Network Redesign for uSoft.com: A Comprehensive Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This report details a network redesign for uSoft.com.

“DATA COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKS”
Assessment 3
Author
Date

Summary
This report is generated for the understanding of the network designing for an organisation
environment. In this report, the complete network is illustrated in a detailed manner to provide key
information about the network strategies made to enhance the end network service deliverables. The
report thoroughly informs about the steps taken regarding the requirement gathering and concept
evaluation for the proposed solutions.
The major part of the report is about the designing of logical as well as physical topologies for the
redesigned network which is the upgradation to existing network design. In this report, the new IP
addressing scheme proposed for the network of the organisation is also illustrated in a detailed manner
with all the calculations and IP address allocation strategies developed (Singh, 2014).
The network project is to design a considerable redesigning of network which can stood up to real-
world standards and can be directly implemented. Due this report a great learning of designing and
developing key strategies for an organisational network can be learnt. The complete report is divided
into multiple sections from organisational current information, requirement gathering, proposing best
solutions and redesigning the network for an optimistic scenario for the organisational benefits.

Contents
Summary...............................................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................4
2. Organisational Description................................................................................................................5
3. Analysis of User Requirements (Requirement engineering)..............................................................6
3.1 IP Allocation Requirement..........................................................................................................6
3.2 Connectivity Requirement...........................................................................................................6
3.3 Scalability Requirement...............................................................................................................6
3.4 Availability Requirement.............................................................................................................7
3.5 Logical Network Designing.........................................................................................................7
3.6 Security Requirement..................................................................................................................7
3.7 Accessibility................................................................................................................................8
4. Logical Design..................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Virtual LANs (VLANs)...............................................................................................................9
4.2 Firewall Security........................................................................................................................10
4.3 Wireless Network......................................................................................................................11
5. IP Address Allocation Plan..............................................................................................................13
6. Logical Network Diagram...............................................................................................................16
7. Physical Network Diagram..............................................................................................................19
8. Conclusions.....................................................................................................................................24
List of References................................................................................................................................25

1. Introduction
The project is to develop a network design for a current working company uSoft.com. the company is
facing issues with the existing network design in terms of overall network performance and service
deliverables. Following are the justifications made over the report generated for this project –
 The goal of the project is to provide a structured network analysis report on the redesigning of the
existing network. The network is to be communicable basis which means services such as
wireless connectivity and Voice over IP (VoIP) must be able to deliver over the network. Security
to the company assets is also a key term to be taken care of and the report justifies the entire
security plan made for it. Other goals such as scalability and flexibility of the network by taking
care of future developments are also addressed accordingly.
 The main aim of the report is to provide a justified and approached document to the company for
the overall upgradation requirement made by the company. By the following report, all the major
designing concepts related to the requirements of the company can be implemented in practical.
 The overall report is the evaluation of the existing network design and putting the justification of
newer upgradation to the redesigned network which will make organisation network
comprehensive and let the network to work on the latest standard of the real world scenario.

2. Organisational Description
uSoft.com is a growing software development company which consists of three major branches from
which one is Head Quarters and other two branches are A & B. the company has been extended a lot
to meet its existing network limits. All the branches are of the company are situated at the Golden
Coast Region from a significant distance to each other. There is a critical need of redesigning the
existing network design so to meet up the company network requirements. The Head Quarters branch
consists of six departments working on six different floors of the branch. Following is the floor plan
of each department with the number of current employees –
Department Floor
Number
Number of
Employees
Employees after 12
months
Servers in
Departments
Software Development 1 102 118 3
Solution Design 2 92 106 2
Customer Support 3 62 72 1
Sales 4 52 60 1
Finance 5 32 37 1
Human Resource 6 22 26 1
Each Employee has its own PC and IP phones. There is a number of servers in each department for
operations. All the details are mentioned in the above table.
The uSoft.com company requires a new network design which is as per the network requirement of
the company. The company is also going to expand its number of employees by 15% in the coming 12
months. So the calculation regarding the IP addresses will be according to the increased 15% of the
current employee's strength.

3. Analysis of User Requirements (Requirement engineering)
The company uSoft.com have a variety of workings in the organisational environment. So, the
specification for the network is also accordingly to the application of the sectors in the company.
Various aspects of the company lead to a diverse requirement criterion for the company. Like for the
Head Quarters, there are 6 distinct departments running in a same building. They all share the same
network environment but are communicating differently with each other as per the policies. Following
are the requirements made as per the network of uSoft.com –
3.1 IP Allocation Requirement
The current network for the company is insufficient for the required number of users. There is a
number of users in the Head Quarters using their own workstations and IP Phones. So there is critical
need of redesigning the IP address architecture of the network so to meet the requirement of the
current as well as future needs because in the coming 12 months the number of employees working in
Head Quarter branch will increase by 15%.
So for the IP allocation to each network device and end device, there is a requirement of new IP
addressing scheme which will fulfil the need of such state of organisation. And the designed IP
addressing scheme must be effective and efficient.
3.2 Connectivity Requirement
For the proper functioning of the designed network, the network must be communicable to each and
every device in the network. Connectivity is the major requirement of the company’s network needs.
End to end connectivity with each and every device is a must so that there are no black holes
(network’s dead point) in the network.
For this different networks (either subnetworks or entire network) must be routed for an end to end
communication. Selection of the routing protocols will provide efficient network delivery to the end
user. For the verification of the connectivity SMTP protocol or traceroute can be used to examine the
end to end communication.
3.3 Scalability Requirement
The redesigning of the network must adhere to the key feature of scalability of the network. As per the
criteria proposed by the uSoft.com company that the number of Employees in Head Quarters branch
is going to increase by 15% in the coming 12 months. So the network must be scalable in each
working application such that to provide required network needs to all the future Employees.

On the basis of infrastructure, application, service and hardware, the network must be able to provide
its services to every user and devices. Future arrangements must be taken care in the phase of
redesigning so to meet the incremented network user’s needs.
3.4 Availability Requirement
The network has to be available in any circumstances for its users. Network downtime is not expected
from the company to happen. For this arrangement such as redundancy of network is a very key point.
Redundancy will not only provide availability but will lower the risk of dropdown of services and
data exchange.
Another part regarding the availability of the network is to provide continuous backup for the
interconnectivity components such as backup routers. By such implementation, redundancy can be
achieved to provide continuous network service delivery.
3.5 Logical Network Designing
The existing network is working on the same network without any distinct separation between
department network. The redesigned network must be able to create logical groups as per required.
The logical groups include such as creation of different subnetwork working on their own VLAN
(Virtual LAN).
By the implementation of the VLAN logical groups can be created in the same LAN infrastructure
which will provide the feature of managing the existing department needs. It will be easy to apply
firewall policies such as ACLs directly to a VLAN. This will make the entire network flexible enough
to handle a different kind of data.
3.6 Security Requirement
Protecting the network from threat full conditions is a must feature in the redesigned network. The
network can always be compromised by attackers, so the designing of the network security
component is a very important practice. For the network security of LAN infrastructure of the Head
Quarter network, dedicated firewalls can be configured so to provide a protective environment and
preserve the internal network of the Head Quarters. There are different types of firewalls based on the
application and use of work.
The company have very critical data over the PCs or the servers running in departments which must
stay out of reach of unauthorized user. Therefore, there is a high need for implementing and installing
a dedicated firewall to protect the internal network.

3.7 Accessibility
The internal network is required to be accessed for all the users. But the condition is that the users can
access within the network as well as outside the network. For that services such as SSH must be
configured in the network to provide remote accessibility to the network. The end devices such as
servers and employee PCs are configured with the SSH services. SSH is a secured protocol to provide
remote access to the user.

4. Logical Design
4.1 Virtual LANs (VLANs)
uSoft.com have 3 branches working on different network. Head Quarters have the network ID
172.16.123.0 /22. But there is a need to separate the department network with each other. Thus, there
is a requirement of creation of VLANs in the LAN network of Head Quarters. Logical groups are
generated in the LAN to provide VLAN feature between them. The RIP (Routing Information
Protocol) Protocol is used for routing between all the VLANs working in the Head Quarters.
Figure 1: Logical design for the working VLANs for all the departments
As shown in figure 1, this is the logical grouping of departments of uSoft.com in same LAN network.
All the departments are assigned with a specific VLAN and will be strictly prohibited to only work in
that VLAN only until routing is performed between other VLANs. Following are the VLANs –
Department Name VLAN Number
Software Development 10
Solution Design 20
Customer Support 30
Sales 40
Finance 50

Human Resource 60
4.2 Firewall Security
The uSoft.com company have very important assets in its internal or private LAN network. These
assets need to be secured on a high note. There is a high requirement of security mechanism that can
protect the internal network and its component from being compromised by the outside attackers or
unauthorised access. The firewall will work as the layered protection which will filter the incoming
traffic and takes the actions according to the set policies.
Figure 2: Logical design for the working of firewall mechanism
As shown in figure 2, is the logical representation for the working of firewall of the company.
Firewalls are configured in the LAN design to provide security from the outer threats that are
available over the internet. Public internet is filled with unauthorised people, so, firewall detects the
incoming traffic and filter outs the unwanted traffic and let the genuine traffic to pass (Els, 2006).

The configured firewall works on the architecture of packet filtering in which each incoming packet is
thoroughly inspected like sender IP address, destination IP address, port number etc., if the inspection
fails then the packet is dropped (which is in case of an intruder) else passed (Logical Design, 2013).
4.3 Wireless Network
The company have a wireless network setup for its users. In the LAN infrastructure of Head Quarters,
there is dedicated access points setup for providing WLAN (Wireless LAN) to the users. Users of the
company can directly connect to the wireless network by providing the password authentication which
is via WPA2-PSK security. After the authentication, the user can use the network services on its
wireless device such as a smartphone, laptop etc.
Figure 3: Logical design for the wireless network in the Head Quarters LAN

As shown in figure 3, this is the design for the access points configured in the LAN infrastructure of
uSoft.com. each floor of the company is specific to a department, so for each department access points
are there to provide wireless connectivity. They are configured with WPA2-PSK security with a
password.