Windows Server Infrastructure Upgrade and Redesign
at ELearning.
Overview
ELearning
is an educational software developer that provides software andcloud computing solutionsto private and public educational
institutions throughout North America and Europe. The organization currently
has four major offices located in Vienna, Virginia, San Jose, California and Dublin,
Ireland. A sales team of more than a hundred work across the United States and
Europe, primarily from their own homes. ELearning has experienced a combination
of growth and disaster in the last 3 years and plans to add an additional 130+
employees, including opening a new office in Austin Texas in the next 6 months.
To meet these growth challenges, ELearning is in the process of upgrading the network
environment from the current ad hoc design, comprised of Windows 2003, 2008 and
*NIX systems, to Windows 2012 R2 Active Directory. Steps have already been
taken to improve the network infrastructure. The Vienna Virginia location has replaced
all 2008 Domain Controllers with Windows 2012 Servers. However, the San Jose and
Dublin locations are still running a single Windows 2008 Domain Controller at
each site. Currently all server and workstation IP addresses are statically
assigned. DNS is hosted on an older generation UNIX server that has been hacked
several times due to faulty security. Remote users currently connect via VPN,
which has caused numerous security incidents due to missing antivirus software,
outdated AV signatures and missing OS patches on workstations and laptops.
Although
the Austin location has not officially opened there are six users currently
deployed to that location. There are currently no domain controllers or qualified
personal to support them at this location. This site needs to be incorporated
into the ELearning Active Directory ASAP. Austin users must be able to
authenticate and access ELearning Active Directory services. ELearning has
recently acquired another company EduTech Inc. The existing EduTech Active
Directory Domain needs to be integrated into the existing ELearning Active
Directory forest. The ELearning data center is located at the Vienna and Dublin
locations. This is where ELearning hosts and maintains its cloud computing
services. Due to increased demand for its cloud services ELearning has
experienced difficulty getting servers and services deployed in time due to the
lack of an efficient and cost-effective deployment process. The current Active
Directory is a single domain. It is up
to you finish the network design and improve the server infrastructure.
Current Physical Locations
Current
Logical Design
Required
Proposal Responses
Executive
Overview – Provide an executive overview for Infrastructure proposal. How will
your proposal help ELearning? What are the key aspects of your design? Why
should ELearning select your proposal over your competitors’ proposals?
Develop a
Windows DeploymentDesign and plan an automated client
workstation and server installation strategy. This objective can include but is
not limited to: images and bare metal/virtual deployment; plan for multicast
deployment and plan for Windows Deployment Services (WDS). This solution should
enableELearningto deploy client and server
operating systems in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Plan and deploy
Virtual Machine Manager Services. This objective may include but is not limited
to: Design Virtual Machine Manager service templates; plan and deploy profiles
including operating system profiles, hardware and capability profiles,
application profiles, plan and manage services including scaling out, updating,
and servicing services; configure Virtual Machine Manager libraries.This solution should enableELearningto deploy servers in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Windows Server
Design – Vienna has two Domain Controllers. All other locations have single Domain
Controllers. Vienna’s domain controllers are running Windows Server 2012, but
the other sites are running Windows Server 2008 Domain Controllers. All other
services on the network are running on either older UNIX or Windows Server 2008
and 2003 servers. These legacy servers should be replaced as part of this
project. Describe your recommendations for the server environment, focusing on
any needed upgrades and the number of servers needed at each location to handle
keynetwork infrastructure services and roles (DNS, DHCP, File,
Print, RRAS, etc.) You can make any recommendation for the server environment
but explain how it will benefit your design.
Design
and maintain a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) solution. This
objective may include but is not limited to the following:Design considerations including a highly
available DHCP solution including split scope, DHCP failover, and DHCP failover
clustering, DHCP interoperability, and DHCP filtering.Describe
how you will provide fault tolerance in the event that a primary DHCP server
should fail. How will you handle remote users, network devices and
printers?
DNS –Design a name
resolution strategy. This objective may include but is not limited to: Design
considerations, including Active Directory–integrated zones, DNSSEC, DNS Socket
Pool, cache locking, disjoint namespaces, DNS interoperability, Single-Label
DNS Name Resolution, zone hierarchy, and zone delegation.
Implement a scalable Remote Access
solution. This objective may include but is not limited to: Configure site-to-site
VPN; configure packet filters; implement packet tracing; implement multisite
Remote Access and a DirectAccess solution.
Design an Active Directory topology. This
objective may include but is not limited to: Design considerations including read-only
domain controllers (RODCs), proximity of domain controllers, replication
optimization, and site link; Group Policy, monitor and resolve Active Directory
replication conflicts.
Your proposal must incorporate the following
items
1.
All Domain Controllers must be Windows 2012
2R2 Active Directory.
2.
All sites must have Active Directory services
available even if a single Domain Controller fails.
3.
Client IP address assignment must be automated
and manageable for all sites and locations.
4.
DNS must be manageable and secure. Clients
must be able to resolve DNS even if a single DNS server fails or during an internet
connection outage.
5.
DHCP should be designed with fault tolerance
in mind.
6.
Provide secure remote access solution that
utilizes Network Access Policy controls.
7.
Provide easy and manageable workstation image
and software deployments. All workstations should be Window 8.
8.
Provide easy and manageable server image and
software deployments. All servers should be Windows Server 2012 R2.
9.
EduTech andELearningActive Directory
forests must be able to trust each other.
10.
The Austin location needs be integrated into
theELearningActive Directory. This solution must cost-effective,
manageable and secure.
Assignment
Requirements
There are specific
requirements for the assignment: The final submission should contain at least 7
pages’ worth of text written by the student (not counting title page, images,
diagrams, tables, or quotations), but may be longer, not to exceed
approximately 10 pages’ worth of student-supplied text. (With the required
diagram, and other images, title page, etc., the final submission may end up
being more than 10 pages in length.) It must be double-spaced, have 1-inch
margins, and use 12-point Times New Roman or 10-point Arial/Helvetica font. A
title page is required; APA format for the title page is optional.
- At least one diagram must be
included (not counted towards the minimum length described above); this
could be a diagram describing Active Directory components, DHCP/DNS
design, or anything else that is worth displaying graphically to enhance
the reader’s understanding of the proposal. Additional diagrams, images,
or tables are welcome. - The submission must cover all of
the major topics outlined above. Each choice should be explained with technical
and business reasoning. The solution should be reasonably detailed.
Additional topics may be covered as desired. - The structure of the final
submission is flexible. There is no specific format required, although it
should be organized logically and represent a single, unified solution. It
is likely that the format will include separate sections for each of the topics
required, as well as a summary. - At least two non-Lab,
non-Wikipedia reference is required; preferably, this would be a “best
practice” guide or similar content from Microsoft or an experienced
provider of Microsoft solutions. - Be sure to properly quote or cite
any sources used. APA format is required for in-text citations and the
list of works cited at the end. It is expected that you are already
familiar with ‘s “Policy on Academic Dishonesty and
Plagiarism.” It is available in the Academic Policies section of the
Syllabus; there are also links in the Webliography. In its simplest form,
if you are using text from a source, you must cite and/or quote it. If
plagiarism is found, then there will be a penalty to the grade.
