CASE STUDY: Designing Network Infrastructure

CASE STUDY FOR TCOM 633

Introduction:

The purpose of this case study is to implement the skills the student learns over the
course. The goal is to design a series of LANs and link them with a corporate WAN.
Costs and technologies studies bear an important role in the design. The case is a scaled-
down version of an actual operating network. From the student’s perspective, the
completed case study forms a practical reference guide for future projects. Detailed
diagrams and justification are required at each stage. The objective is to allow the student
to rationalize the design and document details for future reference.

Background:

Company ABC is planning a wide area network to link 3 of its sites with a new
building, which will be its corporate headquarters. The location for this site is downtown
Riverside. The company is moving from a proprietary protocol (poll-select) facilitating
communications with its Unisys mainframe to a few hundred terminals scattered at the 3
sites and at its present headquarters to TCP/IP and clustered HP N-class servers, running
64-bit HP/UX 11.0 (a variant of Unix). In addition, there are approximately 32 HP
NetServers running Windows 2000 servers running file/print services, SQL Server 2000
Databases, and middleware and web-front ends for Oracle 8i RDBMs on the clustered N-
class servers. The Intel servers have a minimum storage capacity of 36 GB of data to a
maximum of 400 GB of data. Roughly 1.5 TB is presently stored on all the machines.
The rate of increase of data per month is expected to be around 20% per month. When the
total storage reaches a threshold of 6 TB, old data is migrated to CDROM and removed
from the systems. The HP N-cluster has its own attached Storage Area network (SAN)
which is backed up through a tape library consisting of an HP Surestore Tape Library
having 2 Digital Linear Tape (DLT) mechanisms each independently backing up to 40
GB per tape (uncompressed) and 70 GB (compressed). The SAN is a private LAN
between the N-class nodes and the disk array unit, with its own switch.

At its new headquarters, the company will put in 200 new PCs. The PCs are all
Dell Dimension L series with 17-inch monitors and 3 COM 10/100 Ethernet network
cards. Drops, located throughout any floor in the building, feed back to an Intermediate
Distribution Frame (IDF) located on that floor. Each IDF communicates back to the
central Master Distribution frame, located on the first floor via redundant pairs of
multimode fiber. This multimode fiber can accommodate gigabit Ethernet.

The MDF is located on the first floor, in the computer room. The computer room
also houses all the servers. All network communications within the computer room run at
Gigabit bandwidth; uplinks to switches located at the various IDFs are also at this
bandwidth. Switches are Cisco 3500 XL series having 48x10/100 Mbps ports and 2 SX
fiber modules at 1 GB/s. The pricing chart for these along with other devices is included
in Appendix A.

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The main router is a Cisco 7206 VXR with the following attributes:
(1) The VXR chassis and redundant power supplies
(2) A 4 port Fast Ethernet blade
(3) A blade for whatever technology is deemed appropriate (ATM, HSSI, etc.) If
HSSI, don’t forget to purchase the necessary DSU/CSU [example Kentrox]
(4) A serial card with 4 serial ports.
(5) Any other blade deemed necessary by you

Firewall: To isolate the company’s network from the Internet, a Cisco firewall is
recommended. Investigate the Cisco PIX 515 series. They are intended to be redundant,
but you can ignore this consideration for the case.

Traffic Requirements for LAN at Headquarters:

With the exception of people logging in simultaneously every morning, LAN

requirements are expected to be in the range 8-10 Kbps per PC for normal UDP and
TCP/IP traffic. Bursts of up to 1 Mbps are expected. Further with Internet streaming
audio and video, roughly 10-15% of the PCs will have a sustained bandwidth requirement
of up to 300 Kbps from about 9 am to 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm until about 4:00 pm. At
about 8:00 am or 5:00 pm the design load for traffic requirements per PC is around 70
Kbps. This is for DHCP, DNS, Active Directory and E-Mail requests/responses per PC.
DNS leases are for 8 hours, renewed every 4 hours, so barring network/server problems,
there will be a burst every 4 hours beginning 8:00 am until the PC is shutdown. If PCs are
left logged on and running, after hours, even with DHCP requests/responses, traffic
requirements go back down to the 8-10 Kbps range, per PC. Further, after 6:00 pm every
day, Monday through Friday, incremental backups are performed only on the server
subnet. A designated backup server contacts each of the 32 PC servers and backs them
up. Appropriate software agents shutdown SQL Server databases and Oracle 8i instances
and the backup then starts for Intel based servers. During peak transfers, the traffic on the
network can rise to a sustained 640 to 800 Mbps for about 4 hours. In addition, the N-
Class cluster with associated SAN is also backed up, but as mentioned before backups do
not affect the LANs, since they run over their private LAN.

Traffic requirements at sites:

The design number of stations is not to exceed 80. Each site has one LAN and LAN
traffic requirements are exactly the same as for headquarters. WAN traffic consists of
DNS/DHCP, file and print requests to the servers back at headquarters, and also Internet
Traffic/E-Mail. Use the same design parameters as headquarters.

Network devices at sites:

Each site is standardized on the following equipment:

Cisco 2524 router with one 10 Mbps Ethernet port and one T1/F-T1 Wan Interface Card
(WIC)

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2 Cisco Catalyst 3500 Series XL switches with 2 fiber SX ports per switch and 48x 10-
100 Mbps ports each.

The devices are rack mounted in a secure room, having adequate ventilation and air-
conditioning. The rack also is the MDF for each facility with patch panels mounted in it.
Patch cables link ports on the switches with ports on the patch panel and plenum-rated
Category 5e cable is punched at the patch panel and terminates in a faceplate near the
users’ area.

Dimensions of each site:

Each site is roughly rectangular in plan with dimensions 150 feet by 80 feet. One of the
short walls houses the MDF and Telco MPOE.

Dimensions of headquarters:

The dimensions of corporate headquarters are 350 feet by 120 feet in plan with 2 stories.
IDFs are located in the central core near elevators. The core dimensions are 30 feet by 10
feet, with the IDFs occupying the last 5x10 feet. Elevators adjacent to the IDF closets
account for the remaining 25x10 feet. The MPOE is located exactly at 175 feet (mid-
point) of a long wall. The front entrance occupies the center of the opposite long wall.

Overall description of WAN requirements:

Corporate headquarters is situated within the City of Riverside, serviced by the Market
Street CO. This CO is part of a SONET ring put in by Pacific Bell. Fiber leads from the
switch to corporate headquarters, and it is capable of carrying bandwidth up to 45 Mbps
(DS3) .

One site is on 14th street, less than a half-mile away from corporate headquarters. The
company has right of way to reach it. Further, the site is within line of sight of
headquarters, with no likelihood of tall trees or buildings ever obstructing the field of
view. It is serviced by the same Pacific Bell CO. The second site is located in Indio (46-
1274 Oasis Street; a fictitious address). The telecommunications carrier in this LATA is
Verizon. Finally, the third site is situated in Murrieta (1676 “A” Street; a fictitious
address), also serviced by Verizon.

Pacific Bell and Verizon both provide the following services: ATM, Point-to-point and
frame (within their service areas). If traffic has to cross from one service area to another,
there are 2 possibilities to affect this transfer:

1. For point-to-point circuits originating in Verizon territory, Sprint can handle

Inter-LATA transport to Pacific Bell territory. Approximate setup cost per circuit
from Sprint is $ 1,200 with monthly costs of about $ 750 for a bandwidth of 1.544
Mbps (T-1). In addition Pacific Bell has a one-time setup cost of $1,000 with
monthly recurring charges of $300 and Verizon, a one-time setup charge of $

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1,500 with on-going monthly costs of $600. For fractional Ts, assume that the
setup charge remains the same for all providers, while the monthly costs are
proportional to the fraction of a T1. [Note: This is really not true, but it allows for
simpler calculations].
2. For frame circuits originating in Verizon, there is an install charge of $ 1,000 with
monthly recurring costs of $ 350 for a Frame T1 with a CIR of 50%. For higher
CIRs, linearly interpolate with a 100% CIR having a recurring charge of $ 700 per
month. In addition each PVC (if considering ATM or frame) has monthly service
charge of $10. Pacific Bell has a minimum CIR of 90% and charges a $15 per
PVC/per month recurring charge.

A geographical map of the area is provided in Appendix B

Costs for Network devices:

Costs are detailed in Appendix A. For devices that are essential, but not mentioned,
provide reasonable cost estimates.

Internet connectivity:

As can be inferenced, only headquarters is directly connected to the ISP. The ISP
provides two Class Cs (which can be sub-netted any way the organization chooses). The
organization has decided to use a few for DMZ devices and employ a RAS server that
allocates around 200 addresses for home use. The rest are kept in reserve.

In addition to circuit (transport) costs, to access the Internet, the organization will incur
monthly costs for Internet port charges (costs borne by the ISP in its peering agreement
with the NAP). A fully utilized DS3 incurs port charges (for that bandwidth of $10,000
per month; a 1.536 Mbps (T1, less overhead of 8K) PVC to the ISP on that DS3 costs
roughly $ 800 per month. Port charges for bandwidth corresponding to a multiple of
1.536 Mbps are roughly linear; this means, the same multiplicative factor should be
applied to the bandwidth you have chosen.

Also, the install charges for a DS3 are about $ 8,000, with transport charges of $ 3000 a
month.

Tasks:

These are to be done in a systematic manner, beginning with the first and progressing
your way downward. Each section becomes a portfolio item in your design project.
Provide drawings and spreadsheets as appendices to your case study. Each section should
be provided as a detailed report written in a professional manner.

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(1) Detail traffic requirements and bandwidth required at the various sites in order to size
circuits. If you want to, you can go with alternative technologies especially for the
site on 14th street.
(2) Provide initial cost estimates based on install and recurring costs. If you have used
alternative technologies, provide estimates for the devices. Don’t forget shipping
charges and tax, and subsequent labor. Prevailing rates for labor are generally $ 120
hour.
(3) Detail the different LANs. Provide drawings showing the drops, MDFs and Telco
MPOEs. Calculate peak and average design traffic loads
(4) Draw a schematic of headquarters (both floors). Detail drops, IDFs, the MDF and the
Telco MPOE. Calculate peak and average design traffic loads at the MDF
(5) Architect the WAN linking different sites with headquarters. Take into account the
different CIRs that the Telcos (both Verizon as well as Pacific Bell have to be
considered, and design for the lower CIR).
(6) Connect the WAN to the Internet at headquarters. Detail the different devices at the
MDF along with roles performed. For the border router show the individual roles that
each blade performs. Don’t forget the Cisco PIX device after this border router. At
the sites show the configuration of all the other routers, and any other device you may
need.
(7) Now add the necessary servers in the DMZ such as the RAS, and DNS servers.
Remember that these occupy world-valid IP address space. Provide sample
configurations (the Linux DNS configuration files will aid you greatly).
(8) Since this is an RFC 1918 network an internal DHCP server is required. Detail how it
will be used. Plan out the scope, the address space and other parameters. The
Windows 2000 server built for the TCOM lab should assist you in this.
(9) Provide bandwidth monitoring and security monitoring tools. Perform research on
freely available and commercial security tools
(10) Write your final paper, which will include the 9 sections above as well as a final
network diagram, and comments on your overall design, which incorporates all
nine preliminary steps described above. Discuss your design assumptions, your
overall design, and the potential limitations of your proposed architecture.

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APPENDIX A
Network Devices Costs
Note to Students: These costs are for project purposes only, They are not necessarily
representative of current actual costs, although they were generally correct when this case
study was developed in August, 2001. If you had to gather these costs for this project, it
would take more time than is available in this course.

No Quantity Description Cost (in $)

1 1 Cisco 7206 VXR chassis with documentation CD $45,000

2 2 Power supply (@ $300 each) $600
3 1 HSSI blade $25,000
4 1 4 port serial blade $6,000
5 4 Cables/connectors (@ 120 per set) $480
6 1 4 port fast ethernet blade $4,000
7 1 ATM blade capable of handling upto one OC-3 (155 Mbps) $20,000
8 Shipping and handling (%15 per cent of cost)
9 1 Cisco IOS 12.1 TCP/IP only $10,000
10 Applicable tax (7.5% of purchase price not including shipping)

10 1 ADC Kentrox SMDS TSU $13,000

11 1 ADC Kentrox DS3 (Frame) CSU/DSU $11,000
Applicable taxes and shipping (like previous item)

13 1 Cisco PIX 515 firewall $6,000

14 1 Cisco PIX firewall software $4,000
Applicable taxes and shipping

15 1 Cisco 2524 router with documentation $1,200

16 1 Ethernet module $400
17 1 Wan Interface Card with integral DSU/CSU upto T1/FT1 (WIC) $800
18 1 Cisco IOS 12.1 TCP/IP only $1,500

Add any other costs you may incur such as cabling costs, other device costs and
installation/configuration charges (roughly $ 120/hour). The Cisco Catalyst 3500 switch
chassis is around $ 3,000. Fiber SX modules are around $ 900 each, copper GBIC (1000
base T) modules are around $ 800 each.

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APPENDIX B
Geographic Map of area encompassed by WAN

As mentioned, 14th street is less than ½ mile away from corporate headquarters

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APPENDIX C - Glossary

CIR Committed Information Rate

DHCP Dynamic Host Control protocol (alternative to BootP)
DMZ Demilitarized Zone (in a network sense, devices are world-
accessible)
DNS Domain Name Server
GBIC Gigabit Interface over Copper
HP/UX Hewlett-Packard’s Unix variant
HSSI High Speed Serial Interface (for Cisco routers)
IDF Intermediate Distribution Frame
IOS Cisco proprietary – Internet Operating System
MDF Master Distribution Frame
MPOE Minimum Point of Entry (a.k.a. Demarcation point for Telco)
PIX Cisco proprietary firewall
PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit (used in Frame-relay or ATM)
RAS Remote Access Server (Dial-up with authentication)
RDBMS Relational database Management System
SMDS Simple Multi-megabit Data Services
WIC Wan Interface Card (used in Cisco devices as a combination
DSU/CSU with RJ-45 Telco interface to a DS-1 circuit)

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