Project Overview
You are working for a medium sized company, Foggy Solutions, that offerscloud--basedIT services including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, but also specialises in designing, developing, and delivering custom--builtsolutions for customers. The company currently has an office in the Melbourne CBD housing 60 staff consisting of:
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Position
|
Number of Staff
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Chief Executive Officer
|
1
|
|
CEO Assistant
|
1
|
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
1
|
|
IT Service Management
|
5
|
|
Systems Management
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10
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|
Network Management
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5
|
|
Storage Management
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2
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Applications Management
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2
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Security Management
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5
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Database Management
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2
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Virtualization Specialists
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3
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|
Solutions Developers
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5
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SoftwareDevelopers
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3
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Level 1 Helpdesk
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5
|
|
Accounts
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3
|
|
Marketing
|
2
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|
Reception/Sales
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5
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Unfortunately the space available in the existing office building has run out, and with the need to increase staff in the near future the company is investigating the feasibility of leasing space in another office building nearby. As one of the senior members of the Network Management staff, you have been appointed with the task of preparing a proposal for how the office space should be used.
Location and FacilityIssues
The map shown in Figure 1 illustrates the location and relative distances of the existing and new office buildings. The red shaded area indicates the location of the current office building, and the green shaded area indicates the location of the nearby building with available office space. The building containing the existing office space is leased entirely by Foggy Solutions, with the ground floor consisting primarily of sales staff and meeting spaces. The remaining staff are distributed between the basement (also containing the data centre) and the upperfloor.
The office space available in the nearby building is located on the upper floor, which is relatively the same height as the upper floor in the existing office space building. Each building has fixed windows (the windows don't open), and the owners of both properties will not permit any fixtures outside the building. Similarly, the local council will not permit any direct connection of cables between the buildings, either through overhead cabling or underground cabling. The new office space includes space for at least 30 staff and associated desk space, two meeting rooms (capable of hosting approximately eight people and a video conferencing system), and supporting facilities (tea/lunch room, toilets, etc.). The new office space would not be accessible to the public.
The local area, including both buildings, is reasonably covered by telecommunication providers, with both DSL connection to the local exchange (approximately one kilometre cable distance) and recently installed fibre optic connections through the NBN. Both services can be purchased through any ISPs that support it. The existing office space is already serviced by two redundant synchronous 10Mbps Internet connections, one provided by Telstra, and another provided by Optus, which are load balanced and peak utilisation reaches approximately45%.
The LAN in the existing building is designed according to the Cisco Enterprise Campus Architecture using a collapsed core. Six Cisco Catalyst 2960XR--24PD--I switches with redundant power supplies and form the access layer and two Cisco Catalyst WS--C3850--24T switches with redundant power supplies are used for the collapsed core/distribution layer. The data centre has its own dedicated network infrastructure, primarily consisting of Cisco Nexus series switches, however traffic entering/exiting the data centre is aggregated through two separate Catalyst 2960 switches identified above.
WAN connections gated through a Cisco 3945E router upgraded to the maximum 2GB DDR2 ECC DRAM and 2x4GB Compact Flash. The four on--boardGigabit Ethernet ports are all in use: two are used for LAN interconnection and two are used for the WAN connections identified above, however the service module, EHWIC, and DSP slots are allunused/free.
BGP is deployed to ensure connectivity from the external Internet is maintained in the case of one of the WAN connections experiencing an outage.
Project Requirements
Your employer has assigned you the task of preparing a formal proposal/plan for how this additional office space is to be used. Your employer has expressed the following requirements:
Redundant connectivity must be provided between the buildings using two different technologies, and an appropriate dynamic routing protocol selected to support the network structure;
You must identify which staff in the organisation should be moved to the new office space and must be reasonable/appropriate, e.g., reception staff must stay in the existing building where customers to receive customers entering from streetlevel;
Adequate bandwidth across the intra--buildinglinks must be provided for staff IT requirements in the new building, both for existing and staff that may be added in the future;
The organisation appoints different staff on an as--needed basis, so adequate space and bandwidth must be available for any type of staff member to be added in the new building in future;
Hardware requirements and approximate costs, both for establishing the new office space and ongoing costs, must be indicated (to be restricted to network infrastructure only);
Risks must be identified and appropriate countermeasures identified and included in the design of the network, and any implications for a disaster recovery plan must be appropriately disclosed and discussed.
Note: the marking scheme at the end of this question sheet provides further clarifications and expected sections in the report.
Staff Position Outlines
This section includes brief descriptions of each of the staff positions in the organisation. You will need this information when determining who could potentially be moved to the second office. All staff require access to basic office applications, technologies supporting collaboration and group work, e.g., file shares, intranet web sites, etc., and all staff have a VoIP telephone and can participate through video conferencing using a headset and webcam at their terminals through the organization's Cisco Unified Communications system.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) - the CEO determines the overall strategy for the company and has oversight over all decision making within the business. The CEO prefers to be placed close to where the majority of the business operations are conducted and requires the ability to undertake video conferences with all other areas of the organisation and with members of other organisations over the Internet.
CEO Assistant - the CEO Assistant works closely with the CEO providing close support to ensure the CEO can remain focused on running the business. The CEO Assistant has no specialist IT requirements.
Chief Technical Officer (CTO) - the CTO, working closely with the CEO, determines the overall strategy for, and oversees the management and operations of, all aspects of the business related to technology. The CTO prefers to be placed close to where the majority of technical staff are located and requires the ability to undertake video conferences with any/all technical staff in the organisation and with vendors over the Internet.
IT Service Management (ITSM) - ITSM staff oversee the development and delivery of IT services, identifying and implementing improvements to service delivery, coordinating internal and customer reporting, and overseeing junior technical staff to ensure the work they complete aligns with the organisation's strategy and SLA commitments are achieved/maintained. ITSM staff also meets and work with both customers and technical staff to handle escalated problems and complaints, and are often required to participate in meetings with customers either individually or with other staff (any type ofstaff).
Systems Management - systems management staff are responsible for all aspects of the computing infrastructure, including installation, monitoring and maintenance of servers, backup systems, patching operating systems and associated systems software, manage server backup schedules, and coordinating staff during outages (scheduled and unscheduled). Systems Management staff require regular access to the data centre throughout the day.
Network Management - these staff are responsible for managing all aspects of the organisations networking and communications infrastructure including routers, switches, and unified communications. Network management staff require regular access to the organisations network infrastructure, both in the data centre and in other areas of the office spaces.
Storage Management - responsible for managing all of the storage infrastructure,including the installation, replacement, monitoring, and maintenance of storage systems (NAS, SAN, etc.) and backup systems, and configure and monitor the provision of virtualized storage which is then managed automatically by the virtualization platform. Storage Management staff require regular access to the organisations primary storage infrastructure in the data centre;
Applications Management - responsible for the installation, configuration, and ongoing management of the organisations major applications including web server software, email server software, database servers, storage servers, and so on, the vast majority of which is completed through remote desktop and other remote management software platforms;
Security Management - oversee all aspects of security including the development, implementation, and monitoring of security policies, collaboration with network management staff to maintain firewalls and intrusion systems, management of physical security for IT assets (key card access to the data centre, etc.), and provide consultation (fee for service) for customers;
Database Management - work with the database platforms provided by the Applications Management staff and are responsible for overseeing the configuration, creation, and distribution of databases on physical hardware, and responsible for planning future changes to the database infrastructure in consultation with other staff. Database Management staff also provide direct support for Software Developers working on the organisations IT systems and also provide consultation services to customers (fee for service) both assisting the Solutions Architects and also independently;
Virtualization Specialists - Virtualization Specialists are high trained individuals who are responsible for the management of the virtualization platform as well as working with other technical staff in the organisation to manage the infrastructure supporting the virtualization platform. Similar to the Applications Management staff, most of their work is done using software platforms.
Solutions Architects - oversee the analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment, monitoring and maintenance of software and virtualization solutions that are used internally and for customers (fee for service), meeting regularly and working closely with customers, technical staff, and software developers for this purpose;
Software Developers - undertake software development, testing, and maintenance tasks for existing and new systems used by the organisation and for customers (fee for service);
Level 1 Helpdesk - responsible for the initial response to reported incidents and service requests received via telephone, email, the self service portal, or event management systems, escalating unresolved tickets to other groups of staff as appropriate. Level 1 Helpdesk staff spends most of their time on the telephone and working with the IT Service Management toolset used in the organisation;
Accounts - responsible for maintaining financial records, handling accounts receivable and accounts payable, updating customer records as appropriate based on reporting information from the ITSM staff and reception/sales groups, actioning requisitions received from technical staff, and satisfying financial reporting obligations both to the CEO and external entities (Australian Tax Office, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, etc.). Accounts staff spend most of their time working with web and other software--basedsystems, meeting regularly with management staff throughout the organisation and occasionally with customers;
Marketing - responsible for reporting to the CEO and CTO on industry trends and new business opportunities, and also for managing the business marketing strategy in the form of advertising, sponsorships, product placements, and so on. Marketing staff mostly work independently, although they regularly meet with technical to understand product offerings, and with management staff for determining/approving marketing strategies;
Reception/Sales - provide initial contact with current and potential clients, working with ITSM and Solutions Developer staff to initiate and monitor the development and implementation of virtualization solutions for customers;
Marking Scheme
The following marking scheme will apply:
General document structure including cover page, contents page, executive summary, and summary andconclusions;
Budget section including appropriate number of devices and/or interface modules, any costings for WAN connections (public or private if available), software, licenses, and soon;
Selection and justification of appropriate staff to be moved to the remote office space, including growth and bandwidth analysis;
Identification, explanation, justification, etc., of the first WAN technology selected for interconnecting the two office spaces, including identification and justification of any equipment, licenses, or other software required to implement that technologysolution;
Identification, explanation, justification, etc., of the second WAN technology selected for interconnecting the two office spaces, including identification and justification of any equipment, licenses, or other software required to implement that technologysolution;
Selection of a dynamic routing protocol, explanation of how that protocol will be implemented, and justification for the selection/design;
Logical network design, explanation, and justification for how the proposed design addresses the requirements of the project;
Identification of risks, proposed countermeasures, implications for disaster recovery, and associated explanation and justification.