Discuss the difference between business requirements and design requirements in network upgrading. Please give four examples of each.
Business requirements relate to particular needs that must be addressed to achieve business objectives, vision, and goals for the organization (Parker, 2012). In network upgrading, business requirements describe
Cost efficiency – this entails the reduction in costs of maintaining multiple voice and data networks.
Expansion – business expansion using the network to provide support for rollout strategies of new remote sites in new markets.
Productivity –improved worker productivity using enhancement and integration of internal communications through mobile devices, PDAs, and other electronics without compromising the organization’s security policy.
Compliance – compliance with some the industry ISO standards and certification. Mainly, the business has to comply with technology standards as far as networking is concerned.
Design requirements on the other hand state some fundamental functional and technical network application characteristics that the network design must meet to be successful (Al-shawi, 2015). Such features include
Unified infrastructures – this kind of infrastructure has to support video, data, voice and wireless protocols
Scalability – the scalable network has to support projected business growth, for example using dynamic multipoint VPN (DMVPN), and introduce new remote sites without much redesign.
Traffic isolation - the network should provide traffic isolation between the traffic of internal staff and network guests, and meet information security requirements, for example using tunneling Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE).
Security – the network security must be optimized to accommodate new designs including voice, data, and wireless security and reduce attacks on various protocols.
Why is it important to use a modular approach for designing Networks? Could you anticipate what problems can occur if such methods are not used? Describe your response in two paragraphs.
Modular models in network design facilitate the design of a hierarchical network that meets various network requirements and can be developed to meet future requirements. The modularity of this hierarchical architecture allows flexibility in the design and facilitates the implementation and troubleshooting of networks. The hierarchical model allows the division of the network design in layers, namely, the distribution, access, and core layers. For complex networks, more efficiency is achieved through breaking it into smaller, and more specialized units. Networks can be broken down into smaller components because they possess natural, physical, logical, and functional boundaries. When they are adequately large to require operational separation and additional designs, the specialized modules can be designed hierarchically with the distribution, access, and core layers. Designing the network using functional modules allows scaling and resizing and even addition of protocols such as WAP. (Teare, 2008).
A module is defined as a subsection of highly interconnected nodes that are relatively interconnected to other nodes in different modules. Without modular structures, many hierarchical networks would lack their robustness, adaptivity, and evolvability in functionality. Without robustness, network attacks become more costly and dangerous due to lack of fine-tuned access control and customization of network modules. Business productivity and earning potential could suffer due to frequent network breakdowns and malicious and unwanted network traffic. Using modules helps save on equipment by reducing the amount of equipment needed to set up a network. Adding to existing networks is modular, therefore additions to the network equipment scale linearly in cost (Wepman, 2016). Without modules, the network cannot achieve an easy design following the logical organizational structure. It would be difficult to make any modifications should the network require any changes.
References
Al-shawi, M. (2015). Network Design Requirements: Analysis and Design Principles. In CCDE Study Guide (1st ed., pp. 4-29). Cisco Press.
Parker, J. (2012). Business, User, and System Requirements - Enfocus Solutions Inc. Enfocus Solutions Inc. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from http://enfocussolutions.com/business-user-and-system-requirements
Teare, D. (2008). Using a Modular Approach to Network Design > Structuring and Modularizing the Network with Cisco Enterprise Architecture. Ciscopress.com. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=1073230&seqNum=2
Wepman, J. (2016). What Are the Benefits of Hierarchical Network Design? eHow. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from http://www.ehow.com/info_12173749_benefits-hierarchical-network-design.html
