The following post is my final project from IT 315, requiring detailed analysis of equipment and infrastructure requirements for installing a network in a school. This project gave me the opportunity to combine the new knowledge I obtained through coursework with practical experience I had in installing home networks and observing the installation of a network during my military career.
Ethernet Network Design Project
Below is a detailed list and descriptions of the equipment, infrastructure, and services required to install a network in a four-level, 74-room school, 95 meters wide with three telecommunications closets and an equipment room. As I researched cost expectations and best practices involved with planning a network installation, I was surprised to learn that cabling is the most expensive part of a network. Some estimates were as high as 60% of a budget for the materials and labor needed to run cables. Contracting costs are difficult to determine, but estimates by various industry experts say from $100 to over $500 per drop (a cable run to one room).
At the end of this paper there is a table showing total costs for each component and a total cost of (around) $67,324 to install a network in a 74 room school.
Items required for network:
48-port Cat6A shielded coupler flat patch panels, 1 rack unit each. Four total, one for each closet and one for the equipment room. These are required to connect each computer to switches.
$159 x 4 = $636
https://www.fs.com/c/cat6-patch-panels-962
NSG-2230 firewall 8x1Gb RJ45 with 1-year license. Provides Advanced Threat Prevention through IPS, AV, URL Filtering, Qos. Professional Link Load Balancing for Utilized Link Efficiency. Accurate Application Recognition and Flexible Control
$986
https://www.fs.com/products/188836.html?now_cid=3646
9U wall mount cabinet x4. These will go in each telecom closet and the central equipment room to house switches, patch panels, and router. They will allow for some expansion in the future.
$439 each X 4 = $1,756
https://www.fs.com/products/188787.html?now_cid=3093
SG-5110, Multi-WAN Security Gateway with 8 Gigabit RJ45 Ports, 1x SFP, 1x SFP+, Up to 10 WAN Ports, Built-in WLAN Controller, SPI Firewall, Routing, Support Load Balancing, IPSec/L2TP VPN and DoS Defense.
$2,136
https://www.fs.com/products/108709.html?now_cid=1150
S3900-48T6S-R, 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet L2+ Switch, 48 x Gigabit RJ45, with 6 x 10Gb SFP+ Uplinks, Stackable Switch
$569 x4 = $2,276
https://www.fs.com/products/134657.html?attribute=114467&id=4466605
Bulk Cat6a cable 305m per box = 30 boxes. This accounts for an extra cable run to each classroom for future-proofing or cable breakage to reduce cost of pulling new cable. There is additional cable to account for the need to run to cable trays in the ceiling. The runs to cable trays will not be a direct route to the telecommunications closets and will therefore require additional cable length for each classroom. My estimate also includes some allowance for additional cables to select rooms, since pulling new cables individually is a far greater expense than including additional cable runs during the initial network build.
$516 per box x 30 = $15,480
https://www.fs.com/products/123982.html?attribute=35136&id=615747
Cat6a RJ45 standard modular plugs 50/pack x 10 packs. This number accounts for each end of classroom cables, each end of patch cables, and each end of switch cables, plus extras for breakage/mistakes/unexpected issues.
$46 x 10 = $460
RJ45 strain relief boots 50/pack x 10 packs
$12 each x 10 = $120
https://www.fs.com/products/132168.html?now_cid=4110
Cat6a RJ45 (8P8C) Unshielded Punch Down Keystone Jack Module, Black (10 pcs/Pack). 148 for all rooms plus 10% for breakage/mistakes/unexpected issues. 17 packs
$24 each x 17 = $408
https://www.fs.com/products/152461.html?now_cid=4108
Old work gang boxes to install in existing drywall to hold punch-down keystone jacks and faceplates. 148 required plus 10 for breakage/mistakes/unexpected issues. (not difficult to install without breakage).
158 x $0.60 each = $94.80
Two Ports Keystone Single Gang Wall Plate X158 @ $1.20 each
$189.60
https://www.fs.com/products/20245.html?now_cid=24
For this assignment, I’m assuming the school has drop-ceilings which will necessitate cable trays hanging from “hard” ceiling. Cable trays will span the width of the school on each floor.
Kable Kontrol® Stainless Steel Cable Tray Straight Sections
6” W x 120” L x 2” H. 10 feet long each, requiring 31 per floor.
My plan is to run the cable trays down the center of the school so each classroom’s cables would run to the cable trays, unsupported, since there will be only three cables per room. Cable runs from the tray to each classroom do not require the same support and can be run without trays
31 per floor x 4 floors @ 138.81 each = $17,212.44
https://www.cabletiesandmore.com/kable-kontrol-stainless-steel-cable-tray-straight-sections
A ceiling hanging bar for the cable trays is required every 5 feet. With 2 supports needed for each tray, our school will need 248 hanging bars.
248 @ 10.91 each = $2,705
https://telexpresslive.com/ceiling-hanging-bar-zinc-4-6-8-or-12/
Managed IT services.
I believe a 74-room school is unlikely to have its own IT staff. Managed IT services cost around $200-$250 per user, per month. If we assume there will be two users per classroom, plus the office, we have about 150 total users for a total of around $30,000 per month. However, a school is likely to pool its IT resources with other districts or municipal governments to save costs. It is likely that managed IT costs could be significantly less costly with resource pooling. For this assignment, I am including the worst-case scenario because there is no way to know how much costs can be reduced without specific, situational information.
Max cable numbers fill table for cable trays:
https://www.cnbonet.com/guide/max-cables.html
| School Network Equipment and Infrastructure | |
| Item | Cost |
| Patch panels | $636 |
| Firewall | $986 |
| Wall mount cabinets for closets/equip room | $1,756 |
| Router | $2, 136 |
| Switches | $2,276 |
| Cable | $15,480 |
| RJ45 plugs | $460 |
| RJ45 strain relief boots | $120 |
| Cat6a punch-down keystone jacks | $408 |
| Old work single gang boxes | $94.80 |
| Two port wall plates | $189.60 |
| Cable trays | $17,212.44 |
| Cable tray hanging hardware | $2,705 |
| Contracting costs | $25,000 |
| Total cost | $67,324 |
| Managed IT cost estimate | $30,000/ month |
| Firewall subscription | $148/ year |
Analysis of the “notpetya” cyber attack
This assignment helped me understand the global scope of cyberattacks and the economic and security impacts criminals can have.
- What happened?
Hackers used an attach named “notpetya” to attack the worlds largest shipping conglomerate with ransomware. When the attack took effect, employees watched computer screens go black as if someone had turned off a switch with some displaying error messages saying “repairing file system on C:” or “oops, your important files are encrypted” with a demand for bitcoin payment to decrypt them. Furthermore, key-card gates were disabled along with phones and other essential hardware.
- Who was involved?
Maersk was the initial target, and ports around the world were subsequently attacked as notpetya spread. Ukraine suffered network crashes and loss of accessibility in hospitals, banks, power companies, airports, and nearly every federal agency.
- Where did this occur?
The initial attack was on Maersk headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark but spread globally.
- How did this happen? (lapse in security, mistake, etc.)
NotPetya was able to exploit systems unpatched for the eternal blue exploit, and could then use stolen credentials to infect patched computers. The main weakness was systems unpatched for eternal blue.
- What were the consequences/impacts? (individuals, legal, ethical, social, society, environment)
NotPetya had global impact and cost Maersk between $250 and $300 million dollars, according to accountants, but that is suspected to be a lowball number. Other companies lost big also though. Fedex lost $400 million, Reckitt Benckiser lost $129 million, and Mondeleze, the owner of Cadburry chocolate lot $188 million. Global impact is estimated at $10 billion.
- What was done to address or prevent this from happening again?
Maersk updated their software to windows 10 and started requiring MFA for network access. Companies around the world began paying more attention to prompt implementation of patches for software, started segmenting networks, disabling outdated protocols, and implementing least-privilege policies.
- What are your suggestions to prevent this from happening again?
I think companies implemented the right solutions to prevent recurrence, but I also believe countries around the world need to implement harsh sanctions on any countries who harbor or conduct such attacks.
- Do you think this could happen again and why?
I think a similar attack could and probably will happen again in the future because there are too many lawless countries when it comes to cyberattacks and the harboring of fugitives.
- What are the potential impacts including intended and unintended of cyber security on individuals, society, or the environment?
Many innocent individuals are impacted by attacks like NotPetya. In Ukraine, hospitals were crippled, public transportation was hampered, and ATMs and point of sale terminals were disabled. Society suffers when people are unable to access basic healthcare and transportation, not to mention how badly society suffers when the people have no way to access their money to buy things required for daily living.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/notpetya-cyberattack-ukraine-russia-code-crashed-the-world/