Building An ICT Network

Building an ICT Network
A guide for Small and Remote

First Nations Communities
Revised Edition 2011
Author: Jesse P. Gordon
Sponsors
Building a First Nations ICT Network
INTRODUCTION
This is a curious document. It is part history, part diary and part lecture. You
see, it is an attempt to take the experience of the last decade of building a computing
network at the Namgis First Nation and condense it into a kind of guidebook that
may help other small and remote communities build a reliable ICT network that will
support their journey into the future.
ICT, or Information and Communications Technology, is an interesting subject.
It changes faster that we can finish our morning coffee. It is always throwing new
gadgets and gizmos in our path and insisting that this is the next „must-have‟
technology. But, when we invest our scarce and hard-won dollars in it, it seldom
works the way we expected, or hoped, that it would.
It is possible to pick the best and most suitable from the herd, put it to work and
realize great benefit from it. It is possible to achieve a stable, reliable system that
serves many people without having the budget of the US Federal Government to
spend. It is possible to do amazing things in terms of communicating with people,
gathering and summarizing information, planning, documenting, archiving; all of this
towards providing people with the information they need, when they need it.
Let us not forget, however, that the name of the game here is ICT: Information
and Communication Technology. It is about capturing, managing, storing and
retrieving INFORMATION: it is not about having a machine make decisions for you. It
is about using a variety of different ways to COMMUNICATE more easily and
effectively: it is not about isolating people or distancing them from each other.
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As you will see in the remainder of this work, there are many steps involved in
creating a solid, reliable ICT network. Some of these steps must be done before
others, some of them are a good idea but not essential and some of the steps you will
read about are purely optional; you can do them or not as your budget, needs and
situation allow. All of the steps contained here do work (or, if they don‟t, they are
provided as an example of what not to do and described as such).
Before we embark on this journey of discovery, please let me take a moment to
acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the First Nations Technology Council and of
Network BC in making this work possible.
A LITTLE HISTORY
In 1996 the Namgis First Nation was much like most First Nations communities
in BC. It was working to provide services to its on-reserve members and to keep the
off-reserve members informed about what was going on at home.
At that time, the Namgis had one very important head-start: they had instituted
clear formal financial controls. In the wake of financial difficulties, the Chief and
Council had decided to implement a much more rigid financial management system
that is modeled after the type used by the Provincial Government. This decision put
in play the need for better information management.
At the time, the Namgis offices were located in separate buildings; the Band
office was in the old Residential School building and the Health Center was across
the road. The School and Daycare buildings were located about 6 blocks away at the
top of the hill.
There were only a few computers (simple „286 PCs) in use in the Band office. The
accounting department had four workstations connected with a crude 10-Base-T
Coax network. This department had the only integrated application, AccPac
Accounting. The Health Center had six or so workstations scattered about, with one
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shared workstation in the hallway for people to use to check hosted email and do a
little internet searching. Internet was all dial-up and the whole Band administration,
about 60 people, shared three dial-up accounts. The most common computing
activity was writing letters, reports and applications with MS-Word and program
planning and tracking using Excel.
There were no backup procedures in place and the danger of loss of information
was huge. The experiences of losing data due to hard disk failure, or to the absence
or sudden departure of staff, were compelling reasons for the Namgis to start looking
for better IT tools.
The very first activity in this 10-year journey was the removal of the unreliable
Coax network and its replacement with an Ethernet network that connected the
accounting group as well as those Band administration staff who had desktop
computers. This continued with the installation of a separate Ethernet network
across the road in the Health Center. These were initially workgroup, or peer-to-peer
networks with no server and no network login, but they did enable folks to share a
laser printer and to share files with each other.
Soon, another phone line was added so that the Band office could share 2 lines
and the Health Center had 2 for their use. Internet and especially email were
beginning to be seen as essential rather than optional.
Then came the day when the Health Center Director called a meeting to share
the news that an unauthorized person had gotten into the Health Center and was
caught looking at files on one of the computers. This changed everything. Council
asked what options were available to prevent unauthorized access to Band
computers. It was decided that we would spend the money to install Windows NT
login servers.
Windows NT was a clumsy beast by today‟s standards. It demanded a lot of
study and very cautious management, but it worked and became the basis for the
Namgis network of today. By keeping the network as simple as possible and by
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carefully measuring every new addition to the network on the basis of its impact on
already established facilities we were able to keep the NT network running most of
the time.
Namgis staff were now logging on to a real computer network every day when
they came to work. They were able to send email to each other inside the network
and have it delivered instantly. They were able to email documents and spreadsheets
around the organization without difficulty. Outside email was sent to a mail server
that forwarded it when the dial-up connection was available. People did not have to
wait for the dial-up line to become free to do their outside email work. The Namgis
network was beginning to pay off.
Backup was still a big issue. Computer workstations were still completely
dependent on floppy disks. Each staff member was responsible to do their own
backup and most often it did not get done. The next unpleasant surprise was the
introduction of a virus into the Namgis network (the only time this ever happened) –
not via Internet but by the use of an infected floppy disk brought from home. We tried
using Zip drives, tape units and even a Linux-based backup system which was run
from its own server. This was a dismal failure, the company went out of business and
the investment of over $2,000.00 was the one waste of money that the tech staff has
had to admit to. (We still have that server around as a reminder.)
The next big step was when our new Band office building was built. During
construction, Technical Services was able to have network wiring installed so that
every office had suitable Ethernet cabling. A small but serviceable room in the center
of the building was allocated for a server room/workshop for the technicians. At
about this time our school was provided with a satellite internet service through
Industry Canada. This was so much better than dial-up service that we decided to
invest in this technology for the Band Office. It was installed and worked quite well
for over 3 years.
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So, we were able to provide quite good service to the Band Office, but the Health
Center was falling way behind in the level of service that the Band office was
receiving. The new location of the Band Office was up on the hill, near the School and
6 blocks away from the Health Center. Tech staff spent half of their time running
back and forth between buildings.
We tried every way we could think of to get an Ethernet link between buildings.
Finally we were able to brow-beat Telus into installing a dedicated cable between
buildings for us. This was a minor miracle and one that I doubt anyone could
succeed in getting done today. With this hard-wired link between buildings we were
able to finally tie the two separate networks together into a single network.
This began a concerted effort to connect all of our buildings and offices into a
single, cohesive network. By taking advantage of the emerging low cost wireless
technology, we were able to link buildings without wires and for only a few hundred
dollars per link. This was completed when we finally linked our Hatchery, which is 10
km away from the reserve on Vancouver Island, into the Namgis network.
Of course, as time progressed, demand for more sophisticated internet services
increased throughout the Namgis. We heard of an ISP who had committed to provide
network services from Port McNeill (about 8 km away over water) to Alert Bay‟s
Provincial elementary school. This same company was heavily engaged in delivering
Cable internet services in Port Hardy and Port McNeill. We managed to talk them into
offering cable internet service to Alert Bay, a move they had not intended to make.
When this service came on-line in 2002, we purchased 4 cable connections and used
a clever load-balancing router to distribute the load from the whole network over
these four connections. Finally, we had adequate bandwidth for our staff and for the
community as a whole.
IN 2003 we purchased a new phone system. People wanted voicemail and all of
the other features offered by an all-digital phone network. This turned out to be a
huge advance in our Band infrastructure. By connecting phones over our Ethernet
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network, folks in outlying offices could have full service phones without requiring
expensive phone company services.
IN 2006 we moved up to a direct fiber (10 Mbps) internet service from Telus,
obtained under the FNTC Connectivity project. With this we have added
videoconferencing and webcasting. We are poised to participate in Telemedicine and,
we have re-routed most of our long-distance phone calls over VoIP services from
Vonage. We have remote offices located in Port Hardy and Campbell River, both of
which have phones that are members of our Band phone system. All Band staff, from
Councilors to clerks, can access their email, files and current work from anywhere
they are.
We are very pleased with the investments we have made in our IT infrastructure.
We see benefits from it every day and we have every intention of continuing to evolve
and grow our network in the future.
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As you can see from this short recount of the evolution of the Namgis network,
there are a number of essential points that you should keep in mind when building a
First Nations network:

 Success is founded on planning
 make a commitment to your technical development and stick with it
 provide the best services you can at the time, then upgrade them
when you are able
 ensure that Band management, Chief and Council know what you
are doing and where you want to go
 follow the plan; build the basic layers first
 give people time to adapt to the new technology you provide for
them; they will be asking for more sooner than you think
 listen to the users, they will tell you what they need and when they
need it…
So, with that as a context for the rest of this guide, let‟s….
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BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

In most discussions of computers and technology topics in general, it is usual to
begin with some definitions of what system architecture or operating system or what
<submit the technical parameter or your choice here> the document pertains to. It will
then go on to describe how the <whatever it is> will redefine your „paradigm‟ of the
information society and proceed to bury you under a lot of technical stuff. Well, we
are going to do our best not to do that here. We are going to take a look at why we
would want an ICT network and what we want it to do for us. Then, we will continue
with a discussion of the TYPE of technology you can use to meet the needs and
objectives of the organization (Band Administration, Tribal Council or whatever).
The decision of which computers, what operating system and which programs
will be left up to you. These will vary with your location, what services and support
you may have available either in-house or nearby and the types of programs and
services you need to support. We will, however, make some suggestions and even
some recommendations about some particular products that we have found useful in
the past.
One of the most difficult things to do when you are starting out to build an ICT
network is getting rid of your assumptions. If you have preconceived ideas that Linux
is better than Windows or Apple Mac is the only way to go, you may be setting
yourself up for some very difficult times. Don‟t start with technical assumptions and
DON‟T try to dump the task on a consultant or computer store and expect that they
will solve all of your ICT problems. This will not happen. You can use these folks as
resources and they can be very helpful, but they cannot do the whole job for you.
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What do we do and who do we do it for?

To be relevant, and therefore useful, an ICT network must be designed with the
needs, objectives and procedures of its owners (the users) in mind. It is important to
remember that an ICT network is a SERVICE provider – it exists to provide an
assortment of services to those inconvenient critters: the users. However the users
are there to provide SERVICES to the organization they work for – in our case the
First Nation, Tribal Council or other regional authority that, in turn, provides
SERVICES to the ultimate bosses – the Band Members.
So, our ICT network must be planned and executed to provide those information
services that ultimately aid in the delivery of Programs and Services to the members
of the community.
We can take some things for granted: our network will provide e-mail, file and
printer sharing, user authentication and some other basic network services. We can
take these things for granted because just about everyone needs them: there are very
few networks that do not have some or all of these basic facilities.
Many things we cannot take for granted. Types and configurations of accounting
systems, shared calendars and resource booking (meeting rooms, projectors, etc.),
databases and their client applications, Internet access and restrictions: these will
vary significantly from one network to the next.
So how do we begin to build a network that will meet the basic needs as well as
the specific needs of the community in which we live and work? Planning, planning
and more planning!
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What’s the plan, man?

Planning is absolutely essential in creating and maintaining a solid, reliable
ICT network. We must plan at almost every level of the lifecycle of the network.
Since we have determined that our network must meet the needs of the
community, by meeting the needs of the Band Administration, by meeting the needs
of the front-line workers, the users, we must start with a picture of what those needs
are.
Is this a big job? You bet! But, as it has often been said that to eat an elephant
you must proceed one bite at a time. Let‟s look at how we can break the problem
down into bite-size pieces.
Top-down planning is the most straightforward way of developing a meaningful

plan for something as complex as an ICT network. In top-down planning, we start at
the top: what does the whole community look like? What needs does it have? If it
contains a Health Center, what sort of information management needs will the Doctor
have, the Public Health Nurse, the Health Center Administrator? Does the Band
Administration have an accounting department or is the financial management
outsourced to an accounting firm that issues cheques, pays bills, and provides the
Band Administration with summary reports?
Start with a sketch that contains the major activities for your community – the
ones that your network will have to support. One way to do this is to draw a sketch
showing a box to represent each of the buildings that house the various Band
programs and services. Then, divide these boxes into the various departments or
programs that live in each building.
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Fig 1 – Community ICT Map
This will give you a starting point for making a list of the specific needs of each
group in your Band administration. Now that you have this top view, it‟s time to
make a similar map, one for each department or program of your Band
administration: It will look something like this:
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Fig 2 – ICT Breakdown
It might already be obvious that your Health Center will need some type of
database for keeping track of its Patient Travel. The Doctor‟s Clinic (if you have one)
will need a Practice Management system that is very secure, since Doctors are legally
responsible for keeping their patient records private. However be patient with this
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process. Having a way to visualize all of your Band activities and seeing the number
and relationships to each other will prove invaluable.
Now that you can see what each group in the Band has been tasked with, we
proceed with the lowest level of our planning: the Data Needs Assessment.
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Fig 2 – ICT Needs detail
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This is the most directly useful of the planning steps. You create a sheet for each
program or area of responsibility for each department of the Band Administration.
Your Data Needs Assessment worksheet should do its best to describe in detail all
aspects of that activity from a data (information) point of view. At a very minimum, it
should include:
 the information generated by the activity (when was a house

built, how much did it cost, who built it, what are its dimensions, …)
 the information needed to properly perform the activity (when
will the roof need to be re-done, when was the furnace last serviced,
…)
 what reporting is required, to who (INAC, Band Housing
Committee, homeowner,…) and how often

A sample Data Needs Planning Worksheet is included in the Appendix.
The next level of planning involves the people you serve – the users. Take your
Departmental Plan, along with your Data Needs Assessments, and talk to each of the
operating areas to find out what THEY think they need – write it all down - and most
of all, listen! These people know very well what they need to get done. They probably
will not know how to translate this knowledge into a technical system definition that
they can hand over to you – actually, that is your job. So listen carefully and, when
you have finished discussing the department‟s needs with its staff, use this
information to update your Data Needs Assessments for each activity.
You should now know MOST of what you need to know to define the software
and network facilities that will meet the needs of your Band.
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I’m sorry, but it’s a matter of Policy

Most organizations have some policies that define how things are done. Your
Band may have a personnel policy, an accounting policy, an information request
policy and possibly a lot of other policies besides.
It‟s a funny thing about formal written policies; people write them, adopt them
and then mostly ignore them – except when something goes wrong. Then, everyone
involved in the problem refers back to the policy and starts shouting “Why wasn‟t this
policy followed?”
It is very important that the person building the ICT network is fully aware of the
organization‟s policies. If your information system is going to operate correctly then it
will have to be designed so that every business process complies with the policies and
regulations of the organization and, for that matter, Provincial and Federal Laws.
Does this mean that you, the ICT guy (or gal) has to be familiar with Federal and
Provincial laws? No, it doesn‟t. It is the responsibility of the Band Administration to
ensure that the Band is in compliance at all times. They do that by preparing and
enforcing policies – and these you do need to know about.
So it is very important that you read ALL of the Band policies and regulations
that apply to the handling, storing and retrieval of information.
Let‟s look at an example: in our exercises below we will be considering a First
Nation that has an on-reserve Health Center. This means that the workers in the
Health Center will be coming in contact with people‟s Medical Records. There are a
bunch of both Federal and Provincial regulations about the protection of a person‟s
privacy when it comes to their medical records and the Health Center‟s policies will
no doubt reflect those regulations in their own policies. This will mean that only
certain people can look up a citizen‟s medical records and even then only certain
parts of them. If your computing network is not able to assign individual user access
rights on folders or documents (or records in a database) then you will not be in
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compliance with the Federal and Provincial regulations or with the Health Center‟s
policies.
Likewise, accounting information is frequently confidential and your process for
handling outside requests for information must ensure that the way that these
requests are filled is in compliance with Band policy. You wouldn‟t want a member
who requested his or her own housing financial records receiving a report that
included housing financial data for all of the other Band members, would you?
If you are not sure how to ensure that your ICT system can be configured to
comply with Band policy, then this is where you need to ask for help. Involve the
Band Manager, Accountant, Health Center Director and possibly a competent
consultant to work out an access map for Band information.
We will look at how user access is assigned at various levels from a technical
point of view further on in this guide.
Everything is a process
Building an ICT network is a dynamic process, not a construction job. One of
the most disconcerting things to non-techies is the idea that the network never stops
growing, changing and evolving.
At the beginning of a new network project, the growth is very rapid, change is
very fast. But even after it is „up-and-running‟ it will be changing to meet the
changing demands of the users, the Band and technology itself.
You can start out with a simple peer-to-peer network with 12 or 15 users, each
with their own workstation, and 4 or 5 workgroup printers scattered about. The
process of getting this ready and running is pretty simple:
 purchase computers
 install basic word processing and spreadsheet software on all
computers
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 place your printers

 install the Ethernet cables
 configure the network cards on your computers
 configure the printer sharing
 do some staff training to show everyone how the computers work
and how to select a printer
and Voila! You have a network – right? Well, yes. In fact at this point you do
have a network. So why would anyone go to more trouble than that? Why write a
whole long-winded effort like this if it is that simple? Because, unfortunately, it is not
that simple.
One of the first things that will happen after everyone gets comfortable with your
new network is that someone will ask you, as the all-knowing technical guru, how
they can share a file with a co-worker or someone in another department. Or, how
can they save all of the copies of a particular form in one place so that Department
Heads can all see them, but other staff cannot. And how about arranging it so that
senior staff can see the Accounting Balance Sheet whenever they want to? Then that
they will want email and internet access and access to their files and desktop when
they are away traveling, and…
You see, as soon as people get comfortable with a certain level of ICT service,
they want more. And it is a good thing that they do, because that is how the whole
organization knows that the ICT network is worth the investment.
If you are the network technician, or the champion, or just one of the go-to
people in your department, there is one thing that you can count on: the network
will change!
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O Users where art thou?

As I said before, the users are the reason for the network. It exists to help
them do what they have been hired to do. It is not the software and hardware that
produces a report for Council: it is a user who has entered the data, checked the
accuracy of the input and run the report function that produces a report for Council.
In order to serve the users (and ensure that the ICT network does its job) you
must know where the users are. That means both physically and mentally.
The physical location of a user is important in terms of what you will need to
do to ensure that they have a reliable connection to the network. If they are in
another building, how are you going to reach their desk? There are several choices for
connecting between buildings and the most appropriate option for any given situation
will depend on the accessibility of the user, the total network traffic the particular
user can be expected to generate, the higher the user is on a „mission critical‟ scale
and the cost of the various options.
For example, let‟s take the comparison of connecting the Nursing Station or the
Recreation Center. Since the Nursing Station is concerned with people‟s health and is
often called on to deal with life-threatening situations, whereas the Recreation
Center, while enjoyed by far more people, is primarily concerned with entertainment
and exercise, it would be fair to say that the Nursing Station if far more important
than the Rec Center when it comes to reliable data services. It follows then that we
can justify far more cost to ensure the Nursing station is connected than the Rec
Center.
Designing and planning your network will involve a number of similar decisions
and the more systematic you are about evaluating them beforehand, the easier the
project will be.
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Draw a simple sketch to show the physical locations of your users and give each
location an “importance rank”. This will help guide you when you are laying out your
network and deciding whether to use wired, wireless or dial-up connections.
Fig 5 – Sketch of Inter-building connections
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Making diagrams like this one can be very helpful when you need to go back and
remind yourself why you made a particular choice. Keep them.
The mental location of your users is even more important. If your ICT network
is going to be useful to your users, and thus to your Band, you need to know what
they are going to need to learn to do in order to use it effectively. In any group of
people there will be those who take to new technology like a „duck to water‟ and those
who will have a real struggle with it (more like a „cat in water‟).
As a network planner, you will have to decide where the middle ground is.
Network facilities should not be chosen because they are the „coolest‟ and most state-
of-the-art available. All of these advanced features are based on earlier, simpler
models and require some prior understanding to grasp and use. The cats will have a
very hard time with advanced features and may never adapt to them at all.
On the other hand, you should not lower your network capabilities to the
comfort level of the cats – the ducks will feel that the network is too simplistic and
does not meet their needs.
One of the best tools to help you with this „ducks and cats‟ situation is a User
Skills Survey. This is a quite simple look at the technical skill levels of your users. It
helps to identify who is well ahead of the curve, who will resist anything new in their
world, and who you can count on to accept change gracefully. A User Needs Survey
should be composed to discover:
 what technical skills all users have (and take for granted) - this is
your baseline and may extend only to using e-mail and operating the
software that is specific to their job.
 what new software or technology has be introduced within the last
couple of years and how people adapted to it
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 how your leaders (Band Manager, Head Accountant, etc.) feel about
technology (you need to know this so you can tell how much they are
going to back you up when you want to introduce change and when
you will need money to get something done)
 which departments or programs need the highest levels of technology
to support their work and what they are using now
 what kind of training people believe works best for them (Classroom,
Tutorial, On-line, etc.)
 what kind of workload people carry and how difficult (or not) it will
be for them to take time away from their job to learn new technology
A sample User Needs Survey form has been provided for you in the „Forms and
References‟ section at the back of this book. Look it over carefully. It may be that
some of the survey questions will not apply to your situation or you may need to
compose some of your own questions to get information that is unique to your Band,
but the form supplied should give you a good idea of what to look for.
Once you have a Survey form prepared, here is how you should go about getting
them filled in:
 Conduct your User Needs Survey carefully and in person. Do not try
to email the survey out to people – you will almost certainly get a
poor or no response.
 Always have a notebook on hand to record items that come up
during the survey interview that are outside the survey questions
but need to be remembered. You will be surprised at the gems of
information you can discover this way.
 Keep the survey forms organized by department or working group. If
your group is small (less than 20 people) then this is not so
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important, but it is important that you can interpret the responses

in context to the work area they represent.
 Do your best to organize the survey so that you interview everyone in
a 2 or 3 day period (depending on the size of your organization). If
the survey process gets too strung-out you run the risk of having the
situation change before you are finished. This survey is supposed to
be a snapshot of the organization at a point in time. Don‟t forget that
the very purpose of taking this survey is so that you can begin to
change things in your organization.
When your survey is completed, you will need to spend some time organizing
your results. Refer back to the list of questions that the survey is intended to answer
and sort through your survey responses to extract and group user‟s answers under
each question. Then, read through the answers in each group and condense all of the
common replies into a „group answer‟. Don‟t worry about the really unusual replies at
this point – you can come back to them later - right now you are looking for the
common perceptions that all of your users share.
All of your responses will be in the form of subjective replies to your questions;
people will tell you what they think or how they feel about the topic. It is your job to
translate these replies into the appropriate hardware or software that will meet the
needs that your users have expressed.
If you have the knowledge how to evaluate the user‟s needs and meet them with
specific hardware and software, go for it! This process will be very straightforward for
you.
If you do not have this knowledge (and most of us do not) then this is a great
time to ask for advice. You may choose to hire a consultant. You could ask for some
ideas from another Band ICT person. You could ask for help from the FNTC or a
similar support organization. Your last choice for advice should be your computer
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vendor – the business that sells you computers and software: these folks have a
vested interest in selling you the products that they carry whether or not they meet
your needs. This is not to suggest that all vendors are unreliable sources of support –
far from it. However when you are building a new network, you will need unbiased
advice to pick the approach that will sustain your Band for the long term. Vendors
are usually thinking about their bottom line, not your best interests.
Don‟t worry about cost or feasibility at this point – it‟s a good thing if you wind
up with a picture of an “ideal” network. In fact, it is the whole point of this exercise.
Later you will start fitting this “ideal” network into the real world of dollars and cents.
Physical, Virtual and Conceptual

There is one concept, or group of ideas, that the hot-shot network guys know
about and which the rest of us simple small-system guys often never learn: the
difference between a physical system and a virtual system.
Physical systems are just that: physical. They exist as physical parts and
pieces – a computer, a server, a printer, a router. Many networks have been built
where every functional part is a physical entity. This approach has some advantages:
 physical networks are easier to fix when they break – it is easier to
isolate the problem and therefore easier to fix it
 failures are usually localized to the part that breaks – a fault in the
accounting server will not stop work in Social Services
 they are easier to understand: this box does that job, that box does
this other job
 However pure physical networks also have some disadvantages:
 physical networks have many more pieces in them that may be
strictly necessary
 they require more Ethernet wiring and connections, all of which need
to be documented and maintained
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 they cost more

 they tend to grow in both space and power needs
Virtual systems are built is such a way that a single larger and more powerful
server computer may host several virtual servers, each of which operates
independently and appears to the network and the users as a discreet server.
Similarly, routers, print servers and a variety of other network functions can be
hosted on a single computer located in a workgroup area. The advantages of virtual
systems are:
 fewer physical units to deal with
 much smaller space requirements
 fewer network connections
 lower capital cost
 But, as above, there are disadvantages:
 servers need to be MUCH more powerful (and expensive)
 failures usually affect larger groups of users (or the whole network)
 diagnosing and solving problems may be much more complicated
 good network documentation is ESSENTIAL
 a higher level of technical skill required to manage and maintain
Most networks start out being Physical and slowly migrate toward being more
and more Virtual. This makes sense; as user needs evolve and technical skills
improve there is a natural inclination towards adding functions on existing hardware
rather than buying a new small server every time a new need appears.
Whichever approach you choose for your network, there remains one very
important aspect of building networks: the network Concept. At some point you will
need to develop an overall concept of your network – something like a picture in your
head (or on paper) of where everything is, what it does and what it connects to or
26
relies on. It is almost impossible to manage a computing network until you can
visualize the whole thing. Technicians who are hired to manage an existing network
will invariably spend an uncomfortable few weeks until they build a mental image of
their new baby. Happily, since you are building the whole thing from the ground up,
you will develop this image as you go.
27
Cost – the real first law of computing

Ah, yes – the almighty dollar. Without it you can‟t do much of anything; with it
you can move the world. The actual direct costs of building a computing network are
relatively straightforward to calculate: a server costs $XXX, printers cost $YYY,
internet access costs $ZZZ. If, as we talked about above, you have a clear network
concept, it will not be difficult to list out the parts, get some quotes and add it all up.
You should be very aware when starting out on a network project that there
are many, MANY costs that are not obvious and some that are downright hidden. One
of these is time. Everything that people do takes time and therefore costs money.
When you are planning your network project you are going to have to get the
money from somewhere. This usually means going to Council or the Band Manager
and getting approval for allocation of existing funds or for a grant application. Either
way, whoever you need to ask will want to know how much it is going to cost. If you
tell them that it will cost the sum of your estimates of hardware and software, you
will almost certainly be short of money before the network is done.
You need to factor in a lot of variables:
 How long will it take to get the money in hand so you can begin?
 How long will it take to get the orders placed?
 How long to receive the new equipment?
 How long to install the Server software and get all of the network
services up-and-running?
 How long will it take to install the Ethernet wiring?
 How long will it take to set up and configure the wireless network
links?
 How long will it take to get help if you need it?
 How long will it take to set up your network users with logins, email
and other basics?
28
 How long will it take to set up workgroup printers?

 How much time will you need to train the users (both ducks and
cats)?
If you ask for money for a network project, make sure that you ask for more
than you will need. It is much better to have money left over at the end of the project
than to have to go back and ask for more. But, don‟t get too carried away…
One important thing to plan for is periodic reporting to whoever you work for on
the progress of the project. If you run into difficulties you will need the support of
your supervisor to help get things back on track. This is far easier to get if you have
kept them informed of the state of the project as it goes along.
Alright; you have your network built, the users are happy and you have even
managed to hand back a few thousand dollars of the funding „cause you thought of
everything and brought it in under budget. Hooray!! Were done, right? WRONG!
We now have to make sure that this complicated beast runs as it was intended
to do ALL day, EVERY day. For the next 20 years…
When you planned your network budget, did you plan for operating costs,
maintenance, upgrades, replacement of over-life components? The average service life
of a server computer is about 4 years. You could push that to 5 or even 6, but with
all those years of critical Band data residing on the machine, it is worth it? A planned
server replacement can be done on a weekend, ensuring that users are not disrupted
in their work. A machine failure can have everyone sitting around twiddling their
thumbs until it is fixed or replaced.
Your budget should include all of the capital costs of building the network
together with the operating costs for at least 5 years (i.e. beyond the first service life
replacement)
There are a series of budgeting aids available in the Reference section at the end
of this guide.
29
Ok, but what if it breaks?

One of the most important planning tasks you will need to do, and do well, is to
plan for failures. Believe me, they will happen. And when a failure does occur, what
will you do? Few of us have the luxury of having a replacement unit on hand, already
configured, to fit into place.
You will need to have a plan in place, complete with timelines, to get the system
back up and working in the shortest possible time. Remember, if the network is not
working, then the users are not working, but they are still costing the Band money.
I have found that failures can be classified as one of four types of events:
 Single user disruption – a system failure that effects only one user
and which may be a workstation or local wiring problem (unless the
user is alone in a linked building) and may or may not render their
workstation inoperable.
 Local service disruption – this is a failure that effects a smaller
localized group of users and which may or may not render their
workstations inoperable.
 Multiple service area disruption – this is a failure that effects several
workgroups or all of the users in a particular building and may or
may not render their workstations inoperable
 Total service disruption – the whole network is down. All shared
services (login, email, shared printers or file stores) are unavailable.
One or all of the server-based applications are not available to users.
Workstations may or may not be operable
There is nothing quite as alarming as your first system failure when you are the
“techno-geek” that has just spent a bunch of the Band‟s money on a computing
30
network. Having a failure response plan will save you a lot of time by reminding you
of the steps you need to follow to diagnose the system and get it up and running.
One of the most common mistakes technicians make with their own network
when there is a failure is getting caught up in trying to find out why it failed.
Identifying what has failed and how to get it working is the FIRST priority in any
network failure. Why it failed is important later – after the problem has been fixed
and you want to know how to prevent it from happening again. We will spend more
time on network maintenance, fault diagnosis and other management techniques
later on in this book.
The essential point to be made here is that you must have a plan as to how to
react to a network failure. Have a look at the sample failure response plan in the
References section.
Policies, guidelines and the big stick

Users are individual people and every one of them will have their own ideas
about the computers they use, the software they are tasked with and the network you
have built for them. People will generally use the resources provided to them
appropriately, but sometimes users will abuse them or use them in ways that their
employer deems inappropriate.
What constitutes appropriate, or inappropriate, use of computing resources is a
Band decision. The Band, after all, is the employer. It is up to them if employees are
permitted to use their email for personal messages or not. Most organizations will
impose restrictions on user‟s access to social Internet sites such as FaceBook or
YouTube. Issues like confidentiality, appropriate communications and suitable
behavior are most often covered by some kind of Personnel Policy.
When each user selected a computer workstation for their own needs, it did not
matter very much if one has Windows 2000, another is running Windows XP or Vista
31
and someone else has a MacBook laptop. Personal taste in software, printers and
accessories are likewise less important in a non-networked environment.
When the Band has a network, however, then personal choice has to go out the
window (no pun intended).
Networks rely on standardization for their most effective benefits: document
standards, equipment standards, connection standards, all kinds of standards.
Although most modern computing networks can handle a mix of workstations and
peripherals, the wider the variety or operating systems and hardware on your
network, the larger the opportunity for network conflicts and problems arising from
unpredictable system behavior and the more the technician(s) need to know to
support these various systems.
A number of factors need to be considered in a Band network:
 how is network backup going to be handled? Is there a standard

backup utility that must be resident on all workstations that will
ensure reliable backup? Which workstation OS are supported by the
backup system?
 how are updates (anti-virus, software versions and OS hot-fixes)
going to be distributed to the user‟s workstations?
 How are shared documents going to be handled? If some users are
familiar with MS-Word and others use Quark on the Mac, which
standard will be adopted?
 …. (there will be more of these, depending on your users and what is
in use already)
Needless to say, no one in a mixed computing environment will want to be the

one who has to change, but somebody will have to. The only way to enforce the
32
change is through a Band-approved and fairly enforced policy document that lays
out the rules that everyone will have to follow.
Also, as your network grows, issues like purchasing new workstations need to
be handled within a policy that ensures that users and departments will not buy
whatever they prefer; disregarding what will best suit the network.
A sample computing policy has been included in the Reference section that may
help you develop a workable policy for your organization. Modify this to suit your
needs and make sure your Band Council has adopted it BEFORE you start making
major changes to the way your Band uses technology.
If users see YOU as the source of their change-anxiety, you will be the enemy for
ever after.
33
34
LET’S BUILD A NETWORK

In order to make some sense out of the ideas, concepts and principals we
discussed above, we are going to walk through the creation of a brand-new simple
network. For the sake of simplicity, our network will serve a mythical example, fairly
remote Band, named MEFN (Mythical Example First Nation), located about 60 Km
from the nearest town. The Band is made up of about 350 members on reserve and
about 100 off-reserve members living in several cities.
 Our MEFN has a Chief and Council consisting of 7 people, each of
who has a specific portfolio and who are directly involved in various
aspects of the day-to-day operation of the Band. The Chief and
Councilors share an office that holds 2 computers.
 We also have a Band Office with 7 employees – a Band Manager,
Accountant, two Accounting Clerks, A Lands and Resources
manager, a Treaty coordinator and you – the Computer person.
 MEFN has a small Health Center with 6 employees – the Center
manager, reception and Patient Travel, a Public Health nurse, a
Substance Abuse Counselor and two Home Care workers who share
the same workstation. The Health Center manager has recently
decided to use integrated information system software to better keep
track of patient records and services provided. This software will
require that all Health Center staff have access to a common
application on a server. This is one of the major driving forces behind
setting up a network for MEFN.
 Our Social Services group has 3 people – the Social Services
manager, a Children and Families worker and an SA clerk.
35
 We also provide two workstations in the Recreation Center for the

use of all Band members (the public) after hours.
 That makes for a total of 19 computers.
At present, each of the people listed each have a computer that they use to do
their work. All are Microsoft Windows computers (we don’t want to make our example
too complicated) with some using Windows XP, a few using Windows 2000 and the
workstations in the Rec Center still on Windows 98.
Phone service is generally OK but there is no other option for internet service on
the reserve at this time, so our Band has 3 dial-up accounts with an ISP in the town
60 kilometers away. These are used by people at a scheduled time of the morning to
read and send email and are available in the afternoons for internet research. The
Rec Center machines are only available to the band members after the Band Office
has closed.
We at MEFN have just received notice that we are scheduled for industrial
Internet – a 3.5Megabit high-speed connection – courtesy of the Government of BC‟s
First Nations Connectivity program. The install date for this is 6 months away. We
have met with Chief and Council and the Band manager and it has been agreed that,
provided we can get funding, it is time to bring the computing activities in our Band
into a proper network.
That just about describes our mythical example Band operation. Let‟s go
through the planning process and see what our starting network would look like.
36
Plan, Plan, Plan your Work (to the tune of “Row, Row, Row your Boat”)
First – we draw our ICT Community Map.
Figure 6 ICT Overview – identifies groups
37
Next – our ICT Breakdown of each group identified above. Here we want to
identify individual users.
ICT Breakdown - Administration Group – identifies individual users
38
Continued…
Figure 7 - ICT Breakdown – Health Center – identifies individual users
Figure 8 - ICT Breakdown – Social Services Group – identifies individual users
39
Figure 9 - ICT Breakdown - Community Group – identifies individual users
Next, we want to detail the tasks that each user is required to do that will use
computing resources. At this point we will also save a step and indicate whether the
task will use software that is located on a server and whether or not it will need
internet access. The best tool for this is a spreadsheet.
ICT Breakdown - Level 3
for MEFN Server
Grou Position User Task Hosted Inet

p
ADMINISTRATION
Chief John R. Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
40
Counselor Bev Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes

research
Counselor Jim Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Don Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Jerry Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Jack Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Victoria Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Jenny Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Tim Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Counselor Leland Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes
research
Band James forms, applications corresp, letters and No yes
Manager general
Accountant Mary G/L, reports, audits, policies and Yes yes
procedures
Clerk #1 Irene A/P, A/R, Housing, program acct. Yes no
Clerk #2 Debora membership, permits, licenses, help Clerk Yes no
#1
Lands & Ralph land use apps, research, corresp. No yes
Resources
Computing Me network mgt., tech support, tech Yes yes
Services purchasing
Number of computers: 8
Number of Server Hosted: 4
Number of Internet: 6
41
HEALTH CENTER
Manager Joslyn Applications, corresp., letters, reports, Yes yes
research
Reception/Pt Nicki Corresp., PT Records, schedules, letters Yes yes
nt. Trv.
Public Nancy Program mgt., corresp, letters, reports, Yes yes
Health Nurse research
Subst. Patrick Corresp., records, letters, research Yes yes
Abuse Cnslr.
Homecare 1 Evelyn Reports, schedules, letters Yes no
HomeCare 2 Doris Reports, schedules, letters Yes no
SOCIAL SERVICES
Social Srv. Barbra Program reports, corresp, reports, research No yes
Manager
Child & John D. Activity records, corresp., access to No yes
Fam. Worker SWSMIS (BC)
SA Clerk Rebecca SA procedures, records, reports No no
RECREATION
CENTER
Public anonymous internet access only no yes
Wkstns.
42
TOTALS Number of computers: 19

Table 1 – ICT Breakdown – Level 3
There are two very important results from this listing: the first is a simple, well
organized list of our entire organization and the second is obviously the totals at the
bottom. Armed with these figures we can do a very straightforward capital budget in
pretty quick time. However, we also need to make some decisions at this point – some
about hardware, but mainly about software.
So, let‟s give some thought to SOFTWARE. If we are going to build a network, we
must start with a clear idea of what it will be required to do. That means having a
clear understanding of the software that will support our user‟s needs.
Which server operating system are we going to choose for our network? As we
said at the start of this section, we will stick with a Windows example – aside from
being the most common environment for business networks, there are thousands of
resources our there for help and support. Yes. Linux is free (open source) and yes,
you can do all of the same things with it. However Linux requires a very much deeper
understanding of how it works and how to configure it. If you have this knowledge
then you don‟t need to be reading this book. If not, then let‟s stick with something
that we know will work.
For a smaller network that will likely never grow beyond 50 users you can
choose Windows Small Business Server edition. This has some advantages in that it
is based on Microsoft‟s standard server software and packages a number of useful
components together and includes email, SQL server database and a lot of
configuration wizards to help you set it up. It is quite easy to upgrade to the full
43
Windows Server version if the network grows beyond SBS limits, but that is another
story. For now, we will use this as our example.
We also need to select an appropriate workstation operating system. Some
workstation OS‟ are not suitable for use in a network. Windows 2000 Pro version,
Windows XP Pro and Vista Enterprise are suitable. Windows ME and the various
Home versions of 2000, XP and Vista are not suitable for use in a networked
environment.
As of this writing, I am unable to recommend Windows Vista: it is too large
(requiring more RAM) and too slow (on ordinary workstations) to be a good choice for
a business environment. If your budget will allow you to purchase workstations
suitable to run Vista, then it will work in your network. Just remember that you will
need Vista Enterprise edition to participate on a network.
The best workstation OS to date in the Windows environment is Windows XP.
Windows XP Pro is still available pre-installed on new workstations from some
manufacturers, including Dell and HP/Compaq. Most manufacturers also sell
workstations with no OS installed. Just be very sure that you can get all of the
hardware drivers for the OS you want to use and the workstation model you are
considering. Vista drivers are NOT the same as XP drivers and will not work.
*NB: As of this revision (Jan 2011), Windows 7 is proving to be the best overall
workstation OS that Microsoft has ever released. It does, however, require the
hardware to be new, fast and with lots of resources (RAM & HDD). XP is still a
viable OS to run on smaller, older computers.
Buying your workstations with the OS installed will save you some time and
should be considered. If you cannot get the combination of workstation and OS you
want, installing the OS on 18 or 20 workstations is not that difficult.
44
Our budget will show the purchase of workstations and workstation OS

separately. This is just for clarity since, as we mentioned, buying workstations with
XP Pro pre-installed is preferable.
Backup software is absolutely critical. Without daily, reliable backups you WILL
experience data loss whether due to user mistakes, hardware failure or network
malfunction. So, you NEED to plan a backup strategy that has the following
characteristics:
 reliable (both backup and restore)
 easy – in fact automatic
 frequent – daily at minimum
 system level and file level
The first 4 points are fairly obvious, but the last one requires a little explanation
– system level backups are needed when you have a complete workstation failure.
The most common form of this is when the hard drive fails and everything is lost. You
will need to do what is called a “bare-metal restore”. Install a new hard drive, install
the OS and the backup utility and then perform your full-system restore. This will
restore all of the installed applications and the registry, which will restore all of the
user‟s settings, as well as all of the user‟s files.
File level restore is used when the user has accidentally deleted a file, group of
files or a whole folder. To fix this problem, your backup software needs to be able to
allow you to select only the deleted files from the backup to restore.
There are many backup systems available in the Windows world. There is even a
backup utility provided with the Windows operating system. Most of these systems
have one or another advantages and disadvantages. One of the principal
disadvantages of most of them is that the backup media (disk, tape) needs to be
removed from the office for the data to be protected from a catastrophic event like a
45
fire that destroys the entire system. Any backup system that relies on people to
perform some part of the process will inevitably become compromised. There is only
one backup system that I am aware of that meets all of the above listed requirements;
it is called “Backup for Workgroups” and is published by Lockstep Systems. I have
avoided recommending any specific products elsewhere in this book, but this is one
product that has no equal or competition at this time. Backup for Workgroups is
organized as three components: the Repository Manager, the Client utility and user
licenses. For a small First Nation, the overall best configuration for reliable network
backup works like this:
 A separate backup computer with very large disk drives (> 1 Terabyte – this
is often called Network Attached Storage) and the Repository Manager
software installed.
 The backup computer is located in a remote building (like our
Recreation Center) with a solid, high-speed network connection to it.
This connection can be wireless or wired, just so long as it is very
reliable.
 The client software is installed on every workstation and every
server. Licenses are installed on the backup computer that identifies
each workstation and server as an authorized backup source.
 Lastly, a schedule is set up on each workstation and server that
triggers a backup at a predetermined time.
Now, if the Band Office burns down, all of your data is safe on the Backup
machine in the Rec Center. Buy new computers and you can perform restores that
will have your network back up-and-running in only a few days.
46
Anti-virus software is, likewise, absolutely essential. There are only a few
mainstream anti-virus suites (Norton, McAfee and AVG come to mind). In the past I
have chosen AVG, for the main reason that the client component (on the workstation)
is smaller and faster that the other two. Whichever you choose, make certain that it
is installed everywhere on your network and that updates are occurring regularly.
Next, we will need to choose a standard set of office software that all users will
have, regardless of their job description. This suite will need to handle:
 word processing
 spreadsheets
 email
 personal calendar
These are the basic functions that everyone will use. The straightforward choice
in our Windows environment will be Microsoft Office. As with all Microsoft products,
there are several versions offered. Read the descriptions and compare prices. There is
no sense in buying a suite with functions that no-one will use. Alternately, having to
purchase modules later can be quite a bit more costly than buying them in a bundle.
Another very viable choice for office suite software is, surprisingly, free. Actually,
really, free. It is “OpenOffice” http://www.openoffice.org . This software was
developed several years ago as a project of the open source community and has
evolved into a very sophisticated suite that rivals or exceeds the usefulness of
Microsoft Office. It reads and writes all MS-Office file formats and uses all of the
same keystroke shortcuts that users are accustomed to with MS-Office. In the case of
our example budget for MEFN, you could save nearly $3,000 by downloading one
copy of OpenOffice and installing it on all of your workstations. If your users have
mostly basic skills and they will have to learn new software anyway, then OpenOffice
may be a very good choice.
47
There are only a couple of network considerations that are relevant to the
selection of an office suite: first is that the software will perform all of the tasks that
your users need to do and secondly will it perform at reasonable speeds so as not to
bog down your network.
Last, but certainly not least, we must take specific Application software into
consideration. There are hundreds of variations and permutations to this topic and
we will discuss some of them later. For now, we will adhere to our user needs
assessment for the MEFN so as to give an example of how this effects our network
planning.
Application software is, by its very nature, designed to do a very specific job and
to be relevant to only those users that are responsible for getting that job done. This
means that we can take each case in turn and evaluate its needs on the network.
Let‟s start by referring to the table above titled “ICT Breakdown – Level 3”.
Extracting only those rows that refer to Application software, we come up with:
Dept Application Users
Admin Accounting Software 4
Health Integrated Info. System 6
48
In order to properly prepare for these two specific Application suites, we need to
know:
 How much disk space will the app require (now and future)?
 How much RAM will the app need when it is running?
 How fast a CPU will the app need when running at full load (max
users)?
 How are permissions assigned (app level or OS level)?
Happily, the makers of the software will publish all of the above information and
it is a fairly simple matter to have this on hand when you are selecting your servers.
When you purchase your application software or upgrade the versions you have to
run on your new network, the software vendor will provide installation and
configuration help as part of the purchase. Some, however, will charge extra for this
help, so ask before you buy! DO NOT try to do this installation yourself, without help.
It is just not worth the frustration.
Lastly, many application software vendors will want to have a portal into your
system so that they can provide tech support, upgrades and, in some cases, online
training, from their offices. This is a normal arrangement and you should take full
advantage of it. It will require that they have a secure gateway through your internet
router for them to log on to you network. Usually, the vendor will help you set up this
gateway. Just be sure that you understand what they have done and what the
security implications are.
The only other software considerations you may have are where users want to
use some utility software that they are familiar with on their workstations. This is
where your Computing Policy comes into play. As stated in the example Computing
Policy, one very important policy is that users are NOT granted permission to
download or install software on their workstations. Without this policy, your network
49
will rapidly become chaos, with users downloading all manner of spyware, malware
and virus-ridden utilities which can, and probably will, wreak havoc on your
network. So you should plan to evaluate these special requests from your users on a
case-by-case basis.
Now that we know what software we are going to use, let‟s make some decisions
about hardware:
Are we going to purchase all new workstations so that everyone is starting out
fresh? Answer: YES! Why? Because…
Upgrading to a network will affect everyone equally (training will only have
to be done once). It is easier to get one capital allocation for one large
amount than several of smaller amounts. Managing a new network where
all of the workstations are the same class, OS and configuration is far
easier than one where the workstations are a mix-and-match of older
systems and one of the major benefits of a network is the uniformity it
imposes on the ICT side of the workplace
We have two different groups with server hosted needs. Are we going to purchase
one server or two? Answer: TWO. Why? Because:
The Health people have a very strict legal obligation to keep
Patient records secure. Hosting their records on the same server as
the Accounting and Admin group will make it much more difficult to
maintain the proper security on Health Center files. For the
relatively small cost (under $2,000) of a server, this can be achieved
with certainty. Having a second server benefits the whole network –
it can act as a stand-in server if the main one is off-line. Users will
still be able to log in, get mail and do much of their work.
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Despite the needs of users, modern network operating systems are designed
with the assumption that there will be more than one server and that each will carry
a copy of all of the network logon and user information. Having at least two ensures
that if one fails, the network will continue to operate and most people will continue to
work
Recall what we said earlier: One thing is certain about an ICT Network – it will
grow.
Are we going to purchase Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) for our new
system? YES!!! Unless you live in downtown Vancouver (and sometimes even there)
you can count on the power going out. And, if you live, like our MEFN, in a fairly
remote location, you can be sure that the power will go out a LOT! Computers in
general and network servers in particular, do not like it when the power goes off with
no warning. It upsets them. In fact, most server OS have services built in to them to
manage a UPS and to shutdown gracefully when the power goes out. So, we are going
to put UPS on our servers. Servers of the class that we are considering require a
much larger UPS than workstations do. Unlike the 500 Watt UPS normally found
powering a workstation, a server will require 2,000 Watts or better to stay alive for
one hour. We don‟t want our server to go into shutdown for every little 10 minute
power outage, so we will give them one hour‟s worth of energy. With a server UPS,
when available power drops to less than 25%, the server will start a controlled
shutdown. This ensures that when the power comes back on, the server can be re-
started without difficulty.
Workstations too will need UPS when they are on a network. The usual 500 Watt
units are adequate, as they will keep the workstation going for 15 minutes before
triggering an orderly shutdown. This is enough time for the user to save what they
have been working on and to ensure that any data between the workstation and
server has reached its destination before the electrons stop flowing.
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Are there any other hardware decisions we need to make? Yes – we need to
ensure that users have reliable access to suitable printers. There are two strategies
for this: give each person their own workstation printers and no shared network
printers, or provide a few large, high capacity workgroup printers and map each user
to the printer that is closest to their desk. Most networks wind up with a mixture of
these – some people do not like to print sensitive documents on a group printer and
some don‟t do any work that is sensitive. The last consideration is whether you will or
want to have a larger color printer that everyone can access. It is quite common for
an organization to buy one large format (11 X 17) color laser printer and site it in the
Band Office, with everyone having a second printer driver that maps to it. If you opt
for this arrangement, don‟t forget to add <selecting an alternate printer> to your
training list.
All of this has brought us to a capital budget for our project. It looks something
like this:
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Capital Budget for new MEFN Network
Servers
Basic Server, 2Gb RAM, 500Gb HDD 2 $ 1,850.00 $ 3,700.00
1 CPU, 2 E-Net, 1 Opt Drive
Backup Computer - 1Tb disk 1 $ 1,200.00 $ 1,200.00
UPS - 3000W APC UPS 2 $ 1,450.00 $ 2,900.00
Network Equipment
12-port switch 4 $ 120.00 $ 480.00
Box Cat-5 Ethernet cable 1 $ 175.00 $ 175.00
Box (100) RJ45 cable ends 1 $ 65.00 $ 65.00
Ethernet Patch Panel - 12 Port 4 $ 85.00 $ 340.00
Ethernet cable crimping tool 1 $ 125.00 $ 125.00
Ethernet Cable Tester 1 $ 250.00 $ 250.00
Cat-5 Cable Labeling Tags 100 $ 0.55 $ 55.00
Internet Router 1 $ 350.00 $ 350.00
Wireless Point to Point Radios 4 $ 475.00 $ 1,900.00
Workstations
Basic 2Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 120Gb HDD 18 $ 525.00 $ 9,450.00
Monitor, 19" LCD 18 $ 200.00 $ 3,600.00
UPS - 500W APC UPS 18 $ 135.00 $ 2,430.00
Software
Windows Small Business Server 2 $ 335.00 $ 670.00
Windows SBS CAL - 5 Users 2 $ 235.00 $ 470.00
Windows XP Professional 17 $ 170.00 $ 2,890.00
Backup for Workgroups 19 $ 120.00 $ 2,280.00
53
AVG Anti-virus Network Ed. 1 $ 1,200.00 $ 1,200.00

MS Office 2003 17 $ 165.00 $ 2,805.00
Accounting (Adagio, ??) 1 $ 5,500.00 $ 5,500.00
Adagio User Lic. 3 $ 255.00 $ 765.00
Software - Contingency (10%) $ 1,658.00
TOTAL CAPITAL COST: $ 45,258.00

Prices typical of Dec 2008
Table 2 – Capital Budget
To get a complete project budget, we need to add some costs to the above:
Other Costs - MEFN Network

Project Management
Purchasing - research, quotes 2 mo. 2500/mo. $ 5,000.00
Network wiring - wired and wireless 2 wks. 2500/mo. $ 1,250.00
Receiving, installation, configuration 2 wks. 2500/mo. $ 1,250.00
Consultant (contingency) $ 500.00

Training
Training – 18 users 2 wks. 2500/mo. $ 1,250.00
(courses & prof. training) $ 8,500.00
Overall project contingency (10%) $ 5,678.80
TOTAL NON-CAPITAL COSTS $23,428.80

Table 3 – Additional Project Costs
54
Whew! That was quite a journey, wasn‟t it? Anyway, now we have arrived. The
total budget needed for our network project is $69,308.80. This might seem like a lot,
but if the cost is spread over our 25 users (don‟t forget our Chief and Councilors), the
cost is only $2,772.35 per user. When you consider that only a few years ago a single
workstation could easily cost this much, with no internet and far less capability than
we are proposing to provide our users with, this is not such a frightening amount.
55
One, two, three - one two, three: teaching machines to dance
Before we open a box or run a cable, there is some basic network planning that
we will need to do – mainly, how we are going to handle the IP assignments in our
network.
Many of you will know this stuff from your CompTIA Network+ or other training.
Some of you will not and for you, we have added this section on IPs and IP Allocation.
-------------
IPs are the individual addresses of each and every piece of equipment on your
network. Each unit that can send or receive packets of Ethernet data traffic needs to
have a valid IP within that network, otherwise, no one else can send data to it. Each
and every computer on the global internet has a unique IP.
An IP is made up of four groups of numbers, each between 0 and 255. Each
group is called an “Octet” and a typical IP might look like this: 192.168.3.145.
There are a two different ways that IPs can be assigned:
They can be defined by the network manager (you) and manually entered into
the machine‟s Ethernet Port parameters. This is called Static IP assignment.
The IP can be requested and automatically assigned by your network operating
system software. This is done by a software module on the network called a Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server which is part of the Windows SBS
operating system. This is called a Dynamic IP.
It makes sense to use DHCP to assign IPs for workstations that will come on and
off the network at various times. Also, as long as a workstation has a valid IP on the
network, traffic meant for it will reach it. If it gets a different IP from the one it had
yesterday, that presents no problem for the workstation.
However some of your equipment, like your servers, radios and shared printers
you will want to assign static IPs for. This is so that you can find them whenever you
56
need them and so that network services will find these resources without having to
look them up.
A server module that exists in all Ethernet networks is the Domain Name
System (DNS) server. This acts as a directory for IPs that have been assigned
throughout the network. If a workstation wants to use a network resource, say a
shared printer, and only knows that the printer is called “Band Office Shared
Printer”, it is the DNS server that will look up this name in its list and return the IP of
the Band Office Shared Printer so that your workstation can send a print job to it.
The DNS server must have an up-to-date list of ALL IPs on the network, whether
Dynamic (assigned by DHCP) or static (assigned by you).
There are two groups of IPs that have been reserved for use inside local area
networks (LANs – like the one we are building here). These are 110.8.xxx.xxx and
192.168.xxx.xxx. Since these IPs are not found on the internet, they can be used
inside a LAN with no fear of conflict with any IP range outside of your LAN.
For our example, we are going to use 192.168.1.xxx as our LAN IP range. This
means that we can have as many as 256 devices on our network before we need to
add a new range, like maybe 192.168.2.xxx.
For convenience, we will carve up this address range into a group of IPs for
Servers, another for Radios, a third for Printers, and so on.
Here is a small table that shows what I mean:
192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.10 Routers and Switches

192.168.1.20 – 192.168.1.35 Server Computers
192.168.1.40 – 192.168.1.100 Workstations (DHCP Assigned)
192.168.1.200 – 192.168.1.230 Radios
192.168.1.240 – 192.168.1.255 Shared Printers
Table 4 – IP Allocation
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This table shows that we can have up to 10 routers or switches, 15 server

computers, 60 workstations, 30 radios and 15 shared printers on our network. Also,
notice that we have left blocks (11 – 19, 36 – 40, etc.) unallocated throughout our IP
range. This is for unexpected growth.
You may think now that you will never have 60 workstations or 15 servers on
your LAN. At the Namgis, we started out 10 years ago with an IP range very similar to
this. Now, we have 120 workstations, 22 radios and more than 20 shared printers.
We have had to expand our range to two adjacent class-C ranges and we will need to
go to routed segments very soon.
It always pays to plan ahead.
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He’s makin’ a list, He’s checkin’ it twice…
Ok, we have prepared our budget: it has received the approval of the Band
Manager and we have presented it to Chief and Council. They thought it was brilliant
and we found funding from somewhere. Selections were made, POs were issued.
Now, we are standing in the Band office surrounded by a huge pile of boxes.
What do we do first? Rip open boxes and start setting up gear, right? Wrong!
What we do first (or maybe we were smart enough to do this while we were
waiting for the equipment to arrive) is make checklists. Yep! Checklists.
There will be 4 distinct phases in creating our new network: Network
infrastructure (cables, wireless, etc.), Servers, Workstations and lastly, Applications
installation. Each phase is complex and involves a number of steps on several
different pieces of equipment. Because of this, it is VERY easy to miss a step of forget
to do something. So, we make checklists – one for each phase. Our checklists must
be detailed – every step must be performed; many must be performed before others
can be done.
We have our project plan to refer to, but the checklists we need to create will
require information on the specific hardware and software that we have chosen.
These examples will assume that we have purchased the exact items listed in our
capital budget. However if you picked different gear, the process will be the same –
just substitute the details from your Servers, Operating System, Wireless Radios or
whatever.
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Checklist #1 – Network Infrastructure
If we refer back to our network wiring plan in Figure 5, we can see that we will
have to install 8 Ethernet jacks in the Band office, 6 in the Health Center, 3 in the
Social Services office and 3 in the Rec Center. Each of these Ethernet jacks will be
cabled back to an Ethernet Switch located in the building and each of these will be
cabled to the Wireless Radio that serves the building. With a total of more than 30
individual connections, it is a very good idea to number each connection so that you
can keep track of them. There are lots of different numbering schemes, but we want
something to keep things simple and allow for growth. We will assign a number to
each building, and a connection number to each connection within the building. So,
the connection from the Server room (space, rack, ???) in the Band office to the Band
Manager‟s desk might be identified as “1-06”, meaning that it is connection number 6
in building number 1.
The following series of detailed diagrams shows the connections for each
building. Note that if the time comes that we need to add new connections in any
building, or even a whole new building, the numbering scheme holds true.
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Figure 10 – Ethernet plan – Band Office
61
In list form, we have the following connections:

 Technician‟s Office
 Council Office WS1
 Council Office WS 2
 Wireless Radio #1 – Roof
 Band Manager‟s Office
 Reception
 Accounting Clerk #1
 Accounting Clerk #2
 Accountant‟s Office
 Lands and Resources Worker
 Shared Workgroup Printer #1
 Internet Gateway
 Server #1
 Server #2
Armed with this list, we have our Ethernet Infrastructure Checklist almost laid
out for us. We just need to add some details for each connection to make absolutely
sure that we cover all of the bases. Our finished Ethernet Infrastructure Checklist for
the Band Office building would look like this:
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Ethernet Infrastructure Checklist

BAND OFFICE BUILDING - #1
Connection Process
Number Location Description Done By
1-PP Server Area Install Ethernet Patch Panel
Label Patch Panel – all ports
1-01 Technician's Office cat-5 cable install
cable test
cable label - both ends
1-02 Council Office #1 cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-03 Council Office #2 cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-04 Wireless #1 cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-05 Band Manager's Office cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-06 Reception cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-07 Accounting Clerk #1 cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-08 Accounting Clerk #2 cat-5 cable install
cable test
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1-09 Accountant's Office cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-10 Lands & Resources Office cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-11 Shared Printer #1 cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-12 Internet Gateway cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-13 Server #1 cat-5 cable install
cable test
1-14 Server #1 cat-5 cable install
cable test
Table 5 – Ethernet Infrastructure Checklist
The “By” column is there in case you have help doing some of this. This is a
space where each technician should initial to verify that they performed a particular
task. When you have two or more people working on something as complex as this,
being able to ask the person who ran a particular cable is invaluable.
We won‟t waste pages by duplicating this for each of our other buildings, but do
not give in to the temptation to short-cut this procedure. Make these checklists for
each connection in each building. When the whole job is done and you are trying to
find a small bug, you will be very glad you did.
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Ethernet wiring – some points: you can find these and many more all over the
internet and in most books on Ethernet networks however these are the important
ones.
NEVER run Cat-5 cable any closer to AC wires than you absolutely have to. An
absolute minimum distance between Cat-5 Ethernet cable and AC wires is 8 inches
(about 20cm). If the AC line is high current (for a heater or hot water tank), keep at
least 30cm (12“) away. If you must across a section of AC wire, cross the AC wire at
right angles. If there is not an alternative to placing your cat-5 beside an AC wire,
slide a piece of sheet steel in between them. Galvanized roof flashing will work for
this.
If you run a cable, terminate both ends and the cable will not test properly, cut
the cable close to the connector and try a new RJ-45 connector. Very often a bad
cable is actually a poor contact between the wire and the pins of the RJ-45 end. If it
still doesn‟t test OK, go and replace the RJ-45 on the other end of the cable (this is
where labeling is a godsend).
If you are running cables under the floor, have help. Pull your Cat-5 cables
carefully and be sure that there are no kinks in it. Most Cat-5 is solid-core wire and
pulling on a twisted kink will often break the cable inside.
If all tests fail and you have replaced the ends, traced the cable and can find no
kinks then pull it out and put it aside (you can make lots of short jumpers from it
and believe me, you will need them). Pull a new piece of cable into place and
terminate it normally. Sometimes (not often) you will encounter a bad section of cable
and there is no point in fighting with it.
When we have completed The Ethernet wiring, we will have a neat-looking patch
panel in our server area, with correctly labeled cables from each work location
running up to it. At the other end, we will have either cables coming up out of the
floor with a tag identifying it wrapped around, a few inches from the end. Or, even
better, we will have a tidy-looking wall plate, duly labeled, into which we can plug a
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short jumper Cat-5 cable to the Workstation. (The advantages of a wall plate is that
when someone, a few years from now, wants new flooring for their office, us techies
will not have to remove the cable and re-terminate it.)
This very tidy and properly labeled Ethernet cabling will also exist in each of our
three other buildings, won‟t it? (big smile)
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Checklist #2 - Wireless
Next, we need to install and commission the Wireless links. Depending on the
brand and model of wireless radios you have purchased, you may have a radio box
with a cable between it and the antenna or you may have one box that contains the
radio and antenna.
A one-box wireless LAN radio An external antenna for long distance
All wireless Ethernet links are „line-of-sight‟ radios. That means that you will
have to be able to see the antenna of one radio from the location of the other radio‟s
antenna in order for them to work.
For the central radio, the Access Point (AP) radio located on the building that
houses the servers, you will need to pick a point on the roofline that can be seen from
all of the other buildings. If you cannot see the rooftops of all the other buildings,
consider using a mast or small tower to get the antenna up high enough to be seen
67
from all of the other buildings. And, of course, you do not want to have to try to
establish a link between two buildings that have a BC Hydro transmission line
running between them.
Siting radios can be a somewhat complex topic in itself, so if the location of your
buildings presents you with line-of-sight problems, get help from the vendor that you
bought your radios from. For this example, we will assume that all of our buildings
can see each other.
Wireless Radio Checklist

MEFN Network
Connection Process
1-WR Band Office Building Bench configure to AP
Assign network IP
Name SSID & node
Install on roof - verify operation
Bench Configure to
2-WR Health Center Infrastructure mode
Assign Network IP
Name SSID & node
Bench Configure to
3-WR Social Services Infrastructure mode
Assign Network IP
Name SSID & node
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Bench Configure to
4-WR Rec Center Infrastructure mode
Assign Network IP
Name SSID & node
All Verify link to AP

Band Office Building Set security and key for network
Health Center Set security and key for network
Social Services Set security and key for network
Rec Center Set security and key for network
All Verify link to AP
Table 6 – Wireless Checklist
For the action item “Assign Network IP”, refer back to our IP table on Page 30.
There we said that we would allocate IPs from 3.200 to 3.230 for radios. For this type
of hard-assigned, un-routed network it is not critical which radios get which IPs, so
long as they each have a unique IP. The usual way would be to assign the first IP in
the range to the main access point, then hand them out as you go along.
POINT: Remember to make a list to identify which radio is assigned which IP
address. This will save you a lot of time figuring out what has gone wrong, when
something goes wrong (and it will – you can count on it).
Now, if all of the items on the above checklist have been completed, you should
be able to link to the control interface on each radio and look at its configuration and
operating conditions. If so, our network infrastructure is done and we are ready for
the next phase
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Checklist #3 – Internet Gateway

We are going to assume that this has all come about because you finally have an
internet service in your community. An essential step and one that will make a lot of
the following work much easier is to activate this internet service for your network. It
is actually easier to do this before you set up your server. All you need is the
Ethernet cable that plugs into your internet service (cable modem, ADSL modem,
wireless backhaul, etc.), a laptop (or desktop) and your primary gateway router. You
may recall that we budgeted $350.00 for this in our planning. Just about any router
will do from a functional standpoint – event the $60.00 routers you would buy for
your home. We budgeted for an industrial-strength router here because everyone on
our network is going to share it and we will need the better security offered by these
professional units.
Plug the internet cable into the WAN port of your router and power it up. Plug
an Ethernet cable between your laptop (or desktop) and the router and proceed to
install the router management software that came with your router. This software will
help us configure are router and about the only thing we need to know is which IP we
are going to assign to the LAN side of this gateway. In our case, we will assign the
router the IP of 192.168.1.1.
Once the configuration is complete, we should be able to access the internet
from the laptop or desktop we were using to configure the router.
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Gateway Checklist
MEFN Network
Step Process
Number Description Done By
Connect Router WAN
1 port to Internet service Just plug it in!
Ensure that all of the lights are
working as intended and that
you can access the router from
2 Power up the router your laptop
3 Configure LAN side Enter LAN Side IP and restart
Browse the internet from your
4 Check internet access laptop
Table 7 – Server Checklist
Checklist #4 - Servers
We are not going to go in detail into the configuration of servers here – it is a
very complex topic with quite a number of choices involved – each of which has
implications later on. Most of you will purchase a server from a hardware vendor with
the Operating System installed. Some of you will have a dealer or consultant help you
set up your network server. And some of you will have done the job yourselves
thanks to hard work and a lot of studying.
Whatever way you get there, we will leap (un)gracefully over the issue of how
your server got configured. There are, however, three topics that you MUST decide on
and that form the foundation of your entire network:
1) your domain name
2) your DNS strategy
3) you IP assignment strategy
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Yes, you must choose a domain name. There are many factors involved in a
domain name; whether you intend to extend your network over only one or many
geographic areas (i.e. you have multiple reserves, each with its own offices and
services); whether you intend to affiliate with other Bands (i.e. a Tribal Council) and
whether you intend to have an external-facing (i.e. internet) website that will be
integrated with your network or isolated from it. Unless you already know the
answers to these questions, fall back on the „KISS‟ principle.
In keeping with the theme of this effort so far, we will select a very simple
domain scheme – a single domain for a single location with no external-facing
component beside a simple website for members and the public.
In this case, we can choose a very simple domain name. It doesn‟t need a dot-
com or a dot-org; a simple dot-local will do just fine. So, we will call our domain
mefn.local. In our network, this will form the basis for everything that we add to the
network, users, computers, servers, routers: everything.
A DNS strategy is essential to the operation of almost every aspect of your
network. The acronym DNS stands for Domain Name System and refers to the
component on your server that translates the human-readable names we come up
with for our workstations, servers, printers, etc. into the IP that the network uses to
talk to the device. DNS is quite simple in concept, but is so essential to the operation
of a network that is must be handled by a server.
The principal choices are
a) whether or not to use automatic DNS
b) whether to use internet-compatible DNS and
c) whether we need to have more than one DNS server in our network.
Automatic DNS simply means that the records in our DNS database are placed
there automatically by the network itself. In earlier years, network admins would be
required to add a DNS record to the database every time a new machine or network
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printer or router was added to the network. Not a big problem with 20 or 30 devices
on the network, but a real challenge when there are hundreds. Nowadays, using
automatic DNS is customary, as it removes one more task from the network
administrator‟s list of things to do.
The decision whether to use internet-compatible DNS is primarily one of security
– a non-compatible DNS scheme would prevent anyone from the internet entering our
network, but would also prevent any of our workstations from accessing the internet
– not something we are likely to want. Since everyone nowadays expects internet
access to be available, so we will not even consider non-compatible DNS schemes.
Why would we want more than one DNS server in our network? Because if the
machine serving DNS fails, the network stops! Not now… right now! Depending on
the consequences of a DNS failure, the way to prevent this is to have more than one
server machine in the network serving DNS. If one fails, the other continues and the
users don‟t know that anything is wrong. However, in our small network, if the server
fails, a lot of things will stop working, so the vulnerability of a single DNS server is
not such a big deal. We will opt for one DNS server in our MEFN network, and keep
in mind that when we expand later, on of the first things we will add is a second DNS
server.
DNS needs an IP range to operate in, and there are a couple of reserved ranges
that no machine on the internet will ever use. One of these ranges and by far the
most commonly used, is 192.168.xxx.xxx. This entire class-B IP range is available for
use in any LAN that is not directly exposed to the internet. We only need a class-C
range for our small network. This will provide 256 possible IPs and keep them all
within a single class-C group. For convenience we will use 192.168.1.xxx. We could
just as easily have chosen 192.168.6.xxx or 192.168.153.xxx, or…
When we ran the setup for our first (or only) server, we supplied the following
information when asked:
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- What type of DNS strategy do you want to use? AUTOMATIC

- What DNS range do you want to use? 192.168.1.0
- What is your Domain Name? MEFN.LOCAL
So now we have a domain, with a server that has the following features and
options:
 Windows Small Business Server or Windows Server 2003 has been
installed on our shiny new server.
 Active Directory is enabled and the domain has been created
 DNS (the Domain Name Service) is active and set to automatically
update Active Directory.
 DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) is installed to hand out IPs to
workstations and a range has been defined (matching the range we
allowed in our IP table on Page 30)
 an Internet Proxy has been configured so that all of our users can
get access to the internet through one security gateway
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Server Checklist
MEFN Network
Step Process
Install OS (Small
Business server or Should have been done by
1 Server 2003) Vendor
Run Domain Run Setup wizard in SBS or
2 Configuration DCPROMO on Server 2003
Enter base DNS range and
3 Configure DNS authorize
Set range of dynamic IPs and
4 Activate DHCP authorize
Table 8 – Server Checklist
You are quite right – we do not have any users yet. Don‟t worry, we will add
some users a little further on. Also, an item of essential interest to your users is
email. You will probably notice that we have not mentioned this yet. That‟s because
we are going to side-step that too – well, just for now. There is a whole section on
mail down below, so don‟t despair.
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Checklist #5 - Workstations
In order for our workstations to participate on the network, they have to become
members of the domain. This is one of the most significant differences between
stand-alone computers and networked workstations – this matter of domain
membership.
POINT: a computer that has Windows Home Edition as its operating system
CANNOT be a domain member. You must have the Professional Edition of any of
Microsoft’s workstation OS in order for the machine to join a domain.
The point above is why we included the cost of Windows XP Professional for each
workstation in our network.
To enroll a workstation onto our new network, you must first right-click on the
„My Computer‟ icon on the desktop then select properties from the drop-down list.
Next you will see a tabbed dialog.
One of the tabs is named “Computer Name”. Selecting this tab exposed a dialog
that contains a place to enter a description of the workstation. It is always a good
idea to enter a description, since the description will appear when you are browsing
the network. Use a short description of the job the computer is there to support.
Resist the urge to enter the user‟s name as the description – the user may leave but
the job (and the workstation) will remain.
Below the description box are two buttons, one labeled „Network ID‟ and the
other is labeled „Change‟. You can use either of these to enroll a new workstation. If
you like to use Microsoft Wizards to get things done, click on „Network ID‟. If you
prefer the direct, enter-it-in-a-dialog–and-click-OK approach, then select „Change‟.
Either one will ask you which domain you want to join and what credentials you
want to use to do the job. Enter „mefn.local‟ in the domain box, „administrator‟ in the
username box and the administrator‟s password in the password box. Then click OK.
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Provided that you have a network connection between your workstation and
your server, the procedure will come back after a minute or two and say “Welcome to
the MEFN.LOCAL domain”
Workstation Checklist
MEFN Network
Step Process
1 Install XP Full install
Verify drivers and network
Plug in Ethernet cable
Confirm network
2 operation Manually set temporary IP
Set gateway to Internet router
Test access to internet
3 Join domain Open „My Computer‟ properties
Select „Change‟
Enter machine name, description
Enter domain name,
administrator‟s username and
password
Click OK to join
Table 9 – Workstation Checklist
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Checklist #6 – Printers and shared resources
Installing printers and other network resources is generally a very

straightforward process and can be handled with a minimum of planning. Start with
a list of users who are going to share the device. Decide if there is anyone on the
network that you explicitly do not want to have access to it.
Let‟s use the example of a large-format color laser printer that will be shared by
everyone on the network. For simplicity‟s sake we will use the example of a network-
ready HP laser printer (one that has an Ethernet port built in). Let‟s say that we have
chosen the IP address of 192.168.1.242 (remember our IP allocation table in Figure
4).
We will likely have to enter the IP address of this printer into the printer itself.
This us usually done from the keypad of the printer and the printer‟s instruction
booklet will tell us how.
Once the printer knows what its IP address is, we will need to install the driver
software on a network computer that will „host‟ the printer and manage its print
queue. The most likely candidate for this will be our server computer. However it
could be any computer on the network, as long as the computer can be expected to
be powered up all the time. We will stick with the example of using out Server as the
host for this shared printer.
Next, we go to the server‟s console and place the install CD in the server‟s optical
drive. As usual, the install process will start and about the only questions we will be
asked is the IP of the printer, whether we want it to be shared and what name it
should have. Since connecting to shared printers is something the users themselves
can do, give the printer a simple, explanatory name like “Shared Color Laser” or
“Color Laser – Admin”.
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About 15 minutes or so after the completion of the printer‟s install process, we

can check to see our new shared network device by simply going to a workstation and
selecting “Add Printer” from the Printers control. We select “Add a Network Printer”
and then “Browse the Directory” to see a list of available network printers. If we have
done things in the right order, “Color Laser – Admin” will appear in the Directory.
Shared Resources
Checklist
MEFN Network
Step Process
1 Printer (or other device) IP assignment
Print configuration
Plug in Ethernet cable
2 Install Drivers on host Run Install software
Ensure device is shared
Test access to device
3 Test share from Open Printers control
Select „Add Printer‟ -> „Network
Workstation Printer‟
Select „Browse Directory‟
If shared printer is listed, click
to select, then complete printer
add.
Table 10 – Shared Network Resource
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HALT! WHO GOES THERE? AUTHENTICATION

Now, in order that our users can log on to the network, we have to create their
accounts. This is quite straightforward. On our server, we can access a configuration
tool called a „snap-in‟ from a program called the MMC. This is Microsoft-eze for
„Master Management Console‟ and it is a shy little devil. It doesn‟t show up in your
list of programs anywhere – it is buried in the operating system, I guess so that only
superhero technicians like us will know how to find it.
To activate the MMC, select <Start>-<Run>. Type „mmc‟ into the run box and
press enter – you will see the Master Management Console appear…empty! Yep,
empty. The MMC is designed to allow you to display only the management interfaces
that you need. This means that you must install the appropriate „snap-in‟ into the
MMC. To get assistance with installing snap-ins into the MMC, there is a help file
that shows you how to do it.
The snap-in we are interested in here is the „Active Directory Users and
Computers‟ manager. This is where we create user accounts and manage their
permissions.
Active Directory uses the concept of Organizational Units (OUs) to help keep
users and computers in logical groups. These can set up to mirror the departments
in your organization. The idea here is that members of a particular OU are likely to
need access to the same files and resources.
OUs are organized in a simple hierarchy, much like the Band itself.
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Fig 11 – Typical AD hierarchy
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Windows creates a number of OUs when it is installed and places certain types
of AD objects in specific places. When a server computer is installed and promoted to
a Domain Controller, its object record in AD is moved into the Domain Controller
OU. However when you create a new AD object record, say a user, you can place it
wherever you want. This simplifies building your lists of users in particular
departments and allows you to assign rights to the group to which a user belongs.
The user inherits access rights and restriction from the group. If a user changes jobs,
you can move them from one OU to another and all of the old rights fall away while
the new rights appropriate to their new position are inherited.
The possibilities available in AD are vast and a comprehensive coverage would in
itself occupy a book far larger that this. You are encouraged to read some of the
extensive material published on the web from Microsoft and others on this topic.
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HI! I’LL BE YOUR SERVER TONIGHT…

When people work on a computer, they inevitably create files – word processing
documents, spreadsheets, what have you. In addition, as users live with their
machines they will create their own changes such as shortcuts, color schemes and
other personal settings. These can often be valuable to users and improve their level
of comfort with their workplace. With a stand-alone computer, these files and settings
are stored on the computer‟s hard drive and form the „data‟ that is the most valuable
part of the machine. Most users will naturally think of the data as „theirs‟.
Networks take a completely different view of data – since networks are almost
exclusively used by companies and organizations and the users are employees or
staff, data is viewed as a network resource that belongs to the organization. From a
standpoint of policy, network data belongs to the organization since the organization
has paid the user to produce it. From the network point-of-view, the data must be
available to integrate with other user‟s data and to subsequent people who may hold
the position after the user who produced the data has moved on.
This distinction brings up the question: “Where should user‟s data be stored?”
There are several possible answers to this, depending on what your organization‟s
policies and administrative objectives are.
Folders, storage and redirection

Users usually do not have a clear idea of where their files are stored. The most
often will click on File->Save As and then select one of a number of folders they
have created themselves to save the file. They are not aware that the actual location
is in the Documents and Settings -> <username> -> My Documents -> <user
created folder> on the computer workstations „C‟ drive, and would become
confused if you tried to show them that this is so.
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Windows networking offers the network administrator the opportunity to

„redirect‟ their default folders to another location on the network. There are a couple
of reasons that you might want to do this:
 storing user files on a network server simplifies backup by restricting
it to the server only.
 Workstations can be provided with much smaller hard drives as they
need only enough space to hold the operating system and programs.
 It is possible to assign more complex access rules to network drives,
preventing users from deleting files, for example.
 If users regularly move from workstation to workstation, their
profiles and data can seem to follow them around, as folder
redirection is applied to the user, not the machine.
Here is an excerpt from Microsoft referring to this feature
“Folder redirection is a feature of IntelliMirror that allows users and administrators to redirect the
path of a folder to a new location. The new location can be a folder on the local computer or a directory
on a network share. Users have the ability to work with documents on a server as if the documents were
based on the local drive. For example, you can redirect the My Documents folder, which is usually
stored on the computer's local hard disk, to a network location. The documents in the folder are
available to the user from any computer on the network. The My Documents folder is the location on the
Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Windows 2000 desktop where the user can save documents and
graphic files.”
If you decide to use folder redirection for any of the reasons outlined above, then
you should plan for this by ensuring that your server has sufficient hard drive space
to hold all of your user‟s files and settings. „Sufficient space‟ will vary with the type of
work the user does: a secretarial staff who mostly creates word processing
documents will only need a couple of Gigabytes of storage for years of use whereas a
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Lands and Resource coordinator who is frequently working with photographs, video
files and large libraries of documents may need several hundred Gigabytes.
Backing Up Network Data

An in-depth examination of the various methods of performing reliable Network
Backup is covered below in the section titles “Getting our Back Up”. Read this
carefully before deciding whether to use Folder Redirection.
Programs – where the heck are they?

The last major decision about what your server is going to be tasked with is
Application software – programs – and what their respective licensing requirements
are. Some software (such as a multi-user Accounting system) is designed to be run
on a server and to store its data on the server‟s disk. Other software can be run on a
server and shared by many people, even though the data they produce is kept in
separate folders – one for each user. Then there is Single-User software that must be
installed individually on each user‟s workstation (meaning one licensed copy per
user) with the data produced being saved where the user directs.
If you are going to deal with multi-user programs (Adagio, AccPac, MS-Project,
etc.) then you have no choice but to install them exactly how the manufacturer
requires. Most of these have the „Server‟ component and the data on the server
computer and some sort of Client software on the user‟s workstation. The up-side of
these systems is that they take surprisingly little space on the server. A full-size
accounting system that holds all of the current data plus 7 or 8 years of back data
will easily fit into 4 Gigabytes of space.
Single user software can only be installed on the workstation (MS-Office, incl.
Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) and you must purchase one copy of the software for each
workstation in your network (or buy a site license). Since these programs have no
impact on the configuration of our network, we will skip over them.
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It’s Miller time… yeah, right!

So, people – we have created an ICT network. We have installed the Ethernet
infrastructure, prepared and activated a server, connected our workstations and
created our user accounts. We have decided on network redirection and installed and
configured our network and workstation applications. We‟re done, right?
WRONG!
Now, we have to get to work. Remember what we said in the beginning of this
journey – “to be worthwhile, a network must be relevant and useful to the users”.
So, if they can‟t use it, we‟re not done.
BACK TO WORK!
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OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Once the network is built, it is time to „deploy‟ it to our users. This is just a jazzy
term for showing our users how to use the new ICT system, then setting them loose
on it.
At this stage, as with all of the preceding ones, we must do some planning if we
want things to go smoothly. In fact, a deployment plan should have been made some
time before, when we were making up our budget. I hope that you are reading this
whole book through in advance of beginning any part of the real work of building
your network. To keep things in some sort of order we will explain the planning
process for our network deployment here.
When planning for ICT deployment, whether it is some new feature on the
network or, like this example, a whole new ICT network, there are some things we
need to know:
1) Where are our users starting from? (what IT skills do they
already have?).
2) Who will be expected to make the largest adjustment in their
daily activities?
3) What does everyone need to learn to use the system effectively?
4) What will they have the most difficulty with? (the steepest
learning curve)
5) Which processes are critical to the employer that users follow
exactly and which have some room for individual variations?
The first of these is essential – the user‟s starting skills. It is very important to
have an evaluation of your user‟s abilities and limitations in order to plan training
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and user support. There are two ways to obtain this information and you may choose
to use either or both.
The first method is to interview each user and ask questions intended to
provide you with an insight into how well they know the environment of their
computer desktop. You might ask each user to show you how they create and save a
file in their word processor, how they find a file they have not opened for some time
and how they manage their email. If you are going to interview the users, you must
remember to:
 Arrange for uninterrupted time for each interview. It is impossible to

get a clear understanding of someone‟s strengths and weaknesses if
the user is answering the phone every few minutes.
 Be courteous and respectful. If you annoy anybody, they will not be
very cooperative when it is time for them to learn new systems
 Handle the interview as an information-gathering exercise only. You
don‟t what to make your users feel stupid.
 Keep good, well organized notes. The only way that you are going to
integrate the interview findings is if the information is uniform and
meaningful.
 Allow sufficient time to go through each topic fully. If asked, people
will frequently say “Sure, I know how to do that.” When in fact they
are doing it incorrectly or have only the vaguest notion of what is
going on.
 Identify true „power users‟ - people who have higher than average
skill levels and comfort with technology – these people can be
invaluable during the deployment phase in helping others in their
work area, thus relieving some of the burden from tech support.
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Interviews can be very time consuming and difficult to arrange. Everyone is

busy, and the more senior the person is, the busier they are. However interviews are
very valuable: the can be an opportunity to learn about not only people‟s skill levels
but their hopes and expectations as well.
The other type of information-gathering tool you can use to establish skill levels
is the Survey. Surveys are actually quite easy to put together and many, many
examples of these can be found on the internet (just search for „User Skills Survey‟).
Surveys have the advantage that you can send them out to everyone and leave them
to fill them in while you are busy doing something else. However don‟t forget:
 Survey questions must be very easy for the respondents to

understand.
 Some people will be more honest in a survey than in person, while
others will be less honest. Either way, you will have to trust their
answers.
 You will have to chase some people for their survey response. Not
everyone will consider it important and some may ignore it. (It is best
to get a directive from the Band manager or other senior person for
the survey).
The end result of your interview and / or survey should be a table that looks
something like this one:
User Skills Assessment

for MEFN
Group Position User File Mgt. Skills Application Skills Email/Internet
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ADMINISTRATION (1 – 5) (1 – 5) (1 – 5)
Chief John R. 1 1 1
Counselor Bev 4 5 5
Counselor Jim 2 2 2
Counselor Don 1 1 2
Counselor Jerry 3 2 3
Counselor Jack 2 2 2
Counselor Victoria 4 5 5
Counselor Jenny 1 3 3
Counselor Tim 3 3 4
Counselor Leland 4 4 4
Band Mgr. James 3 4 4
Accountant Mary 2 4 4
Clerk #1 Irene 2 3 3
Clerk #2 Debora 3 3 3
Lands / Res. Ralph 2 3 3
HEALTH CENTER
Manager Josyln 3 4 4
Rcpt./Ptnt. Trv. Nicki 2 2 2
Pub.HealthNrs. Nancy 1 1 1
S.Abuse Cnslr. Patrick 1 1 1
Homecare 1 Evelyn 3 3 4
HomeCare 2 Doris 2 2 2
SOCIAL SERVICES
Soc.Srv.Mgr. Barbra 2 3 3
C&F Worker John D. 1 1 1
SA Clerk Rebecca 5 5 5
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Totals Class 1 6 5 4
Class 2 7 4 4
Class 3 6 7 6
Class 4 3 5 6
Class 5 1 3 3
Table 12 – User Skills Assessment
In the above assessment, we have evaluated each user in one of three categories:
File Management (saving, retrieving, copying, moving, etc.), Application skills
(proficiency with Word, excel or any other application they will need to use in their
job) and Internet (browsing, searching) / Email (basic messages, attachments, multi-
recipient, archiving, etc.) skills. The classification system uses 5 gradients (1 thru 5)
with 1 being little or no skills and 5 being fully proficient. You can use more
classifications and more gradients if you choose – just remember that the more of
these, the more analysis you will need to do.
In the user group for the Mythical Example First Nation shown above, the
numbers shown are typical for almost any group of users – people tend to have better
application and internet/email skills, because they use these tools more frequently,
and often poorer file management skills, because they can often continue doing their
jobs while ignoring file management entirely.
Once we have graded each user, we total up the number of users in each class,
in each skill group. This allows us to create a chart of the specific types of skills we
will need to focus on prior to (or as part of ) our network deployment. The following
chart shows us where we need to concentrate our training efforts:
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User Skills Assessment
Email/Internet Application Skills File Mgt. Skills
Excellent Skills
Good skills
Skill Level
Average skills
Some skills
Few Skills
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
No. of Users
Chart 1 – User Skills Assessment results

The chart above shows that we need to focus on all skills for some people and
file management skills for everybody. It also shows us that there are at least 3 people
in the organization who have excellent skills – could these people be relied on as
„mentors‟ for others in their work area?
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Now, of course, we have to decide what to do about the results of our User Skills
Assessment. Should we bring in a trainer? Should we send people out for training?
How about tutorial training for those who need it vs. training workshops for the
majority? Hold On! Before we can answer any of these questions, we need to know
something else – what, exactly, will constitute an appropriate level of training for
our staff?
Establishing a base level of proficiency for all users in an organization is a tricky
thing to do. If you set the bar too high, it may prevent some users from ever reaching
it; too low and your organization will not be realizing the full value from your ICT
investment. Also, it is seldom a decision that can be made by the tech person alone.
In fact, different departments may feel differently about the value of ICT in their
activities.
On the other hand, when you introduce a network into an organization, one of
its greatest benefits comes when everyone is able to use it to enhance their work day
and another is the ability of the organization to gather and manage all of the
information about all of the activities it is paying people to do.
The best approach has proven to be to have a general conversation amongst all
of those people who are responsible for the continued operation of the organization –
the managers. Lay out to them the importance of establishing a base level of
proficiency and allow them to shape the policy that will govern the skills people must
have in order to work for the band. Have them decide on how best to train people who
need training – after all, their department budgets will be paying for the users time
while they are in training and they know best how much time their staff can spare.
Also, encourage these people to establish ICT proficiency criteria for new hires.
One problem you will have to cope with – senior managers are the most difficult
people in the whole organization to get to upgrade their computer skills. They are
very busy and usually have little time (or patience) for things that are not directly in
their area of responsibility. However these are the very people who can realize the
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most direct benefit from using technology to lighten their load. How you deal with
this problem will depend greatly on the personalities in your Band‟s management
group. Just remember that you are not there to impose the network on anyone – you
are there to facilitate the band‟s objectives through the use of technology. In some
cases you may have to take the problem to the Band Manager for help; in some cases
just explaining the importance of what you are doing will open the door. Whatever
works in the end, DO NOT avoid this problem: the long-term success of the whole
network could well depend on its solution.
The question of which type of training (bringing a trainer in, sending people out,
tutorial, workshop) as well as the frequency of training and most of the other details
will depend on what is available in your area, how much money can be had for
training, the time of year and many other factors. There is no formula for working
this out; you will have to develop a training plan that is tailored to the type of training
needed, the number of people that need each level of training and the available time
and funds. If your training challenges look to be large, consider hiring a professional
trainer to help you work out a suitable training program.
Some points to remember while developing your training strategy:
 Think about how to impose the least disruption on any given

working group. You are there to help them, not get in their way.
 Workshops are a low-cost method of training groups of people. They
have the advantage of the users learning together and supporting
each other. For introducing new skills that everyone will need to use,
Workshops are the best form of training. However, most people who
attend a workshop will forget most of what they learned in a short
time, so do not hold workshops on Thursdays or Fridays.
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 Tutorial training is valuable for users that are not very comfortable
with computers. Tutorials allow the user to learn in private, where
they are less likely to feel „dumb‟. However tutorial training is the
most costly of all forms of training.
 Sending users out for training can be very cost-effective, but like
workshops, outside training holds the risk that by the time the user
returns to the workplace much of the material may be forgotten.
Ensure that outside courses are provided with extensive notes and
instruction materials that the user can use to refresh their memory
of skills learned.
 On-line training has seen mixed results in recent years. Some people
adapt to on-line training very well, while others find the format
impossible to learn from. Although the least costly form of training, it
may often be found to be the least effective. You will have to
experiment with on-line training with your users to see if it is
effective for the.
 DO NOT try to train anyone while they are sitting at their usual
desk. Learning requires mental focus and this cannot be achieved if
the user is surrounded by their usual responsibilities to distract
them.
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TECHNICAL SUPPORT
During start-up
During the period following roll-out, your users will be depending on you to help
them through the inevitable glitches, hiccups and unexpected results. This is, of
course, natural. However you must remember that during this period something else
is also happening: your users are forming their opinions about the network and hoe
it helps (or hinders) them.
Up till now, the staff has been hearing about this new network but this is when
their experience of it becomes personal. Almost no-one will expect the network to
function flawlessly from the start, but nonetheless people will be upset when the
system does not behave in the way they have been told to expect. You will need to be
ready when you get a flustered call from someone exclaiming that their computer has
“completely quit working”, that they have “lost everything” or that they “can‟t get it to
do anything”.
Your first line of defense against users forming a negative opinion about the
network will be your prompt response to their calls for help. You must remember,
the users do not have your knowledge of technology and, to them, every unexpected
result is a disaster. Never allow yourself to become flippant about a user‟s concerns
and never, never allow yourself to show impatience or scorn when a user expresses
what you think is a trivial or nonsensical concern. During the first months of the new
network‟s operation, user‟s opinion about the network will be the user‟s opinion
about you, the technician.
It must also be said that every time a user gets in trouble with the system, you
have failed – users cannot be faulted for not knowing something (even if they have
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been told). They can only be faulted for refusing to learn something, and that is a
personnel issue, not a technical one.
There are two processes you should put in place prior to „going live‟ with your
new network:
1) Get to work a half-hour or more before everyone else and check

the status of the network before users begin to log on. Ensure
that email is working and that the server is healthy (read your
error logs daily).
2) Keep notes about EVERY trouble call you receive for the first
couple of months. These notes will be invaluable in helping you
to identify trouble spots, users that are having more than usual
difficulty and areas where a change in network configuration
may be needed.
On-going
There will never be a time when you will not need to provide tech support for the
users of your network. Whether it is repairing failed workstations, replacing printers
or monitors or any of the many other day-to-day issues that arise, tech support is
one of the fundamental tasks that your organization will depend on. There will be
times when you are run off your feet trying to keep up with user‟s requests and times
when you appear to have nothing much to do.
One of the most important things you can establish to deal with the demands it
a priority for how you respond to user‟s needs. Here is a simple statement of
priorities that should work for almost any tech service situation:
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First: to repair, replace and maintain existing services and facilities

Second: to upgrade or improve existing services where appropriate
Third: to investigate new technologies that will enhance or improve the
organization‟s ability to meet its goals.
If you evaluate each pending request for technical service within this list of
priorities and respond to them in the order established above, you will rarely find
that users or management are unhappy with your service.
The contract between users and tech support staff

It is very important to remember that by introducing a network and its facilities
to the users in an organization you have established a contract with them. This
contract, simply stated, is:
“If you, the users, will endeavor make the best use of the technology we have
placed at your disposal then we, the tech support people, will ensure that it works
properly.”
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GETTING OUR BACK UP

Of all of the facilities and features that you can include in your network, there is
one that must NEVER, NEVER be left out. That is the creation of absolutely reliable
back-ups of the data and software that make up your network. This one activity is so
fundamentally critical that with out it you network is certain to fail.
Computers are machines – they contain electronic and mechanical and electrical
parts that can, and sometimes do, fail. Hard drives die. Motherboards develop faults
in the integrated circuits that make up their circuitry. If we consider the astonishing
speed at which computers operate internally, it is a wonder that they last as long as
they do. However we cannot take it for granted that even a new computer will operate
without a problem for years.
So, considering all this, a reliable back-up system is fundamental to the
continued operation of any network. It is not a matter of if, but when, you will need
to rely on your daily backups to return the network to operation.
Oh no! My file just disappeared…

There are various types of data loss that will require a restoration of files from
the backup. These are usually described in terms of the scope of the data loss:
- single file loss

- multiple file or folder loss of a single user‟s data
- loss of all data and software from a single workstation
- large data loss for a whole department or workgroup
- massive data loss for the whole organization
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Each of these scenarios needs to be considered as a separate case, since your

ability to recover from them will depend on the type of backup technology you use.
Single file loss:

 Cause: usually due to a misstep by the user, misplacement over time
or an abrupt power failure.
 Solution: The file can be restored from the previous night‟s backup.
Any work on the file since the last backup will be lost.
Multiple file or folder loss

 Cause: this is usually due to a misstep by the user, accidentally
deleting the folder or group of files. There is no event of hardware or
system failure that can destroy a folder or group of files while leaving
others on the same drive intact.
 Solution: The first place to look for the lost data is the Recycle Bin of
the user‟s workstation. If the user accidentally deleted a folder or
group of files, then cleared out the Recycle Bin, then the lost data
must be restored from the previous night‟s backup. Any work done
since the backup will be lost.
Data and Software from a single workstation

 Cause: complete workstation failure
 Solution: replace workstation and perform system restore from
nightly backup. Any work done since the last nightly backup will be
lost
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Large data loss for a whole department or workgroup

 Cause: hard drive failure on a server or total failure of a
departmental server
 Solution: Replace failed part or server. Restore data from nightly
backup. Any work done since the last nightly backup will be lost
Massive data loss for whole organization

 Cause: complete loss of the network and servers due to fire or other
disaster
 Solution: invoke disaster recovery plan, replace servers and network
infrastructure, total restore from most recent backup. This may take
days or weeks as you will first need to obtain replacement server(s)
and network equipment.
There are a number of backup technologies available and the one that best suits
your needs will have the following features:
1) the ability to back up an storage location on your network at any
interval you choose.
2) the ability to perform restores onto computers that are not identical to
the ones that the backup was taken from.
3) the ability to restore one file, a group of files or folders, a complete
workstation or a whole server.
4) the ability to backup and restore your installed software and settings
as well as data.
5) the ability to provide you with concise, accurate daily reports of each
backup process, its success or failure and some indication of why a
failure may have occurred.
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Next, you will need to choose where your backups will be located and how they
are stored. There are three types of backup storage in use today:
1) Magnetic media – this includes various types of magnetic disks and tapes
including DAT. These are less popular today due to their cost and the need
to handle them frequently. Magnetic media is re-writable
2) Optical media – this includes CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW. These
are popular due to low cost of drives and media, however they must be
handled frequently. Also, optical drives are quite slow. The „RW‟ media are
re-writable where the „R‟ media are not.
3) Network storage – this storage sees the backups being stored on the hard
disk of a computer attached to the network. This is becoming the most
popular form of backup. It is fast and the storage media – hard disks – are
cheap and reliable. Also, the backup storage can be located in a separate
building from the working servers, thus minimizing the chance of total loss
in the event of a disaster. Network storage does not have to be handled and
it is re-writable.
Select your backup system CAREFULLY, install it on reliable equipment and

TEST IT periodically! There is nothing more alarming that finding that you have been
relying on a backup system that does not work when you need it.
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“I’LL BE WATCHING YOU…”

Network monitoring can save you tons of time and mountains of anxiety. If you
are the only techie in the organization, then keeping an eye on your network can take
so much time that you will not have any left to search out new technologies and
solutions, plan upgrades and look for better answers to the challenges of the
organization.
The server operating system that you purchased to be the heart of your network
will have a host of monitoring features and facilities. It is important that you study
them and implement those that will alert you when things are not right. Often, you
can have your server alert you via email if some threshold is reached (like the hard
disk becoming full) or some event occurs.
In addition to the monitoring features built into your server operating system,
there are a number of third-party network monitoring suites available. These usually
offer better reporting, the ability to monitor several servers and other network devices
and the ability to report on a healthy state as well as errors. You can also have most
of these network monitors alert you on your mobile phone as well as your email, so
that you can deal with faults and failures even when you are away from the
community. If you are using a consultant to help you with your network operations,
network monitoring suites can alert them as well via email so that they are aware
when their services are needed.
Evaluate these options carefully. They could mean the difference between a
happy, humming network and one that breaks down every few days.
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FLY-SWATTER OR NUCLEAR BOMB – GETTING THE BUGS OUT

De-bugging any complex system can be very intimidating. When something
stops working, even the most seasoned network tech will have a few moments of “Oh-
oh, how am I going to find the cause of this problem”.
However those same seasoned professionals will then begin a process that will
ALLWAYS find the problem: Fault Isolation.
Fault isolation is a process of thought whereby the technician takes a step back
from the immediate issue and looks it in the context of the whole network. Then, the
tech compares the reported fault to other network operations that may or may not
have been effected to give a clue as to where the fault is actually occurring.
Let‟s take a look at a typical scenario which may help to explain.
User: “Help – my computer isn‟t working!”

Tech: “What seems to be wrong?”
User: “I can‟t open any of my files.”
Tech: “Which file were you trying to open?”
User: “A spreadsheet.”
The tech knows that the user is working in the Accounting department and that
Accounting spreadsheets are stored on a drive on the server. First, then, we need to
know if the user‟s workstation has network services.
Tech: “Is your email working?”

User: “It seems to be – I just received an email a few minutes ago.”
Tech: “Can you browse the internet?”
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User: “Yes, I am on the INAC website now.”
Now the tech knows that the user‟s workstation is talking over the network
correctly, so the next step is to find out why the user can‟t open the file they are
looking for.
Tech: “Ok, now try opening the spreadsheet you want.”

User: “Ok, I have Excel open, I click on File>Open and the Open File box
appears, but the list of files is empty.”
There are a couple of possible causes for this, so the tech proceeds to determine
which one is the culprit, starting with the most obvious one.
Tech: “At the top of the Open File box there is a label that reads „Look in:‟ and a
folder name next to it. What does it say?”
User: “It says „temp‟.”
Tech: “Ok, the last time Excel used a file, it was located in the „temp‟ folder on
your local hard drive. Click on the small down-arrow to the right of the name „temp‟.
You will see a list of locations. Click on the one named „Accounting Shared Files‟.”
User: “Oh, I see it. Yes, there are the folders I am used to. Thanks.”
What the tech has done in this example is to first try to localize the problem by
determining if the problem is general to the workstation and then if it is effecting any
other facilities on that particular workstation. Once he has determined that the
problem is local to the user‟s session and local to the Excel program alone, he is able
to determine by walking through the procedure that there was in fact nothing wrong
with the equipment or software and was a user perception issue.
105
This process of localizing the symptoms of a problem and testing to verify which
aspects of the system are working and which are not is the backbone of complex
system debugging. Practice it and you will see how effective it is.
IN CONCLUSION
The information on building an ICT network that you have read in this guide is
not, by any means, all that you will need to know in the course of building and
running your network. You will need to study software and operating system
manuals and you will read endless how-to‟s in order to activate features, enable logs
and all of the other tasks you will need to perform within your network. If you follow
this guide, however, you will be able to plan for your network project, acquire the
equipment and software and get a simple ICT network up and running.
If there is any other advice that this work can offer, it is this:
Take your time

Plan, then stick to the plan
Get and keep the support of your management and your users.
106
REFERENCES AND APPENDIX
A sample User Needs Assessment form has been provided for you in the „Forms
and References‟ section at the back of this book.
There is a series of budgeting aids available in the Reference section at the end
of this book.
Have a look at the sample failure response plan in the References section.
A sample computing policy has been included in the Reference section that may
help you develop a workable policy for your organization.
107
COMPUTING POLICY
1.0 Ownership
1. Computers and computing equipment are tools to assist staff in carrying out their duties.
All computers used in the course of one’s duties and the data stored in them are the
property of the __________ First Nation.
2. No employee has the right to erase, hide or withhold any data, document, image or any
other type of information that has been created, edited or stored on a Band computer.
3. __________ employees may, as a consequence of their employment, be issued with

various types of IM (information management) equipment. This may include a desktop
computer workstation, printer, laptop or portable computer, cell phone, personal digital
assistant (PDA), digital camera and/or other pieces of technical equipment provided to
the employee for use in the performance of their duties. Employees are responsible for
the condition and physical security of this equipment and are explicitly responsible to
ensure that ALL band equipment is used in full accordance with these policies.
4. The Technical Services department shall maintain an inventory of all IM equipment and
resources and keep track of which employee the equipment has been issued to. (See
section 6 below). It is the responsibility of the Department Head to advise Technical
Services if any IM equipment in their department has been transferred or re-assigned to
another person.
5. On termination of employment for any reason, __________ employees who have used a
computer as part of their duties shall turn over to their supervisor, under the supervision
of the Technical Services department, any information equipment, including laptop
computers, cell phones, PDAs and any other information equipment, software, manuals
or accessories that may have been issued to them during the period of their employment.
2.0 Software
1. Only software that has been installed or approved by the technical support department is
to be loaded onto Band computers. This is to minimize the danger from virus attacks and
to minimize demands on technical support staff due to software conflicts and problems
arising from the use of unauthorized software.
3.0 Use
2. Computers that are for the use of staff are only to be used by staff. Children, relatives, or
friends of staff members are not to use staff computers at any time, for any reason.
3. Computers that have been provided for use by students or the public are to be used in
accordance with these policies and any other policies specific to the program that is
overseeing their use. For example, some computers are available in the Teen and Youth
Centers for young people to use.
4. People using the computers that have been made available for public use may have their
usage privileges revoked if they breach these policies and/or the use policies specific to
the program that is overseeing their use.
5. Technical Services staff will monitor Internet use and access at all times and will be
responsible to report any inappropriate use of internet facilities to the appropriate
supervisor should these occur.
6. __________ Technical Services will, from time to time, block access to certain internet
sites and facilities. This may be done because a site is a potential security risk or because
it demands an excessive amount of bandwidth or because it bears no relevance to any
legitimate working activity of any staff member in the performance of their duties. The
identification, selection and blocking of Internet sites shall be at the discretion of the
__________ Technical Services staff. At no time will employees be prevented from
accessing internet sites or facilities that may be legitimately required by their duties,
however people using computers in accordance with item 3.3 above, and people visiting
the __________ for work or other reasons may find that they are unable to access sites
through the __________ network or Internet portal. Such sites and facilities as may be
explicitly blocked WILL NOT be un-blocked to accommodate visitors or the public.
4.0 Code of Ethics
1. All use of computers including Internet access and the sending of emails must conform
with the principles contained within the Band Code of Ethics (Personnel Policy Manual).
5.0 Electronic Mail
1. Electronic-mail (aka e-mail and email) correspondence is not private, nor confidential.
Given the potential for liability to the Band from correspondence originating from its
employees, the Band has the right to monitor email correspondence.
6.0 Password Policy

1. Overview: Passwords are an important aspect of computer security. They are the front
line of protection for user accounts. A poorly chosen password may result in the
compromise of __________ First Nation's entire corporate network. As such, all
__________ First Nation employees (including contractors and vendors with access to
__________ First Nation systems) are responsible for taking the appropriate steps, as
outlined below, to select and secure their passwords.
2. Purpose: The purpose of this policy is to establish a standard for creation of strong
passwords, the protection of those passwords, and the frequency of change.
3. Scope: The scope of this policy includes all personnel who have or are responsible for
an account (or any form of access that supports or requires a password) on any system
that resides at any __________ First Nation facility, has access to the __________ First
Nation network, or stores any non-public __________ First Nation information.
4. Policy: All system-level passwords (e.g., root, enable, network administration,

application administration accounts, etc.) must be changed on at least a quarterly basis.
a. All user-level passwords (e.g., email, web, desktop computer, etc.) must be
changed at least every three months.
b. User accounts that have system-level privileges granted through group
memberships or programs such as “Adagio” or “Quic Docs” must have a unique
password from all other accounts held by that user.
c. Passwords must not be inserted into email messages or other forms of electronic
communication.
d. All user-level and system-level passwords must conform to the guidelines
described in Appendix A.
e. Access to the __________ First Nation Networks via remote access is to be
controlled using either a one-time password authentication or a public/private key
system with a password.
5. Enforcement: Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to
disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
7.0 __________ IT Assets
1. All IT Equipment items purchased by the __________ First Nation and having an
acquisition value of $250.00 (cad) or greater must be entered into the Technical Asset
database which is maintained by the Technical Services department at the direction of
__________ Senior Financial Officer.
2. Each item entered into the Technical Asset database will be assigned an identification
number and will have this number, in the form of a bar code tag, affixed to the item.
Each entry in the Technical Asset database will indicate the date of purchase, the duration
of warranty and the name of the user to whom the IT Equipment is assigned.
3. IT Equipment which is meant to be a shared resource used by more than one user will
have as its assigned user the name of the department to which it is assigned.
4. The only exception to the forgoing is software. Software will be installed as required on
one or more workstations or servers and the ‘master’ media containing the software,
along with a record of the license or activation number, will be held by the Technical
Services department in the Software Library.
8.0 Software Policy
1. All software in use by the __________ First Nation shall be duly purchased and licensed
with the exception of:
a. evaluation or trial software which, when obtained in accordance with the
copyright holder’s policy, is allowed for evaluation use for a specified period
b. software which has been placed in the public domain.
2. Software which is licensed to the __________ First Nation shall not be lent to or allowed
to be copied by any party whosoever, whether employee or band member. The only
persons authorized by the __________ First Nation to copy licensed software shall be the
Technical Services staff and then only for the purpose of backup in accordance with the
Copyright-holder’s allowances as stated in the software license. Technical Services staff
shall not, under any circumstances, allow serial numbers or activation keys assigned by
vendors to software licensed by the Band to be given to, or known by, any person other
than authorized Technical Services staff in the regular performance of their duties.
3. Only software which has been selected and approved by the Technical Services
department in accordance with the Band’s current Computing Policy shall be installed on
__________ servers or workstations. There will be no exceptions.
4. There shall be no games or entertainment software of any kind installed on __________

computing equipment in accordance with item 3) above. Technical Services staff is
authorized and required to remove any such software if found on Band computers.
5. shared software resources such as multi-user applications, server or network facilities

software and database engines or supporting software is explicitly included in the
forgoing and covered by this policy.
9.0 Purchasing Policy
1. For the purposes of this policy, IT Equipment shall include computing hardware and
software, Photocopiers, Fax machines telecommunications equipment, Cellular Phones,
PDAs, Presentation Projectors, Still and Video Cameras, audio-visual equipment and
internet equipment or software or any other device which connects to the __________
network or attaches to any __________ workstation.
2. Acquisition of any and all IT Equipment will be done in accordance with this Policy.
There will be no exceptions.
3. No department or staff member shall purchase or cause to be purchased any IT

Equipment without first consulting with the Technical Services staff to determine that the
intended purchase complies with current IT systems and is compatible with the current
network environment.
4. The Technical Services department will review the list of IT Equipment which is
available in the IT Asset Pool at the time of the request. If suitable IT Equipment is
available from the Pool, that equipment will be transferred to the requesting department
and assigned to fill the need.
5. The Technical Services department will ensure that appropriate consideration has been
given to any other factors which may arise from the intended IT Equipment purchase,
including installation time, staff training and infrastructure requirements such as power
supply, ventilation and environmental conditions and that these factors have been
accounted for in the overall cost of the purchase.
6. The Technical Services department will select a suitable vendor to supply the IT
Equipment. The selection of a vendor is not at the discretion of the requesting
department. The Technical Services department will, however, carefully consider
suggested vendors if the requesting department has a compelling reason for acquiring the
IT Equipment from a particular vendor.
7. Once suitable IT Equipment has been selected, the Technical Services department will
create a Purchase Order, in accordance with the __________ Accounting department
procedures in place at the time. The Purchase Order will then be countersigned by the
Department Head for the requesting department and will be entered into the Asset
Acquisition procedures of the Technical Asset database immediately after being sent to
the vendor.
8. All IT Equipment items purchased by the __________ First Nation and having an
acquisition value of $250.00 (cad) or greater must be entered into the Technical Asset
database which is maintained by the Technical Services department at the direction of
__________ Senior Financial Officer. Each item entered into the Technical Asset
database will be assigned an identification number and will have this number, in the form
of a bar code tag, affixed to the item. Each entry in the Technical Asset database will
indicate the date of purchase, the duration of warranty and the name of the user to whom
the IT Equipment is assigned. IT Equipment which is meant to be a shared resource will
have as its assigned user the name of the department causing the purchase. The only
exception to this is software. Software will be installed as required on one or more Band
workstations or server and the ‘master’ media containing the software, along with a
record of the license or activation number, will be held by the Technical Services
department in the Software Library.
9. IT Equipment shipments will be directed to the Technical Services department to be

received into the Technical Asset database. The Technical Services department will
inspect the item(s) for damage and operational condition and will apply a __________
Technical Asset Inventory identification number and bar-code tag to the item(s) as
required and enter them into the database.
10. After receiving the IT Equipment into the Technical Asset database, the Technical
Services department will install the IT Equipment at the intended location without delay.
Staff training in the use of the IT Equipment, if required, will be conducted as soon as
possible after the installation of the IT Equipment. The requesting department will make
suitable arrangements for staff to have uninterrupted time to undertake training and will
ensure that staff have a suitable location to store documentation or supporting materials.
10.0 Equipment Transfer Policy
1. Any __________ department may decide that a particular item of IT Equipment has
become surplus to its needs. This is at the sole discretion of the Department Head.
2. IT Equipment which has been designated as surplus to the needs of a particular

department will be transferred, without financial consideration, to the Technical Services
department Equipment Pool. Suitable changes will be made in the Technical Asset
inventory to indicate the assigned username is now the ‘Pool’. Such transfers will be
documented on a copy of the “Technical Asset Transfer Form” and signed by the
respective department heads. All completed Technical Asset Transfer Forms will be kept
on file in the Technical Services department for reference by any interested party.
3. Notwithstanding policy 9.2 above, IT Equipment which has been designated as surplus to
a department’s needs and which has considerable residual value, whether due to relative
newness or large acquisition cost or for any other reason, may be transferred into the Pool
or directly to another department which has need of the IT Equipment in exchange for
financial consideration in the form of a credit to the department’s budget.
a. Any such transfer must be negotiated by all parties and then must be approved by
the Comptroller in writing prior to being effected.
b. Details of the transfer must be entered into the “Technical Asset Transfer Form”
and signed by the respective department heads prior to being submitted to the
Comptroller.
c. All completed and approved Technical Asset Transfer Forms will be kept on file
in the Technical Services department for reference by any interested party.
11.0 Equipment Disposal Policy
1. Equipment which has exceeded its service life and / or which it no longer useful to the
department or the user it is assigned to will be transferred to the Pool in accordance with
the Equipment Transfer Policy set out in section 9.0 above.
2. Equipment which has exceeded its service life and / or which it no longer useful to the
__________ will be disposed of.
3. Disposal will consist of the preparation of a “Technical Asset Disposal Form” for
submission to the Senior Financial Officer. If the SFO approves of the disposal, the
record of the equipment in the Technical Assets database will be marked ‘disposed’ and
the equipment will be placed in the designated disposal area.
4. Technical Services staff may, at its sole discretion, remove parts or components from
disposed equipment for use in the maintenance of IT Equipment still in use.
5. Technical Services staff may, at its sole discretion, elect to sell equipment which may
have some residual value and which has been deemed appropriate for disposal under item
10.2 above. Such equipment may be sold in one of three ways:
a. The equipment will be offered to __________ staff through the distribution (by
mail, posted bulletin or email) of an information sheet requesting sealed bids be
submitted by interested parties on or before some due date.
b. The equipment will be offered to __________ Band members, by the posting of a
bulletin in strategic locations requesting sealed bids be submitted by interested
parties on or before some due date.
c. A sale of the equipment will be negotiated with a third-party computer equipment
recycler. Terms of such sales will be reviewed and approved by the __________
Senior Administrator.
6. From time to time disposed equipment held in the disposal area will be donated to a
suitable recycle agency. Efforts will be made to limit any costs associated with the
transport or delivery of disposed equipment away from __________ ownership.
7. At no time will any IT Equipment, components or parts be sold, donated or given to any
third party that will in any way incur a liability on the part of the __________ with
respect to the disposed equipment. This article expressly prohibits the sale, donation
or gift of any Technical Asset to any third party in such a way as to incur a liability
for support, maintenance or repair or offer any sort of warranty to the recipient of
disposed Technical Assets.
12.0 Tools, Instruments and Supplies
1. The __________ First Nation acknowledges that in the performance of its duties the
Technical Services department may acquire specialized tools, instruments and supplies
which are not required by any other department or staff member.
2. Said tools, instruments and supplies are considered Technical Assets and all articles set
forth in prior sections of these policies shall apply equally to the Tools , Instruments and
Supplies considered hereunder, with the following exceptions:
a. Tools, Instruments and Supplies purchased for use by the Technical Services
department are not to be considered part of the Technical Asset Pool but are the
exclusive property of the Technical Services department.
b. Tools and Instruments, when they have outlived their usefulness to the Technical
Services department, may be traded in or offered for sale, to recover some value.
At no time will any sale or trade-in be concluded which contravenes article 10.6,
which specifically prohibits the sale of any Technical Asset in such a way as to
incur a liability for support, maintenance or repair or offer any sort of warranty to
the recipient of disposed Technical Assets.
REFERENCES
Disaster Recovery Plan
Section 1. Major goals of this plan
The major goals of this plan are the following:
 To minimize interruptions to the normal operations.
 To limit the extent of disruption and damage.
 To minimize the economic impact of the interruption.
 To establish alternative means of operation in advance.
 To train personnel with emergency procedures.
 To provide for smooth and rapid restoration of service.
Section 2. Personnel
Data processing personnel
Name Position Address Telephone
Note:
Attach a copy of your organization chart to this section of the plan.
Section 3. Application profile
Use the Display Software Resources (DSPSFWRSC) command to complete this table.
Application profile
Critical? Fixed Asset?

Application Name Yes/No Yes/No Manufacturer Comments
Comment legend:
1. Runs daily______.
2. Runs weekly on ________.
3. Runs monthly on ________.
Section 4. Inventory profile
This list should include the following:
 Processing units
 Disk units
 Models
 Workstation controllers
 Personal computers
 Spare workstations
 Telephones
 Air conditioner or heater
 System printer
 Tape and diskette units
 Controllers
 I/O processors
 General data communication
 Spare displays
 Racks
 Humidifier or dehumidifier
Inventory profile
Own or
Manufacturer Description Model Serial Number Leased Cost
Note:
This list should be audited every ________ months.

Miscellaneous inventory
Description Quantity Comments
Note:
This list should include the following:
 Tapes
 PC software (such as DOS)
 File cabinet contents or documentation
 Tape vault contents
 Diskettes
 Emulation packages
 Language software (such as COBOL and RPG)
 Printer supplies (such as paper and forms)

Section 5. Information services backup procedures
 Server
o Daily, journal receivers are changed at ________ and at ________.
o Daily, a save of changed objects in the following libraries and directories is done at
______:
 __________
 __________
 __________
 __________
 __________
 __________
 __________
 __________
This procedure also saves the journals and journal receivers.
o On ________ (day) at ________ (time) a complete save of the system is done.
o All save media is stored off-site in a vault at ________ (location).
 Personal Computer
o It is recommended that all personal computers be backed up. Copies of the personal
computer files should be uploaded to the server on ________ (date) at ________
(time), just before a complete save of the system is done. It is then saved with the
normal system save procedure. This provides for a more secure backup of personal
computer-related systems where a local area disaster could wipe out important personal
computer systems.
Section 6. Disaster recovery procedures
For any disaster recovery plan, the following three elements should be addressed.
Emergency Response Procedures
To document the appropriate emergency response to a fire, natural disaster, or any other activity in
order to protect lives and limit damage.
Backup Operations Procedures
To ensure that essential data processing operational tasks can be conducted after the disruption.
Recovery Actions Procedures
To facilitate the rapid restoration of a data processing system following a disaster.
Disaster action checklist
1. Plan Initiation
a. Notify senior management
b. Contact and set up disaster recovery team
c. Determine degree of disaster
d. Implement proper application recovery plan dependent on extent of disaster (see

Section 7. Recovery plan--mobile site)
e. Monitor progress
f. Contact backup site and establish schedules
g. Contact all other necessary personnel--both user and data processing
h. Contact vendors--both hardware and software
i. Notify users of the disruption of service
2. Follow-Up Checklist
a. List teams and tasks of each
b. Obtain emergency cash and set up transportation to and from backup site, if necessary
c. Set up living quarters, if necessary
d. Set up eating establishments, as required
e. List all personnel and their telephone numbers
f. Establish user participation plan
g. Set up the delivery and the receipt of mail
h. Establish emergency office supplies
i. Rent or purchase equipment, as needed
j. Determine applications to be run and in what sequence
k. Identify number of workstations needed
l. Check out any off-line equipment needs for each application
m. Check on forms needed for each application

n. Check all data being taken to backup site before leaving and leave inventory profile at
home location
o. Set up primary vendors for assistance with problems incurred during emergency
p. Plan for transportation of any additional items needed at backup site
q. Take directions (map) to backup site
r. Check for additional magnetic tapes, if required
s. Take copies of system and operational documentation and procedural manuals.
t. Ensure that all personnel involved know their tasks
u. Notify insurance companies
Recovery start-up procedures for use after a disaster
1. Notify _________ Disaster Recovery Services of the need to utilize service and of recovery
plan selection.
Note:
Guaranteed delivery time countdown begins at the time _________ is notified of recovery plan
selection.
a. Disaster notification numbers

________ or ________
These telephone numbers are in service from ________ am until ________ pm Monday through
Friday.
2. Disaster notification number: ________
This telephone number is in service for disaster notification after business hours, on weekends, and
during holidays. Please use this number only for the notification of the actual disaster.
3. Provide _________ with an equipment delivery site address (when applicable), a contact, and
an alternate contact for coordinating service and telephone numbers at which contacts can be
reached 24 hours a day.
4. Contact power and telephone service suppliers and schedule any necessary service
connections.
5. Notify _________ immediately if any related plans should change.

Section 7. Recovery plan-mobile site
1. Notify _________ of the nature of the disaster and the need to select the mobile site plan.
2. Confirm in writing the substance of the telephone notification to _________ within 48 hours of
the telephone notification.
3. Confirm all needed backup media are available to load the backup machine.
4. Prepare a purchase order to cover the use of backup equipment.
5. Notify _________ of plans for a trailer and its placement (on ________ side of ________).
(See the Mobile site setup plan in this section.)
6. Depending on communication needs, notify telephone company (________) of possible

emergency line changes.
7. Begin setting up power and communications at _________.
a. Power and communications are prearranged to hook into when trailer arrives.
b. At the point where telephone lines come into the building (_________), break the
current linkage to the administration controllers (_________). These lines are rerouted
to lines going to the mobile site. They are linked to modems at the mobile site.
The lines currently going from _________ to _________ would then be linked to the mobile unit via
modems.
c. This could conceivably require _________ to redirect lines at _________ complex to a

more secure area in case of disaster.
8. When the trailer arrives, plug into power and do necessary checks.
9. Plug into the communications lines and do necessary checks.
10. Begin loading system from backups (see Section 9. Restoring the Entire System).
11. Begin normal operations as soon as possible:
a. Daily jobs
b. Daily saves
c. Weekly saves
12. Plan a schedule to back up the system in order to restore on a home-base computer when a
site is available. (Use regular system backup procedures).
13. Secure mobile site and distribute keys as required.
14. Keep a maintenance log on mobile equipment.

Mobile site setup plan
Attach the mobile site setup plan here.
Communication disaster plan
Attach the communication disaster plan, including the wiring diagrams.
Electrical service
Attach the electrical service diagram here.
Section 8. Recovery plan-hot site
The disaster recovery service provides an alternate hot site. The site has a backup system for
temporary use while the home site is being re-established.
1. Notify _________ of the nature of the disaster and of its desire for a hot site.
2. Request air shipment of modems to _________ for communications. (See _________ for
communications for the hot site.)
3. Confirm in writing the telephone notification to _________ within 48 hours of the telephone
notification.
4. Begin making necessary travel arrangements to the site for the operations team.
5. Confirm that all needed tapes are available and packed for shipment to restore on the backup
system.
6. Prepare a purchase order to cover the use of the backup system.
7. Review the checklist for all necessary materials before departing to the hot site.
8. Make sure that the disaster recovery team at the disaster site has the necessary information to
begin restoring the site. (See Section 12. Disaster site rebuilding).
9. Provide for travel expenses (cash advance).
10. After arriving at the hot site, contact home base to establish communications procedures.
11. Review materials brought to the hot site for completeness.
12. Begin loading the system from the save tapes.
13. Begin normal operations as soon as possible:
a. Daily jobs
b. Daily saves
c. Weekly saves
14. Plan the schedule to back up the hot-site system in order to restore on the home-base
computer.
Hot-site system configuration
Attach the hot-site system configuration here.
Section 9. Restoring the entire system
To get your system back to the way it was before the disaster, use the procedures on recovering after
a complete system loss in the Backup and Recovery, SC41-5304-06.
Before You Begin: Find the following tapes, equipment, and information from the on-site tape vault or
the off-site storage location:
 If you install from the alternate installation device, you need both your tape media and the CD-
ROM media containing the Licensed Internal Code.
 All tapes from the most recent complete save operation
 The most recent tapes from saving security data (SAVSECDTA or SAVSYS)
 The most recent tapes from saving your configuration, if necessary
 All tapes containing journals and journal receivers saved since the most recent daily save
operation
 All tapes from the most recent daily save operation
 PTF list (stored with the most recent complete save tapes, weekly save tapes, or both)
 Tape list from most recent complete save operation
 Tape list from most recent weekly save operation
 Tape list from daily saves
 History log from the most recent complete save operation
 History log from the most recent weekly save operation
 History log from the daily save operations
 The Software Installation book
 The Backup and Recovery book
 Telephone directory
 Modem manual
 Tool kit
Section 10. Rebuilding process
The management team must assess the damage and begin the reconstruction of a new data center.
If the original site must be restored or replaced, the following are some of the factors to consider:
 What is the projected availability of all needed computer equipment?
 Will it be more effective and efficient to upgrade the computer systems with newer equipment?
 What is the estimated time needed for repairs or construction of the data site?
 Is there an alternative site that more readily could be upgraded for computer purposes?
Once the decision to rebuild the data center has been made, go to Section 12. Disaster site
rebuilding.
Section 11. Testing the disaster recovery plan
In successful contingency planning, it is important to test and evaluate the plan regularly. Data
processing operations are volatile in nature, resulting in frequent changes to equipment, programs,
and documentation. These actions make it critical to consider the plan as a changing document. Use
thes checklists as your conduct your test and decide what areas should be tested.
Table 3. Conducting a recovery test
Not
Item Yes No Applicable Applicable Comments
Select the purpose of the test. What aspects of

the plan are being evaluated?
Describe the objectives of the test. How will

you measure successful achievement of the
objectives?
Meet with management and explain the test

and objectives. Gain their agreement and
support.
Have management announce the test and the

expected completion time.
Collect test results at the end of the test

period.
Evaluate results. Was recovery successful?

Why or why not?
Determine the implications of the test results.

Does successful recovery in a simple case
imply successful recovery for all critical jobs in
the tolerable outage period?
Make recommendations for changes. Call for

responses by a given date.
Notify other areas of results. Include users and

auditors.
Change the disaster recovery plan manual as

necessary.
Table 4. Areas to be tested
Not
Item Yes No Applicable Applicable Comments
Recovery of individual application systems by

using files and documentation stored off-site.
Reloading of system tapes and performing an

IPL by using files and documentation stored
off-site.
Ability to process on a different computer.
Ability of management to determine priority of

systems with limited processing.
Ability to recover and process successfully

without key people.
Ability of the plan to clarify areas of

responsibility and the chain of command.
Effectiveness of security measures and

security bypass procedures during the
recovery period.
Ability to accomplish emergency evacuation

and basic first-aid responses.
Ability of users of real-time systems to cope

with a temporary loss of on-line information.
Ability of users to continue day-to-day

operations without applications or jobs that are
considered noncritical.
Ability to contact the key people or their

designated alternates quickly.
Ability of data entry personnel to provide the

input to critical systems by using alternate
sites and different input media.
Availability of peripheral equipment and

processing, such as printers and scanners.
Availability of support equipment, such as air

conditioners and dehumidifiers.
Availability of support: supplies, transportation,

communication.
Distribution of output produced at the recovery

site.
Availability of important forms and paper stock.
Ability to adapt plan to lesser disasters.
Section 12. Disaster site rebuilding
 Floor plan of data center.
 Determine current hardware needs and possible alternatives. (See Section 4. Inventory
profile.)
 Data center square footage, power requirements and security requirements.
o Square footage ________
o Power requirements ________
o Security requirements: locked area, preferably with combination lock on one door.
o Floor-to-ceiling studding
o Detectors for high temperature, water, smoke, fire and motion
o Raised floor
Vendors
Floor plan
Include a copy of the proposed floor plan here.
Section 13. Record of plan changes
Keep your plan current. Keep records of changes to your configuration, your applications, and your
backup schedules and procedures. For example, you can get print a list of your current local
hardware, by typing:
DSPLCLHDW OUTPUT(*PRINT)

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A guide for Small and Remote

Author: Jesse P. Gordon

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING

What do we do and who do we do it for?

What’s the plan, man?

Top-down planning is the most straightforward way of developing a meaningful

Fig 1 – Community ICT Map

Fig 2 – ICT Breakdown

Fig 2 – ICT Needs detail

 the information generated by the activity (when was a house

I’m sorry, but it’s a matter of Policy

 place your printers

O Users where art thou?

Fig 5 – Sketch of Inter-building connections

important, but it is important that you can interpret the responses

Physical, Virtual and Conceptual

 they cost more

Cost – the real first law of computing

 How long will it take to set up workgroup printers?

Ok, but what if it breaks?

Policies, guidelines and the big stick

 how is network backup going to be handled? Is there a standard

Needless to say, no one in a mixed computing environment will want to be the

LET’S BUILD A NETWORK

 We also provide two workstations in the Recreation Center for the

First – we draw our ICT Community Map.

Figure 6 ICT Overview – identifies groups

ICT Breakdown - Administration Group – identifies individual users

Figure 7 - ICT Breakdown – Health Center – identifies individual users

Figure 8 - ICT Breakdown – Social Services Group – identifies individual users

Figure 9 - ICT Breakdown - Community Group – identifies individual users

ICT Breakdown - Level 3

for MEFN Server

Grou Position User Task Hosted Inet

Counselor Bev Correspondence, meetings, resolutions & No yes

TOTALS Number of computers: 19

Our budget will show the purchase of workstations and workstation OS

Dept Application Users

Admin Accounting Software 4

Health Integrated Info. System 6

Capital Budget for new MEFN Network

AVG Anti-virus Network Ed. 1 $ 1,200.00 $ 1,200.00

TOTAL CAPITAL COST: $ 45,258.00

Other Costs - MEFN Network

Network wiring - wired and wireless 2 wks. 2500/mo. $ 1,250.00

Receiving, installation, configuration 2 wks. 2500/mo. $ 1,250.00

Consultant (contingency) $ 500.00

TOTAL NON-CAPITAL COSTS $23,428.80

One, two, three - one two, three: teaching machines to dance

192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.10 Routers and Switches

This table shows that we can have up to 10 routers or switches, 15 server

He’s makin’ a list, He’s checkin’ it twice…

Checklist #1 – Network Infrastructure

Figure 10 – Ethernet plan – Band Office

In list form, we have the following connections:

Ethernet Infrastructure Checklist

cable label - both ends

A one-box wireless LAN radio An external antenna for long distance

Wireless Radio Checklist

All Verify link to AP

Table 6 – Wireless Checklist

Checklist #3 – Internet Gateway