asked on Creating a Network Plan
Hello,
I have been invited to a second interview for an I.T support role and have been asked to create/present a network plan for five minutes during the interview. I have been asked to include the following details:
- Hardware to use (firewalls, routers, switches, phones, servers...)
- What i would use to link two buildings (both are very close to each other so digging to lay a fiber or copper link would cause minimal disruption, only have to dig across a car park, no roads etc)
- One particular department requires high speed access to their files (surely 100Mbps would be adequate, perhaps using certain QoS policies on the networking hardware would achieve this?)
- All users (60 in total) need to have the following services available to them: Progress database, MSSQL2000 Database, Exchange 2003, Terminal services (only for 15 users), Sharepoint services v3, Domain controller(s), DNS+DHCP services, File server(s), Centrally controlled antivirus.
- Have to use multi-role severs where possible
There are approx 40 clients in one building and 20 in the other, external WAN links are a 2meg leased line and 2 meg adsl connection.
Costing is not part of the presentation, but i think showing that i have considered a cost effective solution would look good. So i need to make an efficient, reliable and cost effective (as possible) network plan!
I'm asking for a little help, particularly on the server side of things (i'm not too bad with basic networking) just to point me in the right directon. Like how many actual hardware servers would i require to provide all of these services? If i proposed a small amount of really powerful ones and used something like vmware to create several virtual servers, would this be reliable/cost effective...is it possible to set up failover redundancy when using virtual servers? Are they any good in he first place? Are they easier to manage etc...
Would it just be best to have several hardware servers and make as many of them as possible share services, like one server could be both the exchange and terminal services server etc...could one of the routers provide DHCP/DNS services or is it better to have a dedicated server do this?
As you can probably guess, i don't have much of an idea of how these services would be practically set up in real situations! Any help to point me in the right direction would be great!
I have been invited to a second interview for an I.T support role and have been asked to create/present a network plan for five minutes during the interview. I have been asked to include the following details:
- Hardware to use (firewalls, routers, switches, phones, servers...)
- What i would use to link two buildings (both are very close to each other so digging to lay a fiber or copper link would cause minimal disruption, only have to dig across a car park, no roads etc)
- One particular department requires high speed access to their files (surely 100Mbps would be adequate, perhaps using certain QoS policies on the networking hardware would achieve this?)
- All users (60 in total) need to have the following services available to them: Progress database, MSSQL2000 Database, Exchange 2003, Terminal services (only for 15 users), Sharepoint services v3, Domain controller(s), DNS+DHCP services, File server(s), Centrally controlled antivirus.
- Have to use multi-role severs where possible
There are approx 40 clients in one building and 20 in the other, external WAN links are a 2meg leased line and 2 meg adsl connection.
Costing is not part of the presentation, but i think showing that i have considered a cost effective solution would look good. So i need to make an efficient, reliable and cost effective (as possible) network plan!
I'm asking for a little help, particularly on the server side of things (i'm not too bad with basic networking) just to point me in the right directon. Like how many actual hardware servers would i require to provide all of these services? If i proposed a small amount of really powerful ones and used something like vmware to create several virtual servers, would this be reliable/cost effective...is it possible to set up failover redundancy when using virtual servers? Are they any good in he first place? Are they easier to manage etc...
Would it just be best to have several hardware servers and make as many of them as possible share services, like one server could be both the exchange and terminal services server etc...could one of the routers provide DHCP/DNS services or is it better to have a dedicated server do this?
As you can probably guess, i don't have much of an idea of how these services would be practically set up in real situations! Any help to point me in the right direction would be great!
Microsoft Server OSVMwareNetworking Hardware-Other
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ASKER
Just thought that I would add; I will be available to check responses after 6p.m (G.M.T) every day and the interview is on Friday afternoon, 25th July. Thanks!
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as a bit more about fast access to files.
IF the files are say 50kb word documents that are being opend and cosed every 5 min. then if the server had a gig link in to the core switch. and the clients had a 100mb connection to the switch, then this would give them jsut as fast access as if they had a gig connection to the desktop..
however if they are opening 500mb video files to edit with. A gig connection is going to be miles better than a 100mb connection and wont cost any more these days as most switchs are now becoming 1gig as standard
IF the files are say 50kb word documents that are being opend and cosed every 5 min. then if the server had a gig link in to the core switch. and the clients had a 100mb connection to the switch, then this would give them jsut as fast access as if they had a gig connection to the desktop..
however if they are opening 500mb video files to edit with. A gig connection is going to be miles better than a 100mb connection and wont cost any more these days as most switchs are now becoming 1gig as standard
ASKER
Great help! Thankyou so much DevilWAH and uetian1707, these responses are just what I was looking for.
I think you should try for a job that better fits your skills and that you don't have to try to cliff notes an interview for.
hold on a sec Krazy,
IF i was asked to go for a job doing general network admin then i would have to reserch things like exchange admin a bit. I mean I can set up a mail box and add and remove stores and such. But My area of expertise is network.
There is no one on the site that knows every thing about every thing. and this board is all about expanding your knowlage. Sarath simple asked for some pointers on a few area they are not so hot on. getting a new job is about expanding your abilities and pushing your self. Theres nothing wrong with asking for a few pointers...
IF i was asked to go for a job doing general network admin then i would have to reserch things like exchange admin a bit. I mean I can set up a mail box and add and remove stores and such. But My area of expertise is network.
There is no one on the site that knows every thing about every thing. and this board is all about expanding your knowlage. Sarath simple asked for some pointers on a few area they are not so hot on. getting a new job is about expanding your abilities and pushing your self. Theres nothing wrong with asking for a few pointers...
The interview process is designed to find the knowledge you know in order to see your fit for a job. If you go into the interview and don't know the "answer" the interview is usually designed to see how you come up with an answer to a question that is outside of your normal expertise.
Like my comment said, if you have to cliff notes the interview question you are not providing the interviewer with a true representation of your skills and you are not being fair to the other applicants. I do see how expanding knowledge is always good and getting a job that expands your knowledge is even better, If the interview is too hard to handle solo, again as I stated before, you should seek something closer to your skill set.
This is the different between tier 2 and tier 3 support, or between a network administrator and a senior network admin (or even an IT Director but those mainly are more administrative).
My comment stands as appropriate and should be read in the light it was intended and not as the insult you think I implied.
Like my comment said, if you have to cliff notes the interview question you are not providing the interviewer with a true representation of your skills and you are not being fair to the other applicants. I do see how expanding knowledge is always good and getting a job that expands your knowledge is even better, If the interview is too hard to handle solo, again as I stated before, you should seek something closer to your skill set.
This is the different between tier 2 and tier 3 support, or between a network administrator and a senior network admin (or even an IT Director but those mainly are more administrative).
My comment stands as appropriate and should be read in the light it was intended and not as the insult you think I implied.
ASKER
Thanks for the comments Krazy...the job is actually mostly desktop support, which i already have a job in.
I won't be setting up or managing any servers or the existing network, I think they set the applicants this task to see what answers they would up with. I mean I have a good idea of how a network should be, i've just graduated from uni after studying to CCNP standard, I just don't know a great deal about servers.
It they wanted me to have good experience of all of the stuff mentioned in this call...well i'd want more money than they're offering! lol.
I understand what you're saying, i'm not trying to cheat the interview or anything, just get a rough idea that's all.
Thanks everyone for all of your help with this..I'm sure i'll (cliff?) my way through it!
I won't be setting up or managing any servers or the existing network, I think they set the applicants this task to see what answers they would up with. I mean I have a good idea of how a network should be, i've just graduated from uni after studying to CCNP standard, I just don't know a great deal about servers.
It they wanted me to have good experience of all of the stuff mentioned in this call...well i'd want more money than they're offering! lol.
I understand what you're saying, i'm not trying to cheat the interview or anything, just get a rough idea that's all.
Thanks everyone for all of your help with this..I'm sure i'll (cliff?) my way through it!
Sarah, Cliff notes are a series of book that are synopsis of the real book. Typically used by teenagers to short cut a book report. I used it as a verb rather than the noun the book series implies.