CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The
need to be close to customers, manufacturing facilities and specialized labor
have required organizations to extend the traditional concept of “headquarters”
to offices and factories hundreds or even thousands of miles away. However,
along with the opportunities that come with workforce globalization; come the
realities of dealing with data that sprawls across the organization. Whether
the data is at the Munich branch or at HQ in New York, it is equally
susceptible to loss, requiring that data recovery and security plans apply to
all parts of the organization, regardless of location.
To
protect company data and ensure its availability to users, IT organizations
have been conflicted between two backupapproaches. The first approach, local
tape backup, requires that tape libraries be present wherever there are servers
in racks.
Local
area network (LAN) access to the servers gives administrators fast data backup
and recovery. The newer approach, centralized backup, puts high-density tape
libraries in one location to which data from servers around the world is backed
up.
While centralized backup requires less
hardware, reduces administration time, and solves the security problem
associated with loose tape media, it can introduce greater bandwidth consumption
and longer backup/restore windows. Because of these issues, centralized backup
has been a leap some managers have not been willing to make. With the right
wide-area data services (WDS) technology, a more scalable and secure data
protection model can be implemented without the expense of an expanded wide
area network (WAN). WDS is a superset of several network acceleration
categories, including data reduction and compression as well as protocol and
application optimization. WDS can eliminate the bandwidth and time constraints
that stall many centralized backup deployments and are the primary enabler of
many technology consolidation projects.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The existing system that was in place
was operating on individual database system (i.e. each system has its own
database) which made it vulnerable to corrupt practices and have a lot of
setbacks among which:
i.
Getting required data and
information needed takes time,
ii. In an organization, it is not easy to get
an information about something unless you go to the system it is stored no
matter how much urgent it is,
iii. It is cost ineffective in the sense that,
substantial large amount of money will be needed to set up such system, since
each system has to be catered for etc.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim
of this system is to produce a system that will serve as repository for all
other systems connected to it, whereby they will be able to add, edit and query
the database whenever the need arise.
Objectives
of this system are:
i. To develop a central server that
maintains, manages and controls the activities of all other systems.
ii. To develop a system that will reassure
data security, integrity and reliability.
iii. To develop a system that will be cost
effective compared to individual database system.
iv. To enable easy access to any required data
and information within a little period of time.
1.4 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
This system covers a wide range in term
of producing a centralized database for computational data and information; it
operates on a local area network whereby data centralization will only be
available for systems that are connected to the network. It is currently used
for systems that are connected together using local area network.
The
limitation of this system is only based on the fact that it requires technical
skills like basic knowledge of networking, computer awareness etc. It would
pose a great headache for a person trying to use the system and unable to use
it because of lack of communication between the systems due to incorrect
configurations and or technical issue or fault on the hardware component of the
system.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
STUDY
This
project helps in creating a central system where all data will be stored and
accessed when needed by making use of local area network connection. Example,
in an organization where there are several client computers and one server,
this system will provide a means of storing all their data and transaction
works on the server alone to enable security and ease of access.
1.6 ORGANIZATION OF REPORT
Majority of this project will contain all the
necessary information needed to carry out the proposed task.
Chapter
one contains general introduction, aim and objective, significance of the
study, methodology, scope and limitation, organization of the report and
definition of technical / operation terms.
Chapter
two deals with the literature review, it reviews related topic to the project,
discussion of related aspect of the project topic relative to computer
technology.
Chapter
three deals with analysis of the system which include the data collection
method employed, the description of the existing system and its problems and
the description of the proposed system and possible advantages it will provide
the will solve problems encountered in the existing manual system.
While
chapter four deals with the design, implementation and the description of the
proposed system. It covers description of the output design, input design,
database design and procedure design. The implementation techniques used, the
programming language used in developing the new system and system requirements
for running the system. And also talks about the program documentation as well
user documentation.
Lastly
chapter five presents a brief summary of the work done, experience gained and
problems encountered in the course of the project, conclusion and
recommendation. Other appendices included after the references used are;
algorithm, system flowchart, program flowchart, program source listing and
generated computer output.
1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERM
NETWORK: This
comprises of two or more devices (computer, printer etc connected together
using a particular connection protocol with the aim of sharing resources.
LAN: Local
Area Network this is a communication network that serves user within a confined
geographical area or a restricted locally such as a building or campus.
LAN
CABLE: This is
the cable usually called CAT5, RJ45 that is modified in order to create
connection between 2 systems for ease of data communication and transmission.
SERVER: A
computer that provides client stations with access to files and printers as
shared resources to a computer network.
BACKUP: A copy of a file or directory on a separate
storage device
Hardware:
the mechanical, magnetic, electronic, and electrical components making up a
computer system.
WAN: Wide Area Network is a network that covers a broad area (i.e., any telecommunications network that links across metropolitan, regional, national or
international boundaries) using leased telecommunication lines.
OPTIMIZATION: The act
of rendering optimal.
PROTECTION: A
covering that is intends to protect from damage or injury.
WDS:Wireless Distribution System is a system enabling the wireless interconnection of access points in an IEEE 802.11 network. It
allows a wireless network to be expanded using multiple access points without
the traditional requirement for a wired backbone to link them.
BANDWIDTH: A data
transmission rate; the maximum amount of information (bits/second) that can be
transmitted along a channel.