Network design and IP addressing for UMUC's new facility

Network Requirements

With the acquisition of a newly leased building, UMUC requires a new network. The network includes coverage for the following places: six (6) instructional computer labs, a student computer lab, six (6) various offices, an admission office, library, and five (5) general classrooms. The network should encompass the following devices with respect to location:

Each computer lab should have 22 computers. The network should allocate 21 computers for students and one computer for each instructor. The network should allocate a collective total of 132 computers, given the requirement of six total instructional labs.

The student computer lab requires 31 computers.

The network should allocate one computer for each of the six various offices-six computers in total.

The admission office requires five computers.

The library requires 15 computers, 10 for students and 5 for faculty.

Five individual classrooms each require a computer.

Network IP Addresses

Each device of the network must have a unique IP address. Reese (2015) writes, "In a network, every device must have its own unique IP address. That is every network device (printer, server, router, etc.) must be identified with a separate IP address."Reese (2015) explains, "With IP addresses, an organization is assigned a unique IP network, such as 192.168.1.0, but a single IP address must be assigned for each network device." For example, Device 1 (router) and Device 2 (office printer) would respectively have IP addresses, 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 (Reese, 2015).

Network IP Address Schematic

The following table provides the IP address ranges for the 194 computers that comprise the network. This network design assigns a sequential IP address within the designated IP address range.

Device Location & Designation

Start of IP range

End of IP range

Sequential IP examples within range

Labs 1, 2,3,4,5 & 6 instructor

10.11.0.0.1

10.11.0.0.6

10.11.0.0.1, 10.11.0.0.2,10.11.0.0.3

Lab 1 students

10.11.0.0.7

10.11.0.0.27

10.11.0.0.7, 10.11.0.0.8, 10.11.0.0.9

Lab 2 students

10.11.0.0.28

10.11.0.0.48

10.11.0.0.28, 10.11.0.0.29, 10.11.0.0.30

Lab 3 students

10.11.0.0.49

10.11.0.0.69

10.11.0.0.49, 10.11.0.0.50, 10.11.0.0.51

Lab 4 students

10.11.0.0.70

10.11.0.0.90

10.11.0.0.70, 10.11.0.0.71, 10.11.0.0.72

Lab 5 students

10.11.0.0.91

10.11.0.0.111

10.11.0.0.91, 10.11.0.0.92, 10.11.0.0.93

Lab 6 students

10.11.0.0.112

10.11.0.0.132

10.11.0.0.112, 10.11.0.0.113, 10.11.0.0.114

Library staff

10.11.0.0.133

10.11.0.0.137

10.11.0.0.133, 10.11.0.0.134, 10.11.0.0.135

Library student

10.11.0.0.138

10.11.0.0.147

10.11.0.0.138, 10.11.0.0.139, 10.11.0.0.140

classrooms A, B, C, D, E staff

10.11.0.0.148

10.11.0.0.152

10.11.0.0.148, 10.11.0.0.149, 10.11.0.0.150

Subnet Mask

A subnet mask corresponds to one of the following numerical codes: 255.255.255.0, 255.255.0.0, 255.0.0.0 (Reese, 2015). The network design determines the selection of the subnet mask. For instance, class C addresses have "a number from 192 to 223 in the first octet." The corresponding subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. "The number 255 indicates that the corresponding section of the address is part of the network address. The 0 indicates that the corresponding section is the host portion of the address (Reese, 2015)."

For the Network and IP address of 10.11.0.0, the subnet mask is 255.255.0.0, over a IP class A (0.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255). Following is a summary of the network address details.

IP Address: 10.11.0.0

Netmask: 255.255.0.0

Wildcard Mask: 0.0.255.255

CIDR Notation: / 16

Network Address: 10.11.0.0

Usable Host Range: 10.11.01-10.11.255.254

Broadcast Address: 10.11.255.255

Total Number of Hosts: 65,536

Number of Usable Hosts: 65,534

IP Class: A (0.0.0.0-127.255.255.255)

Table A, following, depicts the network and host portion of the IP address and corresponding subnet mask.

Table A: Subnet Mask

Network portion

Host Portion

10

11

0

0

0

0

Subnetting

Network Media

The design plan requires fiber optic cable for both floors as well as lines to connect the floors. The building spans 260 feet long and 95 feet wide. The base rectangular frame or ring for the each floor would require 710 feet of cable. Since both floor 1 & 2 will feature these rectangular rings, a total of 1420 feet of cable is required for these outer rectangular cable structures. In estimation the bus lines will be about 35% the width of the building or about 33 feet. With 9 lines for each floor, the network design will require another 594 feet of fiber optic cable. Both floors require 1200 feet of cable. Finally, given some rooms will use a tree typography structure from the rectangular ring or bus nodes, the network design calls for another 300 feet. The network design calls for a total of about 3,320 feet of fiber optic cable.

Fiber Optics

This network design incorporates the use of fiber optics. Freudenrich (2015) points out some of the advantages of using fiber optics could allow expansion of the network beyond digital needs.

Thinner:Optical fibers can be drawn to smaller diameters than copper wire.

Digital signals: Optical fibers are ideally suited for carrying digital information, which is especially useful in computer networks.

Higher carrying capacity: Because optical fibers are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be bundled into a given diameter cable than copper wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or more channels to come through the cable into your business or home.

Less signal degradation: The loss of signal in optical fiber is less than in copper wire.

Less expensive: Several miles of optical cable can be made cheaper than equivalent lengths of copper wire.

Light signals:Unlike electrical signals in copper wires, light signals from one fiber do not interfere with those of other fibers in the same cable. This means clearer phone conversations or TV reception.

Low power:Because signals in optical fibers degrade less, lower-power transmitters can be used instead of the high-voltage electrical transmitters needed for copper wires.

Non-flammable: Because no electricity is passed through optical fibers, there is no fire hazard.

Lightweight: An optical cable weighs less than a comparable copper wire cable. Fiber-optic cables take up less space in the ground.

Network Connections

The network design includes use of a router and a switch on each floor. Holt (2015) explains the functionality of the networking switch and router.

A switch is like a hub in that every device on the network is connected to it. However, a switch does not rebroadcast signals to all other devices. A switch makes a direct link between the device that is transmitting and the device that is receiving. All other devices are totally unaware of the communication taking place. For this reason, switches realize greater performance because bandwidth is not being wasted on needless rebroadcasting.

Routers are devices that can connect several network segments (even segments that are not alike in type). The router has the ability to make decisions about the best way to send network traffic to its destination.