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Stray Dog Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

hello! i'm a student and i have a problem with my data communication assignment, can anyone help me? i am a IT idiot~ Crying or Very sad

here is the situation:
A company has 80 staff members (50 engineers included) in total. the director of the company wants to set uo an online library system for managing various documentions. it is expected that all the engineers would be using this information on a daily basis.

the tasks:
proposal for the network that includes the following
1. computer configuration that can support the networking function
2. types of networking equipment and medium that will use to install a simple network that can support the online system
3. operating system that can support the networking function and what networking functions form the software side will be used for providing the online access within the intranet
4. LAN technology and network protocol that will be used

please help me! i have no idea how to do it! thanks for so kind to slove my problem!!

EEps · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:23 am Post subject:

Welcome to the forums and the pound, kyan! Grab a spot by the beer bowl but leave them nuts alone! Big Smile

Love to help yah, but you wouldn't really learn anything if we did all yer work fer yah. You'd get a good grade in all but I don't really believe that you would want a grade fer something that you really didn't do on yer own. I'm sure we'd be happy to guid you along but you really need to do all the leg work. Wink Smile

Mutt Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 121 Location: USA

Setup a Microsoft Sharepoint server.

With this the documents will be living and can checked out by the user using the documents at that time. This will keep all of the docs in one central location so they will be easy to backup and restore when there is an oops. There is always an oops.

I would say that this would be a good starting point for your project. Sharepoint is a great tool and is web based so it is easy to access from anywhere.

Hope this helps

Stray Dog Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

thanks for the relpy, i know i shouldn't ask for the answer. but i have no direction how to strat to do it.
i have actually finished some work, but i don't know it is correct or not. can you have a look with me?

Computer configuration: Windows XP Home SP2, SuSE Linux Personal 9, Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors 630 - 650 (#) with HT Technology and EM64T (3.0GHz to 3.4GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB); 160GB (7200 rpm), 16X DVD±RW/±R Drive

LAN Technology: Token Ring Network is a local area network offering which uses a star-wired ring configuration. Token passing is accomplished by conforming to the IEEE 802.5 standard. Token Ring Network uses baseband transmission to transmit data at 4 or 16 Mbps using unshielded twisted pair cable. Different transmission media, such as shielded twisted pair or fiber optic cable, could potentially increase the bandwidth of a token ring network.

Medium: unshielded twisted pair cable

Operating system: Window NT (Windows XP)

Network protocol: TCP/IP

however, i don't know what networking equipment i should use.

thanks for helping me again~

Mutt Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 121 Location: USA

I think you need to look at your configuration of Operating Systems. Share Point is a Microsoft product which means that you would use only Microsoft operating systems. So I would look at your piece and re-evaluate.

I would also not recommend a Token Ring network. This would meet the criteria of what you need in for the project scope but this network is Very old and you would be better off with what is used in most standard networks today.

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:21 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the forums.

For your LAN technology, I find it kind of strange you are using a Token Ring network, although they do exist they are becoming harder and harder to find. I would suggest using an Ethernet (802.3 CSMA/CD) or wireless (802.11) configuration.

If you insist on using a token ring then, if my memory serves me correctly, you need to get a MAU. Also you will have to specify in your computer configuration a NIC but I believe Token Ring requires a special type of NIC.

I may be completly off base. But just a suggestion

Stray Dog Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

so, is it better than token ring?

LAN Technology: Ethernet is a bus network, using the CSMA/CD access method found in IEEE 802.3. This is a 10 Mbps, baseband, IEEEE 802.3 standard for transmitting Ethernet over twisted-pair wire, hence the name 10Base-T. 100Base-T, an IEEE 8002.12 standard, operates much like 10Base-T, utilizing Ethernet protocols, twisted-pair wire, baseband transmission, and hubs in a star-wired bus architecture. 100VG-AnyLAN is an IEEE 802.12 standard, and utilizes a demand priority scheme that allows certain traffic to be transmitted on a high priority basis.

thanks~

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:48 pm Post subject:

The speeds are a lot better than token ring. Also with CSMA/CD you can go up to gigabit now.

Standard CSMA/CD is now 100Mbps. I believe token ring maxed at 16Mbps as you had posted earlier.

Also standard NIC will work with CSMA/CD, you would have to setup an IP scheme or a DHCP server but that is pretty par for the course.

I believe however that token ring has almost no packet loss, while CSMA/CD does have packet loss, but it makes up for it with sheer speed.

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:06 am Post subject:

Skookum wrote:
I believe token ring maxed at 16Mbps as you had posted earlier.

Nope. 100Mbps token ring is out there. FDDI is also token ring-based.

Ethernet: technically inferior (buckles under comparatively light loads), but cheap.
Token Ring: technically superior (handles high loads much, much better than ethernet), but expensive, thanks to proprietary technology and licensing fees.

Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject: Re: can anyone help?!

kyan wrote:
hello! i'm a student and i have a problem with my data communication assignment, can anyone help me? i am a IT idiot~

here is the situation:
A company has 80 staff members (50 engineers included) in total. the director of the company wants to set uo an online library system for managing various documentions. it is expected that all the engineers would be using this information on a daily basis.

the tasks:
proposal for the network that includes the following
1. computer configuration that can support the networking function
2. types of networking equipment and medium that will use to install a simple network that can support the online system
3. operating system that can support the networking function and what networking functions form the software side will be used for providing the online access within the intranet
4. LAN technology and network protocol that will be used

please help me! i have no idea how to do it! thanks for so kind to slove my problem!!

Check out Knowledge Tree, FOSS document library, runs on PHP and mysql.

http://www.ktdms.com/products/knowledgetree

We use it in-house on a linux based server.

iceman

Stray Dog Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

thanks guys for your kindly help!!

but i have a silly question, if i write down :
Computer configuration: Windows XP Home, 512DDRam, Intel® Pentium® 4 Processors 630 - 650 (#) with HT Technology and EM64T (3.0GHz to 3.4GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB); 160GB (7200 rpm), 16X DVD±RW/±R Drive

LAN Technology: Ethernet is a bus network, using the CSMA/CD access method found in IEEE 802.3. This is a 10 Mbps, baseband, IEEEE 802.3 standard for transmitting Ethernet over twisted-pair wire, hence the name 10Base-T. 100Base-T, an IEEE 8002.12 standard, operates much like 10Base-T, utilizing Ethernet protocols, twisted-pair wire, baseband transmission, and router in a star-wired bus architecture. 100VG-AnyLAN is an IEEE 802.12 standard, and utilizes a demand priority scheme that allows certain traffic to be transmitted on a high priority basis.

Networking equipment: router (hub cannot define private ip and small scale) (fiber optic it 's hard to physically connect)
Medium: unshielded twisted pair cable can prevent noise from outside and can connect it easily with using ethernet
Operating system: Window NT becoz the performance is more stable
Network protocol: TCP/IP becoz TCP/IP is well developed and easy to communicate between computers

do i need to set up a server as well?

Mutt Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 121 Location: USA

Yes you would need to setup a server. Have you decided what online system you are going to use to share the documenation?

This is what the server would be used for.

Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:02 am Post subject:

The answer to this question is the reason we hire networking professionals and CIOs. A few questions have to be answered first, like:
Are the engineers all in one building, or spread out?
Is there any possibility that they'd ever want internet access?
What is the company's merger & acquisition strategy?
What type of documentation do the engineers transport over the network to the server, text files or CAD files?
Is this a classified location, or can anyone see the files?
Are nightly backups OK, or do you need real-time backups?
What would happen if said location were struck by an "act of God" like tornados, hurricanes, floods. How much downtime is acceptable?

All of these things and other factors would affect the network configuration.

Stray Dog Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 6

[quote="VirtualElvis"]The answer to this question is the reason we hire networking professionals and CIOs. A few questions have to be answered first, like:
1. Are the engineers all in one building, or spread out?
2. Is there any possibility that they'd ever want internet access?
3. What is the company's merger & acquisition strategy?
4. What type of documentation do the engineers transport over the network to the server, text files or CAD files?
5. Is this a classified location, or can anyone see the files?
6. Are nightly backups OK, or do you need real-time backups?
7. What would happen if said location were struck by an "act of God" like tornados, hurricanes, floods. How much downtime is acceptable?

All of these things and other factors would affect the network configuration.[/quote]

1. all the engineers are in one building (or you can say in one room)
2. yes
3. the company is an M&E consulting firm
4. type of doc. : codes & standards, design guides, product catalogues and installation manuals
5. i think those 80 staff members can see the files and this are not classified doc.
6. the outline didn't mention...
7. downtime.... no limit

[quote="deagler"]Yes you would need to setup a server. Have you decided what online system you are going to use to share the documenation? [/quote]

sorry, what do you mean by online system? do i need to set up one or something?
i don't really know~ how to set up a server... can anyone teach me, please?

i really thanks for all your help! but i want to make it clear, there are no budget limit and equipment limit, also my lecturer just require basic skills, please don't think too deep because i will not understand what you are talking. the last point that i want to make it clear is: this is a virtual situation.
thanks again!! Very Happy

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:56 am Post subject:

Microsoft has a how-to guide. Go to this link and look at the Evaluate, plan, deploy, maintain, support section at the end of the page. Not sure anyone's capable of distilling it into a thread on a BBS.

This might be what you're looking for.