CMT 107: Computer Network
CHAPTER TWO: NETWORK PLANNING
2.1 Gathering Requirements
Every organization has unique needs for which they would require a
network. There are several factors to consider when gathering
requirements:
Identify the nature and volume of data and how it is used within
and outside the organization.
Determine how the network will be used and by whom which
often dictates the topology you use. Location of data with
respect to users is also critical here.
Decide the types of devices for interconnecting computers and sites
The type and usage level of network resources dictates how
many serversyou need and where to place servers.
2.2 Selecting a topology
Most new network designs come down to only one choice: How fast should
the network be?
This will be guided by the needs identified earlier, in particular the
location of sites, volume of data and nature of existing equipment and
consideration for futureexpansion.
In most cases the physical topology will almost certainly be a star, and the
logical topology is almost always switching. Ethernet switches are typically
used on a LAN, but you might consider other logical topologies for reasons
such as:
Use of legacy equipment – such as token ring
Network size – using hub-based bus topology
Cost restrictions – using hub instead of switch
Difficulty to run cables – consider wireless ?
2.3 Conducting site Survey
The purpose of a site survey is to understand the nature of the business
premises interms of how the building, office space and electrical wiring
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are set up. It helps answer whether or not the type of network requested
can be supported by the organization of the building. It also helps estimate
how much material will be required to layout the network.
2.4 Capacity Planning
Capacity planning involves trying to determine the amount of network
bandwidthnecessary to support an application or a set of applications.
A number of techniques exist for performing capacity planning, including linear
projection, computer simulation, benchmarking, and analytical modeling.
Linear projection involves predicting one or more network capacities based
on thecurrent network parameters and multiplying by some constant.
A computer simulation involves modeling an existing system or proposed
systemusing a computer-based simulation tool.
Benchmarking involves generating system statistics under a controlled
environmentand then comparing those statistics against known
measurements.
Analytical modeling involves the creation of mathematical equations to
calculatevarious network values.
2.5 Creating a Baseline
Involves the measurement and recording of a network‘s state of operation
over agiven period of time.
A baseline can be used to determine current network performance and to
helpdetermine future network needs.
Baseline studies should be ongoing projects, and not something started and
stoppedevery so many years.
To perform a baseline study, you should:
Collect information on number and type of system nodes,
includingworkstations, routers, bridges, switches, hubs,
and servers.
Create an up-to-date roadmap of all nodes along with model
numbers,serial numbers and any address information such as
IP or Ethernet addresses.
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CMT 107: Computer Network
Collect information on operational protocols used throughout the
system.
List all network applications, including the number, type and
utilizationlevel.
Create a fairly extensive list of statistics to help meet your
goals. Thesestatistics can include average network utilization,
peak network utilization, average frame size, peak frame size,
average frames per second, peak frames per second, total
network collisions, network collisions per second, total runts,
total jabbers, total CRC errors, and nodes with highest
percentage of utilization.
2.6 Designing the Network
A network design must be documented, and network diagram must be kept
up todate.
Some useful questions to be answered before drawing the diagram:
How many client computers will be attached?
How many servers will be attached?
Will there be a connection to the Internet?
How will the building‘s physical architecture influence
decisions, suchas whether to use a wired or wireless
topology, or both?
Which topology or topologies will you use?
2.7 Network Development Life Cycle(NDLC)
The NDLC is a model that summarizes the network design process, from initial
problem/needs assessment to implementation.
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CMT 107: Computer Network
Analysis
Management Design
Simulation/
Prototyping
Monitoring
Implementation
2.7.1 Analyze requirements
A network cannot very well provide effective solutions to problems that
have not been clearly defined in objective terms. To attempt to
implement networks beforeeveryone agrees to (buy-in) the exact nature
of the problem to be solved is somewhat akin to hitting a moving target.
The network will never satisfy all constituencies‘ needs because no one
agreed what those needs were in the first place. All network development
efforts start with a problem as perceived by someone, be they
management or end-users. At some point, management agrees that a
problem exists that is worth expending resources to at least investigate.
Theresponsibility for conducting the investigation may be given to in-
house personnel or to an outside consultant or facilitator.
Interviews with users and technical personnel
Understand business and technical goals for a new or enhanced system
Characterize the existing network: logical and physical
topology, andnetwork performance
Analyze current and future network traffic, including traffic
flow andload, protocol behavior, and QoS requirements
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2.7.2 Develop the logical design
An IP network has two very important resources, its IP addresses and the
corresponding naming structure within the network. To provide effective
communication between hosts or stations in a network, each station must
maintaina unique identity. In an IP network this is achieved by the IP
address. The distribution and management of these addresses is an
important consideration in anIP network design. IP addresses are
inherently not easy to remember. People find it much easier to remember
names and have these names related to individual machines connected to
a network. Even applications rarely refer to hosts by their binary
identifiers; in general they use ASCII strings such as
[email protected]. These
names must be translated to IP addresses because the network does not
utilize identifiers based on ASCII strings. The management of these names
and the translation mechanism used must also be considered by the IP
network designer.
2.7.3 Develop the physical design
Specific technologies and products to realize the logical design are
selected. Theinvestigation into service providers must be completed
during this phase.
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Network Layout Diagram
2.7.4 Factors That Affect a Network Design
Designing a network is more than merely planning to use the latest gadget
in themarket. A good network design takes into consideration many
factors:
Size Matters
At the end of the day, size does matter. Designing a LAN for a small office
with afew users is different from building one for a large company with
two thousand users. In building a small LAN, a flat design is usually used,
where all connecting devices may be connected to each other. For a large
company, a hierachical approach should be used.
Geographies
The geographical locations of the sites that need to be connected are
importantin a network design. The decision making process for
selecting the right technology and equipment for remote connections,
especially those of
cross-country nature, is different from that for a LAN. The tariffs, local
expertise,quality of service from service providers, are some of the
important criteria.
Politics
Politics in the office ultimately decides how a network should be partitioned.
Department A may not want to share data with department B, while
department Callows only department D to access its data. At the network
level, requirements such as these are usually done through filtering at
the router so as to direct traffic flow in the correct manner. Business and
security needs determine how information flows in a network and the
right tool has to be chosen to carry this out.
Types of Application
The types of application deployed determines the bandwidth required.
While a text-based transaction may require a few kbps of bandwidth, a
multimedia help
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CMT 107: Computer Network
2.8 IP Addresses and Address Classes
An IP address is defined in RFC 1166 - Internet Numbers as a 32-
bit numberhaving two parts:
IP address = <network number><host number>
The first part of the address, the network number, is assigned by a
regional authority and will vary in its length depending on the class of
addresses to which it belongs. The network number part of the IP address
is used by the IP protocol to route IP datagrams throughout TCP/IP
networks. These networks may be within your enterprise and under your
control, in which case, to some extent, you are freeto allocate this part of
the address yourself without prior reference to the Internet authority, but
if you do so, you are encouraged to use the private IP addresses that have
been reserved by the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) for that
purpose.
However if your routing may take you into networks outside of your
control, usingfor example, the worldwide services, it is imperative that
you obtain a unique IP address from your regional Internet address
authority.
The second part of the IP address, the host number, is used to identify the
individual host within a network. This portion of the address is assigned
locally within a network by the authority that controls that network. The
length of this number is, as mentioned before, dependent on the class of
the IP address being used and also on whether subnetting is in use.
(subnetting is beyond the scope ofthis course).
The 32 bits that make up the IP address are usually written as four 8-bit decimal
values concatenated with dots (periods). This representation is
commonly referred to as a dotted decimal notation. An example of this is
the IP address 172.16.3.14. In this example the 172.16 is the network
number and the 3.14 is thehost number. The split into network number
and host number is determined by the class of the IP address.
Class A addresses have the first bit set to 0. The next 7 bits are used for
the network number. This gives a possibility of 128 networks (27).
However, it should be noted that there are two cases, the all bits 0
number and the all bits 1 number,which have special significance in
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CMT 107: Computer Network
classes A, B and C.
The remaining 24 bits of a Class A address are used for the host number.
Once again, the two special cases apply to the host number part of an IP
address. EachClass A network can therefore have a total of 16,777,214
hosts (224 -2). Class A addresses are assigned only to networks with very
large numbers of hosts (historically, large corporations). An example is the
9.0.0.0 network, which is assigned to IBM.
The Class B address is more suited to medium-sized networks. The first
two bitsof the address are predefined as 10. The next 14 bits are used
for the network number and the remaining 16 bits identify the host
number. This gives a possibility of 16,382 networks each containing up
to 65,534 hosts.
The Class C address offers a maximum of 254 hosts per network and is
thereforesuited to smaller networks. However, with the first three bits of
the address predefined to 110, the next 21 bits provide for a maximum of
2,097,150 such networks.
The remaining classes of address, D and E, are reserved classes and
have a special meaning. Class E addresses are reserved for future use
while Class D addresses are used to address groups of hosts in a
limited area. This function isknown as multicasting.
