Design methodologies

• Design Concept
• Design Process
• Vendor and Equipment
• Design Traceability
• Design Metrics
• Design methodologies

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 Design Concept
• Network analysis provides understanding of the network

• Network architecture provides conceptual (technology and

topology) descriptions of the network

• Network design builds upon these to add physical detail and

vendor, product, and service selections to the network.

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 Design Concept
first-order product
o Describe what is being evaluated and how many devices will be needed
for a particular location, it is useful for procurement and general
connectivity planning.

second-order product
o Provide enough detail to fully understand the network, where
devices are in relation to one another, their general locations, and
where services such as QOS and VOIP should be enabled.

o The greater amount of detail, including product types, hardware

and software revision levels, device configurations, and a more
explicit layout of the connectivity between devices, as well as with
service providers. 4
 Design Concept
Third-order product
o Adds location detail

o While a second-order product may provide general locations

(buildings, floors, rooms)

o third-order product adds location detail. For example, the

design could show rack layouts and where each device is
located in a rack (or equivalent piece of hardware).

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 Design Products
The key products of a network design are:
• Network blueprints
• A component plan
• Vendor, vendor equipment, and service provider
selections
• Traceability
• Metrics for measuring design success

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 Network blueprints
Describe the physical aspects of your network design:
o locations of network devices, servers, the cable plant,
physical security and secure locations

o how devices are interconnected, their interface types and

speeds; as well as device specific and service specific
information.

o Blueprints usually also show the support infrastructure for

the cable plant: building entrances, conduit and cable runs

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 Component plan
o Describes the mechanisms associated with that function, internal
interactions among those mechanisms, and external interactions
among functions.

o Component plans can be complementary to the network

blueprints, often providing function-specific information that
normally would not be on blueprints.

For example, a component plan that describes security for the

network might include configuration information for security
devices, such as sets of ACLs or VPNs, and where in the network
each set would be applied
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 Design Process
The design process consists of vendor, equipment, and service-provider
evaluations and network layout.

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 Vendor and Equipment
consist of general equipment and vendor specific
configuration information and protocol selections (if
necessary).

For example, sets of ACLs mentioned earlier as part of the

security component plan would be considered configuration
details. Routing protocols, AS numbers, and specific routing
and peering information would also be considered
configuration details.

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 Design Traceability
Able to show traceability between design decisions,
architecture decisions, requirements, and problem
statements.

This is a powerful capability that will help you to address any

questions and challenges that may arise regarding your
design.

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 Design Metrics
Used to describe how you measure success of the design, in
the same way that metrics were coupled to requirements.

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 Design methodologies
Network Design Methodologies Large network design projects
are normally divided into three distinct steps:

Step 1. Identify the network requirements.

Step 2. Characterize the existing network.
Step 3. Design the network topology and solutions.

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 Identifying Network
The
Requirements
network designer works closely with the customer to
document the goals of the project.
Goals are usually separated into two categories:

o Business goals: Focus on how the network can make the

business more successful

o Technical requirements: Focus on how the technology is

implemented within the network

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 Characterizing the Existing
Network
o Information about the current network and services is
gathered and analyzed.

o It is necessary to compare the functionality of the existing

network with the defined goals of the new project.

o The designer determines whether any existing equipment,

infrastructure, and protocols can be reused, and what new
equipment and protocols are needed to complete the
design.

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 Designing the Network Topology
o A common strategy for network design is to take a top-down
approach.

o In this approach, the network applications and service

requirements are identified, and then the network is
designed to support them.

o When the design is complete, a prototype or proof-of-concept

test is performed.

o This approach ensures that the new design functions as

expected before it is implemented.
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 Traditional Network Design
Methodology
o Many network design tools and methodologies that have been used
resemble the “connect-the-dots” game

o These tools let you place internetworking devices on a palette and

connect them with LAN or WAN media

o Problem with this methodology:

• It skips the steps of analyzing a customer's requirements, and selecting
devices and media based on those requirements

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 Top-down Network Design
Methodology
Good network design
o Recognizes that a customer’s requirements embody many business
and technical goals
o May specify a required level of network performance, i.e., service level

o Includes difficult network design choices and tradeoffs that must be

made when designing the logical network before any physical devices
or media are selected

When a customer expects a quick response to a network design request

• A bottom-up (connect-the-dots) network design methodology can be
used, if the customer’s applications and goals are well known
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 Top-down Network Design Methodology
Good network design
o Network designers often think they understand a customer’s
applications and requirements.

o However, after the network installation, they may discover that:

• They did not capture the customer's most important needs

• Unexpected scalability and performance problems appear as the number of

network users increases

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 Top-down Network Design Process
o Begins at the upper layers of the OSI reference model before moving to
the lower layers
• Focuses on applications, sessions, and data transport before the selection of routers,
switches, and media that operate at the lower layers
o Explores divisional structures to find the people :
• For whom the network will provide services, and
• From whom to get valuable information to make the design succeed
o It is an iterative process:
• It is important to first get an overall view of a customer's requirements
• More detail can be gathered later on protocol behavior, scalability requirements, technology
preferences, etc.
o Recognizes that the logical model and the physical design may change as
more information is gathered
o A top-down approach lets a network designer get “the big picture” first
and then spiral downward into detailed technical requirements and
specifications 20
Network Development Life Cycle

Analysis

Management Design

Simulation/
Prototyping
Monitoring

Implementation

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 Network Development Life Cycle
PDIOO (Cisco)
o Plan:
• Network requirements are identified in this phase
• Analysis of areas where the network will be installed
• Identification of users who will require network services
o Design:
o Accomplish the logical and physical design, according to requirements
gathered during the Plan phase
o Implement:
• Network is built according to the Design specifications
• Implementation also serves to verify the design
o Operate:
• Operation is the final test of the effectiveness of the design
• The network is monitored during this phase for performance problems
and any faults, to provide input into the Optimize phase

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 Network Development Life Cycle
PDIOO (Cisco)
o Optimize:
• Based on proactive network management which identifies and
resolves problems before network disruptions arise

• The optimize phase may lead to a network redesign

 if too many problems arise due to design errors, or
 as network performance degrades over time as actual use and capabilities
diverge

• Redesign may also be required when requirements

change significantly

o Retire:
• When the network, or a part of the network, is out-of-date, it may be
taken out of production
• Although Retire is not incorporated into the name of the life cycle
(PDIOO), it is nonetheless an important phase 23
Network Development Life Cycle
PDIOO (Cisco)

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Network Design and
Implementation Cycle

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 Network Design and
Implementation Cycle
o Analyze requirements:
• 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,
and network performance
• Analyze current and future network traffic, including traffic flow
and load, protocol behavior, and QoS requirements

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 Network Design and
Implementation Cycle
o Develop the logical design:
• Deals with a logical topology for the new or enhanced network
• Network layer addressing and naming
• Switching and routing protocols
• Security planning
• Network management design
• Initial investigation into which service providers can meet WAN
and remote access requirements

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 Network Design and
Implementation Cycle
• Develop the physical design:
• Specific technologies and products to realize the logical design
are selected
• The investigation into service providers must be completed during
this phase

o Test, optimize, and document the design:

• Write and implement a test plan
• Build a prototype or pilot
• Optimize the network design 28
 Network Design and
Implementation Cycle
• Develop the physical design:
• Specific technologies and products to realize the logical design are selected

• The investigation into service providers must be completed during this phase

o Test, optimize, and document the design:

• Write and implement a test plan

• Build a prototype or pilot

• Optimize the network design

• Document your work with a network design proposal

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One More Look

Business Network Implement Operations

Planning Design Network
Develop Operations
Define Objectives Develop Create
Policies and
and Requirements Architecture Implementation Plan
Capabilities

Create Initial Develop Detailed Procure Resources Fault

Solution Design and Facilities Management

Define Deployment Create Build Configuration

Stage and Install
Strategy Documentation Management

Review and Review and Verify Certify and Hand-off Change

Approve Design to Operations Management

Performance
Management

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 Types of Network Design

o New network design

o Re-engineering a network design
o Network expansion design

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 New Network Design
o Actually starting from scratch
o No legacy networks to accommodate
o Major driver is the budget, no compatibility issues to worry
about
o Getting harder to find these situations

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 Re-engineering a Network Design
o Modifications to an existing network to compensate for original
design problems
o Sometimes required when network users change existing
applications or functionality
o More of the type of problems seen today

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 Network Expansion Design
o Network designs that expand network capacity
o Technology upgrades
o Adding more users or networked equipment

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