LAN Reliability and Availability Research Paper

LAN Reliability and Availability - Research Paper Example Organizations that have employed the use of Local Area Network, or LAN, can access information and resources of all persons and departments linked to the network. 1 It is important for the networked organizations to understand the various networking terms, conditions and systems operation in order to ensure that the system would not be compromised. In this manner, information would be available and reliable and serve the operational requirements of the organization. Since not all members of the organization would be able to understand the framework of the network, it is necessary to employ network administrators that would ensure the smooth operations and availability of the network. 2 With the network functioning properly, the organization can deliver their products and services to the consumer or end-user without restraint that can result from unpredictable network malfunctions. The network administrator should be the one with the appropriate training so that he/she could understan d the network architecture and impacts of specific system failures on the general network. 3 LAN refers to a â€Å"communication network, limited in geographic scope†. 4 The network’s hardware components are: a) transmission medium (e.g. twisted pair, fiber optics, coaxial cable), b) mechanism for control of transmission, and c) network interface (for host computers, devices or nodes of network). 5 To meet the requirements of availability and reliability, redundancy approach is usually applied in the system. 6 This approach uses a back up path for every connection so that recovery is possible when failure occurs. 7 Network Availability The ability of the organization to benefit from any network relies on the availability of the specified network. However, for a network to be available most of the time, it must be reliable in order to maximize its use within the infrastructure. Both reliability and availability of a network are interdependent. A network cannot be reliab le if the framework is not available to all the units or departments required to connect with it. Thus, both concepts must be handled together since one would affect the other and the organization in general. 8 Network availability refers to the fragment of time wherein the network is in service. 9 Availability of the network may fail if a disaster strikes, and in case of large-scale disaster, many link failures may occur. 10 Computer networks should establish the required infrastructure that would meet the needs of the applications that will be used. 11 Studies have indicated that one measure of the computer network performance is its availability. 12 The availability feature would be particularly important for applications used in banking transactions, e-commerce, and other online transactions. 13 The components of the network that may be prone to failure and affect availability are the a) hosts (e.g. clients, servers in different departments, middle level corporate servers, data tier corporate servers), b) interconnection equipment (including hubs, routers, switches), and c) individual links. 14 The availability concept has become more critical due to complex issues and interconnections distributed across numerous computers. 15 It is also dependent on the accessory devises included to make it functional. 16 Availability has always been an important characteristic of systems but becomes a more critical and complex issue