Posted: March 26th, 2015

Design requirements

Design requirements

discuss here how to identify customer’s Design Requirements.
What are the design requirements and how you can identify in a RFP? Let me define the design requirements? It is the scope of work required to meet client’s business requirements. The scope of work includes but not limited to upgrade network infrastructure, replace or add new services, devices. The next question is how we can find the client’s requirements. Most of the time client solicit proposal in the form of RFP. The RFP contains a broad list of client’s upgrading needs. A designer call the client, make a site visit to check client’s requirement listed in RFP. After verification, the designer submits the design requirements as his response to RFP. These design requirements are specific and meet all the broad requirements of client for upgrading the network.
Below are criteria to Extract design requirements of network from Client’s RFP, site visits and some testing of the network
•    Existing topology, equipment, and software version
•    IP addressing plan
•    Scalability configuration (summarization, stub areas, etc.)
•    List of advertised networks
•    Link utilization
•    Metric requirements for primary and backup links
Based on this information, the network engineer can decide about the tasks that are required. The existing network may not require topology, IP addressing, or any other changes. In a best case scenario, when the network is built following the Cisco recommended design, the new implementation is just an addition to the existing network
Identifying Other Requirements
In addition to network information, there are many other requirements for the successful creation of an implementation plan and for implementation:
•    Site-specific implementation requirements
•    Dependencies on the existing installation, related to site-specific implementation requirements
•    Configuration and verification commands
•    Implement schedule and resources
•    Tools

•            Design Requirement: In any network design, or upgrade, only one thing is important and that is what customer wants. Some of the requirements are straightforward and some network requirements are derived from customer business goals, or improvement in production method, or cutting maintenance cost, or securing business information. The upgrade of network, should address these needs and these upgrades are called Design Requirements. ?WWTC document has given you lots of information about their business, business goals, security requirements and Active Directory requirements. Some requirements are straight forward such as they want faster network, want wireless network, and want VoIP. Some requirements are not stated directly, but they want to increase revenue, cut operating cost (Business Goal). Your task here is to create DRs which will support business goals and include all other requirements which they have stated clearly. ?Please read entire document carefully and sort out all direct and indirect design requirements. ?You would be evaluated on correct content of the assignment. You can write any way, and assignment has no page limit or style or format. ?Also, read Rubric and Design Requirement Assignment in Course Document.?

Background Information for World-Wide Trading Company

World-Wide Trading (WWTC) is a large online broker firm in the Hong Kong. The trading company has a staff of 9,000 who are scattered around the globe. Due to aggressive growth in business, they want to establish a regional office in New York City. They leased the entire floor of a building on Wall Street. You were hired as the director of the IT Department. The President of the company asked you to set up the state of the art network by December 15, 2015.  He shared with you the organizational structure and a list of the staff. You hired a consultant to test the network infrastructure and power requirement at WWTC office space. The consultant reported that the network infrastructure is solid and gigabit network can be set up on existing network wiring. Also, the existing power supply will meet their current and future demand.  The President has reiterated these business goals.

Business and Technical Goals

?    Increase revenue from 10 billion to 40 billion by the year 2018
?    Reduce the operating cost from 30 to 15 percent by the year 2018 by using an automated system for buying and selling.
?    Provide secure means of customer purchase and payment over Internet.
?    Allow employee to attach their notebook computers to the WWTC network and Internet services.
?    Provide state of the art VoIP and Data Network
?    Provide faster Network services
?    Provide fast and secure wireless services in the lobby and two large conference rooms (100×60)

On the basis of these business goals, you prepared a RFP to solicit a proposal for designing and implementing a fast, reliable and secure network.

The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to solicit from qualified vendors proposals for a
secure and fast network to ensure proper operation of the network.

To prepare a design for a state of the art network at the Wall Street location of World-Wide Trading.

Propose a Network design that solves the current security audit problems (see security sections), to meet business and technical goals.

Provide a modular, scalable and network.

Provide redundancy at building core layer and building distribution layer and access layer and at workstation level to avoid failure at one point.  For Building Access layer provide redundant uplinks connection to Building Distribution layer.

Select appropriate Cisco switch model for each part of your enterprise campus model design from the Cisco Products Link, and use the following assumptions in your selection process.

Selecting the Access layers switches:
a.    Provide one port to each device
b.    Make provision for 100% growth

Server farm switches
•    Assume 6 NIC cards in each server and one NIC card uses one port of switch
•    Dual processors and dual power supply

Propose an IP addressing redesign that optimizes IP addressing and IP routing (including the use of route summarization). Provide migration provision to IPv6 protocol in future.

Propose a High Level security plans to secure key applications and servers but encryption of all application is not acceptable.  Develop security policy to stop sniffing and man-in-the-middle attack.  Your security plan must be based on current industry standards. Multilayer security or defense-in-depth.

Integrate voice and data network to reduce cost. For dialing outside, the World-Wide Trading Company proposes a plan for 100% connectivity with a minimum number of outside lines.  For telephone requirements, see the Organization Chart and Telephone Equipment Table.

Provide aggregate routing protocols with hierarchal IP scheme.

Centralize all services and servers to make the network easier to manage and more cost-effective.
Provide LAN speed minimum 100 MB and Internet speed minimum 54 MB.

Provide wireless network access to network users and guest users in limited area (Lobby and Conference room).  In conference room and the lobby, the user will get a minimum 54 Mbps of bandwidth. (You can assume that site survey is done and no sources of interference or RF were discovered.)
Provide provisions for video conference and multicast services.

Standardize on TCP/IP protocols for the network. Macintoshes will be accessible only on guest notebook but must use TCP/IP protocols or the Apple Talk Filling Protocol (AFP) running on top of TCP.

Provide extra capacity at switches so authorized users can attach their notebook PCs to the network

Install DHCP software to support notebook PCs

The World-Wide Trading Company will use the following applications:
?    Microsoft Office 2012
?    Sending and receiving e-mail
?    Surfing the Web using Netscape or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer applications to access information, participate in chat rooms, and use other typical Web services
?    Accessing the library card-catalog
?    File Server application.

Associate will use the following Custom Applications
?    Market Tracking Application. This application will provide real-time status of stock and bond market to brokers and their clients.
?    Stock and Bond Analytical Application. This application will provide analysis of stock and Bond to Brokers only.

?    On Line Trading. The Company wishes to train new clients in online trading to attract new customer. The Company will sign up new client to receive streaming video and instructions

2.    Assume any information (with proper justification) which you think is missing and critical to the development of the design.

WWTC Security:
Although WTC has strong security requirements at other locations (see network diagram below), you will need to move to a significantly more secure network than WTC currently has available. At other places, lack of strong authentication, data confidentiality and separations between internal protected server and public server are principal areas that need to improve at this location.
Audit results of other locations identified the following problems
•    E-mail had been inappropriately used at times to communicate Business sensitive information.
•    Confidential business information and public data were connected to the same physical network.
•    End users systems had inappropriately housed confidential data should have resided only on servers. In addition, some of the end-user systems were found to be laptops, which had left the facility in clear violation of security policies.
•    Some logical control systems were found to rely on username and password combinations only.
•    Some sensitive business information was found to be transmitted in clear text between server and client.

In order to address these audit findings, you decided to firm up security policies in these areas.

Internet Connectivity
Internet connectivity and any other unclassified network must be physically separate from the network

Classified Network
The classified network must be physically secure to prevent any access to the classified network’s data. Control should be put in place to prevent local users from removing data from the systems in any way. This includes removable media, AV recorders, pen and paper, and any form of printer.
All data transmitted on the classified network must be cryptographically protected throughout the network. All classified data must be centrally stored and secured in a physically separate area from the unclassified network.

WAN Connectivity

In addition to the cryptographic protections of the data within the classified network, all data crossing wide-area links should undergo another layer of cryptographic protection such as IPSec/VPN/SSL.

Public Servers

All public servers must configured HTTPS connections and accept all requests that are on valid IP addresses and pass through firewall. Server must ask some identity of the connecting party.

Site-to-site VPN tunnels
All devices must be mutually authenticated and cryptographic protection should be provided.

PSTN dial-up
Dial-up client must authenticate with username and OTP

User Education
All users should undergo periodic user awareness training program on network threats and good security practices.

Deliverables

These are only recommendations on the general approach you might take for this project.

1.    Determine the most important assets of the company, which must be protected
2.    Determine general security architecture for the company
3.    Develop a list of 12specific policies that could be applied.
4.    Write specific details along with the rationale for each policy
5.    Integrate and write up the final version of the Security Policy Document for submittal
6.    Develop a High availability secure design for this locations addressing above considerations and mitigating 4 primary networks attacks categories mentioned below.

The Four Primary Attack Categories:
•    Reconnaissance attacks: An intruder attempts to discover and map systems, services, and vulnerabilities.
•    Access attacks: An intruder attacks networks and systems to retrieve data, or gain access, or escalate access privileges
•    Denial of Service attacks: An intruder attacks your network in a way that damages or corrupts your computer system or denies you and others access to your networks, system, or services.
•    Worms, viruses, and Trojan horses: Malicious software is inserted onto a host in order to damage a system, corrupt a system, replicate itself, or deny services or access to networks, system or services.

The following are the guidelines for security policies.
Security Policies:
•    Policies defining acceptable use
•    Policies governing connections to remote network
•    Polices outlining the sensitivity level of the various types of information held within an organization
•    Policies protecting the privacy of the network’s user and any customer data
•    Policies defining security baselines to be met by devices before connecting them to the network.
•    Creates a basis for legal action if necessary.

The key components of security policies:
•    Statement of authority and scope: Define the name of security authority and areas cover under that statement
•    Identification and authentication policy
•    Create Network  access policy: How the user will use the company’s data infrastructure
•    Remote access policy
•    Incident handling policy: This topic specifies how the company will create an incident response team and the procedure to be used during and after an incident

WWTC Active Directory Design

WWTC office at New York is largely autonomous and few IT personnel to take care of day-to-day IT support activities such as password resets troubleshoot virus problems.  You are concerned about sensitive data store in this location. You want to deploy a highly developed OU structure to implement security policies uniformly through GPO automatically at all domains, OU, and workstations.
At this location Windows Server 2012 is required providing the following AD features:

•    Use BitLocker encryption technology for devices (server and Work station) disc space and volume.
•    Enables a BitLocker system on a wired network to automatically unlock the system volume during boot (on capable Windows Server 2012 networks), reducing internal help desk call volumes for lost PINs.
•    Create group policies settings to enforce that either Used Disk Space Only or Full Encryption is used when BitLocker is enabled on a drive.
•    Enable BranchCache in Windows Server 2012 for  substantial performance, manageability, scalability, and availability improvements
•    Implement Cache Encryption to store encrypted data by default.  This allows you to ensure data security without using drive encryption technologies.
•    Implement Failover cluster services
•    Implement File classification infrastructure feature to provide automatic classification process.
•    IP Address Management (IPAM) is an entirely new feature in Windows Server 2012 that provides highly customizable administrative and monitoring capabilities for the IP address infrastructure on a corporate network.
•    Smart cards and their associated personal identification numbers (PINs) are an increasingly popular, reliable, and cost-effective form of two-factor authentication. With the right controls in place, a user must have the smart card and know the PIN to gain access to network resources.
•    Implement Windows Deployment Services to enables you to remotely deploy Windows operating systems. You can use it to set up new computers by using a network-based installation.

Deliverables

Deliverables

•    Create Active directory infrastructure to include recommended features

•     Create OU level  for users and devices in their respective OU
•    Create Global, Universal, Local group.. Each global group will contain all users in the corresponding department. Membership in the universal group is restrictive and membership can be assigned on the basis of least privileged principle. (For design purpose, you can assume that WTC as a Single Forest with multiple domains).
•    Create appropriate GPO and GPO policies and determine where they will be applied.

Reference:
WWTC Organization Chart