General
You should progressively develop your logical network design based on the scenario given on page 5 of this document. In this process, you are expected to participate in the weekly discussions and find the answers to the recommended discussion questions. The weekly discussion questions have been selected and formulated not only to gradually increase your knowledge and skills in this unit but also to help you develop the logical and physical network designs. If you do not attempt weekly discussion questions you would very likely produce a logical network design that would not satisfy the requirements and/or that cannot be justified.
Part A
Objectives
In this part of Assessment Item 1, you willcreate and deliver an oral presentation on your logical network design. The scenario to be used for the logical network design is given on page 5. Please refer to the Unit Profile to understand how this part of the assessment item relates to the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs).
Requirements
All students
You are to demonstrate your technical as well as presentation skills by presenting your logical network design, and receive feedback from your peers and/or the tutor.The presentation should include the outcomes of your weekly discussions to Q2 of Week 4, Q2 of Week 5 and Q2 of Week 6. Each of you need to upload a copy of the presentation slides of your group to Moodle before delivering the presentation.
On-Campus students
On-campus students should deliver their presentations during the class time in weeks 7 and 8. Students will be required to work in groups of up to 4or individually. The maximum duration for each presentation groupwill be 15 minutes, including 5 minutes for answering the questions and the discussion. This time frame will be strictly enforced due to time constraints.
Please note that the presentations must be completed on the scheduled day. If a student or a group does not present on the scheduled day, they will receive 0marks for Part A unless they have a valid reason supported by evidence such as amedical certificate.
Distance students
Distance students should contact the unit coordinator by the end of week 3 and agree for a suitable presentation method and time. The presentations could also be recorded by the student (or the group) and uploaded to YouTube with a link provided in the presentation slides. Answering of questions and the discussion could then be undertaken via telephone at a mutually agreed time. Students will have to complete their presentationsin weeks 7 and 8 of the term.
Part B
Objectives
In this part of the Assessment Item1, you willcomplete your logical network design reportbased on the written and oral feedback that you received after your presentation in Part A. Please refer to the Unit Profile to see how this part of the assessment item relates to the ULOs.
Requirements
You are required to analyse the scenario given on page 5 and complete a logical design of the network. In Part A of Assessment item 1, you have presented your logical network design to the tutor. In Part B of the assessment item 1, you will improve your design based on the feedback that you received in Part A and complete your logical network design report. In order to undertake your design, you may need to make justifiable assumptions. You will need to include them in your report.
You also need to support your design with the outcomes of the specified weekly discussion questions. The report must follow the Harvard citation and referencing guidelines.
You also need to upload the logical network design report. This report should include:
1. The list of requirements
2. The list of assumptions - Note: The assumptions are not the requirements that have been provided in the task. They are the additionalrequirements that you may need for your design.
3. The logical network diagram(s)
4. The explanation of your logical network design
5. The justification of your logical network design
6. The model for addressing and naming
7. The list of routing and switching protocols
8. The list of security mechanisms
Note:Please do not include an executive summary, a table of contents, an introduction or a conclusion. Please see the marking criteria.
Note: Additional information regarding this assessment item may be placed on the unit website. Please check the unit website at least once a week for further information relating to this report. Please ensure that you write your answers in your own words to avoid possible plagiarism and copyright violation. You can understand the Plagiarism Procedures by following the corresponding link in the CQUniversity Policies section of the Unit Profile.
The Scenario for Network Design Assessment Tasks
Your company in Australia specialises indesigning networks for local and international clients. Ithas won a contract to design a comprehensive network for aNon-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Academics for Academics (A4A) that has its head office and the branch office in Sydney and Singapore respectively.Being a NGO, A4A funds all of its projects and activities from public donations. A4A has a team of 10 staff members, and 6 of them are located in Sydney office and the remaining four are located in the Singapore office.
A4Awas established to help small public and private universities and colleges in Australia and Southeast Asia. The private universities and colleges that are interested in receiving the service of A4A need to register with A4A and become its member institutions. The academics and experienced professionals who like to provide a voluntary service such as teaching a subject, supervising a research project or development of curricula for a member institution,can register their interests with A4A. After a recruiting process, they can become members of A4A. A4A then recruit them to short term assignments at its member institutions.
The recruitment process of members starts with the academics and experienced professionals completing a web application of A4A. Once shortlisted, the applicantsare interviewed online by a team of A4A staff members. The members that are recruited to various projects will be provided with accommodation, meals, medical and travel expenses.
Once recruited to a project, the A4A member will work at the memberinstitution but the informationproduced by the member, except the emails, marked assignments and exams willremainthe property of A4A and the member. As such, all those information should be handled and stored by the information system of A4A irrespective of the location where the member works. A4Aneedsthe guarantee that the various data and information in their information system are secured.
Using the top-down network design methodology that you learned in this unit, design the network of Sydney and Singapore offices of A4A. Each step of your design should clearly explain and justify how you satisfy the requirements of A4A.
Question
1. Discuss the following questions relating to the assignment in your group:
a) List the business goals of the scenario given in the assignment.
b) Identify some constraints that will affect these goals.
c) List the technical goals of the scenario given in the assignment.
d) Identify some tradeoffs that will have to be made to achieve these technical goals.
Question
2. Discuss the following questions relating to the assignment in your group:
a) List the user communities.
b) List the data stores and the user communities for each data store?
c) Characterise the network traffic in terms of flow, load, behaviour, and QoS requirements.
d) Design a logical network topology.
Question
Discuss in your groups the following questions relating to the assignment scenario:
a) Specify which public or private IP address blocks will be assigned to different modules of your network.
b) Design a plan for integrating the different routing protocols into the network design.
c) What are the most important assets of your design that must be protected with security mechanisms?
d) What are the largest security risks that your network would face?
e) Should Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) be enabled on the Cisco routers and switches?