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DA1. Network Protocols and Security

Statement

  • Network protocols can be classified into three broad groups: communication protocols, management protocols, and security protocols.
  • In your opinion, which of these groups of protocols should be given the highest priority/consideration while designing a network?
  • Justify your answer with detailed reasoning.

Answer

In any successful network that adds value to its users, communications should go back and forth without issues, all parts/users on the network must be secured, and network managers (including humans, software, or other management systems) should be able to adequately and effectively manage the network (Kinza Yasar et al., 2023).

In my opinion, all three groups of protocols are of equal importance and all of them should be given the highest priority/consideration while designing a network. However, the text below will discuss what will happen if one of these groups has a higher priority than the others.

Communication Protocols are responsible for handling syntax, semantics, error detection, synchronization, and communication of data between devices (GeeksforGeeks, 2021). Without communication protocols in place, the different types of devices, hardware, operating systems, and software would not be able to communicate with each other as the sender must know everything about the recipient and prepare the message accordingly, and vice versa.

Without communication protocols, there will be no networks, but giving them the highest priority while compromising on security and management protocols will expose networks to threats, increase risks, and increase errors and misdeliveries as network managers will know little about what is going on in their network.

Management Protocols are responsible for managing the network, including monitoring, controlling, and configurations. They are also responsible for network performance, fault management, and security management (GeeksforGeeks, 2021). Without management protocols, managers will left to guess when there are problems, route optimizations will be harder as there will be no congestion diagnostics or traffic analysis, and security will be compromised as there will be no way to monitor/control access to the network.

Without management protocols, networks will be still working, but hard to manage and require a lot of manual work. However, giving them the highest priority while compromising on communication and security protocols may degrade performance with loads of management traffic and overhead, and expose networks to threats and risks.

Security Protocols are responsible for securing the network, including authentication, encryption, and data integrity (GeeksforGeeks, 2021). Without security protocols, networks will be open to attacks, data will be exposed, and privacy will be compromised. Security protocols are also responsible for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data that is transmitted over the network.

Without security protocols, networks still work, but users will hesitate to use them as their sensitive data is always at risk. However, giving them the highest priority while compromising on communication and management protocols may degrade the quality of the service as message delivery may be delayed or not guaranteed, and network managers will not be able to manage the network effectively.

To conclude, we saw that the most important function of a network is to communicate. However, management and security protocols play an important role in ensuring the overall network quality and user satisfaction. Therefore, all three groups of protocols should be given the highest priority/consideration while designing a network.

References