Network Design Lab

Your department is moving to the recently remodeled area shown on the attached floor plan. As also shown below, an enclosure, two servers, UPSs and a KVM (keyboard video monitor switch) have already been purchased and are located in the Telecom closet. Don’t include these items in your budget, but do find an appropriate PCI NIC for each of the servers. The walls are typical drywall on metal stud construction. The false ceilings are 8 feet above the floor. The fire code requires plenum cable for the walls and ceiling.

Each office is to have two faceplates, one located on each of the long walls, as shown by the triangle symbols in the room next to the telecom closet. Each office faceplate should accommodate four CAT-5 (or better) cables. Assume each office will have an average of three Ethernet devices: desktop, notebook, ip phone, and in some cases multiple people will share an office. All the office computers already exist and have NICs. However, you need to supply patch cables (get an assortment of sizes.

The meeting rooms each have two faceplates as shown. Each faceplate is to accommodate two CAT-5 (or better) cables and a multimode fiber connection (the fiber connections are for use by a video conference system.)

You are to prepare a budget for the structured wiring system (cable .. patch and bulk, connectors, racks, faceplates…), and network electronics (NICs, media converters and switches). Include all the items that would be required to connect the computers to equipment in the equipment room. Your design should use at least switched-fast Ethernet to the offices and Gigabit Ethernet to each of the servers. On the attached diagram show how the equipment (switches, path panels, media converters) you purchase for the telecom closet would be located on the rack/enclosure.

Your network is to connect with the corporate backbone via Gigabit Ethernet over multimode fiber optic cable. The distance to the backbone switches 120 feet. You will need at least two additional pairs of fiber for use by the meeting rooms. All fiber (to the backbone and to the meeting rooms) should be terminated on a patch panel in the closet. You are responsible for ordering the fiber and connectors, the backbone switch already exists and has two ports reserved for your use. All fiber terminations are to be ST.

Display your parts list in a spreadsheet showing:

Qty Description Unit Price Ext Price

XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX XX

Total XXX

Do NOT include the cost of labor or tools, they are being donated by the new PBS show This Old Network. You may get products and prices from the web sites mentioned in class.

Draw your cable layout design on the floor plan.

Visit the manufacturer’s Web site for the server NICs, and switches you use. If you can’t find the specific products you use, go to 3Com’s web site.

Look at the product details and data sheets under: LAN switches, Network Interface Cards, and Network Management. For each type of product list and describe at least 2 technical features that the vendor describes for the device. The technical features should be described in your own words, DO NOT just cut and paste from the WEB.

Make sure your report includes: the parts spreadsheet, a method for combining the fiber and tp parts of the network, network diagram, rack layout and the features list for equipment. Organization and presentation of your report will taken into consideration in the grading.