SUPPORTING

OPERATING SYSTEM
(SOS)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................2

SELECTING THE SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM ..................................................................................2

SELECTING THE CLIENT OPERATING SYSTEM ...................................................................................4

COMPUTER HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS ..........................................................................................5

INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF WINDOWS SERVER 2008 ..............................................7

CONFIGURING A STATIC IP ADDRESS ............................................................................................... 11

CONFIGURING DHCP ON THE SERVER .............................................................................................. 12

INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF THE CLIENT OPERATING SYSTEM ............................ 14

CONFIGURING A DHCP CLIENT .......................................................................................................... 18

CLIENT COMPUTER HARDWARE PROFILES ..................................................................................... 20

IMPLEMENTATION OF PRINT SERVERS ........................................................................................... 23

CONFIGURING A PRINT SERVER ........................................................................................................ 23

TESTING THE PRINT SERVER............................................................................................................. 25

CREATING A PRINTER POOL .............................................................................................................. 26

DEMONSTRATING PRINTER PRIORITY ............................................................................................. 27

SUPPORT FOR MOBILE COMPUTING ................................................................................................. 29

IMPLEMENTATION OF RAID SYSTEM AND CLUSTERING ............................................................... 36

DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN ............................................................................................................... 40

NETWORK DISASTERS ........................................................................................................................ 40

PROPOSAL FOR DISASTER RECOVERY .............................................................................................. 41

DISASTER RECOVERY PERSONNELS ................................................................................................. 42

COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................... 43

TERMINAL SERVICES .......................................................................................................................... 43

INSTALLATION OF TERMINAL SERVICES ......................................................................................... 44

CONFIGURING TERMINAL SERVICES CLIENT .................................................................................. 48

TESTING TERMINAL SERVICES .......................................................................................................... 50

REMOTE INSTALLATION AND SERVER ADMINISTRATION ............................................................ 51

INCORPORATING SERVICES INTO THIS NETWORK MODEL ........................................................... 52

NETWORK MONITORING AND OPTIMIZATION ............................................................................... 53

EVENTS LOG ......................................................................................................................................... 56

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 60




1
References ............................................................................................................................................ 61




INTRODUCTION
In every business today, having an excellent human resource base, a robust and an efficient
Network infrastructure plays a huge role in the performance and total output of the company.
Therefore, for every company at this modern era, it is essential that a well built and efficiently
managed Network infrastructure is provided.

This is a case study about a newly established company named LONDON PRIVATE HEALTHCARE
PROVIDER (LPHP), they are based in London and will offer health care services ranging from
Healthcare financing and Home-care to assisted living and Health informatics services. Therefore
they are looking to put in place amongst other things a very robust and efficient IT infrastructure to
aid the business.

As the Network System Administrator handling this project, I will be designing and developing an IT
infrastructure that satisfies the requirements and expected functionalities of the Network. The
Network will be designed to provide scalability to allow ease of future expansion. Even more,
services that would further aid the companys business and activities will be incorporated in the
Network design.


SELECTING THE SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM
Considering Windows server 2008 is the selected operating system to be used, it is important to
consider the various available editions and select the one best suited to this project. The table
below 0compares the editions by the features and services they provide:-

FEATURES ENTERPRISE DATACENTER STANDARD WEB

ADFS Web Agent Yes Yes Yes No

Directory uLDM Yes Yes Yes No

Desktop Experience Yes Yes Yes Yes

Windows Clustering Yes Yes No No

Windows Server Backup Yes Yes Yes Yes

Windows Network Load Balancing Yes Yes Yes Yes
(WNLB)

Simple TCP/IP Services Yes Yes Yes No

SMTP Yes Yes Yes Yes






2
Subsystem for Unix-Based Applications Yes Yes Yes No
(SUA)

Telnet Client Yes Yes Yes Yes

Telnet Server Yes Yes Yes Yes

Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) Yes Yes Yes No

RPC Over HTTP Proxy Yes Yes Yes No

Windows Internet Naming Service Yes Yes Yes No
(WINS)

Wireless Client Yes Yes Yes No

Windows System Resource Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes
(WSRM)

Simple SAN Management Yes Yes Yes No

LPR Port Monitor Yes Yes Yes No

The Windows Foundation Components Yes Yes Yes Yes
for WinFX

BITS Server Extensions Yes Yes Yes No

BitLocker Drive Encryption Yes Yes Yes No

Multipath IO Yes Yes Yes No

Removable Storage Management Yes Yes Yes No

TFTP Yes Yes Yes No

SNMP Yes Yes Yes Yes

Server Admin Pack Yes Yes Yes Yes

RDC Yes Yes Yes No



The Web server edition as the name also implies is designed essentially for providing Internet and
information services (IIS) and other Web related services. The standard and Web editions are both
entry level servers because they are targeted at small and mid-sized businesses, though they
provide services like ADDS, DNS, and Remote access, they do not provide services like clustering and
load balancing. The Enterprise and Data center editions provides greater functionality like clustering
and virtualization services with greater scalability, better support and enhanced performance. The
Enterprise satisfies large infrastructures but the Data center is the top range which is tailored for
mission critical Enterprises with very huge need of stability and uptime levels. Data center edition



3
also allows unlimited number of virtual machines on a single license as against the capped
number possible in an Enterprise edition.

Therefore considering the features provided in these different editions in relation to this case
scenario, the Enterprise edition is the most suitable option as it perfectly satisfies the projects
scope needs.


SELECTING THE CLIENT OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows 8 is the selected operating system to be installed on the client computers, but
the comparison table below is considered to help decide what edition should be used:-

FEATURES Windows 8 Windows 8 Pro Windows 8 Enterprise
Availability Most channels Most channels Volume license provided
Architecture Both 32 & 64bits Both 32 & 64bits Both 32 & 64bits available
available available
Maximum physical 128 GB on 64bits 512 GB on 64bits 512 GB on 64bits
memory (RAM) 4 GB on 32bits 4 GB on 32bits 4 GB on 32bits
Secure boot Yes Yes Yes
Start screen, Yes Yes Yes
Semantic Zoom,
Live Tiles
Language packs Yes Yes Yes
Standard apps Yes Yes Yes
File History Yes Yes Yes
Refresh and reset of Yes Yes Yes
OS
Play To Yes Yes Yes
Connected standby Yes Yes Yes
Windows update Yes Yes Yes
Windows Defender Yes Yes Yes
New windows task Yes Yes Yes
manager
ISO image and VHD Yes Yes Yes
mounting
Mobile broadband Yes Yes Yes
features
Microsoft accounts Yes Yes Yes
integration
Internet Explorer Yes Yes Yes
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Smart screen Yes Yes Yes
Windows store Yes Yes Yes
Exchange Yes Yes Yes
ActiveSync
Snap Yes Yes Yes
VPN connections Yes Yes Yes



4
Remote Desktop Client only Client and host Client and host
Device encryption With Windows With Windows 8.1 With Windows 8.1
8.1
BitLocker and EFS No Yes Yes
Sideload Windows No Partial Partial
Store apps
Boot from VHD No Yes Yes
Join a domian No Yes Yes
Group policy No Yes Yes
Hyper-V No 64bit SKUs only 64bit SKUs only
AppLocker No No Yes
Windows To Go No No Yes
DirectAccess No No Yes
Branchcache No No Yes
Can be virtualized No No Yes
by RemoteFX?
Services for NFS No No Yes
Subsystem for Unix No No Deprecated
based Applications


Having considered the features provided by these three editions, Standard editions doesnt
support joining to a domain therefore its not an option, while the PRO edition seems to have
enough capability to be deployed for use, the Enterprise edition will be selected because apart
from providing some features that the PRO edition does not, it allows licensing to be bought in
volume which will save cost for the company considering about 100 client licenses are needed.


COMPUTER HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS
SERVER COMPUTER HARDWARE SPECIFICATION: With considerations to the Enterprise edition
of server 2008 to be deployed and its hardware compatibility list in figure 1 below;



























5






















Figure 1, The HCL. (AG, 2014)

The selected computer hardware specification for the server computers are as follows:

Motherboard supports up to 40 PCI options, 21GbE, and 4 DDR3L Memory
x64 Processor with 2.80GHz speed
RAM memory size of 16GB
5Hard drive of 40GB each (Hot swappable with RAID-5 capabilities)
Intel-HD Graphics 4600 card
Super VGA monitor with 800600 resolution
DVD-Rom drive
USB 3.0 mouse and keyboard

CLIENT COMPUTER HARDWARE SPECIFICATION: With considerations to the Enterprise edition
of Windows 8 to be deployed and its hardware compatibility list in figure2 below;



























6




























Figure 2, The HCL. (Geekinterview.com, 2014)

The selected computer hardware specification for the client computers are as follows:

x64 Processor with 1.80GHz speed and SLAT support
RAM memory size of 2GB
Microsofts Directx 10 graphics card with WDDM driver
Hard disk space of 32GB
VGA Monitor with 1800768 pixels
DVD-Rom drive
USB 3.0 mouse and keyboard


INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF WINDOWS SERVER 2008
After pre-installation checks has been carried out to ensure that the correct software and
compactible hardware is available and ready, the steps below can be taken to install windows
server 2008 operating system:-

1. Insert Disc into DVD-rom drive
2. At the initial dialog page, select the language to be used for the installation process and click
Next











7













3. Click Install now to start installation


















4. The Activation key should be entered in the next page





















5. After which the operating system type has to be selected. The server core installs only
basic functionalities and services and provides no graphical user interface. Therefore, the
full installation should be selected and the right edition which in this case is the Enterprise
edition









8


















6. After which the terms for license needs to be agreed to




















7. Select the installation type, in this case select Custom as this is a new installation





















8. The next page is for drive configuration, here a BOOT partition can be created








9



















9. The installation starts
























10. After the completion of the installation, the Administrators password should be set





















11. Then at the initial configuration screen



10
















12. Select Provide computer name and domain to name the computer




















CONFIGURING A STATIC IP ADDRESS
After the installation of the server, a static IP address can now be configured manually by going to the
Network and sharing center, then select Manage network connections, From there you go
into LAN properties then TCP/IPv4 properties then select Use the following IP address, then
manually enter the address.

























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CONFIGURING DHCP ON THE SERVER
Below are the steps to configure a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on a server
to provide IP-addresses automatically to DHCP clients:-

1. Add roles in server manager, then select DHCP server




















2. Enter the domain name and IP address of the domains DNS server




















3. At the WINS server settings page, leave the default settings and click Next






















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4. The next page is the DHCP scope setup page, a single scope or more may be setup
depending on the networks design. For example in this case, if the 100 client computers
were divided equally into five departments and the network is then designed to have 5
subnets, therefore at least 5 DHCP scopes has to be created to apply to each subnet.



















5. 7 scopes were created with 2 been redundant for possible future expansion




















6. In the DHCPv6 setup page, select Disable DHCPv6 stateless mode for this server
























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7. Confirm the installation



















8. Installation complete




















INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF THE CLIENT OPERATING SYSTEM
To install the windows 8 client operating system, the following steps should be taken:-

1. Insert the disk into the computers drive, at the initial page select your preferred language and
other settings
























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2. Click Install now




















3. Accept the license terms






















4. Select the type of installation, in this case select custom because its a fresh installation



























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5. Create a BOOT partition





















6. The installation process begins























7. After installation, to personalize, select a background colour and give a name for the PC

























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8. For computer settings, you could use either the express settings or customize, for this
installation select the express settings




















9. Enter a Microsoft account here if you have one to link the account to this computer






















10. The computer restarts, then Apps and programs are downloaded and installed on the
computer























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11. Desktop home screen is displayed































CONFIGURING A DHCP CLIENT
To configure the computer to obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server, thus it
becomes a DHCP client, the following steps below can be taken to do that:-

1. In Network connections inside Network and sharing center, go to the properties of the
Network adapter card
































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2. Go to TCP/IP properties, and then select Obtain an IP address automatically. This
thereby prompts the computer to request for an IP address from any DHCP server
available in the network

































3. The screenshot below shows that an IP address was successfully assigned dynamically to the
computer from the DHCP server. In command prompt IPconfig /all is used to show results.

































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CLIENT COMPUTER HARDWARE PROFILES
There are two possible states that a client computer could possibly be based, its either as
a standalone computer or a Network client computer:-

CLIENT AS A STANDALONE COMPUTER: To boot the computer as a standalone computer, a local
profile needs to be created.

1. This can be done from the computers control panel, under user accounts and family
safety, select manage accounts then click Add new user, then enter the details to create
the account


















2. Confirming that the computer can be booted up using a standalone hardware profile







































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COMPUTER AS A NETWORK CLIENT: To boot a computer as a network client it has to be joined to
a domain, then users can log into the network through it using an authenticated domain profile.

1. To add the computer to a domain, Go to my computer properties then click change
settings, under computer name click change, in the next page, select Member of
domain then type the name of the domain you wish to add the computer to


























2. The username and password of the domain administrator or any user that has
administrator privileges needs to be used to authorize the computer, after which the
computer is successfully joined to the domain


































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3. Now the computer can be booted up as a network client using an authentic domain user
credentials












































4. The computer is successfully booted up as a network client

























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IMPLEMENTATION OF PRINT SERVERS
Print server role or print service is one of the services in windows server 2008. Designing and
implementing print server means that the server computer will now act as an intermediary between
multiple client requests and the printing device or devices. It therefore, manages all print requests
by creating a queue and implements priority policies if there is any designed. Therefore with a print
server in a scenario where there is limited number of printers, these printers can still be accessed by
multiple computers in a managed order. This highlights the concept behind the server/client
architecture which is about creating resource sharing possibilities. Therefore in this project, it would
be unnecessary or rather wasteful for printers to be provided to each individual staff computers,
instead with the implementation of print servers, couple of printers can be acquired and shared
amongst staffs and printing priority could be implemented for highly important print jobs.

CONFIGURING A PRINT SERVER
To configure a windows 2008 server as a print server, the following steps can be taken:-

1. In server manager, add roles then select print services





















2. In role services selection page, select print server and click install in the next page


























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3. The server is installed














































4. To add a printer device to the server, In print management right click on the print server and
0select Add new printer
























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5. Then select Search network for printers



















6. After the search result, select the particular printer you want to add and click okay. The
printer is successfully added to that print server.





















TESTING THE PRINT SERVER
The print server can be tested by printing from any client in the network to ascertain if it is
now available to the network clients;

1. So we create a notepad document





















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2. Then try to print it off the server and it is successfully printed out





















CREATING A PRINTER POOL
This is a windows print management technique used in managing print requests faster. More than one
printer with the same driver can be put in a single pool and it appears to users as a single printer.
When printing requests are received, they go to the less busy or next available printer in the
pool. This printer pool can be created by:-

1. To create a pool containing this two printers

















2. Inside the printing devices properties





















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3. Under the ports tab, enable printer pooling then select the ports for the two printers or if
more that you intend to add to the pool. The pool is thereby created



























DEMONSTRATING PRINTER PRIORITY
Printer priority is used when more than one logical printer prints to a single printing device. It is
used to grant privileges to users with higher printing priority needs. For example to grant staffs in
the Informatics group higher priority over staffs in the Designers and Marketing groups. The
following steps could be taken to do that:-

1. I have two logical printers both connected to the same printing device, therefore the first
thing to do would be to give priority access to the Informatics group in one of the
printers then on the other printer access will be granted to the other groups. This is done
in the physical devices properties under the security tab



























27




















2. Then under the advanced tab, set priority to be any number higher than 1























3. Grant access to the Designers and Marketing groups in the other printer


























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4. Also under the advanced tab, set the priority as 1























Because the value set for the first printer is higher, the physical printing device gives it more
priority, hence members of the Informatics group inherits this priority over the users in the
Designers and Marketing groups.

NOTE: In real life, to complete this demonstration by testing the print priorities, print requests from
three clients belonging to these respective groups should be sent to confirm which request will be
handled first to confirm the priority settings. Am unable to show that due to my limitations, am
using a virtual platform and I dont have enough system resources to run more than two machines
concurrently.


SUPPORT FOR MOBILE COMPUTING
Due to advancement in technology there is need for an efficient and versatile network
environment to enable its users take advantage to latest available technologies. One of the major
considerations for current network designs is to provide a flexible network that supports and
enhances mobile computing. Therefore, for this project below are some recommended mobile
computing aids that should be provided:-

HARDWARE PROFILE: For ease of mobile computing, it is important that various profiles are
configured on the computer to allow the user select a profile that corresponds to their current
location or environment. Users can have configured on their mobile computer a profile named

Docked with all the settings readily available to use that computer in a docking station, and another
profile named Remote with preconfigured settings that turn off for example all LAN adapters because a
MODEM will be used for internet access. To configure hardware profiles on a computer, open systems in
control panel, under the Hardware tab click Hardware profiles then go to Available hardware
profiles, here you can create customized profiles and select the default profile.








29






























Figure 3, Hardware profile configuration. (Howtogeek.com, 2014)

NOTE: Hardware profiles are no longer user configurable from windows vista upwards to windows
8, but it can still be done using third-party softwares like startup selector.































Figure 4, Hardware profile configuration. (Netvoyager.co.uk, 2014)



30
DOCKING STATION: This is a very good device to support mobile users, it is a base station that allows
mobile computers to be used like desktops. Evenmore, it allows the computers to connect with other
devices and the networks resources with little effort, as it provides LAN connectivity and is normally
permanently connected to resources like printers, monitor, speakers, etc. Therefore, if this is
provided in the office environment, mobile users could just slot their laptops in and gain direct
access to the network and other resources with ease and convenience. It is worth mentioning that
there are two types of docking station that could possibly be provided, the warm dock allows
connection and disconnection of mobile devices while they are ON but cold docking stations
requires these devices to be shut down before connection or disconnection.



















Figure 5, A docked computer. (Orloff, 2014)

POWER MANAGEMENT OPTIONS: Power is obviously an important consideration point when it
comes to mobile computing as most of this devices run on batteries and there are times where
power might not be available. Therefore, it is important that a good power management plan is
setup on the computer to help extend the battery life. This is achieved by reducing power to
components that are not in use, cutting down on background activities and reducing to some extent
the computers performance. To configure power management it is done in control panel under
hardware and software go to Power options, from the predefined plans select Power saver as
this plan has predefined settings to save and extend the batterys life.
























31
Or a customized power plan could be created, in the power options page select create a
power plan, then select a plan and give the profile a name






















Select the turn off display time and click create



















The created profile can also now be set as the active profile


























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For even further customization of the created plan, click change plan settings then
click Advanced power settings, then more advanced configurations to save power can
be administered
































OFFLINE FOLDER SYNCHRONIZATION: This is a very valuable resource that allows network files to be
available to a user even when they are not connected to the server or the server is unavailable. Once
a file has been configured as an offline file, windows automatically creates a copy of the file on the
local computer. Whenever the computer is connected to the network, there is synchronization
either automatically or prompted that causes both the network copy and the offline copy to be
reconciled, meaning that every change made by the user offline or changes to the network copy
while the user was offline is synched. Therefore, the benefit of this to mobile users is that it aids
their productivity while been mobile.


















Figure 6, Offline file concept. (Pcmag.com, 2014)




33
To configure offline folder in windows server 2008, Desktop Experience feature has to be
installed




















Then offline files has to be enabled in control panel




















From the client computer, go to the network shared file, right click and select Always
available offline to make the file an offline file

























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To test if it has been configured, disconnect the client computer from the network and see
that the file share can still be accessed




















Make changes to the file while still offline






















Confirm that no changes has been made to the file in the server

























35
Now connect the client computer back to the network, The Network copy is now
synchronized with the offline copy, therefore the offline file configuration was successful























REMOTE CONNECTION: This is a highly recommended tool to aid the mobile users. Remote
connectivity allows the users to access the companys network from remote locations. Hence, they
could take advantage of remote connectivity in accessing the companys resources irrespective of
their physical location, this will go a long way in improving their productivity as it provides
flexibility and increases availability. This can be done with ISP connections, dial-up connections or
even MODEM links. This remote connection may be implemented using VPN to provide security so
as to avoid exposing the companys network to possible risks or attacks.




















Figure 7, Concept of remote connection. (Posey, 2010)


IMPLEMENTATION OF RAID SYSTEM AND CLUSTERING
In an organisation, managing the business data and network environment has always been very
challenging, therefore it is a critical point of consideration when designing a network, even more
critical to the company is this case scenario considering the type of services they provide, hence it
is very essential that efficient plans are put in place for this regards.



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RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent disks, it is a storage technology that combines
multiple physical disks into a single logical unit to provide improved performance, increased storage
capacity and fault tolerance. Depending on the level of redundancy and performance provided,
there are several types of RAID and they are also known as RAID levels. Some of the most common
RAID levels includes:-

RAID-0 has a minimum of two physical drives that are striped to enable it provide excellent
performance, but because it has no error detection mechanism and also doesnt have
neither mirroring nor parity, it therefore provides no redundancy and zero fault tolerance.













Figure 8, RAID-0. (Posey, 2009)

RAID-1 consists of at least two disks, it duplicates the data in all the disks using
mirroring technology. Though it doesnt have stripping or parity techniques, it still
provides good performance, fault tolerance and excellent redundancy.












Figure 9, RAID-1. (Scu.edu, 2014)

RAID-4 consists of at least three (3) drives and it has block level stripping with a single drive
dedicated for parity which allows for records to be read off any single drive and because write
operations have to update the parity drive there is no possibility of input/output overlapping.













Figure 10, RAID-4. (Searchvirtualdesktop.techtarget.com, 2014)




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RAID-5 is one of the most widely used of all the levels, it requires a minimum of three (3)
disks but usually made up of five (5) disks. It provides block level stripping but unlike RAID-4 it
has distributed parity among all the drives which means that in the event of a single drive
failure data is not lost. Data can be reconstructed from the distributed parities, hence it
creates a very good redundancy and even more though write operations might be a bit slow it
is the best option for multi user systems.














Figure 11, RAID-5. (Technet.microsoft.com, 2014)

RAID-6 is similar to RAID-5 as it also has block level stripping, in this level a minimum of four
(4) disks is required. It provides very good performance and because it has a double
distributed parity scheme it offers extremely high fault tolerance.













Figure 12, RAID-6. (Toastytech.com, 2014)

RAID-10 is actually a combination of both RAID-0 and RAID-1, it requires at least a minimum
of four(4) drives and has two subtypes, RAID-0+1 provides stripes across multiple disks and
the stripped disk sets are mirrored, while the RAID-1+0 mirrors the data and the mirrors are
stripped. Therefore this RAID level provides excellent redundancy and performance but with
a very high implementation cost which means it is only required or recommended for mission
critical applications and environment.











Figure 13, RAID-10. (Webopedia.com, 2014)


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Upon considerations of the above RAID levels, for this project RAID-5 will be implemented as shown
in the server computer hardware specifications. The reason for selecting this particular level is
because it achieves a good balance between performance and availability and because it provides a
comparable higher usable capacity of between 67%-96%. Furthermore, though RAID-6 and RAID-10
are probably better options, but with considerations to the object company in this case in relations
to financial strength as a new company and also the data protection and availability level required
added to the performance level required also, I think those two RAID levels might not be feasible or
perhaps not really required, therefore the selection is based on the fact that RAID-5 is satisfactorily
cost effective and efficient enough for this project.

SERVER CLUSTERING is another very efficient technique in protecting business data and operating
system environments. This involves the interconnection of more than one independent server through a
dedicated network to work as a single system in providing a very high level of availability, scalability and
reliability. Clustering ensures that data is protected and it keeps applications and services running
consistently even when there is a failure to one of the servers. Clustering protects the company from
major failures as a result of Application and services breakdown or system and hardware failures. This is
achieved by configuring all the servers in the cluster to aggregate resources and in the event of a failure,
the failed server is automatically shut down and its dependent users are dynamically switched to
another server in the cluster. There is a possibility that any failure could occur at any time, hence the
importance of taking these measures. Some of the typical uses of clustering include Domain servers,
Terminal services, Application servers and Database servers.

Therefore considering that in the proposed Network, there will be Domain, Database and Terminal
services installed. Hence it is critical to the company that the data and applications are all
protected, therefore clustering will be implemented to ensure that the data is protected, fault
tolerance is provided and a high level of availability and reliability is also achieved. Below is the
proposed clustering plan for this project.






















Figure 14, Network clustering plan.




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DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN
A Network disaster is an abrupt disruption or breakdown of the networks infrastructure or operations.
This could be due to causes possibly from little hardware or software malfunctions or failures to as much
as even a natural problem like Earthquakes and Flood. The effects may range from small interruptions to
total shut down for a period of time or even as worse as a fatal damage to a company that it actually
threaten their existence. Disasters are mostly unpredictable and inevitable, therefore it is critical that
some sort of measures are provided in anticipation of this ever happening.

Therefore Disaster recovery can be defined as the procedure or series of action taken in the event of
a disaster to minimize the adverse impact on network services and productivity which goes a long
way in cutting the companys revenue loss. Hence, it is essential that a disaster recovery plan that
provides guidelines for responding and restoring the network back to normal operations is produced.
A good recovery plan will encompass detecting disasters quickly, notification of the affected party so
that actions can be taken, isolation of the affected system to prevent damage spread and finally
steps for repairing and restoring the network back to normal.



















Figure 15, Disaster recovery cycle. (Www-css.fnal.gov, 2014)


NETWORK DISASTERS
Having seen the possible effects of disasters and the need for an efficient disaster recovery plan, it
is important that possible threats/risks that may lead to disasters are identified and put into
considerations. Therefore below are some possible disasters causing events:-

INFRASTRUCTURE ATTACKS: One of the most common cause of Network disasters, this is carried
out by hackers and crackers who exploits a Networks weakness in carrying out malicious and
harmful acts to the Network. The aim of the attack could be to establish unauthorized remote access
into the Network to hijack control of it, or initiate a denial of service (DOS) attack by flooding the
Network with nuisance packets that causes it to breakdown thereby making the Networks services
unavailable.

MALWARE ATTACKS: This is another very common cause of disasters in Networks. Malware includes
viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spywares and rogue security software. They are malicious software



40
codes that are designed to wreak havoc in a computer Network, A well-engineered malware could
have devastating effects to a Network, disrupting productivity and even to the extent of causing a
Network to breakdown. This malwares could be gotten from infected files on the internet or even
infected files sent on purpose to the company from attackers to get it infected.

ELECTRIC POWER FAILURES: This is a major occurring disaster in networks. Because literally all
network devices requires electric power supply therefore it is critical that even a minute of power
shortage should be avoided as this can cause the whole network to be unavailable. Therefore,
this should be a priority when designing a Network disaster recovery plan.

HARDWARE AND MEDIA FAILURES: Client or server computer hardware failures or network media
open circuitry or failures can result into a Network catastrophe. It could be as a result of a human
error or an unprovoked failure due to factors like expired lifetime of media. Depending on the
failed object the whole network could be caused to fail, therefore this is a critical point of concern.

ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS: Natural disasters like earthquake, floods and hurricane can have a
devastating effect on a networks infrastructure, though chances of this occurring varies according
to the location of the company but it is important that measures are put in place for whenever and if
this ever happens.

FIRE: Another very common cause of Network disaster, it could be a natural or human caused,
plans for fire occurrence is another major point of consideration when outlining a recovery plan.

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION ERROR: An error by a system administrator or member of the
administration team can have effects on the network ranging from minor issues that can be easily
fixed to a massive problem that might take a while to diagnose and fix which might lead to
network unavailability or downtime. Therefore this is another essential consideration in disaster
recovery planning.


PROPOSAL FOR DISASTER RECOVERY
With considerations to possible network disasters, below are some techniques and devices that
will be used for disaster recovery:-

UNINTERRUPTED POWER SUPPLY (UPS): This is a device that is used to prevent power outage from
Network critical components like servers and routers. It acts as a secondary power source in an
event of the main power source failure, this gives administrators time to backup and shutdown
important processes, while depending on the capacity scale, some UPS can provide power for hours
which gives time for the main power source to be resolved. Therefore it is used to prevent a
Network disaster resulting from power outage.

BACKUP SERVERS: This is a recovery technique used in avoiding total loss of data and applications in the
event of a server failure, administrative error or any other disaster. This is achieved by backing up all the
networks data and applications in another standard hardware server with substantial storage capacity
with redundant drives and a purposefully built backup application. Though this backup servers could be
maintained in house, it is recommended that a remote backup infrastructure or



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online backup and recovery services be adopted instead. Therefore this technique protects the
companys data and application from even natural disasters as the backups are in remote
locations, therefore the company could easily retrieve the data and applications.

MULTIPLE SERVERS: This is another technique for network recovery. In a network designed with
single servers providing multiple services, in an event of this server failure will lead to unavailability
of all the services it provides which will cause the company a big loss. Implementing multiple servers
in a network with dedicated services provided in each of them will not only improve performance, a
failure to any of them only causes that single service they provide to be unavailable as other servers
will be up and running. This therefore minimizes the companys loss and reduces disaster recovery
time.

SERVER CLUSTERING: This is another technique that is similar to multiple server technique, but the
concept in this case is that all the servers in the cluster provides the same services and applications,
and because this technology is not location dependent, servers in different locations can be put
together in a single cluster. In the event of a disaster, the workload or clients relying on the affected
server is automatically routed to other servers in the cluster. This helps the computer achieve
almost 100% availability as services are made available to clients even when there is a disaster.

RAID IMPLEMENTATION: Redundant array of independent disks implementation is a technology that
implements multiple physical disks as a single logical unit to provide better performance,
redundancy and fault tolerance. Selecting a server computer with this technology will provide the
network with disaster recovery means, as data saved on this technology can be recovered or
reconstructed after a failure or disaster.


DISASTER RECOVERY PERSONNELS
An effective disaster recovery (DR) requires adequate planning, testing and regular updating as
technologies improves. Another key component of a successful disaster recovery process is
personnel. There are key personnel that are delegated with various tasks, below are some of
them and what their responsibility involves:-

DR MANAGER: This should be a senior manager in the IT department. The responsibility of this
role includes;

Oversees and manages the data recovery process
Makes the final decisions on how things should be executed
Oversees the monitoring of the Network recovery process

DR COMMITTEE: This should be made up of the heads of the different departments in the
company. Their responsibilities include;

They design the data recovery plan
Research the plan feasibility
Perform risk analysis research and calculations




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Review and update the plan periodically

DR IMPLEMENTATION TEAM: A team of IT staffs, their responsibilities includes;

Implement the data recovery plan in the event of a disaster
Test the data recovery plan
Monitor network with the aim of identifying any possible disaster before hand
Maintain list of emergency phone contacts
Declare a disaster


COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Developing and implementing the above disaster recovery plan might be expensive financially, but
the implications of a network disaster to a company without recovery plans might be as worse as
putting the company out of business. Network downtimes or total loss of data are now too great a
risk for companies to ignore, therefore though expensive to implement data recovery has proved
to be an indispensable and invaluable investment that a company is expected to make, especially
with recent natural disasters, terrorist attacks and widespread cyber-attacks. At the long run when
the benefit over time is calculated against the cost of implementation it is proved that this is a very
beneficial endeavour.


TERMINAL SERVICES
This is a service that allows multiple clients to simultaneously access a server computer remotely. It
is based on centralized services architecture, therefore the clients could be fully loaded computers or
dumb terminals like thin clients all simply functioning as an input/output terminal. All the clients
share the operating system and application on the terminal server, therefore all processing occurs in
the server. Terminal services is used to simultaneously deliver windows based applications to
multiple clients which could be windows-based terminals, remote users or local desktops and even
more it supports delivery to an heterogeneous desktop environment. The service could be delivered
over the local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or through dial-up connections.
Terminal services are accessed from terminal clients using remote desktop connection, remote
desktop snap-in or remote desktop web connection.

















Figure 16, Concept of Terminal services. (Blogs.technet.com, 2014)



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Reduced cost of ownership is one of the primary aims behind the concept of terminal services. This is
achieved by an easy and cost efficient centralized deployment and management of applications. To
provide applications on individual standalone computers, the software licenses will have to be
purchased for each computer, a terminal service deployment of that application will cost far less as
only a single copy of any application will have to be purchased, then with user client access licenses
(CAL) for all the network staffs or users they will be able to access the applications from anywhere.
Even more deploying an application is also quite easier because only a single software has to be
installed on the terminal server as against having to install on every individual computer.
Furthermore, apart from the extra cost and stress in deploying applications in a non-terminal
services environment, another massive advantage provided by terminal services is Application
updating, in the case of a line of business application that requires frequent updating and repairs,
because it is only carried out on a single computer, time and cost in saved. Another way terminal
services reduces cost of ownership is because it supports the use of thin clients or older hardware to
be used as terminal clients, which to run the same applications in a non-terminal services
environment would have required the older hardwares to be upgraded as they are not capable of
running new windows applications. Other benefits of terminal services include:

It improves performance for users connecting from a remote location with bandwidth
constraint

A more consistent experience can be provided to mobile users

Its centralized management allows for a highly controlled environment

With regards to LPHP, implementing terminal services in the network will allow a more cost effective
licensing policy, easy, efficient deployment and stress free updating process of all the companys
services and applications, thereby reducing the network infrastructures cost of ownership.
Therefore Terminal services will be implemented in this network.


INSTALLATION OF TERMINAL SERVICES
1. From server manager, add roles then select Terminal services


























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2. In the role services selection page, select Terminal server and to allow remote connectivity
over the internet select TS Gateway
























3. In the specify authentication method page, select Require Network Level Authentication






















4. Select the Per user licensing mode






















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5. In the next page, select the group of users that can access the terminal server























6. In the server authentication certificate selection page, use the recommended SSL
encryption





















7. Additional configurations for TS Gateway, select create authorization now
























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8. Add the groups of users that are allowed to access the terminal server over the internet























9. Create a TS CAP name and specify either or both authentication method























10. Create a TS RAP and select Allow user to connect to any computer on the network























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11. Confirm and click install





















12. Installation complete
























CONFIGURING TERMINAL SERVICES CLIENT
1. Open remote desktop connections from Accessories in the start menu






















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2. Enter the full computer name of the terminal server you wish to connect to then click connect






















3. Enter the user credentials of an authorized user or the administrators






















4. Remote access to the terminal server is successful

























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TESTING TERMINAL SERVICES
For testing purposes to confirm that clients can actually access the applications shared on the
terminal server. An application will be hosted on the server, and then an attempt will be made
to access the application from a client terminal.

1. In server manager, select terminal services then expand TS Remote App manager


















2. On the right hand pane, select Add RemoteApp programs, then the installation wizard
starts up, select the application you want to make available for the clients like windows
mail, Paint and Notepad



















3. Select install to complete the installation, under RemoteApp manager, check to confirm these
applications are now available



















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4. Then log into a terminal client and try to access the shared application





















5. The application can be successfully used from terminal clients





















REMOTE INSTALLATION AND SERVER ADMINISTRATION
Remote installation services (RIS) is a feature in windows server 2008, it is used to create installation
images of operating systems or applications which could then be made available to users at the
client computers. Though it might look similar to terminal services it provides a distinct service,
unlike terminal services the application will be installed on the client computer, its just that the RIS
server acts as the source location of the operating system or application. Instead of going around all
the computers in the network to carry out installations, an image of the operating system or
application can be created on the RIS server, and then all client computers simply install it remotely
over the network.

Remote Server Administration tool (RSAT) is a new windows server feature that provides server
administration flexibility by enabling the possibility of running management tools and snap-ins from a
remote client computer to allow remote administration and management of the server roles,
services and features. Though not all roles can be administered using this tool, the basic roles and
features can be.



51
The main considerations when performing remote installation and server administration are:

The network has to be TCP/IP based

There has to be active directory and DNS services on the network

A DHCP server has to exist in that network

Must be a member of the administrations group

The file system used by the server must be NTFS

Therefore in this project, RIS will be used for client operating systems and applications
installations over the network, while RSAT will be used for flexible server administration over the
network or remotely.


INCORPORATING SERVICES INTO THIS NETWORK MODEL
There are several services that can be incorporated into this network model as the company
grows with time. These services will contribute to better network performance and efficiency.
Some dedicated services and what they can offer are:-

ACTIVE DIRECTORY DOMAIN SERVICES (ADDS): This is the primary service that has to be
implemented to create a network domain. Most of the other services depend on this to function
and it facilitates unified connectivity and resource sharing in a network. An ADDS server facilitates;

Single Network log on to access all the networks resources

A centralized management and control of the network and its resources

Policy based administration which causes ease of complex network management

Provides security using log-on authentication and access control of users to the networks
resources


DOMAIN NAME SERVICES (DNS): A DNS server is a very important commodity for internetwork
communications, this server provides translation services. To achieve this it implements a distributed
database in maintaining records of host names/resource names in relation to corresponding IP
addresses. Computers understand only numbers, but it is impossible or rather very difficult for
humans to keep records of IP addresses, Alphabetical names are relatively easier for us to
remember, therefore we type in the address of a website in our computer, it is the DNS that actually
converts it to the corresponding IP address which then makes it possible for the computer to locate
that resource. In a nutshell, DNS provides host name to IP addresses mapping in a network.

DYNAMIC HOST CONFIGURATION PROTOCOL (DHCP): DHCP is a protocol that allows automatic
assignment of IP addresses to computers. Configuring a computer as a DHCP server, it therefore centrally
manages the networks IP address pool and provides it to clients on request. For a computer to request
for an IP address from this server, in the computers IP settings it should be set to Obtain

IP address automatically. Manual assignment of IP address in a small network might not be an issue
but to do that in a large network it might prove really challenging, hence DHCP makes it easy to
assign IP addresses irrespective of the networks size and evenmore it allows better management
and removes the risk of errors that are possible when assigning manually.




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TERMINAL SERVICES: This is a service that basically allows network users to access an application
over the network or remotely. It provides a centralized processing architecture whereby all the
processing is done in the terminal server, while the clients can be normal computers or dumb
terminals. Evenmore, it helps to create an aggregated user experience and is a great technique
for achieving low cost of ownership and hardware cost savings.

FILE SERVICES: Managing file shares in a network can be a really daunting task. File services is a
technology that enables data shares management in a network. some of the roles that this server
plays includes;

Provides fault-tolerant access to shared folders

Reduces delays that occurs when shared folders are heavily accessed

Manages all file/folders users access rights

Enables file replication amongst multiple file servers

With the use of DFS namespaces, multiple shares across sites are managed and accessed quite easily


INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES (IIS): A web server is a server that has this service installed on
it. This service provides an infrastructure for website hosting, administering search engines and for
providing web based applications.

FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP): A server computer that provides FTP is referred to as an FTP
server, it basically provides the possibility of exchanging files over the internet from one remote
location to another. A file transfer process involves an FTP server and an FTP client. This service can
be installed individually but is automatically installed when installing IIS.


NETWORK MONITORING AND OPTIMIZATION
Due to the reliance of companies on their network for fluid communication and data transfer as this has
an effect on their productivity, Network failures, service downtime, services or applications crash are all
disasters that could threaten the livelihood of a business, therefore it is crucial that there is a consistency
in network performance, availability and productivity. This makes it crucial that after a network is set up
and running the networks administrator with the use of efficient monitoring tools should ensure that
the network is monitored round the clock. Network monitoring benefits are:-

It helps in identifying potential failures or disasters

It helps to keep track of performance

It helps to ensure network uptime

It helps in spotting trends in network performance

Helps in network analysis and evaluation

Helps the administrator plan for change

Thereby allows network optimization and gives the administrator peace of mind


Having considered what Network monitoring is and the benefits it provides, below are
some monitoring tools provided by windows server operating systems:-




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RELIABILITY AND PERFORMANCE MONITOR: This tool is made up of previously standalone tools
like performance log and alerts, system monitor and reliability monitor. It is used to track
performance and stability of services and applications in the network. This tool can either be
accessed from the administrative tools or a snap-in could be added to the MMC, for this
demonstration MMC will be used.

First add the reliability and performance monitor snap-in


















It provides an overview of the computers resources
















For more expand reliability and performance, then expand monitoring tools, performance
monitor uses graphs to display impact of selected applications or activities
























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The reliability monitor uses a chart to show the networks stability


















PRINT MANAGEMENT: This tool is used for managing and monitoring network printers, queue
status and print jobs information.






















IP SECURITY MONITOR: This is another very important monitoring tool, it is used to monitor
the networks IP security

Add IP security snap-in























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Here IP security related settings or statistics can be monitored





























EVENTS LOG
An event log just as the name implies is a record of significant events in the network. There are
various logs like, application events, security related events, setup events, system events and
forwarded events. All tailored with different scopes with their names giving the hint. An event
could be things like log-in attempts, driver installation, email backups, granting or removal of access
privileges, installation of a role or service, etc. These events are normally classified as Error which
means a significant problem, Warning which means there might be possible problems in future or
Information which means that an operation or event was successful. Events are viewed using
Event viewer application which is also a basic component of windows server operating systems.

Hence, this log allows an administrator to be able to monitor and keep records of what is going on in
the network generally and also for troubleshooting purposes. Some more benefits of events log to an
administrator includes:-

Security checks can be performed using events log monitoring and security information to
detect network issues in real time
Event viewer can aggregate logs from numerous systems into a central location, thereby
making it easy for the administrator to store, manage and analyse
Event logs allows the administrator to detect possible network attacks, as the log will show
failed attempts by attackers
Event logs allows easy search through for a specific event
Using events log, events can be correlated for use by the administrator, this is almost
impossible manually.







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HOW TO VIEW AN EVENT LOG

An event viewer is used, it can be found in administrative tools or a snap-in can be added in
MMC

























Select and expand a log class (Windows) and select the log you want to view (setup)





























HOW TO ARCHIVE AN EVENT LOG

This simply means manually saving an event log. It can be done as follows:

Navigate to the particular log, then on the right hand pane click save events as then enter a
name for the archive



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If the saved log is to be viewed on another computer click display information for these
languages if not click no display information


















Event log successfully archived


SEARCHING FOR A SPECIFIC EVENT IN AN EVENTS LOG

This could be very difficult if you intend to go through the whole log manually, therefore an efficient
and easy way to look for specific events, for example the administrator wants to find the event logged
for windows defender scan, to find this event its either a time period is specified, or the event level
could also be used but more efficiently and easily an event ID could be used to search.

Open the particular log you intend to find the event from, in this case we should be looking at
the system logs
















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Select Filter current log then enter event ID as the means of searching





















The specific events with that particular ID is found which means the search is successful





















IMPORTING AN ARCHIVED LOG INTO A SPREADSHEET

An administrator might want to import an archived log into a spreadsheet to allow him
manipulate the output. The archived file must be saved with the .csv file extension























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Then from a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel open the saved archive, the file is successfully
open therefore it can be edited and manipulated by the administrator
























CONCLUSION
With the specification of hardware and software selected, a high performance network will be
developed, with the print server implementation savings will be made on the amount of print
devices to be procured. Terminal services implementation will help reduce the cost of ownership
considering that this is a new company and it will help deployment of applications in the network,
with the recommended devices and technologies to aid mobility in the network this will provide the
staffs with flexibility and improve their productivity. The disaster recovery measures will be put in
place to ensure that in the event of a disaster, the discovery plan can be executed to get the network
back up as quickly as possible.































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