Network 208 Week 1

Memorandum

The department in Cleveland’s network design will be based off the number of people that are going to connect to the network, the number of stations, and if they are wireless or hardwired connections. We are going to assume wireless connections are needed. I will need to assess the area(s) that we will be covering & how many people will be connected, as well as, how many will be connected at once.

Depending on the total amount of PC’s, I will then determine the minimal number of IP addresses needed. I would like to use the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for our network. The DHCP has a set of IP addresses which would be leased out to each computer used. This will also allow the adding and subtracting of a computer with no need for further assistance from a technician because the network will configure itself. An advantage of DHCP, a NAT network only uses the IP addresses that are needed by the network. That means if there are only 12 computers in use for a certain day, only 12 IP address will be needed and used on the network. This will cut costs and will also allow more security for the network.

However, if we will have only a set of computers, I would rather go static IP (static IP is where I make each computer have a number and you keep that number). This will actually speed the network up over all and make it so that if we have a computer issue, I know where to find the it because we can map it out and can quickly find the computer based on the IP having the issue. It will also allow security for one computer (say the server) that is not needed by another computer because IP addresses are like fingerprints; we always know who is who.

NAT (Network Address Translation) does not require that all IP addresses need to be in use. This will allow me to choose a range that is small enough to keep speed high; however, allow for growth over the next 2-3 years. A requirement for this or any setup is a switch and router. I would like...