H&S, a real-estate agent company, has been expanding steadily over the last decade throughout UK.
The company is situated in the Midlands region of UK and it has twenty-five branches spread across four locations: Derby, Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham.
Derby has five branches, Leicester has six, Coventry has four with Birmingham now having ten due to a previous merger with another company.
The Derby branches are known within the company as D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5. Likewise, the Leicester shops are designated L1 to L6. Similarly, Coventry shops are known as C1 to C4 and those in Birmingham as B1 to B10. The offices in Derby each have a receptionist, four consultants, and a manager. The Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham branches are similar, but with only three consultants in each.
Whilst the Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham branches are standard retail units (i.e. shops), each of the five Derby branches also houses at least one administrative department, located in offices attached to or very close to the retail shop.
D1 is home to the Retail Department (35 users) and the Finance Department (8 users).
D2 contains the Property Advertising Department (28 users).
D3 has the company’s Personnel (HR) Department (7 users).
D4 houses the growing IT Support Department (6 users).
D5 is the location of the Mortgage Brokering Department (12 users).
There is a wide range of legacy IT and networking equipment in use, with all connections being wired.
Some branches still have hubs (10 Mbps) connecting PCs within the departments, although over time some of these have been replaced by switches (10/100 Mbps) due to equipment failure.
In all cases the branches have a connection to leased telecommunications lines which allows for inter-branch computer communications and file-transfer. This equipment is provided and maintained by one of two large telecommunications companies and cannot be repaired or reconfigured by the company’s own IT staff. It also operates proprietary versions of wide-area networking protocols. Therefore, the providers’ helpdesks must be used to place a service call whenever there is a wide-area computer networking problem.
All branches now also have connection to the Internet via a Broadband (ADSL) connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Most branches have different providers (from each other), and are using standard domestic service plans and payment packages, with all that this entails.
Individual branches maintain a database of customer details for customers whose initial enquiry was at that branch. There is no connection between these separate systems.
Additionally, branch D1 has a database, called Property DB, of all available properties, to which all other branches can connect. All branches access this system to find details of currently available properties. This is on the same network as the rest of the branch.
All the company’s financial information is stored securely on a separate server, Finance_1, at D1, although this too is on the same network, with login access restricted to the staff of the Finance Department.
Branch D2 generates a lot of traffic, and uses large amounts of storage on its servers (Adverts_1, Brochures_1, Photos_1, and Photos_2). Specialised high-resolution colour printers and plotters are connected to D2’s network since all hard copies of property brochures are produced there. With the growth of the company has come increasing pressure on the D2 network, with users both local and remote often having to wait for extended periods to have their request serviced.
The company’s HR Department uses a server, HR_1, located at D3. Since this is only accessed locally by the HR staff, response times are good.
The IT Support Department, at D4, require remote connection to all branches, and they often carry out remote administration tasks, although for some locations it is often less frustrating to physically travel to the site, incurring time and financial costs for doing so.
The Mortgage team at branch D5 access their own local systems, Broker_1 and Mortgages_1, but also rely on access to all other branches in order to source customer details. They also request property details, and survey reports from the systems at D1 and D2. Lengthy customer financial information print jobs often clog the D5 local network, with the retail staff at the branch having to wait for access to their printers and for a response to remote connection requests to other branches (e.g. when accessing property details).
All data backups are carried out at night, and these are done on a per-site basis. That is, each site has several sets of storage media, only backing-up their own data. There is usually only one person at each branch who knows how to carry out the backup procedures. The tapes and discs containing the backups are subsequently stored in the branch manager’s locked desk.
In addition to the data networks, some of the newer branches have digital telephone systems which allow the staff to better route calls and setup ad-hoc call forwarding etc.
Finally, the servers used throughout the company are a mix of aging proprietary UNIX, Linux, and Windows machines. All run TCP/IP, in addition to a number of legacy protocols. All user PCs run a version of Windows, often accessing remote systems using telnet or a similar communication method.
Your Task:
Following the purchase of a new headquarters building, H&S intend to relocate their administrative departments (Retail Department, Finance Department, Property Advertising Department, Personnel (HR) Department, IT Support Department, and the Mortgage Brokering Department) and build a new network infrastructure at the new site.
Your company has been asked to submit a tender (in the form of a detailed report) in order to bid for the contract to design and build the network. This not only includes the network at the new site, but also recommendations for WAN replacement or upgrade, and a new standard network design and interconnection system for branches.
Your report MUST be presented as follows:
1. Introduction.
2. Existing network problems.
3. New network design. This should be in 4 parts:
· Design methodology used.
· Headquarters office building network(s).
· WAN recommendation and description.
· A standard configuration for the company’s branches.
4. Conclusions.
5. References.
6. Bibliography (if necessary).
7. Appendices (if necessary) containing supporting documentation (e.g. details of suppliers / services).
