MOD006123 Advanced Network Solutions

Assessment 2022-23

Contents TOC o 1-3 1General information PAGEREF _Toc122349467 h 3

1.1.Module Leader Details PAGEREF _Toc122349468 h 3

1.2.Learning Objectives PAGEREF _Toc122349469 h 3

1.3.Assessment Profile PAGEREF _Toc122349470 h 3

2Case Study Assignment PAGEREF _Toc122349471 h 5

2.1Report & Implementation PAGEREF _Toc122349472 h 5

2.2Component 1 - Case Study Network Performance and Security Design PAGEREF _Toc122349473 h 5

2.3Hints for Implementation PAGEREF _Toc122349474 h 9

2.4Testing the Solution PAGEREF _Toc122349475 h 10

2.5Case Study Marking Scheme Network Design & Implementation (90% overall) PAGEREF _Toc122349476 h 11

General informationModule Leader Details

Module Leader: Erika Sanchez-Velazquez

Room: SCI209

Telephone: 01245 683162

Email: erika.sanchez@anglia.ac.uk

Learning ObjectivesOn successful completion of this module the student will be expected to be able to:

Knowledge and understanding Critically evaluate the basic concepts of network scaling technologies including design principles, LAN redundancy and Link Aggregation and how they are used.

Analyse and assess the suitability of relevant LAN/WAN protocols/technologies and virtual infrastructures within a modern communication infrastructure.

Intellectual, practical, affective and transferable skills Evaluate the requirements for complex IT infrastructures, demonstrate its design and configuration utilizing routers and switches within a single and multi-area domain.

Critically assess the relative merits of a range of potential solutions for a complex application.

Assessment ProfileSuccessful completion of all these assessments is necessary to pass the module.

The assessment for this module will be in multiple parts:

Using the skills and knowledge obtained from the week-by-week lectures, lab exercises and own guided study, students will be asked to perform 2-3 tasks on a given IT infrastructure-based scenario.

Typically, this might include

Critique of an existing design and suggest where problems may lie as well as changing an addressing scheme

Propose a new design for an infrastructure

Implement a simulation of the design including a fully-fledged test plan to evidence the solution working.

Utilising online curriculum tests to underpin learning

(worth 100% of the marks).

(Learning Outcomes 1- 4)

Hand In Date: Check e:Vision

Case Study Assignment Report & Implementation

You have been hired as part of a team of network and system developers to develop proof of concept solutions for varied clients in convince them to invest in full cost solutions.

You must implement a virtual based proof of concept solution which will be used to demonstrate functionality to the client for a representative sample of the overall infrastructure. Full documentation will be needed to provide justifications for your choice of solution tools and components, configuration details and a full test plan outlining how the functionality has been tested.

It is expected you will carry out extensive research for your recommended solution and document accordingly.

Component 1 - Case Study Network Performance and Security DesignThe Dead Duck Publishing Company has been experiencing significant problems with its IT infrastructure in recent months.

They have had several problems

Issues relating to response times between clients and servers. At peak times, there have even been timeouts with web applications crashing.

Staff involved in VoIP and video communications regularly experience severe delays with communication either buffering or connections being broken completely.

On several occasions, all branch offices have experienced periods of complete downtime when core routers have crashed.

Access to the internet to send large print runs has been extremely problematic as well as the onsite print runs never seem to work properly.

The company has extensive plans to expand its operation from the UK to cover a number of major European cities as well increasing the number of sites to 8 in the very near future. They are very worried the current model of the network will not be cost-effective in the future.

Dead Duck has its main office in Cambridge. It has 4 specific workgroups on site:

Accounts, HR & Management293 users

Graphic Design 129 users

Publishing 1029 users

Consulting69 users

.

All storage, servers and applications are hosted on the Cambridge-based Data Centre

At the moment, there are branch offices with 134 staff in each at Manchester, Edinburgh and Peterborough connected via 2Mbps Leased Lines.

The Cambridge office is used to host a connection to the Internet via a DSL Broadband connection with an allocated address range of 194.123.211.32/28.

As the organisation has connected to the Internet and will not be granted any more Public v4 IP addresses, The new network design must use a configuration to reflect this lack of addresses and utilise appropriate addressing using RFC1918 addresses

The network schematic of the existing network design will be made available on the VLE as a Packet Tracer file. No configuration other than the physical topology will be included, however, students should take note of how devices are connected.

You are required to produce a report of not more than 2500 words (not including appendices) that details:

Document the numerous issues and problems with the current design and how your new design will solve them

Propose and suitably justify an appropriate IT infrastructure which will overcome the poor design choices made in the existing infrastructure resulting in some of the problems that the client has been experiencing recently.

Use should be made of appropriate design models to give a uniform and scalable approach to the design. Expansion capacity should also be a factor in any design decisions taken.

Develop a suitable addressing plan which will accommodate both current and future requirements in both the LAN & WAN and what addressing will be used. Carefully consider the implications of utilising private IP addressing

Consider the routing infrastructure necessary for site, inter-site and Internet connectivity and make recommendations accordingly.

Make appropriate security recommendations for the infrastructure you recommend,

Any design choices made MUST be justified and supporting references used.

Test Solution Configurations (including fully annotated configurations)

Test Plan and Operational Results on the Test Bed

Evidence Linked to the Test Plan

Integration & Scaling Factors (including other solutions)

Issues & Gotchas

Conclusion and Recommendations

You will be required to develop a demonstration model of your proposed design and prove that it both solves the problems Dead Duck Publishing was experiencing and meets the extended requirements of the client.

To prove the operation of the solution, it should be implemented within a simulated or emulated environment and a test plan/evidence produced to prove to the client that the solution meets the requirements. You should choose functionality carefully that can be fully demonstrated within the Packet Tracer Environment.

HINT: Implement the minimum functionality that proves to fulfil the proof of concept demonstration to the client that all required design features work with an essential expectation that resilience/redundancy features shave all been tested

You are required to critically analyse the effectiveness of the solution with detailed examples from your testbed construction showing outputs from the implementation.

You will then be required to make appropriate conclusions and recommendations on the scenario with critical analysis as to how you have reached this decision.

Please ensure your report is bound appropriately, a nicely bound report puts the marker in a better mood for marking your assignment. Comb bound sets a very professional approach whilst staples or unbound work are likely to lose marks or result in the work not being marked (in the case of unbound work).

As well as submitting your report, you will be expected to provide the packet tracer file detailing the implementation of the test plan. These should also be saved to CD/USB and submitted with your report.

Ensure that all others' work is referenced to the Harvard Referencing Standard. It is expected in a third-year assignment that there will be lots of evidence of research being undertaken and used appropriately in the text.

Hints for ImplementationThe latest version of Cisco Packet Tracer can be downloaded from the Cisco Network Academy website or accessed on Anglia Virtual Desktop.

Testing the SolutionTo fully meet the assignment criteria, you need to be able to demonstrate that the solution you have recommended, configured and implemented has been fully tested against the criteria given in the case study.

You are recommended to use a detailed formal test plan, it is recommended that you formalise the test plan by using a tabular form

Test Reference Description & Operation Expected Result Actual Result Evidence

NM-1 Example Test utilising

Demo Network

2 VMs Ping Test Successful Ping Test Failed See Appendix 4, Figure 5

You must document the testing correctly and show any reader how they could repeat the experiments to obtain the same results.

All evidence should be documented and details are shown where it can be found if not in the table. Hint: use appendices for large amounts of evidence or screenshots.

Do not just rely on pings or the equivalent to show connectivity, you are looking to demonstrate functionality so much richer tests are needed!!! Make sure evidence is relevant to the tests as well!

Case Study Marking Scheme Network Design & Implementation (90% overall)Criteria Marks

Evidence of an understanding of network problems associated with an old design 10%

Evidence using design methodologies in the proposed design 10%

Evidence of an understanding of installation & configuration (including annotated configuration details) 10%

Evidence of a test strategy/plan, evidence & results recorded 20%

Detailed & Justified Addressing Scheme, Routing Protocol, LAN, WAN & Resilience/Redundancy Design Features 15%

Research of potential solutions including justifications for decisions made,(including references) 10%

Depth of analysis, issues and conclusion/recommendations 15%

Report Presentation 10%