How to install a Network for a School System.(Essay)
This is the Scenario
Your consulting firm has been approached by a local Elementary School. The school is adding computers that have been donated by a local company. An extended star topology has been suggested, using some hubs that are available.
Scenario: The very basic details are as follows: Your Elementary is a four-year-old, single-level building with 12 classrooms and a library. Each classroom currently has 24 students but could possibly seat 32 students. There are currently no portable classrooms but a student enrollment growth is just starting to hit the school.
Enough computers are available for six classrooms and the library immediately, and the intent is to outfit the remaining six classrooms next year. The plan is to make the Internet and some online services available to the students. The computers are current enough to be useful for at least two years.
The library, which is somewhat centrally located, is where the server(s) and router connecting the school to the Internet will be located. The school is exploring the possibility of using twisted pair cabling (CAT5) for their network and is looking for your recommendation.
Is their choice of twisted pair the best solution for the school's network? What are the benefits to using this kind of cable? What are the limitations? Select at least 2 other network mediums and include the following in your assignment: Provide an overview of the medium What are the benefits and limitations to the selected medium? Is this a better choice for the school than their selection of twisted pair cabling? Explain your reasoning.
How many connections/IP addresses does the school need immediately? How many might it eventually need for the initial seven rooms? How many could it need if it gets enough computers for the entire school? Exact numbers aren't expected, but you should be able to estimate pretty close from the data provided.
Adhere to MLA formatting and reference guidelines when writing your response. Additionally, your response should be free of grammatical errors, use complete sentences, and give specific details to support statements.
From my analysis the school system needs to transmit loads of data to and from multiple computers wireless and wired. While computers are being operated and data is being transferred, the system will have to use web chat features and voice over IP for teacher's conference and web conference meetings. When the school uses the conferences they will not need to have a cross talk problem with the voice and sound transfer this will cause errors in hearing and complications within those actual sessions. Using the UTP CAT5 cable wiring would be a real effective choice because, it saves money and its features come in varieties to enable other advanced uses or for upgrades in the system topology.
The benefits of using the Twisted Pair CAT5 wire cable is that, twisted pair consists of color coded and insulated wires. Every two wires are twisted around each other to form pairs, and all pairs are encased in a plastic sheath. This makes the security features of the wire great for a school system, because sometimes a school system makes a lot of renovations and movement in and around the system can cause wear and tear to the devices and the devices parts, mainly the wiring. Since the twisted pair cable uses wire twists the more twists per foot the more resistant the pairs are to having crosstalk problems. The school system will need a large amount of meters in the twisted pair cable, and because of this creating a high twist ratio will result in greater attenuation. Twisted Pair Cables can be used in a variety of environments and in the form of 100 different designs. The school needs this cable in for up to six classrooms and will need seven more in the future, so creating this high ratio will ensure the system will be very resistant to crosstalk errors. Twisted pair cabling is inexpensive, flexible and easy to install, and also it can span over a long distance, before requiring a repeater. It has handles fast networking transmission rates and always has updates. Twisted Pair cables fall into two categories STP (Shielded Twisted Pair), and UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair). Types of twisted pair cables consist of the following, CAT, 3, 4, 5, 5e, 6, 6e, and 7. So having this wire in a school system will enable the school to be more flexible and have faster internet connections, transfer and download speeds. This is what a school needs when having a server and internet connections, based on multiple computers that are being accessed in multiple areas of the system. They require local hubs and usually last about 5 years, so this intern makes a good choice for the system. Using a wires system protects the system from hacks and system destruction, while the wireless is more vulnerable with the right pc or software it can be hacked and destroyed, so using wired features stabilizes the systems information. The system will be using p2p (Point to Point) connections, and will run from one computer to another.
The limitations are that the computers will have to stay connected from point to point, and they will be incompatible if connecting to more than one computer by using a switch or hub, and the system will need to use crossover cables for connection to a router. So the disadvantages are limited and harmless, the system will have computers wired from point to point, along with a server and a router. So, using the twisted pair cables will not have many complications but have some if the connections aren't point to point. (ASK). Fiber-Optic Cable: contains one of several glass or plastic fibers in its centers, or core. Data gets transferred by a pulsing light that is sent through a laser or an LED (light emitting diode) through the central fibers. How it reflects light back depends on the transmission node. Fiber Optic comes in a wide variety, and depends on how the manufacturer wants to use it. It can connect facilities of large telephones, and is much more expensive than twisted pair. Fiber optics is the most expensive transmission medium, and has light based signals that are transferred at fast rates, and 1 billion laser light seconds are processed by one glass strand per second. Hiring skilled fiber cable installers is more expensive than hiring UTP cable installers.
This wouldn't be a better choice for a school system because of the cost and the limitations are very high, and due to what are needed to run the server based network connection that is needed for the classrooms, the system wouldn't operate effectively. The system needs a network that is easy to operate and less expensive to manage. Fiber-Optic Cable, is used in plants and factories, school uses pc to pc connection with a server based network topology. So, using this cable wouldn't do anything but cause complications and also, the costs of the cables are high and NIC Hubs cost 5 times more than hubs used by UTP cables. Wi-Fi: Wireless networks use a radio frequency to communicate with other wireless-enabled computers and devices or independent access points. Wi-Fi is used to increase speeds and stability of the network, also the connection allows more than one users to use the connection as long as it is free connection, if not they must know the network key encryption or the connection will not be given. Wi-Fi connections are used for businesses, large factories, and for equipment like handheld RF switches. Without a Wi-Fi connection wireless devices and transmission over large areas will not be accessed. The school system needs to be connected from pc to pc, so using a wireless network would only cause security problems and also accessing school files on the server would have to be secure 100% or they would risk a loss of all data and all files and grades,. The system would be vulnerable for at and other security risks. Wi-Fi, connections can cause problems when the internet is having problems and also is easier for hackers to access once they have the encryption key. They can access the server and destroy all the system memory and data. So, in turn using a Wi-Fi based system wouldn't be a good source, because it will cause security problems and also school systems only use this for colleges and only in certain areas that need distant learning. Since there will only be a handful of students using the CAT5 cables would be the best choice to go with.
The school needs about (144) IP addresses because it has 6 class rooms with 24 students each classroom, in order to have all the computers connected to the server for data transfer and server based educational material (144) IP addresses will be needed. For the initial seven classrooms they will need 84 more IP addresses to given, this is because each class uses 24 students and multiply this by 7, and it equals 84. If they get enough computers for the entire school, they will need exactly (416) IP addresses total for the whole school system. This covers the library and the twelve classrooms with 32 students. Once the system is fully upgraded, the learning experience will be fun and also there security will be strong due to using CAT5, p2p (Point to Point) connection, it will not be easy to hack the system and destroy data associated with the school system. Once all the IP addresses are assigned each device will be able to interact with the internet and host services as well. The CAT5 feature turns out to be a great choice for the school system, because Fiber optic is used for businesses that need fast data transfers and wireless connections are used for building that use devices like RF switches to transfer and pull from a database without having to access them manually. Again, CAT5 makes a good choice for the system.
Works Cited Ask. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 24, 2014, from Ask: http://www.ask.com/question/what-are-the-disadvantages-of-twisted-pair-cables Dean, T. (2010). Network+ Guide to Networks. Boston, MA 02210: Course Technology, Cengage Learning. (HubTechInsider). Retrieved January 24, 2014, from hubtechinsider.wordpress.com: http://hubtechinsider.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-fiber-optics/ PC Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2014, from pcmag.com: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/47894/network-medium theofa.org. (n.d.). theofa.org. Retrieved January 24, 2014, from thefoa.org: http://www.thefoa.org/tech/FAQS/FAQ-GENL.htm Webopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2014, from Webopedia: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Wi_Fi.html
Created on February 06, 2014 || Author: Lionel Sharpe
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