Yu and Associates ICT Infrastructure Upgrade - Report Example

PRELIMINARY REPORT FOR YU AND ASSOCIATES ICT INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE Student Name Table of Contents Introduction 5 Summary of Request 5 Findings 5 Recommendations 6 Purchase List 7 Dell PowerEdge R910 Server- 2x IntelXeon E7540 2.00GHz, 1 8M cache, 6.40 GT/s QPI, Turbo, HT, 6C, 1 066MHzMax mem 7 Project Schedule 8 Backup and recovery 10 Disaster recovery plan 10 References 10 Introduction This a preliminary report of an investigation into Sue Yu and Associates ICT infrastructure carried out with a view of identifying possible areas of infrastructure upgrade and assessing the security status of the firm’s information. The review was approved by Sue Yu the company’s managing director. Summary of Request The firm realized that its existing LAN could not cope with the bandwidth needed for its litigation and document imaging systems and are exploring ways of replacing the current system with a more effective, scalable and suitable LAN infrastructure. The firms wish to achive increased network performance, capacity, functionality and flexibility, Improved network reliability, availability, service and support and Secure network The firm is also looking for better ways of upgrading the employees’ workstations and the software upgrades running in the employees PC and the server software. The firm also have plans to requisition a new 40ppm OCR scanner and thus require better vendor who will supply at a cheaper cost. Furthermore the firm wishes to install wireless network that serves the three floors on top of the existing wired infrastructure. The firm also wishes to explore some of the VOIP solutions and evaluation of its benefits to the firm. The firm also requires an investigation into its security policies and their file sharing management policy a view of updating to capture the emerging treats and challenges. And lastly possibilities of implementing a scalable infrastructure that gather for the firms future expansion. Findings The preliminary review refills the following: 1) The existing server has low specifications that cause bottle neck in the operation of the network. Both the servers’ RAM and hard disks capacities are small and are not running the lasted server operating systems. 2) The admin computers have low specification for example the computers have low CPU speed of 2.4GHZ, small main memory capacity and are not running the latest operating systems and office software. The laptops the lawyers have low CPU speeds and running windows Vista operating system which is heavy thus slowing the systems. 3) The investigation also established that the firm are still using 10BASE-T CAT 4 wiring infrastructure which can transmit less bandwidth, susceptible to interference and covers a short distance before attenuation occur. 4) The network terminals are limited and the wired infrastructure hinder portability. Cable infrastructure need to expanded and wireless network also installed. 5) The existing system is vulnerable to security threats from within and without. Most of the computers do not have antivirus software and the once with the software have the database definition obsolete. 6) Filling password request form request the admin for password change is a source of vulnerability to the system. Recommendations Based on the above findings I recommend the following: 1) New modern and powerful servers should be bought to replace the existing servers and the software running on the server should be upgraded to the latest version e.g windows server 2008. 2) The existing admin computers, lawyers’ laptops and Mac machines used by Sales/Marketing can be upgraded by replacing their CPU and upgrading the main memory and the hard drives. I also recommend a software upgrade for the pcs such as windows 7 operating system and windows office 2010. 3) The existing wired infrastructure using CAT4 should be pulled down and new infrastructure implemented using CAT 6 which can accommodate a larger bandwidth and does not server from attenuation easily. 4) The password policies should be change to allow users to be able to change their own passwords without consulting the system admin. 5) The server and the client computers should have the latest antivirus with up to date virus definition. Purchase List HARDWARE Item Specification Quantity Unit Cost Total Cost server Dell PowerEdge R910 Server- 2x IntelXeon E7540 2.00GHz, 1 8M cache, 6.40 GT/s QPI, Turbo, HT, 6C, 1 066MHzMax mem 2 10000 20000 Desktop computers Lenovo Velocity Micro Velocity Micro Edge Desktop Computer - Intel Core i5 i5-2500K 3.30 GHz - Silver 5 500 2500 Laptops used by Lawyers Lenovo G570 15.6" Black Notebook (2.4 GHz Intel Core i3-2370M, 4 GB DDR3, 500 GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Intel HD Graphics 3000, Windows 7 Home Premium) 2 500 1000 40ppm OCR scanner. HP SJE7500(L2725A) FLATBED, ADF, 3000pg DUTY, 600dpi, 24-bit, 50ppm, USB, Win, OCR SW 1 1500 1500 SOFTWARE Windows server 2008 Full Windows Server functionality with unlimited virtual instances 2 2000 4000 Windows 7 20 200 4000 Ms office 2010 20 200 4000 Antivirus software 25 150 3700 NETWORKING CAT 6 Cable 4 200 800 Crimping tool 5 50 250 RJ45 2000 1 2000 Wall plates 50 10 500 modules 50 20 1000 Steel nails 1kg 10 10 Wireless routers 2 1000 2000 switches 10 250 2500 16u cabinet 1 1000 1000 Project Schedule TASK PERIOD (DAYS) Requirement solicitation 15 Cable installation 7 Server room network equipment installation 3 Configure the server infrastructure 10 Desktop configuration, testing and deployment 7 Staff training 2 Sign-off 1 GANNT CHART TASK   September, 2012 October, 2012   2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 Requirement solicitation 15                                                             Cable installation 7             Server room network equipment installation 3       Configure the server infrastructure 10               Desktop configuration, testing and deployment 7             Staff training 2       Sign-off 1                                                             Backup and recovery It is important for the firm take precautionary measures to avert information loss in the event of system failure. Early security disaster preparedness can make data recovery process quick and painless to the organization. The stsff will be trained on the data backup and recovery processes. We recommend the following to the Sue Yu and Associates firm: 1) All the employees should be informed of the procedures to undertake in cases of system breakdown. 2) The system administrator should create daily backups and store them in secure place. 3) All the software should be centralized and be in the custody of the system administrator so that incase of system crash it will be easy to get back the system running. 4) Employees who switch to offline modes should have the necessary facilities and skills to back-up there data and they should be provide with the necessary application software to be in there custody for quick system restore in case of system crash. Disaster recovery plan He firm should have a continuity of operation plan that outlines in detail what actions should be taken in case of a disaster and who should do what? Each facility maintains a site-specific emergency response plan. I recommend that this be distributed to all personnel. References Read More