Development of Computing Networking for the Company - Term Paper Example

Computing networking Objective and background: The objective is to develop a Network for a company. The company has four separate offices, Bristol,Cardiff, Swindon and Stoke. Each office has its own requirements, which are based upon the function of that office. The company has been very sparing so far in its use of computers and now requires moving ahead to improve its overall communication and information sharing ability so that it can improve efficiency. However it is unsure of the way forward and the management is traditionally sceptical of unnecessary change. The specific objective is to create a network layout on each site to minimise network congestion and improve security assuming that each section of a site must be treated as a separate sub-network. Various type of networking Networks can be classified into Local Area (LAN), Wide Area (WAN) and Metropolitan Area (WAN) networks. In each of the networks the network can either be an Internet or an intranet. A LAN is a high-speed data network that covers a relatively small geographic area connecting workstations, personal computers, printers, servers, and other devices. LANs offer users several advantages, including shared access to devices and applications, file exchange between connected users, and communication between users via electronic mail and other applications. A WAN is a data communications network that covers a relatively broad geographic area and that often uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone companies. A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network that interconnects users with computer resources in a geographic area or region larger than that covered by even a large local area network (LAN) but smaller than the area covered by a wide area network (WAN). The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers. More than 100 countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions. Each Internet computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community. There are a variety of ways to access the Internet, either through an online service like AOL or through a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP). Intranet is as "An infrastructure based on Internet standards and technologies that supports sharing of content within a limited and well-defined group." The "infrastructure" referred to the organizational and management infrastructure that created, managed, and shared the content. The physical network is based on the Internetworking Protocol (IP) like the Internet. Benefits of using a sub-net. The question suggests usage of a subnet. A subnet is defined as a portion of a network that shares a common address component. On TCP/IP networks, subnets are defined as all devices whose IP addresses have the same prefix. For example, all devices with IP addresses that start with 100.100.100 would be part of the same subnet. Dividing a network into subnets is useful for both security and performance reasons. IP networks are divided using a subnet mask. Subnets connect to the central network through a router, hub or gateway. Addresses in the same subnet are reachable without going through a router, and thus can be reached by broadcast. Minimising network congestion Network congestion can be minimised by the usage of a router and sub-net as shown above. The sub-nets keep the traffic of a particular office within that network and only external information travels between the various sub-nets through the router for data access and through e-mail. Therefore this would minimise network traffic between the four offices and will keep the network traffic within a particular office within a sub-net. Therefore the use of routers and sub-nets assists in minimising network congestions. The router will route only data traffic and e-mails meant to be transported to other offices outside the sub-net. Security issues in networks and options to enforce security Security issues can be classified into two, one being the access rights for the individual users to information within the organisation at a data level. The second one relates to the transmission of data between the networks. If internet is used as a medium of transportation of data then controlling access to a computer which is physically connected on the network and ensuring the security of the given communications including business transactions, is not violated. Usage of an intranet and a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to transmit encrypted data in between the offices will reduce the security of data transport over the Internet. However in this case, it is not required, since only email and Video conferencing are the two applications used for this, the data can pass through the Internet without security problems. Firewalls can provide an additional layer of security for the systems within the LAN by blocking unwanted traffic from reaching the router. Access level passwords for users will protect data within the corporate network to specific users and allow them to access data that they are met to access. Usage of sub-nets will restrict the availability of LAN data within a sub-net in which they reside and this will prevent in data being accessible across the routers from one office to another. Required data can be sent over e-mail or through specific application stores between offices and this will control the security at both a physical level and the user level. Final conclusion To summarise again, the need is to develop a network to replace fax or phone between the various company offices. Also, the need is to reduce travel of employees from one office to another. The fax or phone can be replaced by an e-mail system and the reduction of travel between the offices can be reduced by the introduction video conferencing between the offices. To support the introduction of e-mail and video conferencing, the objective is to define a network, which will not have network congestion, and also is secure. It is therefore recommended to have individual Local Area Networks (LAN) for each of the offices in Bristol, Cardiff, Swindon and Stoke, each with its own sub-net to aid security and congestion. This will keep the network traffic only within the specific Local Area Network (LAN). Only email traffic and video conferencing data go out through the router between offices and the firewall will provide security to the users in the LAN from the Internet outside. The connectivity between offices can be through the intranet using a point-to-point connection or optionally through the Internet using a VPN, which will encrypt the data and therefore be secure. Internet connectivity is provided for each of the offices to provide them with Internet, Email and Video conferencing access. Since only specific data goes through the Internet this will eliminate congestion of the network connectivity. Also, access passwords for users, user of LAN's and routers to have sub-nets will give the necessary security required for the networks. In conclusion, the final recommendation is to have LAN for the offices with login/password for each user and intranet connectivity between offices using the Internet and e-mail and video conferencing alone routed out through the Internet between the offices using routers and firewalls at each office for access to the Internet and protection of the network. The solution will be workable as proposed with a similar setup at all the four sites at Bristol, Cardiff, Swindon and Stoke. Bibliography: Cisco Internetworking Technology Handbook [On-line] 2002 http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/ito_doc/index.htm, 03 Sep. 2005. Martin, W., Brown, C., DeHayes, D., Hoffer, J., Perkins, W. Managing Information Technology - Third Edition Prentice Hall, New Jersey Chapter 4 pp 101-139 Telecommunications and Networking. Read More