HOLMES
INSTITUTE
FACULTY OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
Trimester T1 2020
Unit Code HS1011
Unit Title Data Communication & Networks
Assessment Type Individual Assignment
Assessment Title Problem Solving & Topics Research
Purpose of the
assessment (with ULO Mapping) The purpose of this assignment is to exercise and develop skills required to analyse and design networks to address the need of clients.
Students will be able to:
1. Discuss the need of electronic data communication and networking to achieve business goals.
2. Explain and apply various networking and data communication technologies in the context of a specific business need.
3. Evaluate and assess hardware and software requirements of a data communication and networking infrastructure.
4. Define, prioritise and evaluate the requirement of the business to provide data communication and networking requirements.
5. Understand, evaluate and describe importance of network and data communication for a business operation and assess and suggest troubleshooting suggestions for a data communication and networking problem.
Weight 25% of the total assessments
Total Marks 25
Word limit 1500 words
Due Date Week 07
Submission Guidelines • All work must be submitted on Blackboard by the due date along with a completed Assignment Cover Page.
• The assignment must be in MS Word format, 1.5 spacing, 11-pt Calibri (Body) font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings.
• Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using Harvard or IEEE referencing style.
Assignment Requirements
Purpose of this assignment: This assignment consists of two parts: PART 1: Problem Solving & PART 2: Topics Research.
In PART 1, you deal with problems solving which includes the design of a network for a typical client that requires their computers to communicate with each other and on the internet. In addition to the identification and determining the specification of the problem, strategies for its solution. Then you will have to evaluate the solution provided through the reflective report writing. (600 words)
Problem One
You have been hired by a manufacturing company that has had its network in place for many years. They currently have 50 computers connected to 10 Mbps hubs. You’ve been asked to upgrade the network. This long-overdue upgrade is necessary because of poor network response time caused by a lot of collisions occurring during long file transfers between clients and servers.
• How do you recommend upgrading this network?
• What interconnecting devices will you use, and what benefit will you get from using these devices?
• Write a short memo describing the upgrade and, if possible, include a drawing of the new network.
Problem Two
Holmes.com has 250 networked computers and five servers and uses a star topology wired network to reach employees’ offices, with a bus interconnecting three floors in its office building. Because of a staggering influx of Internet business, the network administrator’s task is to boost network performance and availability as much as possible.
The company also wants a network design that’s easy to reconfigure and change because workgroups form and disband frequently, and their membership changes regularly. All computers must share sensitive data and control access to customer files and databases.
Aside from the customer information and billing databases, which run on all servers, employees’ desktop computers must run standard word-processing and spreadsheet programs.
Fill in the following lines to evaluate the requirements for this network. After you finish, determine the best network topology or topology combination for the company. On a blank piece of paper, sketch the network design you think best suits the needs of Holmes.com. Remember: High performance and easy reconfiguration are your primary design goals!
• What type of topology should be used in this network?
• Will the network be peer-to-peer or server based?
• How many computers will be attached to the network?
• What kind of networking device is easiest to reconfigure? What kind offers the best access to the network medium’s bandwidth between pairs of devices?
Problem Three
Holmes, Inc. has two sites in Pittsburgh that are 4 miles apart. Each site consists of a large factory with office space for 25 users at the front of the factory and up to 20 workstations in two work cells on each factory floor. All office users need access to an inventory database that runs on a server at the Allegheny Street location; they also need access to a billing application with data residing on a server at the Monongahela site.
All factory floor users also need access to the inventory database at the Allegheny Street location. Office space is permanently configured, but the manufacturing space must be reconfigured before each new manufacturing run begins. Wiring closets are available in the office space. Nothing but a concrete floor and overhead girders stay the same in the work cell areas. The computers must share sensitive data and control access to files.
Aside from the two databases, which run on the two servers, office computers must run standard word-processing and spreadsheet programs. Work cell machines are used strictly for updating inventory and quality control information for the Allegheny Street inventory database. Workstations in the manufacturing cells are switched on only when they’re in use, which might occur during different phases of a manufacturing run. Seldom is a machine in use constantly on the factory floor.
Fill in the following lines to evaluate the requirements for this network. After you finish, determine the best network topology or topology combination for the company.
• Will the network be peer-to-peer or server based?
• How many computers will be attached to the network?
• What topology works best for the offices, given the availability of wiring closets? What topology works best for the factory floor, given its need for constant reconfiguration?
In PART 2, you will be given different topics that you are required to do Internet research to provide a short explanation about each concept. (900 words)
Topic One
You learned about network hardware. To prepare for this topic, search for the following terms online.
1. Network interface card
2. Switch
3. Router
Read and research at least one article about each term and write a brief description summarizing your findings.
Topic Two
Does anyone in your area offer a WiMax service? If yes, write a brief summary that includes the service’s main features.
Topic Three
Write about the types of network applications exist at your place of employment or your college including:
• Local area networks involved
• Wide area networks
• In addition to any other types of networks.
Assignment Submission
Create a business report with:
Cover page
• Document Title
• Author(s) information
Table of contents
• You have to use Microsoft Word build-in function to create a Table of Contents.
Executive Summary
• What this assignment is about and what you want to achieve (should be about 100 words, ES is differed to compare with Introduction).
Introduction
• Data Communication & Networks admin/consultant/expert role. You are required to list the major responsibilities which you should take on to help in solving the business’ problem. What is your basic plan? Where do you start from? What do you want to achieve?
• The purpose of your work
• The structure of your report
The assignment submission should take the form of a report that thoroughly details the problems solving and the topics research. All information sources must be appropriately acknowledged and a full bibliography is required.
Note:
It is expected that this will be completely your own work. Therefore using the ‘cut and paste’ technique is not accepted. You should read relevant material, and then write your report in your own words.
Copying another student’s work is prohibited. Duplicate material will result in zero mark. Information on proper practice in assessments is available on the web site referred to in the unit outline.