Data Communication and Infrastructure Report - Analysis and Design

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of data communication and infrastructure. It begins by addressing the factors influencing the number of access points for a wireless connection, including the number of clients, area size, and architectural considerations. The report then presents a LAN network diagram, detailing the cost of setting up the network, including the expenses for a router, switches, a wireless access point, and server setup. The advantages and disadvantages of Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) are discussed, highlighting broadcast control, security, and physical layer transparency alongside administrator overhead, isolation, and security limitations. Finally, the report explores various Backbone Network Architectures, such as Bridge, Routed, and Collapsed Backbones, comparing their functionalities, costs, and management complexities, with a preference given to the Collapsed Backbone for its ease of management and performance benefits. The report concludes with a bibliography of relevant sources.

Running head: DATA COMMUNICATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Data Communication and Infrastructure
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1DATA COMMUNICATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Answer to Question 1
The main factor on the basis which the number of access point for a wireless
connection is estimated are listed below:
 Number of Clients: With the increase in number of clients, the access point
will also increase.
 Size of the Area: The amount of overlap coverage is planned well, so that it
can cover all the areas.
 Architecture of the Area: If the room is square, it won’t affect much, but if it
is a corridor, will need access points to cover the area.
The placement of the layout of the Access Point depends on the use of the network,
the environment it will be used in, the number of users, size of the facilities and the basic
knowledge about the construction of the facility. The access point that is set on the high
ceiling will not work as the one on the normal heighted ceiling.

2DATA COMMUNICATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Answer to Question 2
Figure2.1: The LAN Network Diagram of the Organization.
The cost of setting up of this network is listed below:

3DATA COMMUNICATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
The router will of ASUS brand Asus RT-AC5300 Tri-Band Wireless Router and will cost
about $372 dollar
The Switch will be of the TRIPP brand, Managed Switch with build in PDU and will cost
$217 dollar and two switches will be required $434 dollar.
The Wireless Access Point will be of CISCO brand CISCO SYSTEMS 802.11ac Wireless
Access Point (WAP371AK9) and will cost about $217 dollar.
Setting up of the server will cost about $100 dollar.
The total cost that is estimated for setting up of the LAN server will cost $1123 dollar.
Answer to Question 3
The advantages of choosing the virtual local area network (VLAN) are listed below:
 Broadcast Control: Most of the applications and protocols depend on the
communication of the broadcast for functioning properly.
 Security: The VLAN provides much upgraded security for the network. In
VLAN the administrator can control each user and port.
 Transparency of the Physical Layer: There is transparency of the physical
topology and medium through which the network is connected.
The disadvantages of choosing the virtual local area network (VLAN) are listed below:
 Overhead of the Administrator: The management of the VLAN is same as
management of various LANs, each of the switch port are to be configured for
accessing the specific VLANs.

4DATA COMMUNICATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
 Isolation: The process of routing is required for the communications between the
various VLANS.
 Limits of Security: When the VLANs are extended through various geographical
locations, it is exposed to sniffing and MIM attacks.
Answer to Question 4
The Backbone Network Architecture identifies the way the network of the LAN are
interconnected with each other. The fundamental architecture of the Backbone Network is
listed below:
 Bridge Backbone: The movement of the packets in the network are based on their
addresses of the Datalink Layer. The installation of the network architecture is easy
and cheaper to implement. It performs well for the small network of an organization,
larger broadcast of the messages lower the performance.
 Routed Backbone: The movement of the packets are done by utilizing the address of
the network layer. It is most commonly used in the core layer of the network. It is
used for the connection of LAN in different buildings. It can be used at the
distribution layer as well. The messages stays at a single LAN unless the address is of
outside the LAN. Requires more management compare to the bridges and the
switches.
 Collapsed Backbone: It is the replacement of the bridges and the routers of the past
designs. This backbone has more cables but less devices. The switch is the backbone
of this architecture. It helps to improve the performance of the network by 200% -
600%. It provides simultaneous access to the switch operations. The network
management is simple than all other architectures because it has less number of

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devices. It uses more and longer cable than the other architectures. If the central witch
fails the whole network goes down.
The implementation of the Collapsed Backbone is preferred because it can be managed
more easily and accurately without having any problem.

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Bibliography
Hart, J. H., & Sherer, W. P. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 6,041,166. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office.
Raniwala, A., & Chiueh, T. C. (2014, August). Evaluation of a wireless enterprise backbone
network architecture. In Proceedings. 12th Annual IEEE Symposium on High
Performance Interconnects (pp. 98-104). IEEE.
Chowdhury, N. M. K., & Boutaba, R. (2009). Network virtualization: state of the art and
research challenges. IEEE Communications magazine, 47(7), 20-26.
Sun, X., Sung, Y. W., Krothapalli, S. D., & Rao, S. G. (2010, March). A systematic approach
for evolving VLAN designs. In 2010 Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
Qi, L., & Li, J. (2012, August). Super VLAN Technique Applied to Network Reform.
In 2012 International Conference on Computer Science and Service System (pp. 785-
788). IEEE.
Fu, W. H., & Lu, A. X. (2012). VLAN technology application research based on campus
network security. In Applied Mechanics and Materials (Vol. 220, pp. 2945-2948).
Trans Tech Publications.