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Chapter 1 • Using Windows Server 2003 Planning Tools and Documentation

Introduction

Planning is the first step in building a reliable, secure, high-performance and highly availableWindows Server 2003-based network. In this chapter, we begin with an overview of networkinfrastructure planning, introducing you to planning strategies and how to use planning tools.We will review the fundamentals of network design, including analysis of organizationalneeds.These include factors such as information flow, management model, organizationalstructure, and issues of centralization versus decentralization.We discuss management priori-ties, including availability and fault tolerance, security, scalability, performance, and cost.Next, we address user priorities, which include e-mail communications, scheduling and taskmanagement, project collaboration, data storage and retrieval, Internet research, applicationservices, print services, and graphics/audio/video services.This chapter also looks at legal and regulatory considerations, how to calculate totalcost of ownership (TCO), and how to plan for future growth.We discuss how to develop atest network environment, and how to document the planning and network design process.

Overview of Network

Infrastructure Planning

Proper planning of a network infrastructure is essential to ensuring high performance, avail-ability, and overall user satisfaction with your network operations. In order to create a viablenetwork design, you’ll need an understanding of both the business requirements of yourorganization as well as current and emerging networking technologies. Accurate networkplanning will allow your organization to maximize the efficiency of its computer opera-tions, lower costs, and enhance your overall business processes.When planning for a new infrastructure or upgrading an existing network, you shouldtake some or all of the following steps:

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Document the business requirements of your client or organization.

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Create a baseline of the performance of any existing hardware and network uti-lization.

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Determine the necessary capacity for the physical network installation, includingclient and server hardware, as well as allocating network and Internet bandwidthfor network services and applications.

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Select an appropriate network protocol and create an addressing scheme that willprovide for the existing size of the network and that will allocate room for anyforeseeable expansions, mergers, or acquisitions.

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Specify and implement technologies that will meet the existing needs of yournetwork, while allowing room for future growth.https://traloihay.net