Review of Telephone and Data Network Research Paper

Review of Telephone and Data Network - Research Paper Example There are total two network segments for all the departments located at this site. The first network segment includes corporate and finance department. The second segment includes MFG, MTLS and QA departments respectively. The third network segment includes laser jet printers. The fourth segment indicated as a gateway switch on the network diagram indicates another network segment connecting all the servers located at the site. The fifth segment indicates the factory floor. Lastly, the sixth segment indicates WAN segment including devices that are required to communicate with the WAN interface. Pontiac is responsible for generating custom-based plastic parts. After analyzing the network diagram, the site has total four network segments. Three out of four are segmented to provide network services to employees working on the site. One of the three network segments is proving connectivity to the WAN devices. The fourth network segment is connecting the workstations of the manufacturing floor. In the end, the remaining site that is the research and development facility, which is also the head office of Riordan manufacturing, consists of total five network segments. The first two segments are providing network services to four different department including Corp, Marketing, Finance and HR. The third segment is connecting color printers. ... Physical intervention is required as the hub backs up each network segment, if the hub become nonoperational, the workstations of the entire department becomes unavailable on the network. Moreover, it is not necessary that each network segment is using the same cabling scheme (Chapter 5: Topology). Due to compatibility issues, cross cabling or straight cabling is required, consequently making difficult for network engineers to troubleshoot network issues. However, in the current network diagram, a standardized cabling scheme is implemented to ease network management issues. Moreover, due to separate network segments on the network, some network segments may become vulnerable to threats, as network administrators do not have a centralized access to the network devices. These considerations must be analyzed during the network design stage of an organization. Network LAN Topologies Network topologies are essential before implementing a network as per requirements of an organization. Top ology is a framework defining the arrangements of every object on the network. This includes workstations, network components, servers, WAN devices and many more. There are total five topologies to design a computer network. However, all of these five topologies shares certain factors. Each topology demonstrates disadvantages as well as advantages that will be discussed further. The five different topologies are illustrated below: Star Topology Star topology is recommended for the wired local area network. It is the most widely adopted topology. The star topology supports the centralized provision of network resources and services. The support staff can manage the network administrative and troubleshooting tasks centrally. Star topology helps to implement centralized security