COIT20264 - Enterprise and Cloud Networking

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit equips you with the skills and knowledge necessary to design enterprise-level networks utilising the latest on-premises, wireless, and cloud networking technologies. It also provides you with the ability to gather business and technical requirements, as well as to justify the selection of network technologies when there are conflicting requirements, such as cost, performance, security, and business goals. The unit includes the application of industry-grade tools and techniques in network design, deployment, and management, including automation, remote access, high availability, testing, and documentation.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite: COIT20261 Network Routing and Switching

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Rockhampton
Sydney
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Rockhampton
Sydney

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 30%
2. Portfolio 20%
3. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 82.76% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 35.8% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Link content to real-world applications.
Recommendation
Prepare lecture slides containing some examples with details of the latest technologies to be used in wireless LAN and wireless WAN design technologies and make them available on Moodle.
Action Taken
The lecture slides have been redeveloped to incorporate more of the latest technologies such as WLAN, PPP, and MPLS. Two tutorial activities were re-designed to provide students hands-on exercises on WLAN and PPP configurations.
Source: Teaching team
Feedback
Include prototype implementation of designed network.
Recommendation
Review the assessments to include prototype implementation on the cloud and/or using in-house hardware available in campus networking labs. Use of Cisco Packet Tracer networking simulation tool is another option to consider.
Action Taken
The Azure cloud platform has been introduced to allow students to build virtual cloud networks. Cisco Packet Tracer is also used to facilitate hands-on practice including LAN and WAN technologies with ACL, NAT, routing, switching, and so on.
Source: Student Feedback
Feedback
Students asked for more useful feedback to their assignments.
Recommendation
Update the marking guidelines (e.g. include samples of common feedback) to support the markers in providing more constructive feedback.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student Feedback
Feedback
The unit has provided a good understanding of cloud computing, which will be helpful for my future endeavours as an IT professional.
Recommendation
Students have acknowledged and commended the introduction of cloud computing. As cloud computing becomes mainstream nowadays, future teaching materials should include more of the latest cloud computing technologies.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Analyse business and technical requirements to create plans and designs for enterprise networks
  2. Justify the selection of network technologies when there are conflicting requirements, such as cost, performance, security and business goals
  3. Design networks comprising a range of technologies, including on-premise, wireless and cloud
  4. Apply industry-grade tools and techniques when designing, deploying and managing networks, including automation, remote access and high availability.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS), the professional association for Australia's ICT sector, recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is adopted by organisations, governments, and individuals in many countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles. ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile.

This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA 8 (the SFIA code is included):

  • IT Infrastructure (ITOP)
  • Network Design (NTDS)
  • Network Support (NTAS)
  • Information Security (SCTY)
  • Security Operations (SCAD)
  • Problem Management (PBMG)
  • Service Level Management (SLMO)
  • Change Control (CHMG)

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Framework defines knowledge, skills and tasks needed to perform various cyber security roles. Developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the NICE Framework is used by organisations to plan their workforce, including recruit into cyber security positions.

This unit helps prepare you for roles such as Systems Security Analyst, Network Operations Specialist and Systems Administrator, contributing to the following knowledge and skills:

  • K0010 Knowledge of communication methods, principles, and concepts that support the network infrastructure.
  • K0011 Knowledge of capabilities and applications of network equipment including routers, switches, bridges, servers, transmission media, and related hardware.
  • K0029 Knowledge of organization's Local and Wide Area Network connections.
  • K0050 Knowledge of local area and wide area networking principles and concepts including bandwidth management.
  • K0053 Knowledge of measures or indicators of system performance and availability.
  • K0061 Knowledge of how traffic flows across the network (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol [TCP] and Internet Protocol [IP], Open System Interconnection Model [OSI], Information Technology Infrastructure Library, current version [ITIL]).
  • K0071 Knowledge of remote access technology concepts.
  • K0088 Knowledge of systems administration concepts.
  • K0104 Knowledge of Virtual Private Network (VPN) security.
  • K0108 Knowledge of concepts, terminology, and operations of a wide range of communications media (computer and telephone networks, satellite, fiber, wireless).
  • K0111 Knowledge of network tools (e.g., ping, traceroute, nslookup).
  • K0113 Knowledge of different types of network communication (e.g., LAN, WAN, MAN, WLAN, WWAN).
  • K0130 Knowledge of virtualization technologies and virtual machine development and maintenance.
  • K0137 Knowledge of the range of existing networks (e.g., PBX, LANs, WANs, WIFI, SCADA).
  • K0138 Knowledge of Wi-Fi.
  • K0160 Knowledge of the common attack vectors on the network layer.
  • K0180 Knowledge of network systems management principles, models, methods (e.g., end-to-end systems performance monitoring), and tools.
  • K0318 Knowledge of operating system command-line tools.
  • K0332 Knowledge of network protocols such as TCP/IP, Dynamic Host Configuration, Domain Name System (DNS), and directory services.
  • K0333 Knowledge of network design processes, to include understanding of security objectives, operational objectives, and trade-offs.
  • S0004 Skill in analyzing network traffic capacity and performance characteristics.
  • S0033 Skill in diagnosing connectivity problems.
  • S0035 Skill in establishing a routing schema.
  • S0041 Skill in installing, configuring, and troubleshooting LAN and WAN components such as routers, hubs, and switches.
  • S0073 Skill in using virtual machines. (e.g., Microsoft Hyper-V, VMWare vSphere, Citrix XenDesktop/Server, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, etc.).
  • S0084 Skill in configuring and utilizing network protection components (e.g., Firewalls, VPNs, network intrusion detection systems).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Written Assessment • •
2 - Portfolio • • •
3 - Written Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge • • • •
2 - Communication • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • •
4 - Research • •
5 - Self-management • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8