Learning Outcomes: On successful completion of this module, you will be able to: 1. Justify the need for network management, considering the main network management functions, and be able to discuss the benefits and limitations of each. 2. Interpret current research and development in the field of network management security. 3. Critically review the requirements for the design of a network system from a given scenario and evaluate the aspects of security along with methods of protection. Assignment case study: HandMade Furniture Ltd. This case study provides background information for both assignment 1 and assignment 2. As a network consultant, your initial examination of the company has discovered the following facts: 1. It is a single site company with a factory and office on site. a. There are 80 employees in total, 60 in the factory and 20 in the office. b. Each office worker has their own PC. There is a mixture of Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 installed together with various versions of Microsoft Office. c. There are 8 PCs in the factory, all running Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010. d. There is no central subscription to anti-virus software. Staff are left to do this themselves. 2. The network is completely wired and they have not yet started to explore the use of Wi-Fi. If staff bring their own devices to work, they need to make their own provision for Internet access (3G etc.) 3. The network runs on a single Windows Server 2012 server. There is an additional NAS storage device that will store up 10TB of data. There is no formal backup plan; again staff (and individual teams) are expected to manage their own data. Some do this better than others. For example, the design team have their own NAS storage and additionally copy designs to backup DVD on a weekly basis. 4. Internet access is provided through an ADSL account with a local Internet provider. This gives a maximum of 4.5 Mbit/s of bandwidth. They have found that this is not sufficient for their needs. a. The company does not have a website. b. There is a single email address for the company that the MD (Managing Director) and her PA (Personal Assistant) have access to. c. Other staff have set up ‘unofficial’ company emails for their requirements; for example, the finance team have a shared email address with a Gmail account that they use for ordering. 5. No single person has responsibility to managing the network. A previous office manager (who has now left) had some IT experience and supported the network as part of his job. There have been some serious incidents recently, most notably a serious virus infection that was dealt with by bringing in a local IT technician to clean a number of PCs 6. The arrangements for printing are very mixed: a. There is a single inkjet printer in the factory shared between the factory PCs. This printer is networked. b. In the office, there is a high volume laser printer connected directly to one of the admin support team’s PCs. This is connected via Windows printer sharing to the other PCs in the admin team but no-one else has access (in the past, if anyone else needed a large number of documents printing they had to email it to a member of the support team). c. The remainder of the office staff use 22 inkjet printers, from a variety of manufacturers. Some of these are connected to individual PCs and some are shared between workgroups. These have been bought over the past few years on an ad-hoc basis; responsibility for their upkeep is usually shared by the members of that workgroup. Assignment Part 1 (50%) Assignment 1 covers LO1 and LO3 Your report should be 2,500 words in total (+ or – 10%), excluding contents and references. Title: Network Management Justification Assignment You are a self-employed Network Consultant and you have been approached by a small furniture manufacturer (HandMade Furniture Ltd.) to examine their network. The information you have discovered from your initial visit is in the case study on pages 3 & 4) Your initial findings have determined that the network is currently working within acceptable parameters but you can see that there will be problems in the future unless they implement some additional infrastructure and a management plan in the very near future. The Managing Director has asked you to produce a briefing paper to be presented to the Board. This should be written as a fully referenced formal report. The purpose of this paper is to:  Justify why the company should implement a network management plan.  Describe and explain elements of a network management plan suitable for this organisation.  Propose support solutions based on the company employing a suitable level of technical support or outsourcing it to another organization. Your report should include the following sections: a. Introduction and terms of reference b. Justification of network management plan c. Suggested elements of network management plan d. Support solutions (minimum of two, no more than three) with costing implications e. Conclusion and recommendations Marking Scheme: Subject Element Weighting Introduction and terms of reference 10% Network management plan justification 20% Elements of a network management plan 20% Support solution 1 20% Support solution 2 20% Conclusion and recommendations 10% Within this, marks will also be allocated as follows: Academic Element Weighting Subject matter knowledge 20% Critical analysis 20% Evidence of wider reading 20% Coherence (this means that the ideas should be smoothly joined together.) 20% Presentation and English 20% Assignment Part 2 (50%) Assignment 2 covers LO2 and LO3 Your report should be 2,500 words in total (+ or – 10%), excluding contents and references. Title: Devising a Network Management Plan and Security Plan for HandMade Furniture Ltd. Assignment This assignment requires you to create a network management plan and a security plan for HandMade Furniture Ltd. that will include both local and cloud-based services. This is based on the same company case study that you used for assignment 1, but with the following additional information: 1. A decision has been made to upgrade the company Internet connection. Your advice will be appreciated on how this should be done. 2. The company have decided to upgrade all PCs to the latest versions of Microsoft Office and Windows. 3. Email addresses will be provided for all staff via Google Apps for Business 4. Wi-Fi will be added to the network and team leaders in the factory will be issued with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop. 5. Staff will be able to bring their own devices to work and connect to the work Wi-Fi network. Advice on how to do this will be appreciated. 6. The company are considering moving away from individual printers to networked ‘pull’ printing. They would appreciate your advice on the implications of this. 7. The company has decided to move their accounting and stock control systems to a cloud based service, managed and maintained by another company. The provider has a good international reputation, however the board would appreciate you advice on this. Again, the managing director has asked you to produce a briefing paper for the board that addresses the following issues. This should be written as a fully referenced formal report. The purpose of this paper is to:  Produce a network management plan for the company based on your advice in the earlier paper.  Produce and justify a suitable network security plan for the organization. This should address threats to network security, indicate how these can be mitigated and what steps can be taken to recover from serious incidents. Your report should include the following sections: a. Introduction and terms of reference b. A detailed network management plan c. A detailed network security plan with costing implications d. Conclusions, recommendations and further advice Marking Scheme: Subject Element Weighting Introduction and terms of reference 15% Network management plan 30% Network security plan 30% Costing implications 10% Conclusion and recommendations 15% Within this, marks will also be allocated as follows: Academic Element Weighting Subject matter knowledge 20% Critical analysis 20% Evidence of wider reading 20% Coherence (this means that the ideas should be smoothly joined together.) 20% Presentation and English 20% Indicative grading criteria Generally, to get an A: a. Your work should focus specifically on the assignment question and generally not divert from the question. There should not be a rudimentary and elementary discussion of ‘basic’ and ‘introductory’ concepts. You should assume that the reader has a basic and fundamental understanding of core concepts (remember that your audience, the board members, will probably not have an IT background). b. The report should be well structured which means that it should follow accepted norms and most certainly should be formatted in accordance with any structuring requirements stipulated in the assignment question. It should be professionally resented which means that your use of fonts is consistent and professional; it has a table of contents and page numbers and is properly structured. c. It should be well written which means that the grammar and spelling is perfect. d. There should be a demonstration of very clear understanding of the material presented in the report. You should be able to demonstrate that the work is yours and that you understand what you have written. There means that there shouldn’t be too much reliance on quotations and you should have attempted to put things in your own words. e. Evidence of good background research. You are able to demonstrate (if appropriate to the assignment) that you have found adequate sources of material. Where you have found relevant and suitable sources, you should reference them properly (using a recognized referencing system, such as the Harvard system) and professionally.