Measuring network performance with different levels of firewall security

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JUNE, 2016
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Abstract
The experiment was performed to ascertain application performances on the network with different levels of protection over Wide Area Network (WAN). In order to access related applications over the cloud there must be an internet connectivity to assist the network to reach their servers remotely for the various applications deployed over the network. The networking devices such as routers are configured via Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol to reduce utilization, ensure load sharing over the network and also to interconnect Local Area Network (LAN). In this research three scenarios are modeled with or without protection. The level of protection used was firewall to filter and block some applications and their performance is measured. Sixty workstations are used in the simulation which all accesses the database FTP and HTTP server under different scenarios. The relationship between network security and performance are estimated which include the effects of protection such as firewalls on network performance. Various scenarios were evaluated through simulations using Riverbed Modeler Academic Edition 17.1 to show the effects of different levels of protection on a network using firewalls. The results show that protecting a network with firewall directly relates to network performance for all applications. Also blocking HTTP application reduces the load on the network for better network performance.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for a Master‘s Degree in Information Technology,
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