Posted: May 3rd, 2023

NETWORK RESEARCH PROJECT

 

The Network Research Project (NRP) expectations are to explain the concepts you are learning as part of this Networking Fundamentals course.  This is not an extensive review of the topic areas, but instead a cursory exploration of any approved topic you find most interesting.
You should consider the additional details below to guide you through completion of the NRP.

Quality is valued over quantity, but quantity is necessary for a quality project submission.  It is estimated that 4 – 6 pages (not including the title page) would be necessary to address each Network Research Project (NRP) topic.

Each Network Research Project (NRP) must have an Introduction.  The introduction should address the purpose of your project, and an overview of what you will convey to the reader.  It should summarize your research project in such a way that readers can rapidly become acquainted with the material.  Each NRP must also have a Conclusion.  The conclusion should summarize your findings in a succinct manner.  The conclusion will regurgitate key points of the research project for the reader.  The remaining format will be at your discretion.  It is suggested that you review the NRP details under each approved topic below, and outline the project accordingly.  You should maintain a consistent format throughout the entirety of the document.

You should use proper grammar, terminology, and expand acronyms in each paragraph they are used. For example, the first time in a paragraph an acronym is used it should be expanded (e.g., University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC)).  Thereafter, and as long as you are in the same paragraph, the acronym (e.g., UMGC) can be used. When starting a new paragraph, the rule begins anew.  Student should leverage Grammar Essentials to aid in their research submission.

All sources must be cited using the APA 7th Edition. You will need to use multiple sources of information within the NRP. TestOut LabSim may be one of those sources. UMGC offers a Citing and Writing Portal that you should take advantage of.  Do not plagiarize any material or content.  The use of figures and diagrams is encouraged where appropriate.

You will be allowed to submit the NRP for review by your Professor up to three times under the Assignments tab of our class. The first two draft submissions are not graded, but will receive feedback if you choose to submit during the proposed submission period. If you choose not to submit during the proposed submission period, you will not receive feedback. The proposed submission period for feedback is as follows:

Tuesday of Week 3 for first draft. 

Tuesday of Week 5 for the second draft.

Upon receiving feedback, please make the necessary modifications or updates to your NRP and resubmit to the correct Assignment folder. The final draft is graded and should be submitted by Tuesday of Week 8. You will not receive feedback or have an opportunity to resubmit a draft in Week 8.  A submission in Week 8 will be your final, graded version of the NRP.  If you are satisfied with your feedback prior to Week 8, you have the ability to submit you final draft early to the Week 8 Assignment folder.

Review the Network Research Project (NRP) grading rubric to understand the expectations, and how the final draft will be graded.

NRP Topic Details
Details on each topic area are provided below to provide further understanding of expectations for the Network Research Project (NRP).  You will select one topic area to conduct the NRP.  At a minimum, you should address the details provided for each topic area.  However, you are not limited by these details.  You are encouraged to research and discuss additional aspects under any of these approved topic areas.

Compare and contrast the characteristics of network topologies, types and technologies. 

Wired Topologies (logical vs physical, star, ring, mesh, and bus)

Define and give an example of each topology.
Is one topology used more today than others?

Wireless Topologies (mesh, ad hoc, other infrastructure)

Define and give an example of each topology.
Is one topology used more today than others?

Types (LAN, WLAN, MAN, WAN, CAN, SAN, and PAN)

Define and give an example of each type of network.

Technologies that facilitate the Internet of Things (Z-Wave, Ant+ Bluetooth, NFC, IR, RFID, and 802.11)

Define and give an example of each technology.

Describe how these technologies are related.

Summarize cloud concepts and their purposes.

Types of services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS)

Define and describe each type of service.
Compare and contrast these cloud services are related?

Cloud delivery models (Private, Public, and Hybrid)

Compare and contrast the cloud delivery models.

Connectivity methods

Provide further details on cloud connectivity methods.

Security implications / considerations

Describe security implications and considerations for organizations moving to the cloud.

Describe the relationships between local and cloud resources

Explain devices, applications, protocols and services at their appropriate OSI layers. 

Layer 1 (Physical)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the layer above.

Layer 2 (Data Link)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the layer above.

Layer 3 (Network)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the layer above.

Layer 4 (Transport)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the layer above.

Layer 5 (Session)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the layer above.

Layer 6 (Presentation)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the layer above.

Layer 7 (Application)

Define, describe, and give an example of devices that operate at this level.
Describe how this layer interacts with the user.

Explain the functions of network services. Describe why multiple services are needed to a network to function properly.

DNS service (record types, internal vs external DNS, third-party/cloud hosted DNS, hierarchy, forward vs reverse zone)

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use DNS.

DHCP service (MAC reservations, pools, IP exclusions, scope options, lease time, TTL, DHCP relay)

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use DHCP.

NTP

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use NTP.

IPAM

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use IPAM.

VoIP

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use VoIP.

Simple Network Management Protocol

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use SNMP.

File sharing

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use File sharing.

WWW

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use the WWW.

Printing

Define, describe, and give an example of how organizations use Printing functionality.

Explain the purposes of virtualization and network storage technologies. Define, describe, and highlight the implications of each.

Virtual Networking Component (Virtual switch, firewall, NIC, router, hypervisor)
Network storage types (NAS, SAN)
Connection Type (FCoE, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, InfiniBand)
Jumbo Frame

Compare and contrast business continuity and disaster recovery concepts.
Availability Concepts (Fault tolerance, high availability, load balancing, NIC teaming, port aggregation, clustering)
Power Management (Battery backups/UPS, power generators, dual power supplies, redundant circuits)
Recovery (Cold sites, warm sites, hot sites)
Backups (Full, differential, incremental, snapshots)
MTTR
MTBF
SLA requirements

Explain common scanning, monitoring and patching processes and summarize their expected outputs.

Process (log reviewing, port scanning, vulnerability scanning, patch management, reviewing baselines, packet/traffic analysis)
Event management (notifications, alerts, SIEM)
SNMP monitors (MIB)
Metrics (Error rate, utilization, packet drops, bandwidth/throughput)

Explain authentication and access controls. Define, describe, and highlight the network security implications of each.

Authorization, authentication, and accounting (RADIUS, TACACS+, Kerberos, Single sign-on, Local authentication, LDAP, Certificates, Auditing and logging)
Multi-factor authentication (something you know, have, are, do, or somewhere you are)
Access Control (802.1x, NAC, port security, MAC filtering, captive portal, access control lists)

Summarize common networking attacks.

DoS (Reflective, amplified, distributed)

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Social engineering

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Insider threat

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Logic bomb

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Rogue access point

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Evil twin

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

War-driving

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Phishing

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Ransomware

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

DNS poisoning

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Brute force

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Exploits vs. Vulnerabilities

Define, describe, and give a recent example.

Compare and Contrast network policies and best practices. Define, describe, and highlight the implications of each.

Privileged user agreement
Password policy
On-boarding/off-boarding procedures
Licensing restrictions
International export controls
Data loss prevention
Remote access policies
Incident response policies
BYOD
AUP
NDA
System life cycle (asset disposal)
Safety procedures and policies

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