Operating Systems and Networking - Assignment Example

?Background and Requirements The scenario is related to the branded beauty training organization that is operating in UK with 10 beauty shops. These shops are located at different locations across greater London. The staff consists of thirty employees and five hundred students who are probably enrolled for various beauty training courses. Moreover, traditional training courses involve cosmetic make-up techniques, holistic therapy, nail care and art training, massage training, facial massage and skin care training. However, organization selected in this scenario fits to be a small medium enterprise with three training centers and ten beauty shops. To make computing technology effective, one of the leading giants, L'Oreal launched an online learning system for its 60,000 employees in 58 countries. The idea is to provide the employees an individual learning room. Moreover, in a broader context, the online system is designed to meet long term training requirements and expectations of L'Oreal employees. In addition, the online learning system will also support the functional requirements of the organization. The architectural benefit of the online system involves the creation of learning methods and tools including traditional classroom workshops, on job learning, distance learning, demonstration of training videos and creative learning of the web 2.0. Furthermore, the system will aid L'Oreal to modify and maintain training material whereas remaining elastic to meet training needs, that change from time to time (L'Oreal decides CERTPOINT is worth it for staff. 2009). Although there is no comparison of these two organizations, must an application operating on a computer network with loaded learning tools, will certainly add value to the company. The new network implementation will facilitate the company with intranet application, staff communication, and self-learning tools. The intranet application will aid in employees to communicate with each other via emails. The documentation is always a hassle when maintained manually, intranet application facilitates managed documentation with online filling of forms that can be saved in the hard drive or data storage. Moreover, sharing of these forms with almost anyone on the network is also an advantage. Furthermore, certain announcements and memos can also be received via email or on the dashboard of intranet applications. Information related to training center and student can be managed digitally, enabling the organization to maintain paperwork more efficiently. Online charts and graphs related to student performance, company performance, tutors performance and changes in higher management are viable on the site instantly that improves communication better within the employees. In addition, online surveys and suggestions are always considered due to efficient response and eliminate hassle of paper work (, Intranet - advantage, type, benefits, cost, Intranet applications, Designing an intranet, The cost of setting up and running an intranet ). Moreover, the computer network will provide shared resources and centralized administration. The shared resources may include videos and course material related to beauty training, which will assist students. Beauty Salons with IT Enabled Services Beauty Studio based in South Africa is aiding its employees and customer by Information technology integration. The business definition of the ‘Beauty Studio’ is “We are a established clinic that aim to provide clients with a professional service and a skilled touch” The salon covers almost all types of professional services including permanent makeup, lash extensions and ‘botox and filetrs’ (, Beauty Studio Salon). Moreover, the software incorporated in the salon is named as ‘body care gate’. This software is designed to cover beauty salon and spa facilitates with massage therapy software, practice software that is free in cost, it shares the feature of integration of customer data. Furthermore, billing, invoicing, scheduling appointments, monitoring receivables, purchase orders, inventory management, and orders related to sales and providing customized graphical reports (, Beauty Salon Software, Massage Therapy Software, Free Practice Software, BodyCareGate ). The software operates on a local area network and provides automatic services in different domains of business where human intervention is required. By implementing computer networks, customer services and business processes become efficient which may result in better provision of services to the customers. Moreover, the integration of business processes enables employees to take courses online, serve customers in a better way, low cost due to digital documents rather than manual and the website provides a global online presence of beauty salons. Network Design & Components  As in Fig 1.1, the network design consists of a star topology which represents centralized administration. The internal communication of the network components including workstations, printers, and servers is deployed on 10/100 CAT 5 cables. Multi layer switches are installed within each training center, in order to synchronize the workstations with the network. The switches connects network segments as they are categorize in packet switches and circuit switches. Packet switch operates on layer 2 of the OSI model and capable of analyzing data packets, along with the source and destination of the data packet. On the other hand, circuit switches establish connections on demand and allows exclusive of the connections until they are unrestricted. Moreover, circuit switches operate on the type of networks in which physical paths are acquired (Switch. 2007). The core equipments are installed in only one training center out of three as it is named as training center (Head Office) in Fig 1.1. There are total 3 servers including Email Server, Application Server and File server for data storage. The wide area network (WAN) connectivity with the 3 training centers is equipped with virtual private networks (VPN). “Ethernet VPN refers to a group of technologies to provide Virtual Private Network services over the Internet between the Ethernet LANs” (Ethernet VPN. 2007) . Moreover, wide area network covers multiple remote locations that may extend as much as possible in a geographical area. Furthermore, wide area networks connect small networks including local area network and metropolitan area network (Wide Area Network. 2007). Routers are installed at each end of the three training centers. These computing devices routes data packets within computer networks. The routers interconnects two networks including LAN and WAN. Furthermore, a router acts as a gateway in connecting two or more than two networks (Router. 2007). In order to save additional cost, the ten beauty shops are connected with Internet VPN; employees have to dial in order to connect the organizations VPN cloud. However, the three remote training offices are connected via a dedicated VPN connection. Likewise, considering the fact of data transfer is significant within the three training centers as compared to the beauty shops, dedicated VPN links will provide fast communication and data transfer. The application server acts as a host for the intranet application that will provide an innovative way of online training for employees as well as for students. Email server operates on post office protocol (POP). “The Post Office Protocol (POP) is designed to allow a workstation with an email client to dynamically access a mail drop on a server host over the TCP/IP network” (Post Office Protocol. 2007). Moreover, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is also used with POP 3 for accessing electronic mail available on the mail server. Likewise, emails stored on IMAP server can be accessed remotely via an email utility from a workstation (Internet Message Access Protocol. 2007). Critical Analysis and Reflections The network design will provide these services: Email Services Computer network will provide email services to employees and students. Employees will communicate with each other via an email utility. Instructors can communicate with students via email. They can share weekly training schedules and coursework with students. Moreover, memos and instructions related to business functions and changes can be routed via emails. Intranet and Web based Training Intranet will provide innovative online learning tools for both students and instructors. Instructors will be given opportunities for online training along with videos and other online material. Students may access intranet for online training for any particular beauty coursework. Shared Resources As the network will eliminate paperwork within the organization, employees can access files and folders from the file server that can be managed centrally. Synchronization of date related to training centers and beauty shops The computing network will synchronize and store data centrally in a secure way from all 3 training centers and 10 beauty shops. The data storage can be maintained easily due to centralized storage. Threats and Risks There are several security issues associated with computer networks. The networks are always vulnerable from viruses, malicious code, hacking, and cyber criminals. These issues can be eliminated by firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Moreover, if any virus breaches into the network, it spreads efficiently, and is extremely difficult to remove. Furthermore, the initial cost of implementing networks is high, as all new computing devices along with network components are deployed including routers, switches, hubs, firewall devices and software. In addition, if the main server goes down, the application or a service becomes unavailable on the whole network. References L'Oreal decides CERTPOINT is worth it for staff. 2009. e.learning age, , pp. 4-4. , Intranet - advantage, type, benefits, cost, Intranet applications, Designing an intranet, The cost of setting up and running an Intranet. Available: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Inc-Mail/Intranet.html [3/1/2011, 2011]. Ethernet VPN. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 181-181. Wide Area Network. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 525-525. Router. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 419-419. Switch. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 469-469. Post Office Protocol. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 381-381. Internet Message Access Protocol. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 254-254. , Beauty Studio Salon | Moreleta Park | Pretoria . Available: http://www.beautystudio.co.za/index.html [3/9/2011, 2011]. , Beauty Salon Software, Massage Therapy Software, Free Practice Software, BodyCareGate . Available: http://www.med-sites.com/Bodycaregate/Bodycare_gate.asp [3/9/2011, 2011]. Read More