Building a network for your business requires a lot of planning and logistics up front. It’s not just about installing devices, cables and connections as you go; each zone of your network must be projected beforehand. Companies that do not plan their network risk building an infrastructure that becomes too complex to manage. Smart grid design is one of the best tools your network team can use to build an efficient network.
Network design has a great influence on many aspects of your network, including network performance. Planning your network can help your team avoid several headaches along the way. Read on to find out how network design influences a network’s performance and what you can do to create a perfect network.
Network design basics
First, it helps to understand the basics of effective network design. Planning a network is not as simple as deciding on the best location for each node and cable in the infrastructure. It also includes a series of fundamental conventions that network teams must implement. Some of the network design principles that influence network performance include:
Estimation of traffic flow
Depending on the needs of your business, your network will need to achieve a basic level of performance. Specifically, your network should achieve a standard level of traffic flow in all parts of the network. As such, your network team needs to know how much data your business uses on a daily basis to understand your network needs.
Network mapping
If your network team can’t visualize your network, they’ll have a hard time finding and fixing any issues that arise. Creating a visual map of your network, either manually or through a Network Performance Monitor (NPM) with mapping capabilities, is an invaluable step in successful network design.
Placement and service of network nodes blanket
At a minimum, the networks should serve the entire company campus. In order to facilitate this, your network team should place the nodes in locations that create the greatest coverage area while limiting the use of your resources.
Multipath and dynamic network routing
Some people might imagine a network path as a straight line from one end of the infrastructure to the other. While this could technically be true, a real network looks a lot more complicated than that. The nodes of a network must be connected with several other nodes in order to create a more complex network path system. This will ensure that the data has multiple paths to travel in an emergency like a frayed connection or a faulty device.
Network design and redundancy
One of the most key elements of a competent network design is the establishment of redundancy systems. This includes backup systems for your network, such as gateway redundancy and backup power sources. By implementing these redundancy strategies, you will be able to keep your network operational in the event of a problem. This means that your network performance will not drop because an area of your network is down.
Our network monitoring buying guide has profiles on the best network performance monitor vendors, along with questions you and yourself should ask the vendors and yourself before purchasing.
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Dan is a technical writer who writes on cybersecurity for solutions review. He graduated from Fitchburg State University with a bachelor’s degree in professional writing. You can reach him at [email protected]
