Design Consultants Network Proposal

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Caledonian University

INtegrated design project 3

gcu design consultants network Proposal

Christopher Reid

Samuel CHukwukamnene Odigbo Martin Mutazu

Colin Duncan

http://www.reap.ac.uk/images/general/Gcu-logo-final.png

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction

The introduction will explain the background of the project and SMCC TECH as a company. It shall endeavour to include the aims and objectives and also fully detail the specifications and request chosen by our client. We will fully detail all sections accordingly and provide an outline of scope of the project including all goals and objectives, expected functionality, target audience and desired outcome.

Company Background

SMCC TECH is based in small town in Motherwell; it has been family owned business since 1987 it’s has four exceptional hardworking network engineers who graduated with distinction from Glasgow Caledonian University. The company’s intentions were to improve customer education and business relationship by providing outstanding support that is both considered to be cost effective and beneficial to any client.

Over the years the company has gathered many achievements awards with efforts in sustainability and helping by going green, the recent achievement was in 2012 when SMCC TECH was awarded by Cisco the Good Business Award for work that we provided in the merger of South Face and Stob Ban Mountaineering

Project Background

GCU Design Consultants is an award winning design consultancy with many years’ experience in creating hotel, leisure and retail environments for design led clients worldwide. The company is now going to expand due to recent growth that it has experienced by opening new offices in major UK locations. They have released funding for improvements in its network services. A key requirement that the new network design is incorporate is a high level of reliability and scalability to meet the needs of future growth. The current situation for GCU Design Consultants is it has five locations throughout the UK; The Headquarters is situated in Edinburgh, two large offices in Glasgow and London and the two smaller offices which have been acquired through the recent takeovers in Dundee and Cambridge.

GCU Design Consultants have asked to produce a network upgrade proposal to work out their current networking issues, In their Edinburgh headquarters the current cabling infrastructure is using legacy category 3 cabling and their employees are regular reporting performance issues and network failures within the Edinburgh offices, the remaining offices cabling infrastructure is modern and can support a modern campus network.

To achieve the key requirement of a high reliability and scalability and support future growth SMCC TECH will propose a network upgrade that will allow support for the current levels of staff and the projected increase of 25% over the next year along with redundancy designed solution.

Staff

The staff levels are detailed throughout the project and allocated depending on the scope and the amount of workload that been identified. The project manager will also allocate the role for each member of staff.

Christopher Reid

Is a network Engineer graduated at the top of his class with a Master’s Degree in network system engineering, Chris is an employee is compassionate and dedicated to his role as a network engineer and is always aiming to learn more to help expand his own knowledge. He has gained valuable hand on experience during his career as a broadband engineer with the cable company Virgin Media and brings a set of desire skills to undertake current and future network engineering projects.

Colin Duncan

Began working for SMCC Tech in May 2005 shortly after graduating from College with a HND in networking. He has a great passion for networking and enjoys his work. He swiftly moved up the ranks of SMCC Tech from a junior who would help with most departments to the design team. This role in the design team is mostly in the office but there are times when actually going to sites and appraising them is advantageous to the project. Colin’s strongest skills are creativity and motivation to succeed. He can bring these skills to any project the company is working as he is also adaptable to change. Colin plan’s to enhance these skills by completing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Networking, taking his experience from the job into University.

Martin Mutazu

Awaiting Info:

Samuel Chukwukamnene Odigbo

Awaiting Info:

Proposed Approach

Headquarters physical infrastructure

Wide area connectivity

Local area connectivity

Logical addressing scheme

Present Addressing Scheme

The current network is using a single flat ip addressing scheme at each of the offices and the network has been growing over the years in ad hoc fashion by adding components to the networking without any logical thinking and is now an administrative problem.

New Addressing Scheme

GCU Design Consultants require an IP addressing scheme that is based on a class B address the ranges are from 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255 and one that does not clash with any existing addresses that are already used by other organization outside the internet this then further limits us to the following ip addresses range 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 which is private ip range reserved by ICANN.

Subnetting IP Addresses with VLSM

In our proposed solution we will allocate the ip address 172.16.0.0 and then further subnet it using Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM) to make better use of the IP Addresses space which would accommodate GCU Design Consultants current and expected increase in staff in the future. It also allows for a better design of the network as it scalable and will allow specific subnets assigned to VLANS.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Subnetting

Subnetting brings a lot of advantages with it such as preventing unnecessary broadcast domains; computers on a network will send messages to other computers on their network and this is known as broadcasting, It is not that much trouble when theirs a limited amount of computers on the network as there is not much traffic but on networks like GCU Design Consultants it would cause problems like network slowing down, broadcast are only seen in their own subnet as their not forwarded which means by implementing subnets we can divide our major address in small subnets and prevent broadcast from affecting the entire network and contain them in their own subnets.

It also allows implementing security into the network a lot easier as sensitive data and equipment can be on one subnet that unauthorised user on the network aren’t allowed to access by configuring firewalls for allow and disallowed users.

Security is also further simplified as when two departments such as "Admin & Design" are on the same subnet we would then have to consider implementing security on host by host basis or we could separating these departments and allocate their own subnet which allows security to be applied on a subnet by subnet basis.

Subnetting allows the control of growth, with careful planning we can decide on the number of subnets needed and amount of host that is required within them.

A disadvantage is more expensive equipment is required such as routers, switches and an experienced network administrator to manage these types of network due to the complex design.

One more disadvantage is once the subnet has been implemented the host have been fixed to each subnet and cannot be changed.

Subnetting using routing protocol EIGRP

Enhanced Interior Gateway Protocol (EIGRP) is a classless, distance vector protocol and offers features that can be found in link state protocols, EIGRP is a protocol that was developed by cisco and only runs on cisco equipment and it has the necessary features that is needed for GCU Design Consultants network as it supports Variable Length subnet mask (VLSM) which means it has the ability to assign different subnet mask for network number on different subnets. Classless Inter domain routing (CIDR) will also be required for connection to the internet as it allows for multiple subnets to be put together for the network routing.

Implementing IP addressing scheme

To be completed once VLAN table has been completed

IP routing

Internet connectivity

Equipment List

Deployment Plan

Introduction

This document will cover the plan to Implement and Test the project. In order to complete a project, there must be a methodology, which will guide the process from beginning to completion. We will also justify the methodology that we will use against another methodology based on its advantages and disadvantages. The two methodologies that we will compare are the Waterfall model which has 5 stages to it they consist of requirements, design, Implementation, Verification, and Maintenance. Cisco uses the PPDIOO network cycle that defines the lifecycle of the project through six distinct phases. These phases are Prepare, Plan, Design, Implement, Operate, and Optimize.

Using a network lifecycle approach provides several key benefits. These benefits include:

Quicker access to the required applications and services, which is critical to a productive environment, is accessibility to network applications and services and by using the following actions we can accelerate access to these:

Keeping software current, and managing and resolving problems affecting your system.

Increasing availability, resource capacity, and performance to improve service-delivery efficiency and effectiveness.

Supporting current and planned network technologies and services by Assessing and improving operational preparedness.

Improving the availability, reliability, and stability of the network and the applications running on it

Another benefit is improving business agility. Enterprises must react in good time to changes in the economy. Enterprises that achieve this gain a competitive edge over their competitors. The following actions will encourage this:

Continual enhancement of performance.

Establishing technology strategies and business requirements.

Expertly integrating, configuring, and installing system components.

Integrating business goals and technical requirements into a detailed design and demonstrating that the network is functioning as specified.

Preparing the site or sites to support the system that is to be implemented.

Increasing network availability is another key benefit. For most enterprises this is a top priority and the brief for this project also states that this is a key requirement. Network downtime can cause all sorts of problems and at times can be critical. To improve this availability we use the network lifecycle and the following actions:

Improving staff skills

Before deployment, stage and test the proposed system.

Assess the network’s security state and its capability to support the proposed design.

Validate network operations and produce a sound operations design.

Specify the right set of hardware and software, and keeping them current and operational.

Monitoring the system and assessing availability trends and alerts, proactively.

Defining remediation plans and identifying security breaches, proactively.

Perhaps the most critical to most enterprises is the cost. This is actually another key benefit that the PPDIOO lifecycle approach gives. By lowering overall cost of the network ownership. Many enterprise executives aggressively assess the costs associated with IT expense, and with the following actions we can work towards this:

Accelerating successful implementation.

Align business goals and technical requirements with a sound network design.

Plan for changes, such as resource requirements and infrastructure changes.

Validating and identifying technology requirements.

Improving the efficiency of operational processes and tolls to reduce operating expenses.

Improving the efficiency of the network and the supporting staff.

PPDIOO vs. Waterfall model

PPDIOO Stages

With PPDIOO there are typical deliverables at each stage.

Prepare

The prepare stage is dependent on the scenario, if it’s a new company that has done very little research then they would have to consider several factors such as establishing their business requirements, technology vision and their technology strategy. If the company has already established these then it would then proceed by updating the existing strategy.

Once the analysis has been completed we would then create a high level conceptual architecture for the proposed network.

The Typical deliverables at this stage are:

High- Level design (HLD)

Customer Requirements Documents (CRD)

Current State Assessments Survey and Results (CSAS)

Plan

Due to GCU Design Consultants having an existing network in place our project plan will either be developed or update, but this shall only occur once we have completed the existing infrastructures, sites and operational environment audit. It is consider a vital part for an audit to be completed as this allows for us to ensure that any changes in the network will not have an impact on the network usability or will reduce its network resource redundancy and will provide the client with better upgrade experience.

The typical deliverables at this stage are:

Site Requirements Specification (SRS)

Solutions Test Plan

Site Survey Form

Customer Requirements Document Response (CRDR)

Design

The design stage is where we include all the elements of the network design. It is highly important that during the design stage that we look at all the gathered requirements from the previous two stages to ensure that our design shall meet the requirements of the business and its technical requirements.

With proper planning being implemented then we will be able to provide GCU Design consultants with a network that will be able to perform its everyday task and manager to exceed its expectations by providing the following high availability, reliability, security, scalability, and performance.

Design stage typical deliverables is:

Low Level Design (LLD)

Implement

They are several methods that we can use in the implement stage, but it’s consider best practise to setup and configure a test bed and then use it to simulate different parts of the network. If any issues or problems occur then they can be resolved before wide implementations are performed.

This stage should also be used to work out who will be responsible for deployment, configuration, testing and operations of the network. We would also try to implement the network with minimum disruption as possible

Typical deliverables are:

Network Ready for Use (NRFU) Test

NRFU Test Report

Implementation Log

Operate

Operate stage will be the longest stage of PPDIOO, this is due to the company operating without making any major changes that would impact the network, during the operate stage, the stage involves a lot of proactive and reactive monitoring for performance, troubleshooting and security management…

Typical deliverables are:

Root Cause Analysis Reports

Mac Reports

Support Contract Analysis (SMARTnet)

Optimize

The optimize stage can be used at any time after the network has become operational, occurs when a small or major change has occur in relation to its business needs or technical requirements for the network.

Advantages and Disadvantages of PPDIOO

PPDIOO Advantages

By using PPDIOO it could enable us to lower the cost of network ownership. GCU Design Consultants will to save as much money as possible when they want to update the current network infrastructure when obtaining new equipment, investing on their staff to gain new skills and improve their knowledge, help improve their network performance and the ease of network management, business agility can also improve by being able to adapt quickly to a business market that is always changing fast, services and applications also improve when using PPDIOO lifecycle as it helps to improve reliability and security with the all the planning that is involved.

PPDIOO Disadvantages

When PPDIOO is not used efficiently at each stage it usually results in a poor network infrastructure which is both unreliably and unstable, this will be a network administrator nightmare as they will have to fix issues when then go wrong which in return causes the business money as time is wasted fixing issues and more money as business will lose money from its downtime.

Waterfall Stages

The waterfall model was developed for software development, the reason it’s called a waterfall model is that once it’s completed one stage it will go onto the next stage below like a waterfall.

Requirements

This is the stage that requirements are gathered, requirements are a set of functions and constraints that the systems is expected to be able to do for the end users. The requirements are then analysed and validated. A requirement specification document should also be created at this stage for the purpose of a guideline…

Design

Before coding takes place, we would have to realise how highly important the requirements are for the end users and how the end product should look. By studying the requirement specification document created in the first stage we can start then to prepare a system design which will help with system and hardware requirements as well as the overall system structure.

Implementation

This is the stage where the system design document is broken up into modules and the coded is started. The system is created using small programs commonly known as units.

Verification

The programs units from the implementation stage are tested to check their functionality… It the test are completed and are successfully it will then be passed on to the client.

Maintenance

Maintenance the never ending stage, bugs are always found at later stages mostly when it has been released to wider audiences…

Advantages and disadvantages of Waterfall Model

Waterfall Strength

For a business the waterfall is good for the strengths that it offers, it has discipline involved in each of its stages from the start to the end and they can see what is being achieved as progress can be followed easily with the aid of milestones by software vendor and their client. The requirements and design stage will help the project to utilize the best of the time and effort to ensure that time is not being wasted and also reduce the risk of failure which is seen by the triple constraint that business face (time, cost, scope). Identify potentials flaws earlier in the design stage is better than tracking down flaws that are in the testing stage as this would be when all components have been integrated making it more complex to find those errors.

Waterfall Weakness

The big issue with Waterfall model is that customer usually are unaware what their requirements are at first and may lead the project in the wrong path to something that may not meet the needs of the client and would also affect the triple constraint as they would have to go back to the requirement phase as business scope was affected and now costing time and money.

The waterfall model is best used in an environment where the client has clear goals that have been identified.

Justification for chosen methodology

The project team have decided to use the Cisco PPDIOO network lifecycle.

The team have made the decision based on GCU Design Consultants new network requirements as we believe it will benefit more as its approach for building networks and as you can see from the advantages it offers that it will help lower cost and help with building a optimize network…

PPDIOO methodology we will also be using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) the reason for this selection can be viewed below:-

The WBS allows for task to be separated into activities

Task that are complex can be broken down again making it easier and

more manageable

Allows for the project to organized

By using PPDIOO with the WBS, the team will see where there currently are in the project thus allowing communication easier and a better understanding of the project goals and meeting the client’s objectives.

Risk

Risk Identification

Business Risk

BR1: Supplier does not deliver on time – This would cause the project to fall behind schedule as the installation team waits for the equipment to be delivered.

BR2: Supplier supply’s wrong item/s – Again this would cause the project schedule to be delayed and probably by more time than a late delivery, as the item has still to be dispatched.

BR3: Supplier is out of stock – This could cause a delay in the project schedule while an item is sought from the manufacturer.

BR4: Project gets cancelled – This risk would mean that SMCC Tech has lost a lot of income from the project.

Technical Risk

TR1: Hardware failure – Can cause delays again while a working item is supplied.

TR2: Hardware components not compatible – This risk means that adequate planning has not been done and this will cause the schedule to be delayed.

TR3: Cabling infrastructure inadequate – If this risk comes true then, a major delay will happen, while new cabling is installed.

TR4: Network failure – This could cause a small delay to schedule while configurations are checked or a major delay if the fault cannot be found.

Organizational Risk

OR1: Key team member leaves – This would place extra burden upon those who are still working on the project.

OR2: Key team member performance poor -

OR3: Theft of Hardware – The police may have to be involved and the culprit punished.

OR4: IT staff cannot support new equipment – This would require training of the IT staff to a level where they are confident to be able to utilise the new equipment to a high standard.

Project Management Risk

PR1: Project runs over budget – One of the reasons why a project would be called a failure.

PR2: Project runs over Schedule – Another reason to call a project failed.

PR3: Project scope not met – Again a project would be called a failure if the scope is not met.

PR4: Requirements misunderstood – The results of this could mean the project has to be started again.

Risk Analysis

Risk matrix

High

OR2

Medium

OR3

BR1, TR1, OR1, PR1, PR2, PR3

TR4, PR4

Low

BR3, OR4

BR2

BR4, TR2, TR3

Probability/Impact

Low

Medium

High

As seen in the above table, some risks have a greater impact and probability than others. This report will focus on those risks which have the highest. These risks are shown in orange and red.

Risk Planning

Risk Avoidance

OR1 – To avoid this risk, SMCC Tech must keep its employee’s happy and healthy. Decent wages would be a good place to start, and perhaps offering bonuses for performance and possibly a health plan.

PR4 – Avoiding a misunderstanding can sounds simple in theory and it is a matter of discussing with the client his needs and wants, preparing a proposal and talking him through the parts he does not understand.

Risk Acceptance

TR1 – This risk again will have to be accepted but it must be found out before installation. Otherwise the impact will be far greater.

TR4 – Accepting that there may be some failures in the configuration is the proper solution because there may be many devices need configuration and something may just be input wrong. This is acceptable and all systems must be testing before going live.

Risk Transference

BR1 – This risk will have to be accepted; however there are measures that can be taken to soften the blow, for instance having insurance.

PR2 – Running over schedule can also prove to be a large problem for the customer, in fact incurring costs due to lack of business. Insurance should be in place to cover for this.

Risk Mitigation

PR1 – If the project runs over budget it could prove to be a very large problem for both SMCC Tech and their customer. To mitigate this, the proper planning and cost estimation’s must be put in place before work is started.

PR3 – If the scope of the project is not met, then it will most probably have to continue with more work incurring costs and time. The customer’s requirements must be analysed and discussed fully before proceeding.

Risk Monitoring

Risk monitoring should be an on-going process throughout the life of the project. The key to this process is communication between team members and people who are working on the project. New risks may arise and must be dealt with the same way as initial risks were. That is to identify them, put them into a risk matrix and then to plan for when or if they happen.

Quality

Quality Planning

Quality Assurance

Quality Control

Legislation

Computer Misuse Act 1990

Regulation of Investigatory powers Act 2000

Telecommunications Regulations 2000

Health and Safety at Work Act (Moving and Handling Regulations)

Data Protection Act 1994

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive 2006

Consumer Protection Act 1987

Human Rights Act

Plan for Implementation

The exact steps necessary to complete the implementation phase should be included in a detailed implementation plan. The more detailed the implementation plan is, the more likely the implementation will be a success.

5.1. Edinburgh (Head Office) Implementation

5.2. Glasgow Implementation

Ref. No.

Task

Equipment

Team

Result

G1

Disconnect Hubs

G2

Dispose of Hubs

G3

Install Rack’s

G4

Install Firewall

G5

Install Router

G6

Install DL Switch’s

G7

Install AL Switch’s

G8

Configure Firewall

G9

Test Firewall

G10

Interconnect New components

G11

Verify cabling

G12

Verify links

G13

Configure Router

G14

Configure Layer 3

G15

Configure Layer 2

G16

Verify Connectivity

G17

Connect Hosts

G18

Verify Connectivity across WAN

5.3. Dundee Implementation

Ref. No.

Task

Equipment

Team

Result

D1

Disconnect Hubs

D2

Dispose of Hubs

D3

Install Rack’s

D4

Install Firewall

D5

Install Router

D6

Install DL Switch’s

D7

Install AL Switch’s

D8

Configure Firewall

D9

Test Firewall

D10

Interconnect New components

D11

Verify cabling

D12

Verify links

D13

Configure Router

D14

Configure Layer 3

D15

Configure Layer 2

D16

Verify Connectivity

D17

Connect Hosts

D18

Verify Connectivity across WAN

5.4. London Implementation

Ref. No.

Task

Equipment

Team

Result

L1

Disconnect Hubs

L2

Dispose of Hubs

L3

Install Rack’s

L4

Install Firewall

L5

Install Router

L6

Install DL Switch’s

L7

Install AL Switch’s

L8

Configure Firewall

L9

Test Firewall

L10

Interconnect New components

L11

Verify cabling

L12

Verify links

L13

Configure Router

L14

Configure Layer 3

L15

Configure Layer 2

L16

Verify Connectivity

L17

Connect Hosts

L18

Verify Connectivity across WAN

5.5. Cambridge Implementation

Ref. No.

Task

Equipment

Team

Result

C1

Disconnect Hubs

C2

Dispose of Hubs

C3

Install Rack’s

C4

Install Firewall

C5

Install Router

C6

Install DL Switch’s

C7

Install AL Switch’s

C8

Configure Firewall

C9

Test Firewall

C10

Interconnect New components

C11

Verify cabling

C12

Verify links

C13

Configure Router

C14

Configure Layer 3

C15

Configure Layer 2

C16

Verify Connectivity

C17

Connect Hosts

C18

Verify Connectivity across WAN

Plan for Testing

A major factor to consider is the possibility of failure no matter how robust the design or how well a prototype works, so there should be a well-defined process test after each step taken.

6.1. Edinburgh (Head Office) Testing Strategy

Hardware Testing: Visual Inspection, Power check, PAT

Network Testing: Connectivity Check, Integration Check, Stress Test

Security Testing: Port scan, Network Scan, Vulnerability Scan, Penetration Test

6.2. Glasgow Testing Strategy

6.3. Dundee Testing Strategy

6.4. London Testing Strategy

6.5. Cambridge Testing Strategy

6.6. Integration Testing Strategy

References

Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks (SWITCH) ISBN: 1-58705-884-7

http://www.sqa.org.uk/e-learning

PPDIOO Network Cycle (access 14032013) http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=1697888