WAN Design

Chapter 3

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 WAN Design Requirements
 WAN communication is often called a service
because the network provider often charges users
for the WAN services it provides.

 All technologies and features used in WANs are

developed to meet the following design
requirements:
 Optimize WAN bandwidth.
 Minimize cost.
 Maximize the effective service to the end users.

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 WAN Design Requirements
 Traditional shared-media networks are now being
overtaxed because of the following:
 Network usage has increased.
 Application software evolution is continually more
demanding.
 Applications increasingly require distinct network qualities
of service.
 An unprecedented number of connections are being
established.
 The explosive growth of corporate intranets and
extranets has created a greater demand for bandwidth.
 The increased use of enterprise servers continues to
grow to serve the business needs of organizations.
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 WAN Design Requirements
 New WAN infrastructures must be:
 more complex.
 based on new technologies.
 able to handle an ever-increasing (and rapidly changing)
application mix with required and guaranteed service
levels.

 Within the next five years, there’s an expected

300% traffic increase.

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 WAN Design Goals
 Two primary goals drive WAN design and implementation:
 Application availability:
 Networks carry application information between computers.
 If the applications are not available, the network is not doing its job.
 Total cost of ownership:
 Information Systems (IS) department budgets often run in the millions of
dollars.
 More businesses rely on electronic data, therefore the costs of
computing resources will continue to rise.

 A well-designed WAN can help to balance these objectives.

 When properly implemented, the WAN infrastructure can optimize
application availability and allow the cost-effective use of existing
network resources.
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 WAN Design Goals
 In general, WAN design needs to take into account
three general factors:
 Environmental variables:
 Includes the location of hosts, servers, terminals, and other end
nodes; the projected traffic for the environment; and the
projected costs for delivering different service levels.
 Performance constraints:
 Consist of network reliability, traffic throughput, and host/client
computer speeds (for example, network interface cards and hard
drive access speeds).
 Networking variables:
 Includes the network topology, line capacities, and packet traffic.

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 WAN Design Models
 Network designs tend to follow one of two general
design strategies:
 Mesh:
 The network topology is flat.
 All routers perform essentially the same functions, and there is
usually no clear definition of where specific functions are
performed.
 Expansion of the network tends to proceed in a haphazard,
arbitrary manner.
 Hierarchical:
 The structure the network is organized in layers, each of which
has one or more specific functions.
 Data traffic flows based on source / destination addressing.

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 Hierarchical WAN Design Model
 Benefits to using a hierarchical model include the
following:
 Easier to implement.
 Easier to manage.
 Easier to troubleshoot.
 Improved scalability.
 Predictability.
 Protocol support.

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 Three Layer Design

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 3 Hierarchical WAN Design Layers
 A hierarchical network design includes the following
three layers:
 The CORE layer:
 Provides optimal transport between sites.
 The DISTRIBUTION layer:
 Provides policy-based connectivity.
 The ACCESS layer:
 Provides workgroup and user access to the network.

Could also be called the 3 levels of a router hierarchy.

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 Core Layer
 Provides fast WAN area connections between remote sites,
tying a campus networks together in a corporate or
enterprise WAN.
 Is usually implemented as a WAN.
 Needs redundant paths.
 Can withstand individual circuit outages and continue to function.
 Links are point-to-point.
 There are rarely any hosts in the core layer.
 Should not perform any filtering – slows down performance.

 Core services (for example, T1/T3, Frame Relay, SMDS)

typically are leased from a telecom service provider.

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 Distribution Layer
 Provides network services to multiple LANs within a
WAN environment.
 This is where the WAN backbone network is found, and it
is typically based on Fast Ethernet.
 This is implemented on large sites and is used to
interconnect buildings.
 Provides boundary definition, and it is the layer at which
packet manipulation occurs.
 Can be summarized as the layer that provides policy-
based connectivity.

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 Distribution Layer
 Can include several functions, such as the following:
 Address or area aggregation.
 Departmental or workgroup access to the core layer.
 Broadcast/multicast domain definition.
 Virtual LAN (VLAN) routing.
 Any media transitions that need to occur.
 Security.
 Provides policy-based connectivity.
 Not putting end stations on the backbone frees up the backbone to
act strictly as a transit path for traffic between workgroups or
campus-wide servers.

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 Access Layer
 The access layer is usually a LAN or a group of LANs,
typically Ethernet or Token Ring, that provide users with
frontline access to network services.
 Almost all hosts are attached to the network, including servers of all
kinds and user workstations.
 Allows logical segmentation of the network and grouping of users
based on their function.
 Can also use access control lists or filters to further optimize the
needs of a particular set of users.
 Workgroup servers should be located here.

 The main goal of the Access layer is to isolate the broadcast

traffic between the individual workgroups, segments, or
LANs.
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 Access Layer
 In the campus environment, access-layer functions
can include the following:
 Shared bandwidth.
 Switched bandwidth.
 MAC-layer filtering.
 Microsegmentation.

 The access layer connects users into LANs, and

LANs into WAN backbones or WAN links.

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 Other Designs

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 Other Designs
 A three-layer model can meet the needs of most
enterprise networks.

 However, a two-layer design may be adequate or

even a single layer flat network.

 A hierarchical structure should still be planned or

maintained to allow these network designs to
expand to three layers as the need arises.

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 One Layer Design
 In a 1 layer design, the key design decision
becomes the placement of servers:
 They can be distributed across multiple LANs
 Or concentrated in a central server farm location.

 A one-layer design is typically implemented if there

are only a few remote locations in the company,
and access to applications is mainly done via the
local LAN to the site file server.

 Each site is its own broadcast domain.

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 Two Layer Design
 In a two-layer design, a WAN link is used to
interconnect separate sites.

 Inside the site, multiple LANs may be implemented,

with each LAN segment being its own broadcast
domain.

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