Cabletron Systems Cabletron BRIM-F6, Networking Manual

Page: 67 / 132

Ethernet Workgroup Design 6-5
Ethernet
Ethernet Workgroup Design
When designing a new workgroup, one of the first tasks to be confronted is the
selection of a technology and an approach to the network. These selections are
based on the organization of the workgroups, as discussed in Chapter 5, Network
Design
, the scale (or population) of the workgroups, and the anticipated
bandwidth requirements of each workgroup or each station in the workgroup.
In the examples which follow, the decision of a networking technology and
approach to the workgroup has already been determined by the Network
Designer. In the real world, these decisions will have to be approached in a
sensible and thoughtful manner, because the selection of these aspects will
determine the operational and design characteristics of the network for the long
and short runs.
The Home Office
A home office is any location with a small number of stations, low data transfer
needs, and limited expected expansion requirements. While most networks of this
sort are located in homes or small family businesses, the “home office”
description can also apply to small, minimal-growth departments within a state
of the art enterprise network.
Typically, home offices have no need of the advanced capabilities that are
available in the more expensive, high-end networking devices, capabilities such
as segmentation and switching, management, statistics tracking, or security.
As home offices have such limited requirements, they quite frequently need
nothing more complex than a single standalone device. This can mean a
significant cost savings over other network implementations, such as modular
chassis or even stackable hubs.
The section which follows explains some of the decisions that must be made
when approaching a design for a home office or similar small workgroup. This is
followed by an example scenario which goes through these steps and displays
one way of meeting the networking needs that are defined for that network.