SAD 2 - Assignment 3

University Network Environment

Interview your university network specialist. Ask how various parts of the system communicates with each other throughout the university. (Q) Given the chance to redesign the existing setup, enumerate and discuss your keypoints for an effective and efficient network environment ideal for the university.

Technology at present is undeniably of great importance for everyone. Everyone I think is making use of technology may it be in different fields of profession. In everything we do we cannot deny the fact that we are of need of technology. Talking about technology there are a lot of field underlying it for the word technology itself is a broad statement. One of these is the network field. In a network environment there are still a lot of areas to be understood and still as I have said it is important to people specially for schools and universities to have good communication. In the university the network environment is very important and is widespread for it has a major role. One basic role of the network environment is for the communication of different systems in different departments of the university. We all know for a fact that systems are also of great help for us for it ease some manual works and have it automated. In the university there are a lot of systems that are currently running and some of which needs to communicate with one another and in this situation comes the role of networking.

For this assignment we are tasked to interview our network specialist and ask some questions regarding how systems communicate. Our class has decide to have a group interview with the university network specialist Sir Ariel Roy Reyes to make it easy and convenient for him rather than individual interview. But Since Sir Reyes has some errands to accomplish we had our interview by submitting questionnaires to him through e-mail message for we cannot have it as a face to face interview. My answers are based on what Sir Reyes replied via e-mail as answers to our questionnaires and based on how I understand it.

The first question was to explain how various parts of the system communicate with each other throughout the university. Sir Reyes actually have not answered this question directly for he stated that it is better for us to ask the university programmers with the question.

Another question was on the different components involved in the systems within the university specifically software hardware and other components. Again according to Sir Reyes he is not in the right position to discuss the details for the system components for there are other people who are in position to answer the question and are assigned for such specific job but then he had stated some specifications on the servers he is assigned to maintain. Sir Reyes as the network administrator is assigned to maintain the university’s different server to run 24/7. Currently, the university’s Web Server is hosted in a HP ProLiant ML350 Server.  According to him the server is an old but stable server set-up in the Networks Office and has been active since Engr. Val A. Quimno was appointed as the Network Administrator before he was a dean.  The said server has the following specification:

• Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 3.2 GHz, or 3.4 GHz processors (dual processor capability) with 1MB level 2 cache standard. Processors include support for Hyper-Threading and Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)
• Intel® E7520 chipset
• 800-MHz Front Side Bus
•  Integrated Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Adapter
• Smart Array 641 Controller (standard in Array Models only)
•  NC7761 PCI Gigabit NIC (embedded)
• Up to 1 GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM with Advanced ECC capabilities (Expandable to 8 GB)
• Six expansion slots: one 64-bit/133-MHz PCI-X, two 64-bit/100-MHz PCI-X, one 64-bit/66-MHz PCI-X, one x4 PCI-Express, and one x8 PCI-Express
• New HP Power Regulator for ProLiant delivering server level, policy based power management with industry leading energy efficiency and savings on system power and cooling costs
• Three USB ports: 1 front, 1 internal, 1 rear
• Support for Ultra320 SCSI hard drives (six hot plug or four non-hot plug drives supported standard, model dependent)
• Internalstorage capacity of up to 1.8TB; 2.4TB with optional 2-bay hot plug SCSI drive
• 725W Hot-Plug Power Supply (standard, most models); optional 725W Hot-Pluggable Redundant Power Supply (1+1) available. Non hot plug SCSI models include a 460W non-hot plug power supply.
• Tool-free chassis entry and component access
• Support for ROM based setup utility (RBSU) and redundant ROM
• Systems Insight Manager, SmartStart, and Automatic Server Recovery 2 (ASR-2) included
• Protected by HP Services and a worldwide network of resellers and service providers. Three-year Next Business Day, on-site limited global warranty. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply. Pre-Failure Notification on processors, memory, and SCSI hard drives.

Aside from the specifications of the server mentioned, the mail server also runs under Compaq Proliant ML330 Server which is the oldest server and is hosted in the network office as well. Together with other Servers, such as Proxy and Enrollment Servers, both proxy and enrollment servers of the university are running in a microcomputer/personal computers but with higher specifications to act as servers.

The third question was about how different mediums and systems communicate with each other. Sir Reyes said that all Servers are connected in a shared medium grouped as one subnetwork.  In general, the university network follows the extended star topology which is connected to a DUAL WAN Router that serves as the load balancer between the two Internet Service Providers of the university.  All other workstations are grouped into different subnetworks as in star topology branching out from the university servers subnetwork as in extended star topology.  Also according to him at present, the university is making use of class C IP Address for private IP address assignments.  Other workstations IP assignments are configured statically like in laboratories while others are Dynamic like in offices. All workstations are connected via proxy servers that do some basic filtering/firewall to control users access to the internet aside from router filtering/firewall management.  So, whenever any workstation has to connect to the internet, it has to pass through software and hardware based firewall.

The fourth question concerns the processes involved in the communication of a system to the other. According to the network specialist as he have mentioned in the third question all workstations are connected via a proxy server which means that whenever a workstation is turned on, it requests for an IP address from the proxy server (for dynamically configured IP address) and connect to the network after IP address is acquired. As connection is established, each system can already communicate and share resources within the same subnetwork and to the server following the concepts discuss in our Computer Network Class.

The next questions are on the maintenance, security and standard of the systems. He said that during his vacant time he finds a way to monitor the serers and check on the logs, hardware performance such as CPU health. And if problems are observewd the immediate remedies are applied and once a week, regular overall checkup is observed as preventive maintenance to ensure not to experience longer downtime if possible.

On the standards of the servers, according to Sir Reyes before he was assigned as the network specialist different standards are already observed. These are different networking standards such as cabling standards, TIA/EIA 568A-B, different IEEE standards as discussed in our Computer Networks Subject, etc. Regarding the security they have implemented both software and hardware based filtering/firewall.  Basically, Risks or vulnerabilities and different mitigation techniques were considered to increase security in the network. Aside from filtering/firewall, constant monitoring on networks activity also increases the security of the system.

Another question was if there are any interfaces and during what times does it occur and what are their effects with regards to the university’s business. do these occur? I have quoted below the answers given by the network specialist.

“Major Interferences are normally encountered as an effect of unforeseen and beyond our control events such as black outs, and the like.  The said interference would of course affect University’s day-to-day businesses for obviously this will paralyze all our activities that rely on electricity and further this might cause damage on our network devices, etc. that may later be the reason for longer downtime. Problems encountered by our providers such as connection to the National/International Gateway also affect University’s business such as correlating to University’s Business Partners outside and within the country.”

Given the chance to redesign the existing setup, enumerate and discuss your keypoints for an effective and efficient network environment ideal for the university. 

If I were given the chance to redesign the existing setup of the university’s network environment? For me I think it is not anymore necessary to redesign the whole network environment because It would take much time and effort and not mention, money as well. Even Sir Reyes has not redesigned the previous network environment and he just improved and maintained it instead. I think the current network environment is already working well with the university’s functions and only needs some polishing and enhancements. Enhancements regarding the performance I think to have a quality network environment.