Date of Award
Spring 5-12-2017
Document Type
Thesis
First Advisor
Tahir Khan
Second Advisor
Raja Kushalnagar
Abstract
Networking equipment often has to be replaced every few years in order to keep up with network speed demands and bandwidth, as well as the expiration of equipment. Gallaudet’s network switches were approaching their End of Life (EoL) and the Gallaudet networking team decided to replace the networking equipment to improve the network efficiency at Gallaudet. After much research and debate, the decision was made to replace current Cisco networking equipment with Juniper in order to optimize the network speed for Internet traffic. Cisco and Juniper are competing brands for a wide range of networking equipment. The capstone project is divided into two phases: the configuration of Juniper switches to match the specification of Gallaudet’s network and the physical replacement of the outdated Cisco switches with the new Juniper switches. The configuration phase includes the general configuration of switches, configuring VLANs, naming the switch, applying licenses to gain functionality, installing a new version on the software, and adding authorized users to access the switch. The physical replacement phase includes the installing/organizing the Data Closets in various buildings around campus, as well as the removal of the outdated switches and the erasing of sensitive data from those switches post-removal. During both phases, project work included documentation of the Juniper switch configurations and troubleshooting fixes for future employees, and a journal explaining the daily process of the project. In summary, the final product is the professional level replacement of over 100 Cisco switches with Juniper switches in almost all Gallaudet buildings on campus.
Recommended Citation
Fenton, Sean, "The Replacement of Network Switches" (2017). Undergraduate University Honors Capstones. 48.
https://ida.gallaudet.edu/honors_capstones/48
