In today’s world, network infrastructure forms the backbone for the company success because it facilitates communication and resource sharing. As such, it is important to have a reliable network in place (Feuer, 2013). ABC Company is a retail business that deals with computing components. It has its head office in the city and three branch offices in Hornsby, Parramatta, and Sutherland. Also, it has two home offices in Bankstown and Epping. The branch offices are connected to the head office via WAN connection. The company expects to grow by 100% in the next five years and plans to restructure the network to meet the new requirements. This report will focus on the various aspects that the company need to consider in order to meet this objective including the choice of networking media, network topology, type of internet connection, and IP addressing scheme.
There exist several types of networking media but have been categorized into three general groups: twisted pair, coaxial, and fiber optic cable. However, ABC company requires a medium that will meet the requirements of the head office and the various branches. These branches have different network needs and bandwidth size. The head office has three departments, that is, accounting, sales, and marketing which requires high speed networks that can support the many files shared within the company and the media sent to customers (Oppenheimer, 2011).
Because of this reason fiber optic cable is recommended for the head office. Some of the properties that makes this cable the most suitable medium is because it is not affected by attenuation because of the strands of glass and insulated casing. Additionally, it can support high-performance data over along distance without suffering from signal loss (Woodford, 2018). Moreover, fiber optic offers higher bandwidth as compared to other networking media.
Fiber optic can transmit 100Gbps, but ABC company will only require a fiber cable that will support up to 10Gbps but scalable (Mitchell, 2018). This capacity is enough to handle all the network needs of ABC company and is less susceptible to interference. This medium is also the best choice to support server connection in order to increase performance and speed of resource request. Since the company only have 4 servers that support all the request for the head office and its branches, it needs a stable, reliable, high-performance, and high-speed medium. Fiber-optic cable meets all these requirements. Fiber optic cable costs $7 per meter. However, this cable is expensive to buy. Additionally, it requires careful installation as such an experience person will have to be hired increasing the expenses and is complex.
Rockdale, Chatswood, and Leichhart will require CAT6a cable because of the future scaling expected. CAT6a can run on frequency up to 750MHz (Lin, Jia and Long, 2017, p. 216). Network requirements for these branches are not network intensive and does not require heavy transmission of files over the network. Additionally, this medium is less susceptible to crosstalk and interference. Furthermore, the cable is more reliable and offer consistent transmission in harsh because of the enhanced shielding and specification. It is a 10GBASE-T Ethernet and thus can comfortably support the current and future requirements of the three branches. CAT6a cable costs $1.35 per meter.
However, CAT6a cable is heavy and large in size. As compared to fiber, it can be subject to attenuation and cannot be used for transmissions that require longer distances
Wireless communication medium is the recommended choice for the Epping and Bankstown home offices. Wireless medium utilizes infrared or radio frequencies to transfer data between two communicating devices over the network. Wireless medium is the best choice because of the small number of hosts and the less amount of traffic sent over the network. Also, since these are home offices, cables cannot be laid out. Wireless communication can support up to 54 Mbps which accommodates the traffic between the head office and the home office well (Cisco Systems, 2018). It is also a cheaper option as only a wireless adapter is needed.
However, wireless communication is limited to a smaller radius and cannot be used on a radius more that 100m. Signal attenuation is also common in wireless communication and as such the signal strength and quality are affected. It is also less secured compared to cabled media.
|
Subnet |
Subnet Address |
Subnet Mask |
Host Range of Addresses |
Broadcast Address |
|
City Head Office (Accounts) |
172.10.16.0/26 |
255.255.255.192 |
172.10.16.1 to 172.10.16.62 |
172.10.16.63 |
|
City Head Office (marketing) |
172.10.18.0/25 |
255.255.255.128 |
172.10.18.1 to 172.10.18.125 |
172.10.18.126 |
|
City Head Office (Sales) |
172.10.20.0/25 |
255.255.255.128 |
172.10.20.1 to 172.10.20.125 |
172.10.20.126 |
|
Leichhart Branch |
172.16.103.0/25 |
255.255.255.128 |
172.16.103.1 to 172.16.103.125 |
172.16.103.126 |
|
Rockdale Branch |
172.22.99.0/26 |
255.255.255.192 |
172.22.99.1 to 172.22.99.62 |
172.22.99.63 |
|
Chatswood Branch |
172.102.16.0/26 |
255.255.255.192 |
172.102.16.1 to 172.102.16.62 |
172.102.16.63 |
|
Epping H.O. |
172.100.14.0/28 |
255.255.255.240 |
172.100.14.1 to 172.100.14.14 |
172.100.14.15 |
|
Bankstown H.O. |
172.105.2.0/29 |
255.255.255.248 |
172.105.2.1 to 172.105.2.6 |
172.105.2.7 |
|
Server Network |
172.18.10.0/29 |
255.255.255.248 |
172.18.10.1 to 172.18.10.6 |
172.18.10.7 |
|
Leichhart WAN |
172.16.103.0/30 |
255.255.255.252 |
172.16.103.1 to 172.16.103.2 |
172.16.103.3 |
|
Rockdale WAN |
172.22.99.0/30 |
255.255.255.252 |
172.22.99.1 to 172.22.99.2 |
172.22.99.3 |
|
Chatswood WAN |
172.102.16.0/30 |
255.255.255.252 |
172.102.16.1 to 172.102.16.2 |
172.102.16.3 |
|
Epping WAN |
172.100.14.0/30 |
255.255.255.252 |
172.100.14.1 to 172.100.14.2 |
172.100.14.3 |
|
Banks Town WAN |
172.105.2.0/30 |
255.255.255.252 |
172.105.2.1 to 172.105.2.2 |
172.105.2.3 |
|
Subnet |
Subnet Address and mask (All/64) |
Host Range of Addresses |
|
City Head Office (Accounts) |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to 2002:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
City Head Office (marketing) |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0.0.0.0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0.0.0.0 to 2002:0:0:0:fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff |
|
City Head Office (Sales) |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to 2002:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Leichhart Branch |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to e80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Rockdale Branch |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Chatswood Branch |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to 2002:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Epping H.O. |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to 2002:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Bankstown H.O. |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to 2002:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Server Network |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
2002:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to 2002:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Leichhart WAN |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Rockdale WAN |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Chatswood WAN |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Epping WAN |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
|
Banks Town WAN |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:0/64 |
fe80:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 to fe80:0:0:0:ffff:ffff:ffff:fffe |
Network performance and efficiency sole depends on the networking media and hardware used. However, it the company needs that dictates the selection of these requirements. ABC Company is expected to have growth 100% in the next five years. The following switches and routers have been selected for the head office and the various branches.
The recommended router for the head office is Cisco 4000 Series. This is an integrated router that offer virtualization, application experience, unified communication, and secure WAN connection. Virtualization enables the ABC company employees to connect with the company from anywhere. Network control and management is simplified and has the ability to securely connect the head office with the branch offices (CertificationKits, 2018).
Cisco 4000 Series is an expensive router and require high level expertise both to configure, manage, and maintain.
The recommended router for this branch is AC2300 Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi which supports MU-MIMO for streaming simultaneously and offers high speed transmission with less buffering and less lag (Wickboldt, et al., 2015, p. 282). This router can handle the current and future requirements of Leichhart branch office. Its security standards are the best and offers better performance. The router can be accessed remotely making it easy for the IT support team to easily troubleshoot the network from anywhere. It has advanced cyberthreat protection features for all the devices connected to it.
However, this router is not intelligent enough to filter off unwanted traffic and web content. Additionally, it does not have an in-built firewall to secure the network.
Linksys WRT1900Ac router is the best choice for Rockdale. It has a speed of up to 1.9Gbps and offer high performance. It has dual-core CPU of 1.3 GHz and offers amazing signal strength and covers a wider range.
Chatswood Branch
Links WRT1200AC is the recommended router for this office branch because of the exceptional network performance. However, it is prone to attacks and cannot filter off unwanted traffic and does not have in-built firewall.
The recommended router for the two home offices is Covr AC3900 which provide faster and stronger network signal that supports 4k streaming. This will be able to handle the request of the hosts because they are few. Additionally, it offers reliable wi-fi for up to 6500 square feet seamless coverage (Di Corato, 2013). Users can connect to the wi-fi automatically while within this range. It is an intelligent router and can block specific websites and filter unwanted web content. It also supports communication encryption. However, this router lack intelligent capabilities to filter off unwanted traffic and lacks in-built firewall (Aftab, et al., 2015, p. 174). It is also relatively slow as compared to the other routers recommended. It can broadcast signals up to a maximum of 70m radius which is a shorter distance.
The head office will use Cisco SFE2010P. the sales department will be connected with three switches of so as to support the current and the future requirements. The marketing and accounting departments will require two kinds of this switches each. This model of switch can connect up to 48 network devices, servers, access points, and printers to facilitate sharing of files over the company network (Gentile, Griffith and Souryal, 2012, p. 49). Its connected using power over ethernet. This switch facilitates easy expansion of the network without affecting the entire network operations. Also, it is possible to configure and manage all other similar switches from a single menu. This kind of switch is also recommended to be used for Rockdale and Leichhart office branches.
However, this switch is expensive and requires expertise to configure, manage, and maintain.
For sever connection, the recommended switch is the Cisco SFE2000P which can connect up to 24 network devices. This is because it can accommodate heavy traffic without failing and can comfortable allow transfer of big files such as videos and applications across the network. Also, it supports redundant power supply when used with Cisco RPS1000 (Lin, Hamdi and Muppala, 2012, p. 1184).
This switch is relatively expensive and it is complex both to setup and maintain.
Chatswood network needs will be well handled by 24 port-Cisco Small Business 200 series. It is a reliable and provides high network performance which will ensure availability of network resources for the Chatswood employees (Di Corato, 2013). It is easy to use and affordable. The switches can be managed remotely and offer high level of security. However, this switch is less powerful compared to Cisco SFE series. It is also expensive to setup and maintain and lacks security features like firewall.
The best switch that can be used by the home offices is the Cisco Catalyst 2960-CX switch. It has 8 GE ports, 2 SFP and GE copper uplinks and enhance lifetime warranty that is limited. Additionally, it supports line-rate forwarding performance (Lin, Hamdi and Muppala, 2012, p. 1185). This switch will be able to handle the needs of the home offices. However, this switch has low performance and cannot handle heavy traffic and is limited to few users. It also lacks security features to protect the network from external attacks.
Hybrid is the best topology for the city head office. It requires a combination of bus and start topology. The bus topology will be used to connect the three department; every departments will be connected to a core switch using star topology. The hybrid topology ensures that just in case there is a problem in one of the departments, then the operations of the other two departments are not affected (Zeng, Jia and Wang, 2018, p. 98). Department wise, star topology is preferred over ring topology because in star, failure of one workstation does not in anyway affect the performance of the other network devices within the department. It is reliable and ensures high availability.
This topology is the most reliable because it is easy to troubleshoot and detect faults within the network. When a fault is identified it can be isolated without interfering with the rest of the network to allow corrective measures to be employed to resolve the fault. Additionally, the network can be scaled and more network components can be added without affecting the existing network architecture. In star-bus topology, failure of the bus/trunk will disconnect the two network and no communication will occur between the network and devices connected to the trunk.
For the branch offices, the recommended network topology is star topology. In this topology all the network components are connected to a central hub which can be a router, hub, or switch. The network devices are connected indirectly to each other via a central hub. Before the data or network traffic gets to a node it has to go through the central device for it to be redirected to the correct destination (Bradley, 2015). The hub controls and manages the entire network and acts as a junction to connect different devices on the star network. It is also easy for the central device to connect and communicate with other network hubs on different networks making it easy for the office branches to connect to the Head office and the server site.
Star topology provides better performance as compared to ring and bus topologies and the signals or traffic is not broadcasted to all the nodes rather the central device is intelligent enough to determine the destination address and send the traffic or signal to that node without broadcasting it. The network performance is dependent on the central device as such it is important to consider the network requirements before choosing the central device. Additionally, management and administration of the network is centralized and as such it is easy to control and troubleshoot the network and offer easy monitoring of the network performance (Wang et al., 2018, p. 72). Furthermore, if one node fails then the network is not affected, the node can be isolated and corrective measures are applied the reconnected back to the network. In star topology failure of the central hub will bring down the entire network.
For the Epping and Bankstown home offices, wireless network topology will be used. This topology will serve the home offices well because of the proliferation of mobile devices, tablets, and laptops in home offices. However, this kind of topology is slower than the wired topologies and faces more security issues because of the broadcasted signals. Additionally, it is relatively cheaper as compared to wired networks because no cabled connections are required among the network components and maintenance cost is low (Kolawole et al., 2017, p. 283). Trip hazards are also reduced because cables running on the floors in homes are not there. Wireless network topology cannot handle more devices because network performance is reduced as more devices are added. Also, it is less secured and unreliable.
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