Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Networking Project
In week’s three individual dissection of Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Networking Department, I will discuss three topics that will help with a better understanding of the Hospital’s Networking Department.
During the first topic, a complete analysis will be completed on the network systems in use.
While covering the second topic, discussion on what standards may be missing from the Hospital’s current network.
During last topic, I will identify the Hospital’s wireless technology in currently in use and how it may enhance the hospitals network.
Patton-Fuller Community Hospital currently uses a Local Area Network (LAN) standard within the hospital with certain Departments using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standard. The Hospital’s top view IT network perspective has the Hospital divided into two sections, the Clinical Areas and the Administrative Function Areas. The entire Hospital‘s backbone (BN) network structure is a 1000 BaseT Ethernet cable.
A 1000 BaseT Ethernet cable also known as IEEE 802. 3ab, is the standard for gigabit Ethernet using copper wiring (Wikipedia, 2010). However, in the second half of the Hospital’s network structure, the Clinical Areas, a 1000 BaseF Ethernet cable is the standard. A 1000 BaseF, also known as 1000Base-F, is a physical layer baseband specification for Ethernet communications over optical fibers (Wikipedia, 2010). The Departments that make up the Administrative Departments of the Hospital are The Hospital’s Executive Management, Human Resources, Operations, Facilities, Finance (Apollo, 2008).
Each of the afore-mentioned Departments is connected via a 1000 Base T CAT 6 cable. Each of these departments has dedicated computers that are assigned per the individual’s title in the organization. For example, the Executive Mgmt. have Apple iMacs, 24”, 2. 4GHz, 2GB Ram, 500 MB HD, Wireless, 10/100/1000 Base T, OS Virtualization with MAC OS X Leopard & Windows XP work stations. The HR, OPNS, Finance Senior Manager Workstations are Apple iMac, 20”, 2 GHz, 350 MB HD, Wireless, 10/100/1000 Base T, OS Virtualization with MAC OS X Leopard / Windows XP OS.
Personal within the Administrative
Areas that are only responsible for data entry are given Thin Client Computer: HP model L1706. The Administrative Departments have two networked HP 4350 Black and White Laser Printers and one color HP 4200pht networked Laser Printer. The Administrative Department is then linked to the IT Data Center where in the IT Date Center; connections are established with servers and the internet. This circuit will be discussed later in this paper. The second half of the Hospitals network is the clinical Departments.
The Clinical Departments that make up this circuit are:
- Radiology,
- Radiology Information Systems Data Center (RIS),
- Operating Room (OR),
- Intensive Clear Unit (ICU),
- Ward Floor Systems (Apollo, 2008).
The Clinical Areas of the Hospital network standards is a 1000 Base F single mode fiber, Fiber Optic cable. Just as the Administrative Departments, in the Radiology Department, each Department has their own workstations. In the Radiology Department, there are seven different viewing stations, MRI, CT, X-Ray, Mammograms, PET, Nuclear Medicine, and Sonography.
Each one of these station consist of a Apple Mac Pro, 2-3 GHz quad processors, 16GB RAM, 4 + 750 MD HD in RAID, Nividia FX 4500 Image Card, 2 Apple 30” Cinema Flat panel Displays, OsiriX Imaging Software, OS Virtualization with MAC OS X Leopard and windows XP Pro OS, and a APC 2 KVA back up power supply. Each Modality viewing station has its own DICOM (Digital to Film Printer), KODAK 6800 Dry Laser Printer. In addition to the Modality View Stations, the Emergency Room has one workstation with a portable X-Ray Machine.
The Radiology Department also has Laboratories and a Pharmacy that are equipped with similar work stations; Apple iMac, 20” displays, 2. 4 GHz, 2 GB Ram, 500 MB HD, Fiber Card OS Virtualization w/ Mac OS X Leopard and Windows XP Pro OS. The Only differences between the two departments are the printers that they are equipped with. The Laboratories have one HP 4700pht color laser printer and the Pharmacy has two HP BW 4350 Laser Printers. Given the magnitude of data that travels through the Radiology Department, e. g. X-Rays, CT Scans, etc… the Department needs to equip its own Data Center.
The RIS Data Center, short for Radiology Information Systems Data Center is the main host for the servers being used in the clinical areas of the Hospital. The RIS is equipped with an Apple Cluster Server running Mac OS Leopard Xserve w/ remote desktop. The Apple cluster has a 10 terabyte Disk Storage center. The standard being used in the RIS Data Center is the same as the rest of the Clinical areas, a 1000 Base F single mode fiber with each workstation equipped with a fiber card to use this standard.
The RIS has Data Center workstations and two printers are attached via LAN. The OR, ICU, Ward Floor Room location, and the Nurses’ Station are also equipped with workstations that are connected via the same 1000 Base F standard. The only additional standard that the ICU and the Wards areas have is one Wireless Access Point (WAP) within each ICU and Ward. The Hospital main IT Data Center is where the 1000 Base F standard is connected to the rest of the Hospital network by a Network Gateway.
The gateway is then connected to the Hospital’s BN 1000 base T CAT 6 standard. The IT Data Center is equipped with an IBM Series Z9EC Mainframe with a Linux OS, DB2 Database, 16 Processors, 32 GB Ram, and a AES Security System, “AES stands for Advance Encryption Standard,” BitZipper, 2010. The IT Data Center also has a Windows Exchange Server and an Internet Server that is connected to a Cisco Router Model 7609. The Hospital also has a Remote Access Server that uses a Cisco ASA 5510 VPN Router.
Based on this week’s and prior week’s reading, The Hospital’s network architecture is missing what network topology is in use. From the IT network diagrams supplied by the organization, the Hospital seem to be a Bus network Topology, however; because there are no references to the topology, would only assume a Bus topology is in practice. According to Wikipedia, in local area networks where a bus topology is used, each machine is connected to a single cable, each computer or server is connected to a single bus cable through some kind of connector.
In a Bus topology, a signal is travels from the source computer in both directions to all machines in the network until it finds the intended Mac address or IP address. The hospital is also missing rather the Hospital is connected to a, “Campus Network, Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), or a Wide Area Network (WAN),” Dennis and Fitzgerald, 2009. In addition, after reviewing the IT Diagrams, the Hospital fails to show architecture plans for a rooms in each floor of the hospital that contain the main distribution facility (MDF).
The architecture plans for the MDF per floor or essential to direct and control the network traffic. However, even though the OR, ICU, and Ward Floor systems shows a 24 port FO hub per Ward or ICU, it doesn’t show how that is connected to the main server. The Hospital IT Team needs to architect plans that show each of the layers of the Hospital’s BN, e. g. Access Layer, Distribution Layer, and the Core Layer. Patton-Fuller Community Hospital Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology is available throughout the entire Hospital. Each of the workstation in the Hospital has wireless capabilities.
The only Wire Access Points (WAP) within the hospital is in the Ward Room and in the ICU Areas of the hospital. This technology is very useful for the hospital and it enhances the mobility of the Doctors and Nurses. The IT diagrams do not show the use of wireless tablets or netbooks but I would assume if the technology is present then those standards are in use. In addition, one does not know the age of the hospital’s architecture so by adding a WLAN standard, the Hospital is capable of adding additional workstation without the need of running extra LAN Ethernet cable that can be both costly and demanding of the IT Team.
Both the IT Data Center and the RIS Data Center have Remote Access Servers (RAS); the IT Data Center is equipped with an IBM System x3250 RAS Server and the RIS Data Center’s Apple Cluster Server has a built in RAS. With both Data Center possessing WLAN RAS Servers, the Doctors and Nurses are capable in accessing both Data Center to have full access to the patient’s full records. This standard will ensure that the patient is treated accurately by the medical staff.
In conclusion, the Patton-Fuller Community Hospital’s network analysis shows that the hospital uses a Local Area Network with the use of both 1000 Base T and 1000 Base F standards. However, although the provided IT diagrams showed the basic architecture layout of the network, it did not show what type of network topology it is and nor does it provided a detailed architecture plan of the BN Architecture layers. Furthermore, the Hospital’s Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) was discussed to provide evidence on the ability that the WLAN has to enhance the Hospital network.
References
- Jerry Fitzgerald, A. D. (2009). Business Data Communication And Networking (10th ed. ). : John Wiley;
- Sons Inc. Apollo Group. (2008). Network Diagrams. Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Healthcare/PFCH/IT/ITNetDTop.htm
- Apollo Group. (2008). Network Diagrams. Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Healthcare/PFCH/IT/ITLogNet.htm
