Case Studies


This section will introduce three case studies that we will use throughout the remainder of this book. We will refer back to these case studies in future chapters as we introduce new technologies to discuss how the new technologies would affect these three scenarios.

Have-A-Seat

Have-A-Seat’s world headquarters is located in Atlanta, with office and warehouse space in Los Angeles, Seattle, Miami, and Boston. In addition, they have two European offices in London and Barcelona. They have manufacturing facilities in Brazil, the Philippines, and Quebec. Have-A- Seat has noticed increasing competition in the area of high-end furniture and has decided to make a significant investment in technology to remain competitive in the marketplace. Dave Jones is the Project Manager for this expansion.

Currently in Atlanta, Have-A-Seat has an IBM mainframe with 90 terminals on a Token Ring network. The mainframe is used for all of Have-A-Seat’s inventory, production scheduling, shipping information, accounting, and payroll. Additionally, there are 30 PCs in Atlanta used for standard office- suite applications, and a pair of Windows NT servers used for file and print services. These PCs are primarily used by management, and they have terminal emulation software loaded so that they can also access the mainframe. Finally, there is a remote-access device housing eight modems used for dial-in access to the mainframe by the sites in the field.

The six field offices and warehouses each have 10 terminals that access the mainframe in Atlanta using a shared dial-up connection. These field offices also each have a small Ethernet LAN with 15 PCs and a Windows NT server that is used for local file and print services. These PCs do not currently have any method of accessing mainframe resources.

Finally, the three production facilities each have 20 terminals that access the mainframe in Atlanta just as the terminals at the office and warehouse facilities do, using a shared dial-up connection. They do not have any LAN or PCs currently in use.

Have-A-Seat’s plan is to replace all of the terminals with PCs. They have already contracted with another company to install a web server on their mainframe and develop web-based applications to replace all of their current applications in accessing their data store. Therefore, the WAN migration must happen at the same time that the web server conversion takes place. Dave has scheduled a one-week outage approximately four months from now for this event to take place.

The network will need to be configured to support TCP/IP, and browser software will need to be installed on all PCs. Additionally, Dave will install Microsoft Exchange on one of his servers in Atlanta to host e-mail services for the entire company.

Dave has concerns about security on the LAN in Atlanta and wants to install switches and deploy VLANs to help ensure security. He will not be migrating the mainframe away from the Token Ring network, but he will migrate all PCs and servers to Ethernet. Therefore, he needs a solution that will support both Ethernet and Token Ring in Atlanta.

Dave is sure that he will need dedicated point-to-point connections between all of his sites and Atlanta. He also wants to have some backup connection available between the three production facilities and Atlanta should their primary link fail. Dave has considered installing an Internet connection in Atlanta, but has concerns about both security on Have-A-Seat’s internal network and inappropriate use by Have-A-Seat’s employees. He would like to go ahead and install the connection, but he needs a design that will meet all of his needs.

Finally, Dave needs LAN solutions for the six remote offices and three production facilities. The Ethernet in the remote offices will need to be upgraded, and network equipment will need to be identified and purchased. Dave is curious about the benefits of installing Ethernet switches on such small LANs.

Exercises

  1. What applications is the customer running?

  2. Draw a high-level topology map of the customer’s current network.

  3. Draw a high-level topology map of the customer’s proposed network.

MPS Construction

Mike Smith is CIO of MPS Construction. MPS is headquartered in Denver, with branches in Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Omaha, and Boise. They have been growing rapidly, and they intend to open branches in two or three more cities next year. In anticipation of their upcoming growth, Mike has budgeted to implement a WAN that will scale with MPS’s plans.

The Denver office houses 40 PCs used by administrative personnel. There are also 50 laptop computers in Denver that are used on both current job sites and when bidding new jobs. Payroll and benefits for the entire company are handled in Denver, and Mike has recently installed a new accounting package on a DEC Alpha running Windows NT there. Mike has another Windows NT server running on Intel hardware used for file and print services. When Mike installed the NT servers, he was able to upgrade the network to Category 5 cable through the Denver office, and he has installed 10BaseT hubs for the PCs and servers.

The field offices each have 10 PCs used by local office personnel, plus 40 laptops for use by employees on job sites and when bidding new jobs. The PCs are connected with Category 3 cable and 10BaseT hubs. Currently, the remote sites have a single PC configured to dial in to Denver using ISDN to access the accounting server and file server. Printing is all handled locally.

Mike’s concerns fall into two categories. The first has to do with designing his WAN. He has considered replacing the ISDN with Frame Relay so that connectivity will be continuous. However, he is not sure that he wants to pay for a 24 7 WAN at remote sites when there are only five workstations. He needs a solution for his WAN that will allow connectivity from all remote workstations into the Denver headquarters, yet is cost-effective. He would also like to be able to send and receive Internet e-mail to communicate with vendors, but he does not want any traffic other than e-mail to or from the Internet.

Second, Mike needs to provide a dial-in solution for the laptops. He needs to allow every laptop in each city to be able to access the network resources remotely. Most of the employees carrying laptops rarely if ever visit the branch offices; they work exclusively on job sites. However, they still need to access company server resources. Most job sites have analog phone lines available nearby, and for those that do not, MPS will pay for wireless telephone access. Mike has requested your help in designing the access servers to be used at each location.

Exercises

  1. Draw a high-level topology map of the customer’s current network.

  2. Draw a high-level topology map of the customer’s proposed network.

Willow Creek School District

Scott Baker is Director of Technology for the Willow Creek School District. Willow Creek has been installing computers for years at their district office as well as at their two high schools, three junior high schools, and seven elementary schools. They have just received a grant to upgrade their entire school district’s network. They want to install a WAN that connects all of the schools to the district office and provides Internet access to all schools in the district. They have contacted you to help them design their new network.

Currently, at the district office they have a Token Ring network installed using Category 5 cabling. There are 30 PCs connected to the Token Ring network, along with one Novell server and one AS400. The Novell server is used for local file and print services, as well as for local e-mail. The AS400 stores all student attendance and grade information for the entire district. Right now, five of the PCs have PC Anywhere installed, and the schools access the AS400 by dialing in to one of these five PCs and then entering their data. All PCs have standard office applications installed and e-mail clients and software to access the AS400.

Both high schools use 10BaseT hubs and are currently wired with Category 5 cabling. Each school has 140 PCs and 110 Apple Macintosh computers. The PCs are used by the administration and by the business departments; the Macintoshes are used throughout the rest of the school. Two PCs at each high school are configured with PC Anywhere and a modem to dial in to the district office and enter data into the AS400. Additionally, each school has two Novell servers used for file and print services. Finally, each high school recently installed a Cisco 2511 router. Each router has a T1 Frame Relay connection to the Internet through a local ISP, and eight modems are attached to the router that are used by faculty and staff for dial-in access to the school’s network and for Internet access.

The junior high schools each have 60 PCs and 60 Macintosh computers. They recently rewired each building, replacing coax used for 10Base2 with Category 5 cabling and 10BaseT hubs. The PCs are used by administration and faculty; the Macintoshes are used by faculty and students. One PC at each school is running PC Anywhere and has an attached modem for dialing into the district office and entering data into the AS400. Finally, each junior high school has a Novell server that is used for local file and print services.

The elementary schools each have one PC and 30 Macintosh computers. The PC is running PC Anywhere and has an attached modem to dial into the district office and enter data into the AS400. The elementary schools each had Category 5 cabling installed throughout the building at the same time that the junior high schools were upgraded. However, there are no hubs or other networking equipment installed yet, and the machines operate as stand-alone computers. Administration, faculty, and students use the Macintosh computers.

Scott would like to install a Frame Relay network with permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) connecting each of the schools to the district office. Additionally, he would like to move the T1s to the Internet from the high schools to the district office. Then, each school would have Internet access via the district office using these two T1s. He anticipates that in addition to TCP/IP, he will need IPX and AppleTalk connectivity between all sites for the sharing of resources. He has already purchased access to several online educational resources, and he anticipates that Internet utilization will increase significantly as educators begin to use these resources.

Scott would like to remove the Token Ring network at the district office and install Ethernet. He would like your advice on upgrading the schools to either Fast Ethernet or switched Ethernet, especially in the high schools, where the district intends to add multimedia development to the curriculum next year. He intends to keep the Novell servers in place, but he would like to add an additional server at the district office and allow the seven elementary schools (who do not have local servers) to access the common server at the district office for e-mail and file storage. He intends to purchase Novell’s GroupWise product and enable the web-based access, allowing both PC and Macintosh users to access e-mail using their web browsers.

Scott also is purchasing a new software package to replace the AS400. The new package runs on Windows NT and uses HTTP for all communications. However, until the new Ethernet network is in place, the new server is installed, and the data is migrated, he must keep the AS400 running and accessible from all of the schools. He is willing to keep a small Token Ring network running at the district office until this is done.

Exercises

  1. What protocols is the customer running?

  2. Create a detailed network design drawing of Willow Creek’s district office’s proposed network.




CCDA. Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide
CCDA: Cisco Certified Design Associate Study Guide, 2nd Edition (640-861)
ISBN: 0782142001
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 201

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