Network Design
Isolation and Recovery
No matter how much redundancy is designed into a network, and no matter how much the single points of failure are eliminated, the law of averages eventually catches up to any network, and a failure will occur. Once the failure does occur, the isolation and recovery process begins. If a network is designed to eliminate confusing layouts and make the troubleshooting procedure efficient and effective, the amount of time a network is down is reduced. Comprehensive planning of workgroups and backbones is the most directly effective way to design isolation and recovery features into the network. Additionally, the use of
An example of this is the automatic wrapping of the dual ring structure of FDDI networks. If a station on the dual ring is lost, the ring wraps back upon itself at the two points between which the signal was interrupted or lost, closing the ring back up and allowing traffic to continue passing. A good FDDI network design takes advantage of this recovery feature by placing the most essential devices, ones which are not intended to fail often or be shut down, on the dual ring, where they will benefit from the automated recovery feature.
Network Maps and Record Keeping
A large portion of the process of expanding an existing network or troubleshooting faults and problems is determining what the current state of that network is. Keeping a running record of the status of the network, its configuration, and any changes made to that configuration, can go a long way toward simplifying the expansion of the network or migration to new technologies.
Tracking Functions
Networks are inherently complex things. There is a large amount of detailed information that needs to be recorded, and there are many different people who need differing levels of information about the network. Since the layers of complexity required by different people cannot always be crammed onto one network map, it may be very useful to keep a series of maps, each showing differing levels of complexity.
For example, a network map set might include a facility map showing the division of areas into workgroups, a map showing the location, layout, and type of physical cabling, one showing the locations of networking hardware, and individual maps showing the locations and types of physical devices.
If you are using a network management package, such as Cabletron Systems SPECTRUM Element Manager, it is helpful to have a network map which shows the MAC addresses and IP addresses of the devices on the network.
Creating a Manageable Plan |
