Research Korner: Computer Topics Essays

Router Redundancy Protocols

Router Redundancy Protocols         Introduction   There exist different protocols that control connections between computers that are connected through a network. Theses different protocols improve speeds and efficiency in transmission of data between the computers that are interconnected to each other. Some are called router protocols, and some are router redundancy protocols which are either propriety or non-propriety, (patent-free) protocols. Though they are called by different names, their common goal is to boost up efficiency and speed in transmitting and receiving data among computers in a network. This essay discusses two different router redundancy protocols. It will define these two protocols, describe the general aims of each protocol, their operations, and highlight the similarities and differences between them. The two router redundancy protocols that are discussed in this essay are the Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) and the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).     HSRP and VRRP   Hot Standby Routing Protocol or HSRP for short is a propriety router redundancy protocol for Cisco which is designed to be used over multi access, multicast or broadcast capable LANs. HSRP’s goal is to allow hosts in network to appear to be using a single router and to continue to maintain network connectivity in the event that the actual first hop router being used fails. The appearance of having a single router done through the participation of multiple routers in a Local Area Network in order to create what is called a virtual router. This virtual router is the key player of the protocol since all traffic is done through this virtual router. Only one among the routers that create the virtual router is ensured to be forwarding packets in behalf of the virtual router and this router is known as the active router.  If an event occurs wherein the active router would fail, a standby router is selected to replace the failed active router. The mechanism which selects active and standby routers is provided by the protocol by using the IP addresses of the routers that make up the virtual router. Should the active router fail, its standby router takes over without any major disruption to the connectivity of the host. Once the standby router fails or becomes an active router, the protocol selects another standby router. Only the active and standby routers are allowed to send packets of data which ensures the network of lesser traffic. The protocol prevents problems due to failure of the first hop router when the source host can't dynamically learn the IP address of the first hop router. On a LAN where multiple HSRPs exist each HSRP forms its own virtual router and each virtual router is assigned its own MAC address and IP address.  Each IP address assigned to each virtual router belongs to the primary subnet used in the LAN but differs from the IP addresses of the routers that participate in the protocol and it also differs to the IP addresses of other virtual routers. In this scenario, load splitting is achieved by distributing hosts among the different HSRP groups in the LAN. The protocol uses port number of 1985 of UDP and sends its packets via multicast address 224.0.0.2.  The HSRP protocol multicasts hello messages to all routers that make up the virtual router in order to define priority, and select which routers become active and standby routers. The router with the numerically highest priority number becomes the active router and the router with the next highest priority number becomes the standby router. If routers have the same priority number, the router with a higher IP address is selected. Regarding the Protocol’s operational parameters, there is certain information that has to be known to all the routers within the HSRP group and these are the Standby Group Number, Virtual MAC Address, Priority, Hello Time, and Hold Time. There is also certain information that must be known to at least one router in the group and this is the Virtual IP Address which is the virtual router’s IP address. A router’s preemption capability may also be configured in any of the routers. If a router’s preemption capability is enabled and it has a higher priority than the active router then it may take over the active router using a Coup message. Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol or VRRP is a non propriety or patent free router redundancy protocol which works much like HSRP with some differences. This protocol specifies an election protocol that assigns responsibility for a virtual router to one of the member routers of the VRRP protocol on a LAN dynamically.  One router controls the IP addresses or addresses associated with the virtual router and it forwards the packets sent to these addresses and this router is called the Master Router. If the master router fails, the protocol employs an election process to select a new Master Router. VSRP has the advantage of a higher availability of the default path without having to configure dynamic routing or router discovery protocols on every end host. The election process takes place of selecting a new master router takes place once the current master router fails to receive a multicast packet for a period longer than three times. Once this happens, all the back up routers assumes that the master router is dead and the protocol begins the election process by sending multicast packets to all the other routers that form the VSRP and the backup router with the highest priority number becomes the new master router. But if there is a case where two or more back up routers have the same priority number then the router with the highest IP address gets the position of master router. The only exception to this election process is that if a physical router is configured to always overthrow the current master router after it has been added to the virtual router. An example of this is when a physical router is more powerful than other routers in the virtual router or if that router consumes less bandwidth. In a VSRP protocol all physical routers that make up the virtual router must be within one hop of each other. There is periodical communication within the virtual router and this period is adjusted if needed by changing the advertisement interval times. If the advertisement interval times are shorter then the black hole period, the period when no packets are sent, would be shorter although this would cause more traffic in the network. In conclusion, the HSRP and VSRP router redundancy protocols are very much alike but they aren’t exactly carbon copies of each other. Each protocol has characteristics and operations that are different from each other.  Both protocols are not router protocols since they don’t advertise IP routes or affect the routing table in any way, but HSRP is a patented or proprietary protocol that is licensed to Cisco while VSRP is a non-proprietary protocol and is not under any patent. Both protocols run on LANs particularly the Ethernet LAN. Both make use of virtual routers that are comprised of the physical routers. In HSRP only one router is used to represent the virtual router while in VRRP two routers represent the virtual router. HSRP calls the router that represents the virtual router as the active router which has one standby router to replace it if it fails while VRRP calls its version of the active router as the master router and all other routers in the virtual router act as back up routers. Both protocols employ an election process to select which router replaces the active or master router should the said router fail and this involves the priority numbers and IP addresses of the other routers. In the case of the HSRP the standby router automatically replaces the active router. The VRRP selects the replacement router from among the many back up routers. Both HSRP and VRRP have almost the same characteristics except for a few differences   Reference: T. Li (Jupiter Networks), B. Cole (Jupiter Networks), P. Morton (Cisco Systems), D. Li (Cisco Systems), March 1998, Cisco Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP), Full description of HSRP protocol, viewed on March 2, 2008, <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2281>.   R. Hinden Ed. (Nokia), April 2004, Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), Full description of VRRP protocol, viewed on March 2, 2008, <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3768>.

Router Redundancy Protocols

Router Redundancy Protocols Introduction There exist different protocols tha...

The building blocks to database management system

Database management system (DBMS) is a computer software program that manages a database so that information on the database can be organized, retrieved, searched, and changed (McCain & Merril, 2001).   References McCain, M. M. & Merril, M. (2001). Dictionary for school library media specialists: A practical and comprehensive guide. Greenwood Village, CO: Libraries Unlimited. A DBMS is a set of programs used to define, administer, and process databases and their associated applications. The database being managed, in essence, a structure that is built to hold valuable data. A DBMS is the tool that is used to build that structure and operate on the data contained within the database. Whatever the size of the computer that hosts the database – and regardless of whether the machine is connected to a network – the flow of information between database and user is always the same. The DBMS masks the physical details of the database storage so that the application only has to concern itself with the logical characteristics of the data, not with how the data is stored.             Two key parts of a database management system are (1) the user defined data or data tables and (2) the operations defined to manipulate the data. The data tables, often called entities or touples, contain the database information. The tables are composed of constituent characteristics, or attributes. The DBMS provides all the basic service required to organize and maintain the database, including the following: ·         Moving the data to and from the physical data files as needed ·         Managing concurrent data access by multiple users, including provisions to prevent simultaneous updates from conflicting with one another ·         Managing transactions so that each transaction’s database changes are an all-or-nothing unit of work. In other words, if the transaction succeeds, all database changes made by it are recorded in the database; if the transaction fails, none of the changes it made are recorded in the database ·         Support for a query language, which is a system of commands that a database user employs to retrieve data from the database ·         Provisions for backing up the database and recovering from failures ·         Security mechanisms to prevent unauthorized data access and modification Layers of Data Abstraction             Databases have the unique capability of presenting multiple users of the data with their own distinct views of that data while storing the underlying data only once. These are collectively called user views. A user in this context is any person or application that signs on to the database for the purpose of storing and/or retrieving data. Below are the layers of data abstraction: 1. Physical Layer – the physical layer contains the data files that hold all the data for the database. Nearly all modern DBMSs allow the database to be stored in multiple data files, which are usually spread out over multiple physical disk drives. With this arrangement, the disk drives can work in parallel for maximum performance. 2. Logical Layer – the logical layer of logical model is the first of two layers of abstraction in the database. Physical layer has a concrete existence in the operating system files, whereas logical layer exists only as abstract data structures assembled from the physical layer as needed. The DBMS transforms the data in the data files into a common structure. This layer is sometimes called the schema, a term used for the collection of all data items stored in a particular database. Depending on the particular DBMS, this can be a set of two-dimensional tables, a hierarchical structure similar to a company’s organization chart, or some other structure. 3. External Layer – the external layer is the second layer of abstraction in the database. This layer is composed of the user views discussed earlier, which are collectively called the subschema. This is the layer where users and application programs that access the database connect and issue queries against the database.

The building blocks to database management system

Database management system (DBMS) is a computer software program that manages a database so that information on the database can be organ...

CNM Assignment

COMPUTER NETWORKING AND MANAGEMENT Task 3 – HTTP             Upon connecting to the Internet, there are various different protocols and services used to transmit information to the client.             According to (2002), the Web is a collection of sites, or documents, which share a specialized protocol, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), enabling different operating systems to share the same data. Web documents are formatted in HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, to standardise the presentation of text, graphics and links to other sites, with the end result that a document will look more or less the same in a browser for Windows, MasOS or UNIX. Web browsers utilize HTTP to communicate with a server and then translate HTML code to display pages on the client computer.   Clicking on a hypertext link, which is an embedded address or URL, will effect a transfer of information, whether to another document, image or file. Hypertext is something of a mis-nomer, as links within a web document can also be anchored to images.             (2002) further explained that HyperText Transfer Protocol enables the easy retrieval of documents from the Internet regardless of where they are held. HTTP defines URLs not only for the Web but also FTL, Gopher and Usenet sites, making it an extremely useful means of accessing a wide range of document. To implement data transfer as simply as possible, HTTP provides web authors with the ability to embed hypertext links within documents. a) Discuss the following terms as applied to the HTTP and explain how each can provide performance improvements to HTTP applications: • Persistent connections             Wikipedia explains, “HTTP persistent connection is a connection method introduced in HTTP/1.1 which enables using one connection to send/receive multiple HTTP requests/responses” (see picture below). Figure 1: Schema of multiple vs. persistent connection. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HTTP_persistent_connection.svg)                         Among its advantages are: (1) since there are less connections that are open simultaneously, there us less memory and CPU usage; (2) HTTP pipelining of responses and requests is enabled; (3) because TCP connections are fewer, network congestion is reduced; (4) no handshake is observed so subsequent requests with latency is reduced; and, (5) TCP connection was usually closed for penalty but not anymore during reports of error.             RFC 2616 explains, “a single-user client should not maintain more than 2 connections with any server or proxy. A proxy should use up to 2*N connections to another server or proxy, where N is the number of simultaneously active users. These guidelines are intended to improve HTTP response times and avoid congestion.”             On the other hand, there are web browsers that support persistent connections to their proxies and web servers. Netscape navigator queues all persistent connections that are idling. Internet Explorer however, typically opens 2 connections for each server. Inactive persistent connections for 60 seconds goes time out. Mozilla Firefox also supports persistent connections with customized per-server and per-proxy. Finally, Opera also supports persistent connections like Mozilla’s.   • Pipelining             HTTP requests are normally issued sequentially. Response to the present request must be totally received before issuing the next request. The following request depends on bandwidth limitations and network latencies causing considerable delay before it is seen by the server.              (2005) explains, “HTTP allows multiple HTTP requests to be written out to a socket together without waiting for the corresponding responses. The requestor then waits for the responses to arrive in the order in which they were requested. The act of pipelining the requests can result in a dramatic improvement in page loading times, especially over high latency connections.” Figure 2: Schema of non-pipelined vs. pipelined connection.               There has been a striking development in page loading times with pipelining of requests, especially at high latency connections like the satellite Internet connections. Moreover, network load is abridged as few TCP packets are sent over the network. This happens because a number of HTTP requests may fit into a single TCP packet.             HEAD and GET requests are the only idempotent requests that can be pipelined. PUT and POST requests are not to be pipelined. New connection with requests should not be pipelined also as they have not been yet determined if the proxy or origin server supports HTTP/1.1. This means that pipelining may only be done on reusing existing persistent connection.             Both the server and the client is required in HTTP pipelining. However, servers are not required to pipeline responses. They are required not to fail if clients choose to pipeline requests.             RFC 2616 explains that: “a client that supports persistent connections MAY “pipeline” its requests (i.e., send multiple requests without waiting for each response). A server MUST send its responses to those requests in the same order that the requests were received. Clients which assume persistent connections and pipeline immediately after connection establishment SHOULD be prepared to retry their connection if the first pipelined attempt fails. If a client does such a retry, it MUST NOT pipeline before it knows the connection is persistent. Client MUST also be prepared to resend their requests if the server closes the connection before sending all of the corresponding responses. Client SHOULD NOT pipeline requests using non-indempotent methods or non-indempotent sequences of methods. Otherwise, a premature termination of the transport connection could lead to indeterminate results. A client wishing to send a non-idempotent request SHOULD wait to send that request until it has received response status for the previous request.”   • Conditional GET / client caching             GET is the most common type of HTTP request. GET is used to request a “representation of the specified resource”. It is considered a safe method because they are intentionally for retrieval of information only and should not alter the status of the server. This means that they should not have side effects. However, GET requests in practice may still cause modifications on the server.             GET is also defined to be a idempotent method. This means that numerous matching requests should have the same outcome as a single request.             An example of a change on the server is when an HTML page uses a plain hyperlink to start deletion of a domain database record, this causes an adjustment of the server’s status as a side-effect of a GET request. This is not encouraged as it can cause problems for search engines, Web caching and other automated agents, who can create unintentional modifications on the server.             The three basic means of HTTP for controlling caches is defined by Wikipedia as:             “Freshness allows a response to be used without re-checking it on the origin server, and can be controlled by both the server and the client. For example, the Expires response header gives a date when the document becomes stale, and the Cache-Control: max-age directive tells the cache how many seconds the response is fresh for; Validation can be used to check whether a cached response is still good after it becomes stale. For example, if the response has a Last-Modified header, a cache can make conditional request using the If-Modified-Since header to see if it has changed; and, Invalidation is usually a side effect of another request that passes through the cache. For example, if URL associated with a cached response subsequently gets a POST, PUT or DELETE request, the cached response will be invalidated.”   b) Outline THREE different Internet protocols commonly used to retrieve mail from mail servers by e-mail user agents. Compare and contrast these.             Domain Name System.  (1999) explains that: “A domain name is an easy-to-remember replacement for an Internet address. When an individual or corporation registers for a domain name, it is actually assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address. This address "consists of several domains, `moving left to right from the most specific to the most general, with each domain separated by periods. Because IP addresses are difficult to remember, Internet users substitute unique "domain names" as pseudonyms for the computer's real identification number. When a domain name is entered into a computer it is automatically converted into the numbered address, which contacts the appropriate site.”             Post Office Protocol. Sloboda explains that: “POP3 is the set of standards and languages that ISPs use to rout electronic mail from the sender to the receiver. It is the e-mail equivalent of a street address and zip code. Users log into their ISP am download messages to their computers from the ISP's server Traditional ISP accounts use the POP3 system. It is one of the easiest to use and requires software that generally comes with a web browser Popular e-mail software. With traditional POP e-mail, the messages are transferred from the computers of the ISP to the user's. web-based e-mail services store all "read," "unread" and "sent" e-mail on the provider's computer. The messages are never transferred to the user's computer. This gives the user the advantage of being able to log into any Internet accessible computer to access their e-mail files. With POP e-mail, the user can only access old messages from their computer. POP e-mail, or POP3, is a common e-mail system used by most ISPs and some corporate e-mail systems.”             Internet Message Access Protocol. (2005) explains that: “Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a similar but more powerful program that was developed at  University in 1986. It is currently in its fourth version (IMAP4). Its advantage is that it allows you to search messages that are still on the mail server for keywords and thus decide which to download; that is, it allows one to create killflles.”             Of the three, POP3 is the one that is used more as it can be accessed and used anywhere anytime. It is the most recommended one.   Task 4 – IntServ and QoS             In computer networking, an architecture that states the fundamentals to guarantee quality of service (QoS) on networks is called IntServ or integrated services. For example, IntServ can be used to let sound and video reach the receiver with no disruption.             The design of IntServ is that all application has to make an individual reservation if it requires some kind of gurantees. In addition, each router in the system must implement IntServ. The purpose of the reservation is descrive by “Flow Specs”, while the fundamental mechanism to hint it across the network is “RSVP” . a) Explain how the Integrated Services (Intserv) architecture allows an Internet connection to have a guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS).               It has been said that many establishments want the best out of their network. Now, who wouldn’t? Everyone wants a network that absolutely guarantees its performance. That is, to convene an absolute, worst-case scenario for response time or latency. Not just that, a predictable performance is not enough; everyone wants a performance bounded with the promise that end-to-end delay will not go beyond a particular limit. To achieve these, a network must have an industrial-strength quality of service (QOS).             Manipulating internal queues to manage the order in which different traffic types are programmed for transmission on outbound links is a packet-scheduling task in most routers and some switches. First-in, first-out (FIFO) scheduling is simple compared to these sophisticated techniques.             Application of any of these scheduling algorithms requires traffic to be classified first as it enters the router. This classification can be based upon the explicit signaling information located within each packet, TCP/UDP socket number, incoming router port or source/destination IP address.             Packet scheduling may start as soon as traffic classification is done whereas prioritization is the most straightforward technique. “Fairness” may have to be featured into the scheduling algorithm as low-priority applications experience time-outs before transmission.             Multiple disintegration of high-priority traffic will bring queuing interruptions while competing for the router output link. Once congestion take place, prioritization cannot guarantee vital data will reach its end in a timely style - only high-priority packets will leave the router ahead of low-priority packets.             Router prioritization is sufficient to make sure transaction-processing applications are prioritized in a router network. However, it cannot guarantee network performance.             Then what is enough to guarantee delay through a network if router prioritization does not? According to Passmore (1998), link bandwidth reservation is the simple answer. However, he also explains that “allocating bandwidth in a way that achieves bounded, end-to-end latency is very complex.”             Packet scheduling is the same mechanism implemented by routers for bandwidth reservation. But there is a difference. Bandwidth (and equivalent router buffer) allotment is expected to be necessary for every link down a network pathway if end-to-end latency guarantees should be met. The test is to tweak the routers so the required bandwidth will be allocated in the occurrence of dynamically changing network topologies, a large number of traffic classes and new application requirements.             Then a few years back, an IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) working group developed an answer to a guaranteed latency that utilizes more administrator-friendly packet-scheduling technique with a technique to control traffic entry into the network. Integrated Services (IntServ) was born.             Unfortunately, it still was not adequate to meet complete latency guarantees. A way to reserve bandwidth before a flow traverses the network, so the routers can allocate buffers beforehand (or point out that guaranteed end-to-end service cannot be delivered) would be needed. This is where RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol) comes in.             So what happens here? Wikipedia explains how: “all machines on the network capable of sending QOS data send a PATH message every 30 seconds, which spreads out through the networks. Those who want to listen to them send a corresponding RESV (short for “Reserve”) message which then traces the path backwards to the sender. The RESV message contains the flow specs. The routers between the sender and listener have to decide if they can support the reservation being requested, and if they cannot then send a reject message to let the listener know about it. Otherwise, once they accept the reservation they have to carry the traffic. The routers then store the nature of the flow, and also police it. This is all done in soft state, so if nothing is heard for a certain length of time, then the reader will time out and the reservation will be cancelled. This solves the problem if either the sender or the receiver crash or are shut down incorrectly without first canceling the reservation. The individual routers may, at their option, police the traffic to check that it conforms to the flow specs.” b) Explain how the Differentiated Services (Diffserv) architecture allows an Internet connection to have a differentiated QoS.                         Wikipedia states that: “DiffServ or Differentiated Services is a computer networking architecture that specifies a simple, scalable and coarse-grained mechanism for classifying, managing network traffic and providing QOS guarantees on modern IP networks. DiffServe can, for example, be used to provide low-latency, guaranteed service (GS) to critical network traffic such as voice or video while providing simple best-effort traffic guarantees to non-critical services such as web traffic or file transfers.”             DiffServ is another IETF work and standards alternative that relies on the Type of Service (TOS) bits within each IP packet header to signal service quality. Each router can then classify traffic based on the TOS bits and adjust its scheduling algorithm as needed for the packets in each service class.             DiffServ is yet another "good news, bad news" situation. Using TOS bits provides information to the router only after each packet arrives. With this signaling mechanism, there is no concept of a flow and the router doesn't have to maintain any flow state information. This is good news, because DiffServ doesn't suffer from scalability problems.             The bad news is that the lack of state information makes the router less effective in providing QOS - it can't know how to reserve buffers before incoming traffic flows arrive. That's why the IETF calls it differentiated rather than guaranteed service. While DiffServ promises to become useful for transaction processing or other traffic that benefits from prioritization, it can't provide strict network latency guarantees. c) Explain why it is likely to be difficult to implement Intserv in the core of the Internet.               IntServ is not actually very popular. The reason? Its because it makes it difficult to track all reservations. How come? IntServ works on a small-scale but each router has to store many states. This makes it difficult to track all reservations as networks scale up to an Internet size system.             It has been found that the solution for this problem is a mutli-level approach.   Task 5 – 60 Marks             Using available Internet and library resources, research the provisions of the ISO standard 17799: 2005 – Code of Practice for Information Security Management. a) Outline the CLAUSES and CONTROL OBJECTIVES of the standard.             International Standards Organization (ISO) 17799, a set of recommendations organized into ten major sections covering all facets of information systems policies and procedures. the ten domains of ISO 17799 and what they help with are (Andress, 2003):             “(1). Business continuity planning – counteract interruptions to business activities and to critical business processes from the effects of major failures or disasters. (2). System access control – control access to information; stop unauthorized admission to information systems; guarantee the fortification of networked services; thwart unauthorized computer admittance; detect unauthorized activities and guarantee information safety when traveling and telecommuting.   (3). System development and maintenance – ensure security is built into operational systems; prevent loss, modification, or misuse of user data in application systems; protect the confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity of information; maintain the security of application system software and data; and ensure that information technology (IT) projects and support activities are conducted in a secure manner. (4). Environmental and physical security – thwart unauthorized entrance and damage to and interference with business grounds and information; stop loss or compromise of property and disruption to business actions; and percent cooperation or stealing of information-processing facilities. (5). Compliance – avoid breaches of any criminal or civil law, any statutory, regulatory, or contractual obligations and any security requirements; ensure compliance of systems with organizational security policies and standards; and, maximize the effectiveness of-and minimize interference to and from-the system-audit process. (6). Personnel security – decrease risks of human mistake, robbery, deception, or mistreatment of amenities; guarantee that users are conscious of information safety threats and concerns, and are ready to support the corporate security policy in the itinerary of their usual work; and, reduce the harm from security incidents and malfunctions and learn from such incidents. (7). Security organization – manage information security within organization; maintain the security of organization information-processing facilities and information assets accessed by third parties; and, maintain the security of information when the responsibility for information processing has been outsourced to another organization. (8). Computer and network management – guarantee the right and safe process of information-processing services; reduce the danger of systems failure; defend the reliability of software and information; preserve the reliability and ease of use of information dispensation and communication; guarantee the conservation of information in networks and the defense of the sustaining communications; avoid harm to resources and interruptions to company activities; and, put off loss, alteration, or mistreatment of information exchanged amid organizations. (9). Asset classification and control – maintain appropriate protection of corporate assets and ensure that information assets receive an appropriate level of protection. (10). Security policy - provide management direction and support for information security.” b) For each of the clauses, critically appraise how the main control objectives relate to an organisation with which you are familiar and briefly outline what would be required to enable the organisation to meet the objective.             ISO 17799 also provides guidelines for an auditing standard. Obtaining ISO 17799 certification is a long, arduous process. Many toolkits and policy templates are available to help make everything a bit easier.             Request for Comments (RFCs) 2196 and 2504 also provide excellent starting points for creating a solid security policy. Gartner Group, a Stamford, Connecticut, research firm, recommends that a strong information security policy contain the following key components (see below): Gartner Group provides the following tips to help you avoid the common pitfalls in policy writing: Avoid creating information-security policies without considering the organization's culture. Many security policies are developed using templates or sample policies from other organizations. Information-security policies that are inconsistent with the organization's culture and business practices will often lead to widespread noncompliance. Develop policies that are realistic and explicitly endorsed by management. Before issuing the policy, address concerns regarding user acceptance and costs associated with retrofitting systems or business practices. Don't underestimate the need for effective policy-awareness programs. Employees must understand a policy before they can be expected to comply with it. An effective awareness program should include advance notice of the policy and an announcement letter from a key stakeholder. When the policy is issued, it should mention compliance-monitoring measures and whether there will be a grace period before these activities begin. It is extremely important that the procedures for obtaining policy exceptions and reporting violations be thoroughly explained. An awareness campaign should include regular reminders to employees and might also include self-audits that can aid employees and departmental managers in identifying compliance issues. Develop policies in conjunction with compliance-monitoring procedures and include disciplinary action for noncompliance. Compliance-monitoring procedures are needed to ensure that policy-interpretation errors and violations are detected and addressed. Where possible, organizations should implement automated tools to ensure timely, consistent policy enforcement. If manual processes are used, they must be regularly scheduled. Incidents must be formally tracked and investigated, policy violations must be handled according to severity, and disciplinary actions must be applied consistently. Incident-management procedures should address how to investigate and collect evidence and when to contact law-enforcement agencies. Finally, data on employee compliance, exceptions, and violations must be communicated regularly to senior leadership to ensure that they remain informed and supportive.              (2003) recommends also: a statement of ownership of information, definition of an employee / user’s responsibility for the protection of the information asset and intended recourse for noncompliance. She further explains that there are keys to a successfully developed and implemented information security policy and is lies in the answers to the ff. questions: do employees understand the difference between appropriate and inappropriate use? Will employees report apparent violations? And do employees know how to report apparent violations?             If the answer to all three questions is yes, then the employees will follow and adhere to the policies.

CNM Assignment

COMPUTER NETWORKING AND MANAGEMENT Task 3 – HTTP Upon connecting to the Internet, there are various different protocols and ...

Cryptography

Second Sight   Introduction             Before the onset of electronically sending mails through the Internet, we used to send mails through the Postal Service, which is now more appropriately called snail mail. The main problem with snail mail is that there is a great potential that it could be easily opened by other elements. Unlike snail mail, emails, the electronic mail sent through the Internet, do not have envelopes to seal them up. However, it uses security measures like password retrieval in protecting its contents. The same concept applies to the use of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or debit cards. It uses highly encrypted messages to secure the account information of the cardholders. This solution is commonly called cryptography.             From the Greek word kryptos which means hidden and grafein which means to write, cryptography is a discipline of mathematics concerned with information security [1]. It works mainly around algorithms. However, observers said that “cryptography is about communication in the presence of adversaries” [2].             Crytography has been in influence for the past 2000 years and yet it has only been recently modernized as it branched out in computer science. Issues related such as access control, authentication and encryption are used for the main purpose of hiding messages.             Other than the prioritized purpose of confidentiality, cryptography is also used to provide: data integrity, entity authentication, data origin authentication, and non-reputation.             There are certain non-cryptographic techniques such as error-correcting codes that are used to protect cases of accidental or deliberate corruption of data. Yet these techniques are insufficient since they rely on public information. So for protection, a cryptographic keys are used. These keys are values known only to the sender and (possibly) the receiver. More on is discussed later on.             The public release of RSA, an algorithm that is used for both public key encryption and digital signatures [3], made Cryptography a widely used tool. It is currently used in computer networks, general computer security and communications. The problem with RSA relies heavily on the difficulty of factoring very large composite numbers into their primes. A computer that is said to do this gives great interest to large numbers of various organizations including the government for electronic and financial privacy. Here lies quantum computing.             Below is an elaborate discussion of quantum computers, with its advantages and limitations. But before that, a brief discussion of public and symmetric key cryptography.             Discussion of Public Key and Symmetric Key Cryptography             The main idea is to disguise confidential information so its meaning is unintelligible to an unauthorized person. The two most common uses are to store data securely in a computer file or to transmit it across an insecure channel like the Internet. Either way, the fact that the document is encrypted does not prevent unauthorized people gaining access to it but, rather, ensures that they cannot understand what they see.             The information to be concealed is called the Plaintext and Encryption is the operation of disguising it. The encrypted plaintext is called the ciphertext or cryptogram and the set of rules used to encrypt information plaintext is the encryption algorithm. Its operation depends on an encryption key, which is input to the algorithm together with the message. In order that the recipient can obtain the message from the cryptogram there has to be a decryption algorithm which, when used with the appropriate decryption key, reproduces the plaintext from the ciphertext.             Any person who intercepts a message during transmission is called, an interceptor. However, it must be recognized that, on occasions, the interceptors may be the ‘good guys’. Even if they know the decryption algorithm, interceptors do not know the decryption key. It is this lack of knowledge that prevents them from knowing the plaintext.             The fact that the knowledge of the encryption key is not necessary for obtaining the message from the cryptogram led to a natural division into two types of cipher systems: symmetric and asymmetric.             A conventional or symmetric key is a cipher system where the decryption key is easy to deduce from the encryption key. In practice, this system is often called secret key or one-key systems. However, the system is called asymmetric or public key if it is practically impossible to deduce the decryption key from the encryption key.   Discussion of the Advantages of Quantum Computing in Cryptography              Quantum Computing is the key to a faster computing compared to the conventional ones. A quantum computer is based on the idea of a quantum bit or qubit [4]. Conventional computers, has a bit which represents either a zero state or a one state. A qubit on the other hand, can be in a linear superposition of the two states. Because of this, quantum parallelism allows many exponential computations to take place simultaneously, vastly increasing the speed of computation.             Moreover, because of the large quantities of numbers that quantum computers could accomplish in a short span of time, it is highly advisable for banks to use them considering the magnitude of transactions bank handle on a day-to-day basis.                         Discussion of the Limitations of Quantum Computing in Cryptography             Today, RSA and some other Cryptography techniques are used in many types of data such as encrypted email and Web pages. Quantum computers’ ability to make large computations on a fast rate allows them to “break” cryptographic systems that are in use today. This ability would then be used against it. Thus, it will suffer serious consequences on invasion of privacy.             Besides, quantum computing is still in its infancy. There is still a long way to go. If institutions could invest in further in its research, then it would be good for us. Especially for industries like banking which relies hugely on privacy.   Conclusion             Actually, the development and open academic study and research of Quantum Computing in Cryptography is only recent compared to other aspects of math and science. There is still many to develop when it comes to Quantum Computers.             Currently, only very small quantum computers have been built, and so they are essentially a theoretical concept. However, if quantum computers become a reality, then the situation will change dramatically. Very substantial sums of money are currently being spent worldwide on supporting research are currently being spent worldwide on supporting research into the probability of quantum computing. If suitably sophisticated quantum computers could be built, then they would make exhaustive research significantly faster and more secure for the benefit of everyone.             Like a credit card with smart card capabilities. These cards try to combine portability with the power to compute modern cryptographic algorithms. Actually, Cryptography is used in many applications that touch everyday life; the security of computer passwords, and electronic commerce all depend on cryptography.             Researchers are cautious about the likelihood of building quantum computers. Nevertheless, there is some optimism in the field and the possibility should not be ignored.             Quantum cryptography is currently more viable than quantum computing because the two are actually far different from each other.

Cryptography

Second Sight Introduction Before the onset of electronically sending mails through the Internet, we used to send mails th...

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN A CALL CENTER BUSINESS

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN A CALL CENTER BUSINESS A call center business is a centralized business that used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting huge number of requests through telephone.  This kind of industry is operated by a company to administer incoming product support information and inquiries from the clients through out the globe.  In addition to that, call center is a business where there is a large volume of collective handling letters, faxes, live chat and e-mails    with the wide range of clients.  Furthermore,  a call center industry is often operated  through a wide spread open work space for call center agents who have  designated work stations that include a computer unit for each agent, a telephone set or headset connected to a telecom switch. As well as more supervisor stations which also keep monitoring the daily performance of all call center agents on the floor.  A call center can be solely operated or networked with other centers which more often linked to a corporate computer network.   The main technology resources of this kind of business are microcomputers and LANs.  Aside from that, the distribution of voice and data pathways   are all set by   the principles of a current technology system called Computer Technology Integration or CTI.  With the intervention of globalization, there are many businesses nowadays that are using   call centers to interact more effectively and efficiently with their large volume of clients through out the world.  The call center services are used for utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, customer support for computer hardware and software.  There are some businesses that even service internal functions through call centers such as help desks, retail financial support and sales support.  This is a customer interaction center business that aims to provide excellent customer service to all its clients.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_centre) In this connection, call center technology requires more innovations and improvements like any other industries.  This business should always adapt new ideas and   practices among its employees in order to meet the large demand in the international market.    And, some of these current technologies include speech recognition software; this allows computer to handle first class customer support, text mining and natural language processing in order to have a better customer handling.   More than anything else, the agents should have the excellent trainings and seminars on how to deal properly with the different kinds of customers in the call center industry.  Equally important is the support automation and other new improved technologies to improve call center agents’ performance and productivity to achieve customer satisfaction.  Specifically, call centers are based on premise-based technology; PBX equipment   which is owned and hosted by the call center operator provides functions such as automatic call distribution, interactive voice response and skills based routing; as well as the creation of the software as a service technology pattern of the business. On the other hand, the virtual call center has emerged in the industry as   the product of the Software service technology.  The virtual call center has been developed to allow people to work from home instead of in the traditional offices.  This is especially designed for the people who have physical disabilities that stop then from leaving the house to work.  Besides, there is one more software service called Cloud Computing for call centers that provides application programming interfaces (APIs) on the call center cloud computing platform that allows call center to function as  to integrate with cloud based customer  service relationship  management in the sales force.  Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) provides developers with an access to basic telephone controls and sophistications on the call handling application.  Relatively, the  configuration   of Application Programming Interface provides programmatic control in the administrative functions of the call center  environment;  this is usually  operated by a human administrator through a Graphical User Interface or (GUI).   (http://www.tbicentral.com/itobpo.aspx) Moreover, the calls of the clients are categorized as inbound calls which primarily want to obtain information about the products and services; as well as to report malfunction or ask for any assistance from the call center agent.  In the contrary, the outbound calls are made by the call center agents to the clients; this is to do telemarketing or collection purposes; and to promote the company’s products and services.  Typically, call center employees are usually organized through a mufti-level support system for more well organized call handlings.  The first level consists of operators, they are the one who answer calls and provide essential information to the clients.  Just in case, the caller needs further assistance, the call will be elevated to the call center supervisors.  The third level is composed of support group such as engineers or developers and highly skilled technical support staff.  (http://www.tbicentral.com/itobpo.aspx) References: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_centre) (http://www.tbicentral.com/itobpo.aspx)

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN A CALL CENTER BUSINESS

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN A CALL CENTER BUSINESS A call center business is a centralized business that used for the purpose of ...

Computerized Motor Trade Loan System

COMPUTERIZED MOTOR TRADE LOAN SYSTEM       There are many companies who offer vehicle loan system they offer flexible term conditions so customers can choose on their payment scheme according to their budget but usually most of this companies offer manual loan system that includes a manual application, the customer will visit their office for application and an agent will visit them for personal investigation. The applicant must also submit many forms and identification upon processing and later they have to wait for a long time upon approval of loan but this does not guarantee that the person that are approved from application of vehicle loan is really qualified. There are also times that the applicant would pay in the first few months then later become delinquent in their later months, so the motor loan trading companies result in pulling their vehicle back or resort in court settlement that even prolong the process in this way both of them looses.          For customers who would like to get a motor vehicle through mortgage term is now possible using online motor loan trading system and for those who have a car who would like to use it as collateral to get a loan. Home, Building, Education even retirement and other services is being loan and mortgage is a very enticing offer that you can have the product almost instantly. In United Kingdom, Rainbow Group Company offers a unique application system in early November of 2011 that they are accepting online application for customers convenience this includes real time online generation and input of applicant information including the desired amount and flexible payment scheme and most of all the rules and regulation is also provided on the internet for the customers to download or read.       This is a very convenient motor trading practices since customers can save their time visiting their offices and discussing so much, applicants can also do so if they like but most importantly they have already learned the ins and out of the company in their websites and they are already prepared upon application but they can settle to apply online and the goods will be delivered including insurance that will provide the needed benefits. Quotes can also be done online the berg of the internet has made it possible to make all this transaction easier more and more motor trading companies are adapting computer trading system for a more efficient services and trading practices.  https://www.rainbowgrp.co.uk/online-application-and-convenience-in-getting-a-car-loan       Motor Trade Financing in New Zealand also offer online application loan for different vehicles including motorbike, car loan, van, vehicle lease and other vehicle types for customers who would like to use their car in exchange of loan. They also offer flexible financing scheme to meet your budget upon application customers can have their own individual account so they can trace their payment history and other data and read certain rules and regulations, and payment policy. They can also ask and inquire online or find a car dealer online if they are looking for a particular vehicle, meet with other online contact and sellers so the trading practices is not just a seller to customers but they can also offer their own vehicle to other customers through the intervention of the company online. They also have online calculator to suit all the customers computing needs and quotes provision, this way they can pre arrange multi option of what the company can offer according to the capacity of the customers and loan applicant.    http://www.mtf.co.nz/Loans/car-finance.aspx            For Motor Trading Companies who would like to have their own computerized loan and mortgage system there are many great software developer and website designer to build their program so they can interact with customers in the easiest possible ways no matter where their customers are. They can also download simple software on the internet if they like to build their own motor trading system, Motrade offers trader software for a minimum amount but it is still under provision but you can check them out about what they offer is really an amazing program in the future of motor trade loan system. This includes Motor Trade Software for vehicle stock management, online and offline booking of customers, test drive insurance, customer’s information, and unique account access of customers so they can evaluate individual customers.         Motrade also offer free Motor Trader Software for a good management of vehicle stocks, database of customers, preparation of documents, booking, trading policy and other services for the convenience of their customers and employees. This software if very good in maintaining a balanced records and retrieval of history if there is any argument of settlement of accounts the data will not be lost. There are also many other software available of the internet for motor trading companies that they can choose from according to their specific needs and the presence of technology allows them to gain customers satisfaction and service efficiency while using it but most of all they can gain more new clients using the computerized and online system. Find out more about their website. (http://www.motrade.com/loan-car-motor-trade-software.aspx) Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Computerized Motor Trade Loan System

COMPUTERIZED MOTOR TRADE LOAN SYSTEM There are many companies who offer vehicle loan system they offer flexible term conditions s...

Distributed Operating System

Analyse the architecture in a distributed environment for the following scenario   Object:         Successful computer systems transactions and its process applications and implementation involves amicably the process of OS – the operating systems in distribution that reflects such user groups linking towards a better avenue for technological communications as it implies the needed system mechanisms in forms of local systems, TPS, SAP and MIS as these can be considered as crucial factors  required for acceptable and valid measures for the operating systems distribution that will be implemented through useful realization of client to server architecture and interfaces. Thus, contemporary operating systems OS distribution will basically offer users with clear entrance to certain property of PC systems through item concept distribution that involves networking process that are to be transmitted in a systematic flow of the systems as handed down through for instance, the CPU processors and cable modulation and used modems for the possible way in of consistency and competence of the operating systems in a way of internal execution of known abstraction as the available architecture can be focusing on centralized storage of entity situation found in such nodes of network as well as in process of distribution amid some nodes reflected through collective memory distribution.     Aside, in operating systems OS, the dispersed computation support can be limited into such system protocol load as the assembly of disseminated application require superior communication services like for instance, the remote process call, spread organization primitive as well as the dispersed joint reminiscence as there is growing difficulty among software scheme in terms of providing OS developers with well-organized, dependable and protected access within resource networks and the integration of circulated totaling back-up into such service system as it becomes necessary software sections for example, those in heading structure as the operating system in its implementation level as there agrees to construction of successful architecture in sustaining combined position of primitives in terms of accessing to restricted as well as remote property as the distributed operating scheme involves certain software stage that provides such application with ordinary implementation environment involving distributed system in engaging access to hardware as well as software properties within systems and functions in its respected communication services and that, such operating schemes that must involve such requirements crucial for the proper distribution of the OS ways as explained as follows:       The use of convenient interface as the temperament of dispersed systems as hard for such users and developers in working for centralized purpose that will relate to the heterogeneity of contact within restricted and isolated resources in providing asynchronous environment that will facilitate computation as the dispersed operating system should give support into certain sets of concepts that is isolating the developers from possible planned intricacy and be able to provide suitable interface to useful resources of distributed system involved. Thus, there can also be efficiency applied to operating system as determined through sequential description of entrée in mix of resource as in dispersed background, the latencies in network as it will possibly be an output block and it is crucial for the distributed functioning system to amicably minimize the pressures behind isolated communication within operating software procedures. Another, in lack of error tolerance devices as there has to be sole node and or connecting network breakdown will place the entire distributed scheme not in its sequence and will be the cause for certain data loss and that the distributed functioning scheme will have to give dependable computation hold up that will have disused execution as well as storage and also fault revival.   The use of TPS Systems that involve certain multi-platform and OS Client to Server software that has focus within such network organization solutions as TPS is in pace with such altering industrial industry and that TPS supports possible transition to innovative technology and will provide discussion of the issues with certain services developer. Thus, TPS shaped useful suites  that address connectivity necessities of users with investment in hardware/software and preserve it and the need for transition in Client/Server representation with continual access to central application, information repositories and scientific support like for instance, the use of processor architecture that has employed TCP/IP into SNA strategy downstream for software solution in lieu of meeting excellence and functional necessities for industry networks and have the skill to interface into the mainframe. Moreover, the TPShas continued the development of such browser base solution as the services were being designed in running diverse practices within such ways to simplify passage as services can be intended in considerable client contribution as the system continue working with the customers in finding ways to integrate the internet, intranet as well as the extranet as well as enterprise system and internal networks as the TPS being operationally distributed will have to evaluate the development of connections into the computer process and its systems applications in order to improve technology services into innovative networking initiative in supporting wireless communication as well as micro devices within the systems operation that links to TPS ways.   Moreover, the implementation of SAP systems relating to distributed systems has tendencies to manage service development information like for example, product structure and business changes in a lone system that will include assembly of computer process infrastructure in giving importance to operational organizing systems enabling service developers as well as service technicians and be able to work together during service cycle in meeting necessities of possible clientele and providing users contact to immediate information and help guarantee that needed element is accessible in correct place and occasion. Thus, the OS distribution can be manifested in terms of document supervision functionality as well as the application of computer aided design for integrating needed access to such information when modifications are made for better services, fast time to advertise and enhanced client service value on technology reserves as the SAP system is considered to be leading source of business software solutions for realizing high demands of companies to small and medium business into global enterprises for associate teamwork and generate efficiencies across systems operations.       The management information system implies the system process in giving necessary information in managing society efficiently as there needs ample MIS and sequence it has generated for the needed elements of careful and logical commerce decision along with progress, employ and evaluation of MIS systems as there should be definite frame of strategy, policy for organization management. The effective application of the MIS systems should make certain the suitable arrangement formats and the ample time needed by the operation and higher management as the system can be develop through automated systems that is sufficient to realize aims and objectives as such the successful delivery of possible services are being supported by MIS as this must be available and useable in various level of society. Aside, the advancing of MIS will reduce the chance that flawed decisions are completed because of imprecise information and achieving better MIS there needs for organization to have good preparation process like the deliberation of MIS needs in strategic and planned stages. For instance, in strategic level, the MIS system as well as account production should hold up systems operating plan process for lasting strategic MIS initiatives and with no progress of successful MIS, there is difficulty for the organization to determine and observe triumphs of novel initiative and development of continuing scheme.       The systems operation involves the managing such computers also hardware procedure in creating systems distribution as the function of the desired OS is basically to run interaction among entity on system and impose certain policy protection on system users and controlling the distributed system in file in lieu of monitoring troubles within software and hardware connection in application program and the allocation of such resource like file storage to system users as good quality operating scheme distribution should present computer users the notion thought that there is interaction happened in the computer respectively. There can be fresh cohort of dispersed operating system as the latter will then combine several processors in a lone practical mechanism independent of systems architecture as there is augmented accessibility and error lenience and scalability role upholding in presence of hardware failure as it depends on how processors are linked and connected as dispersed dispensation applies extra processing power to an application than a single CPU does and by means of totting up and or eliminating processors in matching application requests there can meet performance requirement and remain system expenses in minimum and will maintain its function that will involve such processors to pass information and communication through frequent memory region that will permit OS to handle such shared memory, multiprocessor planning that can include SPOX-MP as the element of OS run as the application programs interact with user's program by transition of messages through microkernel usage.   Therefore, there is different element within the OS distribution and such user's program errands can be found in whichever node in the operational system as there is gathering of processors shape lone virtual unit as it is independent of system linkage architecture as nodes in OS will have useful access within the complete system resource with scalability and the processors doesn't force changes among the application programs and there can be sole workstation and then travels to the multiprocessor system with no altering of codes although the OS distribution will allow such job to sprint on several nodes and making duty limited to possible node having precise hardware as there can be reduction of information traffic along with the network interconnection and through the poignant tasks off in nodes, such operating system has the power to remove lumps within OS distribution for the upholding and upgrading devoid of interrupting scheme process and if certain nodes fail the operating system and its respected operator will shift errands against running nodes and start once more the process before trying to revamp malfunction as OS distribution provide collapse recognition that is lacking a breakdown discovery that involves wrecked connection that will transport the system to halt completion. For a clear understanding of the OS in distribution, consider the following below illustration          A.  Distributed object with one replica B. Distributed object with several replicas   Source of the diagrams: Distributed Operating System Project From:     The Above Figure: The distributed object architecture As the distributed object architecture shown above has certain advantages as it effectively separates the substance semantics as well as its duplication approach and do not compel any limitation on duplication algorithms being use as for entity, there is protocol access and the providing of elevated competence upon the protection of necessary consistency guarantee as applied properly.   In presentation, velocity as well as bandwidth boundaries of be linked organization may oblige limitations unless it is accounted for application's plan and latent inheritance in distributed system as it can also control operating system’s scaling. The operating systems distribution will create certain interconnect architecture as well as hardware totally see-through within the application program that will have an effect in such function and or presentation as the OS provides qualities of scalability and practical lucidity to systems integrating numerous processors as the distributed system will call for orientation architecture that integrate organization observation as there shows that networks and operating scheme as well as the function routine desire for the integrated method for operation systems distribution process.       In the scenario the distributed system is operating effortlessly as there is a user application answer that increases to acceptable stage and the presence of a control program in order to begin the monitoring scheme property as well as the storing of data in restricted information basis of networks and the node supply operation and load on precise processes that are being sent in model instrument that simulate such definite structure configuration and implemented in existing workload data that is validated by means of system information as gathered initially and that the assimilation of system observation as well as information administration and OS practices will direct an enhanced distribution of operation system’s consistency and presentation as there requires not only to involve running network service and strategy but also possible scheme service and property as reflected in successful user application upon usage and transmission of expected data and information.                  Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Distributed Operating System

Analyse the architecture in a distributed environment for the following scenario Object: ...