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Network Infrastructure Design

The document provides an overview of network infrastructure design, detailing the physical and logical components that enable connectivity and management within a network. It emphasizes the importance of careful planning, implementation, and maintenance of network infrastructure, including considerations for security and user requirements. Additionally, it distinguishes between physical and logical infrastructures, highlighting their interdependence and the complexity involved in maintaining a robust network system.

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73 views2 pages

Network Infrastructure Design

The document provides an overview of network infrastructure design, detailing the physical and logical components that enable connectivity and management within a network. It emphasizes the importance of careful planning, implementation, and maintenance of network infrastructure, including considerations for security and user requirements. Additionally, it distinguishes between physical and logical infrastructures, highlighting their interdependence and the complexity involved in maintaining a robust network system.

Uploaded by

remose06
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Overview of Network Infrastructure Design

 Network Infrastructure: - is a set of physical and logical components that provide connectivity,
security, routing, management, access, and other integral features on a network.
 During a network’s planning phase, engineers select the hardware and software components that will
compose the network infrastructure and specify the particular location, installation, and configuration of
those components.
 In most cases, the elements of a network infrastructure are both inherited and designed.
 If you are building a network that will be connected to the Internet, for example, certain aspects of the
network, such as the use of the TCP/IP protocol suite, are inherited from the Internet.
 Other network elements, such as the physical layout of basic network components, are chosen by
design when the network is first conceived and are then inherited by later versions of the network as it
evolves.
 It is rare for an engineer to have the opportunity to design a network from scratch, with no pre-existing
influences.
 Nearly always, the engineer must incorporate some existing elements into the network design, such as
specific applications, operating systems, protocols, or hardware components.
 Implementing a network infrastructure is the process of evaluating, purchasing, and assembling the
specified components, and installing them in the manner prescribed by the design plan.
 The implementation process begins with engineers installing the network’s hardware infrastructure,
including computers, cables, and connectivity devices such as hubs, switches, and routers, as well as
printers and other peripherals.
 Once the hardware is in place, the engineers install and configure the operating systems, applications,
and other software.
 The operating systems running on the computers are the primary software components in the network
infrastructure, because they incorporate the protocols and other routines that make network
communications possible.
 In addition to the standard communication protocols common to all network operating systems, the
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 family also includes a collection of applications and services that
implement important security and special communications capabilities on the network.

Physical vs. Logical Network Infrastructure


1. Physical Network Infrastructure: - is its topology, the physical design of the network, along with
hardware components such as cabling, routers, switches, hubs, servers, and workstations.
 The hardware you select when planning the network’s physical infrastructure is frequently
dependent on elements of the network’s logical infrastructure.
 For example, if you decide to use Ethernet for your network’s data-link layer protocol, you are
limited to certain specific cable types supported by Ethernet, and the network’s connectivity
components—hubs, routers, and switches—must be designed for use with Ethernet as well.
 For a small network, the physical infrastructure can be very simple—computers, a hub, and a
few cables are generally all you need.
 For medium-to-large networks, however, the physical infrastructure can be extraordinarily
complex.
2. Logical Network Infrastructure:-comprises the many software elements that connect, manage, and
secure hosts on the network.
 The logical infrastructure allows communication between computers over the pathways
described in the physical topology.
 The logical infrastructure of a network consists of both abstract software elements, such as
networking protocols, and concrete elements, such as specific software products.
 In addition to basic communication protocols such as TCP/IP, the abstract elements of the
logical infrastructure can include security technologies such as digital certificates and the IP
Security (IP. Sec) protocols.
Planning a Network Infrastructure
 Planning the infrastructure is by far the most complicated part of building a network because during this
phase you create the blueprint you will use to implement the network and maintain it later.
 A complete network infrastructure plan consists of a great deal more than a physical infrastructure
layout and a list of hardware and software products.
 To plan the infrastructure properly, a network designer must consider the requirements of the network’s
users, its owners, and its hardware and software components.
 What tasks do the network users have to accomplish?
 In addition to selecting applications, a network designer must also be conscious of the services the
network’s users need for their computers to function properly
 Security is also an omnipresent consideration in planning a network infrastructure.
 The designer must attempt to anticipate all possible dangers to the network and plan a suitable security
infrastructure to protect it from those dangers.
 The security infrastructure might include advanced configuration of the operating systems, services,
and applications, as well as the use of additional components, such as IPSec and digital certificates.
Implementing a Network Infrastructure
 The network infrastructure plan planned should be implemented at this stage.
 The process of implementing the technologies outlined in a network infrastructure plan typically involves
a number of disciplines.
 The elements of the implementation process focus largely on the selection of protocols, operating
systems, applications, and security mechanisms that satisfy the requirements of a network’s owners,
administrators, and users, as determined in the planning process.
Maintaining a Network Infrastructure
 To maintain the network properly, administrators must have an intimate knowledge of the infrastructure
and the technologies used to implement it.
 Network infrastructure maintenance includes tasks such as updating operating systems and
applications, monitoring ongoing processes, and troubleshooting problems.
 Keeping the network’s operating systems and applications updated is more complicated than simply
downloading the latest patch releases and installing them on all the computers.
 For a large and complex network infrastructure, you must be careful to test each release before
deploying it on the production network.
 Administrators must monitor many services that are essential to a large network at regular intervals to
ensure they are operating properly.
 This monitoring can include regular examination of logs, function testing, and network traffic analysis.
 The network administrator must be capable of configuring these services to log the appropriate
information and of using Windows Server 2008 tools such as Network Monitor and the Performance
console.
 Troubleshooting is one of the primary maintenance functions of a network administrator.
 Although much of the infrastructure design and implementation process revolves around the creation of
a robust network, problems do occur, and in a large organization, network failures can mean reduced
productivity and loss of revenue.

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