Networking Systems. Network Cabling, Network Interface Cards,Network Connectivity

Task 1

What does networking design involve?
This involves considering the design for computer networks which cover a wide range of topics such as security and layout.
What is required for networking installation?
The desires for network installation include different devices such as hubs, routers, switch and cat5 Ethernet cable etc.

What is network configuration?

To communicate with other computers, computers need a network connection. This is accomplished by having the operating system recognize an interface card (such as Ethernet, ISDN modem, or token ring) and configuring the interface to connect to the network.

How can network security be improved?
Setting up a firewall, freeware security package and a separate defence can amplify the security on a network, adding passwords and setting use permission settings.
What are the main functions of a network?
Although the main function of network layer is routing, routing itself is done from source network to destination network a router doesn't store IP address of hosts it only has the IP prefix of the networks.
How does managing a client-server network differ from peer to peer networks?
Managing for example a client-server network will be different to a P2P network as the operating system between the two will be dissimilar.

Linux is a classic example of a client-based server.

What is meant by network planning?
This is where a network is planned out, where access points and servers are located. It is usually aimed at ensuring that the latest network meets the needs of the subscriber.

Task 2

How does the physical size affect the design?
Well obviously the bigger the physical size the bigger the network will need to be. The transmission medium will be affected most by the physical scale. One potential benefit is that Cat5 can only be used for up to 100m this would be suitable for a medical centre, using Cat5 will also lower costs.

How will cost be a major factor?
Cost is and will always be a major factor as a small medical centre will usually have a smaller budget to work on. Which means the approach they set up the network is important to keep it cost effective and budget plentiful. Cost can have a massive influence the speed of the network, for instance the cheaper the transmission media, the slower the network will be for example using Ethernet over Coaxial.

Why should speed be a major consideration?
As a medical centre I think speed is a huge factor, as the patients would want a quick service. But this all depends on the area. In a small physical area the transmission medium will be Cat5; which is the slowest out of the three; also smaller amount of users would be connected to the network as a result, less bandwidth is required.

How will the design affect functionality?
This would be a straight forward design. As a medical centre would use a client-server network where all the patients’ ...

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Why should speed be a major consideration?
As a medical centre I think speed is a huge factor, as the patients would want a quick service. But this all depends on the area. In a small physical area the transmission medium will be Cat5; which is the slowest out of the three; also smaller amount of users would be connected to the network as a result, less bandwidth is required.

How will the design affect functionality?
This would be a straight forward design. As a medical centre would use a client-server network where all the patients’ data is stored on a main server then accessed by the client (Doctors and Nurses)

What security requirements must be in place?
There should be a few fundamental requirements in place as the database would include very fragile details of many patients. Passwords should be priority, then start to think about hacking, so for piece of mind a firewall too.

How will the users access the internet?

This would be accessed by a shared connection.

Will the users have to be network experts?
Users wouldn’t have to be network exports; however they should have some essential knowledge of how a network works. This could benefit them if there was a problem to be solved.

Task 3

Network Cabling

There are many types of network cabling. Common ones such as Category 5 and Category 6 would be the most used right now. Cat5 as it is known frequently is a twisted pair of high signal integrity cable. The majority of these cables are exposed, relying on the twisted design for noise rejection, which then very little cable are actually shielded.

Category 6 is another similar piece of wiring but the difference here is that Cat6 is a standard used for Gigabyte Ethernet and other network protocols, they are also backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 standards.

These features include more harsh specifications for crosstalk and system noise. This also provides performance of up to 250MHz and is suitable for a faster type of Ethernet such as 10BASE-T.

The latest standard was announced in February 2008 named Category 6a or Augmented Category 6 and has defined at frequencies up to 500MHz double the velocity of its predecessor.

The length regulated stands at 100 metres for the Cat6 cable. 90 metres of which should be horizontal.

Fibre optic cable is used to carry signals for broadband, TV and voice. Made of very thin strands/threads of glass or plastic that can carry large amounts of digital information for long distances using light, fibre optic cables can carry a lot more data at one time than traditional copper wires.

Fibre optic cables are reliable (they don’t suffer from electromagnetic interference,) but they are expensive to install.

Network Interface Cards

A universal problem with NICs is a hardware fault; this is most likely caused by Electrostatic discharge. This usually is caused by incorrect handling of the hardware such as not using devices to protect against Electrostatic discharge e.g. Antistatic wrist bands, antistatic floor mats etc these can help protect Electrostatic discharge on electronic devices.

The only way to diagnose this problem is to see if the hardware works or not, you may not even know you have damaged the device when handling it.

Another problem with network cards could be drivers installed on the computer may not be the correct ones or they may not be functioning correctly (driver contains bugs or glitches)this will stop the hardware from functioning correctly as the hardware layer can’t interact with the software layer therefore connecting to a network is not possible. To ensure that the hardware works with the software, up-to-date drivers should be installed for the hardware and compatibility should be checked with the user’s configuration.

Network Connectivity

The physical (wired or wireless) and logical (protocol) connection of a computer network or an individual device to a network, such as the Internet or a LAN. In web hosting this can be referring to how the company receives its bandwidth and how it is connected to the provider.

There are so many ways in which the network connectivity can breakdown or fail. IP address, subnet mask and the DNS server all breaking up when dialling through the modem.

Usually the way to combat this would basically be done by firstly disconnecting your system from the network via the network and security centre located in the control panel on your system. After this you would have to connect back to the network. If this still doesn’t work then the next step is to check the physical state of the wiring and see if anything is wrong at the back. Note that all these steps don’t always work the first time; you might have to try disconnecting and then reconnecting a dozen times.

Trace route

The traceroute is a computer network tool used to show the route taken by packets across an IP network.

The purpose of traceroute is to identify the problematic server that is causing the error, and that is why we send traceroute info only if there is an error before reaching your servers. Traceroute is a very resource consuming operation and it will slow down your servers a lot if we do it all the time. If you need to execute a single traceroute, go to the “support” section and in the “Test Tools” subsection choose a location, go to the Traceroute test tool and enter the IP of your server. To activate the Traceroute Information option enter the “target” section and click on the “Edit target” icon next to the target you need to configure. In the basic configuration you need to enable the traceroute feature and save the changes.

IP, proxy and SNMP configurations

IP addresses are assigned to every computer and device which can connect to a network. A unique 8 digit number is given to every device and computer. For example I know that my computers IP address is 192.168.1.2, if the printer for example has the same IP address then they will both clash which means they won’t work properly.

Proxy

Proxy management is used to filter out any content that isn’t allowed by the management. Websites, documents and software can always be blocked out by the proxy servers.

These are used to as a small layer of protection for the network.

This should stop the potential employees for downloading any volatile software or programs.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) configure

This is a production standard for network management.

SNMP is usually used by the managers of the network, this allows them to modify the network to suit their business needs. It gathers information about the performance of the software and hardware on the network which then is observed by the user to project how the network components are working.

Any network can potentially suffer from performance problems. I will be studying 3 case studies for comparison reasons. A smaller home network with a couple of computers both connected together, a larger sized network which is a classroom inside my college and finally the large scale network which is my workplace of Alliance Boots.

Speed is the most important factor. Network performance is key to success; if the network is down in any of these places then nothing will get done. There would be a massive delay in everything that would need to be completed.

All these places would need to make certain that they can cope with higher speeds for a beneficial performance.

There was a vast difference within the networks. The small network will usually be running a couple of computers at a time

Peer Reviews

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

finalfantasy

18th of Feb 2012

Quality of writing

Quality of writing - Is the writing accurate in terms of spelling, grammar and punctuation? Has the writer used technical terms expected at this level of qualification? To what extent does the writer follow conventions and expectations for written work at this level? Minor grammar and punctuation mistakes are present throughout. The student presents this coursework as a very informal document which is evidenced through the style of writing and lack of even the most basic document administration (front page with short abstract, contents, bibliography, page numbers etc). Task 2 is informative yet let down by informal writing and repeating similar patterns as described above in Task 1 - the student shows a remarkable lack of understanding in network security, offering only vague answers to security requirements. Overall, this coursework is not at an A-Level standard.

Level of analysis

The coursework is largely opinionated, contains very few examples and lacks any citations. The latter two should at least not have been the case considering that this is an A-Level piece of work. The student has however demonstrated a good level of understanding in the technical terms involved in networking.

Response to question

The majority of answers given do not reflect the questions posed. As an example, immediately in Task 1, the answer to the first question is too vague and shows lack of research. Network design essentially involves the hardware architecture and network infrastructure of a business, consisting of at least the topology design, planning (through a variety of means which may even involve simulators such as Packet Tracer), associated costs etc. network design forms a core part of ERP. As for security, this is typically described in a business continuity plan. A few other examples: In Task 2, the response to physical size affecting design shows a lack of understanding of computer networks, the response to security requirements neglects key examples of password encryption and good practice (e.g. alphanumerical, mixed case and symbols) and regular change. In Task 3, colour coding and types of cables (e.g. crossover, rollover, straight-through) is not mentioned in Network Cabling. I would strongly recommend further research and to read the question carefully before answering.

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