Network Design Document

Project Client Organisation:

Contact:

System Name <<To be created by team and client>>

Date of Design <<Date of this version>>

Document

Document Status Draft / Approved <<delete one>>

Document <<FileName.doc>>
Reference

Version Number Version 1<<update as necessary, in whole

numbers>>

Prepared by <<Technical Writer>>

Team Members << Names of other team members>>

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1. Change History

All changes to the Design Document must be recorded in the Change History.

Date Description of Reason for Author of Version No.

Change Change Change

dd/mm/yyyy Initial draft N/A Version 1

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2. Table of Contents

1. CHANGE HISTORY...............................................................................................................................2

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................................................................................................3

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................4

4. PROJECT GOALS..................................................................................................................................4

5. LOGICAL DESIGN................................................................................................................................4
5.1. LOGICAL NETWORK DIAGRAM.........................................................................................................4
5.2. ADDRESSING AND NAMING STRUCTURE..........................................................................................4
5.3. ROUTING AND SWITCHING PROTOCOLS............................................................................................4
5.4. SECURITY..........................................................................................................................................4
5.5. VIRTUAL LANS................................................................................................................................4
5.6. WIRELESS NETWORKS......................................................................................................................5
5.7. QOS DESIGN.....................................................................................................................................5
5.8. NETWORK MANAGEMENT................................................................................................................5
6. PHYSICAL DESIGN...............................................................................................................................5
6.1. NETWORK TOPOLOGY.......................................................................................................................5
6.2. LAN TECHNOLOGIES........................................................................................................................5
6.3. WAN TECHNOLOGIES.......................................................................................................................5
6.4. PHYSICAL NETWORK DIAGRAM.......................................................................................................5
6.5. MINIMAL SERVER AND PC REQUIREMENTS......................................................................................5
6.6. WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES................................................................................................................5
7. References..................................................................................................................................................5

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3. Executive Summary
<<A high level summary of your proposed network design. It should briefly point out the major
strengths of your design and how it meets the customer requirements.
The executive summary should be half a page to a page in length.>>

4. Project Goals
<<This section has to give a brief description of each goal that the customer has specified for the
new (or upgraded) network that you are presenting in the rest of the design document. Within the
rest of the document you should refer back to these goals to show how your design meets every
single one of them. Again this is a fairly short section and should not be longer than a page.>>

5. Logical Design
<<This is the major part of your design document. All aspects of the proposed solution have to be
explained in detail and justified.>>

5.1. Logical Network Diagram

<<The logical diagram describes the architecture of the network: Subnetting (VLAN) architecture,
geographic spread of the network, main interconnecting devices, location of key network services.
Overview of addressing and naming should be included in the diagram.
See Reading 5 Figure 10.9 as an example of a simple logical network diagram. Other examples
will be posted to the forum.>>

5.2. Addressing and Naming Structure

<<This section has to include
Subnetting plan (fixed or variable length subnetting)
Statically allocated IP addresses (for routers, servers, ..)
DHCP address ranges for each subnet
Naming scheme (domains, severs, routers, hosts)

Again each of the choices for subnetting and naming has to be explained and justified.>>

5.3. Routing and Switching Protocols

<<In this section you discuss the choice of routing and switching protocols for your network
solution. The features of the chosen protocols should be discussed and you have to show why this
is an appropriate routing/switching protocol for the proposed network.
If your design includes different routing areas or multiple routing protocols a diagram has to be
included that shows which of the routers participate in which area/protocol.>>

5.4. Security
<<Considering the security of the network infrastructure is a key part of the design process.
This section should discuss
location of firewalls
devices in the DMZ
VPN tunnelling end-points
Access Control Lists

One (or several) diagrams showing the different security zones in your network, the access
restrictions and the location of the devices responsible for implementing security.
The designed security architecture has to be explained in detail and justified.>>

5.5. Virtual LANs

<<If your project requires you to implement VLANs or if you decide that VLANs will be beneficial to
your design you have to include this section.
Your VLAN design has to include
Number of VLANs
Which user groups belong to which VLAN

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 Which servers belong to which VLAN
VLAN trunking
Inter-VLAN routing

You should discuss the benefits of your chosen VLAN allocation, how the resources (servers) are
allocated and/or distributed between the VLANs and if communication between the VLANs is
necessary.>>

5.6. Wireless Networks

<<If your project includes a wireless network, this section should discuss:
Location of wireless APs
Subnets for the WLANs
Channel allocation for each AP if multiple APs are used
WLAN specific security considerations>>

5.7. QoS Design

<<If your project includes a quality of service component, this section should discuss:
Necessary Qos Classes for the application used in the organisations
Mapping of application programs to QoS classes
Traffic parameters for each QoS class>>

5.8. Network Management

<<If your project includes a network management component, this section should discuss:
Monitoring goals
Architecture of the monitoring applications
Network Performance criteria of interest
Detailed list of measurements and monitoring specifics>>

6. Physical Design
6.1. Network Topology
<<The physical topology (star, full mesh, bus, ..) of the network at each site and the topology of the
inter-site connections (if your client has multiple sites). >>

6.2. LAN technologies

<<You have to discuss and justify your choice of LAN technologies (Ethernet, FDDI, Token
Ring, ..). >>

6.3. WAN technologies

<<You have to discuss and justify your choice of WAN technologies (dial-up, fibre optic,
microwave, ).>>

6.4. Physical Network Diagram

<<This section should include a physical network diagram for your LAN/WAN design. >>

6.5. Minimal server and PC requirements

<<The minimal requirements for server and user computers based on the applications that will be
used in the network and number of users. >>

6.6. Wireless technologies

<<If your project includes a wireless network, you have to discuss and justify your choice of
wireless technologies (IEEE 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, )>>

7. References
<<You must acknowledge all official publications that you use during the life of the project.
HOWEVER, templates and other materials provided by lecturers do NOT need to be
acknowledged.>>

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