not limited to Visa, American Express, and MasterCard among others.

IP Telephony and Videoconferencing

Implementation of a successful telephony is done using the Cisco call manager that will connect exclusively using SIP trunks. This is done to eliminate the need for a Voice Gateway that uses TI cards. The call manager is designed to provide signaling to all the phones that will be located in the headquarters. Cisco 2951 routers are used to provide signaling to the other phones in the different branches. The CM is licensed to use at most 700 telephones. Since the cost of implementing the videoconferencing exceeds the estimated budget, alternative methods of conferencing will be used. This includes the use of personal assistant applications like Google on handheld devices such as iPhones. The gadgets will then be connected to the network through access to a wireless network at specific hotspots in every department. Monitoring of the organizations resources shall be effective and since meetings can be held virtually and, the different department leaders will share current information and statistics.

Remote Network Management

Providing a remote management is essential especially for the sales department. However, due to the cost involved and constraints in the current budget, it is hard to meet the installation requirements of the company. A contract with a third party network service company that specializes exclusively at the provision of the network is implemented. The main aim of the company is to provide a workable backend and a user front end that will enable the users to access the network from any location in the field. This will be provided by third party user interface software such as TeamViewer. The contract with the third party should be cost effective to leave overhead profits once Dooma-Flochies is billed. The third party company shall also be in charge of maintenance and troubleshooting of the network. Also, it shall provide preliminary services such as registering with new users and incorporating them in the contacts directory. Other services may include consultation with the management and sales department to determine whether there is a need for upgrades.

Warranty

To enhance maximum performance and ensure that the network does not break down easily, the Cisco SmartNet warranty is used. The devices are supplied by the same manufacture in order to increase discount and also the upgrading of the system shall be done with the same specifications. Any non-network device shall be purchased and installed with a 1 year warranty.

IP Addressing

The addressing scheme used considers the HQ and also takes into account all other branches of the company. Both the private and public addresses are to be used to give access both to the internal personnel and the outside world. Since each site has a dedicated VLAN, the scheme provides addresses that will enable virtual networks to expand. The private networks will use class C of IP addresses with VLSM to enhance security against intrusions. With the anticipated growth of the organization once it launches E-commerce, the company will have a DHCP to enable the dynamic change of the Subnet masks. The dynamic protocol will also guarantee secure logins for the online shopper and this will increase their confidence in the site. Tabulation of the address required for each branch is illustrated below.

IP Addressing DimeBox

IP Addressing HQ

IP Addressing Lake-Ridge

Routing Protocol

Since performance is a key factor in the implementation of this system design, using a protocol the increases the access and response time are critical to the system. Therefore, this design utilizes the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) as the recommended protocol. Another factor that contributes to the choosing of this protocol is the ease of its implementation and it rhymes well within the budget constraint. The OSPF has various advantages, for example, compared to the RIP which has an upper limit of 15 routers placed on it, the OSPF has no limitation placed on it and, this makes it ideal to enhance the growth of an organization. It also has the power to handle large networks and as a result, it can regulate the IP packets being transferred over a given time frame. Further, the OSPF provides with a large number of classes for dividing the network. Since it also uses a link state algorithm, it has a higher coverage diameter. These among the fact that it uses less bandwidth are the various reasons why OSPF is suitable for implementation.

HQ Floor Plan

A wireless connection that connects the administration department and the production department

Fiber optic cable connects the administration department and the shipping and warehousing department.

Lake-Ridge Floor Plan

Devices Description and Estimated Budget

Conclusion

The design of the network commences only after the customer requirements and specification have been taken into account. Various methods are used to elicit and document the requirements. However, this design company concentrates on Joint Design development due to the advantages it offers as seen above. Customer involvement and consideration take paramount attention in order to meet the objectives of the project which are performance and security. Interaction with the customer is also well designed to ensure that they are protected since they purchase goods from the firm. This is done to increase their confidence and as a result, attract more potential customers. The network design is from the requirements of the customer and works within the budget constraints and need of the customer. The network utilizes all forms of network connectivity from fiber optic to wireless connection to increase the performance. WAN connectivity is implemented using modern technology unlike the internal network that needs upgrading once funds are available.