computer technology hw 1

by

Scenario

You have just been hired as a network administrator for a company that provides background credit checks for car dealers. They are going to be implementing a new system architecture that you will be tasked with managing. They are asking for your input on the design.

The requirements are as follows:

  • Users in the company use laptops to access the internal systems. When they are in the office, they use a wireless network and when teleworking from home they use a VPN over the Internet.
  • Their work, particularly the algorithms they use in the applications, as well as the individual data, is very sensitive and so they want the data to be stored and processed in an on-premise data center with very strict security.
  • Because of the volume of usage and the need for redundancy (they guarantee response to their customers within 1 hour of the request), they are requiring at least 2 physical servers which will be mirrors of each other.
  • Their main application is fairly complex and very computational. It uses a fat client which must be installed on the user’s laptop. The application is based on retrieving data from a large database that will reside on their machines. If the individual being assessed is not in the database, or the data on them is old, the system will go out to an outside credit bureau to retrieve data and this will be added to the database.
  • When the analysis is complete, the system sends a report to the customer, once it has been approved by the user’s supervisor.

You will develop an architecture diagram which details

  • The physical computer hardware that you need (e.g., types of servers)
  • The networking hardware that you will need (e.g. wireless access point)
  • The security hardware/software that you will need (e.g., firewalls)
  • Any outside connections (e.g. to the customer)

In addition to the network diagram, also include any notes which show the assumptions that you have made. Options for your diagram:

You can draw in Word or PowerPoint

You can use a tool such as MS Visio

You can draw the diagram by hand and scan it in.