IP address Final Essay Example for Free

IP address Final Essay WAN Design lt;namegt; Axia College The ACME Manufacturing company, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is growing at a fast pace. Located at the Atlanta campus are two offices, one houses the operations, marketing, administration, and accounting sections. The other building has offices for the engineering and sales departments. ACME is spread throughout the United States; with offices in New York, Chicago, and Phoenix. They have also recently acquired a facility in China. With the recent expansion, ACME will need a new wide area network (WAN) and a state-of-the-art phone system to ensure the company operates at optimal levels. To make administration of the ACME WAN easier the network should be designed using the star topology. With this configuration, each branch office will have only a direct connection back to the headquarters in Atlanta. The type of connection to each location stateside can vary on the size of the remote office. I would recommend going with a minimum of a full T1 line or even a T3. The China location can be connected via a satellite connection leased by the company. The following figure is a graphical representation of the WAN configuration. Atlanta T1 T1 T1 New York Phoenix Chicago China Satellite WAN Layout for ACME Manufacturing IP Ranges For modeling purposes, let’s assume ACME is using a class B network address; for example 192. 168. x. x. To help keep the individual departments separate, the network administration will need to configure a few subnets. Each subnet on the network will be a VLAN, or virtual local area network. In order for us to have the proper amount of subnets, the subnet mask will be set to 255. 255. 240. 0. This will give ACME a maximum of sixteen subnets and 4,094 hosts in each subnet. Hardware Requirements New Cisco switches and routers will supply the routing necessary for Acme’s data. Cisco Catalyst switches will provide VLAN functionality; these switches can accept broadcast packets and forward them only through the ports that are designated by the VLAN configuration; this enhances security by keeping interdepartmental traffic from reaching other departments. Using VTP, all VLANs will only need to be configured from the switch acting as the VTP server. The Cisco routers will define broadcast domains and will use the link-state routing protocol OSPF that works well with the IP addressing scheme in use. STP, configured on the Cisco switches, will allow us to build redundancy into the network and avoid data loops (Regan, 2004). Wireless technologies promote productivity by allowing network users to remain connected to the network when using wireless devices. The installation of wireless access points will grant high-speed network connectivity to wireless devices. Because Acme will be leasing dedicated network media, a CSU/DSU will be required to terminate those lines at each of the distribution locations and at the headquarters building. CSUs/DSUs also place digital signals on the line, control transmission strength, support loopback tests, and synchronize the timing received on the line. Leased lines require a different frame type to be used for data than is regularly used in a LAN environment; a CSU/DSU also converts LAN frames into frames usable on the leased lines (Regan, 2004). Telephony With all of the new technology sprouting up daily, and the cost of long distance calls dropping, a feasible solution would be to install a private branch exchange (PBX) at each location. But with the addition of China into the company’s holdings, a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) system would be the better choice to avoid international charges. With a VoIP system, each location can be set up on a three or four digit dialing plan so users can communicate easier. For example, John in Atlanta can dial a four digit number and reach Chang in China. Security After the infrastructure is set up and the network is online, the security of the network is the most important job of the network team. By keeping all devices up to date with the latest security patches, anti-virus, and spyware removal tools will help eliminate malicious bugs from infecting your system. By installing firewalls at each location and only opening the ports needed for email, http, ftp, etc will keep hackers out of your system and your data safe. Set up a policy that forces users to change their passwords every 90 days using an alpha-numeric and special character code. Even going as far as adding a PKI system to your login will help keep your network limited to authorized users. References Regan, P. E. (2004). Wide area networks. Upper Saddle River, N. J. : Pearson/Prentice Hall. Ou, G. (2006, June 28). IP subnetting made easy. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from TechRepublic: http://articles. techrepublic. com. com/5100-10878_11-6089187. html Yudkowsky, C. (2002, July). Voice Over IP vs PBX. Retrieved August 2, 2010, from VoIP News: http://www. voip-news. com/byte2. htm