Research Network Design: Tools and Methodologies

This report analyses different network designing tools and methodologies for preparing a prototype of the network. The report discusses Microsoft Visio, Packet Tracer, and Solarwinds Network Topology mapper. It also highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each tool and concludes that Cisco Packet Tracer is the best choice for network configuration.

Running head: INTERNETWORKING WITH TCP/IP
Research Network Design
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Aims and Objectives..............................................................................................................2
Discussion for the application of network designing methodology...........................................2
Packet Tracer..............................................................................................................................3
Solarwinds Network Topology mapper.....................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report is prepared for analysing the different network designing tool that is used
for preparing a prototype of the network. There are different options used for the
configuration of the network devices and simulating the network by transferring data packets
from different hosts connected in the network.
Aims and Objectives
The followings are the aims and objectives of the report
 To analyse the sending and receiving of data packets in the network
 To use different protocols for configuring the network devices used for designing the
network
 To configure routing between two or more routers for reaching the destination host
connected with the different interface of the router
Discussion for the application of network designing methodology
Microsoft Visio can be used for designing a physical network diagram by adding the
networking devices from the template. It is used by the It professionals for creating a layout
of the network and used as a reference during the original network configuration (Parker,
2016). The visio is a paid software and in its recent update the layout can be shared using
Microsoft sharepoint for getting comment about the layout plan from different networking
experts working on development of a network solution. There are 85 built in template that
can be used for different purpose other than network development. There are different pre
designed shapes that can be used for the demonstration of data center, active directory,
HVAC layout, home network design, data enterprise, etc.

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Figure 1: Microsoft Visio Interface
There are several disadvantage of Microsoft visio since it is not selected widely for
the preparation of the network design. The main disadvantage is that Visio is only available
for the windows platform and thus the layout plan created in visio cannot be opened in
android, linux or any other platform (Helmers, 2015). There are many similar options
available for replacing visio for the preparation of the network design.
Packet Tracer
The packet tracer is developed by Cisco and it is used by the network development
team for creating a visual design of the network and simulate it for analysing the capability of
the network. It is also used for configuring the network device and copy the configuration in
the real router for reducing the time of configuration (Dumitrache et al., 2017). There are
different modes available that can be used for finding the data transfer time between the
networking devices. It is extremely versatile and is available for different platform.

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Figure 2: Packet tracer interface
The following are the disadvantage of the cisco packet tracer
It is difficult to configure a non-broadcast network in packet tracer because there are
no much command available for defining the router.
 There are no options for manually summarizing
 By default the reference bandwidth is fixed
 The debugging hellos and OSPF packets are not supported (Archana, 2015)
Solarwinds Network Topology mapper
It is a network monitoring tool that is applied in a network for analysing the
performance, throughput and the availability of bandwidth of network. The user interface of

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Solarwinds Topology mapper is interactive and simple to use and thus it is preferred by many
of the network managers for designing and analysis of the network. The software is
developed in modules and thus can be integrated with the application for reducing the effort
of the network development team (Evancich et al., 2014). It uses relational database and thus
increases the scalability of the organization. There are different online communities that
offers support and by answering question posted by any of the users and the management
team are also involved for supporting the questions.
Figure 3: Solarwinds Network Topology mapper interface
The disadvantages of the Solarwinds Topology mapper are listed below:
 On running the network discovery it automatically creates a network topology
 It lacks in visualizing the OSI layer connections used for connecting the networking
devices (Fenz, Heurix & Neubauer, 2015)
 It requires a third party software named Network Atlas for addressing different issues

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 The modularity feature of the topology mapper consumes more time for getting any
historical data
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that for the configuration of the network solution
cisco packet tracer would be the best choice. It is portable and can be used easily for
designing the network. There are many devices available in the packet tracer that can be used
for the development of the network solution. There are different version of packet tracer but
the latest version 7.1 is considered for designing the network solution.

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References
Archana, C. (2015). Analysis of RIPv2, OSPF, EIGRP Configuration on router Using CISCO
Packet tracer. International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative
Technology (IJESIT) Volume, 4.
Dumitrache, C. G., Predusca, G., Circiumarescu, L. D., Angelescu, N., & Puchianu, D. C.
(2017, October). Comparative study of RIP, OSPF and EIGRP protocols using Cisco
Packet Tracer. In Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ISEEE), 2017 5th
International Symposium on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Evancich, N., Lu, Z., Li, J., Cheng, Y., Tuttle, J., & Xie, P. (2014). Network-wide awareness.
In Cyber Defense and Situational Awareness (pp. 63-91). Springer, Cham.
Fenz, S., Heurix, J., & Neubauer, T. (2015, May). How to Increase the Inventory Efficiency
in Information Security Risk and Compliance Management. In ECIS.
Helmers, S. A. (2015). Microsoft Visio 2016 Step by Step. Microsoft Press.
Parker, D. J. (2016). Mastering Data Visualization with Microsoft Visio Professional 2016.
Packt Publishing Ltd.