NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 1
N Archite SNHUEnergy Inc,
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Executive Summary
SNHUEnegry Inc, is a medium sized oil and gas company that is focused
on the discovery and drilling of oil-base products. aaa The company wants to grow
focused on exploration into a company that also provides the transportation and
refinement of its discoveries. aa This is a big step for the company, and it wants
to make sure the communication infrastructure is ready to delivery in the next 12
to 18 months. The current network now give us some concern about impact
of losing connectivity between Dallas router and the Memphis router affect to
business, communication between the users. The network loses connectivity means
lost dollars and lost business opportunities. The application may be impact should
be: email, Video Conferencing, Payroll, Accounting and HR. When the router losing
connectives the users must waiting on their network to catch up to the speed at
which they are working. They have to sit and wait for file transfers, applications
to open, attachments to download, and web pages to open. Slow internet causes
costly delays in the company operations and work flow management. The risk of
just having a single router or switch within Memphis office it could shut down
the Memphis site if the router in Memphis down, or switch down. The route
traffic takes among different network providers also affects performance.
In the future, the company will extend these services across the WAN by
using TCP/IP communication processes, because Wide Area Network (WAN) to
connect the two locations. WAN connections vary in bandwidth depending on your
needs, and may be set up as a direct connection or a virtual private network
(VPN) via the Internet. Either way, connecting your locations will enable better and
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 3
more secure communication within your business. aaa For Memphis site we will get
extra switch and router for back up, in case the single switch, and router down. aa
I would consider security when making any change to company network
infrastructure, especially when connecting two sites. I would consider higher level
protection network security when expend the network.
Current Network Architecture: Network Applications
The company currently uses these applications: Email, Payroll, Accounting,
and Human Resource. aaa The network plays a huge role in application performance
management in the company. aaa Per Robbie Harrel in journal article: “Understanding
the network application environment” states depending upon server locations and
network geography, the traffic patterns can be significantly different for different
areas of the network. This requires a wide view of the network in terms of
capturing application flows. Therefore we need to understanding and controlling that
traffic is critical, and centralizing computing facilities for servers can provide
greater visibility without the need to decentralize application traffic capturing
capabilities (Harrell, N.D).
Current Network Architecture: OSI Model
The component of the network with the OSI transport layer: switch, router,
firewall, PC work stations, servers, application. aaa The device use for network layer
is router. aaa Layer 3, the network layer of the OSI model, provides an end-to-end
logical addressing system so that a packet of data can be routed across several
layer 2 networks (Ethernet, Token Ring, Frame Relay, etc.). aa Note that network
layer addresses can also be referred to as logical addresses. To make it easier to
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 4
manage the network and control the flow of packets, many organizations separate
their network layer addressing into smaller parts known as subnets. Routers use the
network or subnet portion of the IP addressing to route traffic between different
networks. Each router must be configured specifically for the networks or subnets
that will be connected to its interfaces (Simoneau, N.D).
The Firewall device is use in Transport layer of the OSI model, offers end-
to-end communication between end devices through a network. Depending on the
application, the transport layer either offers reliable, connection-oriented or
connectionless, best-effort communications (Simoneau, N.D).
Base on the current network architecture the company use the Internet Layer
to uses the source and destination addresses in order to facilitate the movement of
data between the Network Access layer and the Transport layer; the data flows
from one node on the network to the next node in a path moving toward the
final destination by Achetson defines in the article: “The seven Layers of
Networking”. Per Achetson the two other common protocols that operate at the
TCP/IP Internet layer are derivatives of IP: IP version 4 (IPv4) and IPv6. The
devices that typically operate at the Internet layer are routers. The Internet layer of
the TCP/IP model corresponds to the Network layer (Layer 3) of the OSI model
(Achetson, 2014).
Current network: Physical network devices
Per article: “Exploring the Modern Computer Network: Types, Functions, and
Hardware” the network infrastructure contains three categories of network components:
• End devices
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• Intermediary devices
• Network media
Hardware comprises the components of the network platform that typically are
visible, such as a laptop, PC, switch, router, wireless access point, or the cabling
used to connect the devices. Occasionally, some network components may not be
visible. In the case of wireless media, for example, messages are transmitted
through the air using invisible radio frequency or infrared waves. aaa The physical
Computers (work stations, laptops, file servers, web servers)
• Network printers
• VoIP phones
• TelePresence endpoints
• Security cameras
• Mobile handheld devices (such as smartphones, tablets, PDAs, and wireless
debit/credit card readers and barcode scanners) (Exploring the Modern
Computer Network: Types, Functions, and Hardware, 2013).
The physical of the network with the OSI transport layer: switch, router, firewall,
PC work stations, servers, application. aaa The device use for network layer is router.
Layer 3, the network layer of the OSI model, provides an end-to-end logical
addressing system so that a packet of data can be routed across several layer 2
networks (Ethernet, Token Ring, Frame Relay, etc.). Note that network layer
addresses can also be referred to as logical addresses. aaa To make it easier to
manage the network and control the flow of packets, many organizations separate
their network layer addressing into smaller parts known as subnets. Routers use the
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network or subnet portion of the IP addressing to route traffic between different
networks. Each router must be configured specifically for the networks or subnets
that will be connected to its interfaces (Simoneau, N.D).
The Firewall device is use in Transport layer of the OSI model, offers end-
to-end communication between end devices through a network. Depending on the
application, the transport layer either offers reliable, connection-oriented or
connectionless, best-effort communications (Simoneau, N.D).
Current network: Critical Traffic Patterns
According article: “7 factors that an impact your network performance”
Annese Team states a network’s limitations are critical areas of concern when
performing capacity and performance management. These limitations primarily include
the following:
Errors: Network errors can generally be categorized into problems with queuing,
latency, and jitter. The data queue can affect network performance in several ways.
For example, larger queues increase the wait time, while smaller queues increase
the probability of dropped data.
Speed: Pipe size is the amount of data the network can send simultaneously on a
single connection. It's often confused with connection speed, although pipe size
doesn't actually affect the speed at which data travels between nodes. While
hardware capabilities determine the maximum bandwidth that is theoretically
available, software mechanisms typically allocate a lower bandwidth for each
network service.
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Memory: Memory is a computing resource that has requirements in both the data
and control planes. The performance of the entire network can degrade when
control plane processes fail, as is the case when routing convergence requires
additional memory.
Distance: Distance can have a dramatic impact on network performance, especially
when the applications haven't been optimized. The maximum speed at which data
can be forward is the speed of light, which is 186,000 miles per second or 186
miles per millisecond. This packet forwarding delay becomes significant when an
enterprise is running an international client/server application.
Central Processing Unit (CPU): A node's central processing unit (CPU) is typically
used by both the control and data planes. Capacity and performance management
requires a network and its nodes to have insufficient processing capability at all
times. A single node with an inadequate CPU can impact the entire network due
to the high degree of interdependence between the nodes in the modern network.
Insufficient processing can also increase latency if a node's CPU is unable to keep
up with network traffic.
Applications: Applications can also affect a network's capacity and performance,
with issues such as the amount of data the application is able to transmit
compared to what it needs to transmit. This factor is especially critical for the
performance of Wide Area Networks (WANs). Additional application characteristics
that affect capacity and performance include application keep-alive and window sizes
(Team, 2017).
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Management of a network's availability, capacity, and performance is therefore
crucial for achieving an organization's business objectives. It really impact of losing
connectivity between Dallas router and the Memphis router affect to business,
communication between the users. The network loses connectivity means lost
dollars and lost business opportunities. The application may be impact should be:
email, Video Conferencing, Payroll, Accounting and HR. When the router losing
connectives the users must waiting on their network to catch up to the speed at
which they are working. They have to sit and wait for file transfers, applications
to open, attachments to download, and web pages to open. Slow internet causes
costly delays in the company operations and work flow management. According to
Pangiotis Vouzis in the article: “Impact of Packet Loss, Jitter, and Latency on
VoIP” the poor VoIP quality because latency, jilter, and packet loss can never be
completely eliminated from real world networks. (Vouzis, 2016). Telephony is all
UDP based, and packets may not arrive at the destination, or get discarded if they
arrive delayed or contain errors. This results in missing audio information at the
destination.
SQL Server, similar to other enterprise database systems, can place an extremely
large load on an I/O subsystem. In most large database applications, physical I/O
configuration and tuning play a significant role in overall system performance. aaa
There are three major I/O performance factors to consider:
• I/O bandwidth: The aggregate bandwidth, typically measured in megabytes per
second that can be sustained to a database device
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• I/O latency: The latency, typically measured in milliseconds, between a
request for I/O by the database system and the point where the I/O request
is completed
• CPU cost: The host CPU cost, typically measured in CPU microseconds, for
the database system to complete a single I/O (Description of support for
network database files in SQL Server, 2016).
According from Rene Millman in the article: “What’s slowing down your network
and how to fix it” Network management to watch when network slow is to see
bandwidth as the problem, but with investigation, it is often not within a LAN
environment, where a high amount of bandwidth is available. More likely, the
problem lies within the WAN, where capacity is more finite and expensive
(Millman, N.D).
Current network Architecture: Pattern across the Infrastructure
According Michelle in article:” The Layers of the OSI Model Illustrated”
The organizations have a systems (servers, desktops, laptops, mobile devices, etc.)
available worldwide and connected through LAN and WAN connections in multiple
locations such as the internet, internal networks, perimeter networks, as well as
across firewalls and other security equipment that need to be managed and
supported centrally, using a systems management tool or solution that has to be
designed, adapted and configured in order to address business and technical
concerns. aaa First we need identify network requirement on 2 factors:
Business goals: Focus on how the network can make the business more successful.
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Technical requirements: Focus on how the technology is implemented within the
network
The next one we need characterizing the existing network: Information about the
current network and services is gathered and analyzed. It is necessary to compare
the functionality of the existing network with the defined goals of the new project.
The designer determines whether any existing equipment, infrastructure, and protocols
can be reused, and what new equipment and protocols are needed to complete the
design. aaa Then design network topology: the network applications and service
requirements are identified, and then the network is designed to support them.
When the design is complete, a prototype or proof-of-concept test is performed.
This approach ensures that the new design functions as expected before it is
implemented. Routers are small electronic devices that join multiple computer
networks together via either wired or wireless connections. aaa Routers contain a
processor (CPU), several kinds of digital memory, and input-output (I/O) interfaces.
They function as when a network packet leaves the computer, or other networking
device, in route to a destination outside its’ own LAN, some additional information
must be attached to the packet. aaa This information would be in the form of a
default gateway. aaa This default gateway would typically be a router. aaa If the router
does not have specific knowledge of where the packet should be delivered, it
forwards the packet upstream to another special-purpose computers, one that does
not require a keyboard or display (Michell, 2017). aaa
Network switches are the glue that binds computer communications. aaa Your computer
at work typically connects to a network switch. A switch’s job is to receive
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packets from a computer, or other networking device, and send them to the proper
place. aa The switch keeps a list of all the devices connected to it (Aubrett’s non-
technical IT dictionary). aaa aaa In addition, switches share this information with other
switches to which they are linked. aaa aaa This way, if computer A needs to
communicate with computer B, the switches know exactly where computer A and
computer B are connected as long as they exist on the same LAN. aaa If computer
A and computer B do not exist on the same LAN, the computer must provide
the information of a router, called a default gateway, which can handle the traffic
when it sends the packet.
Firewall: aaa A firewall is the gatekeeper between a private network and the rest of
the world. The firewall determines what, if anything, inside the private network
should be accessible from the outside. Firewalls exist in many forms. Some are
hardware appliances which are dedicated solely to performing the firewall functions.
Some firewalls are software components which run on routers designed to sit at
the network edge. Some firewalls are software packages which run on a server.
Most PC operating systems such as Microsoft have a built-in firewall to protect
local resources (Aubrett’s non-technical IT, dictionary). aa The firewall’s job is to
examine network packets which are sent to destinations within the private network
to see if they should be allowed to pass.
Current network Architecture: Performance Issues
It really impact of losing connectivity between Dallas router and the
Memphis router affect to business, communication between the users. aaa The network
lose connectivity means lost dollars and lost business opportunities. The application
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 12
may be impact should be: email, Video Conferencing, Payroll, Accounting and HR.
When the router losing connectives the users must waiting on their network to
catch up to the speed at which they are working. They have to sit and wait for
file transfers, applications to open, attachments to download, and web pages to
open. Slow internet causes costly delays in the company operations and work flow
management.
The risk of just having a single router or switch within Memphis office it
could shut down the Memphis site if the router in Memphis down, or switch
down. aaa The route traffic takes among different network providers also affects
performance.
Current network Architecture: Security issues
A high security communication flow path is not useful when the network
path cannot support capacity and reachability requirements. The deployment phase in
communication network can facilitate an optimal network path by focusing on both
the network performance and the network security at the same time. aaa The
networking and security industries reflect this dichotomy with strong security
companies and strong networking companies. A firewall is a network security
device that grants or rejects network access to traffic flows between an untrusted
zone (e.g., the Internet) and a trusted zone (e.g., a private or corporate network).
The firewall acts as the demarcation point or “traffic cop” in the network, as all
communication should flow through it and it is where traffic is granted or rejected
access (Singh,N.D). aaa A firewall is a network security device that monitors
incoming and outgoing network traffic and decides whether to allow or block
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specific traffic based on a defined set of security rules. Therefore if network down
is affect to firewall. aa A firewall is every bit as critical to security as an anti-
virus program. Firewalls stop malware from spreading to a network and defend
against hackers attempting to infiltrate a targeted system. Disabling a firewall can
therefore leave a business vulnerable to abuse, allowing viruses to infect
interconnected devices, and giving cybercriminals the opportunity to execute
malicious code remotely. End-to-end latency (the delay that happens to a packet
end to end from the PC to the server) and any errors causing re-transmission on
the network will also degrade application performance and slow the network
(Millman, N.D).
Future Network: Future Communication Needs
Today network’s components work together is changing and fast. aaa According
to article: “A new model for the future network architecture” our latest
infrastructure model harnesses the future architecture evolution to enable fast
problem solving in a more manageable and effective way (NA, 2017). a The future
communication is designed for the needs of operators and their customers, with the
option to change and evolve individual sections rather than changing the entire
system. Some of commend for new future communication network first would be
application clouds. aaa According to article: “Uncovering the application cloud” The
application cloud model directs resources when and where they are needed. It
becomes even more effective when combined with the connectivity infrastructure
evolution, ready to roll out new innovations across different industries. aaa The
application cloud resides on top of the distributed cloud infrastructure. This
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distributed cloud infrastructure exposes network assets from one or several operators.
The hardware management system becomes more important than ever, as there are
several types of physical sites playing different roles and with different requirements
(2017).
The next step considers should be management and monetization. aa According to
article: “Architecture evolution for automation and network programmability”
recommend full network programmability for a network and its services needs to
consider all the building blocks: how each piece of the network will evolve; how
they will interface; and how they support the structure and business processes of
an operator. But to achieve such levels of flexibility requires the inter-domain
interfaces as well as the domains to evolve. aaa Network functions will no longer be
located according to traditional vertical groupings in single network nodes, but will
instead be distributed to provide connectivity where it is needed (2017). aaa As
applications like self-driving vehicles and remotely operated machinery evolve,
become more innovative, and more widespread, the level of performance that 5G
networks need to deliver will inevitably rise. aaa Per article: “Flexibility in 5G
transport networks: the key to meeting the demand for connectivity” the new 5G
transport network are high – providing support for a massive range of services.
Industry transformation, digitalization, the global dependence on mobile broadband,
MTC, the IoT, and the rise of innovative industrial applications all require new
services, which has a considerable impact on the transport network. For example, a
new radio-access model that supports highly scalable video distribution or massive
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MTC data uploading might require additional transport facilities – such as a
scalable way to provide multicasting. aaa
Per Ryan Rouse it’s important that teams across every step of oil and gas
production, including upstream (hydraulic fracturing, oil field monitoring and offshore
rigs), midstream (pipeline monitoring and pumping stations) and downstream
(refineries and gas stations) applications, use dependable network components that
can withstand harsh industrial conditions for the highest network reliability and
availability. aaa Cyber security, for example, is quickly becoming a big concern for
industries everywhere, especially oil and gas (Rouse, 2017). aaa According to
Rouse in his article: “Future-Proofing Oil and Gas Networks: 4 Things to Look
For” The biggest step teams can take to ensure they have a solid communications
network is to invest in high-quality, rugged Ethernet infrastructure designed
specifically for use in harsh environments. In addition, it’s essential to understand
when and where to use industrial-grade components versus those designed for
commercial settings (Rouse, 2017). The plan for SNHUEnergy, Inc will grow, but
we need to ensure their control rooms and overall communications infrastructure are
well-equipped to support expansion, harsh environments and modern technologies.
Success requires the right combination of switches, cabling, firewalls and wireless
components that deliver on the team’s unique needs, protect against evolving threats
and add to the bottom-line.
Future Network Architecture: Network Architecture
According to Rouse comment when considering how to design the network,
we should look for components that meet the following four requirements:
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Safety and reliability: Remote monitoring solutions offering high network visibility
and control are helpful, in addition to leading industrial security and firewall
products for Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks. aaa We look for components that can
withstand the harshest environmental conditions and are compliant to oil and gas
standards, meeting all possible classified types for each facility site to ensure
compliance with UL Class I Division 2 and ATEX certifications. Solutions that can
transmit up to 170km without using active repeaters in between are ideal for oil
and gas applications.
Reduced operational costs: Constant maintenance-related updates, especially in
difficult to reach areas such as deep water shelters below 200-400m of the surface,
are extremely costly. This is not only because of maintenance fees, but also
because of unnecessary downtime. aaa Maintenance-free networking solutions that allow
you to remotely and automatically monitor wells and fields and take preventable
measures to help avoid production downtime. Using multi-Gigabit solutions that
offer extended bandwidth and expandability are flexible and cost-effective tools that
can support this initiative.
Minimized installation efforts: Installation can be costly in most industrial
settings – but even more costly in extreme oil and gas settings, which are often
underwater. Wide local area network (WLAN) solutions that meet the ATEX Zone
2 standard for oil and gas applications can help reduce wire line installation costs
and enable teams to get closer to the field level, contributing to seamless
installation. Withstand harsh environments: The biggest step teams can take to
ensure they have a solid communications network is to invest in high-quality,
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 17
rugged Ethernet infrastructure designed specifically for use in harsh environments. In
addition, it’s essential to understand when and where to use industrial-grade
components versus those designed for commercial settings.
Identify solutions that withstand the corrosive and extreme elements oil and
gas applications face every day, including water immersion, crushing, abrasion, UV
exposure, oils and solvents, sunlight, extreme temperatures, chemical exposure, and
prolonged vibration and noise. This is foundational to the success of upstream,
midstream and downstream processes (Rouse, 2017).
We will focus on switching and routing, access, signaling and control,
performance and reliability, security, physical design and transport, we incorporate all
important elements of design to plan for future communication network needs.
We will extend these services across the WAN by using TCP/IP
communication processes, because Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect the two
locations. WAN connections vary in bandwidth depending on your needs, and may
be set up as a direct connection or a virtual private network (VPN) via the
Internet. Either way, connecting your locations will enable better and more secure
communication within your business. aaa For Memphis site we will get extra switch
and router for back up, in case the single switch, and router down. aaa I would
consider security when making any change to company network infrastructure,
especially when connecting two sites. I would consider higher level protection
network security when expend the network. I will consider building network and
implement user application network management policies to overcome congestion and
performance issues. a When building new network the system can monitor and
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respond to network security threats in real time to thwart increasingly sophisticated
attacks and intrusions. aaa
Planning and Security: Performances and
Security Issues
Today’s networks are congested. In addition to carrying traditional business
application data (e.g., email and file transfer), internal networks are now also
carrying voice traffic and on demand video conferencing. Per Dave Shackleford in
his article: “Monitoring Security and Performance on Converged Traffic works”
states performance and security monitoring are growing closer together than ever as
these new and traditional forms of traffic clog our networks. Although the presence
of a performance or security issue does not necessarily indicate the existence of
the other, many analysts are realizing the benefits of behavioral baselines and how
a more holistic approach can alleviate the problems of both congestion and
security. For example, large data transfers that are causing congestion issues could
potentially indicate an attacker retrieving database records. Therefore security is
major concern on the network therefore I must seek a unified way to correlate
different alerts from performance and security monitoring systems. For security keep
pace with new attacks on protocols, such as SIP, which include registration
hijacking and eavesdropping? Increased visibility into network traffic and behavioral
baselines is critical to detect and prevent such attacks (Shackeford, 2008). For
many of today’s more complex attacks, as well as the majority of sophisticated
malware, the network architecture will need to inspect the full content of packets
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on the network for application like VoIP, email will need to decode content within
RTP packets with additional tools or inspect specific SIP packets.
Planning and Security: Network Management tool
Per Fed Tech Staff in article: “6 Network Security Tools Every Agency
Needs” states Network management systems, with their monitoring capabilities and
unified views into infrastructure dynamics, give IT organizations a powerful weapon
for fighting cyber threats. To secure today’s distributed networks, IT teams also
must develop defense-in-depth strategies that combine network-enforced security
technologies with best practices (Staff, 2013). aaa According to these authors these
tools recommend to use are:
Instruction detection and prevention systems: These tools help IT staff identify and
protect their wired and wireless networks against several security threat types. These
technologies, like several other categories of network security tools, are being
deployed with greater frequency as networks grow in size and complexity (Staff,
2013). aaa Both tools solutions detect threat activity in the form of malware, spyware,
viruses, worms and other attack types, as well as threats posed by policy
violations. Instruction detection tools passively monitor and detect suspicious activity;
prevention system tools perform active, in-line monitoring and can prevent attacks
by known and unknown sources. Both tool types can identify and classify attack
types (Staff, 2013).
Anti-Malware: this tools help administrators identify, block and remove malware.
They enable the IT department to tailor its anti-malware policies to identify known
and unknown malware sources, for example, or surveil specific users and groups. I
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would use this tool for security defenses, operating systems, browsers, applications
and popular targets such as Adobe Flash, Acrobat and Reader — that they can
exploit to fully access a victim’s network.
Network Access control: this tool we use for compliant devices access to network
assets. They handle access authentication and authorization functions and can even
control the data that specific user’s access, based on their ability to recognize
users, their devices and their network roles. aaa Another tools I would consider and
use is Next-Generation Firewall, this tools improve on standard firewall capabilities
through application-awareness features (Staff, 2013). aaa The last tool I will use is
authentication and authorization, per FedTech Staff the traditional directory-based
services, such as Active Directory, authenticates users and grant access based on
authorization rules. Newer identity-based security technologies manage authentication
and authorization through such methods as digital certificates and public key
infrastructure solutions (Staff, 2013).
Planning and Security: Security Devices
From a security standpoint, the pieces of hardware that will help provide
security are firewalls and routers. Firewall is the first security device I am
concern. aaa aaa As the first line of network defense, firewalls provide protection from
outside attacks, but they have no control over attacks from within the corporate
network. Some firewalls also block traffic and services that are actually legitimate. aaa
A firewall is designed to protect one network from another network. aaa In the
lesson “Understanding the Basic Security Concepts of Network and System Devices”
by Bittlingmeier, and King states network security is concentrated on configuring
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the firewall, or at least is built around it, a compromised firewall can mean a
disaster for a network. Three basic types of firewalls are available, in addition to
one—the stateful inspection firewall—that combines the features of the three basic
types. Firewall architectures include the following:
• Packet-filtering firewall
• Circuit-level gateway
• Application-level gateway
• Stateful inspection firewall
Firewalls act like filters. They help company monitor data traffic between
company’s network and the Internet. aaa
For a router, I should make sure it set a password and enable encryption.
Unprotected wireless networks are a bad idea. Most routers have either Wireless
Encryption (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption options. aaa Some
have both. WPA is more secure than WEP. Enabling encryption and choosing a
strong router administrator password are two steps that will help keep company’s
network secure.
Planning and Security: Changes to Existing devices
The existing devices the SNHUEnergy Inc, is Firewall. aa I just may update
to use Barracuda Next Generation Firewall. aaa According to the website of Barracuda
Firewall, this modern network includes a combination of local servers, remote
devices and cloud-hosted applications. aaa Barracuda NextGen Firewalls are purpose-
built for the modern, distributed network in which network performance and
availability is as important as security. Unlike traditional port-based firewalls, our
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firewalls are application-aware, enabling you to regulate application usage and
intelligently prioritize network traffic. aaa Barracuda NextGen Firewalls feature advanced
security capabilities, including integrated Intrusion Prevention (IPS), URL filtering
and antivirus to identify and block evasion attempts that would trick traditional
systems. Barracuda’s security extends beyond your network to Barracuda’s Advanced
Threat Protection (ATP) cloud for both statistical and sandboxing analysis of zero-
day and targeted threats that routinely bypass signature-based IPS and antivirus
engines (Barracuda.com). aaa
Planning and Security: Challenges
Barracuda next-generation firewalls are fully application and user aware and,
thus, can specifically allow or disallow access to certain applications by users. aaa
How we address information security and risk management. The challenge is that
cloud security processes and solutions are still being developed. aaa Managing
configuration changes on switches, routers, firewalls, controllers, and other network
devices, at locations across the network, is an obvious challenge. For example,
deploying a new service, which involves wide-scale configuration changes, could
take days or weeks to reliably complete. According to article: “The Best Free
Network Configuration and Change Management Tools” make me consider must
have a reliable way for knowing when, who, what, and how your device
configurations have changed. This will help you detect out-of-process and rogue
changes, reconcile changes to valid change requests, and ensure that actual changes
were properly made. aaa Another challenge we must think by Ranbe in article: “What
happen if Firewall disable” that will affect all data packets to entering and exiting
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 23
the network unrestricted. This includes not just expected traffic, but also malicious
data -- thereby putting the network at risk. If a software firewall is disabled, it's
not just the associated computer that's in harm's way; worms -- a type of malware
-- for example, can spread across a network connection, infecting all of the PCs
attached to the LAN. Disabling a hardware firewall also impacts all of the devices
that connect to the network (Ranbe, N.D).
Planning and Security: Overall Risk
According to article: “The Increasing Threat to Network Infrastructure Devices
and Recommended Mitigations” the author gives the risk when update network
device. aa According to the author perimeter devices, such as firewalls and intrusion
detection systems, have been the traditional technologies used to secure the network,
but as threats change, so must security strategies. Organizations can no longer rely
on perimeter devices to protect the network from cyber intrusions; organizations
must also be able to contain the impact/losses within the internal network and
infrastructure (N.A, 2016). The risk is when the network administrator change the
network device or upgrade the software attackers either use the default credentials
to log into the device or obtain weak credentials from other insecure devices or
communications. The implant resides within a modified IOS image and, when
loaded, maintains its persistence in the environment, even after a system reboot.
Any further modules loaded by the attacker will only exist in the router’s volatile
memory and will not be available for use after the device reboots. However,
these devices are rarely or never rebooted (N.A, 2016). aaa If the network
infrastructure is compromised, malicious hackers or adversaries can gain full control
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 24
of the network infrastructure enabling further compromise of other types of devices
and data and allowing traffic to be redirected, changed, or denied. Possibilities of
manipulation include denial-of-service, data theft, or unauthorized changes to the
data (N.A, 2016).
I’ve learned all the challenge and the risk when network device upgrade I will
consider when I perform the change. aaa I learn from the article opening the firewall
does potentially allow malicious traffic to enter through the applicable port, but
businesses can use nonstandard ports, when possible, to reduce the risk of attack
(N.A, 2016). Therefore, when I applying software updates or installing new
programs -- the software firewall must be disabled. When possible, I should
disconnect a computer from the Internet before disabling the firewall to eliminate
the risk of attack.
Conclusions
With the network becoming more important than ever, the three top reasons
for network upgrades are performance, reliability and security that SNHUEnergy, Inc
consider. When we upgrade the network, the clients and users use multimedia and
unified communications over IP such as telephones, IM and video, it's important
that they have a reliable Internet connection and a high-functioning router. The
quality of service on network, video conferencing, voice are become important too.
The main thing is security, when we upgrade network with high security, with
the new firewall generation keeps track of all the operations performed in the
network device - who invoked what operation, on what device at what time and
the result of the operation.
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 25
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https://www.barracuda.com/products/ngfirewall
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE SNHUENERGY INC 29
