Client Requirements
Prudent Tech is an IT consulting company which offer network solutions such as network design, set up and overall network implementations. Client A has contacted our company to set up Local Area Network. Client A organization Unit consist of three departments include Operations, Consultants, and Marketing.
In this documentation report we have different sections include:
- Requirements analysis which illustrate the client’s details needs in the network include business problems that need to be solve by implementing a network.
- Network services requirements. This sections shows various services that need to be implemented in order to support the local area network include software and hardware minimum requirements.
- Network configurations. This section will show various services configurations required in the network include dhcp configurations etc.
Client A has contacted Prudent Tech Company to provide network implementation. This involves setting up a new local area network which servers the Client A three departments. Since the building is the first time to have network, everything will bought and configured for the first time. At the end of network implementation, the Client A will have two different domains include one for the administrations and another domain for the users. All the domains users will be centrally authenticated and managed in one locations. Network computers will be able to obtain IP address dynamically which will be provided by the Windows Server running DHCP server daemon service. The company will be able to access their website from internal and external network.
The design scope of network is based on top-down network design approach which focuses on the client’s problems that need to be identified and need to be address by giving out a suitable solution. Prudent Tech Company have done client’s thorough network requirement analysis and have identify several services that need to be implemented in the Local Area Network. Through implementing this services in the network our client will be able to achieve everything through the new network. The following are some of the network services that need to be implemented as part of the local area network include:
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP Server) – The purpose of this is to lease a client with the following IP address, subnet task, and gateway and DNS server. Leasing IP address will be done automatically in the network.
- Active Directory. This is the central point where all the network computer will be identified and authenticated. All the users’ access rights and permissions will be granted through active directory services.
- Domain Services. The domains will translates the IP Address to domain name and translate domain name to IP Address. The user doesn’t have to remember IP Address of a resource locations. Two domains will be set it up for users and administration in the Client A organizations.
- Web Server. The web server will responsible for serving the hosted resources for the client include client website which will be accessible through the internal and external network.
During network design several factors need to be consider in the network include:
- Network future scalability must be considered since it will affect the business operations. The network will be able to handle an increasing number of users in future.
- In any network security is a key and an important factor that need to be worry about. Business secrets and customer data must be ensure that there is enough privacy for both network users and organization data for day to day activities.
- This involves network resources that must be ensure that there is minimum down time in the network. This will ensure smooth business operations.
- This involves copies of existing data. The purpose of backup is to ensure data protection in case of failure of hardware or data corruptions. The administrator will use the backup to restore from the remote network.
- Users’ information must be ensured that they are safe from eavesdropping. This can be achieve through use of wireless access point which support encryption of data and virtual private network when trafficking data in the network.
In order for network services to be implemented in a network, the following network devices are required include:
- 4 Dell Power Edge T440 Tower Server requirements include:
- 2 TB of storage space
- 64 GB of Random Access Memory
- 16 Processors
- 4 Network Interface Card
- Linksys WRT32X AC3200 Dual-Band Wi-Fi Gaming Router with Killer Prioritization Engine
- 4 Cisco Catalyst 2960-L Series Switches each with 24 ports
- 2 TB of Transcend External storage for backup
- Cat 6 Ethernet Cable with Solid Conductors 305m Reel Box Green Color.
- 2 Firewall Cisco ASA5505-BUN-K9 ASA 5505
The following are the software which will be used to meet clients’ requirements.
- Windows Server 2012 Revision 2
- Ubuntu Server 16.0.4
- Windows 7 or 8 for Testing purposes
Network security will be implemented for both internal and external network. Internal server will be protected by the build in operating system’s firewall. Router interfacing the internet will be protected by the external firewall. The internal firewall will protect the internal network from being accessed from external network. Active Directory is responsible for managing all the users from the two domains. Users will be grouped according to departments for example operations department. User identification and authorization will be centralized in the network. This will ease management. Users and policy implementation will be based on departmental. Staffs which belongs to specific department will share common files and policies. This will ensure security in the organization’s network.
Data backup is essentials in every business. Hardware and Softwares tend to fail at unpredictable time. They are several factors that may cause data loses. Some factors may be beyond human control such as flood or fire which lead to data loses if correct backup measures are not done appropriately. So for Client A, local and cloud backup will be implemented. Local backup involves scheduling a daily backup that will copy data from host computer to external drives. Cloud backup involves synchronizing data to a cloud storage using third party such as Dropbox. All the backups will be schedule every day at midnight. After every backup a log file will be send to administrators email account. Log file will be used to track the backup process. If backup fails the log will contain information showing the log errors.
Network Design
Figure 1 Find the attached image which is more visible
Services that are accessible through public are placed in this zones. External firewall interface the public. The firewall will be able to protect servers in the demilitarized zone network. Servers that are accessible by the internal networks includes web server, file transfer, external DNS server and email servers. The servers in this zone are accessible via internal network and external network. The purpose of the firewall is to filter the unauthorized traffics that comes from external networks. Also it filter outgoing packets from the internal network. Any block sites are drop by the firewall.
Internal network are protected by the internal firewall. Any external intruders trying to access internal network will be blocked by the firewall. Firewall will enforce both inbound and outbound rules in the internal network. External servers are accessible from the internal but not the other way where external can access the internal servers. All the internal workstation must be identify and authorized through a central server that is Active Directory. Each internal server have built in firewall which filter packets based on its rules. Inbound and outbound traffic are monitor by the built in firewall.
General Windows Server 2012 Installation
The following installation steps applies for all the servers that will be used in this documentation except only the Web Server Running on Linux Platform.
Figure 2 above shows all Virtual machines to be set it up
Firewall will be configured to allow only authorized traffic to internal and external network. All the restricted sites or ports are configured in the firewall. Administrator can whitelist or blacklist IP addresses in the network that accesses the services.
Traffics in the network will be handle by the switch through VLAN. Devices that are in the same network will be group together for example all the users in the Operations Department. Also with the use of VLAN security and privacy will be improved since traffics from different department will be group according to department. Traffics from different department cannot mix together.
All the user Computers except the dedicated servers will obtain IP addresses from the DHCP Server. This will reduce administrative task which administrator could have done by configuring every machine in the network.
Computers which provides resources to the workstations in the network will be configured to have static IP address. The IP address will be reserved in the DHCP server so avoid being leasing to workstation. This will prevent any IP conflict in the network. The following are some of the servers that shall have static IP address include:
- DHCP Server
- DNS Servers (Both Administration DNS and User DNS)
- Web Server
- Active Directory Server
All backups are done using inbuilt schedule task services in the windows server. The background task is running on every Windows server. On web server that is a Linux based platform crone job is used to schedule the backup of website and its related data are backup in external disk. The disk are protected from any unauthorized users trying to access over the internet. The following are type of backups being done:
- Hourly Backup – This type of backup takes place every hour from Monday to Friday. The data will be temporarily stored in an external network drive then after one week it is transferred to another hard drive which has a full backup of data. The backup will be stored for a period of two months before being discarded or overwritten.
- Weekly Backup –This type of backup is created every 7th day since the last full backup. The backup is performed during the night between 11:00am and 6:00am. All the backup are stored on a network hard drive which accessible to only specified servers. This will ensure that there is minimal disruptions of network services. The backup will be stored for a period of 1 year before discarding.
Network Services
In Client A Organization the ICT department is responsible for backup scheduling and keep track of each backup.
Everyday administrator should check all the backup logs for confirmation if they are working accordingly. Also the backup external hard disk must be check if the space is still enough to accommodate the growing data in the organization. The log must be check of any error. If they are errors then they must be investigated accordingly before the next backup time.
After full back Hardisk are removed from the network then check for file consistency before being taken to the network. Hardisk health also must be check for reliability of data storage.
Network Hardisk must be replace after every two years of networks services that’s without any errors being generated from health report. If in case of two consecutive of errors health report occur then the Hardisk need an immediate replacement in the network.
The Full Backup and incremental backup test must be tested by system administrator every month. All the recovery logs must be recorded. In case of recovery failures the head of ICT department must be inform so that backup is recreated.
Individual file recovery must be tested too. This will ensure that all the files that was backup are in good health condition. If in case of any disaster the already backup data are reliable to be use in data restoration.
The administrator doing backup must document all the backup test and its results for future references.
Conclusion
In conclusion network is an essential in every organization. Network form major part of any business and its security, reliability, integrity, confidentiality and availability must be implemented to ensure clients are able to enjoy with less downtime in service provision.
References
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