WAN & LAN NETWORK DESIGN BEST PRACTICES

Whether your business is a large multi-office company that needs a wide area network (WAN) or a small single-location office that requires a Managed Lan Services (LAN), the design phase of your business network needs to be done. carefully. ... Therefore, whether you are building a WAN or LAN, you must adhere to best practices and standards for network design to ensure that your network works optimally from the start and has fewer problems in the future. Here are some network design guidelines to consider when creating a WAN or LAN.

Choose the equipment that suits your needs

Find a balance between accessibility and functionality. After all, there are many routers on the market, ranging from simple inexpensive home networking models to high-performance business models with all the conveniences. Instead of choosing the most familiar, the cheapest or the most functional, choose the one that suits your budget and the largest possible number of needs of your company.

Consider wiring and cables

LAN or WAN design best practices take a lot of planning time, including cabling and cabling. When designing a network, regardless of type, you must consider the cable requirements that will be placed on your project, and defining those requirements is a process in itself. Do not ignore this important step, otherwise, you may face serious problems in the future.

Standardize as much as possible

Try to use the same equipment in multiple areas whenever possible. For example, if you need multiple switches, try to use the same model as often as possible to facilitate maintenance; Therefore, there is only one type of switch to learn and track. This simplifies the entire setup and maintenance process and also makes things easier when something goes wrong. Plus, with standardized equipment, it's easier to have a few spare parts on hand for quick replacement when needed.

Consider redundancy

If one system on your network fails, others should show up to fill the gap to minimize downtime. This is called network redundancy, and it can keep your business running in the event of an unexpected system outage. Simply put, it adds another layer of protection that can prevent a network shutdown that could lead to lost customers or sales, and even legal trouble.

Make monitoring and management a priority from the start

Incorporating monitoring and control tools into the network design process has many benefits. Monitoring allows you to estimate when you need additional capacity, and therefore when you need to upgrade your system. You can also determine how many devices have access to the network and what resources they are using. This way you can determine if there are cases of unauthorized access. Additionally, you can also use network management tools to determine the health of your computer, which is especially useful if you have network redundancy; If something goes wrong, without management, you may not notice it until redundancy fails, and then your entire network may immediately fail. With monitoring and control, you can see problems as they arise and fix them immediately.

Security from start to finish

Do not consider security at the end of the LAN or WAN architecture design process. Security must be built in from the beginning, and you must remember how you will incorporate measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other security techniques when you begin to design your network.