network must have's

carl_townshend · ‎04-17-2008

Hi all, can anyone tell me the top network must haves today for a good successful network ?

andrew.prince · ‎04-17-2008

Carl,

You will really have to exapnd on your question/requirements.

eg:- I heard a story recently, a client of my consultant firend was complaining of network issues between 2 sites connected by a 10mbs pt-pt link. He complained that the network was constantly slow. After some investigation the network was fine and working 100%. The issues were 2 fold:-

1) no pc security policy - everybody was sharing music/films and downloading from bittorrents day/night.

2) They were a media company - so they were sending emails group wide - when the attachments were large media files...typically 20mbs - sent to over 100 employees.....so 20x100mbs a couple of times a day

The network was doing what the network should - route/switch as fast as possible, but the users were abusing it, and the administrators were not administering.

You have asked a question that has a million answers. What type of network? Data Center? Small Office, Medium/Large or Enterpise Office? VPN/Remote Access network? Wireless Network? Hub and Spoke or Partially/fully meshed......

cisco_lad2004 · ‎04-17-2008

1-documnatation ( drawings , database etc..)

2-security.

3-redundancy.

4-Fault and performance monitoring.

5-planning

6-procedures

7-last but not least..trained engineers !

HTH

Sam

andrew.prince · ‎04-17-2008

Sam,

In all honesty - that is alot, the best place I know for that depth/breadth of information required, in a functional requiremnet scope would be:-

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns656/networking_solutions_program_home.html

HTH.

cisco_lad2004 · ‎04-17-2008

Andrew,

not really :-)

It doe snot tak much to draw few daigrams, use MRTG for FM/PM and have some tools for change Mngt (Rancid), add a Linux tacacs server.

Sam

andrew.prince · ‎04-17-2008

I suppose at the end of the day it all depends on what is being looked for. Perhaps I understood the original question incorrectly.

But then varying opinions on specific topics are what make these forums work right!!! Different experience/exposure to environments/technologies and sources of information are what helps people, and of course - if you learn something new, the day's not wasted!

:o)