The Large Network Design

The scenario for this paper envisages the creation of a large network that will comprise sites in the US, Europe, Africa, Japan, and a number of other regions. The organization’s specifics imply a 10 Gbps throughput between all sites but Europe, where the bandwidth and security requirements are minimal. The network is expected to operate within the 100% SLA (Service Level Agreement) terms.

Based on these requirements, the ideal topology would be that of a fully meshed network. A full-mesh WAN offers a highest possible reliability level as each site is separately connected to all other sites (Dean, 2009, p. 304). For the purposes of this scenario, the exception will be a European site, connected through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) link. All other WAN sites should operate over the DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) links capable of 10 Gbps per one wavelength (Dean, 2009, p.84). It will ensure a sufficient bandwidth even in case of all organization’s traffic going through the single operational connection. Further inside WANs, the traffic will be distributed by means of 1 Gbps group switches.

All border routers should be equipped with DWDM modules and have enough performance reserve. In order to ensure the reliable inter-network routing, the OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) routing protocol should be implemented (White, 2012, p. 261). It is a link-state protocol that chooses the best network path based on the connection availability and links’ cost. In order to provide an early warning of any potential issues, a proper network monitoring solution should be implemented as well. It can be any SNMP-based (Simple Network Management Protocol) tool capable of the real-time network monitoring for large networks (White, 2012, p. 397). Finally, each site should have an independent gateway to the Internet with the security being ensured using the IDS/IPS (Intrusion Detection/Prevention System) agents.