Client/Server Analysis: Project Part 2
Paul Elander
ITT Technical Institute
Professor Alan Stern
Client-Server Networking I
5/21/2014

Upon further review of the client, Home Hospice Care (HHC), the options for upgrading to a new Windows operating is feasible but with limitations. Windows 7 Ultimate would be the preferred edition to install. Choosing Windows 7 Ultimate as the preferred operating system has all the features of Windows 7 Professional but has many more available extras which may prove valuable to Home Hospice Care’s infrastructure. This edition provides more flexibility and stability within their network and offers more capabilities than the Professional Edition. Unfortunately, Home Hospice Care does not qualify for Windows 7 Enterprise Edition. With features like Encrypting File System (EFS), Server Domain Joining, Software Restriction Policies, and many more features which adds security and helps to simplify the IT administrative tasks. When upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP, the process is simple: Wipe-and-Load installation. I had chosen to incorporate eleven (11) workstations at the Home Hospice Care’s facility. The workstations’ will be located at central or key points within the company’s infrastructure and positioned within specific offices. The first workstation will be located at the receptionist’s desk and have the computer name: REC1 (allowing for expandability if the company adds another receptionist in the future). Workstations two (2) through four (4) will be located in the Intake Coordinator’s (TC) offices and will be named: TC1 through TC4. Workstation five (5) will be centrally located in the Office Managers office and have the computer name of OM1. While workstation six (6) will be located in the Administrator’s office with the computer name of Admin_Office (Head of Office). Workstation seven (7) will located in the Director of Professional Services Manager of the TC and Nurses and have a computer name of DPSM. The Practitioner Clinical Counselor Manager houses workstation eight (8) and has the computer name of PCCM. As for the Volunteer Coordinator and Bereavement Coordinator, share the same office, houses workstations nine (9) and ten (10) and which will have the computer names of VC1 and BC1. As for the User Accounts to be initiated and implemented for the employees will be determined by their first initial and last name. I will include the users by department into groups which should help with preventive maintenance and for troubleshooting purposes. Categorizing users into groups minimizes the task of assigning permissions to individuals one at a time and multiple times thus alleviating mistakes and financial costs. The computer hardware that will be needed is better hard drives to accommodate the large volumes of files needed to store patient files. The hard drives must be capable of handling high read/write speeds than the current hard drives in the workstations to maximize and increase productivity and efficiency of the staff and hardware. Another component that Home Hospice Care may want to invest in is the microprocessor. The current processor is compatible and capable of handling the workload, but a faster processor may provide a more stable and productive environment not only for the staff but the hardware on the workstations. For an added note, I would recommend antivirus software such as Kaspersky or BitDefender or Avast. The setup of the workstations partitions will mainly depend on their needs and group association within the company. The Office Manager, Receptionist, and Administrator may need more disk other users on the network. I would setup as little as possible in the event of some unforeseen circumstance arises. As for now, I would setup two partitions: one for primary storage and one for secondary storage. With the quantity of personnel Home Hospice Care employs and the large volume of printing and the design of the building, network printers will be located within close proximity to those needing to print. Considering most small businesses today are on a budget, the best option I would consider is a multifunction printer that is compact and capable of handling large volumes of printing which Home Hospice Care does on a daily basis. For example, an economically budget friendly multifunction printer to take into consideration for Home Hospice Care is the Brother HL-2270DW. I have designated two (2) network printers for the Intake Coordinators, which I am assuming HHC will employ four (4) of coordinators. The first printer, located behind the receptionists’ desk, will be named //HomeHospice/REC1 as she will be printing large volumes throughout the day as well as the work week. The second and third printers are located by the Intake Coordinator’s office with the network names of //HomeHospice/TC1 and //HomeHospice/TC2. By allocating two printers for the Intake Coordinators, by will help to minimize the down time and maintenance costs for the printers thus increases the productivity of the Intake Coordinators. The fourth printer is located in the office of the Office Manager, whom will be the only user authorized for its use, will have a network path of //HomeHospice/OM and similar with the fifth printer in the Head of Office (Admin) office and the network path of //HomeHospice/Admin. The printer located in the DPS office will have the network path of //HomeHospice/DPS and similar with the printer located in the PCC except it will have the network path of //HomeHospice/PCC. The last printer is located in the Volunteer/Bereavement Counselors office, which is a shared printer, and a network path of //HomeHospice/VCBC. After the installation of the Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition that had been designed specifically for small to mid-sized businesses. Thus, the roles this server will provide are Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Exchange, and File, Print, SIP, SQL and Web IIS. Installing Active Directory Domain Services will provide secure, structured, hierarchical data storage for objects within HHC’s network such as users, computers, printers, and services. The Active Directory Domain Services provide support for locating and working with these objects. An Exchange Server will allow the staff to communicate with one another through emails. It is not a necessity but will prove worthwhile as the company expands. However, Exchange can be implemented in Microsoft’s Office 365 software which in turn, may all that is needed by Home Hospice Care at this moment. While the File Server will prove vital to Home Hospice Care as this will store all data related to patients and company documents. The File Server can be accessed by the staff, only if the user has the right permission(s) to access that specific file they are trying to access. Another important server role which will play an important role is the Print Server. The Print Server provides the user with access (permission permitted to do) to the printers within the network and improve the efficiency of the staff and provides a means for the IT Administrator to troubleshoot problematic printers. Having a SIP Server (Telephony or VOIP) provides the company a means to communicate with its patients as well as with each other. For example, if a patient calls and asks to speak to a counselor, the receptionist can transfer the call to the specific counselor or if it is new patient, transfer to any available counselors. The SIP server will also allow for direct line calls from the outside. For example, a patient can call any their counselor directly rather than having to call the main number. A SQL Server will prove valuable for Home Hospice Care. The SQL Server when combined with the File Server will make storage and organizing of data easier, be more cost effective and increase productivity for the staff at HHC when querying and searching for specific files related to a patient or other files or data. While the Web IIS Server will allow not only the patients and potential patients with access to information regarding Home Hospice Care, but the staff with access to both the internet and intranet. Having access to the internet will make processing for insurance claims, for example, much easier where they can fill out forms and submit them entirely online. While the intranet constitutes an important component and focal point of internal communication and collaboration and can provide services such as HTTP (web services), SMTP (e-mail), and FTP (file transfer protocol). For the configuration of the group policies, I would place users within the Global groups, and then nest those inside the Domain Local groups which in turn will be used to apply permissions to resources. The domain for Home Hospice Care is a single domain; there is no need to have a universal group. Since no groups will not be crossing into another domain. The Global Groups are Server OU and Groups OU and Workstation OU and Printers OU and Company Policy/Forms OU.