Unix® System Management Primer Plus

Choosing Hardware and Software

Once you've ascertained your project's technical goals, priorities, and timelines, you're ready for the next step in your system architecture planning process. That step involves choosing hardware and software. The way you go about making those choices depends upon your approach to system design.

In general, there are two ways to approach system design: the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. The top-down approach involves starting from the end result of your design and working your way down to the system that will make that end result possible. The bottom-up approach begins by considering the network hardware and infrastructure, and designing up from that to reach your end result.

To better understand ...