LOCAL AREA NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES: A Comprehensive Guide for FootFall Field Marketing Ltd.

LOCAL AREA NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1. Understand the impact of LAN technologies.........................................................................4
A.C 1.1 critically evaluate different LAN technologies..............................................................4
A.C 1.2 critically analyse traffic intensive services and their performance................................8
A.C 1.3 Discuss LAN concerns and make recommendations to sustain network security,
reliability and performance........................................................................................................10
LO2.Be able to design LAN infrastructures..................................................................................12
A.C 2.1 design a LAN infrastructure for the company which will facilitate all of their
requirements..............................................................................................................................12
A.C 2.2 critically evaluate the suitability of LAN components.................................................14
LO3. Be able to implement LAN infrastructures...........................................................................17
A.C 3.1 Build and configure a LAN (including services) to meet a given requirement...........17
A.C 3.2 Implement network security on a LAN........................................................................18
A.C 3.3 critically review and test a LAN...................................................................................19
LO4. Be able to manage LAN infrastructures...............................................................................24
A.C 4.1 Critically discuss how this LAN infrastructure will be monitored and managed (via
troubleshooting) if there is an issue during post-implementation period..................................24
A.C 4.2 Resolve LAN issues to improve security, reliability and performance........................25
A.C 4.3 Critically evaluate the performance of a LAN.............................................................25
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................26
References......................................................................................................................................27
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List of Figures
Figure 1: STP...................................................................................................................................4
Figure 2: VTP..................................................................................................................................5
Figure 3: Active packet in case of a failed router............................................................................5
Figure 4: Layer 2 switch..................................................................................................................6
Figure 5: Layer 3 switch router........................................................................................................6
Figure 6: NIC...................................................................................................................................8
Figure 7: Example of the Precedence of access...............................................................................9
Figure 8: Example of services available..........................................................................................9
Figure 9: Example of VLAN Tagged Ethernet frame...................................................................10
Figure 10: Use of filter to prevent traffic.......................................................................................11
Figure 11: Network design.............................................................................................................17
Figure 12: LAN network................................................................................................................18
Figure 13: FTP working.................................................................................................................20
Figure 14: Ping functionality between IT staff and Finance Staff.................................................21
Figure 15: SSH login on router 1...................................................................................................22
Figure 16: SSH login on router 2...................................................................................................23
Figure 17: Monitoring report.........................................................................................................24
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Introduction
FootFall Field Marketing Ltd. is the sales and marketing company and does a medium-sized
business. Under the lucrative contract, the company wants to extend the existing network that
it has and also want to manage it effectively by the increased staff. The designed LAN network
is divided into three different floors of the building and the computer systems are also placed in
such a way so that there will be proper access of the network connectivity. This report contains
the details regarding the impact of the LAN technologies and design of the LAN infrastructure
such as physical and logical components. The analysis of the different sections will also be
carried out. This report also includes the information regarding the implementation of the LAN
infrastructure and techniques. Some of the techniques will be stated in this report regarding
the management and monitoring of the network in addition to the recommendation of the
improvement.
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LO1. Understand the impact of LAN technologies
A.C 1.1 critically evaluate different LAN technologies
LAN technologies:
IEEE 802 LAN standards
It is the networking standard that has been developed for maintaining the local area networks
and it is used on the basis of the global needs. It is basically used for the Ethernet and the
wireless local area networks. The protocol demonstrated in this standard maps the data link
layer and physical layer described in the reference model of OSI (D'Ambrosia, 2017).
IEEE 802.11 wireless standards
LAN technologies are cost-effective and are most important technologies which are driven by
IEEE802.11. This standard can be used in two different modes of network topology. This
standard is responsible for introducing the WEP protocol and security issues can be analysed
easily. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is responsible for the protection of the wireless
communication so that eavesdropping will not take place (Dhanalakshmi and Sathiya, 2015).
STP (Spanning Tree Protocol):
It is used for identifying the links so that possible loops can be reduced in the network. There is
Root Bridge from where all the ports are able to communicate and manage their functionality.
The switch at the root bridge manages the connection between the root bridge and the ports
(Antoniou, 2007).
Figure 1: STP
Source: (Antoniou, 2007)
VLANs (Virtual LAN): It is groupings of a computer connected to the network in different
fragments and have different locations in the network. They are fragmentized in the name of
departments and each segment should be the different IP address so that any issue can be
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detected in the LAN connection. It reduces the administration budget and increases the
flexibility in the network infrastructure (Peters, 2016).
VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol)
This server acts as a switch which is created to modify the VLANs and the clients. The
configuration has been made from the revision number so that it can be increased when
required so as to synchronize the clients. The changes can be done on the multiple switches to
set up the VTP domain name (Molenaar, 2013).
Figure 2: VTP
Source: (Molenaar, 2013)
Standby routing
It makes the virtual router to operate with the help of virtual IP address in the current
networking system. It also makes the routers to forward the packets to that virtual IP address in
case of the failure of the active routers. These virtual routers act as standby routers as they
have an unused bandwidth which can be configured for the different default gateways. It also
helps in load balancing when the existing routers do not able handle that burden. One host
work for a single IP address and this address will be same for the participating routers.
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Figure 3: Active packet in case of a failed router
Source: (Certificationkits, 2017)
LAN hardware: There are different LAN hardware that is used for the development of the
network infrastructure and some of them is explained below.
Layer 2 switches: This switch is used as IP nodes for the networking system so that web-based
management can be done easily. The functionality that is used in the management at the stack
for the router includes the user datagram protocol, telnet, transmission control protocol and
other functions. Layer 2 switches also provide transparency to the networking system (Chen,
2017).
Figure 4: Layer 2 switch
Source: (Chen, 2017)
Layer 3 switches
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This switch is also known as multilayer type switch can forward frame based on layer 2 address.
It also performs the function of the routers by using the mechanism of Cisco express
forwarding. It performs the function of inter-VLAN routing that was once performed by the
router. The same function is performed by the Ethernet port in the router (Certificationkits,
2018).
Figure 5: Layer 3 switch router
Source: (Certificationkits, 2018)
Layer 4 switches
This helps in examining the port fields by developing the transparent proxy. For this, a specific
rule set is generated so that proxy ‘s Media Access Control (MAC) address. Ths address is used
as the end address in IP packets. This address will provide forward traffic for the same proxy.
The virtual proxy uses the virtual IP address which enhances the availability of virtual routers in
case of failure (Walsh, 2016).
Wireless devices
Wireless devices are the advanced technology added to the LAN network for the company.
These devices use the radio frequency signals for the communications. Some of them are
described below:
1. Wireless routers: This device is responsible for receiving the internet connection from the
wireless devices that are nearer to it. It also sends the data in the form of radio frequency
signals. The network set for the purpose of the wireless communication is termed as the
Wireless Local Area Network.
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