CYB461 Network Administration

Introduction

Wireless networks are technological advancement of normal wired technology. A wireless network therefore can be defined as one that makes use of wireless data connections between its respective nodes. It is also a way of avoiding the costly cables for wired network connection. There are various types of wireless networks such as Wireless PAN, Wireless LAN, Wireless ad hoc, Wireless MAN, Wireless WAN, cellular networks, space, and the global area network (Park et al.,2017). The choice for implementation of any of the named types of wireless networks depends on the various business needs and the physical size of the site to be implemented. Focusing on a company, this project seeks to design and implement a wireless LAN network that will facilitate the business needs of the company as the objective of the project. This is undertaken in the following procedure;

Requirements Analysis

Network requirements are key to designing and implementing a suiting network system concerning the business needs (Behzadi Ahansaz, Faizi, and Kasani, 2018). As a result of the network importance, network requirements can be categorized as functional and non-functional requirements under the FURPS framework. The functional requirements describe the functional activities that are required by the system users. In this network design, the functional requirements revolve around storage, communication, and internet accessibility as the key functions required by the business stakeholders. Non-functional requirements on the other hand describe the performance metrics of the network. Described under the FURPS framework, non-functional requirements include; functionality, usability, reliability, performance, and supportability aspects of the network (Olsina,and Becker, 2018). These are the parameter measures to ensure that the network is both relevant and suitable for the intended business needs. Following analysis on the business needs, a floor plan displaying the anticipated layout of the network has been established as follows:

From the above plan, several departments require a network communication mechanism either for internet or internal communication. These, therefore, require strong wireless Access Points (AP) to facilitate wireless communication. The empty working spaces do not access points. To minimize the cost of implementation, some departments may need to share access points especially for the cases where the respective departments have few users. The average capacity for an Access Point is roughly 30 users thus strategically placed as shown in the flow plan and the subsequent survey as well as the design phases. The sales department needs a stronger internet connection to enable internet connectivity as well as communication with the marketing department. The waiting area and the front desk can share an access point.

Site Survey

A site survey can be described as the process of site evaluation to establish its suitability concerning intended network design (Ioannidis et al.,2018). Site survey usually seeks to establish the key aspects to network design concerning the physical landscape and obstacles that may be an inhibition to the signal. This is calculated in the form of RF coverage, Signal-To-Noise Ratio, and interferences that emanate from the physical obstacles on the respective site. Site survey also intends to establish the coverage holes and the cases of incorrect types of and several access points that may have been implemented in the network. This process is conducted in the NetSpot network monitoring tool as shown below.

A predictive analysis of the site reveals the need for not more than 4 Access Points on this floor for a wireless network (Toor and Chana, 2020.). Taking into consideration the obstacles and other interferences, strong access points have been used thus the following signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

The analysis can also be conducted against other important parameters for in-depth analysis such as the frequency coverage as shown below.

The frequency coverage is an important part of the analysis process to determine the signal strength of the Access Points in the subject network. This is also key in determining the number of Access Points to be used in the site to avoid the signals getting interfered with each thus an overall slowness in the network. The analysis of the network requirements, as well as the viability of the located site, flags the project to proceed to the network design phase. In this phase, a simulation of the actual network in a network design software is conducted, Packet tracer for instance is used for the network design.

Network Design

A wireless LAN network is the focus of this project to facilitate the business needs of the organization (Jin, Hu, Tang, Niu, Shi, Han and Li, 2020). This is a simple network to be used within the business premise locality as the Local LAN deploying the wireless technology. This is also in adherence to the Bring Your Device (BYOD) principle for both simplicity and cost-efficiency in implementation.

The above network design demonstrates how the intended network design is intended to be as per the requirements and the survey results. The main focus is on the sales, financial, and human resource departments due to the active nature of their respective roles in the SMART TEK business operations. The Access Points will be used as the gateways into the respective departments and the world internet. Deploying the Bring Your device principle and the option for the wireless network is a strategic pathway of network implementation at the same time utilizing the power of technology for business efficiency.

Implementation

The implementation of the network shall adhere to the network design as shown in figure 4. This shall require the users to bring their own devices to work since SMART TEK does not provide workstations for its workers. The implementation shall therefore be focused on testing the network speed and security as the performance measures stipulated in the non-functional requirements.

Network speed is affected by obstacles and the general capabilities of the Access Points/ routers used in the implementation of the network. In this network, Comcast Wi-Fi 6 is used with a top speed of 300 Mbps. This is an appropriate speed and bandwidth given the business operations of the company. Security is also another aspect of network performance measure metric whose main agenda is to measure and ensure the network’s ability to detect and respond to security threats within the shortest time possible so that the stakeholders can take the necessary action.

Network Security

The fact that the network has access by users bringing their own devices and has access to the internet is reason enough to take stringent security measures in the wireless networks. The BYOD principle is a cost-efficient approach in the network design and implementation but comes along with a lot of security concerns since the personal devices brought to work cannot be trusted in terms of their respective security (Teng, Zhang Luo and Shan, 2020.). It is therefore important to address the security of a wireless network in this perspective by implementing security configurations and policies. A security framework for this network comprises aspects such as the central management of user accounts and passwords through the active directory, restrictions to access untrusted sites and regular scanning of the personal devices brought to work. This can be backed by common wireless network security such as encryption. The Comcast Wi-Fi 6 used is the latest technology in the Wi-Fi network domain that uses WAP2 latest version of encryption to secure the network.

Wi-Fi Protected Access 

WPA is the advancement of the outdated WEP from the IEEE standard. Specifically, WPA is in the IEEE 802.11i that promises a stronger encryption algorithm of not less than 256 bits of encryption. This makes it harder to crack the WPA, unlike the WEP which had a shorter bit length and as a result, they could be easily hacked into. The security configuration in SMART TEK also needs an intrusion detection mechanism to enable it to identify intruders in time so that they can take actions to prevent adverse effects of the intrusion. The general participation of the users in ensuring the security of the network is also important, this is through security principles and policies drafted and implemented by the company’s tech department.

Cost Analysis

Wired networks are considered to be costly compared to the wireless counterparts owed to the fact that there are cables needed in the wired connection. The implementation of wireless networks is therefore the shift that is currently being witnessed as a way of cutting down the cost of technological implementation in various business organizations in diverse business domains. Adding the BYOD principle, SMART TEK does not need to purchase workstations to be used by the workers, the company only needs to concern itself with the design, implementation, and security of gateways. Not only does this save the monetary capital, but it also saves a lot of time that would have been spent in the design involving the workstations, testing their working, and their respective security aspects (Jain, Tiwari and Yadav, 2020). This section summarizes the overall cost of the wireless network design and implementation in SMART TEK.

Conclusion

The necessity of networks makes it imperative to have a comprehensive network system able to cater to the business needs of the current business space. SMART TEK can greatly benefit from the technologies offered in terms of business operations and their respective security. This also leverages the business operations to a higher portfolio of customers thus boosting the financial revenue of the company. It is the goal of every business organization to maximize profitability as well as sustaining itself in the competition arena. Deploying technology is one of the strategies to enable businesses to steer themselves in stiff competitions as well as bettering their respective service delivery to their customers.

Reference List

Behzadi, N., Ahansaz, B., Faizi, E. and Kasani, H., (2018). Requirement of system–reservoir bound states for entanglement protection. Quantum Information Processing, 17(3), pp.1-10.

Fathollahi-Fard, A.M., Hajiaghaei-Keshteli, M., Tian, G. and Li, Z., 2020. An adaptive Lagrangian relaxation-based algorithm for a coordinated water supply and wastewater collection network design problem. Information Sciences, 512, pp.1335-1359.

Ioannidis, K., Treder, M.S., Chamberlain, S.R., Kiraly, F., Redden, S.A., Stein, D.J., Lochner, C. and Grant, J.E., (2018). Problematic internet use as an age-related multifaceted problem: Evidence from a two-site survey. Addictive behaviors, 81, pp.157-166.

Jain, R., Tiwari, N. and Yadav, M., 2020. A COMPARISON STUDY OF WIFI 6 AND WIFI 5. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7(15), pp.6118-6124.

Jin, B., Hu, Y., Tang, Q., Niu, J., Shi, Z., Han, Y. and Li, X., (2020). Exploring spatial-temporal multi-frequency analysis for high-fidelity and temporal-consistency video prediction. In Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (pp. 4554-4563).

Olsina, L. and Becker, P., (2018). Linking Business and Information Need Goals with Functional and Non-functional Requirements. In CIbSE (pp. 381-394).

Park, P., Ergen, S.C., Fischione, C., Lu, C. and Johansson, K.H., (2017). Wireless network design for control systems: A survey. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 20(2), pp.978-1013.

Shoja, A., Molla-Alizadeh-Zavardehi, S. and Niroomand, S., 2020. Hybrid adaptive simplified human learning optimization algorithms for supply chain network design problem with possibility of direct shipment. Applied Soft Computing, 96, p.106594.

Teng, F., Zhang, H., Luo, C. and Shan, Q., 2020. Delay tolerant containment control for second-order multi-agent systems based on communication topology design. Neurocomputing, 380, pp.11-19.

Toor, R. and Chana, I., (2020). Network Analysis as a Computational Technique and Its Benefaction for Predictive Analysis of Healthcare Data: A Systematic Review. Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering, pp.1-23.

Yang, T.H., Tang, C.H. and Hsiao, H.C., 2020. Strategic airline network design problem in a duopolistic market. Transportation Planning and Technology, 43(6), pp.586-601.

Need to wrap up assignments on time? Stringent deadlines getting the better of you? Our in-house academic papers writers are available round the clock to work on your assignments and share the same much ahead of the deadline. From offering Finance assignment help to backing you up with Law assignment help in London, we are right here to assist you through the thick and thin of assignment stringencies. So, the next time you would worry about a narrow deadline or wonder, “Can I pay someone to do my assignment on time?” count on us and never look back.