What is Network Design? 

For a medium and a large scale business around the globe computers and networking plays a major role. With the access of these digital components hardware, all the necessities are interconnected and thus business runs smoothly. As the daily consumption rate of a product is increasing day by day thus the networking factor or the network design of a business is also becoming more complex. 

Requirements of Network? 

The services needed by a customer in today’s time should be instant in order words the service should be available 24 x 7 on the go. As the growing demand is much thus theft reasons become stronger therefore the system must be automatically protected. As the traffic does not remain constant it may increase or decrease thus the network design must be capable to handle the variation. 

How should a Network be Designed? 

Below mentioned is the requirement for network design. 

1. Scalability: In order to include the new user group and the remote site scalability proves to be the growth whereas, in replacement of the existing application or design, new application or design can also be made up without affecting the previous one. 

2. Availability: Availability of a network refers to the network being available all the time i.e. 24 hours in addition to high performance. Thus a network design is done in such a way that if a single link is not working it won’t affect the whole system.  

3. Security: As a lot of traffic is present over the network thus security should be a priority in order for the network to be safe. So while the network design is prepared security must be added prior to the flow of traffic. 

4. Manageability: The maintenance of any network is important for greater efficiency. Thus just the initial design cannot be considered as a lifetime solution for a network it should be updated throughout. 

Hierarchical Network Design 

The pattern of multiple grouping of network is done through Hierarchical designing. They are as follows: 

1. Core layer: Distribution layer system connection. 

2. Distribution layer: Locally connected networks that are smaller are interconnected 

3. Access layer: End system and host are connected. 

Data Representation 

Various forms describe information it can be presented in form of text, audio, images, video and numbers. Thus is can be verbal or nonverbal form. 

Text 

The sequence of text to communicate data is defined by bits. Each sequence set is defined as code and the sequence formation for this communication to be into action is known as coding. 

Numbers 

Numbers are presented by a pattern known as ASCII. But the numbers are to be converted into the binary form. 

Images 

Also the bit patterns represent the images. Small dot known as pixels are responsible for image formation. These dots depend upon the quality of the image. 

Audio 

The form of sound is known to be audio which is different from images and text.   

Video 

Video is a visual form of communication. It can be of continuous form or be a combination of all the text images. 

Networking 

Communication links connected to each other is known as network. Here, a node of a network represents a device that is responsible for this process. 

Distributed Processing 

The process where all the different computers involved get the different tasks is distributed networking. Not only is a single computer system responsible for networking. 

Networking Criteria 

Performance, reliability, and security are the parameters on which a network can be judged. 

• Performance 

Performance of networking consists of two ways: 

1. Transit time: - The time required for a message to reach another system from one system. 

2. Response time: - The time gap between the process of enquiry and the response. 

Moreover several features or parameters like user count and the software efficiency define the performance of network. 

• Reliability 

The time taken by a failure link to overcome to its initial stage defines its reliability factor that whether the network stability can be trusted or not. 

• Security 

The data being protecting from unauthorized access is known as its security. 

Physical Structures

Type of Connection 

The hardware and links of network can be connected to two or more than two systems. For data transmission links are used and in fiction it can be considered as a connecting line. 

Point-to-Point 

For two systems a dedicated link connection is a point to point connection. In this type of connection the actual length of the links are taken into consideration while in some cases that of satellite this condition might be neglected. 

Multipoint 

The type of connection where a link is to be shared between various devices. Capacity sharing of the channel is made for temporary which is also known to be a shared connection. 

Network Convergence 

For the condition of routing accuracy the convergence of network occurs. The network convergence time is directly proportional to the speed of the network. The more quick the network is the convergence time results in less. 

Convergence time is affected by the mentioned below: 

1. Updating speed of the device i.e. router and the update being reached to all in loop. 

2. The best path determination time taken by the router for routing. 

The Acceptable Convergence Time 

For smaller networks router predefines a convergence time that is acceptable. Sometimes the convergence time is kept small for some router to avoid failing of the router.

Design considerations with convergence in mind 

Two types of devices are present for routing one is dynamic and the other is static. The design is done taking the entire destination to be covered by the networking. A large routing table defines the convergence time. 

Distribution Layer Routing 

Using Layer 2 switching technology the access layer is build whereas the 3 layer device constitutes a distribution layer. Routers or multilayer switches are prepared in order to meet the network goals. 

The goals preferred are mentioned below: 

1. Managing the variation in traffic. 
2. Keeping a track of access control policies.
3. Defining the routes before making it to the final path. 
4. Removing the problematic layer in order to avoid disruptions 
5. VLAN’s routing between the access layers. 

Protocols

As in daily life there are several laws similarly the connection between two computers due to network component is defined by the rules that is known as protocols. The features of protocols are: addressing and routing of messages, error detection and recovery, sequence and flow controls, etc. 

The protocols consists of the following 

1. The Syntax – The format or the pattern of message that has been exchanged. 

2. The Semantic For an event occurring the action that is taken by the participating entities. 

Example: HTTP protocol for communication between servers and web browsers. Protocols are designed based on a layered architecture such as the OSI reference model. Each entity at a layer n communicates only with entities at layer n-1. The data exchanged, known as Protocol Data Unit (PDU), goes back and forth through the layers. Each layer adds or removes its own header and vice-versa. Therefore a layer n PDU may become a layer n-1 data.

Internet Protocol (IP)

Features of IP: 

1. The flow of information in the packet form and then being reassembled at the destination. The packets are of standardized size. 

2. Successive networks help in routing thus IP is responsible for the flow of packet from the source to the destination. 

No error is detected by the IP protocol as there is no request that is made before transmitting the data. Data to datagrams conversion is done by the functions Datagrams consists of IP address as well as the port numbers, e.g., IP routers, connected at the same time to the local network and to an IP service provider network. 

Context and Applications 

The topics of network designed are followed by the applicants of many courses such as: 

• Bachelor in Computer Science 
• Masters in Computer Science 
• Bachelor of Computer Application  
• Masters of Computer Application 
• Bachelor of technology in Computer Science and engineering 
• Masters of technology in Computer Science and engineering 
• Bachelor of technology in electronics and communication