You have been called in to consult on a new network design for CNT Books. The re

Question

You have been called in to consult on a new network design for CNT Books. The requirements of this design are summarized as follows:

The building has three floors.

There are 300 user workstations and 10 servers.

Users must be grouped according to the projects they’re working on, but the users for each project are located on all three floors.

There must be fault tolerance for communicating between the floors.

2.

a.     What features would you look for on the switches you purchase for this design? Explain why you would want each feature.

b.     Do you need to include any other devices in this design?

Explanation / Answer

First , what needs to be consider when trying to determine the best Ethernet switch for your organization

1. Speed: Those planning , need to ensure that their next switches meet both their current and future requirements and as network speed which is going to change from Mbps to Gbps very soon or rather it has already started ,thus keeping this in top of the list is important. Also, we're not just talking about computers and printers. We're talking about WLAN access points (APs) and enterprises needing additional throughput as wireless speeds continue to rise. (And, of course, IT has to make sure the cable plant is up to spec for 1000 Base-T. )

2. Density: The explosion of mobile devices and the ongoing shift to laptops on Wi-Fi feed into the emerging wireless-only lifestyle. All that spells higher-speed networks (WLAN)with greater density of access points. More access points means more Ethernet ports; increasingly, it means multiple ports for each AP to deal with those speed increases on the WLAN. The (Internet of Things) explosion of smart devices, ranging from networked thermostats to Internet-enabled vending machines, will also drive a need for more ports. Also ,the shift to VoIP if you haven't give up on hard phones, will probably require lots of ports

3. Power over Ethernet - Now, VoIP phones, WLAN APs and remote networked devices mostly want power delivered on their network links. To support that PoE devices , switch draw anywhere from five to 20 times as much power when serving those PoE devices, and for that careful evaluation of power circuits and cooling measures to be done.

4. SDN (Software Defined Network) - To support virtual networks and service-centered automatic provisioning and reconfiguration without going the OpenFlow route.

Thus the key Features you want to look at

Well you might not want to have high speed Switches for all the 300 workstation but can consider to have

1. 24-port hub( 13 to 14 in number to accomodate 300 Workstations ) - where you can have all your workstations connected .. 23 in each hub . and one port of hub will be connected to Switch

2. Switches ( minimun 2 in number ) :All of your 10 servers are connected directly to a switch along with 14 hubs . With two switches you will get redundancy too.

Here point to considered is the difference in price of 1 hub and 1 Switch . if the difference is substantial than having hubs for worskstation will be good choice else can consider to have all switches .

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