How can i prepare for a Local Area Network Site Visit?

[opjjuly]

Hello, i was assigned site visits to do in my region, mostly at schools. The job entails upgrading / installing and configuring Local Area Network on an already existing network structure. This is also going to include WAN. This will be my first ever networking site visit to do so i am kind of clueless about what is expected of me. Im supposed to submit a report of my site visits. Can you kindly assist on what il be on the look out for? and how to carry out a successful site visit. Thanks

[JorgeM]

There's no site visit template that I know of but if I visited a site, I'd be thinking about collecting an inventory of equipment (network, PCs, servers, cabling, racks, power, etc), software inventory number of users, existing documentation, users info, existing and new upcoming requirements I need to consider in my analysis.

If this is not a new process someone where you work should be able to orientate you.

[rubberman]

Along the lines of what JorgeM said. I used to do such work a long time ago, and still do occasionally on a consulting basis. I document the equipment, software, configurations, router settings, and run a network mapping program to map the lan and the connections between systems (netmap). FWIW, get a laptop with Linux installed on it with all the network software tools you need installed. This is NOT a task that you want a Windows laptop for! Also, depending upon the number of nodes on the LAN, you will probably want to see what shares are active on the network.

As for the WAN part, document ALL router/firewall settings COMPLETELY! Since these will be for schools, you will also want to document the web filters in place.

Final advice: practice on your office LAN (at least for the network assessment stuff) until you are comfortable running the tools and work out the methods you need for the task. And DOCUMENT those methods as well! :-)