Need help from anyone who works with IT/Corporate Networks

[Derek Hale]

I am doing this to help my girlfriend in one of her MBA courses, some of this stuff I know, but some I have never done before. So if anyone here has experience with corporate network layouts, I would appreciate any help or advice you can give!



Here is the rundown:



Company has 47 Employees, you are the CIO with a 2 million dollar budget. There are no other IS personnel besides yourself.



Of these employees, 30 have Desk Jobs, 17 work exlcusively on the manufacturing floor. Desk Job means there are at least some admin responsibilities, so I think all 30 will need computers, as well as one or two systems on the manufacturing floor.



Anyway, here is the real meat of it.



Need to make a preliminary sketch of the physical layout of the network.



Of course I dont expect anyonie to do that for us, it has to be done in MS Visio, but I was wondering what a good basic setup is. I know we need to have;



File Server

Web Server

Application Server

and Mail Server



My initial thought was to just go with four Dell rackmount servers that will be able to handle the tasks.



My main problem is what OS to run. MS Server 2003 or Novell (which I know more about).



How would the network be connected to the outside (internet).



What kind of switches and other systems would I need, what application should I use for E-mail on the user side.





Those are the main questions:



What servers to use

What OS

Do I just need to buy 50 user keys for the OS and that is enough for all four servers, or do I need to buy 50 user keys per server? (Since each server has its own function)

How do I need to setup the switches and routers? Does the internet just run into one of the servers, or does it run into a switch first and then split off into the servers?



I have worked on a network like this, but I dont know how the network is generally configured, especially from the internet out.



My experience has only been with Novell and setting up each of the servers and having clients connect to them, never dealing with the actual wiring and connectiong through the internet.



Thanks all!

 

[TracN Jack]

What servers to use



I use Dell power edge 2850's put as much RAM, HD space as you can afford, include backup systems for criticle files

also plan for backup power supplies to handle the servers



What OS:

Windows server 2003 standard or enterprise



Do I just need to buy 50 user keys for the OS and that is enough for all four servers, or do I need to buy 50 user keys per server? (Since each server has its own function)

You will need one client access license for each workstation access the "SERVER SYSTEM"



BUT.... if you are running M$FT SQL, Exchange for mail you will also need the server software and licenses for each of those systems above the base OS that needs to be installed. For mail you could go with Fedora red hat linux and run the mail system from that. IF you have the experience to run multiple operating systems....







How do I need to setup the switches and routers? Does the internet just run into one of the servers, or does it run into a switch first and then split off into the servers?



You will need to chose an ISP , define bandwidth needs, Static DSL or T1, T3

this will be determine by the core busiiness of the organization and the services used and provide via the internet..





you will need a router(and possibly a csu/dsu)

I would Highly reccomend a Firewall with AntiVirus and intrusion detection capabilities.(I use Fortinet - Fortigate firewalls) these can also provide content filtering etc....



The you would have your switching equipment that connects to your cabling in the buildling

I would select either Cisco 3560 1 gigabit switches or HP Procurve 4410 series switches.



Remember you will need enough ports to handle ANY network based equipment.

That includes printers, copiers



The endpoints all connect to the switches, provide yourself with room to grow.



if you purchase two 48 port switches that have expasion capabilities you should be fine to start with.



I suspect you may need more workstations on the manfacturing floors since many systems are is controlled by computing systems these days.



Dont forget all of the software systems require to run a company like this.. they could eat up half of that budget quickly....



Hope some of this helps..I am doing this from the beach in Hawaii

 

[Derek Hale]

That helps a lot, I got some info from another site from someone there, and he covered a lot but he missed out on a few things like the switch layout and that which you answered perfectly. Thanks for giving me some name of products too, that will go a long way.



The software side is where I am going to need to do a lot of research it seems like. It does not matter if I cant set it up in the real world, I just need to ensure that I have everything I need since this is just a hypothetical situation.



Do I just run Windows XP Pro on all the client computers? Is there anything special needed to have it work with 2003?



That is my biggest question right now.



Oh yeah, and have fun in Hawaii... lucky son of a...



This is actually the field I want to get into, my major is computer engineering, but I would love to be working with in IT for a company, problem is finding a stable IT job to get into.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

You need:



- A connection to the Internet, probably at least T1 speed; you get that from your local telco/ISP.



- That Internet connection gets terminated to a switch/router in your companies DMZ, that DMZ is seperated from the rest of your corporate network via a hardware firewall.



- On your corporate network you need Win 2003 servers, one holding your Active Directory forest (in olden days, this was your PDC), and another acting as the Active Directory backup...these hold all your accounts.



- You probably need two Win 2003 servers, with Exchange server installed, one acting as your primary and backup mail servers; typically print serving can be added to one of these servers, or to your file servers...



- ...For file storage add a Win 2003 server, but more importantly, make sure your hardware is RAID-capable, RAID level 5, and your hard disks are hot-swappable. You want to use server-class rack-mount machines for EVERYTHING above this line. Use TAPE backup for anything critical on this machine, store weekly's off-site.



- For your desktops, its best to standardize on as few laptops and desktops as possible so as to reduce your images...use Norton's Ghost for creating images of each supported platform



- I don't design anything other than simple networks, so I will punt there, but just make sure to have a very good backbone and no single points of failure.



- As for licensing, you need enought client licenses for all the client OSes you install (Win XP Pro is fine for this), for each of your 2003 servers (at least 5 by my last count), and I think client-licenses and server licenses for Exchange server.



Also, consider going with Cisco IP Phones as depending on your telco and what services they provide you may save a boat-load of money (direct, inward-dial is expensive for 50+ people if done through your telco).



Outsource as much of this architecture and setup as you are able, send out RFPs to various orgs, and as CIO appt people in your orgs to be the General Contractors and Vendor Liasons to getting the infrastructure installed and wired out. All responses to RFPs must provide service-level-agreements.



Oh, and make sure you have good corporate Anti-Virus and locked down desktop profiles (don't allow users to install just anything); also consider productivity filters/blockers (like Fortinet) to block certain websites; and refid (tag) EACH and EVERY piece of equipment. Also place in the employee handbook "terms of use" verbiage, that sets expectation for the use of the corporate network, and indicate in that verbiage that email and communications may be monitored.



That's all I can think of now...



TJR

 

[Casey B]

Look at this diagram we did as a group in my networking class. If you want to documentation, send me an email.

 

[Dale Carlson]

Derek,



Yeah, what those guys said.



Plus, you might want to consider server virtualization. Running 4 to 8 virtual servers on a single physical server saves on hardware costs, power costs, air conditioning, etc. VMWare and Microsoft are kind of leading the way with this.



Consider the business needs - you might want to consider some type of online storage network (like NAS or a SAN). A single unit can handle home directories, email storage, departmental shares, and data storage.



Is there a need to sub-divide the network IP addressing? Even though there aren't that many users, the physical distance between the plant floor and the offices may require it (if there is a distance of over 100 meters between the farthest users and a wiring center, an additional wiring center may be required). Also, for security purposes, they may want to have the manufacturing folks and the office folks on different subnets.



Gigabit (Layer 3) switching, Cat 6 copper, and Gig NICs are the current standard for new installations. You're gonna need it for the video teleconferencing you're putting in at each desktop (you are putting in video cams, aren't you?). You might consider running single-mode fiber to any conference rooms.

 

[Derek Hale]

Thanks again for all the responses, it has been a great help!



I am going to try now to put together a combination of the systems that seems safest while keeping it cheaper (its an MBA assignment, so I am sure making it efficient yet cost effective is the best way to go).

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Right, Q, that's all I really meant by a DMZ...you need a firewall, and you may elect to have some things on one side of the firewall and others on the other side.