OUR SAVIORS KIDS UPGRADES TO HARDWARE, SOFTWARE ...



OUR SAVIORS KIDS UPGRADES TO HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, NETWORKING, AND SECURITYAnthony GartnerUniversity of Wisconsin – StoutInformation Communications & TechnologyAuthor NoteGartnera4705@my.uwstout.eduTable of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Abstract PAGEREF _Toc7959332 \h 3OUR SAVIORS KIDS UPGRADES TO HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, NETWORKING, AND SECURITY PAGEREF _Toc7959333 \h 4Introduction PAGEREF _Toc7959334 \h 4Basic Premise PAGEREF _Toc7959335 \h 4Server Justification PAGEREF _Toc7959336 \h 5Network Justification PAGEREF _Toc7959337 \h 6Network Connection Speed PAGEREF _Toc7959338 \h 6Infrastructure Backbone PAGEREF _Toc7959339 \h 8Wireless Connection. PAGEREF _Toc7959340 \h 9Hardware/Software specific to daycare facilities PAGEREF _Toc7959341 \h 10Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc7959342 \h 11References PAGEREF _Toc7959343 \h 12AbstractThis paper will explore the past, present, and future of Our Saviors Kids Childcare. It will examine elements of the history of OSK, the existing state of technology, and the future of the site if recommendations are followed.Keywords: Networking, Wireless Access Point, Windows Server, Security hardware/softwareOUR SAVIORS KIDS UPGRADES TO HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, NETWORKING, AND SECURITYIntroductionOur Saviors Kids is a small non-profit Christian childcare center. This location is physically located within the same facility as the Our Savior Lutheran Church. OSK is looking to have their technology brought into a more modern state. Currently, the technology and processes in the facility are disjointed and lacking in many areas. OSK serves children from the age of six weeks to five years old. The classes are broken into child ages that are 6 weeks to 2 years, 2 - 3 years old, and 3 - 5 years old. Basic PremiseOSK suffered from the prior director, she purchased the absolute bare minimum for technology possible. ??The purchase of a laptop from Acer (, n.d), that ended up sitting on a shelf because a brand-new computer was useless in productivity. ?The specifications on this particular laptop were enough to run the operating system but left only two gigabytes of space to use for the rest of the computer’s operations. ?There are many points that can be found that are similar in the way equipment, software, and technology put in place.The task that is asked of me is to evaluate the existing computers, network (wired and wireless), software, and website. ?A basic analysis has been performed on the network and existing computers. A network map has not been created at this time. ?Based on the information I have found about the network, the computers, and systems, the recommendation is to proceed with a Client/Server architecture. ?This setup will maximize the efficiency in this relatively small area.The opposing argument is to do nothing and exist with the flaws that are in place. ?After the interview with the staff, this is not an option.Server JustificationBased on experience and an extensive interview with the leaders of OSK, the recommendation for this site is to have a single server running Windows Server 2016. ?Included is a price to include mission-critical service that contains a four-hour window of repair. The hardware will contain an Idrac solution that allows the server to be booted and checked for errors via the Idrac system. ??The server being recommended is not a top of the line server. ?The top of the line server, in this case, would be overkill and unjustifiably expensive. ?The Central Processing unit for this server is Intel? Xeon? E-2124 3.3GHz (Intel? Xeon? E-2124 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.30 GHz) Product Specifications. n.d.) which should run at sufficient power for the projected usage. Technologies such as a raid array are not expected to be necessary based on case usage. ?A raid array (Symons, M., & Symons, M. 2017, December 21) is a series of hard drives that are teamed together to provide redundancy of data. This machine has an existing hardware raid controller built in, but as of now will remain idle until the need for larger drives is encountered. The server will ship with a 1 terabyte hard drive. ?At existing usage levels this should be sufficient. Ram for this server is running at 8 Gigabytes. This is something easily expanded in the event the server requires more to function adequately. Expected run time for this server is approximately five years of continuous use. This server will be located in the locked closet alongside the existing gear currently in place. A Client/Server system will allow OSK to ensure that the computers spread throughout the building are being backed up, data is being securely stored, and accessed by only the people who should be accessing this data. ?In the current infrastructure, there is no central anything. This means that any data on devices are not being managed and not being securely stored or backed up as a measure of work Justification The existing network is unreliable and physically slow according to the interviews of staff within OSK. At present, the network is a cable connection from Charter/Spectrum providing a 10 Mbps connection to the Internet. The inside network consists of a Netgear WNDR4300 router (WNDR4300v2 - Premium Edition N750 WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router, n.d.). Attached to this router is several small switches that specific rooms wired traffic, along with a b/g/n wireless radios operating at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. This upgrade is the priority as it has the biggest effect and is ill-suited for this environment. The gear in this location is all home grade work Connection SpeedThe connection speed of the existing network is only barely adequate. The 10mbps is attempting to cover approximately 10 people at any given time. This tier of service is not even available any longer through the Internet Service Provider they use. The current lowest speed for Charter/Spectrum is a 100Mbps speed (Communications, C., n.d.). This speed change would improve by a factor of 10.B.This new speed will be required as a result of putting in technologies that will rely more heavily on the internet than in the past. Severs will need to communicate with the outside, backups will use this connection, as will the staff.The logic behind requiring a greater speed from the Internet Service Provider is that you can download faster. In the case of online backups which will be discussed shortly, is the upload speed will require a boost as well. The recommendation of online backups relies on this upload speed.A Secondary recommendation is to place a professional grade router in between the Cloud provided by Spectrum and OSK’s network. The specific router being recommended is an EdgeRouter 12 manufactured by the Ubiquity Corporation.“The EdgeRouter 12 is a high-performance Gigabit Router with PoE flexibility. With increased performance over the previous generation of routers, the EdgeRouter 12 delivers up to 3.4 million pps for 64-byte packets. Ten Gigabit Ethernet ports offer copper connectivity, while two SFP ports offer fiber connectivity. The EdgeRouter 12 supports Layer-2 switching and scalable configuration using EdgeOS or the Ubiquiti Network Management System (UNMS).” ()In the case of this router, there is a fair amount of futureproofing involved as a result of the purchase of this router. The router is going to handle speeds for the networking in excess of what would typically be needed for this device. The additional point to this specific router is that it the capability of doing Power over Ethernet (PoE) that will be needed to install the commercial Wireless Access Points (WAP). Infrastructure BackboneEthernet Connections. This specifically references the hardware that does the networking inside the building. The current network devices are Netgear WNDR4300 router (WNDR4300v2 - Premium Edition N750 WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router, n.d.) and several 10/100 Mbps switches. The existing backbone of this network provides a very spotty connection even on the wired ethernet connections. In the case of the network that is currently in place at OSK, the network was very clearly cobbled together in bits and pieces. ?The network is a hodgepodge of gear that has been put in place and replaced as gear has failed. After evaluation of the network survey, there is no consistency in brand, type of gear, or speeds that the equipment is meant to operate. ?This building is also lacking on proper connectivity (ie: cable runs) to a central location. Instead, it relies on outdated switches in rooms to provide connectivity to the network backbone for internet and file sharing. The overall physical layout of this network is fairly simple. ?The network will consist of a cable modem provide by Spectrum attached to a new router in place as discussed above. ?The Current need connects two physical computers and the proposed server to this router. The router was intentionally selected with enough ports to provide some additional ports if necessary. ?This router will double as a switch to provide solid connectivity for the network. The addition of the PoE ability will be an additional factor for this purchase. The WIFI that will be discussed below will also be hardwired into this unit.Wireless Connection. The existing wireless coverage is being provided by the existing router. This router is located in the closet in which the server and new networking gear will be located. The issue for this router is that it is a home-based router that will not adequately provide the proper speed and secure connections needed for the server and networking being tasked by staff.The wireless is older style wireless and effectively very slow based on a modern business class network connection. The speed bump is again neccessated by the implementation of both the server and additional software that will run on the individual staff laptops.The existing router provides a WIFI signal that can accommodate up to a connection speed of 300mbps. This is a shared connection speed as is most WIFI connections. As a result of this speed, it provides wireless laptops with a shared speed of less than ? the speed of a single wired ethernet port. This speed is under ideal conditions and the location for OSK has many factors that will slow this throughput down. The recommendation is to put in an UniFi AC Pro Wireless Access Point in the server closet. The WAP will provide close to a gigabit speed on the shared wireless service, effectively increasing the speed by a factor of 4.“The UniFi AC Pro AP features the latest Wi-Fi 802.11ac, 3x3 MIMO technology in a refined industrial design and is ideal for deployment of maximum?performance wireless networks.” This specific device requires power from either a power brick or a PoE connection. This case, the device will be located into the ceiling of the server room using a PoE connection. An added benefit of this setup for router/WAP is that a guest network can be created for parishioners and for the time of the church, meetings, and events.Hardware/Software specific to daycare facilitiesPurchase of hardware/software from . This is a non-trivial aspect to the upgrade of this facility. This is significant cost concerns as well as a time frame to install equipment and that equipment to be programmed. There is a scanner that will require installation at the entrance to the facility. This device will be able to scan approved parents via a fingerprint scan to gain entrance to the facility. It will likewise bar anyone who is not on the authorized list to gain entry. This is an expensive portion of the hardware upgrade cost.This software and hardware is a primary purpose behind the consultation to the site. It is with this combined system that the goal of automated access control is accomplished. This is a secure and safe system that will reach out to other systems to provide accurate means for accounting and accountability. Through a combination of several aspects, this technology will provide a workflow that accommodates staff, parents, and potential visitors reliable accounting and attendance. Staff will be able to use modules within the software to track and chart individual students’ daily activities that can be released to the parents. This same software can and will be used for reporting to the state agencies to verify proper care of the children. The advantage of being able to control billing for a family is a very significant advantage that comes with the software. Conclusion. Our Saviors Kids is a facility that is willing to upgrade their technology footing in order to be more efficient, more secure, and better prepared to handle the daily obligations of the patrons. This is a family type of place, but a place that wants to be able to give both children and staff the best care possible. The cost of the hardware and software is recognized as a vital part of their future and the staff is the new elements very nicely. The staff will be able to provide more attention to their charges as a result of the technology shifting the burden from paper to a streamlined electronic version. The addition of security and attendance is a huge bonus for this organization. References(n.d.). Retrieved from , C. (n.d.). Get fast, reliable Internet at a great low price–starting at 100Mbps. Retrieved from 12. (n.d.). Retrieved from Childcare Software Demo from Procare Software. (n.d.). Retrieved from ? Xeon? E-2124 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.30 GHz) Product Specifications. (n.d.). Retrieved from , M., & Symons, M. (2017, December 21). What's a RAID array and why should I get one? Retrieved from AC Pro. (n.d.). Retrieved from - Premium Edition N750 WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router. (n.d.). Retrieved from ................
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