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This week you will develop the data center design and security plan.
Design an enterprise data center solution that expands the campus LAN network, which has reached its capacity.
The design must include the following:
A logically separated WLAN infrastructure that can be integrated into the existing enterprise network
Data flows between segments of the enterprise network – public (outside), DMZ, private, and data center
Incorporate feedback you received from your instructor on the diagram from the Week Two Individual Assignment, “West Consulting Modular Design Proposal.” Use this revised diagram, and the information from all previous assignments, as the basis for this diagram.
Create a high-level network security policy that identifies key network security measures.
Include the following components:
List of network assets and their use(s)
Potential threats and vulnerabilities in which assets need to be protected from including; open ports, malware, viruses, and specific types of attacks
Detailed security methods you will use to protect these assets and how they will be implemented
A high-level incident handling process for two of the network attacks you identified, including whom to contact (by role), what should happen to the asset, and how to protect data
Diagram your data center design in Microsoft Visio.
Document your security policy as a:
A 2- to 3- page Microsoft® Word document
West Consulting Network Design Summary
NTC/320 v3
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West Consulting Network Design Summary
West Consulting Business Description
West Consulting is a graphic design and printing company. It is growing in consumer and sales volume and therefore, is expanding its local campus in Houston, Texas and adding a test location in China.
Business Problem
As a graphics design and printing company, West Consulting runs bandwidth-intensive applications from servers housed at their headquarters in Houston, Texas. IT leadership has determined that the current network continuously runs in a degraded state and users experience heavy latency when accessing the servers that house their customer Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.
Due to increased sales of their CAD designs, they need to expand their facilities. The company headquarters currently has 1,000 unique users amongst their two buildings and has decided to add another building and 500 users.
In addition, leadership has decided to expand into China to enable them to test their designs in a new and growing market. The footprint in China will be relatively small; approximately 30 people.
Solution
You are a Network Consultant for West Consulting. You are tasked with proposing an improved network design to support their growth and expansion plans.
Requirements
1. A secure WLAN solution in the new building for half of the users and recommendations to upgrade their existing WLAN infrastructure to keep wiring costs down.
2. Recommendations on a Unified Communications system that meets traffic demands, with minimal interruptions, due to the frequency of international videoconferencing calls that will occur.
3. An IP solution that can accommodate the new users in all locations.
4. Recommendations to upgrade their switch bandwidth to 10GB fiber uplinks between backbone switches, a 10GB connection to each of the servers, and add-in options for redundancy. High availability access to these critical servers is a must because of the expected traffic increase and load on the servers.
5. Proposal for a data center solution that takes advantage of both network and server virtualization technologies to reduce their costs in acquiring and maintaining hardware.
6. Improvements to the link speed to the internet.
7. Options for implementing greater security for their Intranet servers that their partners and employees heavily use and for their overall network infrastructure, as they have had attacks on their DMZ.
8. Have proof that these improvements will be completed within a 4- to 6-month timeline.
Network Configuration Details
The Network Engineer verbally shared the configuration details of their network, as follows:
Headquarters:
· Bldg. 1 and Bldg. 2 are located about 1000 ft. apart.
Switches:
· Bldg. 1 has one 6500 backbone switch installed; which supports users from both buildings.
· Bldg. 2 has a connection to the backbone switch via a 10GB fiber connection (10G Base LR) from uplink port on a Cisco 3850.
· To support the users, each floor contains three Cisco Catalyst 48-port 100Mbps Ethernet switches; which are each cabled to the backbone switch via a 1GB uplink port.
Routers:
· Each floor represents a different subnet and therefore one Cisco router 2610, configured with EIGRP, is cabled to backbone switch (1GB connection) to provide routing for each subnet and provides a WAN interface to the Internet via a T-1 link.
· Each switch also has a link to an access point that uses WPA encryption and 802.11b wireless standard to support users who are in conference/meeting rooms that want to connect to the internet.
Servers:
· 5x Windows® Server 2012 R2 (RAID 5) application servers that support the CAD.
· 1 DHCP and FTP server
IP Configuration (DHCP-based)
Building
Floor
Servers
Clients
IP Network
1
1
5
100
194.100.1.0/24
2
100
194.100.2.0/24
3
100
194.100.3.0/24
4
100
194.100.4.0/24
5
100
194.100.5.0/24
2
1
5
100
195.100.1.0/24
2
100
195.100.2.0/24
3
100
195.100.3.0/24
4
100
195.100.4.0/24
5
100
195.100.5.0/24
Copyright © 2017 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.
WestConsulting Modular Design Proposal
Michael Boddie
Network Design Associate
NTC/320
January 29, 20
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-Welcome-
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Introduction
West Consulting Firm is a large company with 1000+ devices
The best Network design for West Consulting Firm is Hierarchical structure as proposed in the network summary document
Hierarchical network design is a three layer model.
West Consulting is a large organization as it currently have 1000 users and it intends to increase the number of users to 1500
The reason as to why the organization should opt for a hierarchical network design due to:
Better scalability
Better redundancy
Better performance
Batter management and troubleshooting
Better policy creating and scalability
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Hierarchical Network Design
In each layer in the hierarchy provides specific functions which helps the network designer to select and optimize the right network hardware , features and software
The access layer provides user access to the organization network
The distribution layer provides policy-based connectivity
Core layer provides fast transport between the distribution switches
Access layer is where the switches are located which are then connected to the end users or computers
The distribution layer separates the access and the core layer. It in this layer where the policy of the network is defined
The core layer consists of the layer with the fastest, biggest, and the most expensive routers. This layer is considered to be the backbone of the organizational network. It is in this layer that routers are used to merge geographically separated network of the organization
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Cisco Design Principles of a Hierarchical Structure
When designing hierarchical network structure there four design principles to consider which are:
Network diameter: This term is used to measure the number of devices
Bandwidth aggregation: This is the art of considering the specific bandwidth requirements
Redundancy: This is the practice of duplicating critical elements so as to achieve reliability (Thomadsen, 2005).
Network diameter is the first thing to consider when designing a hierarchical network structure. Network diameter is the number of gadgets or devices that a certain packet have to cross before it reaches its destination. This means that when designing west consulting network structure, the network designer must keep network diameter low.
Bandwidth aggregation: The designers of West Consulting firm network structure they must consider the bandwidth requirement for every party of the hierarchy. Link aggregation is said to allow multiple switch ports links to be combined. This in turn achieves a high throughput between the organizational switches
To ensure redundancy the network designer can double the network links
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How Design a Hierarchical Network Structure
When designing hierarchical network structure one should first design the access layer which should then be followed by the distribution layer and lastly the core layer
By doing this one is able to perform capacity planning for the core and distribution layers
Additionally, one can recognize the optimization techniques that one will need for both the distribution and the core layers (Cisco Systems Inc, 2002)
By first designing access layer it ensures that that bandwidth aggregation is met. It also ensures
Quality of service
Switch port security
High availability of the network
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Steps would take to Ensure the Network Design Address Organizational Strategic Plans and Goals
There are five steps to ensure that a network design addresses the organizational goals these are:
Verifying the business objectives and all the technical requirements
Determining the characteristics and all the functions required to all the needs in step 1
Performing a network readiness assessment
Create a site acceptance plan
Create the network
By following the five steps as shown above ensures a good network modular design. It ensures that all the network requirements are meet and the concepts of modularity, resiliency and availability are considered.
In the first and second step is where network and organization requirements are considered
By performing the third step is like validating that the organization network meets organization demands. Most of network designers refer to this step as preforming a risk analysis
The forth step addresses to key aspects which are network capacity and network quality of service
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Areas of Specific Concern
When designing any network four major areas of specific concern these are:
Manageability: The available users can be able to support the network
Availability: This is a network that delivers that is consistent i.e. no failure
Security: Network must not be prone to attacks
Scalability: A scalable network means that the organizational network can grow and include other users
A network that is too complex is not manageable. The organization will continue using funds to hire more experts so as to manage the network
Availability aspect ensures that the network is up and running in 24 hours. Incase of failure the users are able to carry the organizational objectives
Scalability concern ensures that one can add devices and components any time when need arises
Security concern ensures the planning of the location of switches and routers is properly done
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Best Network Practices to Address Potential Concerns
An organization must provide a network that is resistant to failures and the one that can recover very quickly in the event of failure. To achieve this the following practices must be carried out:
A modular chassis-based design
Dual power suppliers and fans
Additional management modules
Redundant links (Teare, 2006)
A modular chassis-based design: This is the practice of ensuring that a hardware accepts a variety of plug-in modules of various types
Dual power suppliers and fans: This is the art of ensuring that power and fans are readily in times of power loss
Management modules: This the practice of having stand by management modules which are available in case other modules fails. This ensures that the network is up and running all the time
By implementing redundant links ensures that the network devices can able to find alternate paths to send data in the event of a failure
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Conclusion
This design meets modularity, resiliency, and scalability by:
Ensuring there is redundant links and creating additional components: This ensures that the concept of resiliency is meet.
By diving the enterprise network into three layer ensure that the concept of modularity is meet. In here each layer is independently created.
The core layer ensures that the concept of scalability is meet
Modularity: Hierarchical network design divided the organization network into modules by implanting a three-layered approach where in each layer a specific goal is meet i.e. carries out a specific function
Resiliency: This is the art of being able to maintain and provide an acceptable level of service in case of faults and challenges of the normal organization operation
Scalability: Hierarchical network design ensures scalability i.e. the network can grow to include new remote sites and user groups. Additionally it can support new applications without interfering with the current users
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References
Cisco Systems, Inc. (2002). CCIE fundamentals: Network design and case studies. Indianapolis, Ind: Cisco.
Teare, D., & Paquet, C. (2006). Campus network design fundamentals. Indianapolis: Cisco Press.
Thomadsen, T., Technical University of Denmark., IMM, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet., & DTU. (2005). Hierarchical network design. Lyngby.
-Thank You-
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