ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINERING AND COMPUTING

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

INTERNSHIP REPORT
ON
ASTU-ICT Directorate Networking Department
By
OLYAD TEMESGEN ID No. R/0977/08

HEYO GUTA ID No. R/0638/08

SAMUEL ESHETU ID No. R/1025 /08

Host Company: ASTU

Duration: July - August 2018

Submission Date: OCT 18, 2018
Advisor: Desalegn
Supervisor: Beyene
Approval of the Internship Report
We, hereby declare that this Internship Report is submitted to the partial fulfillment
of the internship program during the last two months. Any part of this report has
not been reported or copied from any report of the university and others.
Approved by:
______________________ _________________________
Academic Advisor  Company Supervisor

I
Executive summary
This report is about to explain what we did and learned during our internship period for the last
40 working days with ASTU-ICT Directorate. The main purpose of the internship is to learn by
working in practical environment and to apply the knowledge acquired during the studies in the
real world scenario in order to tackle the problems using the knowledge and skill we learned
during the academic process. Also the benefit of the internship report is to write the experience
we have gained from the internship and to share our experience to those who read our report and
want to benefit from it. Writing this report gave us the knowledge of our day-to-day activities of
the internship, to use our experience and to further it for the better advantage as well.

The report is divided into five sections:

Introduction: -this part contains the general overview of the internship including
objective of internship, scope of work expected, outputs expected and also contains about
ASTU ICT that includes background of ASTU, Mission of ASTU as well as the services
it gives.
Management, training and employee information: -this part contains our duties, our
supervisor’s role to achieve our assignment related to the internship and the qualities we
developed to succeed our daily duties.
Specific job information: -this part contains our daily duties and responsibilities during
the internship period, as well as the beneficial technical skills we used from the course we
have learned.
Reflection and Conclusion: -this part contains the general reflection we have on the
internship and the conclusion we accounted of ASTU.
Recommendation: -this part contains our general recommendation about ASTU in our
report.

II
 Acknowledgement
First and foremost, we would like to express our deepest sense of gratitude to God who has
consistently supported us with continued strength and knowledge all throughout this internship
period. Next want to acknowledge Mr. Kassahun, Mr. Beyene, Mr. Hussein, Mr.Nardos, Mr.
Endale, Mr. Berhanu, Ms.Lidiya, Ms. Tsega for their non-stopping support at internship work
place.

Finally, great gratitude to everyone who helped and guided us while working and gave us some
good advices that helped us during our internship period.

Thank you!

III
Table of Contents
Approval of the Internship Report………………………………………………………………I
Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................II
Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................III
List of Acronyms ..........................................................................................................................VI
List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………….VII
List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………………,,,..,,VII
Chapter One
1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1
1.1 Objective of the internship ...........................................................................................1
1.2 Scope of work expected ...............................................................................................1
1.3 Output expected............................................................................................................1
1.4 Background ofASTU....................................................................................................1
1.4.1 Vision of ASTU.........................................................................................................3
1.4.2 Mission of ASTU.......................................................................................................3
1.4.3 Core Values ...............................................................................................................3
Chapter Two
2. Management, Training and Employee Information .............................................................4
Chapter Three
3. Specific Job Information ..........................................................................................................6
3.1 Crimping an internet cable ...........................................................................................7
3.2 Hole Punching ..............................................................................................................9
3.3 Patch Panel ..................................................................................................................10
3.4 Rack ...……………………………………………………………………………….12
3.5 Fiber Optic Cable ……………………………………………………………………13
3.5.1 What is Fiber Optic and Its Advantage? ………………………..……………..13
3.5.2 Fiber Optic Slicing …………………………………………………………….13
3.5.2.1 Fiber Splicing Methods …………………………………………….......14
3.5.2.2 Fiber optic cable Standard Color Code ……………………………….....14
3.5.2.3 Fusion Splicing Golden Rule ………………………………………...15
3.5.2.4 Fusion Splicing Steps ………………………………………………........15

IV
 3.6 Switch configuration ………………………………………………………………..16
3.6.1 What is Switch and How it works? …………………………………………...16
3.6.2 Basic switch functions, names and passwords ……………………………......17
3.6.2.1 Moving between modes …………………………………………….17
3.6.2.2 Configuring a name ………………………………………………....18
3.6.2.3 Command interpretation ……………………………………………18
3.6.2.4 Disabling DNS look-up …………………………………………......18
3.6.2.5 The 'no' keyword ……………………………………………………19
3.6.2.6 Passwords …………………………………………………………...19
3.6.2.6.1 Privilege mode password (enable password) ……………19
3.6.2.6.2 Password for the console ……………………………......19
3.6.2.6.3 Password for network access ……………………………19
3.6.2.7 Configuring a banner ………………………………………………..20
3.6.3 VLAN, access and trunk ports ………………………………………………...20
3.6.3.1 Configuring VLAN ………………………………………………….21
3.6.3.2 Configuring access ports …………………………………………….21
3.6.3.2.1 Associating the port with a VLAN ……………………….22
3.6.3.3 Configuring trunk ports ……………………………………………..22
3.6.3.3.1 The 'native' VLAN ……………………………………….22
3.6.4 SVI, IP address and telnet ……………………………………………………23
3.6.4.1 Configuring the SVI and IP address ……………………………….23
3.6.4.2 Revisiting telnet ……………………………………………………23
3.6.5 Working with the configuration ……………………………………………..23
3.7 Router ……………………………………………………………………………...24
Chapter Four
4. Reflection and Conclusion ......................................................................................................26
Chapter Five
5. Recommendations ...................................................................................................................29

V
 List of Acronyms

ASTU – Adama Science and Technology University

ICT – Information Communication Technology
IP – Internet Protocol
LAN – Local Area Network
NAT – Network Address Translation
PC – Personal Computer
RJ-45 – Registered Jack 45
UTP – Unshielded Twisted Pair
STP-Shielded Twisted Pair
WAN – Wide Area Network
STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
IOS- Internetwork Operating System
MD5- Message Digest 5
VTY- Virtual Terminal Line
VLAN- Virtual Local Area Network
ID-Identifier
VID- VLAN Identifier
STP-Spanning Tree Protocol
IEEE 802.1Q- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802-Dot1q
ISL-Inter-Switch Link
SVI- Switched Virtual Interface
FDDI- Fiber Distributed Data Interface
MAC- Media Access Control
ISP- Internet Service Provider
CPU -Central Processing Unit
RAM- Random Access Memory
ROM- Read Only Memory

VI
OS- Operating System

NTC- Nazareth Technical College

NCTTE- Nazareth College of Technical Teacher Education
TVET- Technical and Vocational Education and Training
PhD- Doctor of Philosophy
MA/MSC- Master of Arts/Master of Science
FTI- Further Training Institute
GTP- Growth and Transformation Plan
ICDE- Institute of Continuing and Distance Education

List of Figures

Figure 3.1: Crimping an internet cable ----------------------------------------------------------------8

Figure 3.2: T568A/T568B “cross-over” Cable ------------------------------------------------------ 9
Figure 3.3: Hole punching ------------------------------------------------------------------------------10
Figure 3.4: Patch Panel --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11
Figure 3.5: Rack ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12
Figure 3.6: LAN Switch Fiber Optic Interface ports ------------------------------------------------13
Figure 3.7: Fusion splicing steps -----------------------------------------------------------------------15
Figure 3.8: LAN Switch ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------16
Figure 3.9: How a switch works ------------------------------------------------------------------------16
Figure 3.10: 1841 Integrated Services Router ---------------------------------------------------------24
Figure 3.11: Router connecting multi networks -------------------------------------------------------25

List of Tables

Table 3.1: Straight through cable color arrangement(T568A/T568B) ------------------------------ 7

Table 3.2: Fiber optic color code -------------------------------------------------------------------------14
Table 3.3: VLAN output ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21

VII
 Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Objective of the internship
The main objective of this internship is that to practice the theories we learnt in class and to see
the real-world work environment before we graduate officially. And also, to have some hint of
instinct about how to behave and work in actual real-world office.

1.2 Scope of work expected

When we submitted the internship paper to ASTU-ICT directorate through internship
coordinator office arrangement, we didn’t expect much work that is related to our area of
expertise. But after we started working networking we understood that there were much more
tasks we can do using our class knowledge. And also, we didn’t expect that the real-world work
environment is not that much well disciplined. But, now we understood that working in such
staff requires being disciplined.

1.3 Output expected

By its name since the office we worked in is ICT Directorate we expect that we will get much
more knowledge than we have learned in the class, especially on network installation and
configuration area. This was our main expectation.

1.4 Background of ASTU

Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU) was first established in 1993 as NTC,
offering degree and diploma level education in technology fields. Later, the institution was
renamed as NCTTE, a self-explanatory label that describes what the institution used to train back
then: candidates who would become technical teachers for TVET colleges/Schools across the
country.In 2003, a new addition to NCTTE came about—introduction of business education.
Nonetheless, the new entries were solely meant for similar purposes: these graduates were also
expected to help overcome the existing dearth of educators in vocational institutions.

1
Although it is an institution with a history of only two decades, ASTU is known for its dynamic
past. It has always been responsive to the realization of national policies: training of
technologists at its infant stage, and later shifting to training of technical trainers, as well as
business educators, to fill the gap in TVETs. Following its inauguration in May 2006 as Adama
University, the full-fledged university started opening other academic programs in other areas—
an extension to its original mission.

However, it was not until it was nominated by the Ministry of Education as Center of Excellence
in Technology in 2008 that it opened various programs in applied engineering and technology.
For its realization, it became a university modeled after the German paradigm: it not only
became the only technical university in the nation, but also the only one led by a German
professor.

Notwithstanding closure of  some disciplines as per the new vision and mission, the ensuing
three years saw flourishing of graduate programs, of which some (like a few in the undergraduate
program) were exceptional to our university. The same period saw pioneering of the university in
introducing PhD by Research and MA/MSC by Research programs. Before 2008, the university
was stratified into faculties, and ASTU’s reach was limited to its only campus in Adama town.
The university has now extended its reach to Asella, where two of the total seven schools are
located. The faculties at the main campus include: School of Business, School of Engineering
and Information Technologies, School of Humanities and Law, School of Natural Sciences, and
School of Educational Science and Technology Teachers Education. On the other hand, the two
schools in Asella are the School of Agriculture and School of Health and Hospital.

In addition to its main concern (academics), ASTU is also host of research Institutes and
enterprises. In the main campus, apart from the ICDE, there exist two others: the Further
Training Institute FTI and Adama Institute of Sustainable Energy. The sister town where the two
schools are located, Asella, is also host to the Artificial Insemination Institute and Asella model
Agricultural Enterprise.

Following its renaming by the Council of Ministers as Adama Science and Technology
University in May 2011, the university has started working towards the attainment of becoming a
center of excellence in science and technology, thereby allowing for the realization of goals set
in the GTP. To this end, a South Korean has been appointed as President of the University.

2
Currently, ASTU is setting up a Research Park, in collaboration with stakeholders and other
concerned bodies: one of a kind in the Ethiopian context. The university is also venturing out to
the wider community and is currently engaged in various joint undertakings.
Vision
ASTU aspires to be the first choice in Ethiopia and the premier center of excellence in applied
science and technology in Africa by 2030.
Mission

The mission of ASTU is to provide ethical and competent graduates in applied science and
technology through quality education, demand driven research and community service. ASTU
also provides innovative knowledge to support the socio-economic development of the nation.

Core Values

Core values of ASTU written below are the operating principles that guide the organizations
internal conduct as well as their Relationship with their customers, partners, and shareholders.
 Originality and Innovativeness
 Academic freedom and integrity
 Sense of belongingness and ownership
 Nurturing diversity
 Transparency and accountability
 Professional ethics
 Responsiveness

ASTU-ICT Directorate
ASTU knows that ICT is a means to advance the core academic processes, to
facilitate Administrative functions and research needs of the University.
Vision
A model center that excels in ICT infrastructure for academic, research and community service in Africa.

3
Chapter Two
Management, Training and Employee Information
ASTU has its own management and organizational structure. There are several offices that have
their own responsibility to carry out organizational management system in effective way. For
instance, ICT directorate is responsible for :-
 creating a conducive teaching-learning, research, community service, management,
and administration environment with ICT support.
 Providing reliable and adequate network infrastructure.
 Automating teaching-learning process.
 On-time user support.
 Delivering fast and reliable Internet and Intranet service on 24/7 for ASTU
communities.
 Automating business process
 Securing ASTU network from any treats internal or external.
 Ensuring the quality of ASTU ICT equipment’s.
 ICT consultancy and training.
 Conducting research in ICT.
 Delivering ICT research outcomes, and professional application software’s
The section of the Company we have been working on
We have been doing our internship in the ASTU-ICT Directorate in Networking Department.
During our internship period the networking department is planning for Network installation in
the new building which is a STEM-CENTER found in the university compound. we spent the
first month of our internship in wiring Ethernet cable in ASTU-STEM CENTER. While in the
second month we have spent there working on switch configuration, splicing a fiber optic cables
and doing a network maintenance in other buildings.
In general, during our internship period we were responsible for the following tasks: -
 installing networking cable
 fiber optic slicing and
 switch configuration
 network maintenance troubleshooting

4
And also, signing attendance in the morning and afternoon before going to work place was our
major responsibility.

For the first time, before we get started working, the ASTU ICT director Mr. Kassahun oriented
us what we are going to do in ASTU-ICT. And also, he gave us direction on our responsibilities;
work disciplines.

Our supervisor Mr. Beyene told us tasks to be performed during internship and with whom we
are working. He told us that we will work with Mr. Hussein networking team. After that Mr.
Hussein showed us all things to be performed in networking area. He also helped us to succeed
our duty by guiding us around work area. Also, he facilitated the work environment the way we
work out effectively.

After we get started for some days we were only looking to what the networking professionals
do. Few days later we started working practically what we have observed. To be honest we are
so glad to get this chance. Because, after we started practicing we became familiar to the work
and we even started helping our professional co-workers almost with our full skill. This means
we got an excellent training than we expected.

We developed many qualities to succeed our daily duties. Since we had high work motivation we
had to develop qualities like
- being punctual all the time.
-signing daily attendance on time
-being good listener to our professional co-workers at work place to learn more
-having good interrelationship to help each other in the condition of
difficulties and to work in effective way

These all helped us to succeed our daily responsibilities easily and effectively.

5
 Chapter Three
Specific Job Information
The first day we went to the work place we saw that there are so many works related to our
theoretical knowledge we learnt in the class. To be honest most part of installation was finished
when we arrived there. But, the installed part was not that much complex; so, we were not
confused that much.

As we arrived work place the networking professionals were crimping an internet cable by RJ-
45. So, Mr. Hussein and his co-workers showed us how to crimp an internet cable using crimper
and how to punch an internet cable outlet(jack). Then they briefly told us how to install network
cable because of that we haven’t seen the installation from the scratch.

We were able to work on the patch panel which is connected to the server through the LAN
switch. Also, there is something called trucking which is the way of placing the network cables
inside a trunk and close so the cables will not be damaged. We also have seen the ways of
plugging the network cables into the switch. There are two ways of plugging:
-the first one direct plugging to the switch and
-the second one is using patch panel
Using the first method might be okay for small networking areas but it is not recommended for a
large networking area because of the complexity for doing maintenance work another time. The
second method, using patch panel, can reduce the network complexity and makes it easy for
maintenance. Patch panel is the panel which have back and front end. The back end is the one we
use for setting or inserting the cables directly by using the same type on the outlets. The front
end is use for having the corresponding port or the correct port number to insert to the switch
using small network cable.

6
On the following part we will try to summarize most of network related works we’ve been very
familiarized with.

3.1 Crimping an internet cable

Crimping is a method that is used to attach the RJ-45 to the network cable. RJ-45 connectors are
normally used in telephone and network cables. Occasionally they are used for serial network
connections. When the RJ-45 connectors first came into use, they were primarily used for
telephones. The great advances in technology created a need for another size connector and the
RJ-45 was adapted to fit. Below are instructions how we’ve crimped RJ-45 connectors to a cable.
Steps:
1. One to Two inches of the outer skin at the end of the cable wire was stripped by making
a shallow cut in the skin with a utility knife. There are 4 pairs of twisted wires exposed,
each of them is different color or color combination.
 White-Orange striped and solid orange
 White-Green striped and solid green
 White-Blue striped and solid blue
 White-Brown striped and solid brown
2. Each pair of wires are folded backwards to expose the ripcord (core of the cable).
3. And the ripcord is cut off and discarded.
4. We straighten the twisted wires using 2 pair of tweezers. Here we grasp a wire beneath a
bend with 1 pair of tweezers, and use the other pair to gently straighten the bend. The
straighter the wires, the easier the job will be.
5. We arranged the untwisted wires in a row in Type B arrangement. There are two types of
arrangement to order each wire in which they will go into the RJ-45 connector. Namely
type A arrangement and Type B arrangement. They are shown in the table 3.1.
Location from Left to Right Type A Type B
1st White/Green (W/G) White/Orange (W/O)
2nd Green Orange
3rd White/Orange (W/O) White/Green (W/G)
4th Blue Blue
5th White/Blue (W/B) White/Blue (W/B)

7
 6th Orange Orange
7th White/Brown (W/Br) White/Brown (W/Br)
8th Brown Brown
Table 3.1: Straight through cable color arrangement(T568A/T568B)
6. We inserted the wires into the RJ-45 connector, making sure that they stay aligned
and each color goes into its appropriate channel. If this is not correct it may be easy to
find that a newly crimped RJ-45 connector is useless.
7. We used the crimper to crimp the RJ-45 connector to the cable by pressing the
jacket and cable into the connector so that the wedge at the bottom of the connector is
pressed into the jacket. Then we crimped the cable again once more to ensure proper
connection.
8. We followed the instructions above to crimp an RJ-45 connector to the opposite end of the
cable with the same arrangement.
9. We assured that our cable is working properly after crimping both ends.
 Since ASTU uses Type B arrangement we used this arrangement in all crimping
process.
 And we used UTP cable to prepare straight through network cable.
Figure 3.1 shows briefly what we have done in the above steps.

Figure 3.1: Crimping an internet cable

Since there were more than two switches it is not necessary to connect each switch directly to the
data center; instead we used cross-over cable to share the connection between the switches. So,
Crimping
we had to prepare the cross-over cable.
 We used STP cable to prepare cross-over network cable

8
Figure 3.2 shows the cross-over cable ends color code type

Figure 3.2: T568A/T568B “cross-over” Cable

3.2 Hole punching

Hole punching is a technique in computer networking for establishing a direct connection
between two parties in which one or both are behind firewalls or behind routers that use network
address translation (NAT). To punch a hole, each client connects to an unrestricted third-party
server that temporarily stores external and internal address and port information for each client.
The server then relays each client's information to the other, and using that information each
client tries to establish direct connection; as a result of the connections using valid port numbers,
restrictive firewalls or routers accept and forward the incoming packets on each side. Hole
punching does not require any knowledge of the network topology to function. Here we have a
step-by-step instruction of how we were punching down a keystone jack. To get started we need
cable, keystone jack, puncher and wire stripper. Steps:
1. We striped off at least 1 inch of jacket on the cable and be sure not to cut into the wires.
Because if we do, we'll need to start it over.
2. Ripcord has been cut off.
3. After straightening the wires, we have gone ahead and wired the keystone jacks
following Type B arrangement.
4. Once we have the wires laced in correctly, we put the keystone jack on a table. It is
suggested to put a piece of cardboard down to prevent the jack from slipping out when
punching them down. And also, it is strongly suggested against using hand to punch
down jacks without the use of this tool. The jack can slip out and the tool can cut right
through a hand.

9
 5. We took the puncher and found the side that says "CUT". Here we had to make sure the
puncher should face outward. Once the puncher is positioned correctly, we pushed down
firmly until we felt it pop.
6. After that the wire must be cut off. If it doesn't, it may be needed to do it once more.
7. In this step we’ve repeated with the other 3 pairs of wires and we got a completed
keystone jack.
8. Finally, we entered two keystone jacks into the data outlet and we mounted the outlet to a
wall with screws.
We briefly showed what we have done in the above steps in figure 3.3.

Punching keystone
jack with UTP Prepared port
Data outlet
cable
Keystone jack CUT

Figure 3.3: Hole punching

3.3 Patch Panel

A patch panel is a mounted hardware assembly that contains ports used to connect and manage
incoming and outgoing LAN cables. Patch panel ports are configured to accommodate Ethernet
cables in an enterprise network. In an enterprise network, a patch panel serves as a sort of static
switchboard, using cables to interconnect network computers within a LAN and to outside lines
including the internet or other wide area networks (WANs). Patch panels can also be used to
interconnect and manage fiber optic cables. A patch panel uses patch cords, a sort of jumper
cable, to create each interconnection. Circuits can also be rearranged by plugging and
unplugging respective patch cords. Enterprises and other organizations often place patch panels
in a wiring closet, a small room where networking and other electrical connections are made.
Patch panels can be divided into some parts based on the number of ports they contain. 48-port,
24-port and 12-port panels are among the most common. There are specific patch panels for
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) cables. A patch panel performs

10
no other function except for acting as a connector. A network switch connects clients within a
network to enable them to access the internet, share data and perform other functions. Switching
equipment can be used as an alternative to patch panels in some cases and may have advantages
in terms of routing signals to a number of destinations at the same time. However, switching
equipment that simulates the capabilities of patch panels can be more expensive than patch panel
units.
We have punched the patch panel the way we have punched the keystone jack above.
 The installed network cables were labelled with port number starting from 1-A and
1-B to our maximum port number. The labelling method was done in both ends (at
the data outlet side and at the patch panel side) using similar number. This is useful
to avoid complexity during connecting the port to the patch panel.

Figure 3.4 shows patch panels having different number of ports

24-ports patch panel 48-ports patch panel

Figure 3.4: Patch Panel

3.4 Rack
Rack organizes IT equipment into standardized assemblies that make efficient use of space and
other resources. At the most basic level, a rack consists of two or four vertical mounting rails and
the supporting framework required to keep the rails in place. The rails and framework are
typically made of steel or aluminum to support hundreds or even thousands of pounds of
equipment. The rails have square or round holes that allow us to mount rack equipment to them

11
with screws. (In the case of the square mounting holes, the screws connect to removable cage
nuts placed in the required locations.) Some equipment includes horizontal rails or shelves that
we mount in the rack to provide extra support.We showed rack pictorially in figure 3.5 below.

Figure 3.5: Rack

3.5 Fiber Optic Cable

We were working on UTP and STP cable installation for about month. Then, after we finished
the mentioned work-related tasks we started installing fiber cables
.
3.5.1 What is Fiber Optic and Its Advantage?
Fiber Optics is the technology in which communication signals in the form of modulated light
beams are transmitted over a glass fiber transmission medium. Fiber optic technology offers high
bandwidth, small space needs and protection from electromagnetic interference, eavesdropping
and radioactivity.

12
Generally, fiber cable is used to connect the data center server to the LAN Switch using the
interfaces of the two nodes (Server and Switch). This communication allows the data to be flow
from the server to the switch in the form of modulated light. Figure 3.6 shows fiber optic
interface ports of the switch.

Figure 3.6: LAN Switch Fiber Optic Interface ports

3.5.2 Fiber Optic Slicing

Simply put, fiber optic splicing involves joining two fiber optic cables together. The other, more
common, method of joining fibers is called termination or connectorization. Fiber splicing
typically results in lower light loss and back reflection than termination.

Splicing is done when the cable runs are too long for a single length of fiber or when joining two
different types of cable together, such as a 48-fiber cable to four 12-fiber cables. And also, to
restore fiber optic cables when a buried cable is accidentally severed.
3.5.2.1 Fiber Splicing Methods
There are two methods of fiber optic splicing
 Mechanical
 Fusion
A mechanical splice is a junction of two or more optical fibers that are aligned and held in place
by a self-contained assembly. The fibers are not permanently joined, just held together in a
precisely aligned position thus enabling light to pass from one fiber into the other. Its typical loss
is 0.3 db.

13
Fiber optic fusion splicing is a joining method whereby a machine is used to precisely align two
fiber ends then the glass ends are "fused" or "welded" together using some type of heat or
electric arc. It produces a continuous connection between the fibers enabling very low loss light
transmission. Its typical loss: 0.1 db.

 We used fusion splicing method during our internship period.

Fig 3.7 splicing machine(fusion machine) for fiber optic fusion splicing

3.5.2.2 Fiber optic cable Standard Color Code

Fiber optic has its own standard color code. Hence the following Table 3.2 shows list of colors
standardized in fiber cable.

14
 Table 3.2: Fiber optic color code

13 fibers and higher, the color code is repeated every 12 and buffered fibers or sub cables are
striped once for every additional 12 according TIA-598-A specifications.

3.5.2.3 Fusion Splicing Golden Rule

 We have to keep our safety First
 We have to wash our hand before we start
 We have to prepare a clean work environment
 We have to Strip, Clean, and Cleave the fiber cable
 We have not to clean after cleaving
 Always using dust caps is preferable
 We have to leave spare cable/fiber when possible

3.5.2.4 Fusion Splicing Steps

1. Remove the coating. 2. Cut to proper length and polish.

3.Place in the fusion machine. Align and gap. 4.The fiber cores are melted together

5.A protective tube is placed over the splice

Briefly we have showed the steps in figure 3.7.

Figure 3.7: Fusion splicing steps

15
 3.6 Switch configuration
The final duties we were given was configuring the switch that receives connection from ASTU
data center and shares to the ports we installed. We have done this task at the end of the second
month after we finished all the installation. We configured the switch using PuTTY software.
There was some adjustment on the software before start configuring to connect the switch with
the software.

3.6.1 What is Switch and How it works?

Switches are the connectivity points of an Ethernet network. Devices connect to switches via
twisted-pair cabling, one cable for each device. A switch forwards data only to the port that
connects to the destination device. It does this by learning the MAC address of the devices
attached to it, and then by matching the destination MAC address in the data it receives. Figure
3.8 and 3.9 show what switch looks like and how it works respectively.

Figure 3.8: LAN Switch

Figure 3.9: How a switch works

3.6.2 Basic switch functions, names and passwords

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The switch name is tool to let us see what device we are connected to. The prompt will display
the name of the switch so SW1> tells us that we are connected to a switch named 'SW1'. The
prompt also tells us another thing, “where” in the different hierarchical modes of the switch we
are. The switch has three basic modes, unprivileged, privilege (or enable) and configuration
mode. The prompts are, in the same order:
SW1>
SW1#
SW1(config)#
The configuration mode actually has a few sub-modes like interface configuration and line
configuration:
SW1(config-if)#
SW1(config-line)#
Some features, like the configuration VLAN, have their own sub-modes.

3.6.2.1 Moving between modes

Move between modes is done by calling the “name” of the mode if we want to move up in the
hierarchy and exit or end if we want to move down:
SW1>enable
SW1#configure terminal
SW1(config)#interface FastEthernet 0/1
SW1(config-if)#exit
SW1(config)#interface line console 0
SW1(config-line)#end
SW1#
The command exit will move us down one step while end will take us all the way back to
privilege mode no matter where we start.

3.6.2.2 Configuring a name

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The configuration mode is mainly used for configuration that will affect the “whole” switch (in
contrast to interface configuration mode that will only affect the specified interface or
interfaces). To change the name, we move to configuration mode and we execute the following
command:
SW1(config)#hostname newHostname
newHostname(config)#

3.6.2.3 Command interpretation

When the switch interprets the commands entered, it compares the command to the possible
commands in that mode and if there is a single match with the characters given the switch
executes the command. An example might make it clear. Let's say we want to move from
unprivileged to privilege mode. The command is enable.
SW1>enable
SW1#exit
SW1>en
SW1#
The same thing can be done with every command. As long as there's no other command sharing
the characters given, the switch will accept the command as the one it can translate to. The
hostname can therefore be set with the command:
SW1(config)#host newHostname
newHostname(config)#

3.6.2.4 Disabling DNS look-up

Apart from the command interpretation and shortening, the switch will interpret any unknown
single command in unprivileged or privileged mode as an attempt to make a telnet connection.
This can be quite annoying since a spelling error for enable (let's say enalbe) could turn into a
waiting period while the DNS times out the switch realizes that it can't find an IP for 'enable'.
The lookup will be done even if the switch doesn’t have an IP enable interface. To disable the
DNS look-up (the telnet feature will still be there but the switch will know that it won't be able to
make the translation to an IP address and therefore abort immediately) we just issue the
following command:
SW1(config)#no ip domain-lookup

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Depending on the software, the domain-lookup part might be split into two (domain lookup).

3.6.2.5 The 'no' keyword

As we see in the command to disable DNS look-ups the keyword 'no' is set before the command.
To enable look-up, we just issue the command without the no. This is the standard way to turn
off function in Cisco IOS. For example, if we want to enable an interface, we issue the no
shutdown command and if we want to disable it, we just issue shutdown.

3.6.2.6 Passwords
Passwords can be configured to control how can we access what on the switch. Different
passwords can be used to limit access to:
• the switch via the console (unprivileged mode)
• the switch via the network (unprivileged mode)
• privilege mode
3.6.2.6.1 Privilege mode password (enable password)
There are actually two ways to configure the” enable” password for the switch, one in plain text
(keyword password) and one that's encrypted using a special form of the MD5 hash (keyword
secret). This example will only show how to set the encrypted password:
SW1(config)#enable secret password
Whenever a user tries to move from the unprivileged to the privilege modes, a prompt will
appear asking for the password.
3.6.2.6.2 Password for the console
To limit the access via the console port (used for initial and on-site configuration) we use the
following string of commands:
SW1(config)#line console 0
SW1(config-line)#password class
SW1(config-line)#login
This will set the password 'class' for the console line. Whenever someone connect to the port,
they will be prompted for a password.
3.6.2.6.3 Password for network access
Since it's not always possible to make a physical connection to the switch, it might

19
be a good idea to make it accessible via the network. The simplest way is to allow access via
telnet, only prompting for a password:
SW1(config)#line vty 0 4
SW1(config-line)#password class
SW1(config-line)#login
The login command is default for the VTY and the command can be used to disable access via
the network (no login).

3.6.2.7 Configuring a banner

A banner can be used to give information to some that connects to the system. A good idea is to
explain that the system is private, that we have to be authorized to access the system and that any
attempt to connect is logged. The banner text is started and ended with an escape character. To
set banner text we issue this command:
SW1(config)#banner login *
Enter TEXT message. End with the characters '*'.
PRIVATE SYSTEM!
*
SW1(config)#

3.6.3 VLAN, access and trunk ports

The switch can be used to create one big happy LAN. We just connect whatever needs network
access and we let them communicate. If we need more port, we just add another switch. As long
as we want all our users connected to the same link we’re done.

If we on the other hand want to separate them from one another, maybe to gain some lever of
control on the IP level or just to make sure that two nodes can't communicate with one another,
we might want to create some sort of logical wall between them, forcing them to go through our
router in order to communicate. We enter the VLAN.

The process is fairly simple: we number every VLAN with a unique ID (VID), we tell the switch
what VID should be associates with a specific port and we’re done. Nodes connected to ports

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sharing VID can communicate, and nodes connected to ports associated with different VID can't
(at least not at the link layer).

3.6.3.1 Configuring VLAN

We can create, name and delete VLAN in the following way:
SW1(config)#vlan 10
SW1(config-vlan)#name LAN_A
As we can see from the example, we can both create and name the VLAN. We can see the
VLAN configuration of the switch using the following command:
SW1#show vlan brief

Table 3.3 shows the output from the above command.

VLAN Name Status Ports
---- -------------------------------- --------- -------------------------------
1 default active Fa0/1, Fa0/2, Fa0/3, Fa0/4
Fa0/5, Fa0/6, Fa0/7, Fa0/8
Fa0/9, Fa0/10, Fa0/11, Fa0/12
Fa0/13, Fa0/14, Fa0/15, Fa0/16
Fa0/17, Fa0/18, Fa0/19, Fa0/20
Fa0/21, Fa0/22, Fa0/23, Fa0/24
Gig1/1, Gig1/2
10 LAN_A active
1002 fddi-default act/unsup
Output omitted

Table 3.3: VLAN output

As can be seen in the output, all port is associated with VLAN 1, but there is a VLAN with
VID 10 named LAN_A.

3.6.3.2 Configuring access ports

Ports used by non VLAN are nodes, such as hosts or some routers are called access ports. The
access port is normally used to connect one node to the network and the port is associated with a
VLAN. The following command can be used to tell a switch that an interface FastEthernet0/4 is
an access port:
SW1(config)#interface FastEthernet 0/4
SW1(config-if)#switchport mode access

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In order to make sure that there are no loops in the network, the switches run a protocol called
the spanning-tree protocol (STP). This protocol cycles every interface to a series of states when
its activated to make sure that the interface won't form a loop through other switches back to
itself. Since the access port only should connect to end-nodes (that is, nodes that are the source
or destination of traffic but never a transit node) – we can tell the switch to skip the stages and
move directly to a forwarding state using the command:
SW1(config-if)#spanning-tree portfast
3.6.3.2.1 Associating the port with a VLAN
In order to tell the switch what VLAN an access port should be associated with, we use the
following command (in our case to associate it with VLAN 10):
SW1(config-if)#switchport access vlan 10
The association can be changed at any time by giving it the same command with a different
VLAN.

3.6.3.3 Configuring trunk ports

Links connecting two switches are normally configured as trunks (if there are more than one
VLAN). The trunks use the IEEE 802.1Q standard for tagging frames in order for the receiving
switch to know what VLAN a frame is associated with. In order for a port to be a trunk port we
configure it with the following command:
SW1(config-if)#switchport mode trunk
On switches with support for the Cisco trunking protocol ISL, we have to tell the switch how the
VLAN information is to be inserted into the frame. To use 802.1Q, we issue this command:
SW1(config-if)#switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q

3.6.3.3.1 The 'native' VLAN

The norm on the trunk is that the VLAN is 'tagged', that is, the frame has a marker that tells the
receiver what VLAN the frame belongs to. One VLAN can be 'untagged', that is, frames sent on
that VLAN have no tagging inserted and any frame that is untagged will be associated with that
VLAN. The untagged, or native VLAN as Cisco calls it, can be used by clients connected to a
link that is configured as a trunk between two switches (let's say, for example, via a hub). The
default native VLAN is the same as the default VLAN, that is, VLAN 1. To change the native
VLAN, we use the following command (in our case the native VLAN is set to VID 50):
SW1(config-if)#switchport trunk native vlan 50

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We have to make sure to use the same native VLAN on both sides of the trunk.

3.6.4 SVI, IP address and telnet

The switch will need an interface with IP configuration in order to be accessible via the network.
This interface is a virtual interface associated with a specific VID. Some switches are able to
have more than one active virtual interface (or SVI) at a time but we'll be satisfied with using
just one.

3.6.4.1 Configuring the SVI and IP address

Let's configure the IP address 10.0.0.10 with 24-bit subnet mask on a virtual interface associated
with VID 10:
SW1(config)#interface vlan 10
SW1(config-if)#ip address 10.0.0.10 255.255.255.0
SW1(config-if)#no shutdown
The last command, the no shutdown, might not be needed as the SVI probably activates when
created – but it's good practice to always make sure that the interface is not in the 'shutdown'
state since we don't like troubleshoot that kind of simple mistakes.

3.6.4.2 Revisiting telnet

If we've set a password on the VTY, we can now access the switch via telnet, pointing our client
application at the IP address we just configured. But a VTY password is not enough, we also
need the 'enable' password in order to get the access we want.

3.6.5 Working with the configuration

If we want to view the fruit of our labor, we can print the active configuration to our console
using the show running-config command. We use 'space' or 'enter' to move forward in the
configuration and 'q' to not print any more. If we want to save our configuration so it’s not lost
when we reboot the switch, we issue the command copy running-config startup-config and to view
the saved configuration, just type show startup-config.

3.7 Router

23
A Router is a computer, just like any other computer including a PC. Routers have many of the
same hardware and software components that are found in other computers including:
• CPU
• RAM
• ROM
• OS
Figure 3.10 shows the 1841 integrated services router.

Figure 3.10: 1841 Integrated Services Router

Router is the basic backbone for the Internet. The main function of the router is to connect two or
more than two network and forwards the packet from one network to another. A router connects
multiple networks. This means that it has multiple interfaces that each belong to a different IP
network. When a router receives an IP packet on one interface, it determines which interface to
use to forward the packet onto its destination. The interface that the router uses to forward the
packet may be the network of the final destination of the packet (the network with the destination
IP address of this packet), or it may be a network connected to another router that is used to
reach the destination network. Figure 3.11 below example of router connecting more than two
networks.

24
 Figure 3.11: Router connecting multi networks.

A router uses IP to forward packets from the source network to the destination network. The
packets must include an identifier for both the source and destination networks. A router uses the
IP address of the destination network to deliver a packet to the correct network. When the packet
arrives at a router connected to the destination network, the router uses the IP address to locate
the specific computer on the network.

In our organization the router connects the ISP with the LAN Switches through fiber cable to
enable the switch get access network. Router is placed in the organization’s data center.
 The data center is home to the computational power, storage, and applications
necessary to support an enterprise business.

25
 Chapter 4
Reflection and Conclusion

Now a day technological evolution is dramatically growing. This growth has a direct and indirect
effect in one country’s economic, social and political development. As we are computer science
and engineering students we are the core part of this technological evolution. So, we are
responsible to change our country’s technology growth and put our fingerprint for the coming
generation in this field of area.

This internship was a better way to understand our potential to take part in globalization and
showed us what we can do after we graduate. So, we can say it gave us purpose and this will be
the corner stone for us to have the better life in the future. And also, internship is the way to test
jobs and explore different career options. It modifies our career goals in much better ways. As
we have seen many things at the internship area for the last two months, we would not be new to
the work area after we graduated.

In networking this Internship often gave us the opportunity to connect and work with
professionals. By interacting with professionals, we gained new connections and learnt how to
communicate in a professional environment. To be honest this internship has introduced us to a
lot of useful resources and has given us the opportunity to meet a variety of professionals in our
field. So, we can say that networking has helped us to acquire references and find new job
opportunities.

This work experience gave us complements to our academic training and gave us an introduction
to a specific career or field of interest. And this experiential education enables us to change our
academic training to practical use and involves duties similar to those of an entry-level position.
This means it can offer us the opportunity to:
 Explore and clarify our major and career goals with professionals in the field, so we'll
know if the field is right for us.
 Develop knowledge, competencies, and experiences related to our major and career
goals.

26
  Gain practical employment experience that employers look for after we graduate that how
to solve complex problems, communicate effectively, function comfortably in teams,
work productively with people from diverse backgrounds and etc.
 Take responsibility for our own learning and create a more rewarding college experience.
 Achieve confidence and a smoother transition to permanent employment and develop
professional work habits.

At first since we were new for the work place, there was some doubt that whether we’ve done
right and above that we were afraid that we might do some kind of mistake that could ruin the
system. Because, there were many things at the work place that require frequent practices to be
familiar with.

The second problem was that punching internet cable to the keystone jack was a little bit
challenging. It requires more experience to punch it perfectly. So, most of the time we were
broking the keystone jack while punching. But, finally we have done perfectly.

Now we’re much more confident to say something, to suggest our opinion for every question or
idea that is forwarded to us. It is due to the skill that we have been developed throughout the
internship program. Getting experience is a great way to build confidence. The following skills
are the main benefits we’ve gained from the program & the work we have done
 Improving practical skills
 Applying Theoretical Knowledge
 Interpersonal communication skills
 Team playing Skill
 Develop Work ethics skills and etc.

Most educational programs are focused on theoretical part. We acquired a lot of theoretical
knowledge in classes. And now even by trying to imitate the atmosphere of real working
environment it is helpful for improving one’s living standards and developing practical skills.
At the same time receiving practical skills might be helpful for enhancing the effectiveness of the
working process and adapting challenges. The internship program was an excellent opportunity

27
for us to gain experience in our field. Because of this internship we were able acquire new and
improved behavioral skills like
 Responsibility
 Possessing a positive attitude
 Adaptability
 Honesty and integrity
 Motivation to work
 Willing to grow and learn
 Strong self-confidence
 Professionalism

We have improved team work skill by working with each other at the work place. We were able
to understand that team work is important to strengthen the effort to accomplish any task. Ideas
that are raised in team work helped us to see one thing in different angles and to be a multi
directional thinker for elaborating our knowledge regarding the given issue. This team playing
skills includes:
 Improving skills
 Progressing speaking ability
 Improving self-confidences
 Developing social interaction
 Understanding our potential relatively
 Upgrading oneself and individual member’s potential
 Doing better work

Chapter 5

28
 Recommendations

ASTU is one of the most influential educational institution in Ethiopia. It gives appropriate
theoretical and practical education to students in concord environment. In this internship ASTU
ICT has shown us a lot of things that we have never known before. It enabled us to build our
healthy confidence as we understood the real work environment related to our field of area.

We recommend ASTU to keep accepting students for the internship as it is a very appropriate
and suitable institution for applying theoretical knowledge during the internship. Because, it has
no lack of materials and it hires well experienced professionals with whom the interns work as
well.

We also recommend the future students to work in ASTU, ASTU ICT during their internship
period since they will get the appropriate education and work experience.

Reference/ Bibliography

www.astu.edu.et.

LAN Installation Handbook.

Rack Basics: Everything You Need to Know Before You Equip Your Data Center

Networking Devices
Thomas Ivarsson/February 28, 2012/Network in general.

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