Unit number: unit-title (template)

Assignment Brief

Student Name/ID
Number

Unit Number and Title 2-Networking

Academic Year

Unit Tutor
Principles and Design of Networked Systems
Assignment Title

Issue Date

Submission Date

Submission Format
The assignment submission is in the form of:
A formal 10-minute presentation (10–15 slides as a guide, with supporting speaker notes) to
communicate an investigation to a non-technical audience discussing the key features and
characteristics of a range of network types, topologies, hardware and software.
An implementation plan to design a networked system and maintenance schedule for the
specified scenario. The report should also include discussion of a range of server types and a
justification of the final selection, along with a test plan and an analysis of user feedback.
The recommended word limit is 1,000–1,500 words, although you will not be penalised for
exceeding the total word limit.
You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate, and all
work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system.
A technical report to demonstrate the implementation of the designs for a networked system.
The test plan created in the design should also be carried out and the test results recorded.
The recommended word limit is 1,500–2,000 words, although you will not be penalised for
exceeding the total word limit.
You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate,
and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard
referencing system.
A written report to evaluate the topology selected for the development of the networked system,
as well as an evaluation of the implemented network.
The recommended word limit is 1,000–1,500 words, although you will not be penalised for
exceeding the total word limit.
You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate, and all
work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system.

Unit Learning Outcomes

LO1 Examine networking principles and their protocols
LO2 Explain networking devices and operations
LO3 Design efficient networked systems
LO4 Implement and diagnose networked systems.

Transferable skills and competencies developed

Computing-related cognitive skills
● Computational thinking (including its relevance to everyday life)
● Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts, principles and
theories relating to computing and computer applications
● Use such knowledge and understanding in the modelling and design of computer-based
systems for the purposes of comprehension, communication, prediction and the
understanding of trade-offs
● Recognise and analyse criteria and specifications appropriate to specific problems, and
plan strategies for their solutions
● Critical evaluation and testing: analyse the extent to which a computer-based system
meets the criteria defined for its current use and future development
● Methods and tools: deploy appropriate theory, practices and tools for the design,
implementation and evaluation of computer-based systems.

Computing-related practical skills

● The ability to specify, design and construct reliable, secure and usable computer-based
systems
● The ability to evaluate systems in terms of quality attributes and possible trade-offs
presented within the given problem

The ability to deploy effectively the tools used for the construction and documentation of
computer applications, with particular emphasis on understanding the whole process
involved in the effective deployment of computers to solve practical problems
● The ability to critically evaluate and analyse complex problems, including those with
incomplete information, and devise appropriate solutions, within the constraints of a
budget.

Generic skills for employability

● Intellectual skills: critical thinking; making a case; numeracy and literacy
● Self-management: self-awareness and reflection; goal setting and action planning
● Independence and adaptability; acting on initiative; innovation and creativity
● Interaction: reflection and communication
●Contextual awareness, e.g. the ability to understand and meet the needs of individuals,
business and the community, and to understand how workplaces and organisations are
governed.
Vocational scenario

You are a Junior Network Administrator at Auraq Books Publishers (ABP) Ltd,founded in
2018 in the hope of contributing to Pakistan’s literature. The aim was to provide a
convenient option to writers who dreamt of publishing their work as book but was always
put down due to rejections from traditional publishers or didn’t get the quality services for
what they have paid for. We also believe that any writer can become author as long as
they have proper help and support from an established publishing organization.

Apart from Traditional Publishing, They also provide self-publishing services, Print-on-
Demand (POD), editorial services and cover design, book printing, marketing and sales
distribution. They don’t lead the writers, rather they work as a team side by side so the
creativity doesn’t stop. They keep them in loop through various processes of publishing
their book, guide them about their rights and royalties to make the things transparent.
This spirit of Auraq has helped them to win the trust of writers and authors not just within
the country but across the world.
ABP Ltd is currently situated in two office buildings and contains four Publishing Teams
that deal with subject-specific material: a team for Computer Science and Engineering, a
team for Maths and Physics, a team for Biological and Chemical sciences and a team for
the Biomedical Sciences.
Each Publishing Team has a Publishing Team Leader (PTL), and up to 20 Publishing Editors
(PE). Each team has their own secured area on the network. Each PE has access to their
own content only, as well as any shared team documentation, but they do not have access
to any other documentation.
The PTL can access all material for that team. There is an area for ABP company
documentation that anyone can view.
ABP receives manuscripts securely from their authors into an encrypted Public Repository
Server (PRS) located on the premises. The manuscripts are then extracted from this
repository by one of the four PTLs, who then assigns the manuscript to the PE.
All documentation and office software are located on a company file server.
Once a manuscript has been reviewed, it is uploaded to the Secure Publishing Server (SPS)
where the content is either sent electronically to an external printing company or is
available for download by paying customers.
SBP also maintains a team of three Network Administrators who have full admin access to
the entire network.
There is also a Senior Publishing Manager and CEO who have access to all
company documentation.
Since the 2020 pandemic, the company has realised that a hybrid working model is now
most effective for their employees. SBP is planning to close one office building completely
to allow staff to work from home if they choose.
ABP wants to set up their remaining building in the following physical configuration.
● The PRS and SPS servers are in a data centre on the top floor
● The middle floor is a suite of five public meeting rooms with full wired and wireless
access
● The Network Server Room containing the company network and email servers is on the
middle floor
● The network administrators are also located on the middle floor
● One network administrator must be present in the building each day. The on-site
network administrator uses a desktop machine for server administration
● The ground floor is to be a collection of 20 open-plan ‘hot desks’ where employees who
choose to come into work can go to any desk, plug their laptop into the cabled network
and begin working.
To facilitate working from home the company wants the following.
● Each employee is to be issued with a company laptop
● The laptop will contain a software firewall, as well as VPN client
● Employees will store company data on the company fileservers
● A high-throughput VPN server will need to be installed and configured to allow secure
connectivity for all remote working employees
● The security model of all company data must be preserved
● All office software must be accessed using a cloud-based delivery model, e.g. Google
Docs, Office 365
● Each employee is to be based in mainland Pakistan.

ABP also wants to explore moving the company data located on the fileserver to a cloud-
based offering such as SharePoint or Google Workspace, but they are also happy to
maintain a fileserver within the data centre if necessary.
The ABP network requirements are that:
● the data centre can handle high-volume traffic of data from inside and outside the
organisation
● the ground and middle floors have a mixture of wired and wireless connectivity
● all Publishing Teams are isolated from each other
● there is proper consideration given to network security to minimise a data breach
● a firewall will need to be installed and configured to allow inbound and outbound
traffic
● there is no lag of data traffic between floors and no connectivity ‘dead spots’
● any data sent to a cloud server or stored on the RPS server is encrypted
there are robust backup facilities in place for the SBP data in case of a data loss or security
breach
● the current network security model for teams and employees is preserved even though
employees are working from home.

The ABP CEO and Senior Network Administrator has asked you to design and build a
virtual network solution that will fulfill the company requirements. This will help ABP to
identify any potential issues in the requirements before spending money on closing a
building and reorganising the remaining building layout and employee requirements.
In addition, ABP wants you to create a presentation for them, showing the
range of available networking topologies, protocols, hardware and software, to
demonstrate that you have the breadth of knowledge available to you before
you begin the design task.

Assignment activity and guidance

Activity 1
Produce a formal presentation (with supporting notes) for the CEO and Senior Network
Administrator of ABP Ltd that explains the core principles of networks and networking
protocols. The presentation will also include a discussion of the range of network hardware
and software available to the systems developer.
Your presentation should include:
● a discussion of the benefits and constraints of different network types, e.g. wired,
wireless, hybrid
● a discussion of the benefits and constraints of different network standards, e.g. OSI,
TCP/IP, 802.x
● an explanation of the impact of network topology, communication and bandwidth
requirements, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each to a network design
● an assessment of common networking principles and how network protocols, e.g. IPv4,
IPv6, HTTPS, can enable an effective networked system
● a discussion of the operating principles of networking devices and network server types,
e.g. routers, switches, firewalls, repeaters, bridges, IoT gateways, domain, web, file and
database servers, access permissions
● a discussion of how workstation hardware and the relevant networking software depend
on each other.

Activity 2
You are required to design a networked solution for the requirements specified by SBP
Ltd. You should make use of whichever design tools and techniques are most appropriate
for your network and for the nature of the networked solution. You should produce your
evidence as an implementation plan.
Your implementation plan should include the following.
The design of the network, including any networking hardware, software, network
addresses and devices and users, including any network sub domains as well as the
physical location of these devices within the organisation
● Any device configuration and security considerations should be included
● The design of a maintenance schedule to support the networked system
● A test plan covering all areas of the networked system requirements, indicating the test
action, test data and expected results
● Feedback from a range of users on the effectiveness of the solution design
● An analysis of the user feedback with the aim of optimising the design and improving
the efficiency of the networked solution
● A clear explanation of how the network designs have been optimised and improved
● An explanation of the range of network server types available required by the ABP
scenario and a recommended selection
● A justification of the recommended server selection, with specific focus on cost and
performance optimisation.

Activity 3
You are required to implement a virtual networked solution for the requirements specified
by ABP Ltd. You should make use of whichever virtual network simulator is most
appropriate for your optimised network design and for the nature of the networked
solution. You should produce your evidence as a technical report.
Your report should include:
● clear evidence for the implementation of the optimised design, for example screenshots,
configuration files, annotated and verified demonstration evidence, network monitoring
reports
● a test plan implementation, using the test plan designed in Activity 2, clearly
documenting the test results against the expected results
● an analysis of the results of the test plan and, based on this, recommendations of
potential enhancements for the networked system.

Activity 4
Write an evaluative report for the CEO and Senior Network Administrator of ABP Ltd that
provides a reflective overview of the selected topology as well as the network design and
implementation.
Your report should include:
● an evaluation of network topology and any protocols selected for the given ABP
scenario
● an evaluation of how the topology and protocols demonstrate the efficient use of a
networking system
● a critical reflection on the final implemented network and design
● a critical reflection of the decisions made to enhance the network design and the
implemented solution.
Recommended Resources
Please note that the resources listed are examples for you to use as a starting
point in your research – the list is not definitive.
Weblinks:
[Link] (2022) Network Devices Explained [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1 August
2022]
[Link] (n.d.) What is a Firewall? [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1
August 2022]
[Link] (n.d.) What is an IoT Gateway? [online] Available at:
[Link]
gateway/ [Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (n.d.) A global network built for the cloud [online]
Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (2020) Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM) Tutorial
[online] Available at: [Link]
mask-vlsm-tutorial/ [Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (n.d.) What Is a Network Protocol, and How Does It Work?
[online] Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (2021) Networking [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1
August 2022]
[Link] (2022) TCP/IP protocols [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1 August
2022]
[Link] (2022) What Is Bandwidth? Definition, Meaning, and Details
[online] Available at: [Link] [Accessed 1
August 2022]
[Link] (2019) Secure design principles [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1 August
2022]
[Link] (2021) Network Server [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (2022) IoT gateway [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (2022) Brief Introduction: DHCP and DNS [online]
Available at: [Link]
introduction-dhcp-dns/ [Accessed 1 August 2022]
Virtual Network Simulators:
[Link] (n.d.) DNS/DHCP/EMAIL VIA PACKET TRACER [online] Available
at: [Link] [Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (2019) Tips and tools for simulating a complex network in a virtual
lab [online] Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (2022) EVE - The Emulated Virtual Environment For Network,
Security and DevOps Professionals [online] Available at: [Link] [Accessed
1 August 2022]
[Link] (2022) The software that empowers network professionals [online]
Available at: [Link] [Accessed 1 August 2022]
[Link] (n.d.) Cisco Packet Tracer [online] Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1 August 2022]
Journal articles
Agyemang, J., Kponyo, J. and Klogo, G., 2022. The State of Wireless Routers as Gateways for
Internet of Things (IoT) Devices. [online] [Link]. Available at:
<[Link] [Accessed 1 August 2022].
Oje, A. (2021) Optimization and analysis of the packet switched network with focus on the
3G network. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 1734, International Conference
on Recent Trends in Applied Research doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1734/1/012037 Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1
August 2022].
Tyagi, A. (2020) TCP/IP Protocol Suite. International Journal of Scientific Research in
Computer Science Engineering and Information Technology doi:10.32628/CSEIT206420
Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 1 August 2022].
Van der Toorn et al. (2022) Addressing the challenges of modern DNS a comprehensive
tutorial. Computer Science Review, Volume 45, 2022, 100469,
[Link]
Xu, G. (2021) Research on the Application of the IPv6 Network Protocol. Journal of Physics:
Conference Series doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2031/1/012040 Available at:
[Link] [Accessed 1
August 2022].
ZHUKOVYTS’KYY, Igor & PAKHOMOVA, Victoria. (2018). Research of token ring network
options in automation system of marshalling yard. Transport Problems. 13. 149-158.
doi:10.20858/tp.2018.13.2.14.
Reading:
Bonaventure, O. (2011) Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols and Practice, The
Saylor Foundation, Available at:
[Link]
content/uploads/2012/02/Computer-Networking-Principles-Bonaventure-1-30-31-
[Link]
Burgess, M. (2003) Principles of Network and System Administration. 2nd edn. John Wiley
and Sons Ltd.
Donahue, G. A. (2011) Network Warrior. 2nd edn. O'Reilly Media.
Goransson, P. Black, C. et al (2016) Software Defined Networks: A Comprehensive Approach.
2nd edn. Morgan Kaufmann
Limoncelli, T. and Hogan, C. (2001) The Practice of System and Network Administration.
Addison-Wesley.
Lowe, D. (2005) Networking All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies. 2nd edn. Hungry
Minds Inc.
Morgan Kaufmann. Hallberg, B. (2005) Networking: A Beginner’s Guide. 4th edn.
Osborne/McGraw-Hill US.
Olifer, N. and Olifer, V. (2005) Computer Networks: Principles, Technologies and Protocols
for Network Design. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Stallings, W. (2003) Data and Computer Communications. 7th edn. (Prentice Hall).
Tanenbaum, A. (2002) Computer Networks. Prentice Hall PTR.
HN Global
HN Global HN Global (2021) Reading Lists. Available at:
[Link]
HN Global (2021) Student Resource Library. Available at:
[Link]
HN Global (2021) Textbooks. Available at:
[Link]

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

Pass Merit Distinction

LO1 Examine networking principles and their

protocols

P1 Discuss the benefits M1 Assess common LO1 & LO2

and constraints of networking principles and D1 Evaluate the topology
different network types how protocols enable the protocol selected for a given
and standards. effectiveness of networked scenario and how it
P2 Explain the impact of systems. demonstrates the efficient
network topology, utilisation of a networking
communication and system.
bandwidth
requirements.
LO2 Explain networking devices and operations

P3 Discuss the operating M2 Explore a range of

principles of networking server types and justify the
devices and server types. selection of a server for a
P4 Discuss the given scenario, regarding
interdependence of cost and performance
workstation hardware and optimisation.
relevant networking
software.

Pass Merit Distinction

LO3 Design efficient networked systems

P5 Design a networked M4 Recommend potential LO3 & LO4

system to meet a given enhancements for the D2 Critically reflect on
specification. networked systems. the implemented
P6 Design a maintenance network, including the
schedule to support the design and decisions
networked system. made to enhance the
system.
LO4 Implement and diagnose networked systems.

P7 Implement a networked M4 Recommend potential

system based on a enhancements for the
prepared design. networked systems.
P8 Document and analyse
test results against
expected results.