The proposal of the network diagram is conceived to a typical organization which has a finite quantity of peer departments (clients), a department server, plotters and a router with firewall capabilities connected to the internet.
Description of the components of network diagram:
Peer departments (clients): Each department may have one or more terminals that receive service information from a department server. Each client may be a desktop or laptop computer connected to the network by local area network (LAN) of by wireless local access network (WLAN). Each client must have an assigned Internet Protocol (IP) that differentiates one client from another. The use of an IP is combined with the use of a client name, for example, USER_01 or PC_01 inside a workgroup that is served by the department server. It is recommended for the clients that they must have a standard configuration in operative system, network properties, and installed applications to avoid incompatibilities with other clients of the network or the server. Each client may have the possibility to add or remove information from the shared database of the network according to the permissions given from the department server to all the clients or a specific client (Search Mobile Computing, 2016).
Router: The router is the interface between the internet and the intranet. The most common routers today have firewall capabilities that avoid the access without permission of intruders from the Internet to the network. The router may connect to the Internet using fixed connection with the RJ-11 or coaxial interface or wireless connection with 4G interfaces according to the internet service supplier. The use of a router it is not mandatory for the existence of a network, but it gives to the network functionality with the information and antivirus upgrade and dynamic IP assignation. Without the router, the Server must assign IP numbers manually to each client.
Plotters: The use of plotters, paper printers, and other output accessories are connected to the network using LAN or WLAN interface. The use of the parallel configuration to connect plotters to the network and not to each client or servers offers the advantage of 100% availability of plotters no matter the client is on the network. The use of plotters in a parallel connection improves the usage of the plotters and printing costs to the network. The server can track the usage of the plotters and calculate the cost per print and determine the requirement of plotter for the organization.
Database:
The proposed database has an index, which is "Computer Information" with three keys: Computer ID, Location and Employee ID. The three fields are referred to three different tables: Upgrade list, Employee information, and Upgrade information. The other in the database is the Job Title. The configuration has serious mistakes that did not follow the most important principles of a network; starting with the principle that one field is unique and unrepeatable.
The failures of the network are the following:
■ The fields last name and first name are repeated two times, once in the Upgrade list and the employee information. The redundancy of fields may generate incongruences in the functioning of the network.
■ The job title is repeated two times, once in the Upgrade list and the employee information. The redundancy of fields may generate incongruences in the functioning of the network.
■ The location is repeated two times, once in the Upgrade list and the computer information. The redundancy of fields may generate incongruences in the functioning of the network.
■ The job title is not a table but a list of closed options to be inserted in the field of job title in the employee information.
With the following observations it is necessary to make a revision of the current database a propose a new database with the following structure:
The proposed network diagram eliminates one table, the Upgrade List that was not necessary for the function of the database which is to give a solution to clients to store and upgrade information about the clients of the database and its related hardware.
The job title is an of options for that depends on of the organization configuration with alphabetic values and with finite options.
The data in the database may have numeric or alphanumeric values according to the nature of the information.
Characteristics of the network:
Employee ID: The employee ID is a numeric value that relates the employee information with the computer information. The value starts with the number one to the number of employees of the organization. There are not two employees with the same number.
Computer ID: The numeric value is different to the Internet Protocol and the identification value of the computer. For network purposes, it is a consecutive number. There are not two computers with the same Computer ID.
Computer information: The computer information has two keys, employee ID, and computer ID. According to that array, the index for the consultation of the database starts in the computer information table. When the clients need to upgrade the information he may add new information using the related tables of the Employee Information and Upgrade information thanks to the link between the two field keys inside the Computer Information table.
Reference List
Search Mobile Computing. (2016). Wireless LAN (WLAN or Wireless Local Area Network). Retrieved from Search Mobile Computing: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/wireless-LAN
Staco Energy. (2016). Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). Retrieved from Staco Energy: http://www.stacoenergy.com/es/products-solutions/products/uninterruptible-power-supply
