High Availability Network for Orbital Health Care - Case Study Example

CIS 413 Telecommunications and Computer Networks [Student Name] [Course Title] [Instructor Name] [Date] Table of Contents Introduction 3 Problem Description 4 Propose solution 5 Network Security for proposed system 9 Summary 9 Introduction A High Availability network is critical for Orbital Health Care. This is owed to the belief that such form of network is secure and there supports all forms of businesses that would require the use of voice, wireless and other critical data applications. Orbital Health Care require High Availability network since it is affected by fault-tolerant, redundant, have large IT staff and/or processes and services that are critical for the operations growth. Owing to demands and the nature of operation, the need for a High Availability network has become critical. In fact, any fault in either the software or the hardware can result to downtime cost on the hospital and patients. However, designing and implementing a High Availability network would moderate the failure of the entire network services as a result of hardware or software failure. In addition High Availability network is also critical in the Orbital Health Care because it allows network failures to be controlled by to be controlled through what is known as acceptable bounds (Cameron and Woodberg, 2007). It is also logical for an organization to note that the need for network usually differs from one company to the other based on demand or dependency on the network. Client’s demands and needs for High Availability network differ based on the degree to which the business relies on network. With the presence of High Availability network, it is believed that any network system should be able to run a minimum of 99% of its tasks all the time without interruption. However, with the present advancement in technology, most businesses have become critical thereby demanding a network that has a High Availability of 99.9% to 99.99%. This includes businesses such as telecommunication, emergency 911 communication, and centralized accounting and financial systems (Shelly, Vermaat and Course Technology, Inc. 2012). Problem Description Orbital Health Care, Cupertino CA location is currently having network connectivity issues to one of their Data Centers located in Quincy NE affecting patient care. The issue is sporadic in nature and it has been reported only twice in the last couple of months. The customer has already replaced the cables connecting to the core switch. The main effect of the issue is that applications utilized for patient care are reporting data packet drops and re-transmissions that can lead to medication charts not being displayed at nurse’s station. Basic troubleshooting performed by internal IT personnel has isolated the issue to the main link connection between Cupertino CA facilities and Quincy NE. The main link is connected to a single core switch at the Cupertino, CA location and this link seems to be having the connectivity issues. The service provider has already run link test and all are coming back with positive results until the main demarcation (DMARC) between OHC and the provider. The Cupertino, CA location switch configuration does not currently implement any routing protocols, and all traffic is directed to the data center and additional locations viastatic routes. Multiple IT integrators including your company have proposed multiple action plans in order to resolve the situation and improve network stability and availability , however, at this point it’s not very clear if the link issue is software or hardware related. Figure 1 Orbital Health Care Current Network Connection Propose solution Based on our assessment at Orbital Health Care we have noted in the Orbital Health Care current system documentation that available infrastructure can be enhanced to optimize processing at Orbital Health Care. As far as data network connectivity is concerned, we are proposing a number of approaches to make processing more efficient at Orbital Health Care while providing opportunity for expansion as initially indicated in Orbital Health Care’s mission statement. Various equipments are required for designing a High Availability network. Some of the equipment includes regenerators, switches, routers, modems, Hubs, networking service models, and Add-Drop Multiplexers (Iniewski, McCrosky and Minoli, 2008). Mobile computing as a technology is one such proposition that is likely to help optimize processes at Orbital Health Care. Mobile computing is simply an approach that allows one to carry their computer with them. This term initially covered the notebooks and personal digital assistants (PDAs) as hardware but will presently encompass software and web applications and solutions that provide the necessary computing environment. Mobile computing broadly falls into the three categories, which are the use of mobile computing equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs or computers. The other category is more concerned with the connectivity referred to as remote connection (Kasacavage, 2002). This is about all the technologies that allow one to connect to their computers from a remote location allowing the remote logger to work on the computer as though they were in the same place with the computer physically. Orbital Health Care to some extent is currently employing the other instance of mobile computing where they are using the VMware on NT to process. This is the desktop virtualization aspect in cloud computing. A general guiding factor while IT Director was making his propositions was the fact that Orbital Health Care being a non-profit making organization attached a lot of consideration on cost concerning the implementation of this project. Based on experience IT Director have discovered that the SQL and VMware system at Orbital Health Care has an incompatibility factor. However, SQL server vendor proposition to addressing this incompatibility may not be viable. The acquisition of SQL suited hardware will mean extra costs to be incurred. However, a switch to open source operating system with an equivalent structured query language like MySQL would suffice. Since Linux is a variant of UNIX, we concurs with the IT Director at Orbital Health Care that a shift to Linux is most viable. In addition, due to the fact that Linux is attracting a larger market share, a switch to Linux is likely to reduce staff training costs as compared to power systems’ AIX which is currently in use at Orbital Health Care . Linux is available on x86 and many other hardware types while AIX runs only on power system. Though AIX may provide an upper hand in terms of scalability and perhaps patch management, Linux would still be a better consideration to manage Orbital Health Care ’s storage area network. The cluster ware from Oracle within Linux will work well with the preferred Orbital Health Care ’s relational database management system (RDBMS). Orbital Health Care have the need to explore high speed, high capacity backbone networks probably using the fiber optic media to interconnect the various sites within the storage area network. This is the most preferable option due to large capacities of bandwidth that can be supported coupled with the high speeds of transmission. However, a cost versus benefit analysis must be established before deciding the magnitude of implementation for this setup. The more than 3500 desktops and laptops may be physically connected through the backbone especially for the desktops while the laptops can exploit the available remote connectivity options as well as the wireless technologies. This will ensure that while the personnel are dispersed around the various sites they have access to the storage area network from where they can access the relevant data or information when required. Some of the typical infrastructure technologies that support the setup at Orbital Health Care would consists of the wide area network technologies. The commonest of these are the circuit switching and packet switching techniques (Bertsekas & Gallager, 1992). The former requires a dedicated path to be established before transmission can commence while the latter is not dependant on the availability of a dedicated path. Data is packaged into packets and routed through available nodes on the network. Another of the techniques available for exploitation by Orbital Health Care is the frame relay which takes advantage of high data rates , low error rates to deliver up to 2Mbps as compared to packet switching which can only manage 64Kbps. Asynchronous transfer mode also called cell relay may also be exploited in this setup (Bertsekas & Gallager, 1992). ATM makes use of fixed length packets called cells providing little overheard for error control. With this approach, higher speeds of transmission even in gigabytes per second can be achieved. Orbital Health Care could also use such infrastructure as the synchronous optical network or Asynchronous digital subscriber line or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) which expected to take advantage of the high-speed optical fiber digital transmission capabilities. Features of proposed system Various features are contained in the IP and other gargets that support IP networks and are very critical for High Availability network. The first feature is link and node failure detection which allows for the detection of default and eventual reroute on possible cause of the problem. The second feature is an Authentication Packets whose function is to prevent possible downtime in the network resulting from wicked attacks on the routing protocol level (Iniewski, McCrosky and Minoli, 2008). In other words a High Availability network can only be achieved through the Authentication Packets. Thirdly, Graceful Restart is a feature that allows a router to restart without imposing negative impact on the network topology thereby allowing room for a High Availability network. The other feature that is critical for a High Availability network is the Non-Stop Active Routing (NSR). According to Iniewski, McCrosky and Minoli (2008) NSR is a feature that utilizes redundant REs existing within a particular router to ensure that any restart of the RE does not interfere with the topology. Network Security for proposed system By setting up a corporate network and implementing security measures against unauthorized access, companies are able to reduce costs associated with system maintenance, since such companies would be protected from malicious applications getting into the system from unsecure sites. In addition, having strict security measures reduces cases of data theft or sabotage caused by employees, since access to sensitive information would require different levels of security clearance. With modern devices, it becomes difficult for unauthorized parties to access sensitive information either in corporate networks or in personal devices, and this ensures that the privacy and security of the users is guaranteed Combined with the requirement for physical proximity is the wireless network’s explosive growth. If the network administrator’s concern is to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the Internet, then using legacy WEP encryption and authentication will raise the bar high enough to stop this kind of access. However, if your enterprise requires security against targeted attackers, then 802.11i will likely be a better solution. The following section outlines some of the technologies involved in wireless security in large enterprises. Summary Orbital Health Care must asses their telecommunication requirements and makes a choice from some of the suggestions IT Director has put forth. However, preference depends on what Orbital Health Care considers most cost effective since they are a non-profit making organization. However, it suffices to note that data network connectivity opportunities and associated infrastructure technologies are numerous and what to adopt depends on how much Orbital Health Care is willing to commit in terms of funding to this project. IT Director recommend that Orbital Health Care should adopt open source technologies that are less costly and easily scalable even when they are considering expansion to other states. Based on the fact that many firms are adopting open source, Orbital Health Care has a lot to gain from incorporating these network connectivity opportunities as well as accompanying infrastructure technologies. References Bertsekas, D.P., & Gallager. (1992). Data networks (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice hall. Cameron, R. & Woodberg, B. (2007). Configuring juniper networks netscreen & SSG firewalls. 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