Hierarchical Network Design: Benefits and Requirements

This article discusses the requirements for building a good network and how hierarchical network design can help in achieving them. It explains the three layers of hierarchical network design and the benefits it offers over flat network designs. The article also provides steps for designing a large network using hierarchical network design methodology.

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Network requirements.................................................................................................................................2
Hierarchical Network Design......................................................................................................................3
Benefits of Hierarchical Network Design................................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................4

Introduction
The information and the computer networks are very critical when the success of the business I
concerned in all both the large and small firms. Network is used for connecting people,
supporting the applications and the services and providing access to the resources that keep the
business to run for long. In meeting the requirements daily the networks have become very
complex.
Network requirements.
When we consider the internet based economy where the demands around the clock customer
service (Adato, 2015). There always to be need to be smart enough in automatically protecting
against the unexpected incidences in security. These has helped in adjusting the changes in
traffic loads in maintaining the consistence of application response times (requirement, 2014).
There are some steps that need to be used in building a good network as the selections of the
requirements help in building the best network design.
 Verifying the goals of the business and technical requirements
 Determining the functions and features that needs to be met
 Performing the network readiness kind of an assessment
 Creation of a site plan
 Creating the overall project plan.
There are some requirements that will need to be followed for any single network to be complete
and meeting the user needs (Cisco, 2009).
1. The scalability of the network- the network to be designed should be scalable in the
essence that it can allow expansion and extension in future as the company or a firm
continues grow.
2. Availability- here the requirement is always available and that it delivers the results in a
consistent way that is 24/7 and all days in a week.
3. Security- this is the feature that must be planted from formulation to implementation
where all the security in devices used in networks , the filters and the firewalls are very

critical and always need safeguarding for protecting the network resources (Technet,
2015).
4. Lastly is the manageability of the network and that is form the staff to how complex the
network might be.
In meeting this four discussed fundamental goals of a given network the suitable and best
possible network design in achieving the assessment four will be the Hierarchical network
design.
Hierarchical Network Design
In this type of networking design it is used in grouping devices in more than one network (Multi-
networks). In this type of design the network are organized an approach that is more of layers.
This type of network design has 3 layers.
1. Core layer- this is used for connecting the distributed layer devices
2. Distribution layer which is used for interconnecting the smaller networks
3. Access layer which offers provision to connectivity for network hosts and much more to the
end devices
The diagram below shows network design of a hierarchical design similar to what is needed in
our assessment four.

Figure 1Hierachical network design
Benefits of Hierarchical Network Design.
This type of network design has many advantages over flat network designs. One benefit is
dividing that flat network in to very small but more manageable blocks in hierarchical where the
local traffic always remain local. In this one we note that the only traffic that is destined for
other networks by being moved to layer that is higher (JoshWepman, 2015).
Another advantage of HND over flat is that in Flat it provides very little opportunities in
controlling the broadcasts or filtering the undesirable traffic. This problem escalates when we
add more applications and devices in flat network where the response time will degrade until the
network becomes unusable anymore.

Conclusion
In conclusion when we are designing a large network using the hierarchical network design we
might need to follow the network design methodology that is the three steps hence making the
assessment four easy and very understandable. The steps are we first identify all the network
requirements needed by the client. Secondly is we have to characterize all the existing network to
know the pros and cos and what we need to add and lastly is designing the network topology and
offering the solutions in terms of implementation to the client.
References
Adato, L. (2015). 5 Fundamental Requirements For High-Performing Networks. A new set of network
essentials is necessary to meet the challenges of today's network administration and
management, 23-36.
Cisco. (2009). Benefits of a Hierarchical Network. Cisco.
JoshWepman. (2015, September 11). techwalla. Retrieved from What Are the Benefits of Hierarchical
Network Design?: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/what-are-the-benefits-of-hierarchical-
network-design
requirement, N. (2014). Network Requirements for a Small Office . requirements network.
Technet. (2015). Networking Requirements. Proper network planning can save time and expense, and
can ensure a timely deployment of Microsoft Speech Server (MSS)., 12-17.