As discussed in Part 1, the Top-Down Approach for network design provides several advantages, especially when its implementation is business-driven. Part 2 will cover Top-Down Logic and Scope of Design.

Top-Down Logic

The top-down network design approach is capable of utilizing top-down logic in conjunction with the process of Preparation, Planning, Design, Implementation, Operation, and Optimization (PPDIOO) as summarized by the following bullet points:
• Understand the objectives, plans, and needs of an organization.
• Determine application needs from the higher layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model that are capable of assisting with the identification of an application’s features.
• Decide on the infrastructure’s design as well as its components’ functional requirements that will allow the network to enable business.
• Observe and collect more data that may assist with the optimization and determination of the physical or logical design that will allow it to adapt requirements or applications that are later added.

Scope of Design

Every network design project requires network designers to make a stringent analysis and evaluation of the scope of design prior to the collection of data and planning.
Thus, it is crucial to find out whether the work will be for a new or “green field” network or an existing one.
For an existing network, design tasks like expansion, integration, and optimization may vary. In addition, it is important to conclude if the network design will feature one network module or several. Knowledge of the scope of design aids a designer because it will determine the kind of data needed to be collected and the time needed for the production of the design.
To illustrate, an enterprise campus network and its remote sites will require certain features. The rollout of IP telephony will be needed throughout the organization, and so redesigning the VLANs (virtual LANs), QoS (quality of service), WAN, LAN, DC (data center), and remote-access edge may be needed.
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