Network Design Principle: Modularity

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Modularity is one of the common design principles. In networks, the general architecture can be divided into multiple modules, with each module serving a specific function in the network. The individual modules may serve different functions, such as enterprise LAN, WAN, or data centre, or they can replicate the same… Read more »

Network Design Principle: Hierarchy of Needs

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The hierarchy of needs principle is inspired by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The principle specifies that a design must serve the low-level needs before the higher level needs. Good designs follow the hierarchy of needs principle rather than trying to satisfy requirements irrespective of their relation to each other [Lidwell]…. Read more »

Network Design Principles: Flexibility-usability tradeoff

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Flexible systems have the ability to perform more functions, but they perform these functions less efficiently than specialized systems. As the flexibility of a designed system increases, its usability decreases. Flexibility also comes at the expense of more complexity in the design and higher cost; therefore, a tradeoff between flexibility… Read more »

Network Design Principles: Factor of Safety

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Creating exact performance specifications for a new network design is a challenging task. There can be many unknowns that force the designer to make assumptions and guesses. The level of uncertainty also grows as the number of design variables increases. Engineers use factors of safety to compensate for any errors… Read more »

Network Design Principles: Divide-and-Conquer

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A common approach in solving complex engineering problems is to break them into smaller problems and solve each one separately. Unlike some complex systems, such as an airplane, which consists of almost independent subsystems (fuselage, wings, engine, navigation, etc.) that can be designed independently, network components are interconnected and cannot… Read more »

Network Design Principles: Design Process

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Network design is an exercise in decision making. The design process takes client requirements and constraints as input and produces a set of maps, plans, quantities, and policies. The process is influenced also by sets of business and environment contexts. A common approach to designing networks is to follow a… Read more »

Network Design Principles: Design by Committee

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Significant engineering designs are rarely the result of one person’s effort. Network design performed by a single person may be acceptable if user requirements are simple and the possibility of getting things wrong is low or easily fixable. Otherwise, the design effort should involve a group of experts and relevant… Read more »

Network Design Principles: Cost-benefit

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A design can be evaluated using the cost-benefit principle, and it will be considered good if the benefits outweigh the cost. From a designer perspective, a cost-benefit analysis can assess the financial returns associated with adding a design feature. The designer should also evaluate benefits and costs from the user’s… Read more »

Network Design Principles: Consistency

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The consistency principle states that systems are more usable and learnable when similar parts are expressed in similar ways [Lidwell 2010]. Consistency in network design can be applied to appearance (e.g. network documentation) or to functionality (e.g. device configuration). Internal consistency refers to consistency with other components in the system… Read more »

Network Design Principles: 80/20 Rule

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The 80/20 is also known as the Pareto Principle. It refers to the work of Vilferdo Pareto that describes the relationship between the elements that make up a whole and the influence that each element exert on the whole. The 80/20 rule is observed in all large systems, including data… Read more »