A small IT company would like your help to improve the performance of their network.

They have a range of network components, all connected using ethernet cables but are not too sure how all the equipment are connected together. Before upgrading their network, they would like you to draw a diagram representing their network topology.

Luckily, all the ethernet ports on all the equipment used in the office have been clearly labelled, so these labels should help you draw an accurate design/topology of this network.

To draw the network design, you will need to use our network design tool:
Design Your Own Network Online

Here is all the information you will need to design this network.

Floor PlanMain SwitchRouterFirewallWAPHub

The network consists of:

• 8 Desktop computers spread across two rooms,
• 2 inkjet printers,
• A server rack with a file server, an e-mail server, a web-server and a backup server,
• A main switch (in the server room),
• A hub (in the extension room),
• A router,
• A firewall,
• A Wireless Access Point (in the main office area).

The employees of the office can also connect their smartphones and laptops wirelessly.

Here is the floor plan of the office:

Here is a picture of the main switch, located in the server room. The labels on this switch should help you design the network topology. (Click on the picture to zoom in).

Here is a picture of the router, located in the server room. The labels on this router should help you design the network topology. (Click on the picture to zoom in).

Here is a picture of the firewall, located in the server room. The labels on this firewall should help you design the network topology. (Click on the picture to zoom in).

Here is a picture of the Wireless Access Point (WAP), located in the main office. The label on this WAP should help you design the network topology. (Click on the picture to zoom in).

Here is a picture of the network hub, located in the extension room. The labels on this hub should help you design the network topology. (Click on the picture to zoom in).

Improving the Network Performance

• Accessing the Internet
• Connecting their laptops and smartphones wirelessly in the extension room.

To improve the performance of this network, the office have contacted their Internet Service Provider and upgraded their Internet Connection to a higher bandwidth.

They were also told that, installing a cache server could improve the performance of the network when employees access the Internet.

Finally, they found out that the network Wi-Fi signal in the extension room was fairly weak due to the distance to the Wireless Access Point and the presence of partition walls between the extension room and the main office area where the WAP is located. They were advised to install an extra Wireless Access Point in the extension room.

Could you upgrade your network diagram by adding:

• A cache server, connected to the main switch,
• An extra Wireless Access Point (WAP), connected to the main switch.

Solution...

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