Tag Archives: Network Designer

Reliable & Manageable Scaling

Scalability is a crucial characteristic that must be considered by network designers.

In addition, a network should also be reliable and manageable, which promote stability.  A network may be capable of expanding to several thousand routers. However, if there is a failure of some sort that causes instability due to greater processing and CPU usage required to compensate, the design won’t be successful.

A scalable network that is a challenge to manage or troubleshoot is also unacceptable.

Network problems that arise would take an excessive amount of time to address and repair, negatively impacting an organization’s business goals of the organization.

Thus, a scalable design must provide a manageable and reliable network.

Combining scalability, reliability, and manageability as the qualities of a network is a challenge. As a network expands, it becomes more complex, making management, maintenance, and repair more difficult.

Fault Isolation & Simplicity

Providing fault isolation boundaries creates fail-stop behavior for the wanted fault model. Fail-stop prevents faulty behavior from propagating past a fault isolation boundary. Effective network design must prevent a failure in one domain from spreading to other domains within a network. This is essential for the avoidance of unneeded processing and delays throughout the whole network because of a device or link failure. In addition, this will result in a converging network that has more stability, reliability, and speed.

The above concept also promotes simplicity as a network architecture characteristic, which decreases complexity in operations. Typically, fault isolation stops the propagation of network fault information across several domains or network areas. This will lead to greater network stability and the minimization of recovery time after failures.

The negative consequences due to a failure of a link or network node may spread to all devices across a network, resulting in a large volume of unneeded processing. A properly designed network using the Fault Domains Principle with its logical separation will limit the negative impact to within one fault domain.

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Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 3, a company’s network design should help the organization meet its Business Requirements, give it Business Continuity capability, and provide the adequate Elasticity to allow it to cope with business developments. Part 4 will cover How IT Enables Business Innovation.

How IT Enables Business Innovation

Modern businesses use IT technology to innovate and improve their customer service. When an emerging technology can enable a company to be more competitive in the marketplace and raise customer satisfaction, it will be typically acquired by the business, and its features will be integrated into its network.

A great example of the above is the rapid growth of cloud-based data centers, which are allowing new companies to drastically decrease their capital expenditure and allowing their scaling at will. However, they will still require a high performing data center that has the qualities of flexibility and reliability.

Requirements

A company’s industry and how it began will help a network designer to quickly grasp its underlying requirements. It is obvious banking will certainly need information security. Thus, the network design for banking has to provide the required security capabilities to be adopted by the industry. Moreover, a designer must keep in mind the industry’s standards that are applicable to IT infrastructure and services.

Priorities

Every organization makes priorities that revolve around its business objectives. They should be factored in an IT network infrastructure’s planning and design. Keeping in mind a company’s priorities will help produce a network that successfully supports its business activities.

Suppose an organization’s network for business communication requires (as numbered in importance of priority): 1) collaboration, 2) interactivity, and 3) mobile access. Accordingly, the first two features required must be provided prior to satisfying the third requirement.

In conclusion, a network designer must be cognizant of a company’s business priorities in order to be able to successfully create a network that serves its needs.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 2, Top-Down Logic is used for the process of Preparation, Planning, Design, Implementation, Operation, and Optimization (PPDIOO). In addition, network designers must determine the Scope of Design prior to the collection of data and planning. Part 3 will cover Business Requirements, Continuity, and Elasticity.

Requirements

Figuring out what an organization needs requires having an understanding of its current objectives, mission statement, and future plans. Knowledge of these should guide the business-driven aspects of the network design. Using a top-down approach, a business’s goals, drivers, requirements, continuity, and strategy will determine its business applications, technical and functional requirements, and network infrastructure solutions.

Continuity

Business continuity is a company’s ability to continue doing business after a system outage caused by a man-made or natural disaster that has damaged a data center. An organization needs a disaster recovery plan to develop its resiliency in the face of such disasters. Various parts of its network may need to be more resilient due to regulatory compliance.

Elasticity

Elasticity is an organization’s level of flexibility when responding to business developments. This typically refers to a change in business objectives or conditions, including growth, recession, merger, acquisition, etc. Therefore, a company’s network design must have adequate flexibility in order to fulfill its business requirements and strategic goals. A designer’s comprehension of the overall trends of the organization’s business sector will provide valuable guidance in the design’s features that provide flexibility.

The design of a network must give an organization the flexibility that will allow it to perform integrations with other networks. This will usually be required when mergers and acquisitions take place. It is important to note that during a merger or acquisition, the network may undergo considerable growth during a very brief period. In such circumstances, the most daunting challenge for network designers is having to handle the various design principles, conflicting control plane protocols, and overlaps in IP address spaces of the networks being integrated.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 1, the Top-Down Approach for network design provides several advantages, especially when its implementation is business-driven. Part 2 will cover the topics of Top-Down Logic and Scope of Design.

Top-Down Logic

The top-down network design approach is capable of utilizing top-down logic in conjunction with the process of Preparation, Planning, Design, Implementation, Operation, and Optimization (PPDIOO) as summarized by the following bullet points: