Network design project

[Kntx]

Hello network people.


I'm in the midst of a network design project for a course I am taking and I need a little help!


Everything between the stars is background information nesscesary to design the network.

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Call Centre

The new call centre will have:
25 ?first line? support personnel
10 ?level 2? technologists
2 managers
4 office support workers.

Existing Ethernet Network

The firm currently has an Ethernet network in the existing office suite used to interconnect eight business agent computers. Each agent has a portfolio of clients and the network provides an easy method of sharing files and access to hardware resources. This network has one server hosting several application software programs. The server also has one printer connected to it, which is shared by the agents.

Administration Department

The Administration department of the firm, which is not networked, consists of:

8 computers
2 printers
1 fax machine

Administration is also in the existing office suite.

New Addition

The new addition will be some 400 feet long by 60 feet deep (see the block diagram on the last page of this assignment). The support personnel areas will be designed as an open concept with cubicles along the front length of the building. The back length of the building will be divided into offices for the technologists (a large common office), managers (one office for each) and office support workers (shared office space). There will also be a stock and repair centre room, storage and utility room as well as a server room for the new network equipment.


The firm has registered the domain name ?xyzbizhelp.com? and has been assigned the IP address 150.150.0.0

New Network Computer Equipment

· There will be:
- 25 client computers
- 2 high speed laser printers

for use by the first line support personnel.

· Each technologist will have their own desktop client-computer.
· There will also be one laser printer and one fax machine in this area.

· Each manager will have a laptop client computer and a small desktop laser printer for their office. These printers will not be connected to the network.

· Although there will be 4 office support workers, only 2 desktop computers are required.

· These are part time employees and they will share the computers.
· There will also be one high-speed laser printer and one fax machine in this office area.

· Two high-end servers will be used in the server room.

· One will provide access to a special software program designed especially for the call centre support function.

· This software is of a database design and records all information related to each support call. Although the software supports the recording and storage of voice data, this feature will not be used at this time. It also interfaces with other business software used by the firm.

The firm has registered the domain name ?xyzbizhelp.com? and has been assigned the IP address 150.150.0.0


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!!!!Here are my questions!!!!



1)best topology for the new segment?

I'm thinking you have like the 2 servers connected to a switch, then have 5, 8 port hubs also connected to the switch with all of the client and technologist computers and the 2 high speed laser printers connected to them. Then you have 1 more 4 port hub for the 2 manager's laptops and the 2 desktops for the office assistants.

Does anyone see any problems with that???? Networking isn't my thing... but from what I've learnt in the course and from what I've picked up from the rather cryptic textbook this seems logical to me.

what would be the best way to connect the existing network to the new network without altering the existing topology???


I'm thinking all you'd have to do is run a cable from the existing hub to the new switch and you'd be good to go??? Or is there something about an ethernet network that I'm not considering???



Determine how the existing administration department could be connected to the new network and the hardware that would be required



K... all you would need to do is stick a nic in each computer, connect them all to a hub (or 2) then connect the hubs to the swtich.



Develop an IP addressing scheme for the company based on the following. Each of the areas listed below must be on different subnets.

a. The first line support hardware in the new addition
b. Technologists hardware in the new addition
c. Managers and support worker hardware in the new addition
d. Administration hardware in existing office suite
e. Business agent hardware in existing office suite


Here's where I fall apart. I am not confident in my answer for this one.


They've been assigned 150.150.0.0

I'm thinking... you'd just do something like this...

The first line support hardware in the new addition would get .... 150.150.1.1 thru 150.150.1.25
do the printers need addresses as well????????? If so... I guess I'd just use 150.150.1.26 and 27.

But... could I just as easily use 150.150.1.100 and 101??? Or do they all have to be in order??? The reason i ask is that if you ever wanted to add more computers it would make more sense to me to have them all in order, rather than have them inturrupted by 2 printers.

The technologists.... 150.150.2.1 thru 150.150.2.10

Managers and support worker hardware in the new addition... 150.150.3.1 thru 150.150.3.4

Administration hardware in existing office suite... 150.150.4.1 thru 150.150.4.8

Business agent hardware in existing office suite... 150.150.5.1 for the server. and 150.150.5.10 thru 150.150.5.18 for the destops.





and my last question.... Does the swtich have an ip address????? My entire theoretical network centers around this switch. Is there something fundamentally wrong with my approach??? Would it be unbearably slow??? Are there any simple changes I could make to make it better????


I know I asked a lot of questions, so thanx in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer at least one!

 

[moondrake]

Kntx....this is one loaded question! There isn't anything "wrong" necessarily with your ideas but I will throw in my idea(s).

First the Switch....definitely a good idea. Especially if you consider getting one that will support Layer 3 (routing). As a matter of fact I would plug everyone into the switch and dump the hub idea. Reason being is you are setting up a pretty good sized broadcast domain by the looks of the specs and that will cause some issues. Also with everyone on a switch, you will get full wire speed (i.e 100/full duplex) switching.

The best part about a Layer 3 switch though is the ability to support VLANS (Virtual LANS or subnets). You can break departments into their own Vlan thus breaking down one big broadcast domain into a few smaller ones and yes the switch will need its own IP address.

The whole IP address scheme is a chore all by itself and I will let someone else handle that issue

My $.02

 

[Kntx]

Hehe, ya it was a lot.

Everyone into the switch you say???

Ok, wouldn't that be a lot more cable though??? Additonally, since the building is 400 ft wide and (if i could show you the layout of the proposed building you would see what i mean) the server room is located on the far side you would need a repeater for every workstation over 90 metres away from the switch (which is like 15 or so). Whereas if you used hubs you would only need one between each hub over 90 metres away (which is 1) and the switch.


the swich needs it's own ip??? Excellent.

follow up question.... would the ip of the switch be 150.150.0.0 since it is like the orgin???

 

[moondrake]

hmmm....sounds like they need to build a server room smack dab in the middle of the building

No that IP is the Network address and is invalid. The correct IP would be something like 150.150.0.1 or whatever the subnet mask dictates.

 

[spidey07]

I agree that in this day and age a hub doesn't belong in a network. I'd suggest working from the physical layer on up.

Can you do this with one wiring closet? Are all stations within 90 meters of the closet? (probably not given the addion is 400 feet long)

Can you do this with two wiring closets? Can you provide complete coverage? if so how far appart are the closets - can you use UTP or fiber.

Once the physical is figured out the rest is easy. All one IP subnet using the biggest single switch that will meet the needs of the physical ports, avoid chaining hubs and switches together.

So you would wind up with two closets connected by one or two gigabit ethernet links. Servers would be connected with gigabit ethernet if possible. Printers would be connected to the network by a print server such as JetDirect cards - the server would have print queues to hold and manage print jobs to these printers.

I normally recommend reserving the first 15 addresses of an IP range to network gear - routers, switches, etc but it is really irrelvant and used as a standard IP setup.

 

[Kntx]

Well, I can use anything i want. Because it's just a project

But I'd like to keep it simple so I can explain it when it comes time. It would be cool to use fibre, but then I'd have to do sooo much more work ( have to itemize everything ).

I can only have one wiring closet. We have a floorplan of the building. It does have raised floor construction though.

I hear what you're saying about the hubs... but we've talked an awful lot about hubs in class, so I'm gonna leave them in there. Mabye the course is a little behind the times.

I think what I've done is called a... Collapsed Backbone network. Woo!! fancy networking term!

 

[ScottMac]

Token Ring over Type1 would work well here. Flat addressing would be OK, maybe divide the major work areas into their own subnet with all the subnets aggregating back to a redundant pair of central routers. Novell File/Print servers, *nix database servers, Winderz servers for mail.... probably with multiple NICs to put the server resources directly on each subnet (or, worse case, put 'em on their own subnet ... so you might as well run redundant Gig E to the servers.

Would I do it this way? Probably not (almost certainly not), but it'd work jus' fine.

Mor'n likely, put a small rack / wall mount rack/cabinet in the coat closet or conference rooms (locked would be good) with local 10/100 workgroup switches in each area, aggregate to Gig back to a redundant central L3 switches, redundant Gig E to the servers. Each area on it's own subnet (/24) with one or two subnets (/30) set aside for WAN, another one or two set aside for resources.

I dunno, you could probably do it with wireless too (with the APs up in the ceiling set up as cells)

ATM would work great. Use SphereCall POTS pods for the phones, run a telephone application on the PCs with the Call center software.

For a "wave of the future" solution, run FTTD (Fiber to the Desktop), all fiber terminates back to a single closet, terminating to a/some L2/L3 switches (router for the WAN) ...

There's a lot of ways to go, most are really nothing too fancy.

FWIW

Scott

 

[faZZter]

Why not just run NAT at the internet access point and use whatever IP scheme you want internally? Then you'd have loads of space to assign IP addresses in a scheme that is easy to understand and expand on.

Are you planning on having a router? You are, right??

You may want to run the admin segment off a different ethernet interface on the router to aid in securing it from the other users...if you need to worry about them gaining access to the admins files possibly. Then employ your access lists to keep em off that segment.

Have you made any estimates of how much bandwidth is needed in each area?

I guess you are using a T1 line right? Are you gonna have any backup available like ISDN for example?

Man this is a seriously overloaded question ....hehe, sounds like you have a threaded case study on your hands.....g/l.