Head First Networking

Chapter 12. Designing Networks: You Gotta Have a Plan!

When it comes to networks, a good plan means everything.

You’ve learned an awful lot about networking since those early days in Chapter 1. You’ve learned how to implement physical cable networks, how wireless access points work, how to make the most of your intelligent network devices, and all sorts of troubleshooting techniques to get you out of the hairiest network dilemmas. It’s now time for you to put everything you’ve learned into practice and see just how far you’ve traveled on your networking journey. We know you can do it!

Now you have to plan a network from scratch!

In an earlier chapter, you essentially reran some cables and put in some trays. But the challenge here is to plan all aspects of a network on a building that, at this point, is just a rough floor plan.

This is the best possible point to get going with your network design, when there is not even a blueprint yet, just an idea. You can make sure that the network you plan will meet the needs of the building’s occupants and accomodate future growth.

The most important thing to do at this early stage is to talk to people. Talk to the future occupants, to the bosses, to the contractors, and to your IT people. Gather as much information as you can. Armed with all this information, ...