I'm working on a project for my network design class, the project is to create a LAN for a business that has 4 locations in a town. I have Visio at my disposal for the network diagram but I am having a bit of trouble actually creating the whole shebang.

note, I am going to school for IT yet 80% of my classes have all been theory, not a darn thing on actual network set up and design. Which is this class, the TA is completely useless when it comes to this type of stuff and the prof just had a 2nd heart attack so he's in and out of his office. which is why I have come here.

Now the business is fictitious and its what ever you want it to be, main idea is I am making a network for these 4 locations.

The business description is as follows

So, as far as a network for one of the shop locations I have the following


(haven't made the notations for wireless yet or anything much. The red lines are Ethernet)

I haven't gotten around to getting the specific hardware yet, just trying to figure this all out. I still need to figure out how to get an IP assigned for the company, the costs associated with that as well.

The overall specs for the assignment are
So, what do you think? I still have the other location to figure out as well as the centralized file, mail, web servers to figure out too. Budget is set at $50k

feel free to PM me if you feel like helping. thanks guys

Wow, the question mentions hubs? Is this book from 1994? Hubs are extinct.

With a 50k budget, you would use business class equipment, either Cisco/HP/Juniper/Business level Netgear switches and firewall with VPN setup between sites. Wireless is best kept to a minimum use except for portable systems or guest wireless access.

IPs are assigned by the ISP when the connection is set up. The VPN would be configured between 4 firewalls between all the sites. With the main site as primary with a higher end firewall to handle the links back from the others (and likely would have the servers centrally located there as well)

Costs vary widely depending on the equipment used and level of ISP service offered.

Also, you'd likely use 48 port POE switches in most cases as a modern business will usually have voip phones all over as well.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I was thinking of netgear and Cisco equipment. plan is firewalls at all locations and maybe if I have extra money left a honey pot/dmz on the main location. Good idea on VoIP phones, I might want to do that. Again, I just have to figure out ow its all "wired" for Visio.

Recommend any particular equipment? Also the 50k includes any software I may need for the LAN.
I won't have more than 15 computers total, which I think I may lower that number to 10-12.

Hubs and Modems? Good grief. Cisco Routers at each location that handle both external network connectivity and pass VOIP traffic for the IP phones which are handled at the central location by a Cisco Call Manager server. Central location also has the Windows Domain controller and DNS Server. The ISP provides both internet connectivity and the connection between all locations. A sufficently large Cisco POE switch at each location to provide node connectivity and Power for the phones so that there's no reason to power them independently. Also the Phones, depending on model provide a second ethernet port to hook up a computer thru so you can double up the number of nodes by using the phones to connect the PC's thru. This means a 24 port POE switch at each location should be sufficient.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

This is an auto shop? Add extra network drops, like 4 or 5 x as many as you have. The trend is toward more networked tools, not fewer. Those parts countermen need PC's to play Farmville on. PPG paint? Needs another net drop for each workstation, and Electronic Catalog. Some vendors, like PPG may give/sell/rent a giant POS PC based catalog solution instead of mere software. Same thing for CCI/Triad/AllOrNothingData/whatever they call it these days. None of these things will play nicely with the others. Call it room for growth, spares, whatever. Honey pot? phooey. Auto shop folk don't want to know or care about that kind of stuff unless it has actual honey, in which case they'd want to eat it. How to get an IP? Are you kidding? We ran out last year. See:
Free Pool of IPv4 Address Space Depleted | The Number Resource Organization
World shrugs as IPv4 addresses finally exhausted ? The Register
Unless you're talking about IPV6 addresses, in which case, get it from an ISP. You are doing IPV6 aren't you? Of course you are.
Or did you mean DNS services or hosting? I like NameScout for DNS, their privacy policy was better the last time I checked, but that's been a few years.
As a practical matter, I tend to avoid single vendor "solutions" of any kind, ever. Good luck.

Website hosted in-house? Good grief.

__________________
Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

Here's how I would do it:




Notes (I have changed a few things since drawing that diagram):

• Redundant Internet connections
• Sonicwall router
  • easy to configure
  • offers gateway antivirus and content filtering
  • supports failover
  • easy to set up site-to site VPNs, remote sites just need a sonicwall and a low end server for their local Active Directory / File server needs.
• Put wireless on its own subnet - require VPN connection to access LAN
• Put lan on its own subnet
• Midgrade server running Server 2008
  • Active Directory FSMO role holder
  • file storage
  • DHCP
• Midgrade server running Server 2008
  • Microsoft Exchange 2010 Email service
• Lower end server running Server 2008
  • "Backup" Domain controller, global catalog
  • Print service
  • Routing and Remote Access (VPN server)
• Midgrade server running Server 2008
  • IIS hosting website
  • Forgot to put this on the diagram
• One drop per office machine, run back to a patch panel in the IT closet
• One drop per shop machine, run back to a patch panel in the IT closet
• No wireless printers
• Postini Spam filtering services
  • Prevents email viruses hitting your email server
  • Provides mail spooling in case server goes down
• External DNS hosting (Network Solutions, GoDaddy, etc)
  

I have systems like that implemented at several of my client's sites



I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

-Jason

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Thanks guys. This is a big help. I'm rethinking giving every 2 stalls a pc, I might go with 3 in the shop area and one in the office. I will email the prof about drops, I think they will be needed, some techs now have their own laptops sitting in their boxes. Only place I am thinking about wifi is the showroom for customer use, but it would be on a separate subnet and have no access to the main system.

I don't think you put in enough net drops, and I personally loathe people's infatuation with Exchange. And IIS? People really use that? I guess if you have Share Point, maybe you have to, but you don't. And GoDaddy is a terrible DNS provider.

Here since you like photos on network cabling, this reminds me of Automotive related business administered computers and networking:

__________________
Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

Yup. With the sonicwall (and most other "pro" routers) it's easy to split off the interfaces and say what traffic can go where.

Interfaces page from a Soincwall. If this router had multiple WAN interfaces you would see them here.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

That SonicWall stuff looks nice, and I would agree to outsource the spam/virus mail filtering. I have a question for you. How old is that crusty old Adtran TSU?

__________________
Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

Heh, I don't know... probably 15 at least. It's one the phone guys had kicking around, the signal coming off the T1 card in the basement was so strong it was overwhelming the interface on the phone system. It's basically being used as a signal attenuator.

I have to hand it to Mitel though... it's great being able to have modern IP phones and yee olde digital phones on the same system with an easy to manage interface.

Nice I took this one at a rental business office. 10 years of "cable management is someone else's problem"...



Behind that mess there are actually 48 port Cisco switches

I thought this type of thing was only of nightmares....

It took me quite a while to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw that. I had to call the office back and revise my time estimate for the switch replacement

I like the completely unused cable management system.