Network Design Activity 1 – Requirements Definition(Complete)
Part A Discussion – Prior to designing any network, the network must have a set of requirements which define it and are well understood by the network engineers and architects. Therefore, many of the requirements must be established. In order to establish the requirements, a number of questions/considerations need to be first asked and then answered. The answers to these questions generally then become the requirements that must be met by the network. The network architect/engineer usually are the ones asking the questions. And the customers, users, and IT staff using the network usually are the ones that would provide answers to the network design questions.
Listed below are a few basic subject areas to consider when forming your questions. You may use this list to identify what questions would be asked for each of the subject areas. You may include other subject areas as you deem appropriate.
• Users
• Organization Growth
• Security
• Budget
• Scope
• Scalability
• Physical space within which to deploy the network devices
Instructions
1. Write a minimum of two questions for at least four of the above subject areas. Feel free to include more subjects if you feel these are not broad enough.
2. Post your proposed questioned to the Network Design Activity 1 – Requirements Definition Discussion Board.
3. Select one (1) other student’s discussion posting and read it thoroughly. Offer suggestions, constructive critiques, and/or feedback on their questions in order to improve upon their network design questions. Select a student who does not have any responses yet to their initial posting. When offering suggestions and criticisms, ensure that you are being professional, courteous, and respectful of your peers.
The purpose of this part of the assignment is to assist students in thinking through key network design considerations while interacting and using the feedback from other classmates.
Defined topics and questions for Write-up
Budget
How much are you planning to spend on the networks initial design?
How much do you want to spend on upgrading, and maintaining your network over the next 6 months?
Users
How many users do you expect on your network at a given time?
What type of credentials will each user need to gain network access?
Security
What software/hardware requirements do you need to keep your network secure?
What configurations will you use to maximize the security you put in place?
Organizational Growth
What will the growth of your organization look like with respect to computer networking?
As the organization expands, how do you plan on maintaining network reliability?
Part B Write-Up –(Your scope of work)
With the questions defined, write 1-2 pages explaining why you think it is important to establish and answer a set of network design questions prior to purchasing network equipment and installing it. You will need to be certain to include the subjects you discussed in Part A. Explain what you think are the benefits of going through this process. Explain the drawbacks (if any) of not doing this step. For your write-up, include at least 2 reference sources for this assignment.
Write-up requirements:
• 1-2 page minimum (double-spaced)
• Completed spell check
• APA style references
• .doc or .docx file
