Cabletron Systems bridges, switches manual Priority Organization Workgroups

Network Design

Priority Organization

Priority organization is a flexible term that refers to the Network Manager assigning devices to workgroups based on specific priorities. As such, it is the most flexible scheme for creating workgroups, because it is based solely on the relative importance of certain network characteristics to individual end users and equipment. Priority organization can be used to create high-speed, high-reliability, or rapidly recovering workgroups to those stations requiring those characteristics. Unfortunately, it combines some of the worst features of the other methods of arranging workgroups as the cost of this level of control.

An example of priority organization is the common practice of connecting all the file servers for a particular facility to a high-speed network access device in a single location, regardless of the location of the workgroups needing access to them. This practice is known as “server farming,” and is used, in many cases, to keep network users from attempting to repair, reconfigure, or use the servers in imaginative, and often hazardous, ways.

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:Sales Workstations

:Research Workstations

:Receiving Workstations

: File Servers : Priority Workgroup

: Standard Workgroup

Figure 5-4. Priority Organization Workgroups

The Role of the Workgroup 5-7