Network Management and Optimization Proposal
This is a proposal for network management and optimization. The network has grown rapidly, and the company has not completed proper documentation and policies. This proposal includes required documentation; network monitoring, event logging, and maps; data backup; and network optimization.
Documentation
In order to maintain, troubleshoot, and prevent network outages, network administrators need to refer to documentation. Required documentation includes network diagrams, wiring schematics, policies, procedures, configurations, baselines, and change logs.
Network diagrams and wiring schematics are essential for reference and troubleshooting. A network diagram shows a logical or physical layout and includes switches, firewalls, routers, WAN links, and IP addresses (TestOut, 2014a). A wiring schematic is a drawing that shows all cables including connections to switches, patch panels, and devices and includes locations and cable numbers.
The company needs to have policies that explain what the network requirements are and what needs to be done to provide a functional network. Policies should reference regulations that apply to the business and should cover different areas such as administrative functions, documentation, and security (TestOut, 2014a). Policies should require that administrators follow procedures. Procedures are step-by-step instructions for such things as installing and configuring hardware and software, updating antivirus and operating systems, and backing up data.
Administrators need equipment configuration documentation and baselines for reference.
Equipment configuration details can be written in a document or sometimes can be exporte...
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Cisco. (2013). Tutorial on differences between a switch, a router, and a layer 3 switches [sic]. Retrieved from http://www.cisco1900router.com/tutorial-on-differences-between-a-switch-a-router-and-a-layer-3-switches.html
Microsoft. (2014a). Event logs. Retrieved from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722404.aspx
Microsoft. (2014b). Overview of network load balancing. Retrieved from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725691.aspx
TestOut. (2014a). Documentation facts. Retrieved from http://content.testout.com/client/labsimanywhere.html?mincachedate=02-12-2014-23-10
TestOut. (2014b). Network monitoring facts. Retrieved from http://content.testout.com/client/labsimanywhere.html?mincachedate=02-12-2014-23-10
TestOut. (2014c). Optimization facts. Retrieved from http://content.testout.com/client/labsimanywhere.html?mincachedate=02-12-2014-23-10
“Network topology is the arrangement of the various network elements such as node, link, of computer network. Basically, it is topological structure of a network which ether be physically or logically.”
Implement the same security policies as would be implemented on any networked system, where possible. In particular, printers should be denied access to the Internet through a firewall, intrusion prevention system, intrusion detection system or other inline filtering device. Accounts should also be secured and default passwords replaced with a strong, complex password containing letters, numbers, and special characters.
The current architecture of the Riordan Manufacturing Company Inc. Wide Area Network (WAN) and network security in place requires updated documentation. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the existing information into a single format and evaluate the WAN and security documentation for an executive overview. Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is an industry leader in the field of plastic injection molding. With state-of-the art design capabilities, they create innovative plastic designs that have earned international acclaim. Attention to detail, extreme precision and enthusiastic quality controls are the hallmarks of Riordan Manufacturing. With facilities in San Jose, California, Albany, Georgia, Pontiac, Michigan and Hangzhou, China, the company is heavily dependent upon their communication networks. The documentation produced by this analysis will give the management at Riordan Manufacturing an understanding of their current network topology and a baseline to evaluate security of the network.
“Institute rigorous network change control.” This will create a safety net was anyone new in the system to learn the procedure for creating a change in the network in order to stay consistent with how the rest of the company is operating.
In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned
The security configuration of such devices should be documented, reviewed, and approved by an organization change control board. Any deviations from the standard configuration or updates to the standard configuration should be documented and approved in a change control system. At network interconnection points, such as Internet gateways, inter- organization connections, and internal network segments with different security controls implement ingress and egress filtering to allow only those ports and protocols with an explicit and documented business need. All other ports and protocols should be blocked with default-deny rules by firewalls, network-based IPS, and/or routers. All new configuration rules beyond a baseline-hardened configuration that allow traffic to flow through network security devices, such as firewalls and network-based IPS, should be documented and recorded in a configuration management system, with a specific business reason for each change, a specific individual’s name responsible for that business need, and an expected duration of the need. Network filtering technologies employed between networks with different security levels (firewalls, network-based IPS tools, and routers with access controls lists) should be deployed with capabilities to filter Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) traffic. The
An Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol is the most used interior gateway protocol and computation intensive protocol where energy consumption in Internet Protocol (IP) networks is the main concern. The energy in an IP network can be saved by allowing a subset of IP router interfaces on sleep mode setting during the low traffic hours through the model of “move” by dint of an Energy Aware Routing (EAR) strategy, which is completely compatible with OSPF and is based on the “Shortest Path Tree (SPT) exportation” techinque or “Dijkstra's Algorithm”. In case of heavy traffic hours, the EAR strategy is not usable and may cause denial of service. The strategy implemented can help a network operator to control the network performance and allow a smoothed QoS degradation. This performance evaluation study permits to save about 30% of network links with a insignificant rise of link loads and network path lengths.
Although VPN is very popular in the market for networking technology, it may raise some concerns for IT managers. VPN requires an in-depth understanding of public network security issues and proper deployment precautions. The task of choosing and deploying a VPN solution is far from being simple and may require the training of workers in at least the basics...
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/emspectrum1.html "En.oxforddictionaries.com." N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/electromagnetic_radiation "Types of Waves." Types of Waves | Science Primer.
Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid out and carefully updated regularly. Part of the plan should include a system where regular training occurs for network engineers and managers. In the disaster recovery process extra attention should also be paid to training any new employees who will have a critical role in this function. Also, the plan should require having the appropriate people actually practice what they would do to help recover business function should a disaster occur. Some organizations find it helpful to do this on a quarterly or semi-annual basis so that the plan stays current with the organization’s needs.
For the most part we have addresses the needs of our sales force on a case by case basis but going forward we really need to ensure we have a defined policy to streamline remote access. To accomplish this there are a few benchmarks we need to achieve. First of all the network has to be reliable or in more technical terms it needs to have high availability. Most importantly we need to make sure that the network is secure as much as it is possible with all the different types of users asking for access. Lastly, we need to address how we handle employees using personal or non-company issued computers and how we ensure that those machines meet of other remote access policies.
Networks in organisation are dynamic and complex entities which can be quite challenging to configure and manage. (Kim & Feamster 2013). These corporate networks consist of multiple routers, switches, firewalls, middleboxes and a particular advantage of network management is the ability to monitor the entire business network. As all the devices are interconnected with many event occurring simultaneously, problems with once device can eventually lead and spread throughout...
The network management plan and security plan is important to help the company figure out how they will improve its network and security procedures for the company. Planning involves outlining objectiv...
A critical part of network planning involves setting up of security mechanisms. Deploying the network with security configuration provides superior visibility, continuous control and advanced threat protection across the extended network. Additionally, security procedures define policies to monitor the network for securing critical data, obtain visibility, mitigate threats, identify and correlate discrepancies.
The term Topology refers to the physical or logical shape or layout of a network. Communication between different nodes within a network is determined by its topology. Mesh, Bus, Ring and Star are four of the most common network topologies, each with advantages and disadvantages in relation to each other.