 Network design should be a complete process that

matches business needs to available technology to

deliver a system that will maximize an organization’s
success
 In the LAN area it is more than just buying a few
devices
 In the WAN area it is more than just calling the phone
company
 Don’t just start connecting the dots
 Analyze business and technical goals first
 Explore divisional and group structures to find out
who the network serves and where they reside
 Determine what applications will run on the
network and how those applications behave on a
network
 Focus on Layer 7 and above first
Layer 7 Application

Layer 6 Presentation

Layer 5 Session

Layer 4 Transport

Layer 3 Network

Layer 2 Data Link

Layer 1 Physical
 A focus is placed on understanding data flow, data types,
and processes that access or change the data.
 A focus is placed on understanding the location and needs
of user communities that access or change data and
processes.
 Several techniques and models can be used to characterize
the existing system, new user requirements, and a structure
for the future system.
 A logical model is developed before the physical model.
 The logical model represents the basic building blocks, divided by
function, and the structure of the system.
 The physical model represents devices and specific technologies and
implementations.
 SDLC: Does it mean Synchronous Data Link Control
or Systems Development Life Cycle?
 The latter for the purposes of this class!
 Typical systems are developed and continue to exist
over a period of time, often called a systems
development life cycle (SDLC)
 Analyze
requirements

Monitor and Develop

optimize logical
network design
performance

Implement Develop
and test physical
network design
Test, optimize,
and document
design
 Phase 1 – Analyze Requirements
 Analyze business goals and constraints
 Analyze technical goals and tradeoffs
 Characterize the existing network
 Characterize network traffic
 Phase 2 – Logical Network Design
 Design a network topology
 Design models for addressing and naming
 Select switching and routing protocols
 Develop network security strategies
 Develop network management strategies
 Phase 3 – Physical Network Design
 Select technologies and devices for campus networks
 Select technologies and devices for enterprise networks
 Phase 4 – Testing, Optimizing, and Documenting the
Network Design
 Test the network design
 Optimize the network design
 Document the network design
 Plan

Design

Retire
Optimize

Implement

Operate
 Increase revenue
 Reduce operating costs
 Improve communications
 Shorten product development cycle
 Expand into worldwide markets
 Build partnerships with other companies
 Offer better customer support or new customer
services
 Mobility
 Security
 Resiliency (fault tolerance)
 Business continuity after a disaster
 Network projects must be prioritized based on
fiscal goals
 Networks must offer the low delay required for real-
time applications such as VoIP
 Budget
 Staffing
 Schedule
 Politics and policies
 Before meeting with the client, whether internal or
external, collect some basic business-related
information
 Such as
 Products produced/Services supplied
 Financial viability
 Customers, suppliers, competitors
 Competitive advantage
 Try to get
 A concise statement of the goals of the
project
 What problem are they trying to solve?
 How will new technology help them be more
successful in their business?
 What must happen for the project to
succeed?
 What will happen if the project is a failure?
 Is this a critical business function?
 Is this project visible to upper management?
 Who’s on your side?
 Discover any biases
 For example
 Will they only use certain company’s
products?
 Do they avoid certain technologies?
 Do the data people look down on the voice
people or vice versa?
 Talk to the technical and management
staff
 Get a copy of the organization chart
 This will show the general structure of the organization
 It will suggest users to account for
 It will suggest geographical locations to account for
 Get a copy of the security policy
 How does the policy affect the new design?
 How does the new design affect the policy?
 Is the policy so strict that you (the network designer)
won’t be able to do your job?
 Start cataloging network assets that security should
protect
 Hardware, software, applications, and data
 Less obvious, but still important, intellectual property,
trade secrets, and a company's reputation
 Small in scope?
 Allow sales people to access network via a VPN
 Large in scope?
 An entire redesign of an enterprise network
 Use the OSI model to clarify the scope
 New financial reporting application versus new routing
protocol versus new data link (wireless, for example)
 Does the scope fit the budget, capabilities of staff and
consultants, schedule?
 Applications
 Now and after the project is completed
 Include both productivity applications and system
management applications
 User communities
 Data stores
 Protocols
 Current logical and physical architecture
 Current performance
Name of Type of New Criticality Comments
Application Application Application?
 Systematic approach
 Focus first on business requirements and constraints,
and applications
 Gain an understanding of the customer’s corporate
structure
 Gain an understanding of the customer’s business
style
 What are the main phases of network design per
the top-down network design approach?
 What are the main phases of network design per
the PDIOO approach?
 Why is it important to understand your
customer’s business style?
 What are some typical business goals for
organizations today?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Two

Analyzing Technical Goals and Tradeoffs

 Technical Goals
• Scalability
• Availability
• Performance
• Security
• Manageability
• Usability
• Adaptability
• Affordability
 Scalability
• Scalability refers to the ability to grow
• Some technologies are more scalable
– Flat network designs, for example, don’t scale
well
• Try to learn
– Number of sites to be added
– What will be needed at each of these sites
– How many users will be added
– How many more servers will be added
 Availability
• Availability can be expressed as a percent
uptime per year, month, week, day, or hour,
compared to the total time in that period
– For example:
• 24/7 operation
• Network is up for 165 hours in the 168-hour week
• Availability is 98.21%
• Different applications may require different
levels
• Some enterprises may want 99.999% or
“Five Nines” availability
 Availability
Downtime in Minutes
Per Hour Per Day Per Week Per Year
99.999% .0006 .01 .10 5
99.98% .012 .29 2 105
99.95% .03 .72 5 263
99.90% .06 1.44 10 526
99.70% .18 4.32 30 1577
99.999% Availability May
Require Triple Redundancy
ISP 1 ISP 2 ISP 3

Enterprise

• Can the customer afford this?

 Availability
• Availability can also be expressed as a
mean time between failure (MTBF) and
mean time to repair (MTTR)
• Availability = MTBF/(MTBF + MTTR)
– For example:
• The network should not fail more than once every
4,000 hours (166 days) and it should be fixed within
one hour
• 4,000/4,001 = 99.98% availability
 Network Performance
• Common performance factors include
– Bandwidth
– Throughput
– Bandwidth utilization
– Offered load
– Accuracy
– Efficiency
– Delay (latency) and delay variation
– Response time
 Bandwidth Vs. Throughput
• Bandwidth and throughput are not the same
thing
• Bandwidth is the data carrying capacity of a
circuit
• Usually specified in bits per second
• Throughput is the quantity of error free data
transmitted per unit of time
• Measured in bps, Bps, or packets per second (pps)
Bandwidth, Throughput, Load
100 % of Capacity
T
h
r Actual
o
u
g
h
p
u
t
100 % of Capacity

Offered Load
 Other Factors that Affect
Throughput
• The size of packets
• Inter-frame gaps between packets
• Packets-per-second ratings of devices that forward packets
• Client speed (CPU, memory, and HD access speeds)
• Server speed (CPU, memory, and HD access speeds)
• Network design
• Protocols
• Distance
• Errors
• Time of day, etc., etc., etc.
 Throughput Vs. Goodput
• You need to decide what you mean by
throughput
• Are you referring to bytes per second,
regardless of whether the bytes are user data
bytes or packet header bytes
– Or are you concerned with application-layer
throughput of user bytes, sometimes called
“goodput”
• In that case, you have to consider that bandwidth is
being “wasted” by the headers in every packet
 Performance (continued)
• Efficiency
– How much overhead is required to deliver an
amount of data?
– How large can packets be?
• Larger better for efficiency (and goodput)
• But too large means too much data is lost if a packet
is damaged
• How many packets can be sent in one bunch without
an acknowledgment?
 Efficiency
Small Frames (Less Efficient)

Large Frames (More Efficient)

Delay from the User’s Point of
View
• Response Time
– A function of the
application and the
equipment the
application is
running on, not just
the network
– Most users expect
to see something on
the screen in 100 to
200 milliseconds
Delay from the Engineer’s Point
of View
• Propagation delay
– A signal travels in a cable at about 2/3 the
speed of light in a vacuum
• Transmission delay (also known as
serialization delay)
– Time to put digital data onto a transmission line
• For example, it takes about 5 ms to output a 1,024
byte packet on a 1.544 Mbps T1 line
• Packet-switching delay
• Queuing delay
Queuing Delay and Bandwidth Utilization

• Number of packets in a queue increases exponentially as

utilization increases
 Example
• A packet switch has 5 users, each offering
packets at a rate of 10 packets per second
• The average length of the packets is 1,024 bits
• The packet switch needs to transmit this data
over a 56-Kbps WAN circuit
– Load = 5 x 10 x 1,024 = 51,200 bps
– Utilization = 51,200/56,000 = 91.4%
– Average number of packets in queue =
(0.914)/(1-0.914) = 10.63 packets
 Delay Variation
• The amount of time average delay varies
– Also known as jitter
• Voice, video, and audio are
intolerant of delay variation
• So forget everything we said
about maximizing packet sizes
– There are always tradeoffs
– Efficiency for high-volume applications
versus low and non-varying delay for
multimedia
 Security

• Focus on requirements first

• Detailed security planning later (Chapter 8)
• Identify network assets
– Including their value and the expected cost
associated with losing them due to a security
problem
• Analyze security risks
 Network Assets
• Hardware
• Software
• Applications
• Data
• Intellectual property
• Trade secrets
• Company’s reputation
 Security Risks
• Hacked network devices
– Data can be intercepted, analyzed, altered, or
deleted
– User passwords can be compromised
– Device configurations can be changed
• Reconnaissance attacks
• Denial-of-service attacks
 Manageability

• Performance management
• Fault management
• Configuration management
• Security management
• Accounting management
 Usability

• Usability: the ease of use with which

network users can access the network and
services
• Networks should make users’ jobs easier
• Some design decisions will have a negative
affect on usability:
– Strict security, for example
 Adaptability
• Avoid incorporating any design elements
that would make it hard to implement new
technologies in the future
• Change can come in the form of new
protocols, new business practices, new
fiscal goals, new legislation
• A flexible design can adapt to changing
traffic patterns and Quality of Service (QoS)
requirements
 Affordability
• A network should carry the maximum
amount of traffic possible for a given
financial cost
• Affordability is especially important in
campus network designs
• WANs are expected to cost more, but costs
can be reduced with the proper use of
technology
– Quiet routing protocols, for example
 Network Applications
Technical Requirements

Name of Cost of Acceptable Acceptable Throughput Delay Must be Delay

Application Downtime MTBF MTTR Goal Less Than: Variation
Must be Less
Than:
 Making Tradeoffs
• Scalability 20
• Availability 30
• Network performance 15
• Security 5
• Manageability 5
• Usability 5
• Adaptability 5
• Affordability 15
Total (must add up to 100) 100
 Summary

• Continue to use a systematic, top-down

approach
• Don’t select products until you understand
goals for scalability, availability, performance,
security, manageability, usability, adaptability,
and affordability
• Tradeoffs are almost always necessary
 Review Questions

• What are some typical technical goals for

organizations today?
• How do bandwidth and throughput differ?
• How can one improve network efficiency?
• What tradeoffs may be necessary in order to improve
network efficiency?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Three

Characterizing the Existing Internetwork

 What’s the Starting Point?
• According to Abraham Lincoln:
– “If we could first know where we are and
whither we are tending, we could better judge
what to do and how to do it.”
 Where Are We?
• Characterize the exiting internetwork in
terms of:
– Its infrastructure
• Logical structure (modularity, hierarchy, topology)
• Physical structure
– Addressing and naming
– Wiring and media
– Architectural and environmental constraints
– Health
 Get a Network Map
Medford Roseburg
Fast Ethernet Fast Ethernet
50 users 30 users
Frame Relay Frame Relay
CIR = 56 Kbps CIR = 56 Kbps
DLCI = 5 DLCI = 4

Gigabit Grants Pass

HQ
Ethernet 16 Mbps
Grants Pass Token Ring
HQ
Fast Ethernet
75 users
FEP
(Front End
Processor)

IBM
Mainframe
T1

Web/FTP server
Eugene
Ethernet T1 Internet
20 users
 Characterize Addressing and
Naming
• IP addressing for major devices, client
networks, server networks, and so on
• Any addressing oddities, such as
discontiguous subnets?
• Any strategies for addressing and naming?
– For example, sites may be named using airport
codes
• San Francisco = SFO, Oakland = OAK
 Discontiguous Subnets

Area 0
Network
192.168.49.0

Router A Router B

Area 1 Area 2
Subnets 10.108.16.0 - Subnets 10.108.32.0 -
10.108.31.0 10.108.47.0
Characterize the Wiring and Media
• Single-mode fiber
• Multi-mode fiber
• Shielded twisted pair (STP) copper
• Unshielded-twisted-pair (UTP) copper
• Coaxial cable
• Microwave
• Laser
• Radio
• Infra-red
 Campus Network Wiring
Horizontal Work-Area
Wiring Wiring

Wallplate
Telecommunications
Wiring Closet

Vertical
Wiring
(Building
Backbone)

Main Cross-Connect Room Intermediate Cross-Connect Room

(or Main Distribution Frame) (or Intermediate Distribution Frame)

Campus
Building A - Headquarters Backbone Building B
 Architectural Constraints
• Make sure the following are sufficient
– Air conditioning
– Heating
– Ventilation
– Power
– Protection from electromagnetic interference
– Doors that can lock
 Architectural Constraints

• Make sure there’s space for:

– Cabling conduits
– Patch panels
– Equipment racks
– Work areas for technicians installing and
troubleshooting equipment
 Issues for Wireless Installations

• Reflection
• Absorption
• Refraction
• Diffraction
Check the Health of the Existing
Internetwork
• Performance
• Availability
• Bandwidth utilization
• Accuracy
• Efficiency
• Response time
• Status of major routers, switches, and
firewalls
 Characterize Availability

Date and Duration of Cause of Last

MTBF MTTR Last Major Major
Downtime Downtime

Enterprise

Segment 1

Segment 2

Segment n
 Network Utilization in Minute
Intervals
Network Utilization

16:40:00

16:43:00

16:46:00

16:49:00

16:52:00
Time

16:55:00 Series1

16:58:00

17:01:00

17:04:00

17:07:00

17:10:00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Utilization
 Network Utilization in Hour
Intervals
Network Utilization

13:00:00

14:00:00
Time

15:00:00 Series1

16:00:00

17:00:00

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5

Utilization
 Bandwidth Utilization by
Protocol
Relative Absolute Multicast
Broadcast
Network Network Rate
Rate
Utilization Utilization

Protocol 1

Protocol 2

Protocol 3

Protocol n
Characterize Packet Sizes
 Characterize Response Time

Node A Node B Node C Node D

X
Node A

X
Node B

Node C X

Node D X
 Check the Status of Major
Routers, Switches, and Firewalls
• show buffers
• show environment
• show interfaces
• show memory
• show processes
• show running-config
• show version
 Tools
• Protocol analyzers
• Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG)
• Remote monitoring (RMON) probes
• Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)
• Cisco IOS NetFlow technology
• CiscoWorks
• Cisco IOS Service Assurance Agent (SAA)
• Cisco Internetwork Performance Monitor (IPM)
 Summary
• Characterize the exiting internetwork before
designing enhancements
• Helps you verify that a customer’s design
goals are realistic
• Helps you locate where new equipment will
go
• Helps you cover yourself if the new network
has problems due to unresolved problems in
the old network
 Review Questions
• What factors will help you decide if the existing
internetwork is in good enough shape to support new
enhancements?
• When considering protocol behavior, what is the
difference between relative network utilization and
absolute network utilization?
• Why should you characterize the logical structure of
an internetwork and not just the physical structure?
• What architectural and environmental factors should
you consider for a new wireless installation?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Four

Characterizing Network Traffic

 Network Traffic Factors

• Traffic flow
• Location of traffic sources and data stores
• Traffic load
• Traffic behavior
• Quality of Service (QoS) requirements
 User Communities
User Size of Location(s) of Application(s)
Community Community Community Used by
Name (Number of Community
Users)
 Data Stores
Data Store Location Application(s) Used by User
Community(or
Communities)
 Traffic Flow

Destination 1 Destination 2 Destination 3 Destination

MB/sec MB/sec MB/sec MB/sec

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source n
Traffic Flow
Library and Computing Center
30 Library Patrons (PCs) 10-Mbps Metro

Example 30 Macs and 60 PCs in

Computing Center
Ethernet to Internet

Server Farm
App 1 108 Kbps
App 2 20 Kbps App 2 60 Kbps
App 3 96 Kbps App 3 192 Kbps
App 4 24 Kbps App 4 48 Kbps
App 9 80 Kbps App 7 400 Kbps
Total 220 Kbps Total 808 Kbps

50 PCs 25 Macs
50 PCs

Administration Arts and

App 1 30 Kbps
Humanities
App 2 20 Kbps App 1 48 Kbps
App 3 60 Kbps App 2 32 Kbps
App 4 16 Kbps App 3 96 Kbps
Total 126 Kbps App 4 24 Kbps
App 5 300 Kbps Math and
App 6 200 Kbps
App 8 1200 Kbps Sciences
30 PCs Total 1900 Kbps 50 PCs

Business and
Social Sciences
 Types of Traffic Flow

• Terminal/host
• Client/server
• Thin client
• Peer-to-peer
• Server/server
• Distributed computing
 Traffic Flow for Voice over IP
• The flow associated with transmitting
the audio voice is separate from the
flows associated with call setup and
teardown.
– The flow for transmitting the digital voice
is essentially peer-to-peer.
– Call setup and teardown is a client/server
flow
• A phone needs to talk to a server or phone
switch that understands phone numbers, IP
addresses, capabilities negotiation, and so on.
 Network Applications
Traffic Characteristics

Name of Type of Protocol(s) User Data Stores Approximate QoS

Application Traffic Used by Communities (Servers, Hosts, Bandwidth Requirements
Flow Application That Use the and so on) Requirements
Application
 Traffic Load
• To calculate whether capacity is sufficient,
you should know:
– The number of stations
– The average time that a station is idle between
sending frames
– The time required to transmit a message once
medium access is gained
• That level of detailed information can be
hard to gather, however
 Size of Objects on Networks

• Terminal screen: 4 Kbytes

• Simple e-mail: 10 Kbytes
• Simple web page: 50 Kbytes
• High-quality image: 50,000 Kbytes
• Database backup: 1,000,000 Kbytes or more
 Traffic Behavior
• Broadcasts
– All ones data-link layer destination address
• FF: FF: FF: FF: FF: FF
– Doesn’t necessarily use huge amounts of bandwidth
– But does disturb every CPU in the broadcast domain
• Multicasts
– First bit sent is a one
• 01:00:0C:CC:CC:CC (Cisco Discovery Protocol)
– Should just disturb NICs that have registered to receive
it
– Requires multicast routing protocol on internetworks
 Network Efficiency

• Frame size
• Protocol interaction
• Windowing and flow control
• Error-recovery mechanisms
 QoS Requirements

• ATM service specifications

– Constant bit rate (CBR)
– Realtime variable bit rate (rt-VBR)
– Non-realtime variable bit rate (nrt-VBR)
– Unspecified bit rate (UBR)
– Available bit rate (ABR)
– Guaranteed frame rate (GFR)
 QoS Requirements per IETF

• IETF integrated services working group

specifications
– Controlled load service
• Provides client data flow with a QoS closely
approximating the QoS that same flow would
receive on an unloaded network
– Guaranteed service
• Provides firm (mathematically provable) bounds on
end-to-end packet-queuing delays
 QoS Requirements per IETF

• IETF differentiated services working group

specifications
– RFC 2475
– IP packets can be marked with a differentiated
services codepoint (DSCP) to influence
queuing and packet-dropping decisions for IP
datagrams on an output interface of a router
 Summary

• Continue to use a systematic, top-down

approach
• Don’t select products until you understand
network traffic in terms of:
– Flow
– Load
– Behavior
– QoS requirements
 Review Questions

• List and describe six different types of traffic flows.

• What makes traffic flow in voice over IP networks
challenging to characterize and plan for?
• Why should you be concerned about broadcast
traffic?
• How do ATM and IETF specifications for QoS
differ?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Five

Designing a Network Topology

 Topology
• A branch of mathematics concerned with those
properties of geometric configurations that are
unaltered by elastic deformations such as
stretching or twisting
• A term used in the computer networking field to
describe the structure of a network
 Network Topology Design
Themes
• Hierarchy
• Redundancy
• Modularity
• Well-defined entries and exits
• Protected perimeters
 Why Use a Hierarchical Model?
• Reduces workload on network devices
– Avoids devices having to communicate with
too many other devices (reduces “CPU
adjacencies”)
• Constrains broadcast domains
• Enhances simplicity and understanding
• Facilitates changes
• Facilitates scaling to a larger size
 Hierarchical Network Design
Enterprise WAN
Backbone Core Layer
Campus A Campus B

Campus C

Distribution
Campus C Backbone
Layer

Access Layer

Building C-1 Building C-2

 Cisco’s Hierarchical Design
Model
• A core layer of high-end routers and
switches that are optimized for availability
and speed
• A distribution layer of routers and switches
that implement policies and segment traffic
• An access layer that connects users via
hubs, switches, and other devices
 Flat Versus Hierarchy
Headquarters in
Medford

Headquarters in Grants Pass

Medford Branch Office

Klamath Falls Ashland Grants Pass Klamath Falls Ashland White City
Branch Office Branch Branch Branch Office Branch Branch Office
Office Office Office

Flat Loop Topology Hierarchical Redundant Topology

 Mesh
Designs

Partial-Mesh Topology

Full-Mesh Topology
A Partial-Mesh Hierarchical Design
Headquarters
(Core Layer)

Regional
Offices
(Distribution
Layer)

Branch Offices (Access Layer)

A Hub-and-Spoke Hierarchical Topology

Corporate
Headquarters

Branch Office Home Office Branch Office

Avoid Chains and Backdoors

Core Layer

Distribution Layer

Access Layer

Backdoor
Chain
 How Do You Know When You
Have a Good Design?
• When you already know how to add a new
building, floor, WAN link, remote site, e-
commerce service, and so on
• When new additions cause only local change, to
the directly-connected devices
• When your network can double or triple in size
without major design changes
• When troubleshooting is easy because there are no
complex protocol interactions to wrap your brain
around
 Cisco’s Enterprise Composite
Network Model
Enterprise Campus
Service
Enterprise Edge
Building Provider

Campus Infrastructure
Edge
Access
E-Commerce
ISP A
Network Building
Management Distribution Edge Internet ISP B
Distribution Connectivity
Campus PSTN
Backbone VPN/ Remote Frame
Access Relay,
ATM

WAN
Server Farm
 Campus Topology Design

• Use a hierarchical, modular approach

• Minimize the size of bandwidth domains
• Minimize the size of broadcast domains
• Provide redundancy
– Mirrored servers
– Multiple ways for workstations to reach a
router for off-net communications
 Enterprise Campus Modules
• Server farm
• Network management module
• Edge distribution module for connectivity to
the rest of the world
• Campus infrastructure module:
– Building access submodule
– Building distribution submodule
– Campus backbone
A Simple Campus Redundant Design
Host A

LAN X

Switch 1 Switch 2

LAN Y

Host B
Bridges and Switches use Spanning-
Tree Protocol (STP) to Avoid Loops
Host A

LAN X

Switch 1 X Switch 2

LAN Y

Host B
Bridges (Switches) Running STP
• Participate with other bridges in the election of a single
bridge as the Root Bridge.
• Calculate the distance of the shortest path to the Root
Bridge and choose a port (known as the Root Port) that
provides the shortest path to the Root Bridge.
• For each LAN segment, elect a Designated Bridge and a
Designated Port on that bridge. The Designated Port is a
port on the LAN segment that is closest to the Root Bridge.
(All ports on the Root Bridge are Designated Ports.)
• Select bridge ports to be included in the spanning tree. The
ports selected are the Root Ports and Designated Ports.
These ports forward traffic. Other ports block traffic.
 Elect a Root Lowest Bridge ID
Bridge A ID = Wins!
80.00.00.00.0C.AA.AA.AA

Root
Bridge A

Port 1 Port 2

LAN Segment 1 LAN Segment 2

100-Mbps Ethernet 100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19 Cost = 19

Port 1 Port 1

Bridge B Bridge C

Port 2 Port 2

Bridge B ID = Bridge C ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.BB.BB.BB 80.00.00.00.0C.CC.CC.CC

LAN Segment 3
100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19
 Determine Root Ports
Bridge A ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.AA.AA.AA

Root
Bridge A
Lowest Cost
Wins!
Port 1 Port 2

LAN Segment 1 LAN Segment 2

100-Mbps Ethernet 100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19 Cost = 19

Root Port Root Port

Port 1 Port 1

Bridge B Bridge C

Port 2 Port 2

Bridge B ID = Bridge C ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.BB.BB.BB 80.00.00.00.0C.CC.CC.CC

LAN Segment 3
100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19
 Determine Designated Ports
Bridge A ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.AA.AA.AA

Root
Bridge A
Designated Port Designated Port
Port 1 Port 2

LAN Segment 1 LAN Segment 2

100-Mbps Ethernet 100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19 Cost = 19

Root Port Root Port

Port 1 Port 1

Bridge B Bridge C

Port 2 Port 2

Bridge B ID = Bridge C ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.BB.BB.BB 80.00.00.00.0C.CC.CC.CC

LAN Segment 3
Designated Port
100-Mbps Ethernet
Lowest Bridge ID Cost = 19
Wins!
 Prune Topology into a Tree!
Bridge A ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.AA.AA.AA

Root
Bridge A
Designated Port Designated Port
Port 1 Port 2

LAN Segment 1 LAN Segment 2

100-Mbps Ethernet 100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19 Cost = 19

Root Port Root Port

Port 1 Port 1

Bridge B Bridge C

Port 2 Port 2

Bridge B ID = Bridge C ID = X
80.00.00.00.0C.BB.BB.BB 80.00.00.00.0C.CC.CC.CC

LAN Segment 3
Designated Port Blocked Port
100-Mbps Ethernet
Cost = 19
 React to Changes
Bridge A ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.AA.AA.AA

Root
Bridge A
Designated Port Designated Port
Port 1 Port 2

LAN Segment 1 LAN Segment 2

Root Port Root Port

Port 1 Port 1

Bridge B Bridge C

Port 2 Port 2

Bridge B ID = Bridge C ID =
80.00.00.00.0C.BB.BB.BB 80.00.00.00.0C.CC.CC.CC

LAN Segment 3
Designated Port Becomes Blocked Port Transitions to
Disabled Forwarding State
 Scaling the Spanning Tree
Protocol
• Keep the switched network small
– It shouldn’t span more than seven switches
• Use BPDU skew detection on Cisco
switches
• Use IEEE 802.1w
– Provides rapid reconfiguration of the spanning
tree
– Also known as RSTP
 Virtual LANs (VLANs)

• An emulation of a standard LAN that allows

data transfer to take place without the
traditional physical restraints placed on a
network
• A set of devices that belong to an
administrative group
• Designers use VLANs to constrain
broadcast traffic
 VLANs versus Real LANs

Switch A Switch B

Station A1 Station A2 Station A3 Station B1 Station B2 Station B3

Network A Network B
A Switch with VLANs
VLAN A

Station A1 Station A2 Station A3

Station B1 Station B2 Station B3

VLAN B
 VLANs Span Switches
VLAN A VLAN A

Station A1 Station A2 Station A3 Station A4 Station A5 Station A6

Switch A Switch B

Station B1 Station B2 Station B3 Station B4 Station B5 Station B6

VLAN B VLAN B
 WLANs and VLANs
• A wireless LAN (WLAN) is often
implemented as a VLAN
• Facilitates roaming
• Users remain in the same VLAN and IP
subnet as they roam, so there’s no need to
change addressing information
• Also makes it easier to set up filters (access
control lists) to protect the wired network
from wireless users
 Workstation-to-Router
Communication
• Proxy ARP (not a good idea)
• Listen for route advertisements (not a great
idea either)
• ICMP router solicitations (not widely used)
• Default gateway provided by DHCP (better
idea but no redundancy)
– Use Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) for
redundancy
 HSRP

Active Router

Enterprise Internetwork
Virtual Router

Workstation

Standby Router
 Multihoming the Internet
Connection
ISP 1 ISP 1

Enterprise Paris Enterprise NY

Option A Option C

ISP 1 ISP 2 ISP 1 ISP 2

Enterprise
Paris Enterprise NY

Option B Option D
 Security Topologies

DMZ
Enterprise Internet
Network

Web, File, DNS, Mail Servers

 Security Topologies
Internet

Firewall

DMZ
Enterprise Network

Web, File, DNS, Mail Servers

 Summary

• Use a systematic, top-down approach

• Plan the logical design before the physical
design
• Topology design should feature hierarchy,
redundancy, modularity, and security
 Review Questions

• Why are hierarchy and modularity important for

network designs?
• What are the three layers of Cisco’s hierarchical
network design?
• What are the major components of Cisco’s enterprise
composite network model?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of the
various options for multihoming an Internet
connection?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Six

Designing Models for Addressing and Naming

 Guidelines for Addressing and
Naming
• Use a structured model for addressing and
naming
• Assign addresses and names hierarchically
• Decide in advance if you will use
– Central or distributed authority for addressing
and naming
– Public or private addressing
– Static or dynamic addressing and naming
Advantages of Structured Models
for Addressing & Naming
• It makes it easier to
– Read network maps
– Operate network management software
– Recognize devices in protocol analyzer traces
– Meet goals for usability
– Design filters on firewalls and routers
– Implement route summarization
 Public IP Addresses
• Managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority (IANA)
• Users are assigned IP addresses by Internet
service providers (ISPs).
• ISPs obtain allocations of IP addresses from
their appropriate Regional Internet Registry
(RIR)
 Regional Internet Registries
(RIR)
• APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) –
Asia/Pacific Region
• ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers) –
North America and Sub-Sahara Africa
• LACNIC (Regional Latin-American and Caribbean
IP Address Registry) – Latin America and some
Caribbean Islands
• RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens) – Europe, the
Middle East, Central Asia, and African countries
located north of the equator
 Private Addressing

• 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
• 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
• 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255
 Criteria for Using Static Vs.
Dynamic Addressing
• The number of end systems
• The likelihood of needing to renumber
• The need for high availability
• Security requirements
• The importance of tracking addresses
• Whether end systems need additional
information
– (DHCP can provide more than just an address)
The Two Parts of an IP Address

32 Bits

Prefix Host

Prefix Length
 Prefix Length

• An IP address is accompanied by an
indication of the prefix length
– Subnet mask
– /Length
• Examples
– 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0
– 192.168.10.1/24
 Subnet Mask
• 32 bits long
• Specifies which part of an IP address is the
network/subnet field and which part is the host field
– The network/subnet portion of the mask is all 1s in binary.
– The host portion of the mask is all 0s in binary.
– Convert the binary expression back to dotted-decimal notation
for entering into configurations.
• Alternative
– Use slash notation (for example /24)
– Specifies the number of 1s
 Subnet Mask Example

• 11111111 11111111 11111111 00000000

• What is this in slash notation?
• What is this in dotted-decimal notation?
 Another Subnet Mask Example

• 11111111 11111111 11110000 00000000

• What is this in slash notation?
• What is this in dotted-decimal notation?
One More Subnet Mask Example

• 11111111 11111111 11111000 00000000

• What is this in slash notation?
• What is this in dotted-decimal notation?
Designing Networks with
Subnets
• Determining subnet size
• Computing subnet mask
• Computing IP addresses
 Addresses to Avoid When
Subnetting

• A node address of all ones (broadcast)

• A node address of all zeros (network)
• A subnet address of all ones (all subnets)
• A subnet address of all zeros (confusing)
– Cisco IOS configuration permits a subnet
address of all zeros with the ip subnet-zero
command
 Practice
• Network is 172.16.0.0
• You want to divide the network into subnets.
• You will allow 600 nodes per subnet.
• What subnet mask should you use?
• What is the address of the first node on the
first subnet?
• What address would this node use to send to
all devices on its subnet?
 More Practice
• Network is 172.16.0.0
• You have eight LANs, each of which will
be its own subnet.
• What subnet mask should you use?
• What is the address of the first node on the
first subnet?
• What address would this node use to send to
all devices on its subnet?
 One More
• Network is 192.168.55.0
• You want to divide the network into subnets.
• You will have approximately 25 nodes per
subnet.
• What subnet mask should you use?
• What is the address of the last node on the last
subnet?
• What address would this node use to send to
all devices on its subnet?
 IP Address Classes

• Classes are now considered obsolete

• But you have to learn them because
– Everyone in the industry still talks about them!
– You may run into a device whose configuration
is affected by the classful system
 Classful IP Addressing

Class First First Byte Prefix Intent

Few Bits Length

A 0 1-126* 8 Very large networks

B 10 128-191 16 Large networks
C 110 192-223 24 Small networks
D 1110 224-239 NA IP multicast
E 1111 240-255 NA Experimental

*Addresses starting with 127 are reserved for IP traffic local to a host.
Division of the Classful Address
Space

Class Prefix Number of Addresses

Length per Network

A 8 224-2 = 16,777,214
B 16 216-2 = 65,534
C 24 28-2 = 254
 Classful IP is Wasteful
• Class A uses 50% of address space
• Class B uses 25% of address space
• Class C uses 12.5% of address space
• Class D and E use 12.5% of address space
 Classless Addressing
• Prefix/host boundary can be anywhere
• Less wasteful
• Supports route summarization
– Also known as
• Aggregation
• Supernetting
• Classless routing
• Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR)
• Prefix routing
 Supernetting
172.16.0.0

172.17.0.0

172.18.0.0

Branch-Office Router

172.19.0.0

Enterprise Core
Branch-Office Networks Network

• Move prefix boundary to the left

• Branch office advertises 172.16.0.0/14
 172.16.0.0/14 Summarization

Second Octet in Decimal Second Octet in Binary

16 00010000
17 00010001
18 00010010
19 00010011
 Discontiguous Subnets

Area 0
Network
192.168.49.0

Router A Router B

Area 1 Area 2
Subnets 10.108.16.0 - Subnets 10.108.32.0 -
10.108.31.0 10.108.47.0
 A Mobile Host

Router A Router B

Subnets 10.108.16.0 -
10.108.31.0

Host 10.108.16.1
 IPv6 Aggregatable Global
Unicast Address Format
3 13 8 24 16 64 bits

FP TLA RES NLA SLA Interface ID

ID ID ID

Site
Public topology Topology

• FP Format Prefix (001)

• TLA ID Top-Level Aggregation Identifier
• RES Reserved for future use
• NLA ID Next-Level Aggregation Identifier
• SLA ID Site-Level Aggregation Identifier
• Interface ID Interface Identifier
 Upgrading to IPv6

• Dual stack
• Tunneling
• Translation
Guidelines for Assigning Names
• Names should be
– Short
– Meaningful
– Unambiguous
– Distinct
– Case insensitive
• Avoid names with unusual characters
– Hyphens, underscores, asterisks, and so on
 Domain Name System (DNS)
• Maps names to IP addresses
• Supports hierarchical naming
– example: frodo.rivendell.middle-earth.com
• A DNS server has a database of resource
records (RRs) that maps names to addresses in
the server’s “zone of authority”
• Client queries server
– Uses UDP port 53 for name queries and replies
– Uses TCP port 53 for zone transfers
 DNS Details
• Client/server model
• Client is configured with the IP address
of a DNS server
– Manually or DHCP can provide the address
• DNS resolver software on the client
machine sends a query to the DNS
server. Client may ask for recursive
lookup.
 DNS Recursion
• A DNS server may offer recursion, which allows the
server to ask other servers
– Each server is configured with the IP address of one or
more root DNS servers.
• When a DNS server receives a response from another
server, it replies to the resolver client software. The
server also caches the information for future
requests.
– The network administrator of the authoritative DNS server
for a name defines the length of time that a non-
authoritative server may cache information.
 Summary

• Use a systematic, structured, top-down

approach to addressing and naming
• Assign addresses in a hierarchical fashion
• Distribute authority for addressing and naming
where appropriate
• IPv6 looms in our future
 Review Questions

• Why is it important to use a structured model

for addressing and naming?
• When is it appropriate to use IP private
addressing versus public addressing?
• When is it appropriate to use static versus
dynamic addressing?
• What are some approaches to upgrading to
IPv6?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Seven

Selecting Switching and Routing Protocols

 Switching and Routing Choices
• Switching
– Layer 2 transparent bridging (switching)
– Multilayer switching
– Spanning Tree Protocol enhancements
– VLAN technologies
• Routing
– Static or dynamic
– Distance-vector and link-state protocols
– Interior and exterior
– Etc.
 Selection Criteria for Switching
and Routing Protocols
• Network traffic characteristics
• Bandwidth, memory, and CPU usage
• The number of peers supported
• The capability to adapt to changes quickly
• Support for authentication
 Making Decisions

• Goals must be established

• Many options should be explored
• The consequences of the decision should be
investigated
• Contingency plans should be made
• A decision table can be used
Example Decision Table
Transparent Bridging (Switching)
Tasks
• Forward frames transparently
• Learn which port to use for each MAC
address
• Flood frames when the destination
unicast address hasn’t been learned yet
• Filter frames from going out ports that
don’t include the destination address
• Flood broadcasts and multicasts
Switching Table on a Bridge or
Switch

MAC Address Port

08-00-07-06-41-B9 1

00-00-0C-60-7C-01 2

00-80-24-07-8C-02 3
 Cisco Multilayer Switching

• Route processor or router

• Switching engine
• The Multilayer Switching Protocol (MLSP)
 Cisco Spanning Tree Protocol
Enhancements
• PortFast
• UplinkFast and Backbone Fast
• Unidirectional link detection
• Loop Guard
 Redundant Uplinks
Core
Layer
X
Distribution
Layer
Switch B Switch C

Primary Secondary
Uplink
X Uplink
Access
Layer
Switch A X = blocked by STP

• If a link fails, how long will STP take to recover?

• Use UplinkFast to speed convergence
 Protocols for Transporting
VLAN Information
• Inter-Switch Link (ISL)
– Tagging protocol
– Cisco proprietary
• IEEE 802.1Q
– Tagging protocol
– IEEE standard
• VLAN Trunk Protocol (VTP)
– VLAN management protocol
 Selecting Routing Protocols
• They all have the same general goal:
– To share network reachability information
among routers
• They differ in many ways:
– Interior versus exterior
– Metrics supported
– Dynamic versus static and default
– Distance-vector versus link-sate
– Classful versus classless
– Scalability
Interior Versus Exterior Routing
Protocols
• Interior routing protocols are used within an
autonomous system
• Exterior routing protocols are used between
autonomous systems

Autonomous system (two definitions that are often used):

“A set of routers that presents a common routing policy to the
internetwork”
“A network or set of networks that are under the administrative control
of a single entity”
 Routing Protocol Metrics
• Metric: the determining factor used by a routing
algorithm to decide which route to a network is
better than another
• Examples of metrics:
– Bandwidth - capacity
– Delay - time
– Load - amount of network traffic
– Reliability - error rate
– Hop count - number of routers that a packet must
travel through before reaching the destination network
– Cost - arbitrary value defined by the protocol or
administrator
 Routing Algorithms
• Static routing
– Calculated beforehand, offline
• Default routing
– “If I don’t recognize the destination, just send the
packet to Router X”
• Cisco’s On-Demand Routing
– Routing for stub networks
– Uses Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)
• Dynamic routing protocol
– Distance-vector algorithms
– Link-state algorithms
 Static Routing Example
172.16.20.1 172.16.20.2 172.16.40.1 172.16.40.2

Router A Router B Router C

s0 s0
s0 s1

e0 e0 e0
172.16.10.1 172.16.30.1 172.16.50.1

Host A Host B Host C

172.16.10.2 172.16.30.2 172.16.50.2

RouterA(config)#ip route 172.16.50.0 255.255.255.0 172.16.20.2

Send packets for subnet 50 to 172.16.20.2 (Router B)
 Default Routing Example
172.16.20.1 172.16.20.2 172.16.40.1 172.16.40.2

Router A Router B Router C

s0 s0
s0 s1

e0 e0 e0
172.16.10.1 172.16.30.1 172.16.50.1

Host A Host B Host C

172.16.10.2 172.16.30.2 172.16.50.2

RouterA(config)#ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 172.16.20.2

If it’s not local, send it to 172.16.20.2 (Router B)
 Distance-Vector Routing
• Router maintains a routing table that lists
known networks, direction (vector) to each
network, and the distance to each network
• Router periodically (every 30 seconds, for
example) transmits the routing table via a
broadcast packet that reaches all other routers
on the local segments
• Router updates the routing table, if necessary,
based on received broadcasts
 Distance-Vector Routing Tables

Router A Router B

172.16.0.0 192.168.2.0

Router A’s Routing Table Router B’s Routing Table

Network Distance Send Network Distance Send

To To

172.16.0.0 0 192.168.2.0 0
Port 1 Port 1 172.16.0.0
192.168.2.0 1 1
 Link-State Routing
• Routers send updates only when there’s a
change
• Router that detects change creates a link-state
advertisement (LSA) and sends it to neighbors
• Neighbors propagate the change to their
neighbors
• Routers update their topological database if
necessary
 Distance-Vector Vs. Link-State
• Distance-vector algorithms keep a list of
networks, with next hop and distance (metric)
information
• Link-state algorithms keep a database of
routers and links between them
– Link-state algorithms think of the internetwork as
a graph instead of a list
– When changes occur, link-state algorithms apply
Dijkstra’s shortest-path algorithm to find the
shortest path between any two nodes
 Choosing Between Distance-
Vector and Link-State
Choose Distance-Vector Choose Link-State
• Simple, flat topology • Hierarchical topology
• Hub-and-spoke topology • More senior network
• Junior network administrators administrators
• Convergence time not a big • Fast convergence is critical
concern
 Dynamic IP Routing Protocols

Distance-Vector Link-State
• Routing Information Protocol • Open Shortest Path First
(RIP) Version 1 and 2 (OSPF)
• Interior Gateway Routing • Intermediate System-to-
Protocol (IGRP) Intermediate System (IS-IS)
• Enhanced IGRP
• Border Gateway Protocol
(BGP)
Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
• First standard routing protocol developed for TCP/IP
environments
– RIP Version 1 is documented in RFC 1058 (1988)
– RIP Version 2 is documented in RFC 2453 (1998)
• Easy to configure and troubleshoot
• Broadcasts its routing table every 30 seconds; 25 routes per
packet
• Uses a single routing metric (hop count) to measure the
distance to a destination network; max hop count is 15
 RIP V2 Features
• Includes the subnet mask with route updates
– Supports prefix routing (classless routing, supernetting)
– Supports variable-length subnet masking (VLSM)

• Includes simple authentication to foil crackers

sending routing updates
IGRP Solved Problems with RIP
• 15-hop limitation in RIP
– IGRP supports 255 hops

• Reliance on just one metric (hop count)

– IGRP uses bandwidth, delay, reliability, load
– (By default just uses bandwidth and delay)

• RIP's 30-second update timer

– IGRP uses 90 seconds
 EIGRP
• Adjusts to changes in internetwork very
quickly
• Incremental updates contain only changes,
not full routing table
• Updates are delivered reliably
• Router keeps track of neighbors’ routing
tables and uses them as feasible successor
• Same metric as IGRP, but more granularity
(32 bits instead of 24 bits)
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF)

• Open standard, defined in RFC 2328

• Adjusts to changes quickly
• Supports very large internetworks
• Does not use a lot of bandwidth
• Authenticates protocol exchanges to meet
security goals
 OSPF Metric
• A single dimensionless value called cost. A
network administrator assigns an OSPF cost
to each router interface on the path to a
network. The lower the cost, the more likely
the interface is to be used to forward data
traffic.
• On a Cisco router, the cost of an interface
defaults to 100,000,000 divided by the
bandwidth for the interface. For example, a
100-Mbps Ethernet interface has a cost of 1.
OSPF Areas Connected via Area
Border Routers (ABRs)

Area 0 (Backbone)

ABR ABR ABR

Area 1 Area 2 Area 3

 IS-IS

• Intermediate System-to-Intermediate
System
• Link-state routing protocol
• Designed by the ISO for the OSI protocols
• Integrated IS-IS handles IP also
 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
• Allows routers in different autonomous
systems to exchange routing information
– Exterior routing protocol
– Used on the Internet among large ISPs and major
companies
• Supports route aggregation
• Main metric is the length of the list of
autonomous system numbers, but BGP also
supports routing based on policies
 Summary
• The selection of switching and routing
protocols should be based on an analysis of
– Goals
– Scalability and performance characteristics of the
protocols
• Transparent bridging is used on modern
switches
– But other choices involve enhancements to STP
and protocols for transporting VLAN information
• There are many types of routing protocols and
many choices within each type
 Review Questions
• What are some options for enhancing the
Spanning Tree Protocol?
• What factors will help you decide whether
distance-vector or link-state routing is best for
your design customer?
• What factors will help you select a specific
routing protocol?
• Why do static and default routing still play a
role in many modern network designs?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Eight

Developing Network Security Strategies

 Network Security Design
The 12 Step Program
1. Identify network assets
2. Analyze security risks
3. Analyze security requirements and
tradeoffs
4. Develop a security plan
5. Define a security policy
6. Develop procedures for applying security
policies
The 12 Step Program (continued)
7. Develop a technical implementation strategy
8. Achieve buy-in from users, managers, and
technical staff
9. Train users, managers, and technical staff
10. Implement the technical strategy and
security procedures
11. Test the security and update it if any
problems are found
12. Maintain security
 Network Assets
• Hardware
• Software
• Applications
• Data
• Intellectual property
• Trade secrets
• Company’s reputation
 Security Risks
• Hacked network devices
– Data can be intercepted, analyzed, altered, or
deleted
– User passwords can be compromised
– Device configurations can be changed
• Reconnaissance attacks
• Denial-of-service attacks
 Security Tradeoffs

• Tradeoffs must be made between security

goals and other goals:
– Affordability
– Usability
– Performance
– Availability
– Manageability
A Security Plan
• High-level document that
proposes what an organization
is going to do to meet security
requirements
• Specifies time, people, and
other resources that will be
required to develop a security
policy and achieve
implementation of the policy
 A Security Policy
• Per RFC 2196, “The Site Security
Handbook,” a security policy is a
– “Formal statement of the rules by which people
who are given access to an organization’s
technology and information assets must abide.”
• The policy should address
– Access, accountability, authentication, privacy,
and computer technology purchasing guidelines
 Security Mechanisms
• Physical security
• Authentication
• Authorization
• Accounting (Auditing)
• Data encryption
• Packet filters
• Firewalls
• Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs)
 Modularizing Security Design
• Security defense in depth
– Network security should be multilayered with
many different techniques used to protect the
network
• Belt-and-suspenders approach
– Don’t get caught with your pants down
 Modularizing Security Design
• Secure all components of a modular design:
– Internet connections
– Public servers and e-commerce servers
– Remote access networks and VPNs
– Network services and network management
– Server farms
– User services
– Wireless networks
 Cisco’s Enterprise Composite
Network Model
Enterprise Campus
Service
Enterprise Edge
Building Provider

Campus Infrastructure
Edge
Access
E-Commerce
ISP A
Network Building
Management Distribution Edge Internet ISP B
Distribution Connectivity
Campus PSTN
Backbone VPN/ Remote Frame
Access Relay,
ATM

WAN
Server Farm
 Cisco SAFE

• Cisco SAFE Blueprint addresses security in

every module of a modular network
architecture.
 Securing Internet Connections

• Physical security
• Firewalls and packet filters
• Audit logs, authentication, authorization
• Well-defined exit and entry points
• Routing protocols that support
authentication
 Securing Public Servers
• Place servers in a DMZ that is protected via
firewalls
• Run a firewall on the server itself
• Enable DoS protection
– Limit the number of connections per timeframe
• Use reliable operating systems with the
latest security patches
• Maintain modularity
– Front-end Web server doesn’t also run other
services
 Security Topologies

DMZ
Enterprise Internet
Network

Web, File, DNS, Mail Servers

 Security Topologies
Internet

Firewall

DMZ
Enterprise Network

Web, File, DNS, Mail Servers

 Securing Remote-Access and
Virtual Private Networks
• Physical security
• Firewalls
• Authentication, authorization, and auditing
• Encryption
• One-time passwords
• Security protocols
– CHAP
– RADIUS
– IPSec
 Securing Network Services
• Treat each network device (routers,
switches, and so on) as a high-value host
and harden it against possible intrusions
• Require login IDs and passwords for
accessing devices
– Require extra authorization for risky
configuration commands
• Use SSH rather than Telnet
• Change the welcome banner to be less
welcoming
 Securing Server Farms
• Deploy network and host IDSs to monitor
server subnets and individual servers
• Configure filters that limit connectivity from
the server in case the server is compromised
• Fix known security bugs in server operating
systems
• Require authentication and authorization for
server access and management
• Limit root password to a few people
• Avoid guest accounts
 Securing User Services
• Specify which applications are allowed to
run on networked PCs in the security policy
• Require personal firewalls and antivirus
software on networked PCs
– Implement written procedures that specify how
the software is installed and kept current
• Encourage users to log out when leaving
their desks
• Consider using 802.1X port-based security
on switches
 Securing Wireless Networks
• Place wireless LANs (WLANs) in their own
subnet or VLAN
– Simplifies addressing and makes it easier to
configure packet filters
• Require all wireless (and wired) laptops to run
personal firewall and antivirus software
• Disable beacons that broadcast the SSID, and
require MAC address authentication
– Except in cases where the WLAN is used by
visitors
 WLAN Security Options
• Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
• IEEE 802.11i
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
• IEEE 802.1X Extensible Authentication
Protocol (EAP)
– Lightweight EAP or LEAP (Cisco)
– Protected EAP (PEAP)
• Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
• Any other acronyms we can think of? :-)
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
• Defined by IEEE 802.11
• Users must possess the appropriate WEP
key that is also configured on the access
point
– 64 or 128-bit key (or passphrase)
• WEP encrypts the data using the RC4
stream cipher method
• Infamous for being crackable
 WEP Alternatives
• Vendor enhancements to WEP
• Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP)
– Every frame has a new and unique WEP key
• Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
• IEEE 802.11i
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) from the
Wi-Fi Alliance
– Realistic parts of IEEE 802.11i now!
 Extensible Authentication
Protocol (EAP)
• With 802.1X and EAP, devices take on one
of three roles:
– The supplicant resides on the wireless LAN
client
– The authenticator resides on the access point
– An authentication server resides on a RADIUS
server
 EAP (Continued)
• An EAP supplicant on the client obtains
credentials from the user, which could be a
user ID and password
• The credentials are passed by the authenticator
to the server and a session key is developed
• Periodically the client must reauthenticate to
maintain network connectivity
• Reauthentication generates a new, dynamic
WEP key
 Cisco’s Lightweight EAP
(LEAP)
• Standard EAP plus mutual authentication
– The user and the access point must authenticate
• Used on Cisco and other vendors’ products
 Other EAPs
• EAP-Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS) was
developed by Microsoft
– Requires certificates for clients and servers.
• Protected EAP (PEAP) is supported by Cisco,
Microsoft, and RSA Security
– Uses a certificate for the client to authenticate the RADIUS
server
– The server uses a username and password to authenticate
the client
• EAP-MD5 has no key management features or
dynamic key generation
– Uses challenge text like basic WEP authentication
– Authentication is handled by RADIUS server
VPN Software on Wireless Clients
• Safest way to do wireless networking for
corporations
• Wireless client requires VPN software
• Connects to VPN concentrator at HQ
• Creates a tunnel for sending all traffic
• VPN security provides:
– User authentication
– Strong encryption of data
– Data integrity
 Summary
• Use a top-down approach
– Chapter 2 talks about identifying assets and risks
and developing security requirements
– Chapter 5 talks about logical design for security
(secure topologies)
– Chapter 8 talks about the security plan, policy, and
procedures
– Chapter 8 also covers security mechanisms and
selecting the right mechanisms for the different
components of a modular network design
 Review Questions
• How does a security plan differ from a
security policy?
• Why is it important to achieve buy-in from
users, managers, and technical staff for the
security policy?
• What are some methods for keeping hackers
from viewing and changing router and switch
configuration information?
• How can a network manager secure a wireless
network?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Nine

Developing Network Management Strategies

 Network Management
• Helps an organization achieve availability,
performance, and security goals
• Helps an organization measure how well
design goals are being met and adjust
network parameters if they are not being
met
• Facilitates scalability
– Helps an organization analyze current network
behavior, apply upgrades appropriately, and
troubleshoot any problems with upgrades
 Network Management Design
• Consider scalability, traffic patterns, data
formats, cost/benefit tradeoffs
• Determine which resources should be
monitored
• Determine metrics for measuring
performance
• Determine which and how much data to
collect
 Proactive Network Management
• Plan to check the health of the network
during normal operation, not just when
there are problems
• Recognize potential problems as they
develop
• Optimize performance
• Plan upgrades appropriately
Network Management Processes
According to the ISO
• Performance management
• Fault management
• Configuration management
• Security management
• Accounting management
 Performance Management

• Monitor end-to-end performance

• Also monitor component performance
(individual links and devices)
• Test reachability
• Measure response times
• Measure traffic flow and volume
• Record route changes
 Fault Management

• Detect, isolate, diagnose, and correct

problems
• Report status to end users and managers
• Track trends related to problems
 Configuration Management

• Keep track of network devices and their

configurations
• Maintain an inventory of network assets
• Log versions of operating systems and
applications
 Security Management
• Maintain and distribute user names and
passwords
• Generate, distribute, and store encryption
keys
• Analyze router, switch, and server
configurations for compliance with security
policies and procedures
• Collect, store, and examine security audit
logs
 Accounting Management

• Keep track of network usage by

departments or individuals
• Facilitate usage-based billing
• Find abusers who use more resources than
they should
Network Management Components
• A managed device is a network node that
collects and stores management information
• An agent is network-management software
that resides in a managed device
• A network-management system (NMS)
runs applications to display management
data, monitor and control managed devices,
and communicate with agents
Network Management Architecture
NMS

Agent Agent Agent

Management Management Management

Database Database Database

Managed
Devices
 Architecture Concerns

• In-band versus out-of-band monitoring

– In-band is easier to develop, but results in
management data being impacted by network
problems
• Centralized versus distributed monitoring
– Centralized management is simpler to develop
and maintain, but may require huge amounts of
information to travel back to a centralized
network operations center (NOC)
 Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP)
• Most popular network management
protocol
• SNMPv3 should gradually supplant
versions 1 and 2 because it offers better
authentication
• SNMP works with Management
Information Bases (MIBs)
 Remote Monitoring (RMON)
• Developed by the IETF in the early 1990s
to address shortcomings in standard MIBs
– Provides information on data link and physical
layer parameters
– Nine groups of data for Ethernet
– The statistics group tracks packets, octets,
packet-size distribution, broadcasts, collisions,
dropped packets, fragments, CRC and
alignment errors, jabbers, and undersized and
oversized packets
 Cisco Tools

• Cisco Discovery Protocol

• NetFlow Accounting
• Service Assurance Agent (SAA)
 Summary

• Determine which resources to monitor, which

data about these resources to collect, and how
to interpret that data
• Develop processes that address performance,
fault, configuration, security, and accounting
management
• Develop a network management architecture
• Select management protocols and tools
 Review Questions
• Why is network management design
important?
• Define the five types of network management
processes according to the ISO.
• What are some advantages and disadvantages
of using in-band network management versus
out-of-band network management?
• What are some advantages and disadvantages
of using centralized network management
versus distributed network management?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Ten

Selecting Technologies and Devices for Campus Networks

 Selecting Technologies and
Devices
• We now know what the network will look like
• We also know what capabilities the network
will need
• We are now ready to start picking out
technologies and devices
• Chapter 10 has guidelines for campus
networks
 Campus Network Design Steps
• Develop a cabling plant
design
• Select the types of cabling
• Select the data-link-layer
technologies
• Select internetworking
devices
– Meet with vendors
Cabling Plant Design Considerations
• Campus and building cabling topologies
• The types and lengths of cables between buildings
• Within buildings
– The location of telecommunications closets and cross-
connect rooms
– The types and lengths of cables for vertical cabling
between floors
– The types and lengths of cables for horizontal cabling
within floors
– The types and lengths of cables for work-area cabling
going from telecommunications closets to workstations
 Centralized Versus Distributed
Cabling Topologies
• A centralized cabling scheme terminates
most or all of the cable runs in one area of
the design environment. A star topology is
an example of a centralized system.
• A distributed cabling scheme terminates
cable runs throughout the design
environment. Ring, bus, and tree topologies
are examples of distributed systems.
 Centralized Campus Cabling

Building B Building C Building D

Cable Bundle

Building A
 Distributed Campus Cabling

Building B Building C Building D

Building A
Types of Media Used in Campus
Networks
• Copper media
• Optical media
• Wireless media
 Copper Media Advantages

• Conducts electric current well

• Does not rust
• Can be drawn into thin wires
• Easy to shape
• Hard to break
 Copper Media

Coaxial Twisted-Pair

Shielded Twisted-Pair (STP) Unshielded Twisted-Pair (UTP)

 Coaxial Cable
• Solid copper conductor, surrounded by:
– Flexible plastic insulation
– Braided copper shielding
– Outer jacket
• Can be run without as many boosts from
repeaters, for longer distances between
network nodes, than either STP or UTP
cable
– Nonetheless, it’s no longer widely used
 Twisted-Pair Cabling
• A “twisted pair” consists of two copper
conductors twisted together
• Each conductor has plastic insulation
• Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
– Has metal foil or braided-mesh covering that
encases each pair
• Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
– No metal foil or braided-mesh covering around
pairs, so it’s less expensive
 UTP Categories
• Category 1. Used for voice communication
• Category 2. Used for voice and data, up to 4 Mbps
• Category 3. Used for data, up to 10 Mbps
– Required to have at least 3 twists per foot
– Standard cable for most telephone systems
– Also used in 10-Mbps Ethernet (10Base-T Ethernet)
• Category 4. Used for data, up to 16 Mbps
– Must also have at least 3 twists per foot as well as other features
– Used in Token Ring
• Category 5. Used for data, up to 100 Mbps
– Must have 3 twists per inch!
• Category 5e. Used in Gigabit Ethernet
• Category 6. Used in Gigabit Ethernet and future technologies
 Optical Media

Multimode Fiber (MMF) Single-mode Fiber (SMF)

 Copper Vs Fiber-Optic Cabling
• Twisted-pair and coax cable transmit network
signals in the form of current
• Fiber-optic cable transmits network signals in the
form of light
• Fiber-optic cable is made of glass
– Not susceptible to electromagnetic or radio frequency
interference
– Not as susceptible to attenuation, which means longer
cables are possible
– Supports very high bandwidth (10 Gbps or greater)
– For long distances, fiber costs less than copper
 Multimode Single-mode
• Larger core diameter • Smaller core diameter
• Beams of light bounce • Less bouncing around;
off cladding in multiple single, focused beam of
ways light
• Usually uses LED • Usually uses LASER
source source
• Less expensive • More expensive
• Shorter distances • Very long distances
 Wireless Media

• IEEE 802.11a, b, and g

• Laser
• Microwave
• Cellular
• Satellite
 Cabling Guidelines
• At the access layer use
– Copper UTP rated for Category 5 or 5e, unless
there is a good reason not to
– To future proof the network
• Use 5e instead of 5
• Install UTP Category 6 rated cable and terminate the
cable with Cat 5 or 5e connectors
• Then only the connectors need to be changed to
move up in speed
– In special cases
• Use MMF for bandwidth intensive applications
• Or install fiber along with the copper
 Cabling Guidelines
• At the distribution layer use
– MMF if distance allows
– SMF otherwise
– Unless unusual circumstances occur and cable
cannot be run, then use a wireless method
– To future proof the network
• Run both MMF and SMF
 LAN Technologies
• Half-duplex Ethernet (becoming obsolete)
• Full-duplex Ethernet
• 10-Mbps Ethernet (becoming obsolete)
• 100-Mbps Ethernet
• 1000-Mbps (1-Gbps or Gigabit) Ethernet
• 10-Gbps Ethernet
• Metro Ethernet
• Long Range Ethernet (LRE)
• Cisco’s EtherChannel
 IEEE 802.3 10-Mbps Ethernet
10 Mbps Ethernet

10Base5 10BaseT 10BaseF

2 pairs 2 multimode
Thick coax cable
Category-3 or optical fibers
500 meters
better UTP
10Base2 100 meters 10Broad36

Thin coax cable 3 channels of a

185 meters private CATV system
3600 meters
 IEEE 802.3 100-Mbps Ethernet
100BaseT

100BaseX
100BaseT4 100BaseT2

4 pairs 2 pairs
Category-3 or Category-3 or
better UTP better UTP
100 meters 100 meters

100BaseTX 100BaseFX

2 pairs Category-5 or 2 multimode optical fibers

better UTP 2000 meters (full duplex)
100 meters
 IEEE 802.3 Gigabit Ethernet
1000BaseX

1000BaseSX 1000BaseLX 1000BaseCX 1000BaseT

2 multimode optical fibers 2 multimode or single-mode 2 pairs STP 4 pairs Category-5 UTP
using shortwave laser optics optical fibers using longwave 25 meters 100 meters
550 meters laser optics
550 meters multimode, 5000
meters single-mode
 IEEE 802.3 10-Gbps Ethernet
10GBaseX

10GBaseLX4 10GBaseS 10GBaseL 10GBaseE

Multimode or single-mode Multimode optical Single-mode Single-mode

optical fibers fibers optical fibers optical fibers
300 meters multimode, 300 meters 10 km 40 km
10 km single-mode
 Metro Ethernet

• Service offered by providers and carriers

that traditionally had only classic WAN
offerings
• The customer can use a standard Ethernet
interface to reach a MAN or WAN
• The customer can add bandwidth as needed
with a simple configuration change
 Long-Reach Ethernet
• Enables the use of Ethernet over existing,
unconditioned, voice-grade copper twisted-
pair cabling
• Used to connect buildings and rooms within
buildings
– Rural areas
– Old cities where upgrading cabling is
impractical
– Multi-unit structures such as hotels, apartment
complexes, business complexes, and
government agencies
Cisco’s EtherChannel
Data Center Switch

800 Mbps EtherChannel

West Fiber Run East Fiber Run

400 Mbps 400 Mbps

Wiring Closet Switch

 Internetworking Devices for
Campus Networks
• Hubs (becoming obsolete)
• Switches
• Routers
• Wireless access points
• Wireless bridges
 Selection Criteria for
Internetworking Devices
• The number of ports
• Processing speed
• The amount of memory
• Latency when device relays data
• Throughput when device relays data
• LAN and WAN technologies supported
• Media supported
 More Selection Criteria for
Internetworking Devices
• Cost
• Ease of configuration and management
• MTBF and MTTR
• Support for hot-swappable components
• Support for redundant power supplies
• Quality of technical support,
documentation, and training
• Etc.
 Summary
• Once the logical design is completed, the
physical design can start
• A major task during physical design is
selecting technologies and devices for campus
networks
– Media
– Data-link layer technology
– Internetworking devices
• Also, at this point, the logical topology design
can be developed further by specifying
cabling topologies
 Review Questions
• What are three fundamental media types used
in campus networks?
• What selection criteria can you use to select
an Ethernet variety for your design customer?
• What selection criteria can you use when
purchasing internetworking devices for your
design customer?
• Some people think Metro Ethernet will
replace traditional WANs. Do you agree or
disagree and why?
 Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Eleven

Selecting Technologies and Devices for Enterprise Networks

 Enterprise Technologies and
Devices
• Remote access networks
• Wide area networks (WANs)
• Devices
– End user remote access devices
– Central site remote access devices
– VPN concentrators
– Routers
 Selection Criteria
• Business requirements and constraints
• Cost
• Technical goals
• Bandwidth requirements
• QoS requirements
• Network topology
• Traffic flow and load
• Etc.
 Remote Access Technologies

• The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)

• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
• Cable modems
• Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
• Used with synchronous, asynchronous, dial-
up, and ISDN links
• Defines encapsulation scheme for transport of
different network-layer protocols
• Supports authentication:
– Password Authentication Protocol (PAP)
– Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
(CHAP)
• CHAP more secure than PAP
 PPP Layers

Network Control Protocol (NCP)

Link Control Protocol (LCP)

Encapsulation based on
High-Level Data-Link Control Protocol (HDLC)

Physical Layer
Multichassis Multilink PPP

Stack group

ISDN Offload
server

Analog
 CHAP

Remote Node Access Server

Connect
Database of
Users and
Challenge Passwords
Name: 760_1
Password: sfy45 Name: 760_1
Hashed Response Password: sfy45

Name: 760_2
Accept or Deny Password: kingsford
 ISDN
• Digital data-transport service offered by
regional telephone carriers (telcos)
• Circuit-switched service that carries voice
and data
• Cost-effective remote-access solution for
telecommuters and remote offices
– Cost of an ISDN circuit is usually based on a
monthly fee plus usage time
• Good choice as a backup link for another
type of link, for example, Frame Relay
 ISDN Interfaces
Basic Rate Interface (BRI)

64 Kbps
2B 64 Kbps
} 144
Kbps
D 16 Kbps

Primary Rate Interface (PRI)

64 Kbps 1.544 Mbps in U.S.

23B or 30B

64 Kbps
} 2.048 Mbps in
Europe
D
 ISDN Components
Non-ISDN R S/T U
device TA NT1 To ISDN
(TE2) 4-wire 2-wire service
circuit circuit

ISDN S/T U To ISDN

device NT1 service
(TE1)

ISDN S T U To ISDN
device NT2 NT1 service
(TE1)

U
ISDN device (TE1) To ISDN
with built-in NT1 service
NT1
 Cable Modem Service
• Operates over the coax cable used by cable TV
• Much faster than analog modems, and usually
much faster than ISDN (depending on how
many users share the cable)
– 25 to 50 Mbps downstream from the head end
– 2 to 3 Mbps upstream from end users
• Standard = Data Over Cable Service Interface
Specification (DOCSIS)
 DSL
• High-speed digital data traffic over ordinary
telephone wires
• Sophisticated modulation schemes mean
higher speeds than ISDN
– Speeds range from 1.544 to 9 Mbps
• Actual bandwidth depends on type of DSL
service, DSL modem, and many physical-
layer factors
• Asymmetric DSL (ADSL) very popular
– Downstream faster than upstream
 WAN Technologies

• Leased lines
• Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
• Frame Relay
• Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
 Leased Lines
• Dedicated digital, copper circuits that a
customer leases from a carrier for a
predetermined amount of time, usually for
months or years
• Speeds range from 64 Kbps to 45 Mbps
• Enterprises use leased lines for both voice
and data traffic
 The North American Digital
Hierarchy
Signal Capacity Number of Colloquial Name
DS0s
DS0 64 Kbps 1 Channel
DS1 1.544 Mbps 24 T-1
DS1C 3.152 Mbps 48 T-1C
DS2 6.312 Mbps 96 T-2
DS3 44.736 Mbps 672 T-3
DS4 274.176 Mbps 4032 T-4
 Synchronous Optical Network
(SONET)
• Physical-layer specification for high-speed
synchronous transmission of packets or
cells over fiber-optic cabling
• Service providers and carriers make wide
use of SONET in their internal networks
• Gaining popularity within private networks
SONET Optical Carrier (OC) Levels
aka Synchronous Transport Signal (STS) Levels

STS Rate OC Level Speed

STS-1 OC-1 51.84 Mbps

STS-3 OC-3 155.52 Mbps
STS-12 OC-12 622.08 Mbps
STS-24 OC-24 1.244 Gbps
STS-48 OC-48 2.488 Gbps
STS-96 OC-96 4.976 Gbps
STS-192 OC-192 9.952 Gbps
Typical SONET Topology

SONET Multiplexer

Backup Pair

Working Pair
 Frame Relay
• Industry-standard data-link-layer protocol
for transporting traffic across wide-area
virtual circuits
• Optimized for efficiency on circuits with
low error rates
• Attractively-priced in most parts of the
world
• Carriers agree to forward traffic at a
Committed Information Rate (CIR)
 Frame Relay (continued)

To Router B:
DLCI 100

To Router A:
DLCI 200

Router A Router B
Virtual Circuit (VC)
 Frame Relay Hub-and-Spoke
Uses Subinterfaces
hostname centralsite
interface serial 0
Central-Site Router
encapsulation frame-relay
interface serial 0.1

DLCI 100 DLCI 200 ip address 10.0.1.1 255.255.255.0

frame-relay interface-dlci 100
interface serial 0.2
ip address 10.0.2.1 255.255.255.0
frame-relay interface-dlci 200
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode
(ATM)
• Used in service provider internal networks
• Gaining popularity within private networks,
both WANs and sometimes LANs
• Supports very high bandwidth requirements
– Copper cabling: 45 Mbps or more
– Fiber-optic cabling: OC-192 (9.952 Gbps) and
beyond, especially if technologies such as
wave-division multiplexing (WDM) are used
 ATM (continued)
• Provides efficient sharing of bandwidth
among applications with various Quality of
Service (QoS) requirements
– Cell-based system inherently better for QoS
than frames
• Application can specify upon connection
establishment the QoS it requires
• Peak and minimum cell rates, cell-loss ratio,
and cell-transfer delay
 Ethernet over ATM
• ATM router interfaces are expensive
• Some providers allow a customer to use an
Ethernet interface to access the provider’s
ATM WAN
• May require a converter
• Expected to gain popularity because it has
the advantages of both worlds
– Easy-to-use LAN
– QoS-aware WAN
 Selection Criteria for Remote
Access Devices
• Support for VPN features
• Support for NAT
• Reliability
• Cost
• Ease of configuration and management
• Support for one or more high-speed
Ethernet interfaces
• If desired, wireless support
• Etc.
 Selection Criteria for VPN
Concentrators
• Support for:
– Tunneling protocols such as IPSec, PPTP, and L2TP
– Encryption algorithms such as 168-bit Triple DES,
Microsoft Encryption (MPPE), RC4, AES
– Authentication algorithms, including MD5, SHA-1, HMAC
– Network system protocols, such as DNS, RADIUS,
Kerberos, LDAP
– Routing protocols
– Certificate authorities
– Network management using SSH or HTTP with SSL
– Etc.
 Selection Criteria for Enterprise
Routers
• Number of ports
• Processing speed
• Media and technologies supported
• MTTR and MTBF
• Throughput
• Optimization features
• Etc
 Selection Criteria for a WAN
Service Provider
• Extent of services and technologies
• Geographical areas covered
• Reliability and performance characteristics
of the provider’s internal network
• The level of security offered by the provider
• The level of technical support offered by the
provider
• The likelihood that the provider will
continue to stay in business
 Selecting a Provider (continued)
• The provider’s willingness to work with you
to meet your needs
• The physical routing of network links
• Redundancy within the network
• The extent to which the provider relies on
other providers for redundancy
• The level of oversubscription on the network
• QoS support
• Etc.
 Summary
• A major task during the physical design phase
is selecting technologies and devices for
enterprise networks
– Remote access networks
– WANs
– Service providers
– Devices
• End user remote access devices
• Central site remote access devices
• VPN concentrators
• Routers
 Review Questions
• Compare and contrast technologies for
supporting remote users.
• Compare and contrast WAN technologies.
• What selection criteria can you use when
purchasing internetworking devices for
enterprise network customers?
• What criteria can you use when selecting a
WAN service provider?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Twelve

Testing Your Network Design

 Reasons to Test
• Verify that the design meets key business and
technical goals
• Validate LAN and WAN technology and
device selections
• Verify that a service provider provides the
agreed-up service
• Identify bottlenecks or connectivity problems
• Determine optimization techniques that will be
necessary
 Testing Your Network Design
• Use industry testing services
• Build and test a prototype system
• Use third-party and Cisco tools
 Industry Testing Services

• The Interoperability Lab at the University of

New Hampshire (IOL)
• ICSA Labs
• Miercom Labs
• KeyLabs
• The Tolly Group
 Scope of a Prototype System

• It’s not generally practical to implement a

full-scale system
• A prototype should verify important
capabilities and functions that might not
perform adequately
• Risky functions include complex, intricate
functions and functions that were influenced
by the need to make tradeoffs
 Components of a Test Plan

• Test objectives and acceptance criteria

• The types of tests that will be run
• Network equipment and other resources
required
• Testing scripts
• The timeline and milestones for the testing
project
 Test Objectives and Acceptance
Criteria
• Specific and concrete
• Based on business and technical goals
• Clear criteria for declaring that a test passed
or failed
• Avoid biases and preconceived notions
about outcomes
• If appropriate, reference a baseline
 Types of Tests

• Application response-time tests

• Throughput tests
• Availability tests
• Regression tests
 Resources Needed for Testing

• Scheduled time in a lab either at your site or

the customer’s site
• Power, air conditioning, rack space, and
other physical resources
• Help from coworkers or customer staff
• Help from users to test applications
• Network addresses and names
 Example Test Script
Workstations Server 1

Firewall

Network A Network B

Protocol Protocol
Analyzer Analyzer
 Example Test Script (continued)

• Test objective. Assess the firewall’s capability to

block Application ABC traffic, during both light
and moderately heavy load conditions.
• Acceptance criterion. The firewall should block
the TCP SYN request from every workstation on
Network A that attempts to set up an Application
ABC session with Server 1 on Network B. The
firewall should send each workstation a TCP RST
(reset) packet.
 Example Test Script (continued)
1. Start capturing network traffic on the protocol analyzer
on Network A.
2. Start capturing network traffic on the protocol analyzer
on Network B.
3. Run Application ABC on a workstation located on
Network A and access Server 1 on Network B.
4. Stop capturing network traffic on the protocol analyzers.
5. Display data on Network A’s protocol analyzer and
verify that the analyzer captured a TCP SYN packet
from the workstation. Verify that the network layer
destination address is Server 1 on Network B, and the
destination port is port 1234 (the port number for
Application ABC). Verify that the firewall responded to
the workstation with a TCP RST packet.
 Example Test Script (continued)
6. Display data on Network B’s protocol analyzer and
verify that the analyzer did not capture any Application-
ABC traffic from the workstation.
7. Log the results of the test in the project log file.
8. Save the protocol-analyzer trace files to the project trace-
file directory.
9. Gradually increase the workload on the firewall, by
increasing the number of workstations on Network A
one at a time, until 50 workstations are running
Application ABC and attempting to reach Server 1.
Repeat steps 1 through 8 after each workstation is added
to the test.
 Tools for Testing a Network
Design
• Network-management and monitoring tools
• Traffic generation tools
• Modeling and simulation tools
• QoS and service-level management tools
• http://www.topdownbook.com/tools.html
 Summary
• An untested network design probably won’t
work
• It’s often not practical to test the entire design
• However, by using industry testing services
and tools, as well as your own testing scripts,
you can (and should) test the complex, risky,
and key components of a network design
 Review Questions
• Why is it important to test your network
design?
• Why is regression testing important?
• What are some characteristics of well-written
acceptance criteria?
• What are some characteristics of a good
network simulation tool?
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Thirteen

Optimizing Your Network Design

 Reasons to Optimize

• Meet key business and technical goals

• Use bandwidth efficiently
• Control delay and jitter
• Reduce serialization delay
• Support preferential service for essential
applications
• Meet Quality of Service (QoS) requirements
 IP Multicast Helps Optimize
Bandwidth Usage
• With IP multicast, you can send a high-
volume multimedia stream just once instead
of once for each user
• Requires support for
– Multicast addressing
– Multicast registration (IGMP)
– Multicast routing protocols
 IP Multicast Addressing
• Uses Class D multicast destination address
– 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255
• Converted to a MAC-layer multicast
destination address
– The low-order 23 bits of the Class D address
become the low-order 23 bits of the MAC-layer
address
– The top 9 bits of the Class D address are not
used
– The top 25 bits of the MAC-layer address are
0x01:00:5E followed by a binary 0
 Internet Group Management
Protocol (IGMP)
• Allows a host to join a multicast group
• Host transmits a membership-report
message to inform routers on the segment
that traffic for a group should be multicast
to the host’s segment
• IGMPv2 has support for a router more
quickly learning that the last host on a
segment has left a group
 Multicast Routing Protocols

• Becoming obsolete
– Multicast OSPF (MOSPF)
– Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol
(DVMRP)
• Still used
– Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM)
• Dense-Mode PIM
• Sparse-Mode PIM
 Reducing Serialization Delay

• Link-layer fragmentation and interleaving

– Breaks up and reassembles frames
– Multilink PPP
– Frame Relay FRF.12
• Compressed Real Time Protocol
– RTP is used for voice and video
– Compressed RTP compresses the RTP, UDP,
and IP header from 40 bytes to 2 to 4 bytes
A Few Technologies for Meeting
QoS Requirements
• IETF controlled load service
• IETF guaranteed service
• IP precedence
• IP differentiated services
 IP Type of Service Field

• The type of service field in the IP header is

divided into two subfields
– The 3-bit precedence subfield supports eight
levels of priority
– The 4-bit type of service subfield supports four
types of service
• Although IP precedence is still used, the
type of service subfield was hardly ever
used
 IP Type of Service Field
Type of Service Subfield

Bit 0 3 4 5 6 7
D = Delay
T = Throughput
Precedence D T R C 0
R = Reliability
C = Cost

Bit 0 8 15 24 31

Version Header Type of Service Total Length

Length

Identification Flags Fragment Offset

Time to Live Protocol Header

Checksum

Source IP Address

Destination IP Address

Options Padding
 IP Differentiated Services (DS)
Field
• RFC 2474 redefines the type of service field
as the Differentiated Services (DS) field
– Bits 0 through 5 are the Differentiated Services
Codepoint (DSCP) subfield
• Has essentially the same goal as the precedence
subfield
• Influences queuing and packet dropping decisions for
IP packets at a router output interface
– Bits 6 and 7 are the Explicit Congestion
Notification (ECN) subfield
 IP Differentiated Services (DS)
Field

0 6
Differentiated Services Codepoint Explicit Congestion Notification

0 8 15 24 31
Version Header Differentiated Services Total Length
Length
 Classifying LAN Traffic

• IEEE 802.1p
• Classifies traffic at the data-link layer
• Supports eight classes of service
• A switch can have a separate queue for each
class and service the highest-priority queues
first
 Cisco Switching Techniques

• Process switching
• Fast switching
• Autonomous, silicon, and optimum
switching
• NetFlow switching
• Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF)
 Cisco Queuing Services

• First in, first out (FIFO) queuing

• Priority queuing
• Custom queuing
• Weighted fair queuing (WFQ)
• Class-based WFQ (CBWFQ)
• Low latency queuing (LLQ)
START
Priority Queuing
NO
Packet in high
queue?

NO
Packet in medium
YES queue?

NO
Packet in normal
YES queue?

NO
Packet in low
YES queue?

YES

Dispatch Packet Continue

 Custom Queuing
START (with
Queue 1)

NO Packet in
Queue?

YES

Reached
YES transmission NO
Next Queue Dispatch Packet
window size?
Low-Latency Queuing
• One queue always gets the green light
– Use this for voice
• Combine this with class-based
weighted fair queuing
– Define traffic classes based on protocols,
access control lists, and input interfaces
– Assign characteristics to classes such as
bandwidth required and the maximum
number of packets that can be queued for
the class
 Random Early Detection (RED)
• Congestion avoidance rather than
congestion management
• Monitors traffic loads and randomly
discards packets if congestion increases
• Source nodes detect dropped packets and
slow down
– Works best with TCP
• Weighted Random Early Detection
• Cisco’s implementation uses IP precedence or the
DS field instead of just randomly dropping packets
 Traffic Shaping

• Manage and control network traffic to avoid

bottlenecks
• Avoid overwhelming a downstream router
or link
• Reduce outbound traffic for a flow to a
configured bit rate
– Queue bursts of traffic for that flow
 Committed Access Rate (CAR)

• Cisco feature for classifying and policing

traffic on an incoming interface
• Supports policies regarding how traffic that
exceeds a certain bandwidth allocation
should be handled
• Can drop a packet or change the IP
precedence or DSCP bits
 Summary
• Optimization provides the high bandwidth, low
delay, and controlled jitter required by many
critical business applications
• To minimize bandwidth utilization by
multimedia applications, use IP multicast
• To reduce serialization delay, use link
fragmentation and compressed RTP
• To support QoS and optimize performance, use
IP precedence, DSCP, 802.1p. advanced
switching and queuing methods, RED, CAR, etc.
 Review Questions
• Why is it important to optimize your
network?
• What has become of the IP type of service
field?
• What are some methods for marking
packets to identify the need for priority
handling?
• Compare and contrast Cisco queuing
services.
Top-Down Network Design

Chapter Fourteen

Documenting Your Network Design

 Documenting Your Design
• If you are given a request for proposal (RFP),
respond to the request in the exact format that
the RFP specifies
• If no RFP, you should still write a design
document
– Describe your customer’s requirements and how
your design meets those requirements
– Document the budget for the project
– Explain plans for implementing the design
 Typical RFP Response Topics
• A network topology for the new design
• Information on the protocols, technologies, and
products that form the design
• An implementation plan
• A training plan
• Support and service information
• Prices and payment options
• Qualifications of the responding vendor or
supplier
• Recommendations from other customers
• Legal contractual terms and conditions
 Contents of a Network Design
Document
• Executive summary
• Project goal
• Project scope
• Design requirements
• Current state of the network
• New logical and physical design
• Results of network design testing
• Implementation plan
• Project budget
 Design Requirements

• Business goals explain the role the network

design will play in helping an organization
succeed
• Technical goals include scalability,
performance, security, manageability,
usability, adaptability, and affordability
 Logical and Physical Design
• Logical design
– Topology
– Models for addressing and naming
– Switching and routing protocols
– Security strategies
– Network management strategies
• Physical design
– Actual technologies and devices
 Implementation Plan
• Recommendations for deploying the network
design
• Project schedule
– Including any dates and times for service provider
installations
• Any plans for outsourcing
• Training
• Risks
• A fallback plan if the implementation should fail
• A plan for evolving the design as new
requirements arise
 Possible Appendixes
• Detailed topology maps
• Device configurations
• Addressing and naming details
• Network design testing results
• Contact information
• Pricing and payment options
• More information about the company that is
presenting the design
– Annual reports, product catalogs, press releases
• Legal contractual terms and conditions
 Summary
• When a customer provides an RFP, make sure to
follow the prescribed format
• When not bound by an RFP, develop a design
document that describes requirements, the
existing network, the logical and physical
design, an implementation plan, and the budget
• Be sure to include an executive summary
• In some cases, you should also include
appendixes with detailed information
 Review Questions
• Why is it important to document your
network design?
• Why is it important to submit an RFP
proposal in the exact format prescribed?
• What are the major topics in a design
document?
• What are some possible appendixes for a
design document?