SOP Title Network Architecture Design
Category Planning and design
Purpose This procedure forms the basic outcome of the planning and design phase of the introduction of a new service into the organizational network. It is intended for architects, planners, and system administrators.
Two types of architectures are required when implementing a new technology: the enterprise or logical architecture, which is focused on orientations, rules, and standards for the service, and the technical architecture, which is focused on the technical details of the service implementation. Both can rely on this procedure, with small variations.
Task Coverage The procedure covers the design of an architecture. It begins with the review of the existing situation and a review of existing and updated inventories. If inventories are up to date, this procedure is greatly facilitated, since it can concentrate on its objective instead of getting sidetracked into actually performing inventory collection. The situation review should also list existing problems and issues that can be addressed by the new service being introduced. Make sure the review also focuses on the positive elements of the existing situation. This ensures that what is being done well continues to be so.
Tools Required
Equipment • A personal computer
• A technological laboratory able to reproduce the environment to be replaced
• Evaluation or testing copies of the technology supporting the new service
Reference materials • The new technology’s Help files
• Reference documents on the new technology
• Internet access
Training requirements Enterprise architects should take introductory training on the new technology. This can be in the form of external training or self-study. General materials • Information on the organization, its goals, and objectives
• Inventory data in electronic format
Timing • The logical architecture must be performed at the very beginning of the project.
• The technological architecture must be performed as soon as the logical architecture is complete and the project go-ahead is authorized.
Steps to Perform The steps to perform are the following (see Figure 3-9):
1. Current situation review The architectural design process begins with a review of the current situation. What is wrong? Why do we need to change the current situation? What are our business objectives? Which problems do we intend to solve? These are the questions that need to be answered at this stage. Also, don’t forget to project into the future. If some of the information you gather in this phase is likely to change in the near future, make sure you include it in your report.
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2. Update and review inventories In order to answer some of the questions listed in step 1, you need to make sure that your inventories are up to date and review them. Make sure the inventories are as detailed as you need them to be so that you will have access to all of the information you require.
3. Identify business needs Use the results from the previous two steps to identify and prioritize the business needs of your enterprise. Concentrate on those that are specifically addressed by the service you wish to implement.
4. Review market trends Review the industry and market trends in this field. Categorize them as short-term and long-term. Identify those that affect your situation. Select the appropriate technology to support the service you wish to implement.
5. Review product features If the solution is to be based on a specific product, review and learn about the product’s features. Now that you know what you will use to support your solution, you need to identify the specific features that it will be based on. You also need to be sure you understand the philosophy behind the features so that you can use them to the best advantage. If the solution will be based on the upgrade of an existing product, concentrate on new features and improvements.
6. Use applicable best practices Review best practices from both the industry and the manufacturer of the technology you expect to implement. Retain only applicable best practices.
7. Customize to business requirements Customize the solution to meet your current business requirements. Make sure all of the requirements on the list you produced in step 3 are met. If some are not met, explain why.
8. Project to support future business requirements Make sure your solution can evolve with time and, especially, with growing business requirements and future business trends. You don’t want to implement a solution that cannot change with time.
9. Rationalize hardware and software Rationalize hardware and software as much as possible during your solution design. If your inventory tells you that you have more than one type of object that performs the same operations, reduce it to only one type. This will simplify the management and administration of the service you wish to implement.
10. Deal with obsolescence If your equipment, either hardware or software, is obsolete, replace it as much as you can, even if it still has a little life in it. It doesn’t make sense to install something new on a piece of equipment that will be replaced within the next six months.
11. Solve existing issues Make sure your solution will specifically solve existing issues that were identified in steps 1 and 3. If your current environment has
problems of any type (technical, situational, physical, or even human issues), ensure that your solution will deal with them appropriately.
12. Test through proofs of concept Test everything thoroughly. Perform proofs of concept if you’re not sure of something. It is always easier to test first, then document.
13. Standardize and certify your solution Standardize within the solution. If there are procedures to document, ensure that they are outlined through standard operating procedures. Also make sure that every process you recommend is tried and tested. If you are using software that can be certified to work by its
manufacturer, ensure that certification is part of your solution.
Additional Comments Don’t forget the objective of the architecture: to solve problems, improve service levels, and stay within budget. Make sure you involve other groups, especially the groups targeted by the solution, into your solution design process.
Perform a Situation Review and Needs Analysis
As you can see, the starting point of any change situation is the current situation and the best place to start a review of the current situation is with inventories. As illustrated in the blueprint in Figure 3-8, an analysis begins with the identification of business-related information and then moves on to the details of the technical environment for which you will need to design the solution.
For the WS08 logical network architecture, your analysis will need to focus more specifically on two additional areas:
• If you intend to perform a migration from an existing environment, you will need to perform an extensive server inventory in order to identify which servers can be rationalized, which can be retired and replaced, and which services will require entirely new servers. You will also need a detailed inventory of the services and functions each existing server performs. This will mean detailing the actual users on each server, information stored on the server, security parameters for that
information, and so on.
• If you are implementing a new network, you will need to clearly identify the business requirements in order to properly scale the servers you will deploy. Don’t hold back on this activity, because it is the driving force for the solution you design.