Network Design Proposal Network Requirements

ABC School Stats/User Counts

Having a current strength of approximately 845 students, ABC School provides education from Pre-Kindergarten to the 12th Grade. According to the requirements of The New York School District, 250 Curriculum computers along with 75 Administration computers are to be installed. The requirements for the wiring per room of layer 1 are that it should adjust a total of 25 computers, 24 of which will be used for the curriculum, whereas one will be used for administrative purposes.

WAN Design

The model for the WAN is 2 layers of hierarchy having a total of 3 hubs, one connecting the District Office or the Data Center, one the Service Center, and the remaining one connecting the Black Hawk School. A Frame Relay WAN will be responsible for providing the required internet services.

IP Addressing

For all the hosts, interconnection devices, and servers an IP addressing program will be developed which can be Class A, B, or C. respectively. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) will be used by all the curriculum computers whereas static addresses will be utilized by the administrative ones.

Hardware/Software

Top quality communication alongside security should be the concern of the hardware and the software, adjusting for the requirements of the users as well as the redundancy.

LAN Design

Ethernet 10BaseT, 100BaseTX, and 100 BaseFX speeds must be supported by the LAN as well as establishing many IDFs and a MDF in the school. Administration and Curriculum should be the two segments of the LAN.

Security & Network Management

All applications should be protected by a dual firewall. Though the Administration Network will be allowed to access the Curriculum network, the Curriculum network will not be allowed to access the Administrator one. This can be achieved by utilizing the VLANs and/or ACLs. The security policy and anti-virus software should be present.

Section 1: The WAN Plan

This District will have 3 regional hubs, each connecting a total of 11 schools. New York District has 33 schools in total. The access to internet will be provided by the Data Center/District Office to the 11 schools using T1 lines and the other 2 hubs (Crockett, 2003).

WAN Implementation

Data Center/District Office consists of 8 T1's flowing in from the 2 hubs. Furthermore, 11 T1's are coming from those 11 schools respectively with T1 for the connection of the Internet. The handling capability should be of 20 T1 lines. 19 T1 lines which consist of 8 T1 lines from other hubs and 11 T1 lines for schools are supported by hubs of The ABC and Greenway C.O (One Stop Click, 2011; Power, 2002).

Internet Connectivity

A T1 Frame Relay line will be used for the Internet alongside the Pix 535 firewall that would permit access to the Ethernet PSTN Public Backbone. This will consist of one Master DNS server, one Master E-mail server, and one Apache Web server. There will be an Intrusion Detection System and ACLS at the router in the Data Office to stop any unauthorized Internet access. The Demilitarized Zone will be the space between the firewall and the router. This district will contain an Intranet Services Backbone which will have a Backup, Proxy, Database, E-mail, and Library, DNS, and Virus server. The hubs will provide access to the Internet to all these schools. Furthermore, a part-time internet access will also be available to the Community School in a remote location through ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) which is located in a distant location (One Stop Click, 2011; Power, 2002).

Section 2: IP Addressing Plan

A Class -- A address will be brought into use for the IP addressing which will enable it to stay hidden from unwanted hackers and users. 5 network addresses will be needed in each school, plus 8 bits will be borrowed from the address's host section which will result in 254 subnets that will have 65,534 hosts on each (ArrowMail., 2011; Power, 2002).

IP Addressing Scheme Summarized

• Class A Private Address

1. Borrowed Bits 8

2. Subnets 254

3. 65,534 Hosts every Subnet

4. Mask of subnet 255.255.0.0

• IP Address Network 10.0.0.0

• Added Security because of Private Address

• Supporting around 7 Subnets or Schools (ArrowMail., 2011; Power, 2002).

IP Addresses for Hubs & Schools

5 subnets will be allocated for every school respectively as indicated by the chart below (Learn Networking, 2008; Power, 2002).

ABC Network IP Addresses

10.6.0.0 Subnet has been designated to the curriculum network at ABC school, while 10.7.0.0 and 10.8.0.0 subnets have been designated...

VLANs and ACLs are used for network security; these are going to be discussed in the later sections. By making use of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), server IP addresses are assigned to each curriculum. There is even the availability of mobility, which becomes convenient for those students who do not use the same computer every time. This has become possible because of DHCP server. The overhead expense for the router can be reduced by assigning the IP address for the admin statically (Zandolie Networks, 2007; Power, 2002).
The Decision to choose RADD?

An ordinary network has not been provided by RADD networking; in fact a robust system has been created by making use of software and hardware. It would not be wrong to say that RADD presents a highly scalable network environment. This is the reason why RADD Networking Inc. is highly in demand these days (Davis, 2008; Power, 2002).

WAN Internet Security

A dual firewall would soon be implemented, this would result in blocking external traffic from getting access to the private network and this firewall implementation would create a demilitarized zone (DMZ), which would allow access to the public servers. Cisco PIX 535 is the firewall selection. Many functions can be performed by the Enterprise-Class security firewall which has 1.7 Gbps of firewall, which permits the running of 500,000 concurrent sessions. Concurrent sessions are very important because it enables the explorer to open multiple web pages at a time. PIX 535 firewall will be handling the inbound traffic for public servers and outbound traffic for students and faculty members of all schools and hubs. Examples of other specifications are; 256 KB level 2 at 1-GHz, 1-GHz Intel Pentium III Processor, two 64-bit/66-MHz PCIs,, 512MB or 1GB of SDRAM, and one 32-bit/33-MHz PCI (Davis, 2008; Power, 2002).

Switches

Cisco Catalyst 3750G-12S

For the LAN backbone, the ABC school have selected Cisco Catalyst 3750G-12S switch. With the help of fiber optic cables, the switch would connect IDF to the MDF. This switch consists of an intelligent service which is of enterprise level. This switch can operate at layer 2 as well as 3 and will provide support to ACLs and VLANs. It will provide excellent IP routing along with high speed of 32-Gbp stacking bus (McQuerry, 2004; Power, 2002).

Cisco Catalyst 2950G-24TS-E

At access layer no less than one Cisco Catalyst 2950G-24TS switch will be placed to support both the new 1-Gigabit devices and the old 10-Megabit devices. Using Gigabit in the workstation would be a wise decision because the technology is moving towards the Gigabit standards. With the improvement of technology, hardware will be able to support the Gigabit throughout. Once this actually takes place, then ABC would save money because it would no longer be in a need to purchase new switches. 24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 M-bps ports and four SPF-based Gigabit Ethernet ports are provided by 2970 switch. 4-port SPF model has a capability to provide expandability and future growth, which is why it has been selected. Just like 3750, 2950 can also operate in layer 2 and 3 and it also provides support to VLANs and ACLs. Another feature of the switch is Voice over IP (McQuerry, 2004; Power, 2002).

Routers (Layer 3)

Cisco Catalyst 6506

The routing needs of WAN Layer 3 would be met by the Cisco Catalyst 6506 switch. This switch can also perform high district switching as well. This switch delivers secure services at the center layer. It blocks any incoming connections from the Internet and it even includes the Intrusion Detection System (IDS). Support is provided to the 20 T-1 lines by the Cisco Catalyst 6506 and it further assists in future growth (McQuerry, 2004; Power, 2002).

LAN Router

When the WAN needs of the school came into consideration then selection of Cisco 2621XM router took place. The switches present in Layer 3 will be performing complete local routing while Internet and WAN traffic is left behind to transverse the router. This router is limited to 1.45-Mbps. 2621 router performs at 30-Mbps and consists of 32 to 128 MB of DRAM. The flash memory of this router is 16 to 48 MB. Moreover, LAN connectivity is provided by two Fast-Ethernet ports. For WAN connectivity, a T1 interface port is in place (McQuerry, 2004; Power, 2002).

Servers

Linux is an operating system which is free of cost and very few viruses are written on it. Servers which are based on Linux are going to be used for security purposes and also for saving money. Such servers are easily maintained with secure software like SSH (McQuerry, 2004; Power, 2002).

Workgroup Servers

Dell Power Edge 2650 will installed that possess up to 2 Intel® Xeon Processors. The desired range of processor will…