Southern Cross University CSC73002 Network Upgrade Report 2019

This report details a network upgrade project for Southern Cross University, addressing the need to accommodate a growing student population and expanding campus infrastructure. The report begins with an abstract and an overview of the assignment's marking guidelines. It investigates the current network status, including network users, logical topology, IP addressing, key applications, and Wi-Fi coverage, using site surveys and various tools. The report then proposes upgrade solutions, considering technical correctness, feasibility, and future-proofing, including detailed technical designs and cost analyses. Two network designs are compared, and the best design is selected for implementation. The report also analyzes the current risks and proposes a strategic response. The proposed network aims to provide secure and integrated services. The study also covers strategic alignment, technical environments, and the benefits of the proposed upgrades. The report concludes with a summary of the proposal, design criteria, options analysis, and cost-benefit analysis to provide a comprehensive solution to the university's network challenges.

Assignment-3/2019
CSC73002 – Network Management
Student ID: Student Full Name
Student email address
Abstract
It should be noted that IT infrastructure services are being improved daily as new
inventions are made. The past talk about technology is different from present talk.
However, key factors such as the network performance, internet speed and IT
infrastructure availability sample factors that remain the de-facto of the day. As the
user needs changes, there is a need to have their requests responded to by availing the
desired technology.

CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
Assignment-3 marking guidelines
The following are the major assessment criteria of this assignment
Task 1: Investigate and report the current network status
In this task, your team will be assessed based on
 The information about the network you have collected through
the site survey. The more details about the network your team
can obtain the higher marks you will get. At the minimum, your
team should obtain the following key information:
o The estimated number of network users
o High-level logical topology of the network
o IP addressing scheme
o Key applications and services
o Performance baselines for accessing key applications and
services
o Wi-Fi channels and overall area of coverage
 The method, technique and tools your team uses to collect the
information. Discuss briefly about how each piece of information
is collected.
Task 2: Propose upgrade solutions
In this task, your team will be assessed based on
 The correctness, feasibility and future-proof of the proposed
solutions. A good solution should be technically correct, feasible
in terms of budget, taking into account the future network
growth and using the current network technology.
 The technical details of the solutions. Each solution should be
provided with a sufficient level of technical details so that its
working mechanism can be understood and the cost to
implement the solution can be estimated. At the minimum, you
will need to provide the high-level logical and physical design of
the solutions with the list of major hardware and software to be
obtained.
 The analysis to select one solution. Your team can perform cost-
benefit analysis to select one solution over the two proposed.
Discuss how the selected solution would expect to solve the
identified problem and how does this align with the university
long-term business goal and strategy as stated in the university
annual reports.
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
Task 3: Present and defend the proposal
In this task, your team will be assessed based on
 The presentation structure and quality. A good presentation will
have a clear structure showing the scope of the presentation.
The slides present only the key points. Text and images are
clearly presented.
 Presenter performance. Present clearly and engage with the
audience. Finish the presentation on time. Handle questions with
confidence and quality answers.
Peer assessment
Each team member will assess other member contribution and
performance using the 100% scale. For example, if the team has 2
members, a possible scale can be 50% and 50%. The individual mark
will be scaled taking into account the peer assessment.
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
BUSINESS CASE
SCU Campus Network Upgrade
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
Table of Contents
Executive Summary..........................................................................................................................................5
Current Situation..............................................................................................................................................5
Strategic Alignment......................................................................................................................................5
Current Technical Environment....................................................................................................................5
Business Problem.........................................................................................................................................6
Current Risks................................................................................................................................................7
Proposed Response...........................................................................................................................................8
Strategic Alignment......................................................................................................................................8
Technical Environment.................................................................................................................................9
IP addressing scheme.......................................................................................................................................9
IP addressing..................................................................................................................................................11
Overall Wi-Fi channels...................................................................................................................................11
High level Topology.......................................................................................................................................12
Data collection techniques..............................................................................................................................12
Business Environment................................................................................................................................12
Benefits......................................................................................................................................................13
Proposal Summary.........................................................................................................................................13
Solution Options.............................................................................................................................................13
Design Criteria...........................................................................................................................................13
Identified Options.......................................................................................................................................14
Options Analysis............................................................................................................................................14
Cost-Benefit analysis..................................................................................................................................14
Cost analysis...............................................................................................................................................14
Benefit analysis..........................................................................................................................................15
Cost benefit Ratio.......................................................................................................................................15
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
Executive Summary
It should be noted that IT infrastructure services are being improved daily as new inventions are
made. The past talk about technology is different from present talk. However, key factors such
as the network performance, internet speed and IT infrastructure availability sample factors that
remain the de-facto of the day. As the user needs changes, there is a need to have their requests
responded to by availing the desired technology.
This paper seeks to propose network and other IT infrastructure services upgrade for Southern
Cross University whose current infrastructure services are at devastating state. Student and
population has grown. From the table provided in the case study files, it can be clearly seen that
the student population is on high growth and it is estimated to have risen to 10, 000 come year
2025. Therefore, the university has to strategize on how to counter the expected growth. One of
the strategies is to align IT infrastructure services that will support the population. Furthermore,
the university management has purchased a 10 storey building to accommodate the entire
population. The purchased building has to be networked and other IT infrastructure services be
implemented (Cascio & Montealegre, 2017).
In this paper, we review the current status of the university network. We will identify the
outdated technology which requires to be replaced. The technology which is not existing within
the university and it is required will be proposed too. We further propose two network designs
and compare them, then select the best design for implementation.
Current Situation
Strategic Alignment
Southern Cross University was founded in the year 1994 as a non-profit making public
institution of higher learning. The university offers programs and courses which gives it a
chance to be termed as an institution of higher learning. These courses include bachelor degrees,
doctorate degrees, and master’s degrees in different areas of study. The university population
ranges between 7000 and 7500 and it is estimated to balloon up to 10, 0000 students in the year
2025. The university has purchased a 10 story building in preparation to accommodate the
increasing number of students.
Current Technical Environment
Though the present network is working, it has the following loopholes which have to be fixed.
Note that the university also is planning for the growing number of students;
The current network is using old fashion switches. The university uses 20 switches each with 16
ports. Such kind of switches increases the collision domains forcing the network to be very
slow. It will be prudent to have stack-wise switches with each having 48 ports each. This will
reduce the collision domain making the network to perform better.
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
The kind of routers being used by the university cannot withstand the kind of traffic flow of 10
000 users. As we speak, network users are struggling with what we. Therefore upgrade from the
current router to newer routers is advised. The new routers come with better functionalities as
compared to the present routers.
The cabling structure exhibited at the university was not properly done. The kind of cables that
were used in current network were substandard and they are always experiencing attenuation.
This is the loss of packets as cable length increases.
The flat network structure implemented imposes insecurity aspect to the campus network. A flat
network does not control who can accesses what on the basis of the authorizations and hence
insecurity aspect arises.
Furthermore, the computer system is using windows, 2 GB of RAM and 320 HDD size with
AMD Athlon processor. This is the slowest computing environment ever.
With the above mentioned cases of the existing network structure and the increasing population
growth, there is every reason for the network to be upgraded.
Business Problem
Computer networks are important to the success of organizations, institutions of learning and
businesses both small and large. They link business organizations, provide access to the
resources, support applications and services and they keeping the business running. For our
Southern Cross University, the following are the primary IT services and applications required
to keep the institution running.
Email: When the email was invented in the year 1972, nobody knew that it would become the
beginning of the mostly used communication means in the history of human race. Currently,
email is conceivably the most popular communication network in the corporate world. Each
individual of a corporate has an email beginning from the lowest ranking employee to the
topmost. Southern Cross University cannot afford to miss use of this communication channel.
Has an advantage of easy referencing, easy to use, it’s globally recognized, is versatile and it is
quick in sending messages. Therefore this service has to be deployed within the university
network.
Internet: internet serves the purpose of interconnecting businesses, individuals and corporates.
For Southern Cross University, internet will be used researches by students and staff. This will
be a better source of knowledge in the institution.
Content management system: content management system refers the system which is capable of
storing information in a systematic manner. This makes it easier to retrieve and make updates.
Student information, tutor information, asset information, courses information, subordinate staff
information of Southern Cross University has to be kept in a manner that it will be easier to
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
retrieve and make the desired changes. Furthermore, content management system enables good
reporting and hence quick decision making on the basis of data.
Print: print service is one of the IT infrastructure services that should note be missed out by our
client. There is a lot of publications that require to be printed within the learning environment,
and is Southern Cross University.
File storage and file sharing: file sharing and storage is required to enable storage of learning
materials in a central place where it can be accessed with ease by both the students and the
teaching staff.
DHCP and DNS: DHCP service is necessary to administer the IP addresses. The huge number
of school population cannot be administered by a network administrator. An administrator can
only administer small network. Therefore, DHCP is ideal for DNS our institution of learning.
On the other hand, DNS services resolves IP addresses to computer names making and vice
versa. This ensures that network users are not forced to remember IP addresses for computers.
Video conferencing: video conferencing service is required to enable both students and tutors
have classes remotely. This is required mostly for distant learners. This will be one of the great
achieved within the university (Browning, et al., 2017).
Library management system: the library within Southern Cross University is online. This makes
it easier for students, instead of congesting library center, they can access a repository of books
online and read from the comfort of their zones.
Security: security service is mandatory for the Southern Cross University lest we are prone to
cyber attackers who are capable of bringing every function of the school to a stalemate.
Current Risks
The current network status poses the following risks to the business
- Old equipment is not able to support the new application programs
which may require more processing capacities and power.
- Malware - the old computing environment face high chances of virus
attack which may cause damage
- The imperfect design may not support the servers' processing
amount of data which goes via the system, slowness is hence
experienced.
- Poor cable choice - poor choice of cables may cause problems
especially when cable does not meet the standards.
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
Proposed Response
Our proposed network is designed to serve Southern Cross University in the new building _D. this building
is a 10-story building with six departments. Each department has to be served by this network system.
Objectives of the network proposed network system;
a. Secure service: the primary of our proposed network design is to provide a secure computing system
to the Southern Cross University. The network design is to be functionally and physically isolated by
the authorizations.
b. Integration and update: the present status of the network system is that there exists many public
education systems which are outdated and they are not compatible with one another and news
system. This proposal seeks to integrate and update the LANs in order to support productive
collaboration.
c. Versatile information processing: the proposed network will permit the users to retrieve, update and
store data from any networked computer.
d. Scalability: the proposed network design scalable to allow future growth of the network without
disruption of IT infrastructure services.
e. Availability: the network to be designed will always be available on 24/7 basis (Conklin, et al.,
2016).
Strategic Alignment
a. Data types: the data types to be transmitted by the network will include web pages, accounting
information, reports and personnel profiles. More so, there will little video and audio for the distant
learning classes.
b. Data sources: the information will be generated at end user workstations on the network
c. Users and priority levels: at the topmost level management and students will be given the priority.
The maximum estimated number of users is 12000.
d. Transmission speed: our network will be transparent to users. Therefore the remotely generated data
should be transmitted as quickly as possible.
e. Storage requirement: our storage requirement will be large enough to host all student, teaching staff
and subordinate staff data.
f. Security requirements: the firewall will be used to block the unauthorized users to access the
network (Shan, 2014).
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
Technical Environment
IP addressing scheme
Network subnetting refers to the division a network into small subnets which are easier to
manage and troubleshoot just in case there is a challenge. Subnetting process takes two forms,
classless subnetting and classful subnetting. In classful subnetting, every subnet has the same
subnet mask. This wastes a lot of IP addresses since many are not utilized. However, it is easier
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
to perform. On the other hand, classless subnetting involves having network addresses in your
network whose subnet masks are uneven. The network addresses contain IP addresses which
are either equal to the number of required addresses or a slightly higher number of addresses as
per requirements. Having a slightly number of IP addresses is the safest (Ciampa, 2014). For
Southern Cross University subnetting scheme, we will be using classless subnetting. Assuming
that we have been allocated an IP address of 192.168.10.0/24, our subnet table will be as below:
Subnet
Name
Neede
d Size
Allocate
d Size
Address Mas
k
Dec Mask Assignable
Range
Broadcast
Student_LA
N
10000 16382 192.168.10
.0
/18 255.255.192
.0
192.168.10.1
-
192.168.73.2
54
192.168.73.2
55
Teaching
Staff LAN
800 1022 192.168.74
.0
/22 255.255.252
.0
192.168.74.1
-
192.168.77.2
54
192.168.77.2
55
Managemen
t LAN
500 510 192.168.78
.0
/23 255.255.254
.0
192.168.78.1
-
192.168.79.2
54
192.168.79.2
55
Subordinat
ed LAN
400 510 192.168.80
.0
/23 255.255.254
.0
192.168.80.1
-
192.168.81.2
54
192.168.81.2
55
IT LAN 200 254 192.168.82
.0
/24 255.255.255
.0
192.168.82.1
-
192.168.82.2
54
192.168.82.2
55
Research
LAN
200 254 192.168.83
.0
/24 255.255.255
.0
192.168.83.1
-
192.168.83.2
54
192.168.83.2
55
(Empson, 2013)
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CSC73002 – Network Management Assignment-3, 2019
IP addressing
Network
Device Name
Interface IP addresses Subnet mask Default
gateway (if
any)
Router G0/0 192.168.82.1 255.255.255.0 *
S0/0 192.168.83.1 255.255.255.0 *
File server E* 192.168.82.2 255.255.255.0 192.168.82.1
Mail Sever E* 192.168.82.3 255.255.255.0 192.168.82.1
Content
Management
Sever
E* 192.168.82.4 255.255.255.0 192.168.82.1
Print Sever E* 192.168.82.5 255.255.255.0 192.168.82.1
(Lammle, 2015)
Overall Wi-Fi channels
Wi-Fi channel refers to the frequencies which are accessed using the IEEE 802.11 protocols.
These protocols are sold using the 802.11a/b/g/n standard of wireless networking
communication on the 5GHz band. The Wi-Fi for Southern Cross University will be set using
this standard mode in order to support maximum and compatible speed (Pyles, et al., 2016).
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