F.

Describe Data Voice and Network Communications

Voice/Data Infrastructure is a critical system that affects the operation of any enterprise at
the highest level. Our systems are top quality and are organized in a way that allows for easy
expansion and fast repair.

IntraWorks designs, installs, and services Voice / Data Infrastructure for a wide variety of
clients to include: Government organizations, hospitals, higher education, K1-K12, utilities,
transportation and infrastructure buildings, auditoriums, manufacturing plants, laboratories and
much more.

Basic Function

Voice and Data Infrastructure consists of the wire, connectors, back boxes, switches,
routers, physical support structure, racks, and conduits necessary to distribute data wire or
fiber throughout a facility. Additional infrastructure can also be installed between buildings or
campuses utilizing a fiber network. This infrastructure supplies the communication pathways for
telephone, computer, surveillance, access control, climate control, video broadcast systems
and more. Part of data infrastructure usually includes a wireless network, which is typically
utilized for mobile devices within and around the building or campus of buildings. The wireless
structure can also consist of wireless high speed and self healing mesh networks.

Network communication, or internetworking, defines a set of protocols (that is, rules and
standards) that allow application programs to talk with each other without regard to the
hardware and operating systems where they are run. Internetworking allows application
programs to communicate independently of their physical network connections.

The internetworking technology called TCP/IP is named after its two main protocols:
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).

G. Understanding of Servers

A network server is simply another computer, but usually larger in terms of resources than
what most people think of. A server allows multiple users to access and share its resources. It
is designed to process requests and deliver data to another computer over the internet or a
local network.

The word server is understood by most to mean a web server where web pages can be
accessed over the internet through a client like a web browser. However, there are several
types of servers, including local ones like file servers that store data within an intranet network.

Although any computer running the necessary software can function as a server, the most
typical use of the word references the enormous, high-powered machines that function as the
pumps pushing and pulling data from the internet.

Most computer networks support one or more servers that handle specialized tasks. As a
rule, the larger the network in terms of clients that connect to it or the amount of data that it
moves, the more likely it is that several servers play a role, each dedicated to a specific
purpose.

Strictly speaking, the server is the software that handles a specific task. However, the
powerful hardware that supports this software is also usually called a server because server
software coordinating a network of hundreds or thousands of clients requires hardware much
more robust than what you'd buy for ordinary consumer use.

Common Types of Servers

While some dedicated servers focus on one function only, such as a print server or
database server, some implementations use one server for multiple purposes.

A large, general-purpose network that supports a medium-sized company likely deploys

several types of servers, including:

 Web server: A web server show pages and runs apps through web browsers. The server
your browser is connected to right now is a web server that's delivering this page and any
images you see on it. The client program, in this case, is most likely a browser like Internet
Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or Safari. Web servers are used for all sorts of things in
addition to delivering simple text and images, such as for uploading and backing up files
online through a cloud storage service or online backup service.

 Email server: Email servers facilitate the sending and receiving of emailmessages. If you
have an email client on your computer, the software is connecting to
 an IMAP or POP server to download your messages to your computer, and
an SMTP server to send messages back through the email server.

 FTP server: FTP servers support the moving of files through File Transfer Protocol tools.
FTP servers are accessible remotely via FTP client programs, which connect directly to
the file share on the server, either through the server's built-in FTP capabilities or with a
dedicated FTP server program.

 Identity Server: Identity servers support logins and security roles for authorized users.

Hundreds of different types of specialized server types support computer networks. Apart
from the common corporate types, home users often interface with online game servers, chat
servers, and audio and video streaming servers, among others.

Some servers exist for a specific purpose but aren't necessarily interacted with in any
meaningful way. DNS servers and proxy servers are some examples.

Network Server Types

Many networks on the internet employ a client-server networking model that integrates
websites and communication services.

An alternative model, called peer-to-peer networking, allows all the devices on a network
to function as either a server or client on an as-needed basis. Peer networks offer a greater
degree of privacy because communication between computers is narrowly targeted. However,
due in part to bandwidth limitations, most implementations of peer-to-peer networking aren't
robust enough to support large traffic spikes.

 Server Clusters - The word cluster is used broadly in computer networking to refer to an
implementation of shared computing resources. Typically, a cluster integrates the
resources of two or more computing devices that could otherwise function separately for
some common purpose (often a workstation or server device).

A web server farm is a collection of networked web servers, each with access to content
on the same site. They function as a cluster conceptually. However, purists debate the
 technical classification of a server farm as a cluster, depending on the details of the
hardware and software configuration.

 Servers at Home - Because servers are just software, people can run servers at home,
accessible either only to devices attached to their home network or to devices outside the
network.

For example, some network-aware hard drives use the Network Attached Storageserver
protocol to allow different PCs on the home network to access a shared set of files.

Plex media server software helps users consume digital media on TVs and entertainment
devices regardless of whether the data exists in the cloud or a local PC.

The Ins-and-Outs of Media Server Software Solutions

If your network is set up in a particular way to allow port forwards, you can accept
incoming requests from outside your network to make your home server act as a server from a
big company like Facebook or Google (where anyone can access your resources).

However, not all home computers and internet connections are suitable for lots of
traffic; bandwidth, storage, RAM, and other system resources are factors that affect how large
of a home server you can really support. Most home operating systemsare also void of
server-related features.

More Information on Servers

Since uptime is critically important for most servers, they aren't designed to shut down but
instead run 24/7.

However, servers sometimes go down intentionally for scheduled maintenance, which is

why some websites and services notify their users of scheduled downtime or scheduled
maintenance. Servers might also go down unintentionally during something like a DDoS attack.

A web server that reports an error due to downtime — whether intentional or not — might
do so using a standard HTTP status code.
 When a web server takes down information permanently, or even temporarily, you might
still be able to access those files if a third-party service archived it. Wayback Machine is one
example of a web archiver that stores snapshots of web pages and files stored on web servers.

Large businesses that have lots of servers typically don't access them locally, like with a
keyboard and mouse, but instead via remote access. These servers are also sometimes virtual
machines, meaning that one storage device can host multiple servers, which saves physical
space and money.

A file server provides end users with a centralized location to store files. When configured
correctly, file servers can allow or prevent specific users to access files.

A directory server provides a central database of user accounts that can be used by
several computers. This allows centralized management of user accounts which are used to
access server resources.

Web servers use HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) to provide files to users through a
web browser.

There are also application servers, database servers, print servers, etc.

H. Describe the Process of Software Licensing

Software license management is the process that ensures that the legal agreements that
come with procured software licenses are adhered to. In a basic sense, it ensures that only
legally procured licenses are deployed on systems.

Organizations spend a fortune on licenses every year, and a lack of management around
it can result in heavy fines. In some cases, CIOs of certain organizations have been taken into
custody for violating norms.

Prerequisites for implementing license management

1. Software Asset Management Tool - Organizations will have to invest in database software
that is capable of recording various types of licenses against its respective owners. There
are numerous software asset management tools available in the market, including free
 ones. All-in-one database tools are capable of storing deployment details of software along
with license details. Popular ones on the market include FlexNet Manager by Flexera
Software, Software Asset Management by Microsoft and License Manager by License
Dashboard.

2. Software License Auditor Tool - The auditor tool runs over the company network, and
identifies the deployed licenses across all systems of the network. The tool deploys its
agents across all systems and in turn, these agents report the installed licenses to the
central engine, which consolidates the total licenses residing on the network. An auditor
tool that is capable of connecting through APIs with the software asset management tool
should be preferred.

3. Asset inventory - Before getting into licenses, it is absolutely necessary to have an asset
inventory with identified owners. The inventory must account for all systems in the
organization, at least the operational ones. And, every system must have an owner or a
name of someone who is accountable for what gets installed on the system.

4. People and processes - Management of software licenses does not happen with these
tools alone. You also have to have dedicated license managers and processes that
maintain compliance. The processes woven around
software licenses must ensure 360-degree control over
licenses purchased, deployed, archived and those that
have expired.

Step 1: Obtain all procured license details

The starting point to software license management

implementation is to find out where you currently are and what
you own. You'll store all the procured licenses identified.

Not all licenses come in the same shape and color. Here are
some of the most common types:

 Named user license - A license that can be used by a

particular user
 Volume license - A single license can be used on multiple systems depending on the
purchased volume

 License under enterprise agreement (EA) - Similar to volume license, terminology used by
Microsoft when volume licenses exceed 250

 Concurrent Licenses - Licenses that can be installed on any number of machines but can
be used on a limited number of machines at any given point

 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) - Software license that accompanies hardware

 Evaluation - Trial license which may come with limited functionality or for a definite period
of time

 Free License - License that is available for free

Step 2: Identify all license deployments

Once you build a baseline of licenses owned by the organization, you'll identify the
deployment of these licenses across the organization. The software license auditor tool would
be a big help in identifying the deployments. Manual inventory of software licenses, even if
script driven, is a big no no.

The output of this step would look something like this:

All the license deployments would be consolidated together to identify how many
machines are deployed with individual licenses. In the crude example that I have displayed
above, the OS license is installed on three systems while the DTP license on two.

Names of system owners are important too if you are dealing with a named user license.
Asset inventory comes in handy in identifying system owners.

Step 3 and Step 4: Compare license purchase vs. license deployments

In most cases, you should be able to tell if your organization is in software license
compliance or not by comparing the procured licenses against deployed ones. Named
user licenses can be in non-compliance even if the number of installations is under control but
against a wrong set of people.

Step 5: Uninstall or procure licenses

If you are in compliance, there is nothing to fret. If you're not, there are two logical choices
- purchase more licenses or uninstall software from certain machines.
REFERENCES:
http://www.intraworksusa.com/enterprise/products/voice-data-infrastru
cture/

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSLTBW_2.3.0/com.ibm.z
os.v2r3.cbcpx01/onintr.htm

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/what-is-it-infrastructure-and-what-are-its-
components/

https://www.lifewire.com/servers-in-computer-networking-817380

https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tech-decision-maker/best-practices-
for-software-license-management/