Technical Report: Network Documentation for ABC Industries' Cisco LAN

This report provides a comprehensive technical documentation of the network infrastructure at ABC Industries, following the installation of new Cisco LAN switches. The document details the equipment, including Cisco Catalyst 6509 core switches with dual supervisors and 5416 blades, and Cisco Catalyst 3500 series distribution switches. It describes the physical and logical topologies, including VLAN configurations and network addressing schemes using both IP and IPX protocols. Technical considerations such as redundancy, spanning tree protocol, VLAN trunking, and EtherChannels are discussed. The report also highlights the standards followed by ABC Industries and provides details on the configuration of switches, including port naming and VTP settings. The report concludes with a summary of the network configuration and a reference to the sample school network documentation.

Network and Technical Documentation 1
Network and Technical Documentation
Instructor’s Name:
Student’s Name:
Date:

Network and Technical Documentation 2
This assignment carries information about the network at “Local Office of ABC Industries”. The
company has installed new LAN switches from Cisco.
Equipment
This section revolves around the network equipment installed in ABC industries.
1. Core
ABS Industries has installed Cisco Catalyst 6509 as its core switch with dual supervisors. The
supervisors have a multi-layer switch feature card 2. This card provides layer 3 switching. The
supervisors are designed with 2 gigabit Ethernet ports. And, there are four 5416 blades with 16
gigabit Ethernet ports.
2. Distribution
Distribution happens with closet switches. These switches are cisco catalyst 3500 series.there are
three catalyst 3524 switches with 24 fast Ethernet ports and 2 gigabit Ethernet ports. These ports
provide power to IP telephones. There are 14 3548 Cisco catalysts. These catalysts have 48 fast
Ethernet ports. These ports don’t allow in-line power. All these ports are managed by a system
that carries iOS v 12.0 XU.
Physical Topology
The physical topology describes the physical connections in ABS industries’ network.
1. Server

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The company has a server room with Cat 5609 core switches. The servers are carefully
connected to the core switch. The core switch has powerful gigabit Ethernet interfaces.
2. Floor closets
The floor closets are planned with Cat 3500 switches. There are 2 active connections between
core switches in the closet. The closets have fiber connections and inter-switches that connect
GigaStack GBICs. These units use copper cables to transport information from one to another.
Switches next to each other are connected (one in the top and the bottom).
Logical Topology
The logical topology forms the 3rd layer of ABS industries.
1. VLAN
ABS industries is broken into several VLANs. These VLANs are connected to single wiring
closets. There are 2 VLANs in the server room. These would be VLAN 93 and VLAN 94. The
company uses VLAN 100 to test the entire network.
2. Network Addressing
ABS Industries uses IP and IPX protocols to configure its network. Here are few important IP
addresses assigned.
IP Network IPX Network Location/Purpose
192.168.86.0/24 86 1st Floor West
192.168.87.0/24 87 1st Floor East

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192.168.88.0/24 88 2nd Floor West
192.168.89.0/24 89 2nd Floor East
192.168.91.0/24 91 3rd Floor East
192.168.92.0/24 92 3rd Floor West
192.168.93.0/24 1002 Server Room
192.168.94.0/24 1003 Server Room
192.168.100.0/2
4
N/A Test VLAN – NOT
ROUTED
Switches in the network are given IP addresses. These addresses are assigned for management
purpose. The VLAN is used to assign addresses to the switches.
Technical Consideration
1. For Switches
Cat 6509 has dual supervisors to ensure redundancy in the core switches. Only one server can be
active. This is when the other switch stays standby. If the active switch fails, the standby one
starts functionalities. Spanning tree protocol is used to spot looks in this layer. STP portfast
Mode is enabled on all the switches. Before a port is activated, switches should listen and learn

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all the states. Packets can only be forward to ports that are active. VLAN trunking protocol is
used to share VLAN information between switches. ABS engineers believe that VTP saves lots
of effort and time. EtherChannels are used to connect two Cisco switches.
2. For Routers
Routers in Cat6509 with dual supervisors and MSFCs are active. This makes sure routers and
switches can fail without affecting others. Helper addresses are configured on the router
interfaces. VLAN 94 is used to transfer DHCP packets to DHCP servers. ABS uses 802.3
encapsulation to handle IPX traffic. This is a default encapsulation in Cisco routers.
Standards
ABS follows many industrial standards, while installing devices. These standards help them
install and migrate to new networks. Moreover, they make sure all standards are followed during
network changes.
1. Closet Switches
Closet Switches Cat 3500 have interfaces with configured autosensing duplex and speed. This
configuration works well for most end stations. However, this is a problem for some ABS hosts.
2. Core Switches
All Core switches Cat 6509 are configured with fast Ethernet ports. These ports operate at 100
Mbps and are full duplex (by default). Ports in this switch can be configured with a name. At
ABS Industries, all ports are configured with port names that are descriptive. In most scenarios,
the name matches with the name of the nearest closet switch or server to which ports can be
connected. These names help in troubleshooting.

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3. VTP
ABS Industries sets “abs” as the VTP domain. It has a password too. All switches added to the
network are configured with this username and password.
Conclusion
This assignment concludes with important details on ABS Industries’ network after the
installation of Cisco infrastructure.
References

Network and Technical Documentation 7
http://sts.sydneyr.det.nsw.edu.au/files/downloads/network/
sampleschoolnetworkdocumentation.pdf