Case Study: IT Schools Africa - Workshop Network
About IT Schools Africa A charity based in Cheltenham that refurbishes donated computers for use in African state schools. The charity relies almost entirely on volunteers from the local area. They receive donations from local government, enterprise, education sector and the general public.
Aims and Objectives of Workshop Network a. Provide training opportunities to local volunteers. b. Prepare and install computer equipment for shipment. As part of my volunteering at the charity, I wanted to help where my skills were best utilised. After discussions with the charity they explained that their network was used for software distribution. Including a number of issues they had with the current network. Existing Network Solution The previous network was limited to un-managed megabit based switching equipment. It relied on a business network router which was struggling under the load from the workshop. There was a Windows Active Directory in operation, the basis for the delivery software which could not be on at the same time as the Internet. The issues raised with me regarding this network was the speed of it, and the fact that it was unable to operate along side the current network provided by the business hub. New Network Solution As part of the new solution I ensured the following were in place: a. A gigabit backbone of managed HP Switches. b. Redundancy provided by a backup domain controller. c. Backup DHCP, DNS, Routing and Directory Access. d. Centralized management of network resources and equipment. e. Introduction of workshop permanent machines to the Directory. f. Remote support of server equipment. g. Secured a cabling contractor with a high reduction in cost.
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