ASSESSMENT TASK

The Smart car manufacturing company has recently purchased two buildings, which are located 0.5 Km away from each other. Each building has two floors, each floor measuring 200mx200m. Every floor contains five individual offices and an open plan environment. The open plan on each floor measures 120mx120m. The open plan in each building is located above the other on one side of the building.

The Buildings are named Rose and Tulip. The offices in the Rose building are used by senior managers and administrator staff. However, the offices in the Tulip building are used by the research/development staff. 

Each open plan part of the buildings will have 15 computers supporting the staff involved in manufacturing cars. The desks in the open plan areas are equally spaced. Each floor contains a designated communication room, which is located between the open plan and the individual offices adjacent to the open plan wall. Each office will be equipped with one computer. The communication rooms will be equipped by the necessary networking kits.  

Two departments will be housed in each building. Each department will occupy one of the floors. Due to the network traffic that they will be producing and to avoid congestion, each department will have its own data server. 

A network consisting of two segments should be designed for each building. Each segment which supports one of the departments should include 20 computers connected to the network by suitable cables. 

Each segment should have its own wireless access point to support the staff who may wish to connect their laptops or their mobile phones to the network. The network of each Department must have its own network id, a data server (to facilitate local storage) and a DHCP server. A shared webserver should also be attached to one of the segments which will be used for internal access only. To avoid interference, each access point should use a different communication channel. The network should have sufficient capacity for future expansion. All the segments should be connected to each other using suitable network devices and appropriate topology. 

The buildings have already been wired with twisted pair cable using structured cabling. However, fibre optic cables may be used, if required. The buildings should be linked by two pairs of fibre optic cables, but only one of the pairs will be active. The second pair of fibre optic cable will be used if the first pair fails.

The network is expected to be connected to the Internet through a NAT for security.  This is achieved by connecting the network to the router of an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The company has already signed a contract with the ISP and received four Public IP addresses 200.2.3.1/24, 200.2.3.2/24, 199.4.5.1/24 and 199.4.5.2/24 for this connection and testing. 

A single PC connected to the ISP’s network (public zone) can be used for testing the operation and effectiveness of the NAT. You should ensure that your settings reflect both the public and private zones of the NAT. 

Eight Class C private IP address ranges (192.168.1.0/24, 192.168.2.0/24, 192.168.3.0/24, 192.168.4.0/24, 192.168.5.0/24, 192.168.6.0/24, 192.168.7.0/24 and 192.168.8.0/24) have been provided which can be allocated to the devices on this network.  Depending on the configuration, you may not require all these IP addresses.

To make the design simpler and easier to demonstrate the functionality of the network, you will be asked to use 5 desktop PCs only in each segment.

Design and implement the network following the steps below:

1.    Using Packet Tracer, design the network consisting of a switch, 5 desktop PCs, a wireless access point, a data server, a DHCP server and a wireless access point per segment. A webserver should be attached to one of the segments. A laptop must be connected to the wireless access point. Each wireless access point should have a separate SSID. 

Note: To make the design simpler and easier to demonstrate the functionality of the network, you are asked to use 5 desktop PCs only in each segment of the network. 

You must use the version of the Packet Tracer software made available to you on Brightspace. You must NOT use any newer version of the software which may be available on the CISCO’s website. 

2.    Sufficient number of routers may be used for the network. 

3.    Select suitable devices and appropriate transmission media for connecting network devices and computers to the network. All the network devices must be housed in the communication rooms. If twisted pair cables are used, you must clearly explain what approaches you have used to avoid the cable exceeding its maximum permissible length.

4.    Allocate appropriate IP addresses manually (not using DHCP) to all the wired devices. IP address allocation using DHCP may be used for laptops or mobile phones only.

5.    Connect the network to the Internet through the NAT. 

6.    Simulate the operation of the network ensuring operability.

7.    Label all the devices and identify the type of transmission media used on your packet tracer diagram.

8.    Provide step by step discussions on the action taken in the design of the network, justifying the decisions taken, the devices selected and contingency for future expansion. Also discuss the floor dimension and explain the approaches taken to avoid twisted pair cables exceeding their maximum permissible length.  

9.    After finishing steps 1-8 above, you are required to analyse the security level for the design of your proposed network. Therefore, you are asked to provide a table identifying 3 security flaws in the design and suggest a security countermeasure for each (in a Word document). 

10. Based on your finding in step 9, draw the diagram of the redesigned network (as a Word document, not in Packet Tracer), discuss the changes made and provide reasons.