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The Bryant Advantage CCNP SWITCH Study Guide

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933 www.thebryantadvantage.com Back To Index

Network Design And Models


Overview
Cisco's Three-Layer Hierarchical Model The Core Layer The Distribution Layer The Access Layer The Enterprise Composite Network Model The Server Farm Block The Network Management Block The Enterprise Edge & Service Provider Edge Block PPDIOO

In this section, you're going to be reintroduced to a networking model you first saw in your CCNA studies. No, it's not the OSI model or the TCP/IP model - it's the Cisco Three-Layer Hierarchical Model. About all you had to do for the CCNA was memorize the three layers and the order they were found in that model, but the stakes are raised here in your CCNP studies. You need to know what each layer does, and what each layer should not be doing. This is vital information for your realworld network career as well, so let's get started with a review of the Cisco three-layer model, and then we'll take a look at each layer's tasks. Most of the considerations at each layer are common sense, but we'll go over them anyway!

The Cisco Three-Layer Hierarchical Model

The Core Layer The term core switches refers to any switches found here, the core layer. Switches at the core layer allow switches at the distribution layer to communicate, and this is more than a full-time job. It's vital to keep any extra workload off the core switches, and allow them to do what they need to do - switch! The core layer is the backbone of your entire network, so we're interested in high-speed data transfer and very low latency. That's it! The core layer is the backbone of our network, so we've got to optimize data transport. Today's core switches are generally multilayer switches - switches that can handle both the routing and switching of data. The throughput of core switches must be high, so examine your particular network's requirements and switch documentation thoroughly before making a decision on purchasing core switches. We want our core switches to handle switching, and let distribution-layer switches handle routing. Core layer switches are usually the most powerful in your network, capable of higher throughput than any other switches in the network. Remember, everything we do on a Cisco router or switch has a cost in

CPU or memory, so we're going to leave most frame manipulation and filtering to other layers. The exception is Cisco QoS, or Quality of Service. Advanced QoS is generally performed at the core layer. We'll go into much more detail regarding QoS in another section, but for now, know that QoS is basically high-speed queuing where special consideration can be given to certain data in certain queues. Leave ACLs and other filters for other parts of the network. We always want redundancy, but you want a lot of redundancy in your core layer. This is the nerve center of your entire network, so fault tolerance needs to be as high as you can possibly get it. Root bridges should also be located in the core layer whenever possible.

The Distribution Layer The demands on switches at this layer are high. The access-layer switches are all going to have their uplinks connecting to these switches, so not only do the distribution-layer switches have to have high-speed ports and links, they've got to have quite a few to connect to both the access and core switches. That's one reason you'll find powerful multilayer switches at this layer - switches that work at both L2 and L3. Distribution-layer switches must be able to handle redundancy for all links as well. Examine your network topology closely and check vendor documentation before making purchasing decisions on distribution-layer switches. The distribution layer is also where routing should take place when utilizing multilayer switches, since the access layer is busy with end users and we want the core layer to be concerned only with switching, not routing. While QoS is often found operating at the core layer, you'll find it in the distribution layer as well. The distribution layer also serves as the boundary for broadcasts and multicasts, thanks to the L3 devices found here. (Recall from your CCNA studies that Layer 3 devices do not forward broadcasts or multicasts.) The Access Layer End users communicate with the network at this layer. VLAN

membership is handled at this layer, as well as traffic filtering and basic QoS. Redundancy is important at this layer as well - hey, when isn't redundancy important? - so redundant uplinks are vital. The uplinks should also be scalable to allow for future network growth. You also want your access layer switches to have as many ports as possible, and again, plan for future growth. A 12-port switch may be fine one week, but a month from now you might just wish you had bought a 24-port switch. A good rule of thumb for access switches is "low cost, high switchport-to-user ratio". Don't assume that today's sufficient port density will be just as sufficient tomorrow! You can perform MAC address filtering at the access layer, although hopefully there are easier ways for you to perform the filtering you need. (MAC filtering is a real pain to configure.) Collision domains are also formed at the access layer.

The Enterprise Composite Network Model This model is much larger than the Cisco three-layer model, as you'll see in just a moment. I want to remind you that networking models are guidelines, and should be used as such. This is particularly true of the Enterprise Composite Network Model, which is one popular model used to design campus networks. A campus network is basically a series of LANs that are interconnected by a backbone. Before we look at this model, there's some terminology you should be familiar with. Switch blocks are units of access-layer and distribution-layer devices. These layers contain both the traditional L2 switches (found at the access layer) and multilayer switches, which have both L2 and L3 capabilities (found at the distribution layer). Devices in a switch block work together to bring network access to a unit of the network, such as a single building on a college campus or in a business park. Core blocks consist of the high-powered core switches, and these core blocks allow the switch blocks to communicate. This is a tremendous responsibility, and it's the major reason that I'll keep mentioning that we

want the access and distribution layers to handle as many of the "extra" services in our network whenever possible. We want the core switches to be left alone as much as possible so they can concentrate on what they do best - switch. The design of such a network is going to depend on quite a few factors the number of LANs involved, the physical layout of the building or buildings involved being just two of them - so again, remember that these models are guidelines. Helpful guidelines, though! The Enterprise Composite Network Model uses the term block to describe the three layers of switches we just described. The core block is the collection of core switches, which is the backbone mentioned earlier. The access and distribution layer switches are referred to as the switch blocks. Overall, there are three main parts of this model: The Enterprise Campus The Enterprise Edge The Service Provider Edge The Enterprise Campus consists of the following modules: Campus Infrastructure module Server Farm module Network Management module Enterprise Edge (yes, again) In turn, the Campus Infrastructure module consists of these modules: Building Access module (Access-layer devices) Building Distribution module (Distribution-layer devices) Campus Backbone (Interconnects multiple Distribution modules) Let's take a look at a typical campus network and see how these block types all tie in. How The Switch Blocks And Core Blocks Work Together

The smaller switches in the switch block represent the access-layer switches, and these are the switches that connect end users to the network. The distribution-layer switches are also in the switch block, and these are the switches that connect the access switches to the core. All four of the distribution layer switches shown have connections to both switches in the core block, giving us the desired redundancy. The core block serves as the campus backbone, allowing switches in the LAN 1 Switch Block to communicate with switches in the LAN 2 Switch Block. The core design shown here is often referred to as dual core, referring to the redundant fashion in which the switch blocks are connected to the core block. The point at which the switch block ends and the core block begins is very clear. A smaller network may not need switches to serve only as core switches, or frankly, may not be able to afford such a setup. Smaller networks can use a collapsed core, where certain switches will perform both as distribution and core switches.

In a collapsed core, there is no dedicated core switch. The four switches at the bottom of the diagram are serving as both core and distribution layer switches. Note that each of the access switches have redundant uplinks to both distribution / core switches in their switch block. The Server Farm Block As much as we'd like to get rid of them sometimes, we're not going to have much of a network without servers! In a campus network, the server farm block will be a separate switch block, complete with access and distribution layer switches. The combination of access, distribution, and core layers shown here is sometimes referred to as the Campus Infrastructure.

Again, the distribution switches have redundant connections to the core switches. So far we have a relatively small campus network, but you can already get a good idea of the sheer workload the core switches will be under. The Network Management Block Network management tools are no longer a luxury - in today's networks, they're a necessity. AAA servers, syslog servers, network monitoring tools, and intruder detection tools are found in almost every campus network today. All of these devices can be placed in a switch block of their own, the network management block.

Now our core switches have even more to contend with - but we're not quite done yet. We've got our end users located in the first switch blocks, we've got our server farm connected to the rest of the network, we've got our all-important network management and security block set up... what else do we need? Oh yeah.... internet connectivity! (And WAN access!) Two blocks team up to bring our end users those services - the Enterprise Edge Block and the Service Provider Edge Block.

Internet and WAN connectivity for a campus network is a two-block job one block we have control over, the other we do not. The Enterprise Edge Block is indeed the edge of the campus network, and this block of the routers and switches needed to give the needed WAN connectivity to the rest of the campus network. While the Service Provider Edge Block is considered part of the campus network model, we have no control over the actual structure of this block. And frankly, we don't really care! The key here is that this block borders

the Enterprise Edge Block, and is the final piece of the Internet connectivity puzzle for our campus network. Take a look at all the lines leading to those core switches. Now you know why we want to dedicate as much of these switches' capabilities to pure switching - we're going to need it! PPDIOO Now there's an acronym. PPDIOO is a Cisco lifecycle methodology, and it stands for... Prepare. At this stage, we're answering the musical questions "What is our final goal, what hardware do we need to get there, and how much is this going to cost?" The questions here are broad. Plan. You're still asking questions, they're just a bit different. "What does the client have now, can the current network support the network we want to have, and if so, what steps do we need to take to get there?" At this point, the questions are getting more specific. Design. Now we're really getting detailed. "How exactly are we going to build this network?" Implement. The design becomes a reality. Operate. The (hopefully) mundane day-to-day network operation. Optimize. "What current operations could we be doing in a more efficient manner?" Here's a link to a Cisco PDF on this topic. Not required reading for the exam, but it certainly couldn't hurt. Warning: buzzwords ahead.
http://bit.ly/beuZBg
Copyright 2010 The Bryant Advantage. All Rights Reserved.

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