Network Design Proposal Assignment

Network Design Proposal
Prepared for:
University of Maryland University College
Prepared by:
Blaise Chi

I. Network Design
A. Network Topology
Technical Requirements
Technology has impacted positively learning institution across the globe, UMUC current
population among staff and student requires platform that enable both staff and student to
access and share resources at any particular time. In order to achieve this, ICT department
requires technical aspect to implement the project. Since the university new leased
building houses both student and staff, security measures has to be addressed to
safeguard user’s information. This subnet mask partitioning will restrict resources being
shared among student and staff. The security measures which will be implemented include
firewalls, IDS and use of anti-virus to safeguard servers from malware, worms, spyware
and other malicious programs.
Proposed Topology
Star topology which will include all the nodes are connected to a central connection point such
as switch or hub.

Justification
The benefit of using this topology is that if one cable fails the other will not failed since
each cable originate from the central point. Though this topology requires many cables,
they are cheap and available. The central point which may be a switch is responsible for
routing all the traffics. The disadvantage of this topology is that it requires many cables to
connect to various nodes and prone to bottleneck. Also if the central point fail, all the
nodes which are connected will fail.
B. Cables and Connectors
A Cable is a medium through which information passes through from one network device to
another network device for example coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, wireless LANs, Twisted
shielded pair cable and unshielded twisted pair cable. Connectors are part of the cable which
connects one device to another through port or an interface for example RJ45.
Technical Requirements
Since they are several types of cables available in the market such as Twisted Pair Cable,
Coaxial cable, Fiber optic cable etc. Several factors in the University will determine the type of
cable that will be use include:
 The type of nodes
 Distance between each node
 The cost of the cable
 Network Bandwidth
 The number of users in the network
 Expandability
 Mobility
Proposed Cables and Connectors
The proposed cable shall be Shielded Twisted Pair Cable Category 6e that will be used in the
UMUC network.
The connectors that will be used is determine by the network devices such as switch, router,
hub, computer and firewall: for example:
 RJ-45 which connect switch/hub to computer’s Ethernet port
 Fiber Local Connectors connect UMUC router with internet service provider cables.
 Universal serial bus
 RJ-11 for telecommunication among staff.
 Video Graphic Array used to connect computer Central Processing unit to monitor
 Keystone Jack and LocJack for telecommunication.
Justification
Shielded Twisted Pair Cable (STP) are cheaply and available in the market. It has a foil inside
which help to protect from electromagnetic interferences during data transmission. Also

Category 6e of Shielded Twisted Pair Cable support bandwidth of a 1000 Mbps therefore
capable of handling large traffic without experiencing bottleneck during data transmission.
C. Networking and Internetworking Hardware
Technical Requirements
Internetworking involves collections of individual networks connected by intermediate
networking devices such as router, hub, switch, gateway, repeaters, bridges and wireless
controller that function as a single network. The purpose of internetworking is to enable devices
to communicate together and share resources for example network printers. Each classroom
shall have two hub 24 ports and 8 ports respectively that will act as a central point where all the
computers will connect to it. Repeaters is used to regenerate or boost the network signal
between similar networks therefore eliminating network attenuation. Bridge will be used to divide
the network into different Local Area Network Segment for example Student Network Segment
and Staff Network Segment. Routers are used to route packets to destination address. Since
they will more than once access point in the UMUC network, managing each of them will be
hard therefore wireless access controller allows to centrally configure and manage thus saving a
lot of time.
Proposed Networking and Internetworking Devices
6 Cisco SRW224G4P Hub 24 ports cost @ $600.00
6 Cisco SRW224G4P Hub 8 ports cost @ $320.00
2 Cisco Catalyst 2960 Switch 24 ports Cost @ $ 450.00
3 CISCO1941/K9 Routers 4 ports Cost @ $800.00
2 Linksys Max-Stream EA7300 IEEE 802.11ac Ethernet Wireless Router cost @ $ 146.00
1 Cisco 2500 Series Wireless Controllers
Justification
Through internetworking we can extend geographic coverage of network beyond a single Local
Area Network to multiple floors such as first floor and 2nd floor. Traffics loads between the two
building can be divided into multiple internetworked LAN therefore increases the users
throughput while accessing network services.
D. Wide Area Network (WAN) Design
Technical Requirements
WAN communications occurs between separated geographical areas. The new campus
Adelphi Maryland can communicate directly to the main UMUC University. In order for the
Adelphi Maryland to communicate with main Campus, all information has to be routed by the
router through WAN links which are connected by switches. Communication through the two
geographical area can be established through the following switching technologies:
 Circuit switching which involves having a dedicated bandwidth links