You Decide Assignment
Charter School LAN Upgrade Proposal

Stakeholder Anxieties
Any strategy to enhance and promote the Leonard Cooper network should first resolve the present state of affairs. The outcomes of meetings and interviews with four stakeholders divulge that; 1) the current network becomes very jam packed, cashes increase, and throughput decelerates when teachers concurrently report on attendance and check on email. 2) 50 network printers still get all filled up. 3) Current network bandwidth is 10 Mb. 4) The HVAC technician believes it would be really suitable to have wireless access points. 5) Each of the 23 classrooms in the recent wing must be added to the network. 6) Leisurely connections to the remote mail server. 7) Wanting to integrate VoIP into the existing data network and 8) the previous and new wing backbone switches just 120 meters separately are connected by slow twisted-pair wiring.

The Favored Resolution Package
The truly pressing conundrum that requires resolving is the present network capacity that prevails at just 10 Mb. The favored resolution here is Category 6 UTP 1000Base F Ethernet cabling because it boosts the greatest data transmission rate a hundredfold from 10 Mb to 1 gigabyte per second. Such bandwidth addresses the objectives of the HVAC technician for remote access to his devices. Even more significant, such a transmission rate unclutters the congestion faced when the seven networked classrooms concurrently dispatch attendance records and access personal emails early in the morning and 23 more classrooms require addition to the network. Finally, the advantage of a fiber optic backbone is that the remote location of the mail server becomes irrelevant. The ideal solution ought to create provisions for collecting all the servers, including the printer servers, for comfort of maintenance and diagnostics.

Using Ethernet cabling with the built in Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) contention based media access control technique will assist in diminishing the problems of collisions. The CD technique of ascribing each network interface card, on the desktop PCs, an arbitrary time interlude before trying to re-transmit on the network should decrease collisions to a number that becomes practically obscure to users.

To oblige imminent growth, the backbone for the upgraded network should be fiber optic. This allows room for including VoIP to network services and supersedes the problem of congestion when the new wing backbone switch is turned on. Improving network cabling also removes the issue of the space to the old wing backbone switch being distant at 120 meters for the slow twisted-pair wiring presently in position.

Improved network planning is required. First, the administrative staff is obviously factoring the overloading of the 50 networked printers are subjected to. Therefore, the initial phase of producing the server farm is to connect a dedicated printer server in order to empty out the limited queues existing on printers. Secondly, at least four 24-port hubs will be required to connect the printer server to the present printers under the Ethernet bus topology and new printers that possibly will be located in the new wing. This involves two hubs positioned somewhere amongst the administration offices and the server farm where the printer server is and two more located right alongside the new wing backbone switch.

Substantial preparation must create provision for: A) At least two more 24-port switches alongside the new wing backbone switch in order to oblige the 23 new classrooms. B) Placing in at minimum one additional switched 100Base-T flanking the position intended for the main server farm. Provisioning for current requirements alone suggests server room must already store the printer server, the administrative data server, the student data server and a network admin server that will also perform backups to a distant location and the internet access and firewall server. C) It is also suggested that the backbone and LAN wiring run through the ceiling and be accessible for servicing primarily through the switches held in locked closets. D) Establishing wireless access points all over where line of sight is ruined in expectation of additional wireless ready devices forthcoming usage in future. Granting the present bandwidths of 802.11n, speeds in excess of 300 Mbps, and 4G mobile technology, 12 Mbps or better, the suppleness of including wireless to the school network involves being equipped to upgrade to 40 or 100-GBE in future. Therefore, double or separate ducting for a wireless only backbone ought to be placed in to make the Leonard Cooper network future-resistant.