Analysis of a Link Between a Remote Local Area Network and Its Server Resources

摘要

As the Air Force transitions to an expeditionary force, the service's ability to provide computer capabilities at remote locations becomes more and more paramount. One way to provide this support is to create a Local Area Network (LAN) in which the workstations are positioned at the deployed location while the servers are maintained at a Main Operating Base (MOB). This saves the military money, because it eliminates the need to purchase and deploy server equipment as well as eliminating the need to deploy personnel to set-up and maintain the servers. There is, however, a tradeoff. As the number of personnel at the deployed location increases and their computing requirements change, the link between the deployed location and the MOB can become saturated causing degraded performance. This research looks at how the number of personnel at the deployed location and the types of applications they are using affect the link and the overall system performance. It also examines the effects of adding a server to the deployed location. The results of this study show that the network as configured can support up to 30 users. With the addition of an FTP server at the deployed location, the system can handle 50 users. The system was only able to handle 70 users under the lightest application loads. If the network must support over 50 users, more bandwidth is needed between the deployed location and the MOB.