Communications on Applied Electronics |
Foundation of Computer Science (FCS), NY, USA |
Volume 6 - Number 1 |
Year of Publication: 2016 |
Authors: Akpah Sylvester, Michael Asante, Frimpong Twum |
10.5120/cae2016652396 |
Akpah Sylvester, Michael Asante, Frimpong Twum . An Improved Computer Network Access Control using Free BSD PFSENSE: A Case Study of UMaT Local Area Network. Communications on Applied Electronics. 6, 1 ( Oct 2016), 23-27. DOI=10.5120/cae2016652396
Universities in Ghana to which UMaT is no exception are under constant pressure to provide their communities with reliable internet access. As internet connectivity is increasingly becoming a strategic resource, having a robust campus network with good connectivity to the internet is no longer a luxury, but in actual sense now a basic necessity. UMaT has a robust LAN infrastructure which faces some challenges attributable to limited bandwidth of 45 MB, misuse of the bandwidth on low priority bandwidth hungry applications, and lack of effective user access control. This research aimed at studying the behavior patterns of network users and deploy an enhanced network access control using freeBSD pfSense open source software as the dedicated perimeter firewall with the introduction of squid, squidGuard, Squid Analysis Report Generator (SARG) and the setting up of an Active Directory server with user access policies to improve user access control and insulate the LAN from misuse and virus attacks.