University Network Information Systems - Task 1 Report Analysis

This report provides an analysis of network information systems, focusing on the network topology for Netron plc, an internet service provider. It compares common networking approaches like P2P, Bus, Ring, Star, Mesh, and Hybrid topologies, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The report emphasizes the importance of network system management, including monitoring, device detection, performance analysis, and enabling notifications. It also examines the interdependency of hardware, software, and networking, highlighting the role of NICs, network protocols, and the relationship between operating systems and application software. The report concludes with an overview of network protocols such as TCP and UDP, essential for data transmission within a network.

Running head: NETWORK INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Network Information Systems- Task 1
Name of the Student
Nam of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Comparison of common networking approaches............................................................................3
Evaluation of importance of network system management.............................................................5
Interdependency of hardware, software and networking.................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
A network topology is prepared for Netron plc which is an internet service provider and
provides different services such as broadband, landline, digital television and mobile services.
The company started its operation in Sheffield, South Yorkshire and it gets acquired by CT
group in the year 2007, 30th January. After the acquisition the company operated as a separate
business and it provided network service to its 45,000 customers in UK. The company has the
need to control the finite bandwidth and thus it introduced Quality of service. As a network
analyst the impact of network topology is evaluated for the management of communication
bandwidth. An analysis is made on the network protocols that are needed to be used for the
development of the network.
A local area network is used for connecting the group of computers and the network device
used for providing service to the users that are connected in the same geographical location. A
high speed connection is needed to be used and it is needed to be relatively inexpensive
(Petroccia 2016). The universities and its departments are dependent on the LAN.
Metropolitan area network is used for the larger network that connects multiple buildings and
are located widely in a city.
WAN (Wide area network) is used for eliminating the restriction of MAN and it have no
limitation for the geographical area. The wide area network is limited to nation and states and it
is developed by connecting multiple MAN and LANs. It has the constraint that it is undertaken
by an enterprise or may be available to public (Azzouni et al. 2017). The technology used in
WAN is costly and fast and as an example internet can be used which is considered as a public
WAN.

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Comparison of common networking approaches
Networking topologies are used for describing the methodology where the different elements
of the network are mapped and the topology can refer to logical and physical layout of a
network. The network topology can be divided into two types such as:
 Physical topology, and
 Logical topology
The logical topology is used for providing insights about the physical design of the network. The
physical topology can be of different types such as P2P, Bus, Ring, Star, Tree, Mesh and Hybrid.
The P2P network is used for creating direct link with each of the host machines and it is fast and
highly reliable than the other networks (Geng et al. 2016). It does not have the need of expensive
servers since the workstation individually access the files. The network has a drawback that it
cannot be extended and finds its application in closed proximity.
Bus topology is used for connecting all the nodes with a single cable and it acts as the
main spine of the network. The network topology is inexpensive and can be installed easily. The
bus topology is installed when the installation of network is simple and temporary. It is
considered as a passive topology since the computers listens to the data that is sent and they are
not responsible for moving data between the computers (Choi and Li 2016). The main drawback
of this topology is that the common cable is the single point of failure. In case of heavy traffic
and there is an increase in node the network performance degrades.
Ring topology has two neighbor for a device and it forms like a ring by connecting the
computers with each other. The last node of the network is conned with the first node and it uses
a toke for passing information between the computers in a uniform direction. The topology can

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be installed and configured easily and for the addition or deletion of more node two connections
are needed to be configured. It offers equal access to the computers connected in the network and
the errors can be checked faster. The main drawback of the network is that if the signal breaks
the entire network becomes unreachable (Ochoa-Aday et al. 2019). The emergence of high speed
topology caused it less popular and the troubleshooting process of this network is difficult.
In the star topology a hub is used for connecting the computers and it is popular for the
local area network. The star topology network is easy to setup, modify and troubleshoot, if one
of the node fails it can be isolated easily. If the number of nodes is less the performance of the
network can be faster and nodes can be added or deleted easily. The star topology has the
disadvantage of failure of the central hub and high cost of installation (Zebbane, Chenait and
Badache 2017). The performance of the network is also dependent on the hub and the damaged
cable can also cause lack of proper termination and cause the network to become down.
The mesh topology is used for creating a unique design for the network. A point to point
link is used between all the nodes for increasing the redundancy and create alternative paths for
the nodes to reach the destination address. Mesh topology can be partial or mesh and the only
difference is that in partial mesh two or three redundant link is used. This reduces the network
cabling cost. The implementation of full mesh is complicate and it increases with the growth of
the network.
Hybrid topology is used as a combination of two or more topology as an example, star
topology can be combined with P2P for producing the hybrid topology. It has the easiest method
for detecting errors and is highly effective and flexible (Kang, Kim and Park 2017). The network
is scalable such that the size can be increased. The design of the hybrid topology is complex and
involved huge cost.

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Evaluation of importance of network system management
The network management system is used for identification, configuration, monitoring,
updating and troubleshooting the network devices for the both the wireless and wired network. A
system management control application is used for displaying performance data that is collected
from different network components allowing the network engineers for making changes.
The vendors of network elements uses APIs or protocols for making available the
performance data with the help of network management software for example Netflow. The
network engineers can use the network management system for handling different operations
such as:
Monitoring performance – With the collection of different operating metrics with the use
of software agents, physical taps, SNMP protocol interface the network management system can
display the visible data necessary for the determination of network elements operating correctly.
Detecting device – The NMS can also be used for the detection of devices connected in
the network and ensuring the correct configuration and authentication of the device.
Analyzing performance – It is used for tracking performance data indicators such as
utilization of bandwidth, latency, packet loss, uptime and availability of routers, switches and
other network components (Zebbane et al. 2018).
Enabling notification – In case of any network disruption the network management
system can alert the administrator proactively about performance issues.
The network management software can be installed in a dedicated server or on a
workstation connected with the network for the management of the sites. It can be accessed as a
service and supplied as a tool for administering or monitoring the network. A wide variety of

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network components that are manufactured by different vendors can be managed using the
network management systems. Architecture based network equipment’s are needed to be used
for the network development such that multiple supplier are supported. The use of on premises
network management system installation helps in customization and better control of the
software for meeting the specific goals and objectives of the organization (Xu 2018). Additional
IT staffs and resources may be required for the management of the software and gradually as the
software ages the company becomes responsible for replacing or upgrading it. A quick return of
investment can be gained with the installation of network management system but the access of
the software is needed to be restricted to authorized personnel since it can compromise the
security and cause outrage of the data center.
Both the wireless and wired network can be monitored with the use of network
management system and a separate network management system may be required for the wired
and wireless networks. Wireless networking is becoming prevalent and thus there is a need of
unified network management software that helps the network engineers tracking the wireless and
wired network using a single console of management (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2019). It
can also allow the company tracking the performance of their own network and the external
networks operated by the cloud service providers. APIs are used for improving the visibility and
analyze the performance flow data and logs for analyzing the performance and security.
Interdependency of hardware, software and networking
The network hardware and software are used for the development of network framework
and management of the access of the devices to the authorized personnel. The workstation
hardware is interdependent with the software and the network interface card in the computers can
be used for enabling the computers to be combined with the network. The networked computers

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are able to communicate with each other using a specific network protocol such that the data
packets can be transferred. The NIC is used for translating for sending and receiving data from
the LAN. For the development of the network hardware and software both are essential since
hardware is used for connecting the cables and creating link with the destination location (Park
and Yoo 2017). The hardware device consists of network routers, switches, wireless access point
and hubs. The software are the set of instructions that tells the hardware to do specific operation.
The programmers create the software by typing the lists of instruction for running the hardware.
The software can be operating system of a network device that is needed for the configuration of
the device and perform the specific operation needed. The hardware and software are
interdependent on each other and the software is used for controlling the hardware. The hardware
and software are two complementary components that cannot work independently.
For effectively manipulation data and produce useful output in the network both the
hardware and software needs to work together. Without the software the computer hardware is
useless and conversely the software cannot be applied for using without the hardware. Thus it is
needed that each of the network device is installed with a software for its configuration and
execution. The software can be categorized into two types such as operating systems and
application software (Maximov, Ivanov and Sharifullin 2017). The operating system is used for
making the software usable and Cisco IOS is an example of Operating system software for the
Cisco routers and switches. The application software are those that are installed over the
operating system for managing different activity and the example of application software are
Wireshark and different network monitoring software application.

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Conclusion
The network protocols and standards are evaluated for the development of the network
framework for Netron. TCP and UDP connection protocols are used along with IP for
transmission of data. The TCP protocol is used for establishing a bidirectional connection
between the two network devices and it is considered as a connection oriented protocol. TCP
needs to establish a channel for communicating with the targeted node and ensure that there are
no errors after the packet is received and unpacked at the other end. With the use of TCP
connection a connection request is sent by the sender node and the server nodes needs to wait for
the connection. When the connection request is received by the server it responds and the
connection is established. An analysis is made on the different network topologies for the
development of the network framework and the common networking approaches are compared
with each other for the selection of the best topology. The report provides a detailed evaluation
result about the network protocols and standards that can be used for the development of network
framework. An evaluation is also made on the network monitoring system for describing its
importance in development of the network. The different operations that are performed by the
network monitoring system is discussed and the interdependency between the hardware, software
and network is also discussed. Overall the report provides an idea about the working of the
network and set of rules that forms the protocols and enables exchange of information in a
secured and reliable way.

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References
Azzouni, A., Trang, N.T.M., Boutaba, R. and Pujolle, G., 2017, June. Limitations of OpenFlow
topology discovery protocol. In 2017 16th Annual Mediterranean Ad Hoc Networking Workshop
(Med-Hoc-Net) (pp. 1-3). IEEE.
Choi, J.S. and Li, X., 2016. Hierarchical distributed topology discovery protocol for multi-
domain SDN networks. IEEE Communications Letters, 21(4), pp.773-776.
Geng, H., Li, S., Zhang, C., Yang, G., Dong, L. and Nahid-Mobarakeh, B., 2016. Hybrid
communication topology and protocol for distributed-controlled cascaded H-bridge multilevel
STATCOM. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 53(1), pp.576-584.
Kang, S.K., Kim, J. and Park, J., 2017. Topology Discovery Protocol for Train Inauguration in
Wireless Train Networks. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 50(1), pp.5973-5978.
Maximov, R.V., Ivanov, I.I. and Sharifullin, S.R., 2017, December. Network Topology Masking
in Distributed Information Systems. In Selected Papers of the VIII All-Russian Conference with
International Participation «Secure Information Technologies»(BIT (Vol. 6, p. 83).
Ochoa-Aday, L., Cervelló-Pastor, C. and Fernández-Fernández, A., 2019. eTDP: Enhanced
topology discovery protocol for software-defined networks. IEEE access, 7, pp.23471-23487.
Park, S. and Yoo, Y., 2017. Network intelligence based on network state information for
connected vehicles utilizing fog computing. Mobile Information Systems, 2017.
Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2019. Managing and using information
systems: A strategic approach. John Wiley & Sons.

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Petroccia, R., 2016, August. A distributed ID assignment and topology discovery protocol for
underwater acoustic networks. In 2016 IEEE Third Underwater Communications and
Networking Conference (UComms) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Xu, B., 2018. Threat and Countermeasure Analysis of Website Information Security Based on
Network Security Technology.
Zebbane, B., Chenait, M. and Badache, N., 2017. A distributed lightweight Redundancy aware
Topology Control Protocol for wireless sensor networks. Wireless Networks, 23(6), pp.1779-
1792.
Zebbane, B., Chenait, M., Benzaid, C. and Badache, N., 2018. RTCP: a redundancy aware
topology control protocol for wireless sensor networks. International Journal of Information and
Communication Technology, 12(3-4), pp.271-298.