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Chapter 1

Planning a Network Topology

On internetworks, the location of a server can also depend on the locations of the

users who need to access it. Departmental servers can be preferable in situations

where the users in the department are the only people accessing that server. This keeps

all the server traffic local to the departmental LAN. For servers that users all over the

enterprise must access, such as mail and database servers, it is preferable to place the

servers where you can connect them directly to the backbone network. This practice

minimizes the amount of internetwork traffic. If you were to connect a company mail

server to a horizontal LAN, mail traffic from the entire enterprise would be shunted to

that individual LAN, possibly flooding it. By connecting the server directly to the back-

bone, the mail traffic from all the horizontal LANs travels no farther than the backbone

network, which is designed to support those traffic levels.

Practice: Blueprinting a Network Infrastructure

For each of the following pieces of information, give a reason why a network infra-

structure blueprint would contain that information. You can find answers to the ques-

tions in the “Questions and Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. Locations of fluorescent light fixtures

2. Cable color

3. Ceiling height

4. Size of cable conduits running between floors

5. Locations of locked rooms and closets