Honorato C. Perez, Sr.

Memorial Science High School Library:

Network Plan Proposal for LIS 164

Viktor Kevin S. Rubio

Submitted to Mr. Dan Anthony Dorado

I. Introduction
Library: Honorato C. Perez, Sr. Memorial Science High School Library
Location: Mabini Extension, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, PH
Contact #: +63 (044) 600-5872
Mission (Institution): Honorato C. Perez, sr. Memorial Science High School is aimed at inculcating
knowledge, skills, and values necessary for intellectually advenced high school students to mature into
responsible and caring individuals to enable them to become productive citizens. As such, the library’s
mission is to support the institution by providing the necessary books to supplement the curriculum and
learning.
Collection: Includes text books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, newspapers, young adult fiction. Their
collection is, according to the head librarian, “small but can accommodate their also small school”.
Operating hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm, weekdays only.
Clients: 7th-12th grade high school students; faculty.
II. Existing Network/System
Procedures/Systems: Library materials are for room use only. They are arranged by material type in
shelves/racks.
Modem and wireless router is placed in the stock room. There are four rooms where computer/s are
located:
1. Stock room (1 PC – system administrator)
2. Principal’s office (1 PC)
 Distance from stock room: 10-15m
3. Computer lab (10 PCs – 9 for student use, 1 for instructor use)
 Distance from stock room: 20m
4. Library (5 PCs)
 Distance from stock room: 30m
Hardware: A total of only three PCs are online, and they connect directly to the wireless router inside the
stock room via Ethernet cables. These are PCs are for faculty use only. PCs for student use are not
connected to the local area network.
Software: Library has neither a card catalog nor an online public access catalog system. Local area network
is only intended for internet connectivity.
Peopleware: The head and only librarian is Mr. Clester Rufino. The system administrator is Mr. Jun
Espinoza. The latter is the only person handling any IT-related concerns of the school.
Problems: Currently, there are four main issues regarding their existing network:
1. Physical Topology – As aforementioned, only three PCs are online. Mr. Rufino and Mr. Espinoza
would like to take all available computers online and connected to the internet. Students using
PCs in the library and computer lab have also been complaining about the lack of internet
connectivity.
 2. Reliability – While the school does have a wireless router, both the faculty and the students
frequently have connectivity problems because of the distance. The principal’s office, the
computer lab, and some class rooms situated immediately after the stock room are areas which
have little to no wireless connectivity issues. The main issue here is that their library (which is
about 30m away from the wireless router) has intermittent wireless connectivity.
3. Scalability – Since more nodes will be connecting (indirectly) to the wireless router, their current
equipment suited for home use will not cut it.
4. Price – Upgrade to most network equipment are deemed necessary at this point. However, being
a public high school puts them all in a very tight budget. Mr. Espinoza would therefore like to
purchase equipment that will perform to what the school needs for the lowest price possible.

III. Justification
Their current logical topology and equipment underutilizes the school’s current internet provision. They
have a 10 Mbps connection but only three computers online and wireless access is limited to a radius of
only ~15m. This, in turn, has generated complaints from both faculty and students. Teachers staying in
the library have specifically complained about their wireless internet access being intermittent, further
stating that they would just frequently resort to their own portable broadband sticks. Students have also
been complaining about how “useless” the computers in the computer lab are because of the current
setup. Implementing a more appropriate physical topology and extending wireless signals would
therefore solve the underutilization issues and user complaints.

IV. Network Plan

Mr. Espinoza has explicitly requested for PCs in the library and the computer lab to be connected to two
unmanaged switches for his convenience. Therefore, the topology to be implemented in this plan will be
an extended star topology. See Figure 1 for the physical topology design.
Their new network will now consist of their existing modem, a new wireless router, two switches, and a
wireless extender. See table below for the total estimated budget.

Equipment Quantity Price Suggested product

Wireless Router 1 7,500 Asus RT-N66U Dual-Band W. Router
8-port Switch 1 600 Prolink PSW810 Mini Switch
16-port Switch 1 1,500 Prolink PSW161 Switch
Wireless Repeater 1 1,400 TP-Link TL-WA830RE Range Extender
Ethernet Cable 1 (70m) 700
11,700 Total

The reason behind choosing an extended star topology for their network is, as aforementioned, for Mr.
Espinoza’s convenience. The school is very small, and he is literally the only person delegated to anything
related to the school’s computers or network. Since this is network topology he feels he can handle with
ease and still satisfy their needs, it is thus chosen for this network plan.
 Library
Distances:
To stock room: ~30m
1 PC to Switch: ~1m

Computer lab
Distances:
To stock room: ~20m
1 PC to switch: ~1m

Principal’s Office
Distances:
To stock room: ~15m

Figure 1: New physical topology plan