Network Analysis and VPN Solution for Riordan Manufacturing

This report provides a network analysis for Riordan Manufacturing, a global plastics manufacturer. It explores the importance of communication protocols, selecting Virtual Private Network (VPN) over the public Internet with TCP/IP as the primary protocol. The report details the network architecture, using VPN routers for each office's LAN to create secure tunnels. It analyzes network performance parameters like latency, response time, and jitter, acknowledging the tradeoffs associated with the chosen network. The report also discusses the effects of data rates on the network and ensures availability through a routed network architecture. References are provided to support the analysis and recommendations for the company's network infrastructure.

Running head: NETWORK ANALYSIS 1
Network Analysis
DJ Lemak
NTC/362
August 1, 2016

NETWORK ANALYSIS 2
Network Analysis
Introduction
Riordan Manufacturing is a global plastics manufacturer that employs 550 people and is
headquartered in San Jose, California, having facilities worldwide. The company's mission is to
remain the industry leader, while servicing the existing customers as well as expanding. For this,
the company will most likely have to overhaul its current infrastructure (Tavangaran, 2016).
Importance of Communication Protocols
Protocol is a common language which two parties agree to communicate in. "Computer
networks cannot exist without them." ("What is a Communication Protocol? - Definition from
Techopedia", 2016).
Now, Riordan Manufacturing is a global company with currently three offices in USA
and one office in China (Murillo, 2016). To enable communication among these geographically
spread offices we require one common set of protocols for the network.
Protocols Selected and Why
We select Virtual Private Network (VPN) over public Internet under intranet site-to-site
configuration for our company's networking requirement.
Protocols used will be TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), as this
is the protocol of Internet and most computers and network devices are capable of
communicating in this (Tyson & Crawford, 2011).

NETWORK ANALYSIS 3
We choose this solution as it is cost-effective, is scalable and provides security (by using
encryption).
Network Architecture
Each office's LAN will be configured with a VPN router to serve as endpoints in the
VPN architecture. Using their exiting Internet connection, the VPN router will create a per-
session 'tunnel' in the public Internet, using which the encrypted user data is encapsulated in
tunnel packets and routed as usual on the Internet.
The Internet routes these packets as usual and the endpoint computers read the data
encapsulated inside the tunnel packets, decrypt it and process it ("How VPN Works: Virtual
Private Network (VPN)", 2016).
Network Performance Parameters
Latency
Latency in general means the time delay it takes for the system to accept an input and
produce the desired result, and it effects how usable and enjoyable a system is for users. ("What
is latency? - Definition from WhatIs.com", 2016).
Latency is a tradeoff in our chosen network. We lose control of or a minimum Service
Level Agreement (SLA) on latency as some users in the network may not have sufficient
bandwidth. "Latency guarantees are hard to come by because they're hard to implement" ("The
Solution - "How do I turn the network I've got into the network I need"", 2016).

NETWORK ANALYSIS 4
Response Time
Response time measures the time it takes for a request to be processed e.g. you might
measure the response time as the time between when you press the Enter key or click the OK
button and the time the result appears on your screen (Sosinsky, 2009).
Again, we do not have a guarantee of response time in our chosen network, due to the
wide variety of speed and quality of the underlying Internet routes. We consider this a reasonable
tradeoff since the company will primarily be sharing emails, files, and other non-live data.
Jitter
Jitter is the variability from the expected values of latency and other network parameters.
This is the reason for clicks in audio, artifacts in videos played over a network like the Internet.
As mentioned earlier, the company is mainly working with data that is not latency
sensitive, thus any jitter is unlikely to have any noticeable effect on user interface (Hruska,
2015).
Effects of Data Rates on Parts of Network
As the data makes its way from the source to the destination using the underlying public
Internet, its speed is not guaranteed between the hops. This variance and unpredictability of the
route of one packet from the next may introduce jitter. However, techniques such as traffic
shaping help regulate the flow and the effects are insignificant.
Ensuring Availability

NETWORK ANALYSIS 5
Switched Network
VPN on a switched network becomes a leased line. It would be prohibitively expensive to
build and maintain, or rent a private data line for interconnecting offices spread over continents.
Thus, we do not recommend this system. Hence, technical discussions for this configuration are
out of scope.
Routed Network
Our network runs on top of the public Internet, which is a routed network ("Structure of
the Internet: Packet switching - Wikibooks, open books for an open world", 2016). Now, Internet
was made to be highly available since the inception of its ancestor ARPANET in the US
Department of Defence ("Brief History of the Internet - Internet Timeline | Internet Society",
2016).
Thus, as long as the company's offices are connected to the Internet, they will be connected using
the VPN.

NETWORK ANALYSIS 6
References
Brief History of the Internet - Internet Timeline | Internet Society. (2016). Internetsociety.org. Retrieved
31 July 2016, from http://www.internetsociety.org/internet/what-internet/history-internet/brief-history-
internet
How VPN Works: Virtual Private Network (VPN). (2016). Technet.microsoft.com. Retrieved 31 July
2016, from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc779919%28v=ws.10%29.aspx?
f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
Hruska, J. (2015). What is Jitter?. Speedtest Blog. Retrieved 31 July 2016, from
http://www.speedtest.net/articles/what-is-jitter/
Latency (engineering). (2016). Wikipedia. Retrieved 31 July 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latency_(engineering)#Communication_latency
Murillo, N. (2016). Riordan Manufacturing, Inc.. prezi.com. Retrieved 31 July 2016, from
https://prezi.com/auheop-oxk-r/riordan-manufacturing-inc/
Sosinsky, B. (2009). Networking bible (p. 118). Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
Structure of the Internet: Packet switching - Wikibooks, open books for an open world. (2016).
En.wikibooks.org. Retrieved 31 July 2016, from
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A-level_Computing/AQA/Computer_Components,_The_Stored_Program_
Concept_and_the_Internet/Structure_of_the_Internet/Packet_switching
Tavangaran, A. (2016). Information on Riordan Manufacturing | eHow. eHow. Retrieved 31 July 2016,
from http://www.ehow.com/about_5729395_information-riordan-manufacturing.html
The Solution - "How do I turn the network I've got into the network I need". (2016). Networkworld,
(Volume 14, Number 22), 60. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=NR0EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA60&ots=yH7xOsKHc2&dq=latency%20in%20virtual%20private
%20network%20intranet%20internet&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false
Tyson, J. & Crawford, S. (2011). How VPNs Work. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 31 July 2016, from
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htm
What is a Communication Protocol? - Definition from Techopedia. (2016). Techopedia.com. Retrieved 31
July 2016, from https://www.techopedia.com/definition/25705/communication-protocol
What is jitter? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (2016). SearchUnifiedCommunications. Retrieved 31 July
2016, from http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/definition/jitter