Question : Proposal for a network solution

hello experts

let me tell u that i 'm no network professional , rather in web & software development . But due to certain mis-happening (oops !!!) , i'm now required to make a business proposal for a large university in my country.

their requirements are as under :

There will be a server located in the university headquarters . all the concerned data and aplications will be stored here by the university . now there will be certain special students who will be given special login accounts , who then will be able to login into the server and execute application as well as access data

Now please guide me in detail for the following
1. hardware required
2. communication media options
   (leased line , isdn etc.)
3. placement of the server in the university campus possible or not
4. execution of programs by the students from remote locations all over the country (how will that occur)
5. user accounts can be handled by simple database/asp procedure . no probs there
6. security issues (what all & how to implement)

please advise me on these points and any more that u think are suitable & necessary for a project of this nature

thanks
Adit

 

Answer : Proposal for a network solution

adit2k,

Ok, as far as hardware for the Internet, that varies depending on your security needs, but at a bare minimum you will need a router to connect to your ISP with the appropriate WAN card.  (most likely at least a T1 or E1, whichever they use in India, not sure).  Behind that, you will want at least a firewall, and possibly a proxy server in addition, again depending on your security needs.  Some software based firewalls will do a pretty good job of both.  

One thing I will definitely recommend in the network hardware area is that you look at Cisco.  They have great LAN and WAN equipment, and nobody beats their support.  Their support alone is worth the extra cost.

You will definitely need to use private IP addressing on your internal network.  For an organiztion the size of a university, use either 172.16.0.0 - 172.16.31.255 or use 10.0.0.0.  

As far as the communications media goes, I hope you have a budget.  No matter how you connect the remote branches, it's going to cost.  Call somebody who specializes in this kind of setup and get their advice.  There are many great options available, but you need someone who can analyze your particular situation for this.