BITS 1313 DATA COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING
2 BITS S2G1
LECTURER NAME: DR. MOHD HAKIM BIN ABDUL HAMID👍
GROUP PROJECT

- - - - Part 1 Introduction - - - -

1.1 Group Members:

1.2 Business and Network Requirements:

The gaming industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the entertainment industry. The increasing number of gamers across various age groups indicates a high-potential market for gaming-related businesses. Given the growing popularity of gaming, we have decided to invest in a gaming cafe called Fantastic Gaming Café. With our background in networking, we are well-positioned to create an exceptional gaming experience for our customers.

Fantastic Gaming Café will be located in a double shop lot with a size of 18’ x 50’ (width in feet × length in feet) at City Centre Klang Selangor Malaysia due to its high foot traffic and easy accessibility by public transportation. The primary target market for the business includes teenagers, students, professionals and tourists. For teenagers and students who often seek fun and interactive environments for leisure and socializing, it makes a gaming café an attractive destination for them. Professionals, on the other hand, might look for a comfortable alternative to work or look for printing services. In our gaming cafe, it can conveniently fulfill those requirements as well. Tourists visiting the City Centre Klang can also find the gaming café a convenient and entertaining place to stop by.

The network distribution of Fantastic Gaming Café is split into 4 subnetworks: gaming PC subnet, printing subnet, administrator subnet, and guest Wi-Fi subnet. To minimize the network downtime and improve the reliability of the network, we plan to implement the redundancy solution which means adding more routers and switches to handle the network operations if the main device faces unexpected issues. Network segmentation and isolation is also critical for managing the different subnets, and it is easier to enforce access control policies onto them. Therefore, each subnet should own its switch access layer and VLAN. To ensure the secure connection for business sensitive information within the network, we plan to setup a firewall and a VPN service on the subnet of administration.

Different bandwidth constraints will be applied on all the subnets. The gaming PC subnet will equip high bandwidth limit and low latency speed, meanwhile the administration and guest Wi-Fi subnet would equip moderate bandwidth allocation, and lastly the printing subnet will equip low bandwidth limit due to low connection requirement. The complete requirement details are shown in following table:

Table of network requirement of Fantastic Gaming Cafe

- - - - - Part 2 Hardware & Software - - - - -

2.1 Hardware Requirements
After discussion and evaluation, we choose Cisco ISR4331 router and Huawei AR6000 router as our network routers because of its good performance, affordable price, and long service supporting time. Next, we choose Huawei S6730-H24X6C as our multi-layer switches which has 30 Ethernet ports and large 4000 VLAN supported. For access layer of network, we choose Cisco Catalyst C9200-48T-E by reason of 48 Ethernet ports supported that could provide sufficient internet connection for our target 40 gaming pc. For the gaming desktop PC, we did the online research and find the common hardware equipment for cyber cafe like i7 processor , RTX4060ti, 27 inch monitor size. For wireless connection of Fantastic gaming cafe, we choose TP-Link TL-WA1201 wireless AP to allow guest to connect to wireless network. Lastly, we choose the HP laser MSP 135a printer in view of better resolution than inkjet printer.

Table of hardware list

2.2 Software Requirements

a) Operating System
i. Windows 11 Pro

Reasons:
Enhanced Performance: Windows 11 is designed to be faster and more responsive than previous versions, which can improve overall system performance, especially important during high-demand gaming sessions. It's also designed to support businesses operations of the gaming café admiration.
Improved Gaming Features: Windows 11 includes optimizations for gaming, such as DirectStorage for faster load times, Auto HDR for improved graphics, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, which enhances the gaming experience for customers.
Security Enhancements: Windows 11 Pro offers advanced security features like hardware-based security with TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, which help protect against malware, unauthorized access, and data breaches. This is crucial for safeguarding customer data and ensuring a secure gaming environment.
Long-term Support: Windows 11 Pro offers long-term support and updates from Microsoft, ensuring your PCs remain secure, reliable, and compatible with future software developments and gaming trends.
Network Quality of Service (QoS): Windows 11 Pro includes QoS features that prioritize network traffic, ensuring that gaming applications and services receive sufficient bandwidth for optimal performance. This helps in reducing lag and latency issues during gameplay.

b) Game Distribution Software

i. Steam Launcher

ii. Epic Games Launcher

Reasons:

Cloud Save Support: Both platforms offer cloud save functionalities, allowing customers to pick up where they left off.
Cross-Platform Play: Many games on these platforms support cross-platform play, increasing multiplayer opportunities and customer satisfaction.
Extensive Game Catalog: Both platforms offer a wide variety of games, including popular titles and indie games, ensuring a diverse selection for customers.
Exclusive Titles: Epic Games offers exclusive titles like Fortnite and Rocket League, while Steam has its own exclusives and early access games.
Automatic Updates: Both launchers provide automatic updates for installed games, ensuring that customers always have access to the latest versions with new features and bug fixes.
Easy Patch Management: Simplifies the process of applying game patches and updates, reducing downtime and maintenance efforts.

c) Cyber Cafe Management Software

i) CyberCafePro

Reasons:

User Management: Allows administrators to create and manage user accounts, set access levels, and allocate time or data limits.
Billing and Payment: Supports various billing models, including prepaid and postpaid options, as well as payment processing integration.
Internet Access Control: Enables administrators to control access to specific websites or applications, filter content, and manage bandwidth usage.
Remote Management: Provides remote access to the system for monitoring and managing operations from anywhere.
Reporting and Analytics: Generates reports on usage statistics, revenue, and other metrics to help optimize operations and track performance.
Security: Offers features like session locking, automatic logoff, and protection against unauthorized access.

d) Productivity Software

i) Microsoft Office 365

The Office 365 by Microsoft is a productivity application bundle which will include:

Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft OneNote
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Yammer

Reasons

Productivity Tools: Office 365 includes essential productivity applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. This enables your staff to create documents, manage schedules, and communicate effectively.
Office Apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint): Customers can utilize these apps for personal projects, such as creating game reviews, tracking gaming statistics, or planning gaming strategies. They can also use these tools for academic purposes or personal development. This also applies to the staff of the gaming café
Communication and Collaboration: Combines chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration.

e) Security Software

i) McAfee

Extra Protection Against Malware: Even though Microsoft Windows has a great antivirus software called Microsoft Defender, this will add extra protection that prevents viruses, Trojans, spyware, and other malware from infecting the PCs, which could compromise security and affect performance.
Safe Internet Browsing: Helps in blocking malicious websites and phishing attempts, reducing the risk of customers accidentally visiting harmful sites.
24/7 Protection: Runs in the background to provide real-time protection without disrupting gaming sessions or other operations.
System Performance: Helps maintain PC performance by reducing the impact of malware and background processes that can slow down the computers.

2.3 Overview of Requirements

Table of Price Estimation

Consideration of device performance, we decided to propose these items to build the new network in new building. The total cost estimation is around RM 280,165.06 is required.

- - - - Part 3 Network Design - - - -

3.1 Design requirements & specification:

Network Topology of Fantastic Gaming Café

For our gaming café network, we decided to apply safe redundancy solution which is Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP) that can provide layer 3 redundancy in the network by providing immediate or link-specific failover and a recovery mechanism. Therefore, we utilize two router and two layer 3 switches in our network plan. The router is used for connecting the Internet, while the layer 3 switch can helps in routing efficiency as it speeds up packets forwarding between VLANs and to the router without the need to send every packet up to the router.
Next, we also implement the OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) protocol into routers and multilayer switch for ensure data takes the most efficient route through the network. The process of OSPF can be concluded like router discover its neighbors, then exchange link / path cost information, build a database, calculate the shortest path, and update the routing table.

Besides, the inter-VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) and DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) perform in this network. VLANs segment network traffic logically, isolating different types of traffic even if they share the same physical infrastructure. It brings network become scalable by enabling easy addition and also enhanced the security by separate sensitive traffic. In our case, we use 4 VLAN to separate the 4 different subnet of wireless guest subnet, gaming pc subnet, printing subnet, and administration subnet. By applying the DHCP on end devices, the IP address can be automatically assign to them from IP range that we classified. Last but not least, VPNs and firewalls will be built on some routers and switches to protect our network as well.

3.2 Description of software to construct network diagram:

draw.io is a cross-platform graph drawing software developed in HTML5 and JavaScript. Its interface can be used to create diagrams such as flowcharts, UML diagrams, network diagrams.

why we choose the draw.io as our network diagram software ?

Compared to other software, it provides various types of network device shapes to use.
Free to use.
Supports multiple storage platforms such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, GitHub, etc.
Recommended by education institution.

Steps in creating network diagram with draw.io:

Launch the draw.io website or application software.
Click "Create New Diagram" and choose network diagram template to start design.
Design the diagram by adding the required shape from left-side shape panel to the workplace.
Connect the device shape with line.
Export the network diagram when finished.

- - - - Part 4 IP Address - - - -

4.1 IP addressing calculation for Fantastic Gaming Café network:

The network address is 200.168.0.0

Wireless guest subnet: 90 hosts

Gaming PC subnet: 40 hosts

Printing subnet: 6 hosts

Admin subnet: 3 hosts

Create 4 VLANs to separate 4 different purpose subnet :

Firstly, wireless guest subnet requires 90 hosts, 32 - 25 = 7 , 2^7 = 128 hosts , so subnet mask /25 enough for supporting the 90 hosts. Secondly, gaming pc subnet requires 40 hosts, 32 - 26 = 6 , 2^6 = 64 hosts , so subnet mask /26 enough for supporting the 40 hosts. Thirdly, printing subnet requires 6 hosts, 32 - 28 = 4 , 2^4 = 16 hosts , so subnet mask /28 enough for supporting the 6 hosts. Lastly, administration subnet requires 3 hosts only, 32 - 29 = 3 , 2^3 = 8 hosts , so subnet mask /29 enough for supporting the 3 hosts.

HSRP configuration is applied to both the core and distribution layers of the hierarchical network. For example, the G1/0/0 interface of CoreRTR1 is assigned the IP address 200.168.0.2/29, and the G1/0/1 interface of CoreRTR2 is assigned the IP address 200.168.0.3/29. The virtual IP address for both interfaces is set to 200.168.0.1, which will be used as the default gateway for other connected devices. If one of the routers or the associated link fails, the other router will automatically take over the routing tasks immediately. The distribution layer use same of theory of work.

Completed IP addressing table as shown below:

- - - - Part 5 Internet access - - - -

To ensure the best possible experience for our customers at Fantastic Gaming Café, it is crucial to choose the right internet service provider (ISP) that offers reliable, high-speed internet with good coverage. After evaluating several options, such as Maxis, Unifi and Astro Fiber, we have selected TIME Fiber Internet because stands out as the best option for our needs based on the following factors:

5.1 Type of Usage

TIME Fibre Internet is designed to handle a variety of high-demand internet activities, making it perfect for our diverse needs at Fantastic Gaming Café:

Gaming PC: High-speed and low-latency internet are essential for gaming to ensure smooth, uninterrupted gameplay and a competitive edge.
Printing: Requires stable, reliable internet for sending print jobs and scanning documents.
Administration: Needs secure, stable internet for managing sensitive data, utilizing VPN services, and ensuring overall business operations.
Guest Wi-Fi: Provides moderate bandwidth to guests for browsing, streaming, and light internet usage.

TIME fiber is known for its consistent and high-speed internet, which is crucial for maintaining a seamless gaming experience and efficient business operations.

5.2 Coverage

TIME Fibre Internet offers extensive coverage in urban areas, including City Centre Klang, Selangor, where Fantastic Gaming Café will be located. This ensures that we receive consistent and robust internet connectivity essential for our operations.

5.3 Bandwidth

After thorough consideration of our internet needs and budget constraints, we have decided to choose the 200 Mbps plan for RM 99 per month.

Gaming PC Subnet: With 40 gaming PCs requiring high bandwidth, the 200 Mbps plan ensures each PC gets sufficient speed to handle high-definition gaming with low latency.
Printing Subnet: The printing and scanning devices require minimal bandwidth, which allows us to prioritize more bandwidth for gaming and administrative purposes.
Administration Subnet: Moderate bandwidth needs for secure data handling and business operations are well-covered under this plan.
Guest Wi-Fi Subnet: Provides adequate bandwidth for guests to browse and stream without affecting the gaming PCs’ performance.

5.4 Cost

To provide a comprehensive understanding of the internet service costs, we will calculate the total yearly cost for the 200 Mbps plan.

Predictable Expenses: With a fixed monthly cost of RM 99, our yearly internet expenses are predictable and easy to budget for. This ensures financial stability and effective cost management throughout the year.
Annual Budget Allocation: By knowing the exact yearly cost RM 99 x 12 months = RM 1,188, we can allocate the necessary budget for internet services upfront, preventing any unexpected financial strain.
Cost Effective: The 200 Mbps plan at RM 1,188 per year provides excellent value for money given the high bandwidth and reliable service, supporting all our café’s internet needs efficiently.

- - - - Part 6 Conclusion - - - -

In conclusion, the implementation of a robust and efficient network infrastructure at Fantastic Gaming Café is critical to ensuring an exceptional gaming experience for our customers. By integrating HSRP for redundancy and OSPF for optimal routing, we have designed a network that is not only reliable but also capable of quickly adapting to changes and maintaining high availability. The use of VLANs and DHCP further enhances our network's scalability and security, allowing for efficient traffic management and automated IP address assignment. Additionally, the integration of VPNs and firewalls provides an essential layer of security, protecting sensitive business information and ensuring safe connectivity.

Throughout this project, we have gained valuable insights into advanced networking concepts and their practical applications. The design and implementation of redundancy solutions like HSRP have demonstrated the importance of having failover mechanisms to minimize downtime. By working with OSPF, we have learned how dynamic routing protocols can optimize data flow and enhance network performance. The segmentation of our network using VLANs has highlighted the benefits of logical traffic separation, improved security, and ease of network management. These experiences have equipped us with the skills to design and maintain complex network infrastructures in various business environments.

Overall, this project has provided us with a comprehensive understanding of modern networking technologies and their significance in real-world applications. The process of planning, designing, and implementing a network for a gaming café has reinforced our knowledge of network architecture, routing protocols, and security measures. These learning outcomes will be invaluable as we continue to explore and develop our expertise in the field of networking, ensuring that we can create and manage reliable, efficient, and secure networks in the future.

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Project - Data Communication And Networking

Saturday, 8 June 2024

Fantastic Gaming Café