Systematic Wide Area Network Planning
Systematic Wide Area Network Planning
Systematic Wide Area Network Planning
Hakan BUTUNER
Industrial Management and Engineering Co., Istanbul, Turkey
hakan.butuner@imeco-tr.com
Sinem AYDOĞDU
Industrial Management and Engineering Co., Istanbul, Turkey
Doğan UÇAR
Industrial Management and Engineering Co., Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract
For businesses with multiple locations, remote or home users, or integrated communications
with specific vendors or partners, the WAN (Wide Area Network) is the lifeblood. IT
organizations face pressure to increase WAN productivity, improve application performance,
support global collaboration, improve data protection, and minimize costs. Integrating today's
effective wide area networks beyond traditional capabilities while improving performance and
minimizing costs are very crucial. The main purpose of a WAN is to provide reliable, fast and
safe communication between two or more places (nodes) at affordable prices. WANs enable an
organization to have a single network connecting all of its departments and offices, even if they
are not all in the same building, city or even continent. In the increasingly globalized
marketplace, WANs have become an integral element of many businesses’ networks. Our aim
in this systematic methodology is providing planning tools for network engineers. This paper
outlines a systematic methodology for enterprise WAN design.
Keywords: Network, WAN, wide area network, systematic, systematic network planning
INTRODUCTION
For businesses with multiple locations, remote or home users, or integrated communications
with specific vendors or partners, the WAN (Wide Area Network) is the lifeblood. IT
organizations face pressure to increase WAN productivity, improve application performance,
support global collaboration, improve data protection, and minimize costs. Integrating today's
effective wide area networks beyond traditional capabilities while improving performance and
minimizing costs are very crucial.
The main purpose of a WAN is to provide reliable, fast and safe communication between
two or more places (nodes) at affordable prices. WANs enable an organization to have a single
network connecting all of its departments and offices, even if they are not all in the same
building, city or even continent. In the increasingly globalized marketplace, WANs have become
an integral element of many businesses’ networks.
Our aim in this systematic methodology is providing planning tools for network
engineers. This paper outlines a systematic methodology for enterprise WAN design (see
Figure 1.)
FOUR PHASES
Any network plan can typically pass through four phases.
Orientation
The main question of the orientation is “what is our objective?” in this project. That is to orient
ourselves, to understand the project, the process and the people involved. Then to organize
how we propose to plan and schedule the planning. The main issue is “what we do?” and “How
we do it?”
• Understand the project: What? Why? Who? When? Where?
• Understand the purpose or objective(s), the external conditions, the situation(s), the
scope/extent, any budget limitations and the desired form of our planning output.
• Understand and document the planning and people issues.
• Make a schedule for the project’s planning.
We can use “Project Orientation Worksheet” that is designed by Muther (2011). Table 1 has
three components:
• Project Essentials.
• Planning Issues.
• Planning Schedule.
In Planning Issues, we enter each problem, uncertainty, question ...one line for each ...on the
left. In the first column, record how important the issue is to this project. Here we enter a vowel-
letter as our order-of-magnitude judgmental rating:
A – Absolutely important
E – Especially important
I – Important issue
O – Ordinary important
U – Unimportant
In the “Responsible” column, enter who is responsible to get the issue resolved, and mark the
initials of the approver.
In Planning Schedule, list each action required to plan what we intend to do in order to
prepare network plans for conducting the project. List one action on each line, and show who is
responsible for doing it. Set a calendar schedule at the top of the vertical-lines.
Orientation I
Overall
II
PHASES Network Plan 1 Collect Key
Data
Detailed III
Application
Network Plans
Implementation IV 2 Requirements
Plan
Analysis
Time
Clarify
3 Constraints &
Determine
WAN Topology
PROCEDURE
Integrate
1. Requirements 4 Presentation &
Develop WANs
2. Constraints
3. Presentation 5 Evaluate &
Approve the
Best WAN Plan
Development
2 3 4 5 6
PROJECT ESSENTIALS
1. Project Objective(s)
2. External Condition(s)
3. Situation(s)
4. Scope/Extent
5. Form of Output
PLANNING ISSUES Imp. Resp. Proposed Resolution Ok’d by
1.
2.
3.
4.
Implementation Plan
This is probably the most rewarding part of planning. This phase is dedicated to carrying out the
plans. It includes the actions needed to make the plans come true. Who will responsible and
duration of action has to be clarified. This phase sets the framework for dealing with the
“expectations” on time and on budget. We can use MS Project tool in this phase (Table 2.)
It is very common for the planners to turn the project over to the implementers. The point
is that a planner should be involved in Phase4, either directly and completely or, at least,
partially.
THREE FUNDAMENTALS
Three fundamentals of Information Technology WAN planning are Requirements, Constraints
and Presentation.
Requirements
WAN not only as a means for data communications, but also as a transport of interoffice voice
and video traffic. First of all we have to identify the Business Requirements. Network engineers
need to work with the client closely and find out both their business and technical goals. For
example, what kind of new applications does the client want to add into the network because of
new business requirements? How much network availability is required to support its core
business operation? Accurately defining these goals is essential before starting the design work,
because they are critical to the final "success" measurements of your job. It is beneficial for the
later design phases, if you initially understand the client's criteria for success and what goals
must be met for the client to be satisfied. For an enterprise WAN design, some of the typical
business goals are to:
• Increase the company revenue and profit.
• Increase the employee productivity and improve corporate communication.
• Reduce the telecommunication and network costs.
• Improve the security of sensitive and proprietary corporate data.
• Provide better customer support service.
• Make data readily and securely available to all employees regardless of location.
• Build partnerships with other companies.
The most typical technical goals in an enterprise LAN/WAN design include scalability,
availability, performance, and security.
Constraints
Network engineers must carefully analyze business constraints such as:
• Location constraints and geographical distribution.
• Type of communications session / special applications or services in use (exp. data,
voice, video.)
• Budget constraints.
Combination of first fundamental (requirements analysis) and second (constraints) come up with
technology selection (or wide area network topology). Network engineers can decide and select
available technologies, plan exactly where to place systems, and clarify the correct WAN
topologies.
Presentation
The third fundamental of network planning is to write a proposal and communicate your ideas
with the others. Network engineers should develop a document that describes the business and
technical requirements, the existing network, the logical and physical WAN design, and the
budget and associated expenses. It should also include an executive summary and a primary
project goal with all the details about the network topology, naming and addressing schemes,
and security policies.
In general, the final design proposal should be comprehensive enough to cover the following
topics:
• Executive summary.
• Project goal.
• Project scope.
• Design requirements (both business and technical.)
• Current state of the network.
• Logical network design.
• Physical network design.
• Implementation plan.
• Project budget.
FIVE SECTIONS
In the framework of the full planning pattern, for the 2 nd and 3rd Phases, you need to pass
through the following five sections in order to develop the possible best WAN plan. The short
form condenses the four phases into six steps and combines Phase2 and Phase3. Short form is
applicable to short or smaller planning assignments or situations.
For example, the potential users of the WAN must be located and identified. A fairly accurate
count of them must be made and correlated to their physical location. The difficult part is
estimating their propensity to consume bandwidth. Users will demand top-of-the-line everything
in unlimited quantities--until they get the bill for it. Network planners, contrarily, believe in an
obscure law of physics that dictates all available bandwidth will immediately be consumed,
regardless of the quantity supplied. One way in estimating the bandwidth requirements is to
identify how the users are currently performing their work. If there are existing networks, such as
X.25, asynchronous networks, or even modems, they can be invaluable sources of information.
As Sportack (1997) clarifies, they should be monitored to determine:
Type of communications session (for example, bulk data transfer, online transaction
processing, Web access, videoconferencing, and so on.)
Frequency of use.
Peak utilization times.
Peak utilization traffic volumes.
Average duration of each session.
Average number of bytes transmitted per session.
Each user groups' frequently accessed destinations.
These are vital pieces of data that should form the core of your success as the right WAN will be
able to accommodate the projected traffic loads. In combination, these data reveal how much
traffic will be put on the WAN and when it will be on the LAN. This is crucial in estimating the
bandwidth required across every link of the network.
Another important data is the required type of network performance. For example, will
bulk data transfer constitute the majority of the traffic, or will interactive videoconferencing be
the primary application? Is this situation likely to change in the near future? These two particular
applications require opposite network performances. Bulk data transfer requires guaranteeing
the integrity of the data delivered to its destination, regardless of the time it takes to get it there.
Videoconferencing requires the network to deliver packets on time. Damaged packets are as
worthless as late packets.
These details should be collected for each and every group of users that will be using
the new WAN. Armed with this knowledge, the network planner can select the right WAN by
considering the two primary aspects of wide area networking: technology and topology.
Reference Notes:
Network Engineers have to clarify point to point or point to multi point connections for every
locations. Adjacent network node indicates first network connection. Some locations need
backup connections. Alternate route column shows second network connection. Network
engineer tries to define capacity assumptions based on gathered data.
As Wen (2011) summarizes, finally network engineer identifies WAN technologies as
follows:
ISDN.
Digital Private Lines.
Analogue Private Lines.
Public Packet Networks.
Public Frame Networks.
Public ATM Networks.
Broadband Network Technologies.
DSL, ADSL.
Optical Fiber.
Wireless, IEEE802.11, LMDS, Microwave.
Then, list the titles for the operating costs. For each alternative enter the estimated annual
amount of each expense. Down-total this second group of costs. This gives the total annual
operating cost for each alternative. Then, finally add the average annual investment cost to the
annual operating cost for each alternative. Typical operating costs:
Direct material.
Scrap or waste.
Supplies and packing.
Maintenance or service contract.
Direct labor/salaries.
Fringe benefits.
Worker’s compensation.
Insurance.
Power.
This comparison will generally let you identify the lowest cost alternative. However, it is not
financial justification. Should you need a more complete cost justification, ask your accountant
for assistance.
INTANGIBLES:
Weight set by ................... Tally by ................... Description of Alternatives:
Ratings by .................... Approved by ................. X.
EVALUATING DESCRIPTION Y.
A = Almost Perfect, O = Ordinary Result Z.
E = Especially Good, U = Unimportant Results V.
I = Important Result, X = Not Acceptable W.
ALTERNATIVE
FACTOR/CONSIDERATION WT.
X Y Z V W
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Reference Notes:
a. d.
b. e.
c. f.
CONCLUSIVE REMARKS
For businesses with multiple locations, remote or home users, or integrated communications
with specific vendors or partners, the WAN (Wide Area Network) is the lifeblood. The main
purpose of a WAN is to provide reliable, fast and safe communication between two or more
places (nodes) at affordable prices. WANs enable an organization to have a single network
connecting all of its departments and offices, even if they are not all in the same building, city or
even continent. Our aim in this systematic methodology is providing a planning tool for network
engineers.
This paper outlines a systematic methodology for enterprise WAN design based on three
fundamentals of Information Technology WAN planning and these are Requirements,
Constraints and Presentation. Any network plan can typically pass through four phases, which
are Orientation, Overall Network Plan, Detailed Network Plans, and Implementation. In the
framework of the full planning pattern, for the 2 nd and 3rd Phases, you need to pass through five
sections in order to develop the possible best WAN plan. The short form condenses the four
phases into six steps and combines Phase2 and Phase3. Short form is applicable to short or
smaller planning assignments or situations.
REFERENCES
References:
Sportack M. A., Pappas C. F. Rensing E., Konkle J., Smith R. C., Welk D., Short D. (1997). High
performance networking, Paperback.
Wen Y. (2011) “Networking enterprise IP LAN / WAN design”, The Sys Admin Company.
Muther R. (2011). Planning by design, Institute for High Performance Planners.