IT 640

Role and Functions of the Key Components

There three components that have been utilized and are described below:

· Router: Router is one of the networking devices which is used to forward data packets in a computer network. A router is used to perform traffic directing functions. The Dallas router is used to connect the whole organization to the wide area network. The two routers are dynamic routers which are designed to discover routes automatically.

· Firewall: One firewall has been utilized in this scenario. The major role of the firewall is to protect the organization from threats and Denial of Service type of attacks. In addition, the firewall is used to look for patterns in traffic to identify any anomalies

· Switches: Switches operates at the Data Link Layer and are used to receive incoming data packets. In addition, switches are used to redirect packets to their destination on a LAN. In this case switches are used like traffic cops (Held, 2014).

Summary of the Current Network Configurations

From the physical design diagram, it is evident that the two routers i.e. the Dallas and Memphis one is connected remotely. To connect to the internet, the Memphis router depends on Dallas Router, this means that if a connection is lost, Memphis location will not have access to the internet. In addition, to this, the Memphis one depends on Dallas location to send emails. Hence if the connection is lost then Memphis will not be able to send or receive emails. Other applications such the HR and accounting applications will remain unavailable if the two routers losses connection.

If the router in Memphis fails it means that the whole location stops its operation. This is a huge risk of just having one router in the location. Second, all the workstation in Memphis location depends on one switch for connection to the location LAN. If the switch fails, then the whole location fails to perform its daily operations.

The current firewall prevents the organization only from attacks and unauthorized access inside the organization. In addition, firewalls are said to 60 percent effective. This means that firewalls allow 40% unknown attacks. This means that the SNHUEnegry Company need to invest in advanced ways of dealing with malware. In addition, the organization need to audit their firewall on monthly basis.

Project Requirements and Deliverables

The current SNHUEnergy Inc requires to upgrade; the current network utilizes client-server architecture. According to the scenario, the company is headquartered in Dallas with a total of 120 employees. The current network infrastructure needs changes to ensure optimal network performance. For future network, this paper will recommend implementation of a WAN network to connect to the present two locations. This also recommend implementation of Software as a service cloud (SaaS). This would provide a cost-effective scalability which in turn creating a hybrid network infrastructure which is interconnected via a virtual private network. Hence WAN will consist of SaaS cloud services using the TCP/IP protocol and LAN networks (Easttom, 2017).

Current Network Architecture

I analyzed about SNHUEnergy company where, the current network infrastructure was outlined and the important changes on the network proposed. In addition, I also evaluated the network traffic patterns which led to the determination of the critical aspects of the organization. In this paper, I will provide a high-level assumption for the design network.

Types of Physical Network Devices

In any organization network, there must be the physical network devices which are used to link other devices on the network. In SNHUEngery Company these physical devices are physical servers, PCs, switches, routers, and firewalls. Each of the five components has their own functions.

1. Personal Computers: The PCs in SNHUEnergy Inc. are used to execute the organization applications. In addition, the computers are used by the organization employees to access the internet

1. Physical servers: The servers in the organization network are used to provide services to personal computers. In addition, servers provide access to some of the applications such as accounting, email, payroll information, and HR.

1. Switches: As shown in figure one, switches act as a hub, they provide that linkage to the Ethernet network. Switches, in this case, operate in what one would refer to as full-duplex mode; this means that devices can receive and send data simultaneously.

1. Routers: Routers, in this case, are used to route protocols by determining the destination address of a certain information. In addition, they are used to process logical addressing information like IP addresses in an organization network like IP address.

1. Firewalls: It is used to control the outgoing and the incoming traffic of the organization network (Vacca, 2014).

The critical Traffic Patterns which are currently used by the Organization

By understanding network traffic patterns, it helps in understanding high-level of network traffic via the main visualization, while at the same time allowing multiple levels of exploration of network packets. It is important to note that diverse kinds of traffic have different signatures in a visualization such as TNV. For example, in SNHUEnergy case web traffic is obviously displayed as sporadic bursts of what I would refer to as high activity as client requests pages. The login traffic will tend to show up just like telnet or shell. Example of TCP patterns captured using Wireshark is as shown by figure two below.

Figure 1: Critical TCP traffic patterns captured using Wireshark

Figure 2 below shows an analysis of figure one above

Figure 2: Analysis of figure one

Traffic Patterns that the Organization’s critical Applications take across the Infrastructure

Traffic patterns across an organization network are the understanding and design of where the organization network goes to, circulates, and comes from within a company to create smooth travel and communication through the organization. The example in this case the email traffic between the organization server and SNHUEnergy workstation is transferred via the server using TCP/IP protocol. An application query is transferred using MySQL protocol. Data traffic is generated by network applications and those devices that are running on the organization network. Examples of these applications at the SNHUEngery Company include email, HR, accounting, and email are said to require low bandwidth but video conferencing is said to require more bandwidth. This raises the concern of understanding the nature of traffic generated on the network (Laet & Schauwers, 2015).

Potential Performance Issues which may occur within the Current Network

There are several potential network performance issues, one of them is poor network configurations. This issue can degrade network performance which in turn can lead to unnecessary network traffic. Another issue is an outage, the organization network services or the applications can become unavailable to some of the users at a certain given point in time. The third issue is hardware failure; at times a cable might get a defect on the server-end or the client-end or cable default. In addition, a cable can disconnect reducing the network performance.

Potential Security Issues

To start with, the current network architecture is on client-server architecture, it means that attackers can do all they can to bring about a DoS attack. This is a security issue which brings the organization network to its knees by flooding unnecessary traffic. This is done by exploiting the limitations of TCP/IP protocols. Attacks use this type of attack to prevent the organization from using its computer network and application services. Other security issues are data loss; this is a security issue which results to loss of critical organization data. Another security issue is malicious attack such as viruses, and worms. Viruses can find their way via the internet while worms can find their ways via flash-disk. Worms and viruses can lead to reduced network performance; the organizational computers can become slower over time. This can also lead to unusual browser activity (Scott & Carrington, 2015).