Running head: ASSIGNMENT 2: CONTOSO, LTD

Assignment 2: Contoso, Ltd

In the IT world there are often multiple ways to resolve a problem that arises on a network. Because of this, it is important for IT professionals to understand what options are available and which of those options make the most sense. The users of Contoso Ltd.s network are experiencing difficulty connecting to Internet websites, although they are able to access local resources without a problem. The companys network maintains an internal domain on two DNS

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servers, NS 2 and NS 3. The primary Internet DNS server in this network is NS1, which also maintains the companies firewall. The firewall on NS1 allows internet traffic to communicate with the DNS service, but does not allow Internet traffic to communicate with internal clients on the contoso.com domain. There are two possible options for resolving this issue. Configuring NS2 and NS3 to use NS1 as a forwarder will result in successful name resolution for internal clients, or configuring root hints on NS2 and NS3 for each desired external site. The method requiring the least amount of administrative effort is to enable NS2 and NS3 to use NS1 as a forwarder. This will allow all queries for external links to be passed to NS1 which will then resolve the hostnames no matter which ones are requested. Utilizing root hints requires a much greater administrative effort because the root hint for each website must be updated manually by IT. These are two fundamentally different ways to resolve the problem that is being experienced, an illustration of the different ways that problems can be approached in the IT world. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Configuring NS1 as a forwarder is a fast fix to the problem, requiring a minimal amount of effort from administrators. Updating the root hints for each server is much more time intensive, but ultimately is a more secure option, because administrators can actively control what sites are being visited while preventing unauthorized use of company resources while on the job. Contoso has experienced a failure at a satellite office as several users are reporting a connectivity problem. A test server at this satellite office was recently promoted to be the primary domain controller of a new Active Directory Domain Service. These users have reported that they are unable to obtain an IP address from the local DHCP server. Because this office recently had a new implementation of AD DS introduced onto the network, the clients that were

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receiving their IP addresses from the DHCP server that is located on the same subnet are not able to renew their IP leases. This is because Active Directory Domain Service has been introduced on the network and the DHCP servers must now be authorized. This means that each DHCP server on the network must be explicitly listed in the Active Directory Domain Service as an authorized user before it will be able to issue IP leases to clients. A recently deployed farm of centralized database servers means that the satellite offices of Contoso must now remotely access the customer files and other company assets stored within the database. Many of the offices maintain broadband Internet connections but some of the smaller offices still rely on dial-up modem connections to access external resources. Dial-up service is a secure and reliable form of connection, but is limited in the speed of which it is capable. To use a dial up connection for several remote offices, Contoso must utilize a modem bank located in the corporate network which allows multiple modems to be connected to the network infrastructure and allows the connections from each office to be made (Microsoft, 2010). This method will allow the smaller offices to connect to the central database with a minimal cost increase as this is the connection option already in use by these offices. Contoso can also choose to upgrade the Internet connection for the satellite offices to a higher speed DSL or broadband connection. Upgrading the local area networks in each of these offices will require purchasing of new modems and routers, but will allow the offices a greater amount of data throughput when performing data intensive queries against the central database. Because the company has decided to centralize the database servers, upgrading the speed of the internet connection at each satellite office is a desirable option in terms of employee productivity. It is also in the interest of IT personnel as it will provide a more reliable and higher speed connection to the LANs located in each office.

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A new group of customer service employees requires access to the company database between the hours of 5 p.m. and midnight Eastern Time. These hours are considered after hours by Contoso, Ltd and the company wants to ensure that other employees cannot casually use company resources during off hours. This set of requirements can be accommodated by utilizing group policy objects and NTFS permissions. Using group policy to create groups of users based on their needs is a fundamental concept in the IT industry. A group of users can be created according to the needs of that group and then permissions can be set up based on what each type of user needs to access (Stanley, 2012). Each type of user can be defined and a policy created to allow that type of user to access the data they require in the performance of their duties. In this case, standard users who are 9 to 5 employees of Contoso do not require access to the system after the hours defined by their job except in the case of unusual circumstances. These users can be defined as regular users and a group can be created for them in which they can utilize company resources during work hours. After regular business hours, these users will not be able to access or manipulate data until the next business day. The new special customer service employees need a different type of access. Because these users require access to company resources during off hours, a separate group can be created with the appropriate NTFS permissions so that these employees can access the information that they require. Because these employees are only required to assist customers during off hours, they do not need in depth access to the database; they only need access to the client information contained in the customer files. They should be granted read-only access to the client files and should be instructed to notify customers that they need to call during business hours if they need to make changes to their accounts.

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Contosos new implementation of a centralized database has prompted management to become interested in cutting support costs in their satellite offices. They would like to achieve this by centralizing all remote server backup to the database. The support staff has raised concerns about lost production during work hours when lengthy backups do not complete in the amount of time expected. IT can resolve this issue by performing full backups to all remote servers only periodically rather than every day. Performing a weekly or bi-weekly backup of the server and supplementing those backups with incremental backups throughout the rest of the week will help keep the amount of time required for backing up remote servers to a minimum. This safeguard will help in the event of a server failure that requires a system restore, but in the event that data becomes corrupted, utilizing a Distributed File System (DFS) will help keep the companys information available. By utilizing DFS Replication, all data stored on all the servers in the company can be replicated to the main company database. Replication can either be configure to use only a specific amount of bandwidth, preventing it from choking out a connection with another site, or it can be configured to replicate only on a certain time schedule to help prevent slowdown in connection performance during work hours (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009).

References John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2009). Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microsoft. (2010, April 30). Configure a Dial-up Connection to the Intranet. Retrieved from Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff687789(v=WS.10).aspx

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Stanley, J. (2012, June). Defining Active Directory Group Policy. Retrieved from TechTarget: http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/feature/-Defining-Active-Directory-GroupPolicy-Terms-you-need-to-know