Analyzing Organizational Requirements for Network Infrastructure Planning

Determining Information Flow Requirements

To determine the information flow of the organization, you need to include a number of factors, of which the main ones are listed below. Accessing data or information should be one of the main concerns when planning the network design:

A few typical questions which you should ask when determining information flow of the organization are:

Understanding the Management Model

When planning a network infrastructure design, it is important to obtain the support of the different levels of management within the organization’s management model. Obtaining the support of users who are going to access information to perform their daily tasks is equally important as well.

The typical levels within an organization’s management hierarchy are listed here:

When you are determining the management model being utilized in the company, you should note the following:

Analyzing Organizational Structures (Existing/planned)

You have to determine the organizational structure of a company, and then understand it, if you want to design a network infrastructure that meets the requirements of the company. A good starting point is to determine the higher level segments or departments of the company, and then determine how each department interrelates with the other segments.

The main issues which should be clarified when you analyzing planned or existing organizational structures are listed here:

Only after you have determined the organizational structure of the company would you be able to determine the following:

Defining Management Requirements (Priorities)

To identify the priorities of the company, ask the following questions:

The main company or management issues which should be included and addressed when you plan a network infrastructure for the company are listed here:

The technologies provided by Windows Server 2003 which can be used to provide high availability are:

A few strategies which you can employ to ensure fault tolerance in your system are summarized below:

You can utilize a clustering technology to deal with any scalability issues.

When you define the security policy of the organization, remember to base it on the security requirements and procedures of the company.

A few methods which you can include to implement physical security are detailed below:

A few methods which you can use to secure the operating system are listed here:

Bottlenecks typically occur when:

System and server performance is typically impacted by the following:

To optimize server performance, you can perform a number of tasks, such as:

The subsystems which should be optimized to tune the server for application performance are:

Defining User Requirements (Priorities)

The network design which you create should provide the following:

There are a number of network services which users are dependent on to perform their daily operations. A few of the more widely utilized network services are listed here:

When designing an e-mail services solution for your network design, include the following important elements:

A few important factors which you should consider when you determine the file services for the network design are listed here:

A few new features and enhancements included with Windows Server 2003 that are specific to the file sharing services are listed here:

The Terminal Services service in Windows Server 2003 supports Remote Desktop for Administration, Remote Assistance (RA), and the Terminal Server Mode. Terminal Server mode enables administrators to deploy and manage applications from a central location. With Terminal Services, an administrator no longer needs to install a full version of the Microsoft Windows client OS on each Desktop. You can simply deploy Terminal Services. Similarly, when applications need to be installed or updated, a single instance of the application can be installed or updated on the Terminal Services server. Users will have access to the application without you needing to install or update the application on all machines.

The advantages of printing through a printer server are listed here:

Analyzing the Existing Network Environment

After the organizational structure and management model of the company is determined, the following step is to asses the existing network infrastructure.

You need to start collecting information on the existing network equipment or hardware within the organization. Factors to include or determine are listed here:

You also need to determine the following information on each routing device:

The following step when you analyze the existing network infrastructure is to determine which systems exist, when the system is mostly utilized.

When you record information on the existing computers on the network, you should include the following information:

Analyzing an Existing Windows 2000 Active Directory Structure

When there is already an existing directory structure for the network design which you are defining, then you have to analyze and document the existing directory structure as well. From this exercise, you may find that the existing directory structure only needs to be minimally changed to meet the requirements of the new network design.

The obvious starting point would be to analyze the existing domain structure. Your end result should be a diagram(s) indicating the following:

The typical components that you have to include in your diagram depicting the existing domain structure and how domains link between each other, are listed here:

The second step in analyzing the existing domain structure is to determine and record the existing organizational unit (OU) structure. You should draw a diagram for each existing domain that defines its underlying organizational unit (OU) structure.

The information you collect on the existing OU structure should include the following:

The third step in analyzing the existing domain structure is to determine information on each domain in relation to sites and domain controllers:

The information you should collect on your domain controllers are noted below:

Analyzing an Existing Windows NT 4.0 Infrastructure

When there is already an existing Windows NT 4.0 infrastructure for the network design which you are defining, then you have to analyze and document this existing infrastructure as well. Here, you will find that a domain model exists, but there will be no directory service deployed. Windows NT 4.0 infrastructures utilize primary domain controllers (PDCs) and backup domain controllers (BDCs).

The primary domain controller (PDC) holds the centralized database that contains the security information to manage users and resources. This is how domains are put into operation in Windows NT network environments. The centralized database or accounts database is replicated to the backup domain controllers (BDCs) to ensure reliability. The master copy of the database however only resides on the PDC. Any changes made on the PDC and are replicated to the BDCs. Network resources such as network printers and files were typically located in resource domains. Resource domains have their own PDC and BDCs.

If an existing Windows NT 4.0 infrastructure is in place, you have a number of methods to choose from to implement you new network design requirements:

A few benefits of retaining the existing Windows NT domain structure are listed here:

When analyzing and recording information on an existing Windows NT 4.0 domain structure, include the following information:



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