Network Communications News (NCN) June 2017 | Page 34
SWITCHES & ROUTERS
wireless access points (APs) since
they banish the need for separate
power facilities and offer greater
network flexibility.
Don’t forget its routing table
capabilities. Most L2 Switches
from vendors display the MAC
address table size. The MAC
address table size is a reference to
the maximum amount of network
device addresses (noted by their
MAC address) that can be stored
in the switch at any one time. The
bigger the MAC address table, the
more capable the switch in larger
IT environments which usually
have many thousands of network
(IP) devices such as printer
servers, IP cameras, scanners and
enclosure monitoring systems.
Management of the switch
at this level will probably be
pretty basic, but easier for the
inexperienced user to manage.
Features like ‘web based’ or
‘WebSmart’ switches allow any
suitable web browser to login to
the switch remotely based on
its IP address. Information such
as connected ports, speeds and
overall performance statistics can
be retrieved which should help
any SME network.
Hardware failure is something
at this level that should also
be factored into. Some notable
vendors offer lifetime support
on the switch products. Check
to make sure if it includes the all
important Power Supply – these
are the areas which normally fail
on a Switch. If your location suffers
from irregular power issues this
may shorten the lifespan of the
devices, so in the first instance
check if the power supplies
are covered and then invest in
power protection, courtesy of a
UPS specifically the Rackmount
versions which mount in the
enclosure with the active devices.
Engage Warp Speed – The
Enterprise Network fabric
Factoring in design criteria
for enterprise and large scale
business networks of around 200+
users requires care in planning.
Catering for the networking
devices alone (such as switches,
routers, firewalls and UPS) will
make a dent in even the most
affluent IT budgets.
Key vendors in the realms
of large scale and ISP switch
and routing deployment play a
major role in effective network
infrastructures. Although not
a primary concern it maybe
beneficial for any integrator to
offer a single vendor solution for
the network. The reasoning for this
is borne out by having a single
maintenance policy for the site
from a single vendor, for cross-
equipment compatibility which
may have a direct correlation
on performance and finally
configuration and support of the
devices using a common inter face
and command structure.
But what of the switches
and routers on offer at this
level? Almost all types offer
a vast array of features that
if correctly implemented offer
superior performance and
redundancy, albeit with possibly
added complexity of design and
configuration.
Moving from Layer 2 from the
SME installations, we now move
onto ‘wire-speed’ Layer 3 devices
‘Networks
have come
a long way
since the
advent of
TCP/IP in the
late 1960s.’
which are effectively a marketing
term for a router that is optimised
for Ethernet Inter faces. Offering a
mixed media approach with some
models having port expansion
via a common blade chassis
with redundant power supplies
to warrant maximum uptime.
Performance on this level is based
on the huge number of Packets
Per Second (PPS) that the switch
can forward within minimal error
loss, advanced on-board CPUs
which further reduce network
overhead under heavy loads and
copper and fibre network ports.
Enterprise networks have their
own applications that differ from
smaller installations. Maybe group
video conferencing to a remote
geographic region is employed?
L3 Switches allow functionality
called ‘multicasting’ which reduces
overall network traffic by delivering
specific network traffic (i.e. video
streaming) to specific groups only.
L2 switches would potentially flood
the network to all devices and
cause major performance concerns.
Port aggregation is another area
which would benefit both from a
performance point of view and also
from disaster recovery.
The Future
Networks have come a long way
since the advent of TCP/IP in the
late 1960s. Converged technologies
have put increasing pressures
not only on the customer’s
network infrastructure but also
the underlying technology itself,
notably TCP/IP. Running out of
IP addresses (under IPv4) has
been addressed under the newly
adopted IPv6 protocol which
allows an almost unlimited amount
of IP devices to be connected.
By allowing an almost limitless
amount of devices to be connected
introduces its own performance
and security concerns. By adopting
new, higher performance switching
and routing devices using high
density transistor fabrication
techniques coupled with emerging
technologies such as quantum
mechanics and parallel processing,
the days with unlimited bandwidth
and totally self-healing networks
won’t be just for the realms of
science fiction.
For further information visit:
www.dynamode.com
34 | June 2017