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3.2 | The First Steps in WAN Design |
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3.2.1 | WAN design goals |
Designing a WAN can be a challenging
task. The discussions that follow outline several areas that you
should carefully consider when planning a WAN implementation. The
steps described here can lead to improved WAN cost and performance.
Businesses can continually improve their WANs by incorporating these
steps into the planning process.
Two primary goals drive WAN design and implementation:
In general, WAN design needs to take into account three general factors:
Characterizing network traffic is critical to successful WAN planning, but few planners perform this key step well, if at all.
The overall goal of WAN design is to minimize cost based on these elements while delivering service that does not compromise established availability requirements. You face two primary concerns: availability and cost. These issues are essentially at odds. Any increase in availability must generally be reflected as an increase in cost. Therefore, you must carefully weigh the relative importance of resource availability and overall cost. The first step in the design process is to understand the business requirements, which is covered in the following sections. WAN requirements must reflect the goals, characteristics, business processes, and policies of the business in which they operate.
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