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Gym Masters Case Study Company Background Information: This week you work with Gym Masters, a company that makes equipment for fitness centers and...
Gym Masters Case StudyCompany Background Information:This week you work with Gym Masters, a company that makes equipment for fitness centers and gyms. Gym Masters makes tread mills, stair steppers, cross trainers, exercise bikes, free weights, and stationary exercise devices. They supply fitness and recreation centers throughout the United States and Canada. Gym Masters has two locations, one in Chicago and one in Toronto. Both locations have computer centers currently filled with Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 servers. The Chicago location consists of an office building and a manufacturing building, both fully networked. The Toronto location has a single large building that houses offices and a manufacturing center. The Toronto building is also fully networked. All networks use IPv4 for communications, however the Toronto location has been using static IP addressing.Current Server Hardware:Windows 2000 Servers366 MHz Pentium CPU512 MB RAM40GB Hard DriveWindows 2003 Servers700 MHz Pentium CPU1GB RAM150GB Hard DriveThe Chicago location has a combination of Windows XP and Windows 7 workstations. In Toronto, they have fully upgraded to Windows 7. However, the Toronto location is to receive 24 new computers that will need to have Windows 7 installed.In both locations, the servers are centralized in a controlled computer center environment. The Gym Masters management wants to upgrade the 22 servers in the Chicago location and the 18 servers in Toronto to Windows Server 2008. There is a combination of Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter Edition computers to upgrade. Also, the company is planning to add 12 new servers in Chicago and 14 new ones in Toronto. As is common in many organizations, the information technology (IT) staff are overworked and understaffed. Gym Masters has hired you through Aspen Consulting to coordinate and assist with the transition to Windows Server 2008.General Section: All reports must include the following:Develop a custom logo for your group. This logo must be used as a custom desktop for screen shots, and a "watermark" on each page of the written report. Be as creative as you wish. Note: the custom logo must be visible on the desktop to receive a mark for any screen shots used in the report. A link at the bottom on the page explains one method which can be used to create a custom desktop logo and watermark.Draft a letter, using Microsoft Word, in proper business block format, which announces the project to Gym Masters employees and prepares them for the upgrades and new servers.Choose three (3) of the following projects to include in your report:Option 1 – Cost to Upgrade or Replace ServersCompare the cost of upgrading the existing servers compared to buying new servers. Do some research and use real costs. Make your recommendation and provide support for your recommendations.Option 2 – Choosing an New Operating SystemThe Marketing Department uses large name and address databases for catalog and other promotions. Some of the databases are ones they own and others are purchased from other catalog sales companies and from Internet companies. The databases are currently on a standard Windows 2000 Server computer, which is overloaded. When they perform sorts and queries of addresses, the computer operates extremely slowly. Which Windows Server 2008 system do you recommend for them? Provide a justification for your recommendation.The Marketing Department wants to establish an Internet business to supplement Gym Masters catalog and outlet businesses. Which Windows Server 2008 system would work for the Internet portion of the business? Be sure to justify your recommendation.Option 3 - Advance PreparationsThe IT managers from Chicago and Toronto have decided the first step is to form a transition committee to plan and track the progress of the server upgrades. The committee consists of both IT managers (from each location), two department heads from each location, the chief financial officer, the director of operations, a senior applications programmer, and a senior systems programmer.During the kickoff meeting, you briefly mention a few advance preparation steps the committee needs to know about. In response, the committee asks you to create a full report of the steps that need to be considered in advance for Windows Server 2008 installations. In your report, present all of the steps appropriate to Gym Masters’ situation.Option 4 - Server RolesThe committee has recently been discussing the functions of each server. They are not familiar with server roles, but they do know how specific servers are used. Some of the server functions they mention include:Providing a Web siteOffering applications that users can run on the server through accessing the server over the networkOffering shared files on large scaleManaging Active Directory functions for the domainOffering VPNsCoordinating printingProviding Web-based applications to internal users.Create a short report for the committee that translates each of these functions into server roles offered through Windows Server 2008. Also, suggest some other roles that are likely necessary on the company’s networks (hint: such as managing IP address assignments and translating computer names and IP addresses). Include a short explanation of each server role you mention.Option 5 - Initial ConfigurationA Gym Masters system programmer has just installed the first Windows Server 2008 system and now needs to do an initial configuration of the server. Discuss which tool she can use for the initial configuration and briefly discuss the configuration tasks that should be performed at this point.Option 6 - Installing Multiple ServersThe Toronto IT department wants to install Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition on all 14 new servers in its location. The servers have arrived, are unpacked, and have been tested. Also, the preliminary preparations have been completed. Now they want to install Standard Edition on a mass scale to complete this part of the project right away. What Windows Server 2008 capability enables them to do the mass installation quickly and efficiently? What general steps are involved in setting up this capability? Can the capability also be used to install Windows 7 on the 24 new client workstations arriving soon? Explain the answers to these questions in a memo to the IT manager in Toronto that you also copy to the transition committee.Option 7 – IP Addressing IssuesGym Masters Toronto location currently uses static IP addressing for all computer systems on their network. One of the difficulties is that because the IT department is understaffed, they give written NIC configuration instructions to employees, so that employees do their own network configurations. Often employees make mistakes that cause conflicts on the network and the IT staff has to check out many connections anyway. Further, if the company decides on a wholesale upgrade to Windows 7, this means all employees will be reconfiguring their computers at the same time. In this context, do you recommend staying with the practice of static addressing? How might an alternative method save time for the IT staff? Create a short report of your recommendations for the IT manager.
