Reference no: EM133968805 , Length: Word Count:3000

Communication and Networks

Assessment - Network Simulation and Design Task

Purpose of this assessment
This assessment is designed to develop advanced student competency in the design, simulation, and validation of secure, scalable, and protocol-diverse network architectures suitable for enterprise and carrier-grade environments. It aims to deepen understanding of the interrelated roles of physical hardware, routing devices, switching technologies, network protocols, and software-defined configurations that enable high-availability data communication across Wide Area Networks (WANs) and multi-site infrastructures. Students will apply technical knowledge of multi-layered protocol stacks-including but not limited to IP, TCP, UDP, ICMP, BGP, OSPF, MPLS, GRE, IPsec, DHCP, DNSSEC, NAT/PAT, SNMP, and

SSH-to configure, analyze, and harden distributed networks. Emphasis is placed on the deployment of fault-tolerant routing protocols, service delivery zones such as DMZs, firewall rulesets, address planning using VLSM, and dynamic routing convergence strategies for both internal and external domains.

The assessment encourages practical mastery of layered architectures (OSI and TCP/IP models), interface-level diagnostics, and secure transport technologies through simulation platforms like Cisco Packet Tracer and terminal-based administration via Kali Linux. Students will design and test redundant ISP-style topologies that reflect real-world operational environments, supporting clients, public-facing services, remote access tunnels, and inter-POP link integrity. Through hands-on engagement with routing tables, ACL policies, NAT configurations, VPN overlays, syslog management, and penetration testing outputs, students will learn to identify and resolve routing anomalies, misconfigured services, security gaps, and performance bottlenecks. The overall goal is to cultivate the ability to plan, configure, secure, troubleshoot, and document complex network infrastructures that align with modern ISP and enterprise expectations for uptime, segmentation, scalability, and layered defence.

Learning outcome 1: Research and evaluate diverse protocols and layered architectures in computer network development.

Learning outcome 2: Examine various network components formulating recommendations and proposing changes to meet business requirements.

Learning outcome 3: Critique major challenges in network security and propose sustainable solutions fostering innovation independently and collaboratively.

Learning outcome 4: Develop advanced techniques for managing, documenting, and troubleshooting computer networks, showcasing proficiency in network administration.

Task description:

You are required to design, implement, test, secure, and document a complete computer network solution in response to a detailed organisational scenario. This assessment must be completed individually, and all submitted work must be your own. Collaboration is not permitted.

The task requires you to demonstrate advanced technical and analytical skills by producing a fully functional and secure simulated network using Cisco Packet Tracer for design and implementation and Kali Linux for diagnostics, testing, and security validation.
Your network design must address the following critical requirements:
Connectivity: End-to-end communication across all internal hosts, VLANs, and WAN links.
Addressing: Full hierarchical IP addressing scheme using VLSM, including internal subnets, loopback addresses, and public IP allocations for DMZ services.
Protocols: Implementation of advanced routing, security, and application protocols, including but not limited to BGP (internal and external), OSPF, IPsec VPN, NAT/PAT, VRRP/HSRP, DNS with DNSSEC, SMTP/IMAP, SNMP, Syslog, and SSH.
Segmentation: VLAN-based isolation of internal departments, external service zones, and client environments, with ACLs and firewall rules to enforce access control.
Security: Deployment of VPN gateways, ACLs, firewall policies, intrusion detection measures, and secure administration via SSH key-based authentication.
Availability and Redundancy: Failover design using redundant links, VRRP/HSRP, dynamic routing convergence, and simulated MPLS-style backbone overlays.
Testing and Validation: Use Kali Linux to perform connectivity checks, vulnerability scans (e.g., nmap), protocol validation (e.g., dig +dnssec, tcpdump), penetration testing (e.g., hydra, hping3), and log analysis.

Word count for the report:
Length: 3000 words (excluding reference list) (plus/minus 10%)
A suggested length guide for your assessment (you can change this to suit your report structure):
SCI Cover Page (Provided by the lecturer)

Executive summary (Approx. 100 words)
Table of contents
Introduction (Approx. 100 words)
Project Objectives (Approx. 100 words)
Network Requirements (Approx. 400 words)
Network Design (Approx. 1000 words)
Network topology
Network design diagrams
Hardware and software components
Security measures
Justification of Key Technologies (Approx. 700 words)
Network Implementation (Approx. 300 words)
Conclusion (Approx. 100 words)
References
Appendix
Testing/Troubleshooting guidelines (Approx. 200 words)

Citation and referencing (APA 7th edition)

Task 1: National Multi-Site WAN Design
Design a fully redundant and secure Wide Area Network (WAN) interconnecting four Australian POPs: Sydney (Tier II core DC), Canberra, Hobart, and Darwin. This ISP-level deployment must include full-scale core routing, simulated MPLS backbone overlays, and encrypted tunnels. Get dependable, budget-friendly assignment help-starting today!

Technical Requirements:
Implement MPLS-based transport using loopback-routed cloud segments in Cisco Packet Tracer.
Create IPSec VPN overlay tunnels for client isolation and encrypted delivery of services.
Configure iBGP within your AS (internal peers between POPs).
Enable eBGP peering to upstream service providers or simulated client connections.
OSPF must be used as intra-site IGP with distinct area IDs per POP.
Simulate redundant paths and backbone failover via link toggling.

Task 2: IP Addressing and Subnet Allocation (ISP + Client)
Create a hierarchical IP addressing scheme that supports ISP internal operations and multiple client services with minimal IP wastage.

Technical Requirements:
Use public IPs for DMZ, mail, VPN, DNS, and client-exposed services.
Use private RFC1918 IPs for internal VLANs and infrastructure services.
Allocate loopback IPs (/32) to all routing nodes for BGP/MPLS consistency.
Simulate client edge IP pools using /29 public IP blocks.

Task 3: VLAN and VRF Segmentation
Design and implement VLAN and optional VRF segmentation to support service separation, traffic isolation, and enhanced network management within your ISP backbone and branch environments. This task focuses on ensuring each department, service, and client environment is logically segmented using Layer 2 and Layer 3 mechanisms.

Technical Requirements:
Define VLANs for Admin, Engineering, NOC, Monitoring, Routing, etc., to ensure departmental isolation.
Create additional external service VLANs to support Web, Mail, VPN, and DNS
services hosted at the Sydney core.
Ensure 802.1Q trunking is configured between all routers and switches that carry inter-VLAN traffic.

Configure DHCP relay agents to forward client DHCP requests to a central DHCP server, and validate dynamic IP lease assignment across VLANs.

Task 4: Protocol Implementation and Simulation
his task focuses on implementing a diverse set of routing, security, tunneling, and monitoring protocols across your simulated ISP infrastructure. The goal is to exceed the complexity of Assessment 2 by including multiple protocol layers-transport, encryption, application services, and diagnostics-across multiple network nodes and simulation endpoints.

You must demonstrate correct protocol configuration, proof of operation and convergence, and CLI-level validation, especially through tools available in Cisco Packet Tracer and Kali Linux. Your implementation must simulate real-world scenarios involving inter-AS routing, secure tunnels, high-availability failover, DNS protection, mail services, and centralised logging.

Protocols to be Implemented:
Routing & Transport:
BGP (both internal iBGP and external eBGP sessions)
OSPF as an intra-site IGP
GRE tunnels for legacy path simulations
MPLS logic simulated using loopback routing via cloud segments
Security & VPN:
IPsec for encrypted VPN tunnels
NAT and PAT for internal-to-public translation
VRRP or HSRP for gateway failover
SSH with public-key infrastructure for secure administration
DNSSEC validation on internal zones
Application & Service Protocols:
DNS resolution and zone simulation (internal and external)
SMTP and IMAP for mail service simulation
Syslog configuration and logrotate for log management
SNMP (preferably SNMPv2 traps) for NMS integration
Monitoring, Logging, and Diagnostics:
Logrotate for daily system log rotation
SNMP trap testing using Wireshark or Packet Tracer simulation

CLI-based test outputs (ping, traceroute, tcpdump, dig, etc.)
Capture all outputs via CLI on Kali Linux and core devices

Task 5: ACLs, NAT, and Firewall Simulation
Configure ACLs, NAT, and stateful firewall rules to protect all zones:
Deny unauthorised inter-VLAN access
Permit VPN client access only to DMZ services
Translate public to internal IPs for exposed services
Implement simulated stateful firewall edge

Develop ACL rules and simulate NAT translations for inbound and outbound traffic. Create a basic stateful firewall simulation using ACLs and object groups.
Technical Requirements:
Restrict inter-VLAN traffic based on policy.
Permit only VPN clients to reach DMZ via ACLs.
Configure NAT pools and inspect show ip nat translations.

Deliverables:
Completed ACL rule table (rule ID, action, src, dest, proto, port, purpose)

NAT translations with show ip nat translations
Packet capture of blocked and allowed traffic
Test validation using Kali tools (nmap, hping3, etc.)

Task 6: Remote Access and VPN Testing
Use Kali Linux to simulate remote clients accessing ISP-hosted services over IPsec VPN tunnels. Test client-to-ISP VPN connectivity using Kali Linux. Simulate IPsec connectivity using static keys and verify tunnel access.
Authenticate via shared key (simulated)
Route internal traffic through VPN gateway
Access DMZ services (web, mail, DNS)
Demonstrate logging and ACL enforcement on tunnel traffic

Task 7: Penetration Testing and Validation
Run a basic simulated penetration test using Kali tools to test firewall resilience, open ports, weak configurations, and attack surfaces. Conduct live security validation using Kali Linux and test protection for:
SSH brute-force (e.g., hydra)
Port scans (nmap)
Web-based attacks (optional XSS or SQLi sim via curl)
VPN scanning
Firewall bypass attempts

Task 8: Logging, Monitoring, and Management
Implement a simulated centralised log and monitoring solution.
Set up simulated centralised logging and monitoring infrastructure.
Forward syslogs to a collector (even if simulated)
Simulate SNMP traps to a monitoring server
Log ACL violations, failed login attempts, and link down events
Rotate logs and simulate daily retention with logrotate

Submission Report

Prepare a professional technical report of approximately 3,000 words (excluding references and appendices), documenting your ISP-grade WAN design, service segmentation, routing infrastructure, security enforcement, and multi-site implementation strategy. This report must reflect an advanced level of technical competency expected of engineers working in Tier III data centre environments and must use Kali Linux, Cisco Packet Tracer, and VMware/Linux platforms where applicable.