CSC00240 Assignment 2: Network Infrastructure Upgrade Proposal for AML

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CSC00240 – Data Communications and Networks
Assignment 2
Network Design for a Modern Software development company
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Executive Summary
A network is the most valuable tool for any business, it enhances other processes
and delivers services to both internal users and clients. Designing a replacement for
an existing infrastructure requires in-depth knowledge of the current one, in order
to understand the services that must be upgraded. This document reviews the
current network for advanced medicos limited and begins by analyzing the user
requirements. The user requirements reveal inherent limitations and proffers
possible solutions for implementing the desired requirements. Proceeding this
analysis, the logical and physical network topologies of the current network were
presented to indicate maps of connectivity between devices. These topologies
provide a better understanding of traffic flow on the network and device physical
connectivity between hosts on the network.
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Contents
Executive Summary................................................................................................... 0
1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 2
2. Requirement Analysis............................................................................................. 3
2.1 Bandwidth Requirements.................................................................................. 3
2.2 Security Requirements...................................................................................... 3
2.3 Remote Access Requirements...........................................................................4
2.4 Mobility Requirement........................................................................................ 4
2.5 Capacity Estimation.......................................................................................... 4
3. Analysis of the current Network.............................................................................5
3.1 Media................................................................................................................ 5
3.2 Network Hardware............................................................................................. 5
3.3 Logical Network Topology.................................................................................5
3.4 Physical Network Design................................................................................... 6
3.5 Network Performance........................................................................................ 8
4. Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 9
List References......................................................................................................... 10
Appendix A............................................................................................................... 11
List of Figures
Figure 1: Logical network topology of the current network........................................6
Figure 2: Building layout............................................................................................. 7
Figure 3: Building-A physical topology.......................................................................7
Figure 4: Building B physical topology........................................................................8

1. Introduction
Business competitiveness is top amongst the reasons driving enterprise networks
towards changes in infrastructure, services or applications. The performance driven
enterprise is often focused on aligning business and technical goals in order to
service current clients and keep a large market share of prospective clients.
The client Advanced Medicos Limited (AML), is seeking to overhaul the current
network model and introduce new services that will transcend beyond her current
business landscape. The new network will scale to accommodate the continuous
demand for new services and make the future a reality.
Creating the new network requires a review of the current network and an in-depth
understanding of the requirements for the new network. The overall goal of this
process is to ensure business value is sustained and technical capacity is operating
at optimum. The next sections provide in depth analysis of pre-design phases, while
other sections focus on the proposed new network design.

2. Requirement Analysis
A thorough understanding of a customer’s business objective is always the
foundation for delivering a network that meets these objectives. This knowledge
enhances the process of identifying which components of the network to prioritize
when selecting technologies or services to deploy. User requirements are the
An analysis of the current network reveals inherent limitations that undermined its
value and hence the need for a new infrastructure model to replace the existing
one. The current design consist of different user groups represented as
departments of the company. Each with unique requirements that must be
addressed. The software department of the company is at the core of developing
the products and services for her clients. The production team takes inputs from the
development team and delivers the products as outputs. The marketing department
is a client facing team whose responsibility is to grow the pool of client for the
company. The Administration team oversees all the activities and provides the
requisite leadership for the company. Each of the departments, have different
computing, connectivity and services requirements (Computational Optimization
and Applications, 2016).
2.1 Bandwidth Requirements
Bandwidth is a measure of the capacity of a network to deliver packets between two
devices on the network measured in bits per second (bps). Bandwidth usage
increases because of demand by applications on the network. There are certain
types of applications that require a high bandwidth network infrastructure for
optimum performance. One of the services in the new network requiring a high
bandwidth network is video conferencing and voice over IP services (VoIP) which is
usually deployed as an integrated solution. Therefore, high bandwidth connectivity
will be the foundation achieving the required performance level by this applications.
2.2 Security Requirements
The goal of every network is to guarantee the security of users and services through
the use of appropriate security policies and tools. There is always a high likelihood
for the occurrence of security breaches with resulting financial loses. Often times
the target of unauthorized access is the intellectual property of an organization.
Therefore, the new network would implement segmentation of user groups,

authentication and resource access policies. Considering the need to for mobility of
users and BYOD, the security of the network is a necessary requirement that must
be built into every aspect of the new design.
2.3 Remote Access Requirements
Remote access systems enable authorized users to access the company’s internal
network and deliver services irrespective of their physical location. In the current
design the software development team members required configured remote
access capabilities in order to be able to work from home. Additionally, the
development team at the branch office will require remote access for easy
collaboration with the HQ team. To realize this remote access virtual private
network (VPN) services will be provisioned as required (Azizi, et-al, 2017).
2.4 Mobility Requirement
Mobility permits users to move their computing devices from one location to
another within the work area without losing connectivity to network. Wireless
network connectivity provides mobility for users with mobile computing devices or
personal BYOD devices. Wireless network access points connect mobile users to the
wired network and will be designed to cover the entire work area. At the HQ the
coverage for the wireless network should extend between the two buildings
occupied by the company.
2.5 Capacity Estimation
Network capacity refers to the available bandwidth that can handle traffic
requirements of the applications on the network. Utilization measures bandwidth
usage within a specified period of time. Based on the current design, 70% of the
bandwidth on the links should be used during peak periods which are at the start of
every work and should gradually build up towards midday. After lunch hours we
should see increase in user activity resulting in increasing bandwidth demand on
the network (Campus network design fundamentals, 2007).

3. Analysis of the current Network
This section focuses on providing detailed information about the current network
infrastructure for the purpose of developing a baseline for the new network and
understanding the different components and services.
3.1 Media
The wired local area network (LAN) media currently connects all devices on the
network. The LAN cabling is a CAT5 cabling providing 100Mbps of connectivity
between devices on the network. The cabling runs between the offices on each floor
and the wiring closet. There is no cable runs between the buildings housing two
departments each. Users connect to network points on the wall using a short length
network cable (Yan, et-al, 2013).
3.2 Network Hardware
The current hardware can be categorized into intermediary devices and end host
devices. The intermediary devices consist of routers and switches, the first is a
gateway devices that connects the local networks to the internet while switches
enhance LAN connectivity across the local network. End host devise are PC’s,
laptops and printers that provide services to the user on the network. There is a
server farm in building B, while the edge internet router is located in building A.
3.3 Logical Network Topology
A logical network topology represent traffic flow between network devices. The
current topology has three network locations, each with a logical network to
represent the connected devices on the network segment.

Figure 1: Logical network topology of the current network
3.4 Physical Network Design
The current network consist of devices distributed across the different network
locations. This section discusses the physical design of the current topology and
depicts the location of the devices across the network. A physical topology shows
the location and cabling of devices on the network.

Figure 2: Building layout
Figure 3: Building-A physical topology

Figure 4: Building B physical topology
3.5 Network Performance
Network performance is a key factor to consider for any design that is expected to
deliver the required level of servicing. It uses several metrics to determine the
functionality of the network. The current network performance can be understood
by analyzing the network circuitry, the hardware components and the network
topology. The circuit connecting the different components is limited in capacity and
hence cannot deliver the desired performance. These circuit must be replaced if
optimum performance is desired. The hardware devices are older computing
devices with lower computing power and hardware support features. Deploying new
services would require hardware platforms with better processing power and higher
connectivity support. The current hardware components are desktop PC’s, and
printers that are fixed to a specific location.
Finally the current network topology cannot deliver the scalability, availability, and
capacity for future network expansion. The topology has single points of failure and
a failure of any link or device can result to loss of connectivity.

4. Conclusion
This document has reviewed extensively the current network for Advanced Medicos
Limited (AML). The analysis began with understanding the user requirements for
security, mobility, remote access and bandwidth for network efficiency. Using the
result of these process as a guide, a new infrastructure model can be in order to
enhance network performance. The preceding sections also presented the current
logical and physical topology of the network. In conclusion the entire process laid
the foundation for building a thorough understanding of the current network. By
using this information we can proceed to present a better design for the
organization,

List References
 Campus network design fundamentals. (2007). Scitech Book News, 31(2).
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/200118767/
 Azizi, S., Hashemi, N., & Khonsari, A. (2017). A flexible and high-performance
data center network topology. The Journal of Supercomputing, 73(4), 1484–1503.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-016-1836-2
 Computational Optimization and Applications; Investigators from University of
Vienna Zero in on Computational Optimization and Applications (Integer
programming models and branch-and-cut approaches to generalized {0,1,2}-
survivable network design problems). (2016, September 11). Journal of
Technology & Science. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1815755274/
 Yan, X., Wang, F., Hu, L., Zhao, K., & Xiong, W. (2013). Application-oriented
network performance evaluation for the internet of things. International Journal
of Online Engineering, 9(7), 51–56. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v9iS7.3195