Started from 7 December I attend supported course which is: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Fast Track, as a recommended course from my supervisor.Then as i have been told, i will be assigned for new tasks which needs CCNA course to be solved...

Follow survey...

Part 1

General overview about GSM wireless network

The GSM wireless network can be partitioned into two major segments which are:

-          Radio Access Network (RAN)

-          Core Network (CN)

Figure down explain more

The way of registering a handset in the GSM system works like explain down:

The handset listen for a SID (System identification number) which being broadcasted by the nearest BTS (Base transceiver station), while the BTS received SID, the handset send its IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) as well MIN (Mobile identity number) then goes through the BSC (base station controller ) where the transmission is determined whether it’s voice or data. The BSC and BTS together called BSS (Base station subsystem).

Then directly goes to the MSC (Mobile switching center) where subscribers get authenticated, validated also the process of subscribers database SIM details which are HLR (Home location register) and VLR (Visitor location register) get checks in here, so the time that subscriber services confirmed, it goes back to the handset the same way. Although these all happen so fast that customers don’t even notice.  

An alternate part in the system is the GMSC (Gateway Mobile Switching Center) which routes calls targeted to another carrier’s wireless network or the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network). Also there is a VLR (Visitor Location Register) which is used to load balancing as it stores subsets of information from the HLR when the subscriber is not in his home area.

For data service, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), the SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) perform as the MSC, then goes to the GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node), then depending on the APN (Access Point Name), it will go out to the Internet in varied ways. For the APNs there are three which commonly used

-          GOAM.com: is used for plain text browsing and accesses the internet by WAP gateway.

-          Internet.com: used for HTML browsing, accesses the Internet by a NAT Server.

-          Media.com: used for multimedia messaging, accesses the Internet by a WAP Gateway, then a MMSC (Multimedia Service Centre) or SMTP server (for email).

Part 2

Analysis the survey to find a new antenna location at BIT BOS area in Sana’a:

Figure below shows BIT BOS area:

An antenna is one of the most critical issues in any RF communications system. The antenna performance determines the quality and the Continuum of data flow in both directions. Selection of the antenna is often deferred to the first phases of a program and the quality of the selection is usually driven by value (quality, performance and price) not by price. The actual performance of the antenna in the system is always verified until after the system is installed, if at all.

It is important to make a level of common understanding among the system designer, the system integrator, the user and the antenna supplier regarding the required antenna performance. The joint goal of this team is to maximize the performance of the total system while minimizing cost.

In here is outlining the major questions regarding antenna parameter which should be answered prior to making a final antenna selection.

First, what kind of radiation pattern is desired?

This is the first major of antenna selection. The only way to increase gain is to concentrate power in a narrower beam width .The narrower the beam width, the greater the gain of the antenna. A good conceptual example of this concentration is the vertical Omnidirectional antenna. It is used for line-of-sight communications with mobile stations.

Second, what is the maximum allowable VSWR?

VSWR (voltage-standing-wave-ratio) which represents the degree with which an antenna is "matched" to the system impedance. Most modern antennas do not require any tuning for o optimum performance. VSWR is one of the easiest parameters to measure and VSWR meters are becoming very popular antenna installation tools. Most modern antennas, receivers and transmitters are designed for peak performance when operating into a 50 Ohm transmission line. If the VSWR is too high, the transmitter power may be reduced as well as the strength of the received signal.

Third, what polarization is required?

The common types of system polarization are vertical, horizontal or elliptical. Selecting the proper polarization for the system can enhance the overall performance by minimizing the interference from adjoining systems. For example, by installing system orthogonal to other systems in the area, you can provide up to 20 dB of isolation

Fourth, where will the antenna be mounted?

 Real impact comes when estimate the total environment and whether the antenna will perform and survive once installed. Moreover, the impact of local zoning ordinances and regulations on installing antennas should not be underestimated. The integral strength of the design must be considered such as its ability to withstand wind, ice, heat or cold and other extremes. In addition assess the ability of the major components such as the feed, the radome and connectors to withstand stress.

Fifth, how to choose the appropriate location for outdoor antenna

1-      The location should be high so the signals can cover the wanted area.

2-      The location should be not in a crowded area due to the signal’s effects on the human being, if so’ the signal power should not be high.

3-       To avoid annoying interference happening, the used frequency slots must be deferent from any other frequency that can reach that area.

4-      The antenna carrying capacity is at most 16 users calling at the same time, means if the antenna location in crowded area we should lower the frequency signal power, so that allow to reuse the same frequency slot in new different area without happening interference: as the signal power of the first location could not reach to new location where same slot of frequency is used.

Sixth, the challenges that we faced during the survey is

1-      Locations owners afraid of the antenna side effects as well the neighbors, so we need to convince them that there is no side effects could happen.

Seventh, why do we need to establish new antenna and how to know that:

The need for establishing new antenna has come from variety reasons such as:

-          Overcrowded population, in the worse case of antenna’s capacity it become able to connect with 48 users all of them calling at the same time, here I meant antenna with three sectors so, the individual sector is able to be connected with 16 user.

-          Enhance indoor signaling.

-          High data traffic, this figured out by many ways, below is the technique that we performed  before the analysis data department decide to establish new antenna :

After every cellular network design and implementation there should be network evaluation ,and to do network evaluation there are many ways, the efficient one that we performed is evaluate the network by drive test.

 Drive test is, evaluation method performed in mobile radio networks regardless of technology GSM,LTE,CDMA..Etc this way used vehicle or motor to collect the data, the vehicle or the motor contains the measurement tools “Tems investigating software, GPS, two  mobile phones” which doing data collection for network ,then after collecting the data there is step called analysis. Drive test data analysis this step is to identify problems that network has such as dropped calls, interference, high data traffic …etc .

Drive test hardware and software used in the test:

·         Laptop or notebook or other similar device with Tems investigation software installed

·          Two mobile phone or at least one

·         One GPS

·         Scanner if there is or it’s optional

The following figure shows the Standard connections:

The main objective of this test is to collect data, the data is collected by collection software and store in one or more output files below is the figure shows the job for each connection:

·         GPS: collecting data of latitude and longitude of each point / measurement data, time, speed… etc.  It is also perfect as a guide for following the correct routes.

·         MS: mobile data collection, such as signal strength  etc

·         Scanner: collecting data throughout the network, since the mobile radio is a limited and does not handle all the necessary data for a more complete analysis.

The min required to do a drive test, is a mobile device with a Tems investigation software to collect data and a GPS. Currently, there are cell phones that do everything. They have a GPS, as well as a collection of specific software. They are very practical, but still quite expensive.

Drive test investigation are:

·         Integration of new Sites or change parameters of Existing Sites.

·         Performance network and analysis.

·         Comparing, for example between two GSM networks performance.

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References

1-vijay k garg wireless communication and networking

2-http://www.tabula.com/applications/wireless.php

3-http://www.ascom.com/nt/en/index-nt/tems-products-3/tems-investigation-5.htm#overview

*For the videos and photos i will upload later coz i have problem with syncing videos form my phone*

Started since Sunday 23 of Nov 2014,,,
Nowadays we do a survey with group of Sabafon Company's Engineers in some areas in Sana'a in order to find suitable locations to be placed for new antennas which going to enhance cell phone signals.


So, until we done of this survey I will report the benefits ,task challenges we faced proofed by video and pictures.

I have been given a task which is configuration outlook to connect and access Hotmail. 

Steps of solving this task:

1-start-control panel- mail

2- Click on Add- then type the profile name that you want For me I write “Afoori”- then click ok.

3- Click Manually configure server settings or additional server types, then click Next.

4- Click Internet E-mail, and then next.

5- Enter your name, email address and for the Account Type there is either POP: Post Office Protocol or IMAP: Internet Message Access Protocol. For my task I select POP.

IMAP	POP
The IMAP protocol, by default, allows the user to keep all messages on the server. It constantly synchronizes the e-mail program with the server and displays what messages are currently present. All the actions performed on the messages (reading, moving, deleting...) will be done directly on the server.	The POP protocol, by default, is set to download all the messages from the e-mail server onto your computer. This means that all the actions performed on the messages (reading, moving, deleting...) will be performed on one's computer. Because everything is kept on the user’s computer, the user will not be able to reopen messages from any location other than the computer where the messages have been downloaded.
Because everything is kept on the server the user will be able to access the e-mail in the inbox from any computer in the world connected to the Internet and can will always find the same settings in their e-mail account.	Once e-mail is downloaded it can be accessed only using the same computer.

6- Incoming mail server configuration:

Server:pop-mail.outlook.com

Port: 995

Encrypted Connection :SSL

User name: Your email address

Password: your password

7-Outcoming mail server STMP configuration:

Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com

Port: 25 (or 587 if 25 is blocked)

Authentication: Yes

Encrypted Connection: TLS

User name: Your email address

Password: Your password

8- Click Test Account Settings to check if the input configurations are correct or not.

I face problem with log onto incoming mail server (POP3) 

the problem was pop access in hotmail.com for my account is disable so what i did is ,

a- Access my hotmail

b- Click the gear icon in the upper right and then click More mail settings.

c-Under Managing your account, click Connect devices and apps with POP. 

d- Under POP, select Enable, and then click Save.

e-The problem fixed and Outlook is ready to use 

Follow Storage Area Network... 

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The research has been completed on the time and fulfills all the below objectives:

1- For the first objective which is snapshot and advantages of SAN has been given.

2- For the architectures of SAN: layer of SAN network with the figure has given an idea about SAN architectures.

3- For the techniques that SAN uses: Three techniques explained briefly, supported with figures for each techniques , although Fiber channel techniques consider as the best due to speed and data transfer of Fiber.

4- For topologies of SAN: four topologies mentioned and explained, supported with figures for each topologies.

5- For the recommendations,  the bellow points should be taken into consideration when SAN establish:

-          Appropriate cables for the wanted network and ensure that each cable must has the same data transfer speed, for the best cable is “Fiber Optic “.

-           Determine the network needed speed, so on that we can select the appropriate equipments.

-           Choose good quality hardware, switches for the most should be chosen carefully, often core switch such “Cisco Catalyst 4500E” is needed for high speed network.

  -References 

[1] Lippitt M, Smith E, "Network Storage Concepts and protocols TechBook", 2008.

[2] Norman D, "Fiber Channel Technology For Storage Area Networks".

4 November-12 November

This is what i  have done with SAN research until now.

The information of this research from references "will be written down when i finish ". 

The research duration end by 16 of October.. 

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Storage area network is type of network which a group of servers is connected via high speed cable with storage unit “Disk array”.

The main purpose of this Network is to keep the data storage safely from users’ PCs or servers with separated storage units, so any damages happen to the servers will not affect on the data.

The below figure show simple of SAN: 

Advantages of SAN,

            -High speed data transmission by using Fiber Optic Channel.

            -Central storage units allow many servers to access at the same time.

            -Secured technique for saving data, due to data isolated far of servers damages risk.

            - Minimize the number of servers used, instead of assigning file server for each network.

            - Easy data access with time saved.

            -This technology allows connecting servers with different OS such as, Red hat, Win…etc.

Storage area network Layers, 

SAN consist of 3 layers which are:

            -Host layer, user’s PC or servers

-Fiber layer, the middle layer which connects the PCs, servers with storage unites via routers,  switches or hubs.

            -Storage layer, which is the storage unit. 

Techniques of SAN: 

There are so many techniques of SAN in here some of that techniques.

1-      Small Computer System Interface SCSI, this technique is a parallel communication where several bits are sent as a whole, on a link with several parallel channels. This is contrast to serial communication where data sent one bit at a time. SCSI could transmit data as 160Mbps within maximum distance 25m, but it consider as an old technique, because it allows to be connected with limited number of servers.

 2-      Fiber channel, this technique is high speed technology used to connect computer data storage, as well it consider as very speed connection type for storage area network.  So fiber optic cables is used to connect data storage units with servers where 10Gbps is the maximum rate of data transmission, due to that high rate of data transmission with fiber optic, it recommended if we have live stream conference and we want to video record at the time sending the recorded video to the storage units.

3-Disk array is data storage system that contains multiple disk storage, cache memory and controller.

 There is some of the disk storage leave empty so that, if one of the storage unit becomes full, the controller efficiently distributes the coming data across the empty storage while cache faster the process of data storage. 

Topologies of SAN,

There are physical topology and logical topology for the environment of fiber channel.

The logical topology is the path established between the operation system with devices “switch or hub” and the associated storage ports.

The physical topology is, interconnects among devices “storage units, switches, servers…”

The figure below describes with more details:

1-      Point to point topology, 

      consider as the simple design, in short it’s a server connects with disk storage, means no need for a fiber layer. Within this topology many servers can connect with the storage unites depends on the storage unit ports.

2-      Arbitrated loop topology,

This type of topology has fiber layer, where fiber channel hub used to connect between the servers and storage unit. But as the Hub is not efficient and old to be used switch is the replaced.   

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I have been assigned for new project which is "SAN" Storage Area Network.
The outcomes should be:-

First, Snapshot about SAN  and what is the advantages.
Secand: Find the architectures of SAN.
Third: Find more than two techniques and what is the best.
fourth: Find the topologies of SAN.
Last : Recommended standards should be taken for establishing San.
Start from today read and find references about this projects.

System admin in IT operation is in charge on managing the local area network in the company.

Some of the tasks that system admin responsible are:

- Installing and configuring system hardware and software such as"Servers"

-managing multi-users computing environment, like LAN

-managing users account and privileges of each unit and each user as individuals.

-upgrading the softwares.

-Data backup and recovery tasks.

The new thing that we learnt is how to install windows server 2008 and we have been assigned to install win server 2008.

 Hardware requirements for installing win server 2008 as minimum we needs:

2GHZ processor

2GB RAM

60GB hard disk

Steps of installation windows server 2008 as follow:

1-insert the CD of windows server 2008

2-reboot the pc

3- Wait until the screen comes up asking to select the installation language, select English then press next

4-press install now

5- Inter the product key

6-after inserting the product key the installation process will determine what kind of windows server you own, otherwise if u didn’t insert the product key, the installation process will ask you which windows server you want to download.

7-choice full version

8- Accept the license terms

9-Select the first disk to install the windows.

10- wait until the installation process reboot the computer

11- CTRL+ALT+DEL to log in

12- Select other user to log in, type administrator then enter

13- You will be asked to change your password

14- Type any hard password and make sure you will not forget it then, press ok.

15- The initial server configuration will come up, such as data and time, configure network, update the server, customize the server...etc so after initial some of that configuration tasks, windows server starts working

30 October

                                                                            VoIP Server 

In order to create a communication network among the staff for facilitate the way of communicate with one another, OfficeSip Server has been established.

OfficeSip server is an open source application enables users to communicate via session initiation protocol (SIP), which is used for controlling multimedia communication session such as video and voice calls over internet protocol (IP).

1.    1.Implementation

         1.1 Download officesip Server 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Servers/Other-Servers/OfficeSIP-Server.shtml

1.2    run the service of OfficeSip from the local services 

1.3    Make sure the firewall is not blocking the inbound connection to the server by opening ports 5060 Tcp and 5060 Udp

Go TO windows firewall with advanced security

Inbound rules, add new rules, select ether programme then choice OfficeSip Or choice port then select tcp and udp 5060.

1.4    open OfficeSip server go to csv File to add users click on

                        Username,222( the user name has to be in Number only)

                        User Display name, Test “Any name”

                        Email “any email”                                                                                           

                        Password, 222 “set any password”

1.     2.On the client Side “Mobiles”

We need to configure the SIP :

2.1  Download the SIP client “Sipdroid” to the Mobile 

2.2    set the configuration

              Username, 111

              Password, 111

              Server, 192.168.1.3 which is my laptop IP

              Domain, leave it empty

              Port, 5060

              Protocol, UDP

          2.3 If the inserted configuration on the client side is correct, the user name in the Server side will  change to the green colour.