CHAPTER ONE

1. Network Design Methodology

 1.1 THE PPDIOO METHODOLOGY
 The network design methodology is derived from the Cisco Prepare,
Plan, Design, Implement, Operate, and Optimize (PPDIOO)
methodology, which reflects a network’s lifecycle.
 PPDIOO phases has relation to the network
design methodology.
CONT.…

 Prepare phase: This phase involves:-

 Organizational requirements,
 Developing a network strategy,
 Proposing a high-level conceptual architecture, and
 Identifying technologies that support the architecture .
 Plan phase: This phase involves identifying the network
requirements, based on the goals for the network.
 Where the network will be installed,
 Who will require which network services,
 Assessing the sites where the network will be installed and any
existing networks, and
 Performing a gap analysis to determine if the existing system
infrastructure, can support the proposed system.
 CONT….

 Design phase:
 Specialists design the network according initial requirements,
 The network design is detailed design that meets:-
 Current business and technical requirements and
 Specifications to support availability, reliability, security,
scalability, and performance.

 Implement phase: Implementation and verification begins after

the design has been approved.
Implementation integrate devices without disrupting the existing network..
CONT….

 Operate phase: Operation is the final test of the design’s

appropriateness.
The Operate phase involves:-
 Maintaining network health through day-to-day operations,
 Fault detection correction and performance monitoring that occur
in daily operations
 Optimize phase: The Optimize phase is based on identify and
resolve issues before real problems arise and the organization is
affected.
 Optimize phase might lead to network redesign
 If too many network problems or errors arise,
 If performance does not meet expectations, or
 If new applications are identified to support organizational
and technical requirements.
1.2 Benefits of the Lifecycle Approach to Network Design

 The network lifecycle approach provides many benefits, including the

following:

I. Lowering the total cost of network ownership

 Planning for infrastructure changes and resource
requirements
 Developing a sound network design aligned with technical
requirements and business goals
 Accelerating successful implementation
 Improving the efficiency of the network and staff
 Reducing operating expenses by improving the efficiency of
operation processes and tools
COT….

II. Increasing network availability:

 Assessing the state of the network’s security and its ability
to support the proposed design
 Specifying the correct set of hardware and software.
 Producing a sound operational design
 Testing the proposed system before deployment
 Improving staff skills
 Proactively identifying security breaches and defining
remediation plans
Cont.…

III. Improving network agility

 Establishing business requirements and technology strategies
 Readying sites to support the system to be implemented
 Integrating technical requirements and business
 Expertly installing, configuring, and integrating system components
 Continually enhancing performance

IV Accelerating access to applications and services:

 Improving service-delivery efficiency and effectiveness by
increasing availability, resource capacity, and performance
 Managing and resolving problems affecting the system and
keeping software applications current
 1.2 DESIGN METHODOLOGY
 A methodology is a documented, systematic way of doing something .
 Following a design methodology can have many advantages:
 It ensures that no step is missed when the process is followed.
 It provides a framework for the design process deliverables.
 It encourages consistency.
 It allows customers and managers to validate that the designers
have thought about how to meet their requirements

The design methodology includes three basic steps:-

Step 1 Identify customer requirements:
Step 2 Characterize the existing network and sites:
Step 3 Design the network topology and solutions:
 STEP 1: IDENTIFY CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
 To design a network that meets customers’ needs, we have to identified
I. The organizational goals,
II. Organizational constraints,
III. Technical goals, and
IV. Technical constraints.
 Assessing the Scope of a Network Design Project
 When assessing the scope of a network design, consider the
following:
 Whether the design is for a new network or is a modification of an
existing network. E.g. LAN, WAN or remote access
 Whether the design is for an entire enterprise network, a sub network,
or a single segment or module.
E.g Whether the design addresses a single function or the network’s
entire functionality
 CONT.…

 Identifying Required Information

 Determining requirements includes extracting initial requirements from the
customer.
 Initial design requirements are typically extracted from the Request for Proposal
(RFP) or Request for Information (RFI) documents that the customer issues.
 An RFP is a formal request to vendors for proposals that meet the requirements
that the document identifies.

Figure 2-6 Iterative Approach to Identifying Customer Requirements

 CONT…

Identifying Customer Requirements follow the following steps.

Step 1:Extract the initial customer requirements (from the RFP or

RFI).

Step 2: Request the customer for a verbal description of the

initial requirements.

Step 3: Produce a draft document that describes the design

requirements.

Step 4: Verify the design requirements with the customer, and

obtain customer approval.
Step 5: Revise the document as necessary to eliminate errors
 CONT..

 Gathering Network Requirements

 Designer discusses the project with the customer’s staff to determine
and gather the necessary data,
 CONT.…

Step 1: Identify the network applications and network services.

Step 2: Determine the organizational goals.
Step 3: Determine the possible organizational constraints.
Step 4: Determine the technical goals.
Step 5: Determine the technical constraints that must be taken into
account.
 These steps provide the designer data that must be carefully
interpreted, analyzed, and presented to support the design proposal.
Throughout these steps, the designer:-
 Takes thorough notes,
 Produces documentation, and
 Presents the findings to the customer for further discussion.
 I. Identify applications and network services
 The designer must determine which applications the customer is
planning to use and the importance of each of these applications.

Table 2-3 Planned Infrastructure Services

CONT.…

Table 2-3 Planned Infrastructure Services

 II. Organizational goals
 Every design project should begin by determining the organizational
goals.
o Some sample questions a designer might ask to determine
organizational goals include:
 What are you trying to accomplish with this project?
 What business challenges are you currently facing?
 What are the consequences of not resolving these issues?
 How would you measure success if you could fix or correct the
identified problems and issues?
 What applications are most critical to your organization?
 What is the major objective of this project?
 What skill sets does your technical staff currently have?
 What is your goal for return on investment?
CONT.….
o Following are examples of the types of data that can be gathered about
some common organizational goals:
 Increase competitiveness
 Reduce costs
 Improve customer support
 Add new customer services
CONT…

III. Organizational Constraints

• When assessing organizational goals, it is important to analyze any
organizational constraints that might affect the network design.
 Some sample questions the designer might ask :
 What in your current processes works well?
 What in your current processes does not work well?
 Which processes are labor-intensive?
 What are the barriers for implementation in your organization?
 What are your major concerns with the implementation of a new
solution?
 What financial and timing elements must be considered?
 What projects already have budget approval?
 Are other planned technology projects and business initiatives compatible
with your
 Current infrastructure and technology solutions?
 What qualifications does your current staff have? Do you plan to
hire more staff? If so, for what roles?
 Do you have a budget for technical development for your staff?
 Are there any policies in place that might affect the project

Typical constraints include the following:

o Budget
o Personnel:
o Policies
o Schedule
IV. Technical goals

 The technical goals of the project must also be determined before the
design starts.
 Some sample questions the designer might ask to help determine
technical goals include the following:

 What are your technology priorities?

 How does your technology budgeting process work?
 What infrastructure issues exist or will exist related to your applications
rollouts?
 What skill sets does your technical staff need to acquire?
 Does your current network have any performance issues?
 Which portions of your network are considered mission-critical?
 Do you plan to increase network users over the next few years?
 How is your network managed now?

The following list describes some common technical goals:

 Improve network performance:
 Improve security and reliability
 Decrease expected downtime and related expenses:
 Modernize outdated technologies:
 Improve scalability of the network
 Simplify network management
 V. Technical constraints

 Network designers might face various technical constraints during the

design process.

Some sample questions the designer might ask to help determine technical
constraints include the following:
 How do you determine your technology priorities?
 What urgent technical problems require immediate resolution
 Do you have a plan for technical development for your staff in specific
areas?
 Do any applications require special network features (protocols and so
forth)?
 Good network design addresses constraints by identifying possible
trade-offs, such as the following:
 Existing equipment:
 Bandwidth availability
 Application compatibility
 Lack of qualified personnel
 STEP 2: Characterizing the existing network and sites

o The first step in characterizing the existing network and sites is to

gather information about them as possible, typically based on the
following input:

Step 1: Customer input

Step 2: Network audit
Step 2: Traffic analysis
Step 1: Customer input
 Site contact information (especially needed if remote deployments are
planned)
 Existing network infrastructure (from physical diagrams and documents,
and site surveys as needed), including the following:-
 Locations and types network device, including a list of network
applications supported
 Cabling that is currently in place, including network interface
connection tables and worksheet
 Wiring closet locations
 Environmental controls, including heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning requirements, and filtration
 Locations of telephone service demarcation points
 WAN speeds and locations of the WAN connection feeds
 Locations of power receptacles, and availability of additional
receptacles and power sources
 Existing network infrastructure from logical topology diagrams,
including the
Addressing scheme and routing protocols in use,
Infrastructure services supported, such as voice, storage, and
wireless services
This documentation allow the designer to determine
■ Network topology: Includes
 Devices,
 Physical and logical links,
 External connections,
 Bandwidth of connections,
 Frame types (data link encapsulations),
 IP addressing, routing protocols, and so forth.
CONT.….

■ Network services: Includes

 security,
 QoS,
 high availability,
 voice,
 storage,
 wireless, etc...

■ Network applications: Examples include unified messaging and

video delivery.
CONT.… In this diagram, many questions remain about
the network, including the following:
 What is the IP addressing scheme?
 What level of redundancy or high availability
currently exists in the network?
 What level of redundancy or high availability
is required in the new network?
 What are the details of the security design?
 What types of links are in the network?
 What are the link speeds?
 What are the planned Layer 2 and Layer 3
topologies?
 How is connectivity provided to remote sites?
 What network infrastructure services are in
use, such as voice and video, and what is
planned?
 What routing protocols are in use?
 Are there any server farm or remote data
center connectivity requirements?
 What network management tools are in place?
 Auditing or assessing the existing network
An audit provides details such as the following:
 A list of network devices
 Hardware specifications and versions, and software versions of network devices
 Configurations of network devices
 Output of various auditing tools to verify and augment the existing documentation
Link, CPU, and memory utilization of network devices
 A list of unused ports, modules, and slots in network devices, to be used to
understand
whether the network is expandable
CONT.…

Tools for Assessing the Network

 CiscoWorks: http://www.cisco.com/
 WhatsUp Professional: http://www.ipswitch.com/
 SNMPc: http://www.castlerock.com/
 Cacti: http://www.cacti.net/
 NetMRI: http://www.netcordia.com/
 NetVoyant: http://www.netqos.com/
 AirMagnet Survey PRO: http://www.airmagnet.com/
 Spectrum Expert: http://www.cognio.com/
CONT.…
USING THE TOP-DOWN APPROACH TO NETWORK
DESIGN

 After establishing the organizational requirements and documenting the

existing network, the designer is ready to design a network solution.
 A top-down design allows the designer to “see the big picture” before
getting to the details.
 Top-down design clarifies the design goals and initiates the design
from the perspective of the required applications.
 The top-down approach adapts the physical infrastructure to the needs
of the applications.
 Network devices are chosen only after a thorough requirements
analysis.
 Structured design practices should be integrated with the top-down
approach, especially in very complex networks.
In contrast to top-down design, the network design approach in which
network devices and technologies are selected first is called bottom-up.
This approach often results in an inappropriate network for the required
services and is primarily used when a very quick response to the design
request is needed. With a bottom-up approach, the risk of having to
redesign the network is high
.
 CONT.…

 Guidelines for producing a top-down design include the following:

■ Thoroughly analyze the customer’s requirements.
■ Initiate the design from the top of the OSI model, which is:-
 Which is define the upper OSI layers (application, presentation,
and session) first, and
 Then define the lower OSI layers (transport, network, data link,
and physical)
 The infrastructure (routers, switches, and media) that is required.
Gather additional data about the network like
 Protocol behavior,
 Scalability requirements,
 Additional requirements from the customer,
 CONT.…

 Top-Down Approach Compared to Bottom-Up Approach

A top-down approach to design has many benefits compared to a
bottom-up approach, including the following:
■ Incorporating the customer organization’s requirements
■ Providing the customer and the designer with the “big picture” of
the desired network
■ Providing a design that is appropriate for both current requirements
and future development
 The disadvantage of the top-down approach is that it is more time-
consuming than the bottom-up approach.
 A benefit of the bottom-up approach—selecting the devices and
technologies and then moving toward services and applications—is that
it allows a quick response to a design request.
 This design approach facilitates designs based on the designer’s
previous experience.
The major disadvantage of the bottom-up approach is that it can result in
an inappropriate design, leading to costly redesign.
 NETWORK DESIGN TOOLS

 Several types of tools can be used to ease the task of designing a complex
modern network, including the following:
■ Network modeling tools:
 Network modeling tools enable modeling of both simple and complex
networks.
■ Strategic analysis tools: These tools attempt to calculate the effects of
specific network components through simulated scenarios.
■ Decision tables: Decision tables are manual tools for choosing specific
network characteristics from multiple options, based on required
parameters.
■ Simulation and verification tools or services: These tools or services
are used to verify the acquired design, thereby lessening the need for a pilot network
implementation.
CONT….
 DOCUMENTING THE DESIGN
A design document lists the design requirements, documents the existing
network and the network design, identifies the proof-of-concept strategy and
results, and details the implementation plan.
The final design document structure should includes:
 Introduction:.
 Design requirements:.
 Existing network infrastructure:
 Design:
 Proof of concept(it describe pilot/
prototype network)
 Implementation plan:
 Appendixes:
THE DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
After the design is complete, the design implementation process is executed.
Planning and documenting the design implementation is the first step in this process
Implementation must consider the possibility of a failure, even after a successful pilot or
prototype network test.
The implementation plan should therefore include a test at every step.
Implementing and Verifying the Design
The design document should include a list of checks to be performed both during the pilot or
prototype phase and during the implementation, to ensure that the network is functioning as
required.
Monitoring and Redesigning the Network
During operation, the network is constantly monitored and checked for errors and problems. A
network redesign might be required if troubleshooting problems become too frequent or even
impossible to manage.