LAN Design

LAN Design

Switched LAN Architecture

Switched LAN Architecture

When building a LAN that satisfies the needs of a small or medium-sized business, your plan is more likely to be mediumsuccessful if a hierarchical design model is used. Divided into discrete layers. Each layer has a specific purpose. Becomes modular maintenance, performance.

Switched LAN Architecture

Access Layer

Interfaces with end devices. Routers, switches, bridges, wireless access points. Provides a means of connecting and controlling which devices are allowed to communicate on the network.

Distribution Layer

Aggregates (funnels) Access Layer traffic. Controls traffic flow with security or routing policies. Defines broadcast domains. Routing of VLANs (Virtual LANs).

Core Layer

High speed backbone of the network. Must be highly available and redundant. redundant. Must be capable of quickly forwarding large amounts of data. Smaller networks collapsed model (Core and Distribution).

Medium Sized Business

Logical Layout

Physical Layout

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Benefits: Scalability Redundancy Performance Security Manageability Maintainability

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Scalability

Hierarchical Networks can be expanded easily.

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Redundancy

Redundancy at the core and distribution layers ensure availability.

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Performance

Link aggregation and high performance distribution and core layer switches provide near-wire speed at all layers. near-

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Security

Port security at the access layer and policies at the distribution layer make the network more secure.

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Manageability

Configurations Additional Switch Functionality Rapid Recovery

Easier Troubleshooting

Consistency among switches at each layer makes management more simple.

Benefits of a Hierarchical Network

Maintainability

The modular design allows a network to scale easily without becoming over-complicated or burdensome. over-

Principles of Hierarchical Network Design

Just because a network is hierarchical, it doesnt mean its well designed. Network Diameter: The number of devices that a packet has to cross before it reaches its destination. Bandwidth Aggregation: After the bandwidth requirements of the network are known, links between specific switches can be aggregated or combined to provide higher bandwidth. Redundancy: The practice of providing multiple paths to a destination or multiple instances of a device.

Principles of Hierarchical Network Design

Network Diameter: For PC1 to communicate with PC3, the data must traverse 6 intermediate switches. In this case, the network diameter is 6. 6. Each switch introduces some latency. In a hierarchical network, network diameter is always going to be a predictable number of hops between the source and destination devices.

Principles of Hierarchical Network Design

Bandwidth Aggregation: Link aggregation allows multiple switch port links to be combined so as to achieve higher throughput between switches. The determining factor is using link aggregation is the requirements of the user applications.

Principles of Hierarchical Network Design

Redundancy: Redundancy is one part of creating a highly available network. Multiple links between switches or multiple devices. It can get expensive and most likely will not be done on the access layer because of the cost and variety of devices. It is feasible at the distribution and core layers.

What is a Converged Network?

A Converged Network is one where voice and video communications have been combined on a single data network. Legacy Equipment: Until now, mainly feasible on large enterprise networks.

What is a Converged Network?

Advanced Technology: More popular to medium and small sized businesses. Can be a difficult decision considering current investments in technology. Benefit: Only one network to manage.

What is a Converged Network?

New Options: You can now tie voice and video communications directly into an employee's personal computer system. Software integrated on a PC eliminates an expensive handset. Add a webcam and video conference.

LAN Design

Matching Switches to Specific LAN Functions

Traffic Flow Analysis User Community Analysis Data Stores and Data Servers Analysis Topology Diagrams Switch Features

Considerations for Network Switches

Traffic Flow Analysis: The process of measuring the bandwidth usage on a network and analyzing the data.

Performance tuning. Capacity planning. Hardware improvement decisions.

Considerations for Network Switches

User Community Analysis: The process of identifying various groupings of users and their impact on network performance.

Considerations for Network Switches

Data Stores and Data Servers Analysis: When analyzing traffic on a network, consider the location of the data stores and data servers. Consider both client-server and server-server traffic. clientserver-

Considerations for Network Switches

Topology Diagram: A graphical representation of a network infrastructure. Switch connections with port numbers. Aggregated ports and redundant paths. Identify configuration by switch name. Could contain user information.

Switch Features
Switch Form Factors: When selecting a switch, you need to decide between Fixed configuration or modular configuration. Stackable or non-stackable. non The switch form factor (physical size) is important depending upon where the switch will be installed. Wiring closet with limited space. Computer room with free standing racks. Shelf in a central area.

Switch Features
Fixed Configuration Switches: Fixed in their configuration. You cannot add features or options to the switch beyond those that originally came with the switch.

Switch Features
Modular Switches: Offer more flexibility. flexibility. Typically come with different sized chassis that allow for the installation of different numbers of modular line cards. cards. The line cards actually contain the ports.

Switch Features
Stackable Switches: Interconnected using a special backplane cable that provides high-bandwidth throughput between the highswitches (Cisco StackWise). The stacked switches effectively operate as a single, larger switch. Desirable when fault tolerance and bandwidth availability are critical and a modular switch is too costly to implement.

Switch Performance
When selecting a switch for the access, distribution, or core layer, consider the ability of the switch to support: Port Density. Forwarding Rate. Bandwidth Aggregation Requirements.

Switch Performance
Port Density: Port density is the number of ports available on a single switch. 24 Port

48 Port

Very high density. Catalyst 6500 - 1,000 Ports

Switch Performance
Forwarding Rate: Defines the processing capabilities of a switch by rating how much data the switch can process per second. If the switch forwarding rate is too low, it cannot accommodate full wire-speed communication across all wireof its switch ports. A 48 port Gigabit switch is capable of switching 48 Gigabits of traffic.

Switch Performance
Forwarding Rate: Access layer switches typically do not need to operate at full wire speed because they are physically limited by their uplinks to the distribution layer. Allows the use of: Less expensive, lower performing switches at the access layer. layer. More expensive, higher performing switches at the distribution and core layers, where the forwarding rate layers, makes a bigger difference.

Switch Performance
Link Aggregation: As part of bandwidth aggregation, you should determine if there are enough ports on a switch to aggregate to support the required bandwidth. 24 Port Gigabit Up to 8 ports bound together to provide up to Single Port - 1 Gigabit 8 Gigabits. BOTTLE NECK

Switch Performance
Power over Ethernet (PoE): Allows the switch to deliver power to a device over the existing Ethernet cabling.

Adds considerable cost to the switch.

Switch Performance
Layer 3 Functionality: Switches typically operate at Layer 2 of the OSI Model.

Switch Features Hierarchical Network

Access Layer Switch Features: Port Security

Link Aggregation

VLANs PoE

FastEthernet/Gigabit

Quality of Service (QoS)

Switch Features Hierarchical Network

Distribution Layer Switch Features: Layer 3 Support High Forwarding Rate Link Aggregation

Redundant Components

Gigabit/10 Gigabit

Quality of Service (QoS) Security Policies

Switch Features Hierarchical Network

Core Layer Switch Features: Layer 3 Support Link Aggregation Very High Forwarding Rate Gigabit/10 Gigabit Redundant Components Quality of Service (QoS)

Switches Small and Medium Business (SMB)

Cisco has seven switch product lines. Each product line offers different characteristics and features, allowing you to features, find the right switch to meet the functional requirements of your network. The Cisco switch product lines are: Catalyst Express 500 Catalyst 2960 Catalyst 3560 Catalyst 3750 Catalyst 4500 Catalyst 4900 Catalyst 6500

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst Express 500
The Catalyst Express 500 is Cisco's entry-layer switch. It offers: entryForwarding rates from 8.8 Gb/s to 24 Gb/s Gb/s Gb/s Layer 2 port security Web-based management WebConverged data/IP communications support

This switch series is appropriate for access layer implementations where high port density is not required. The Cisco Catalyst Express 500 series switches are scaled for small business environments ranging from 20 to 250 employees. The Catalyst Express 500 series switches are available in different fixed configurations:
Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity Up to 24 10/100 ports with optional PoE or 12 10/100/1000 ports

Catalyst Express 500 series switches do not allow management through the Cisco IOS CLI. They are managed using a built-in CLI. builtweb management interface, the Cisco Network Assistant or the new Cisco Configuration Manager developed specifically for the Catalyst Express 500 series switches. The Catalyst Express does not support console access. To learn more about the Cisco Express 500 series of switches, go to http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6545/index.html.

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst 2960
The Catalyst 2960 series switches enable entry-layer entryenterprise, medium-sized, and branch office networks to mediumprovide enhanced LAN services. The Catalyst 2960 series switches are appropriate for access layer implementations where access to power and space is limited. The CCNA Exploration 3 LAN Switching and Wireless labs are based on the features of the Cisco 2960 switch. The Catalyst 2960 series switches offers the following:
Forwarding rates from 16 Gb/s to 32 Gb/s Gb/s Gb/s Multilayered switching QoS features to support IP communications Access control lists (ACLs) Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity Up to 48 10/100 ports or 10/100/1000 ports with additional dual purpose gigabit uplinks

The Catalyst 2960 series of switches do not support PoE. PoE. The Catalyst 2960 series supports the Cisco IOS CLI, integrated web management interface, and Cisco Network Assistant. This switch series supports console and auxiliary access to the switch. To learn more about the Catalyst 2960 series of switches, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6406/index.html.

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst 3560
The Cisco Catalyst 3560 series is a line of enterprise-class enterpriseswitches that include support for PoE, QoS, and advanced PoE, QoS, security features such as ACLs. These switches are ideal access layer switches for small enterprise LAN access or branch-office converged network branchenvironments. The Cisco Catalyst 3560 Series supports forwarding rates of 32 Gb/s to 128 Gb/s (Catalyst 3560-E switch series). Gb/s Gb/s 3560The Catalyst 3560 series switches are available in different fixed configurations:
Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity Up to 48 10/100/1000 ports, plus four small form-factor formpluggable (SFP) ports Optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in the Catalyst 3560-E 3560models Optional Integrated PoE (Cisco pre-standard and IEEE 802.3af); preup to 24 ports with 15.4 watts or 48 ports with 7.3 watts

To learn more about the Catalyst 3560 series of switches, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5528/ind ex.html.

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst 3750
The Cisco Catalyst 3750 series of switches are ideal for access layer switches in midsize organizations and enterprise branch offices. This series offers forwarding rates from 32 Gb/s to 128 Gb/s Gb/s Gb/s (Catalyst 3750-E switch series). 3750The Catalyst 3750 series supports Cisco StackWise technology. StackWise technology allows you to interconnect up to nine physical Catalyst 3750 switches into one logical switch using a high-performance (32 Gb/s), redundant, highGb/s), backplane connection. The Catalyst 3750 series switches are available in different stackable fixed configurations:
Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity Up to 48 10/100/1000 ports, plus four SFP ports Optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity in the Catalyst 3750-E 3750models Optional Integrated PoE (Cisco pre-standard and IEEE 802.3af); preup to 24 ports with 15.4 watts or 48 ports with 7.3 watts

To learn more about the Catalyst 3750 series of switches, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/inde x.html.

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst 4500
The Catalyst 4500 is the first midrange modular switching platform offering multilayer switching for enterprises, small- to smallmedium-sized businesses, and service providers. mediumWith forwarding rates up to 136 Gb/s, the Catalyst 4500 series Gb/s, is capable of managing traffic at the distribution layer. The modular capability of the Catalyst 4500 series allows for very high port densities through the addition of switch port line cards to its modular chassis. The Catalyst 4500 series offers multilayer QoS and sophisticated routing functions. The Catalyst 4500 series switches are available in different modular configurations:
Modular 3, 6, 7, and 10 slot chassis offering different layers of scalability High port density: up to 384 Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet ports available in copper or fiber with 10 Gigabit uplinks PoE (Cisco pre-standard and IEEE 802.3af) preDual, hot-swappable internal AC or DC power supplies hotAdvanced hardware-assisted IP routing capabilities hardware-

To learn more about the Catalyst 4500 series of switches, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/inde x.html.

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst 4900
The Catalyst 4900 series switches are designed and optimized for server switching by allowing very high forwarding rates. The Cisco Catalyst 4900 is not a typical access layer switch. It is a specialty access layer switch designed for data center deployments where many servers may exist in close proximity. This switch series supports dual, redundant power supplies and fans that can be swapped out while the switch is still running. This allows the switches to achieve higher availability, which is critical in data center deployments. The Catalyst 4900 series switches support advanced QoS features, making them ideal candidates for the back-end IP backtelephony hardware. Catalyst 4900 series switches do not support the StackWise feature of the Catalyst 3750 series nor do they support PoE. PoE. The Catalyst 4900 series switches are available in different fixed configurations:
Up to 48 10/100/1000 ports with four SFP ports or 48 10/100/1000 ports with two 10GbE ports Dual, hot-swappable internal AC or DC power supplies hotHot-swappable fan trays Hot-

To learn more about the Catalyst 4900 series of switches, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6021/index.html.

For Small and Medium Sized Business (SMB)

Catalyst 6500
The Catalyst 6500 series modular switch is optimized for secure, converged voice, video, and data networks. The Catalyst 6500 is capable of managing traffic at the distribution and core layers. The Catalyst 6500 series is the highest performing Cisco switch, supporting forwarding rates up to 720 Gb/s. Gb/s. The Catalyst 6500 is ideal for very large network environments found in enterprises, medium-sized businesses, and service mediumproviders. The Catalyst 6500 series switches are available in different modular configurations:
Modular 3, 4, 6, 9, and 13 slot chassis LAN/WAN service modules PoE up to 420 IEEE 802.3af Class 3 (15.4W) PoE devices Up to 1152 10/100 ports, 577 10/100/1000 ports, 410 SFP Gigabit Ethernet ports, or 64 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports Dual, hot-swappable internal AC or DC power supplies hotAdvanced hardware-assisted IP routing capabilities hardware-

To learn more about the Catalyst 6500 series of switches, visit http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/index. html

Switches Small and Medium Business (SMB)

Summary
Bandwidth (Link) Aggregation FastEthernet/Gigabit Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet/10 Gigabit Ethernet High Forwarding Rate Layer 3 Support Port Security Power Over Ethernet (PoE) Quality of Service (QoS) Redundant Components Security Policies/Access Control Lists Very High Forwarding Rate VLANs Access Distribution Core

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