You have been asked to assess the LAN at a popular, but cash-strapped children%u

Question

You have been asked to assess the LAN at a popular, but cash-strapped children%u2019s museum. Visitors have complained that the video kiosk exhibits, which obtain their content from a server on the local network, are slow to respond and sometimes stall out. Meanwhile, museum staff members often wait several minutes to access large files or retrieve Web pages. The museum%u2019s IT manager confesses that he hasn%u2019t had the time or money to redesign the LAN, which was installed in 1999. It uses small, outdated switches and routers and only delivers 10-Mbps throughput to each client. The IT manager feels confident that he can convince management to support a network upgrade because it%u2019s critical to continuing operations. He says the most important parts of the net- work are the 10 workstations that supply multimedia content to the exhibits, though it%u2019s also important for the seven office employees to perform their jobs efficiently. He adds that the museum%u2019s connection to its ISP was just upgraded, so it%u2019s only the LAN that needs to be changed. What kind of LAN will you design for this company? Describe its backbone, its physical and logical topologies, what access method it will use, and what media and through- puts you recommend.

You have been asked to assess the LAN at a popular, but cash-strapped children%u2019s museum. Visitors have complained that the video kiosk exhibits, which obtain their content from a server on the local network, are slow to respond and sometimes stall out. Meanwhile, museum staff members often wait several minutes to access large files or retrieve Web pages. The museum%u2019s IT manager confesses that he hasn%u2019t had the time or money to redesign the LAN, which was installed in 1999. It uses small, outdated switches and routers and only delivers 10-Mbps throughput to each client. The IT manager feels confident that he can convince management to support a network upgrade because it%u2019s critical to continuing operations. He says the most important parts of the network are the 10 workstations that supply multimedia content to the exhibits, though it%u2019s also important for the seven office employees to perform their jobs efficiently. He adds that the museum%u2019s connection to its ISP was just upgraded, so it%u2019s only the LAN that needs to be changed. What kind of LAN will you design for this company? Describe its backbone, its physical and logical topologies, what access method it will use, and what media and throughputs you recommend.

Explanation / Answer

Most efficient method to implement high speed network for limited set of computers (clients is)

1. Connect 7 work stations to a network switch. (Enable NAT - Network address translation on the switch)

2. Connect the switch to a router or a machine that resolves DNS. Router can support upto speeds of 1Gbps.

In case of switch connected to router it is at the network level and protection can only be provided at the network level not at the application level. Eg. Packet sniffing and dos attacks can be prevented. In case of DNS resolution using a dedicated server features such as DHCP - address binding, firewall rules for applications, port forwarding, proxy setup can be implemented.

3. Topology -star

4. Fiberoptic backbone (ADSL type connections do not support high speeds).

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