SDN BASED NETWORK SOLUTION

Table of Content

FOR HCT

Project Speculating & Exploring Solution Analysis

CIS 4913- capstone 1

Group members
Instructor
Bereket kibreab Jenay (H00396711)
Dr. Mohsin Iftikhar Eyasu Tesfamichael Araya (H00396248)
Smon Ftwi Kidane(H00396245)

1
s
Assignment 2- Project Speculating & Exploring Solution Analysis............................................................1
Table of figures............................................................................................................................................3
Table of tables.............................................................................................................................................3
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................5
ADOPTED METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................5
ANALYSIS.....................................................................................................................................................7
Study of the current system....................................................................................................................7
Functional requirement...........................................................................................................................9
Nonfunctional requirement.....................................................................................................................9
Constraints............................................................................................................................................10
Stakeholder Perspectives......................................................................................................................11
Context diagram....................................................................................................................................11
Data Flow Diagrams...............................................................................................................................12
Entity Relationship Diagram..................................................................................................................12
TIME MANAGEMENT.................................................................................................................................13
Major milestones...................................................................................................................................13
Gantt chart............................................................................................................................................14
Work breakdown Structure...................................................................................................................16
COST MANAGEMENT.................................................................................................................................16
REFLECTION...............................................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................19

2
Table of figures
Figure 1: structured methodology...............................................................................................................6
Figure 2: High level logical topology of HCT.................................................................................................7
Figure 3: context diagram..........................................................................................................................11
Figure 4: Data flow diagram......................................................................................................................12
Figure 5: Entity relationship diagram.........................................................................................................12
Figure 6: Gantt chart..................................................................................................................................15
Figure 7:work breakdown structure..........................................................................................................16
Figure 8: Bottom-up cost estimating example...........................................................................................18
Figure 9: System analysis...........................................................................................................................19

Table of tables
Table 1: major milestones.........................................................................................................................13
Table 2: project schedule..........................................................................................................................15
Table 3: Estimated cost.............................................................................................................................17

3
ABSTRACT
Developing a SDN based network solution is a big and complicated process. This project focuses
on exploring the system analysis knowledge and skills to the user requirements and needs. The
main objective is identifying the appropriate methodology for the project and defining and
specifying the user’s needs and requirements using standard system framework. It includes the
functional and non-functional requirements, constraints, stakeholder perspectives, context,
data flow and entity diagrams. Major milestones for the project are identified and respective
project schedule is developed using appropriate tools and techniques. A specific cost estimation
methodology is selected to estimate the overall cost for the project after thoroughly identifying
the different kinds of resources needed.

4
INTRODUCTION

Before starting any project, it is important to have project management. As project

management helps project to deliver a successful outcome that meets or exceeds the
expectation stakeholders. Also, it is necessary to use a pre-defined methodology detailing the
exact steps for developing the project to reach the intended end-users. “The term
“Methodology” is defined as a standard process followed by an organization to conduct all the
steps necessary to analyze, design, implement and maintain information system” (Nesayef,
2015). 

In this report we are going to identify the best system analysis methodology that will fit with
our project from structured, agile, iterative, and other methodology. And analyzing the system
requirement or constraints and stakeholders’ perspective. At last, we will do the time and cost
management. In the time management we will develop project schedule and identifying major
milestones for the project and cost management by Identifying different types of resources
required to complete the project and estimate cost.

ADOPTED METHODOLOGY

The adopted methodology for this project is structured project management methodology,
which uses a predictive approach for developing a project. This methodology follows a series of
phases called the systems development life cycle (SDLC) to develop any project (Scott Tilley,
2016). The system design life cycle (SDLC) usually includes five phases: system planning, system
analysis, system design, system implementation, and system testing. The development of our
project requires full completion of one phase of the project before the next phase begins, this is
one of the main reasons for adopting a structured methodology. And the other factor is the

5
plan of our project, our project plan is to finish all the planning, analysis, design, and
development in capstone project 1 and the implementation is going to start at capstone 2, so
for this project plan, the best methodology is Structured methodology.

The other factor in choosing a structured methodology is our interaction with the stakeholder.
In our project, the only interaction we had with the client is during the planning phase, and
when we identify the project requirement in the analysis phase. The same also Structured
methodology does not involve the client or project owner during the process, apart from
specific check-ins or deliverables (Leeron Hoory, 2022). The plan of the project is outlined from
the start, so incorporating client feedback is not an ongoing part of the process.

Figure 1: structured methodology

6
ANALYSIS

Study of the current system

Before gathering our requirements, we first need to understand the current network solution in
our institution. To do this we first acquired the logical topology for the current network.

Figure 2: High level logical topology of HCT

7
We also conducted an interview with Mr. Binoy Philip, who is the AV Technician of the campus
for over 6 years, we chose to do the interview with him because he has a long experience
working with this current network solution.

We asked the following interview questions-

1. What is your position in HCT?

2. Do you have SDN in the HCT network?
3. How long have you worked in HCT?
4. How many network devices do you have in HCT?
5. Who is the vendor that provides the networking equipment for this campus?
6. How many employees are needed to run this network?
7. How do you do troubleshoot network issues?
8. how do you monitor network performance?
9. How do you add new network devices to the network?
10. What changes would you like to see in the current network in the campus?

Form our interview, we were able to get a clearer understanding of the network. We have
found that the HCT network still relays on traditional networking methodologies. Our
interviewee complained that there isn’t a central interface where he can configure and monitor
the whole network. he said that troubleshooting and configuring of devices is done manually
(using console) on each device separately.

All the networking devices in this campus are provided by Cisco. The most common networking
device in this network is the Cisco multilayer switch 3650. From our research we found that the
most effective SDN controller in this situation would be the Cisco DNA. This is because it is
compatible with the multilayer switches and other cisco devices we have in the campus.

FUNCTIONAL AND NONFUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

8
Functional requirement

The DNA controller should provide the following functions for our network.

A. Designing topology- The You can create both logical topology and physical maps as a
visual reference when you’re designing. We can also automatically discover devices
using CDP.
B. Adding Policy- We should be able to create user and device policy for enforcement. The
central SDN should be able to push the policies to the appropriate devices.
C. Pre-Provisioning- We should be able to plug and play, meaning that the SDN will
automatically configure the devices once they are connected to the network.
D. Configuration updates- we will be able to select any device and apply configuration
updates.
E. Assurance- SDN will also provide Troubleshooting assistance by showing the location of
the issue and suggest possible fixes. The system should also provide records of what was
the network situation as the problem occurred.

Nonfunctional requirement

Usability- SDN will simplify management. Operating your local and branch networks will be
more efficient over a centralized dashboard. Thanks to an easy-to-use web platform, tasks like
network trouble shooting and edge device port configuration are massively simplified
(Ligtenberg, 2019). The interface is also easy to remember.

Reliability- SDN controller will be able to find system failures. This will enable network
administrators to quickly find the problem and fix it leading to a reduced down time. This will
make the network more reliable.

9
Performance- Another convenience that SDN brings is to enable centrally controlled and
programmatically efficient network configuration. These capabilities can as much as double
network performance with the benefit of a single control panel to monitor and optimize
network performance. The SDN controller will send live data about the network. The system
should respond without a noticeable delay under full workload for the login operation.

Security- A primary advantage of SDN networking is greater visibility throughout the network.
In traditional networking, any security that impacts traffic is overarching. With SDN, engineers
can selectively block malicious traffic throughout your network on a granular basis. So, if any
specific segments are misbehaving, you can deal with them accordingly. What used to take
hours of manual pour- over can be achieved in mere moments with the added clarity that a
singular centralized hub provides.

Constraints

A. The budget for this project can not cover the price of the Cisco DNA appliance. For this
reason, we will use a software simulator for the implementation.
B. Some legacy network devices are not be compatable with the Cisco DNA so they will
need to be upgraded. If they can not be upgraded due to whatever reason, they can still
function but they will be managed with out the help of the Cisco DNA.
C. C, The network team do not have the network expertise needed to operated Cisco DNA
and therefore will need some training before operating the system.
D. D, The access to policy configuration should be ristricted depending on privilage level of
the network administrators.
E. E, the cisco DNA center is only accessable to network administrators. Any other
members of the of the stakeholders don’t access to the Cisco DNA due to security
reasons.

10
Stakeholder Perspectives

The stakeholders include internet users such as, students, teachers, other faculty members.
These users will need internet connection for different reasons such as, conducting online
sessions, browsing, reserching, sending and receiveing email and so on. These stakeholders will
expect to have a fast and consistent internet connection. Having a fast and consistent internet
connection is essential to these user to conduct their daily activities.

Other stakeholders include network administrators. Network adminstrators have the task of
making sure that the network is functioning properly. The SDN controller is especially benefical
to these stakeholders. SDN will provide the network administrators an interface that they can
use to configure, provision and monitor the network devices. We expect that having a central
controller for the whole network will make the life of network administrators much easier.

Context diagram

Figure 3: context diagram

11
Data Flow Diagrams

Figure 4: Data flow diagram

Entity Relationship Diagram

Figure 5: Entity relationship diagram

12
 TIME MANAGEMENT
In this section, we are going to identify our major milestones for the completion of this project
and the estimated duration to complete each milestone. We divided this project into five
significant milestones. To determine the estimated duration for every task of our project we
used the Gantt chart project management tool. And, to list all the significant tasks or
deliverables of this project we use a work breakdown structure.

Major milestones

Milestone Duration
Planning 22 days
Analysis 24 days
Design and development 38 days
Implementation 58 days
Test and evaluation 17 days
Table 1: major milestones

Gantt chart

Phase
Duration

s Task Name Start (Date) End (Date) (Days)

13
 1. Planning      

  project initialization 5-Sep-22 11-Sep-22 6

  background research 12-Sep-22 20-Sep-22 8

  Feasibility study 21-Sep-22 24-Sep-22 3

  Finalizing Envision report 25-Sep-22 30-Sep-22 5

 2. Analysis      

  Identify project requirements 1-Oct-22 16-Oct-22 15

10/20/202

  Find the const estimation of the project 17-Oct-22 2 3

Finalizing Project Speculating & 10/26/202

  Exploring Solution Analysis report 21-Oct-22 2 5

 3. Design and development      

  Design high level topology 27-Oct-22 11/2/2022 6

11/12/202

  Design network topology 3-Nov-22 2 9

11/19/202

  Start development 13-Nov-22 2 6

Finalizing Project Exploring & Adapting 11/25/202

  report 20-Nov-22 2 5

  capstone 1 final report 27-Nov-22 12/9/2022 12

  Break      
4. Implementation

  start network configuration 1/17/2023 2/23/2023 37

  implement security features 2/24/2023 3/17/2023 21

 5. Testing and evaluation    

14
 check network connectivity of end

  devices 4/12/2023 4/17/2023 5

  check the network performance 4/18/2023 4/23/2023 5

  Final project report 4/23/2023 4/30/2023 7

Table 2: project schedule

Figure 6: Gantt chart

15
Work breakdown Structure

Figure 7:work breakdown structure

COST MANAGEMENT
The proposed project is a software solution network for organizations. This will be completed
without buying any hardware component but in a network emulation software like EVE-NG. The
resources required for this project are therefore a powerful computer machine with higher
RAM, a powerful virtual machines like VMware workstation Pro, a network emulation software
(EVE-NG), and cisco IOS images. In HCT there are powerful desktops with decent RAM that can
be upgraded if needed. Therefore, we do not need to purchase computer machine. These
desktops have already VMware workstation Pro installed on them which save us from
additional cost for virtual machine. The network emulation software (EVE-NG) license and cisco
IOS images can be purchased by approximate price listed in the table below.

16
 Resources Unit price No of units Sub-total Reserve Total
(AED) (10%) (AED)
Computer - - Free
machine
Virtual machine - - Free
Network - - 2200 220 2420
emulation
software
Cisco IOS images - - 750 75 825
Total (AED) 2950 295 3245
Table 3: Estimated cost

We use a bottom-up estimation technique to estimate the cost. As part of the bottom-up
approach, each component of the project is identified and evaluated before the cost calculation
process is initiated. An overall cost of a project is then determined by the sum of the
expenditures for each individual task or a series of tasks. It is possible to achieve very accurate
bottom-up estimations by using a thorough and complete work breakdown structure. Although
it is usually time-consuming and requires much effort to develop a work breakdown structure,
especially if the project is complex. Example of bottom-up cost estimation method is below
(Bottom-Up Estimating – Definition, Example, Pros & Cons, 2022)

17
 Figure 8: Bottom-up cost estimating example

REFLECTION
In this project, we applied our system analysis skills to create an effective project plan and
develop stakeholder requirements and needs, time management and cost management. The
primary challenge we had in this project is identifying and specifying the user’s needs and
requirements using a standard system analysis framework as there was very poor
documentation available about existing network behavior in HCT. We made our priority to
identify and engage directly with key stakeholders and subject matter experts to ensure the
requirements are complete and accurate. There was not any difficulty in choosing adopted
methodology because the whole capstone project is formulated to be completed in structured
methodology. It should be noted that designing the context diagram, dataflow diagram, and
entity relationship diagram was very complicated and time-consuming process. It was a smart
idea to add some sticky notes here and there during the process of developing a work
breakdown structure. We were all excited about adding details to the project and everyone is
buying into the concept. But sometimes too much detail put us in trouble that we can’t explain.
Not only that, but we also had some challenges in trying to sequence the work packages in the
project schedule. We chose a comparatively easy and relatable to the methodology adopted
cost estimating technique which is bottom-up estimation technique. We were required to have

18
the appropriate system analysis and project management skills and knowledge to complete this
project. We have acquired those skills and knowledge in previous courses.

Figure 9: System analysis

REFERENCES

Bottom-Up Estimating – Definition, Example, Pros & Cons. (2022, March 20). Retrieved from project-
Management.info: https://project-management.info/bottom-up-estimating-definition-example-
pros-cons/#:~:text=Example%20of%20Bottom%2DUp%20Estimating,-This%20section
%20discusses&text=The%20work%20package%20owners%20are,activity%20under%20their
%20work%20package.

Leeron Hoory, C. B. (2022, 8 10). Agile Vs. Waterfall: Which Project Management Methodology Is Best
For You? Forbes advisor. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/agile-vs-
waterfall-methodology/

Nesayef, D. F. (2015, 03 3). The Impact of Structured Methodologies on system development.

International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 6. Retrieved from
https://www.ijser.org/paper/The-Impact-of-Structured-Methodologies-on-Systems-
Development.html#:~:text=1.5%20The%20Need%20for%20Structured%20Methodology%20and
%20Its%20Role&text=The%20purpose%20of%20structured%20methodology,and%20a%20set
%20of%20techniques.

19
Scott Tilley, H. J. (2016). Systems Analysis and Design-Course Technology .

Ligtenberg, D., & Meier, A. (2019). Cisco DNA Center Multi-Tenant Manager (Doctoral dissertation, HSR

Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil), 1.

Light, M. (2009). How the Waterfall Methodology Adapted and Whistled Past the Graveyard. Gartner Research.

Wilson, J. M. (2003). Gantt charts: A centenary appreciation. European Journal of Operational Research, 149(2),

430-437.

20