Developing An Essay On LAN Solution For Windows Server And Client Environment.

Unit Learning Outcomes covered in this assessment

This assignment is designed to assess students’ knowledge and skills related to the following learning outcomes:
a. Analyse human usability in systems and documentation within the context of constantly changing modern industry requirements
b. Plan and implement various application servers for an organisation

A Canberra based new company is looking at setting up a LAN for their office. They have three different departments named General, Finance, and Marketing. All objects (e.g., users, computers, etc.) belonging to these departments should have their own different OU. The users require the following technologies to be
implemented within their LAN:

1. The client wants to use the Linux operating system as a server side operating system with the LDAP/SAMBA service to communicate between windows client machines and a Linux server

2. Centralised user authentication for Windows clients
3. The company wants to store all the files on a separate file server and only users with appropriate access will be able to access them (not every user should have access to the files). You can assume which users/groups will have access to these files; state your assumptions clearly, as well as configure accordingly.

Configuration of the Local Area Network Solution for People Software

For the development of the report the first scenario of development of a local area network (LAN) to support Windows Server and Client Environment is selected. Here the organization has a requirement to develop a centralized authentication system and print server configuration such that the users connected in the local area network can use the network printer for the management of their printing jobs. The server is also needed to be configured with DHCP address pool according the number of department and VLANs created for subnetting the network. There are some other serveries that are needed to be configured for increasing the efficiency of the users and workplace environment. For the configuration of the network for People Software a research is done on their requirement and Windows Server 2012 R2 is used for its configuration.

The report is prepared with the documentation of the details of requirement identified for the development of the Local area network solution. The process need to be followed for the development of the network is described in the report along with screenshots and commands. A summary of the steps followed for the configuration is attached with the report and a prototype of the network is configured for its demonstration and understanding its implementation in the real scenario.

The requirement of the development of local area network is needed to be identified for development of a user centric design for the network solution. The users of the local area network should be involved in the design and configuration of the network for identifying their needs and service essential for the configuration of the server. The identification of the roles and technology is important for gathering requirement for the configuration of the servers and deploy in the organizational network for meeting the needs of the users. The user should be divided into multiple groups according to their requirement to access the server resources and active directory should be configured for management of the access of the users. An Ip address plan should be developed such that it can be followed for the configuration to the DHCP service and allocate the IP address to the host connected in the local area network. The LAN is developed following a client server architecture and a powerful server is needed to be used for serving as a file server, print server and management of the centralized authentication. The server is also needed to be configured with AAA for enabling centralized user authentication for keeping the logs of the user and management of the resources. Decision is needed to be taken for the allocation of different service and roles to the specific users and the users should be interviewed for identifying the requirement and configure the server according to their needs.

Authentication Mechanism

The following are the identified services and rules that should be used for the configuration of the network and given below:

• AD RMS (Active Directory Rights Management Service)
• Print service for sharing the printer that is connected with the local area network
• DHCP for automatic allocation of IP address to the host connected in the local area network
• Configuring the server with IIS service for configuring the server to host website
• Configuring file server and management of the access to the user following group policy created for the management of the access of users

There are different authentication method such as centralized or distributed authentication mechanism that can eb deployed for increasing the security of the network. Since the network of People software is located in a single location a centralized authentication would be more suitable for it. The server is needed to be configured with AAA service and a role based access control I needed to be configured for granting permission to the users to use the resource. The system administrator is responsible to create group policy and exclude the specific group of members to access the internal resources of the organization. The servers can also be configured with access control list and firewall configuration should be followed for restricting the user to access the files.

A range of Ip address should be excluded from the DHCP scope while configuring the pool for configuring the servers with static IP address and eliminating the risk of DHCP conflict. A prototype of the network is needed to be configured in a network simulating tool and a role based access control should be used for granting permission for using the resources. The system administrator should be flexible for grouping the people following the organizational framework. The RADIUS protocol should be implemented for allowing the user to grant resources for example sharing of files and printers. It can also be used for configuring the server for accessing different networks such as VPN, local and wireless access. TACACS+ configuration should be used for increasing the security and accessing different types of network devices such as routers, firewalls for enabling device administration.

IIS components on windows server is needed to be enabled from the server manager for configuring the server with WEB service. During adding roles and features different components are needed to be enabled such as the common HTTP features, security, application development, management tools. For the configuration of the WEB server ASP .NET can be used and the files should be pasted in the WEB folder for running the site. The internal website if developed in PHP platform the root is needed to be configured for enabling the PHP cgi module and handler mapping for running the web pages.

For enabling the company to store the files on a separate file server and allowing only users with appropriate access to access the files residing on the server the primary server is needed to be configured with access control list. File system ACLs should be implemented and policies should be created for management of the access of the user to reach the file server. Discretionary access control should be applied where the owner of the file puts the access regulation for the group of users for whom the file is created. The file server should be configured from the server resource manager for the management of files and information residing on the server. Different services such as SMTP and FTP services should be enabled and the activity should be evaluated for identification of usage pattern and generating reports.

DHCP Configuration

The following screenshot provides the details of configuration of AA service in the server connected in the local area network of ” People Software”.

The scenario for the development of a local area network solution that support windows server client environment a research is done on the client server architecture. The network is designed by analyzing the organizational structure and the network is divided into four subnet according to the department. The server that is needed to be deployed in the network is configured with all the needed services such as AAA, IIS, DHCP, DNS, File server for meeting the needs of the user. The screenshot of the configuration of the network is attached with the document. For the configuration of the local area network Cisco packet tracer is used that demonstrates the network device that are used for the development of the network. The devices are configured following an IP addressing plan and the interface is needed to be selected for communication with the end point of the network. The main goal of designing the network framework is to deploy a RADIUS server and inspect the protocols for the development of the local area network infrastructure. The authentication of the user is needed to be maintained using the RADIUS server and the service that is essential for the management of the Web service is needed to be identified for the configuration of IIS service. DHCP scope is create for each of the department for subnetting the network address and increase the efficiency of communication. Active directory configuration is done on the network for management of accessibility of the user and restricting a department to access the files of other department such that confidentiality of the information is maintained and the network solution is secured from the internal and the external agents associated with the network.

For the demonstration of the network solution developed for People Software the following screenshots are used that helps in sharing knowledge and information about the network device, interface and links used for connecting the different network device installed in the network. For the configuration of the server Windows Server 2012 R2 datacenter edition is selected since it has support for Hyper V and can be virtualized for meeting the increased needs of the organization. The deployed server is needed to be configured from the server manager and roles and services are needed to be enabled aligning the requirement of the organization. For configuring and management of the user access the Role based access control is used for granting permission to the user based on their roles configured as a policy in the active directory. The other configuration are done on the routers and switches used for redirecting the data traffic between different source and destination address in the network.

IIS Server Configuration

The report concludes that for the development of the local area network for people software a study is needed to be made on the client server design principles and a virtual server is configured for the demonstration of the service and configuration essential for meeting the business needs of the company. A feasibility study is made on the requirement of the organization for identification of the roles and service needed to be configured. The configuration screenshots are attached with the report that helps in identification of the steps followed for the configuration of the network and server to develop the local area network solution for the company. The network is designed following the user centric design for maximizing the usability of the network and eliminate the risk of changes in requirement after the development of the network. It is needed to be tested for analyzing the vulnerability and apply different authentication mechanism for increasing the security of the network framework. For the management of the security the security logs should be evaluated and AAA  protocol should be used for management of authorization, authentication and accessibility of the user to access the resources and services configured for the users connected in the local area network.

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