Advanced Management and Design in Yotsuba Group - Assignment Example

Advanced Management and Design in Yotsuba Group 1.0 Introduction With the new acquisition of the eight-floor building by the Yotsuba Group, there is need to come up with an effective and efficient network system that will provide a permanent solution to the internet connectivity in the organization. Other than the internet connectivity, there is need to share resources in the company. Resources such as company printers and scanners can be shared so as to minimize the organizational costs in the purchase of such equipment. They only need to purchase one which can then be shared within the various departments that exists in the company. Before the implementation of this type of network, this report acknowledges the fact that there are two types of networks that will be implemented in this setting. The report proposes that the company adopts a wired and wireless type of network system infrastructure (Akyildiz, Wang, & Wang 2005, p 123). The wireless type of network has various advantages that will benefit the organization. It involves low costs when it comes to installation It prevents the disruption of the existing office layout since it does not involve the crossing of cables in the office There is no need for cabling It depends on the configuration of the devices because once the device has been configured, then it will be able to connect to the network anytime it is within the range. 1.1 Wired Connection This organization is highly reliant on computer network. The downtime cost may be extremely high. The information technology department will be responsible for the maintenance and upgrades of the computer network (Biswas & Morris 2004, p 234). Building with a Secure Wireless Local Area Network The greatest concern with the implementation of a wireless network is the security that will need to be implemented when installing an enterprise wireless LAN. Therefore, this document is aimed at providing a technical guidance to Yotsuba Group for the proposed deployment for the Wireless LAN (WLAN) Employee distribution per floor and design 1.2 Top floor network plan The top floor is occupied by 8 senior management officials. They represent the following departments: Research and Technology Financial Planning Sales Material and design Personnel Planning and Manufacturing Legal and Accounting Marketing The figure above shows the networking infrastructure of the top flow of the management. 1.3 Other floors network plan Other floors will contain an equal population. Since the organization has a population of 290 employees, the network designers will work on the assumption that each floor will have an approximate number of 40 employees per floor. It will also be impossible to set individual offices for these employees therefore they will have an open office which will be structured in the following way; Each flow will have a design that will approximate;y have the same capacity. They will be wired and wireless connections to facilitate those employees who choose to come to work with theor own computing devices. The figure below represents the cubicle arrangement that will accommodate four individuals. This therefore means that there will be 10 such cubicles in one flow with both wired connection and wireless connections. 1.4 Requirements Definition The following questions were important before the deployment of the wireless network connection that would fit the needs of the 8 floor newly acquired Yotsube Group building (Forman, &Zahorjan, 2004, p 214). 1. Which particular individuals need to be served with the wireless connectivity? The wireless connectivity will be meant to serve the offices of the departmental heads who have laptop computers, and some of the staff who will have portable computing devices. 2. Which type of computing devices will the connection serve? This question looks at the devices in the company that have the capability to access wireless connections through Bluetooth (Gaucher 2001, p 327). Some of these devices include Laptops, Point-Of sale devices, Desktops, Cell phones or Personal Digital Assistants, IP phones, wireless printers and many other devices. Another question of the type of applications to be supported will also be answered. For instance, the wireless connectivity aims at providing general internet data, streaming of voice and video and IP multicasting (Ilyas & Mahgoub 2004, p 321). 3. Where is the wireless connectivity needed? According to the situational analysis, the wireless connection will serve the offices, an outdoor open area, the board rooms and the general office for the staff members. 4. What is the number of devices that will require the wireless access and connection in each location? The purpose of this question will be to determine the bandwidth that will be required to support the various devices and applications. The areas in mind would be the cafeteria, offices and the board rooms in the 8 floor building (Johnson & Maltz 2006, p 256). Summary These are some of the important considerations when designing measures such as security, coverage and capacity. They requirements basically define the entire design of the network. 2.0 The WLAN Architectures Access Points are devices that characterize the WLANs. They are responsible for the conversion of wired Ethernet frames into wireless RF signals. Clients who have been served with the Access Points can receive the RF signals which are converted and processed accordingly(Jones, C. E., Sivalingam, Agrawal, & Chen 2001, p 222). The WLANs can be deployed in to main approaches in the basic level: Using fat/autonomous APs Using thin/lightweight APs 2.1 Autonomous Access Points This type of access point will be deployed on stand-alone devices that interconnect multiple client computers to the upstream since it is self-sufficient completely. Each of the fully-featured fat/ autonomous AP will be managed independently. This is the most basic mode of the deployment model.The advantage of the Autonomous APs is that they are available off-the-shelf and that they are very cheap (Gernert, Vesuna, & Goren 2003, p 29).  Architecture using autonomous Access Points This therefore implies that there can be a number of different vendors and configuration sets in a particular location. 2.2 LAPs (Lightweight Access Points) The central management is responsible for the control of the lightweight access points through a cloud controller or a wireless LAN Controller that is based in the premise. It provides increased manageability and scalability (Gernert,,Vesuna & Goren 2003, p. 43). Functions of the Controller Enforcement of the configuration policies which include the QoS, security and the RF thresholds Enable client authentication Management of software While the Ethernet frames are converted to wireless RF signals by all APs, data traffic will be handled at the AP level only or by the AP which will be working in coordination with the controller. Its degree of operability depends on the wireless configuration and the type of vendor. The Access Points are able to handle various tasks without the controller (Karp & Kung 2000, p. 456). The main advantages of LAPs/ Controllers are: There is increased scalability It has a varied range of features and functions Ease of management 2.3 Wireless Basics Various technologies are involved in the wireless technology environment and they are summarized as below. They will depend on the requirements and the budget that Yotsuba is willing to allocate for this particular type of infrastructure (Ilyas,&Mahgoub, 2004, p. 234). 2.4 WLAN Technology Summary 2.5 Interference The deployment of the wireless networks faces a major challenge of RF interference. This is caused by the presence of other wireless gadgets and devices operating from the same frequency range the sources of this interference can be other WLAN devices in close proximity. Another source can be technologies that emit RF in same frequency bands for example cordless phones, Bluetooth, and microwaves. The 2.4GHz is a range that is viewed as more prone to interference since many devices share this frequency (Gaucher 2001, p. 345). 2.6 Channel Allocation As viewed from the table, the 2.4 and the 5GHz bands have various frequency ranges. These channels can be subdivided into various ranges. The following diagram shows the channels that exist in the 802.11b/g frequency band. As noted, some channels overlap. The main point of avoiding interference is through the usage of non-overlapping channels.The 802.11b/g consists of 3 non-overlapping channels. Moreover, 802.11a has a wider range of up to 24, which depends on various factors such as the use of dynamic frequency selection channels (DFS) and vendor support (Ilyas & Mahgoub 2004, p. 564). 2.7 Channel Bonding Current technologies such as 802.11ac and 802.11n are adjacent channels that can be combined and can increase the bandwidth. Since the channel bonding is only possible in the 5GHz band, the 2.4GHz band is not recommended since it has a huge amount of signal overlap and has a limited number of channels. The 802.11n can support the bonding of two channels in a 40MHz band.The 802.11ac, which is the proposed standard, can be able to support or bond up to or even more than 8 channels. Single channels that have formed bonded channels (Johnson & Maltz 2006, p. 234) affect the availability of channels. 2.8 Shared Access The building is going to adopt or operate on a half-duplex shared mode/medium. This is similar to an Ethernet hub. Users in this scenario will share the bandwidth which will enable one device to transmit at a time and collisions will be present. 2.9 Distance constraints The data rate is influenced by the distance between the communicating devices. This therefore implies that frequency is inversely proportional to the distance. Addition of power to the transmitter with the help of different types of Antennas will aid in the increasing of distance. The disadvantage of power/ distance increase is that they eventually lead to interference issues or the security of the network may be compromised since unwanted clients may gain access to the network (Karp & Kung, 2000, p 213). This is illustrated below: Multiple Data Rates: The frequency table 1 showed that 802.11 technologies supported different data rates on the basis of the signal quality. A greater data rate is achieved if the signal quality is high and the distance is shorter. These Access Points only transmit at the rate of the slowest client that is linked to the network. Generally, a client who has a low data rate slows down all other clients with high data rates andis linked to the same Access Point. If a higher data rate is required, then the company will have to invest in more Access Points due to coverage and capacity (Luo, Lu, Zhang, Zerfo, & Kon, 2002, p 243). Physical Obstacles: Different properties are displayed by the wireless signals at different frequencies. A signal operating at a 5GHz frequency will experience signal degradation when passed through floors and walls that a signal operating within the 2.4GHz. Other obstacles that may be a hindrance in the company offices setup will include mirrors, filing cabinets, plumbing and various other things that may alter the RF characteristics (Jones, Sivalingam, Agrawal, & Chen 2001, p 321). 3.0 Design and Deployment Of the Network 3.1 Site Survey This is a very critical process that will determine AP placement and the type of channel that will be selected to ensure optimal capacity and coverage. Several tools will be used in performing of the site survey. It is however noted that the same tools that have been used in survey be deployed during the production process. It will be essential to determine the network requirements for the building during this survey and this process can only take place if the company has the relevant financial resources to facilitate this activity (Jones, Sivalingam, Agrawal, & Chen 2001, p 234). It will therefore be essential to conduct this process to curb long-term operational expenses that might result from poor design. In this particular case, the 8 story building survey will be done in phases to establish the specific requirements for each floor since each floor will have its own preferences. Since the ground floor will host the IT department, various connections will be terminated at this place. It should also be noted that for a building that is as big as these, the network engineers propose that they use of a wireless internet connection be adopted that a wired type of connection. However, wired Ethernet connection will be limited to few departments that use desktop computers and that will implement the Bus and Star topologies of network administration (Hu, Johnson, & Perrig 2003, p 324). 3.2 Star topology 3.3 Bus topology The survey will involve the utilization of the same equipment that will also be used during production and deployment. It will also use the required minimum data rates. For instance, if the client wants to be associated at 6Mbps, the access points will be placed within a range of 6Mbps where the clients will be able to maintain it (Hu, Johnson, & Perrig, 2003, p 113). This survey will be conducted in the building once the group has shifted its premises from the old building and the employees occupy it with various departments defined. Valuable datasets are obtained in an occupied premise than a premise being constructed or that is vacant. The survey will have to be inclusive of the client’s involvement and opinion. This is important since the client may decide to adopt the use of technologies such as VoIP handsets. Such devices will significantly alter the overall network design of the building. A post-installation site survey will be very essential for validation of whether the deployment has met the design goals. 3.4 Adoption of Non-Overlapping Channels The network engineers intend to adopt the 802.11b/g environment and will use the channels 1, 6 and11. Newer technologies adopting the channel bonding for instance 802.11ac and 802.11n generally affect the 802.11a band channel layout. Channel selection will be aided by controllers and proper surveys. 3.5 Capacity Since some of the offices will have a high concentration of users, it will be very essential to have a higher bandwidth with a distribution of 40 users of data per AP. However, a specific consideration should be made in instances where the wireless devices are involved in high bandwidth application activities or concurrent activities like online testing. A larger number of APs will be required to have a density of 40 data users per AP.Other factors such as if the employee carries to work their own computing devices, a specification and an allowance in the bandwidth should be provided to support these devices (Karp & Kung 2000, p 112). 3.6 Leveraging 802.11n or 802.11a to adopt the usage of 5GHz bands Since the organization depends on a 1:1 computing organization, the deployment will largely depend on client interoperability and budget. The advantage of the GHz frequency is that it can ,manage majority of the devices that are operating in that frequency and has more non-overlapping channels as compared to 802.11b/g.802.11a may be convenient in an open office setting since it has a limited band width and is highly affected by obstacles like walls and floors. The 802.11n utilizes both the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands and is characterized by a larger client capacity and a much higher bandwidth (Hu, Johnson & Perrig 2003, p 221). With the ratification of the 802.11ac standard, the adoption of the 5GHz will be very essential. Use of Wireless LAN Controllers consisting of Light-weight APs, Use of Wi-Fi arrays consisting of integrated controllers or the adoption of other control architectures. Centralization will be considered if the company decides to have more than ten APs. Easier deployment will be facilitated by management features since the complex engineering tasks of the RF can be automated. This includes power levels, channel selection, roaming features and the triangulation of individual clients. Moreover, the controllers and mobile devices (Karp & Kung, 2000, p 123) can do the detection of unauthorized or rogue APs. 3.7 Roaming The networking company intends to use a single SSID for every group of users. The usage of multiple SSIDs in the different floors will make data roaming a challenge. A maximum subnet size of /23 which consists of 510 hosts will be used to limit the network broadcast. Available addresses will be depleted by unencrypted SSIDs and other non-company owned devices. The use of Power over Internet Switches for the connection of the various access points back to the network. This will enable remote power recycling, energy savings and ease of deployment. The other alternative would be to use power injectors that are difficult to incorporate and they are bulky. The Use of gigE-capable Switches: As the 802.11n APs can facilitate lower speeds, the wireless bandwidth has been increased with the newer standards and this has made it essential for the wired ports to accommodate increased wireless throughput on the part that is wired. 3.8 Setting of minimum data rate thresholds and signals: This will protect a single user from associating a weak signal to an AP thereby degrading the overall performance of the other users connected to the AP (Johnson & Maltz 2006, p. 213). This will be aided by putting restrictions against users who are operating along frequencies that are lower than the configured threshold. The choice of whether to adopt the 802.11b will be determined by whether the internet service provider can be able to support the 802.11b clients. These clients generally reduce the performance of the overall WLAN. 3.9 Implementation of User Authentication Various network authentication methods are used and they are provided by different vendors. These methods include; LDAP, RADIUS and 802.1X. The choice of the authentication infrastructure will largely determine the ease of integration and it depends on the vendor that is choosing this. These authentication measures will be implemented at the AP or Controller level depending on the solution. Encryption implementation It is very essential to encrypt traffic in the organization to avoid external access and eavesdropping on the network. Various options exist however the WEP is avoided since it is easy to crack. The encryption type that will be implemented will be the wpa2/aes. It is highly compatible with the wireless clients and wireless vendors. Separate SSID for guests Connectivity will have to be controlled if the guest access will be permitted. Some of the wireless devices that would not be directly managed would include parent laptops, PDAs and Employee Cell Phones. The authentication is not necessary but they are to subscribe to the Acceptable Use Policy. They should however have a separate network and tagged as "untrusted" from a security point of view. The company should also limit guest access to prevent the internet bandwidth from saturation (Pahlavan & Levesque 2005, p 132). Usage of management and monitoring controller for proactivity There are some network devices that will send SNMP traps if the network is overloaded. The company should also adopt technologies that are able to detect rogue APs like BYOD hot spots and give an alert to the IT department. This will ensure maximum quality and availability for the users. 3.9 Wired Network This document proposes the adoption of the use of CAT 6 cables that have been run through a central truck in the office and terminated in sockets and switches. The main disadvantage of tis network is that it is very costly to maintain and diagnose since the cables are subject to tear and wear. This document has accessed the building and therefore recommends the use of a wireless network in majority of its offices that have devices that are capable of supporting the wireless technology (Varshney& Vetter, 2000, 232). 4.0 Opinion On The Two Propositions With a proper network administration, renting of one floor will be a good idea with the floor being treated as a guest network in the untrusted class. 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