- Domain Controllers
- Database Server
- Application Server
- Printer Server
- E-Mail Server
- File Server
- DNS Server
- DHCP Serverg
- VPN Server
- SIP Server
Domain Controller Servers
According to Microsoft TechNet (2008), in their knowledge base it describes domain controllers can authenticate users and assign permissions on the network.
We proposed two domains to students and staff to separate the network features among the students and the staff and for authentication purposes. So there will be two separate logins for the staff and students. With proper authentication methods the unauthorized access to the network can be reduced.
E-Mail Server
We proposed to use an E-mail server to provide e-mail services to the Law school and staff with their own domain name. (Example: - [email protected])
Printer Server
We proposed to use a printer server than printer sharing because with a printer server you can manage the printer all around the network and can accept print jobs from the client computers. Also with the printer server it can grant and restrict the use of printer for users. Users will be able to take printouts from anywhe8re around the network and users do not need to install and load the printer drivers for each machine.
Database Server
Database server can keep the databases and provide database services to the organization. We are proposing a database server because software like student information and student payment details will be kept on a centralized database, so a database server should be established. Also for the software development purposes students may need a database management system, so with the client computers users can use database services.
File Server
The main purpose of using a file server to keep the files in a centralized storage location is so that it can be access by the client computers. So Course Materials and other documents can be kept on the file server.
DHCP Server
DHCP servers can assign configuration information to DHCP clients automatically.
Nominum Inc. (2000). DHCP whitepaper. United States: Nominum Inc.p1.
We are proposing to use a DHCP server to assign client computers to obtain their TCP/IP network configurations from this DHCP server so the network administrators do not need to manually configure TCP/IP settings to each computer.
This will reduce the manual work of network administrators and optimize efferent use of the IP address. If we are not using a DHCP server network administrator have to configure each network devices TCP/IP settings manually. In this large network it’s not possible and not cost effective.
DNS Server
According to Hallberg, B (2005) in his book “Networking: a beginner's guide” DNS server can translate a domain name to its host name. For example to convert apiit.lk domains to its IP address , DNS server can cache and store the query results and every time it to not need to accesses the root DNS server to do the translation process
SIP Server
SIP server enables SIP end points to exchange messages, register user location, and provide routing and security policies for VoIP implementation.
RADVISION Ltd (2004). SIP Server Technical Overview. United States : RADVISION Ltd. p1-p3.
We proposed to use a SIP server because we are planned to implement the VoIP services so SIP server is an essential network element for the VoIP implementation.
VPN Server
VPN server is a server gateway that manages, authenticates and connects VPN clients.
anonymous.(2005). Virtual Private Networks. Available: http://www.ebitsolutions.net/services/networks/vpn_faq.htm. Last accessed [14 Sep 2009].
We proposed to use a VPN server for the linking of the main campus and the APIIT law school we use a VPN connection and we need to manage and authenticate the users who connect in and out though the VPN.
First floor
Floor Plan briefing
Respectively first floor will have the reception, accounting department and the counselor rooms.
Network Plan
Figure 2 – Ground Floor Plan
As shown in the above figure the main switch in the ground floor will be connected to the backbone switch in server room though the air vent. Two switches will be connected from the main switch to the accounting department and to the counselor rooms and network equipments in those departments will be connected to them .Wi-Fi router and reception PCs and Reception IP Phone will be directly connected to the main switch.
We proposed a separate Layer 2 switch for the level 1 floor to keep the hierarchical approach and the keep that floor work independent from other floors. All other switches in this floor will be connected to that main switch and this main switch will be connected to the server backbone switch.
We use a separate switch for the accounting department because if the management wants to move the accounting department to another location and have a different office in that place the network can be easily expandable without changing the wired connections, also by having a separate switch accounting department can be segmented and work separately and can assign several network configurations only for that department.
Equipment briefing
We are suggesting using a 24 port and 12 port switches which are IEEE 802.3, 1Gpbs or 10Gpbs standard switches.
Account Department wiring plan
Figure 3 – Accounting Dep. Wiring overview
The above figure shows the proposed wiring plan for the accounts department.
Backup and Recovery Plans
Maintaining the network of this floor can be done without interfering the other floors of the network by using a separate main switch to this floor. In case of a failure, network administrators can easily come up with the solution and with a less down time without interfering the network connection of the other floors.
Second floor
Floor Plan briefing
As shown in the figure below human resources department, library and the study area will be located in the second floor, expect that there will be a lobby.
Network Plan
Figure 4 - Level 2 Floor Plan
Follows the hierarchical approach and to separate the floor there will be a floor main switch and from that other switches in that floor will be connected and there will be separate switches to library, study room because in the future the network can be expandable.
Equipment briefing
We are suggesting using a 24 port and 12 port switches which are IEEE 802.3, 1Gpbs or 10Gpbs standard switches.
Third floor
Floor Plan briefing
In the third floor the labs and the server room will be located.
Network plan
Figure 5 – Level 3 Floor Plan
As shown in the figure above the lab backbone switch will be connected to the server backbone though the air duct, each lab will have its own switch. Each switch will be connecting to 40 computers using star topology.
Equipment briefing
Each lab will have two interconnected 24 port switches, 48 or 64 port switches, we proposed to use more port switches than the available network equipments because the lab can be expandable easily.
Lab wiring plan
Figure 6 – Lab wiring overview
The proposed wiring plans for the labs are shown in the above figure. Computers will be divided into 10 rows, 4 computers in each row. Nearby each row there will be a wall outlet and cabling from the computers will be connecting to it. Cables from the wall outlet will be connected to the patch panel and from the patch panel those cables will be connected to the Lab switch using patch cables. All the network devices in the labs will be connected to the switch using star topology.
Server room
Figure 7 – Server Room
Forth floor
Floor Plan briefing
In the fourth floor all the class rooms are located.
Network plan
Figure 8 – Level 4 Floor Plan
As shown in the figure above the level main switch will be connected to the server backbone though the air duct there will be shared switches in the class rooms, that would mean that one switch will be used in two class rooms. We use switches in class rooms considering a future network expansion, or a backup situation.
Equipment briefing
We propose to use IEEE 802.3 standard 12 or 24 Port Layer 2 switches which support 1Gpbs or 10Gpbs.
Fifth floor
Floor Plan briefing
Fifth floor will have the meeting room, conference hall, staff room, CEO office and a store room.
Network Plan
Figure 9 - Level 5 Floor Plan
As shown in the figure above the hierarchical approach is followed and there will be a main switch for the fifth floor and other switches are connected to it from it, we provide separate switches for meeting room, and conference hall because in the future if these location have to change the network can be easily expandable, we provide a separate switch to staff room because there will be lot of network devices and in case of a proposal to use two interconnected switches in the staff room. Also we propose to keep a free cable to the store room because if the store room is to be used for another purpose in the future it will have to be rewired again. Also we use two wireless access points in the lobby of the fifth floor and for the conference room.
The staff room network components will be connected to the staff switch using the star topology, also in the CEO office as well.
All the cables will connect to the backbone switch though the air duct.
Equipment briefing
All switches in this floor will be IEEE 802.3 standard layer two 12 or 24 port switches, in a requirement staff room can use a 48 port switch or two interconnected 24 port switches.
Backup and Recovery Plans
We proposed to use two 24 port switches in the staff room if one switch goes down the full network in staff room will not go down.
Sixth floor
Floor Plan briefing
Respectively the sixth floor will be the cafeteria.
Network Plan
Figure 10 - Level 6 Floor Plan
As shown in the above figure there will be a main switch in the sixth floor, and the wireless access points will be connected from the main switch. We proposed to use two wireless access points to give a good wireless coverage in the sixth floor .also we provide a wired connection to the canteen counter.
Equipment briefing
We propose to use IEEE 802.3 standard 12 or 24 Port Layer 2 switch as the main switch and for the wireless access points we propose to use 802.11g or 802.11n standard wireless access points.
VoIP
According to Internet Security Systems (2004). VoIP: “The Evolving Solution and the Evolving Threat “ whitepaper Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a service that delivers voice services over an IP network.
The figure below shows the VoIP implementation in APIIT Law School. We are proposing to implement VoIP services in this network proposal because the same network can be used to transfer both data and voice .VoIP will cut down the cost of implementing an internal telephone system and it provides many features than the normal telephone implementation.
Figure 11 – VoIP implementation
For moderation and management purposes APIIT law school staff may need to contact Staffordshire University and APIIT Malaysia frequently, so with the implementation of the VoIP staff can make calls to foreign countries for lower prices than the traditional telephone system.
With the VoIP expanding the telephone line is really easy than using normal telephone connection. If the management wants to have extra phones connections to be implemented in the Law school premises they only need to plug a VoIP phone to the nearest switch or a use a VoIP soft phone. If we use the old telephone system we have to newly wire the new locations to take the telephone connection.
VoIP has many features like Voice mail, Caller ID, Call Conferencing, Call forwarding, Number Portability which we have to pay extra service charges to the service provider in the normal telephone network .
Internet Security Systems (2004). VoIP: The Evolving Solution and the Evolving Threat. United States: Internet Security Systems. p1-p6.
Cabling
For cabling solution we propose 3 options
- Cabling using CAT7(Category 7) Cables
- Cabling using CAT6(Category 6) Cables
- Cabling using CAT5e(Category 5) Cables
The following table shows the type of cabling and the maximum achievable speed
Table 1 – Cable type and maximum achievable speed
B&B Electronics (2002). Ethernet basics . Ottawa,United States: B&B Electronics. p1-p5.
Following table shows the cabling and its life cycle
Table 2 – Cable type and life time
Siemon (2008). Cabling Lifecycles and Total Cost of Ownership. United States: Siemon. p2-p7
As the above table shows the CAT5 cables has a life cycle of only 5 years , also CAT 6 cables will be outdated in 7 years time.
Nowadays most organizations in Sri-Lanka use CAT5 cabling and achieve a maximum speed of 100Mpbs, but the modern world is moving today towards achieving 1Gpbs using CAT5e/CAT6 cabling and within the next 15 years the world will move to high speed connectivity solutions of 10Gpbs using CAT7 cabling.
CAT 7 Cabling
Bob Grow, Chair of the 802.3 working group, in his recent announcement declared that 10Gpbs Ethernet over copper interface is now a standardized as IEEE 802.3ak.
IEEE . (2004). New IEEE standard adds copper cable interface to 10 gb/s Ethernet. Available: http://standards.ieee.org/announcements/pr_8023ak.html. Last [accessed 13 Sep 2009].
So for future purposes we suggest to use CAT7 cabling to the organization because with CAT7 cabling you can easily upgrade to a 10Gpbs (IEEE 802.3ak) network without rewiring the building. This will help the organization save a large sum of money and also without an upgrade downtime.
But the current network devices will not support IEEE 802.3ak standards and the law school will not receive the full advantage of the 10Gpbs networking, but in future it will be a big advantage for the organization and company network as it can use under 10Gpbs speed without rewiring the building and only by replacing network devices .Also CAT 7 is backward compatible and works with lower speed devices also.
If company management offers resistance to use CAT7 cabling we proposed to use CAT5e or CAT 6 cables as an option, with the CAT5e cabling it will not make any difficulties to work on with the current network background .
CAT 6 / CAT 5e Cabling
According to David, B in his book ‘Complete Guide to Network Wiring‘ he describes CAT 5e an enhanced version of CAT5 cabling and capable of transmitting up to 1Gbps speed.CAT 6 also support 1Gpbs Speed, both CAT5e and CAT6 cabling are backward capable .
Law school cabling can be done using CAT5e UTP cables, for the cables that connects floor switches to the server backbone switch which are running in the air vent can use STP or UTP cables with PVC cover used as insulation. We propose to use insulation covers for cables because most of the meager electrical cables running though the air went are prone to electrical interference and if anything happens the data will be corrupted. Also the PVC insulation cover will protect the cables from animal bites and weather conditions.
Wireless access
Every floor in the law school will have secure wireless access and each floor will have a wireless access point. We are proposing a wireless access point in every floor to give a good wireless service by proving a good coverage .Each wireless connection will be secured with a password to prevent unauthorized access.
We encourage establishing the wireless access point in the middle of every floor to provide a 360 degree coverage in the floor. If the wireless access point is established in a side of a floor some areas in that floor will not be well covered and users will face slow wireless connections.
Standardization of Wireless Network
The IEEE standards that concern wireless local areas connection (WLAN) falls under IEEE 802.11 we proposed to any of following standards in the network and the wireless devices which provide wireless access should meet the following standards .
IEEE 802.11g
According to Black Box (2008). Wireless Networking Whitepaper, IEEE 802.11g is a standardization stack (Combination of 802.11a and 802.11b), supporting up to 54 Mbps bandwidth and its backward compatible with old standards. That mean wireless access point with IEEE 802.11g will support to work with 802.11b wireless adapters.
IEEE 802.11n
According to Black Box (2008). Wireless Networking Whitepaper, IEEE 802.11n supports up to 100Mpbs data rates and higher, better signal intensity than older standards, is backward compatible with other standards. Also the Special feature is the ability to support the utilization of multiple wireless signals and antennas instead of one (MIMO technology).
Black Box (2008). Wireless Networking. Pennsylvania : Black Box. p1-p4.
Linking the Campus
As the managements request we have to bring up a link between the APIIT main campus network and the proposed APIIT law school building. So we propose several options for this connection.
- Virtual Private Network (VPN)
- Wireless Point to Point Bridges (PtP)
Virtual Private Network (VPN)
According to MegaPath Communications (2005). ‘Implementing an IP VPN’, in their whitepaper they say VPN is a technology that can connect private networks with the use of a public network such as the Internet.
Virtual Private Network can be used to link the APIIT City campus and the APIIT Law School over the Internet which is located in two different physical sites, so these two networks can be operate as a single network. This will benefit the organization by sharing and centralizing the data in these two networks.
We propose to use VPN to link the two networks because, there is no special infrastructure to be implemented, and with the current leased line you can link the two LAN networks.
Figure 12 - VPN implementation
To keep the VPN Network on standard we proposed to use the following best practices and to consider about these key areas when implementing the VPN network.
Traffic Control and bandwidth management and should guarantee the reliability and performance of the VPN, use of security techniques like authentication and encryption methods, and the implementation should guarantee the security of the network because there may be private and confidential data like student personal information travelling though this VPN .
MegaPath Communications (2005). Implementing an IP VPN. Costa Mesa, CA: MegaPath Communications. p2-p9.
Wireless Point to Point Bridges (PtP)
Figure 13 - Wireless P2P Bridge
Using a Wireless Point to Point Bridges we can connect the wired APIIT Law School and APIIT City campus network wireless using two wireless bridges via IEEE 802.11g Wi-Fi protocol or IEEE 802.16 Wi-MAX Protocol.
This method is easy to implement but using this method there will be lot of interferences by weather and other effects. This wireless bridges should be line of sight, if not the connection will drop, also the static speed cannot be guaranteed because of the external inferences.
Motorola, inc (2007). Point-To-Point Solutions and WiMAX. Ashburton, Devon: Motorola, inc. p3.
IP Addressing
Standardization
Structured Cabling Standards (ANSI/TIA/EIA-568)
Most of the networks face problems because of inferior cabling of the network so we propose to use structured cabling standards in the proposed network plan. This will provide various benefits for the network and the network administrators.
So we proposed to use commercial building cabling standards which are provided by American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
According to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (2006).’Commercial building telecommunications standards’ whitepaper cabling in commercial buildings falls under ANSI/TIA/EIA-568 also this approach can be divided in to several main parts.
- Entrance facility
- Main Interconnect
- Backbone distribution
- Horizontal connect
- Horizontal distribution
- Work area
Entrance facility
The entrance facility contains the cables from the service provider. The connection and the hardware equipments like CSU/DSU, IPPBX will be located here. The entrance facility will be located in the special section in server room.
Main interconnect
The main interconnect will be the server room which is located in third floor. The cables from the service provider and the cables from the floors (backbone cables) all the servers will be connected to the Server backbone switch in the main interconnect .
Backbone distribution
Figure 14 – Backbone distribution
According to above figure the backbone cables will be distributed from the main interconnect (server room) to every floor.
Horizontal distribution
Connections to the wall outlet fall under here. It’s proposed to use a maximum distance of 90m and additional 10m for patching.
Working areas
This describes the connection from the outlet to the work area equipment, according to this standard it’s proposed to use 3m of cabling after the wall outlet.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (2006).Commercial building telecommunications standards . United States: ANSI. p1-12.
Backup Plans
Dual backbone switches
Other than one layer 3 switch we propose to use two layer3 switches in the server back bone because if one switch goes down the network can be restore using the other layer 3 switch.
Remote backup
To guarantee the security of the confidential data we proposed to use a remote backup or an online backup system. We don’t keep a backup server in the law school premises because in case of a disaster like fire the backup server will be destroyed and backup will be not useful.
Backup lines
To use in case of an emergency we can keep backup lines to the floors though the air vent. If the current cable goes down the network can be restored with the emergency line.
Limitations
- Cannot overcome single point failures.
- No proper media streaming facilities.
- VoIP services are limited to voice services.
Bibliography
-
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (2006).Commercial building telecommunications standards. United States: ANSI
-
B&B Electronics (2002). Ethernet basics . Ottawa,United States: B&B Electronics.
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Black Box (2008). Wirless Networking. Pennsylvania : Black Box.
-
David Barnett,David Groth,Jim McBee (2004). Cabling: The Complete Guide to Network Wiring, . United States : SYBEX Inc.
- Eric Maiwald. Network Security: A Beginner's Guide. Second Edition. McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 2003.
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IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society (2004).Errata to IEEE Standard Codes, Formats, Protocols, and Commond Commands for Use With IEEE Std 488.1-1987, IEEE Standard Digital Interface for Programmable Instrumentation. United States: IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society
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Intel Corporation (2003). 10 Gigabit Ethernet Technology Overview. United States: Intel Corporation.
-
Internet Security Systems (2004). VoIP: The Evolving Solution and the Evolving Threat. United States: Internet Security Systems
-
MegaPath Communications (2005). Implementing an IP VPN. Costa Mesa, CA: MegaPath Communication
-
Motorola, inc (2007). Point-To-Point Solutions and WiMAX. Ashburton, Devon: Motorola, inc
-
RADVISION Ltd (2004). SIP Server Technical Overview. United States : RADVISION Ltd .
-
Siemon (2008). Cabling Lifecycles and Total Cost of Ownership. United States: Siemon.
Conclusion
The purpose of this project was to implement a network plan for the APIIT Law School.
After several weeks of research we came up with solutions and new technologies that could be useful to implementing the network. The use of all our research in this system provides a network that is very effective and provides optimum features in the best way possible.
Appendix
