Building a Network

This assignment is worth 30%. Deadline: Mon, Week 12 You can choose to do this assignment alone, in a pair or in a group of three (maximum). Only the simulated results can be shared between you and your partners but each of you will have to submit your own report and have to do your own analysis. Part A: HQ LAN Upgrade Background: ABC is a big company in the US. Recently, some staff complained about the network in the company. ABC has employed you as the IT officer of the company. Your job is to analyse the performance of the HQ LAN based on the criteria given below and provide a report to your boss. You are also required to give recommendations to upgrade the current system. The criteria below have to be satisfied: 1. Overall DB response time < 0.00015 s 2. Overall email download response time < 0.5 s 3. Overall FTP download response time < 0.5 s 4. HTTP page response time < 0.5 s 5. Server DB Query task processing time < 0.00002 s 6. Server Email task processing time < 0.0005 s 7. Server FTP task processing time < 0.0005 s 8. Server task processing time < 0.00002 s After doing an analysis of the current system, you realize that some of the criteria listed above are not met and new hardware is needed. You are to provide 4 alternatives for improving the performance of the current system to meet the minimum requirements. Justify your final choice of selection. In determining the specifics of the hardware, refer to the price list from ABCs favourite hardware supplier. You need to justify the chosen hardware for the improved performance. The price list for the hardware are given as follows Table 1: Price List Hardware No. of resources Processing speed 1 1 Workstation 2 2 4 4 1 1 2 2 Server 4 4 8 8 Speed 10 Gbps 1 Gbps 100 Mbps 10 Mbps *for simplicity, we are ignoring the length of the cable
HIT174 Network Engineering Concepts

Price $500 $800 $1500 $1500 $2500 $4000 $7000 Price $70 $40 $30 $20
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Hardware 1 Ethernet Cable

Hardware Switch

Ports 8 16 32 64 128 -

Price $50 $100 $180 $320 $600 $500

Printer

Tasks: 1. Analyse the performance of the HQ LAN based on the criteria given and provide a report - run the simulation for 8 hours to simulate a working day. The graphs should be time averaged. You need to provide an analysis with the relevant diagrams (8%) 2. Upgrade the current hardware to meet the criteria provide 4 alternatives and justify for the final choice of hardware and the performance (12%) 3. Prepare a report (5%) Part B: Branch LAN Design ABC decides to set up a branch in Australia. They have rented a location in Darwin City, with 3 floors. You are assigned the task of designing the branch LAN and to show the simulation results using OPNET to your boss. Staff Requirements: The first floor consists of administrative staff, second floor consists of technical staff and the management staff is on the third floor. ABC initially plans to hire 16 admin staff, 32 technical staff and 7 management staff. They may hire more admin and technical employees in future. The characteristics of the staff are as follows: 1. Administrative: light database users, heavy email users, heavy file transfer users, heavy file print users, heavy web users 2. Technical: light web users, light email users, heavy database users, heavy telnet users light file print users and light file transfer users 3. Management: heavy database users, heavy email users, heavy file transfer users, heavy file print users and light web users The ratios of staffs working habits are as follow: Using the Accessing internet Branch Server Admin 5 10 Technical 1 30 Management 5 50

Accessing HQ Server 5 5 10

Hardware Requirements: 1. Each staff requires a workstation 2. A printer is required for each floor 3. A server is required at the third floor to support the following services: a. Email b. File Transfer c. Database d. Telnet e. File print
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IP Requirements: 1. You are given the IP address 150.125.100.0/23 and you are required to efficiently allocate the IP addresses. 2. Each floor should be in different subnets for security purposes. 3. Servers and network devices (e.g. printers) are assigned static IP addresses to allow them to be easily identified on the network and to also provide a mechanism for controlling access to these devices. Most other devices can be assigned IP addresses using DHCP. a. The server should be given the first usable host address in the subnet b. The printers should be given the last usable host address in the subnet Performance Requirements: 1. Simulate a realistic setup using OPNET 2. Run the simulation for 1 hour to simulate a working day. (This is due to the restriction of the academic version which can only run limited number of events) 3. The following criteria MUST be met: Overall database query response time (approximately 1 sec) Overall Web page response time (approximately 1 sec) Email upload and download response time (approximately 1 sec) File transfer upload and download response time (approximately 2 sec) Branch Server task processing time < 0.008 s Internet throughput to Branch LAN (both uplink and downlink) > 1,040,000 bps Budget Requirements: 1. While there is no limit to your budget, you are expected to spend the least amount of money to satisfy the required performance. 2. You can only purchase equipment from the companys favourite supplier, following the price list given in table 1.

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Tasks: 1. Build on the given OPNET file; design the Branch LAN according to the specifications given. (25%) 2. Devise and allocate an addressing scheme that efficiently allocates the given IP address. (10%) 3. You decided to check the following connections to ensure the setup is done properly: a. Ping from a PC on the first floor to the printer within its LAN b. Ping from a PC on the second floor to the Branch server c. Ping from a PC on the third floor to the HQ server d. Ping from a PC on the first floor to the WWW server e. Ping from a PC on the first floor to another PC on the third floor 4. Simulate the network performance based on the requirements. The graphs should be time averaged. You need to provide an analysis with the relevant diagrams. (10%) 5. Prepare a detailed budget to implement your proposed design. (only consider the cost associated with purchasing the equipment) (10%) 6. To impress your boss, you have decided to come up with 2 other alternatives to improve the original setup but with higher cost. You are to analyse and justify your actions to exceed the required performance. (10%) 7. Prepare the proposal (10%) Penalties will be given for the following: 1. Unsuccessful Pings: -5% 2. Submitted file is not able to run: -5% 3. Design did not meet all requirements: -5%

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The format of the submission: 1. Cover page (as given) 2. Title page (Include the names of your partners here if you are working in groups) and table of contents 3. Main body consisting of the following: Part A a. A summary of the addressed issues, objectives and solutions of the report (Must be individual work) b. Simulated results of HQ LAN (can be shared/individual work) c. Analysis of the performance of HQ LAN (Must be individual work) d. Cost justification of upgraded performance (Must be individual work) e. Conclusion (Must be individual work) Part B a. A summary of the addressed issues, objectives and solutions of the proposal (Must be individual work) b. Network layout design using OPNET (can be shared/individual work) c. IP Addressing scheme (can be shared/individual work) d. Initial check using PING (can be shared/individual work) e. Results obtained from the simulations (can be shared/individual work) f. Analysis of these results (Must be individual work) g. A detailed budget to implement your proposed design (Must be individual work) h. Additional scenarios and analysis (Must be individual work) i. Conclusion (Must be individual work)

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