Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure Design: Analyzing Business Requirements

This chapter is from the book

MCSE Training Guide (70-221): Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure Design, 2nd Edition

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This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book 

MCSE Training Guide (70-221): Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure Design, 2nd Edition

Learn More Buy

Key Terms

• Local Area Network (LAN)

• Wide Area Network (WAN)

• virtual private network (VPN)

• Enterprise network

• network infrastructure

• business model

• information flow

• life cycle

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

• outsourcing

• change management

Although the business prospectus might seem foreign to many technical engineers, it is essential to a successful deployment of any corporate network and to Windows 2000/Active Directory in particular.

Without an in-depth analysis of the business, you cannot design a flexible, comprehensive, and scaleable network. Geographic boundaries alone do not provide adequate information for determining domain or site boundaries and domain controller placement. You must also understand the business requirements and work flow within and between geographic locations.

Understanding work flow and areas of responsibility helps you determine requirements for messaging, data replication, and storage management, as well as security and user data access. How does the company run? How are the business units divided, and how do they interact? A comprehensive study must also include entities external to the company. Vendors, partners, and customers are vital to the business and must be factored into your design. Finally, you must make special considerations beyond the usual scope of projected growth for issues, such as corporate acquisitions. Allow for flexibility in your design for integration of disparate directories, noncontiguous address space, or foreign networks into your enterprise.

The corporate network exists to facilitate the business of business. Your priorities when developing the network plan should be based on the company's priorities. Plan for the business's stated growth projections. Stay abreast of industry regulations or laws that pertain to your business, such as data archival requirements for record-keeping. Identify the company's tolerance for risk. Network redundancy is costly, but for some systems, the cost pales in comparison to extended downtime. Risk management is a common justification when calculating the Total Cost of Ownership. Plan network upgrades or implementations using a phased approach to minimize the potential risk of a new system failure.

Finally, you need to look at how your particular IT organization functions. This information is crucial, not only for design, but also to maintain a smooth process and avoid costly delays.

In summary, you should consider the following:

• Know your source of funding.

• Understand the processes surrounding corporate decisions in your company.

• Allow adequate time and resources for the change-management process.

• Work closely with the group that will implement the changes, internal or outsourced.

Exercises

1.1 Documenting Information Flow

This exercise demonstrates the process of documenting information flow for a sample business process. We will use a fictitious company called Speedy Message Service, Inc. for this exercise.

Estimated Time: 15 minutes

Speedy Message Service, Inc. is a company that offers after-hours telephone answering and message delivery services to small businesses. It employs several switchboard operators who answer calls, collect messages, and deliver messages to fax machines and pagers owned by representatives of Speedy Message Service clients.

When a person calls a client of the Speedy Message Service after that client's normal business hours, the phone call is routed to the Speedy Message Service switchboard. One of the Speedy operators answers the call, collects the caller's name and phone number, and determines for which client the call was intended. The operator then reads a prewritten script describing the Speedy Message Service to the caller and asks the caller if he wants to leave a message. If the caller wants to leave a message, the operator requests and records the identity of the intended recipient of the message, as well as the message itself, from the caller. After the caller leaves his message, the call is ended. The operator then looks up the pager or fax number of the recipient of the message and either faxes a typed copy of the message to the appropriate fax number or forwards the text message to the recipient's pager. The transaction is logged in the Speedy Message Service database for billing purposes. The transaction is logged whether or not the caller chooses to leave a message.

From this scenario, document the information flows that take place during the call-answering/message-delivery process. Follow these steps:

1. Determine each individual step of the process.

2. Determine the source and destination of each piece of information that is involved in each step of the process.

3. Document the flow of information from each source to each destination. Indicate the direction of the information flow.

When you have completed step 1, you will have a list that looks like the following:

1. Answer the call and collect the caller's name and phone number.

2. Determine which client the caller wants to reach.

3. Read the script to the caller.

4. Determine if the caller wants to leave a message.

5. Request and record the recipient's name.

6. Collect the message and end the call.

7. Look up the recipient's information.

8. Forward the message to the fax or pager number.

9. Log the transaction for billing purposes.

When you have completed step 2, you will have a table that looks like this:

After completing step 3, you will have an information flow for this process that looks like this:

Caller <— —> Operator

Client Database —> Operator

Operator —> Fax machine or pager

Operator —> Billing database

As you can see from this exercise, a number of information flows can be associated with a given business process. The information flow can be in one direction, or it can be two-way. Any component of the process can be an information source, an information destination, or both.

1.2 Identifying the Company Organization

In this exercise you will identify the organization of the company for the purpose of allocating network resources. In this example, we'll use a fictitious company called King Foods.

Estimated Time: 10 minutes

King Foods is a food distributorship with headquarters in Chicago. They have warehouses in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Portland. Their executive management resides at headquarters but occasionally travels to the other locations. Executive management, human resources, legal, and finance departments are located at headquarters. Each of the warehouses has a small human resources, shipping, receiving, and customer service department, which is responsible for handling issues with orders as well as providing order status for customers.

In addition, 20 sales offices are located throughout the United States. These offices are responsible for taking orders. One person on staff is responsible for maintenance of PCs as well as swapping backup tapes for the servers.

Each department is responsible for purchasing its own PCs and equipment, although departments with small presence are allowed to use other departments' resources.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the organizational structure of the company (such as geographic)?

2. What network resources should be located at the following locations?

   • Corporate headquarters

   • The distribution warehouses

   • The sales offices

Answers to Exercise 1.2

1. The company is organized by business, function, or department. Headquarters, warehouses, and sales offices each perform a certain business support function.

2. The network resources should be located at the following locations:

   • Corporate headquarters: Executive management, human resources, legal, and finance.

   • The distribution warehouses: Shipping, receiving, and customer service. (Human resources will use the other departments' resources.)

   • The sales offices: Sales. (Executive management will use sales resources when necessary.)

1.3 Identifying the Projected Growth and Growth Strategy

In this exercise you will identify the projected growth and growth strategy of a company. We will use a fictitious company called Healthtastic.

Estimated Time: 10 minutes

Healthtastic is a fledgling company that sells vitamins and nutritional supplements in locations in the Midwest. They have locations in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Louisville, and Indianapolis. Sales have increased steadily by 15 to 20 percent each year for the past five years.

Because it has had success in the past, Healthtastic would like to expand into new geographic markets. Additionally, new funding has been approved to launch a radio advertising campaign. Recent market research indicates that online purchases of vitamins and nutritional supplements will increase by 300 percent in the next five years. Healthtastic currently doesn't have a Web presence but is considering starting one.

Name the factors to take into consideration when planning a network infrastructure for Healthtastic.

Answers to Exercise 1.3

• Sales have increased steadily by 15 to 20 percent each year. Therefore, the network infrastructure should be designed to accommodate for continued growth at this rate. This includes not only the ability to support additional bandwidth requirements, but also the potential for more offices opening in the future.

• Healthtastic is planning on launching a radio advertising campaign. Sales of their products should increase with this campaign. Growth may follow the increased sales. You may want to check the statistics for previous campaigns and see what impact they had on sales. You should also factor in that increased sales can frequently mean increased hours for your employees. You will need to be sensitive to planned network outages, and you may want to plan on additional support personnel for the off hours.

• Recent market research indicates that online purchases of vitamins and nutritional supplements will increase by 300 percent in the next five years. Healthtastic currently doesn't have a Web presence but is considering starting one. If Healthtastic decides to create a Web presence, the network infrastructure will need to be modified to accommodate this Web presence. This is always fun for a company because decisions need to be made. Do you self-host or outsource? What kind of security infrastructure will you need? How many hits will the site generate? What is the impact of system downtime? What platform will the site run on, and how fault-tolerant does it need to be? Do you have the expertise in-house to handle such an undertaking, or do you need to outsource? Do you need to start training your people and ordering equipment in order to meet the goals set?

• Healthtastic would like to expand into new geographic markets. If Healthtastic decides to build or lease new locations in the U.S., the network infrastructure will need to be modified to accommodate these locations. However, Healthtastic may create a Web presence and rely on this presence to enter new geographic markets. You need to work with senior management to determine which avenue makes sense for the company. You can expect to have to provide costs for the competing solutions, including the advantages and disadvantages, as well as a plan for supporting the new infrastructure once it is deployed.

1.4 IT Management Structure

In this exercise, you will plan the IT management structure of a company. We will use a fictitious company called Vandelay Industries.

Estimated Time: 10 minutes

Vandelay Industries is an upscale clothing manufacturer with headquarters in Paris. They also have locations in Venice, Italy; Vincenza, Italy; Bonn, Germany; and Vienna, Austria. The headquarters has 300 employees and also holds the company's main databases and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Vincenza is a satellite office that has a staff of 20 employees. The remaining three locations have between 75 and 250 employees. All locations have PCs and PC servers. The IT department is responsible for maintaining all equipment—although department heads have requested the ability to reset their users' passwords as well as manage their own printers.

Design an IT management structure for the company.

Answers to Exercise 1.4

Suggested solution:

• Have a central IT staff located in Paris.

• Have IT staff to support the PCs in Bonn, Vienna, and Venice.

• Due to the low number of users and the close proximity to Venice, have no IT presence in Vincenza.

Review Questions

The first five exam questions refer to the Case Study presented earlier in this chapter.

1. Which business model applies to Whirled Foods, Inc.'s corporate Enterprise network?

   1. Regional

   2. National

   3. Subsidiary

   4. International

2. When you've finished your new network infrastructure design, the Enterprise corporate network that connects each of the operating companies in the parent headquarters will be what type of network?

   1. Wide Area Network (WAN)

   2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

   3. Local Area Network (LAN)

   4. Storage Area Network (SAN)

3. What is the structure of Whirled Foods, Inc.'s IT management group?

   1. Centralized

   2. Decentralized

   3. Distributed

   4. Hierarchical

4. What is Whirled Foods, Inc.'s projected growth?

   1. The company plans to reduce its size in the next two years.

   2. The company plans to increase its size in the next two years.

   3. The company plans to remain consistent over the next two years.

   4. The company has no plans or strategies with respect to growth.

5. How do Whirled Foods, Inc.'s relationships with its vendors, partners, and customers impact your considerations of network infrastructure design? (Choose two.)

   1. The company's vendor relationships have no impact on the internal network design.

   2. The company's plans to sell products over the Internet require consideration in the network design.

   3. The company's goals of better communication with its suppliers and distributors demand consideration during the network infrastructure design.

   4. The network infrastructure design will require the approval of the company's partners, vendors, and customers.

   5. The company's customer relationships have no impact on the internal network design.

6. You have been hired to create a new network infrastructure design for the Sunbeam Foods Manufacturing Company. The company has specified a number of requirements for the network, including the following:

   • The new network must help reduce the company's total cost of operations.

   • The new network must help reduce the company's risk exposures.

   • The new network must accommodate the company's projected growth.

   You set out to create a network design that meets these corporate goals. Which of the following impact the company's TCO? (Choose all that apply.)

   1. The cost of each individual network component

   2. The cost of the lighting fixtures above each workstation

   3. The cost of the software and operating systems on each person's computer

   4. The salary cost for each help desk technician

   5. The salary cost for the end user

   6. The weighted salary cost for the end user

   7. The research and development costs for the software manufacturer

7. You have been hired by the T.S. Allen corporation to design a new network infrastructure for its corporate headquarters. T.S. Allen management hierarchy is very structured, as is the organization's decision-making process. Each proposed change or new project must first be approved by a lower-level manager, who in turn brings it to a department head, who in turn brings it to a vice president. In what way does such a hierarchical, structured decision-making process impact your network design?

1. The decision-making process within the organization has no impact on the network design.

2. The decision-making process hinders the network design.

3. The decision-making process can slow the development of a network design.

4. The decision-making process helps speed the creation of the network design.

8. You are hired to perform a network infrastructure design for Happy Toys, Inc. While creating a network infrastructure design, you decide to perform a life-cycle analysis on the company's products and services. Your manager doesn't understand the definition of the process of a life cycle and asks you to describe the starting point and end point of a life-cycle analysis. Which of the following represent the start and end of a product's life cycle?

1. The life cycle begins on the date the product is offered for sale and hits the market and ends when the product is removed from the market.

2. The life cycle begins on the date the product is removed from store shelves and is no longer offered for sale and ends when the product is no longer supported by the manufacturer.

3. The life cycle begins on the date the product is initially conceived and ends on the date that the product is no longer sold or supported.

4. The life cycle begins on the date that the product enters production and ends when all supplies of the product are exhausted and support for the product no longer exists.

9. You are in the middle of creating a network design infrastructure for Sharp Pens Corporation when it acquires one of its competitors, Ball Point, Inc. Which of the following aspects of the acquisitions process will impact your design? (Choose all that apply.)

1. The cost of acquiring the company

2. Determining which of the company's systems or services need to be retired

3. Determining the roles and responsibilities of IT management in the merger

4. Determining which of the new company's systems will replace existing systems in the parent company

5. Determining the impact of systems previously retired from Ball Point, Inc.

6. Determining multiple iterations of past infrastructure designs for either company

10. You are in the process of creating a network infrastructure design for ABC Sewing Machine Co. During the process, you ask to meet with senior management to help develop an understanding of the company's business priorities. Management wants to know why you need to discuss this with them. What will you tell company management to help justify the meeting? (Choose two.)

1. Understanding the company's business priorities will help you resolve conflicts and make compromises in your network design.

2. Understanding the company's business priorities will help you create a faster network.

3. Understanding the company's business priorities will help you reduce the total cost of ownership for the network.

4. Understanding the company's business priorities will help you complete your design more quickly.

11. While developing a network infrastructure design for Hefty Luggage Corp., you ask to meet with their legal team to go over any legal issues that might impact your design. Members of the legal team respond that they are very busy and might not be able to meet with you. They question whether it is of the utmost importance to get together before you finish your network design. What can you tell the legal team to justify the need for meeting with them before you finish your design?

1. The company might be breaking the law by implementing your network design.

2. You are not an attorney, and you require their expertise in order to guarantee that the final design does not incorporate any elements that violate local laws, rules, or regulations.

3. Senior management has mandated that you meet with the legal team, even though you really don't feel it is necessary.

4. You require the expertise of the legal department to make sure that all the paperwork you submit for your network design conforms to the legal structure of documents of that nature.

12. During the design phase of the network infrastructure for New Riders, Inc., one of the company managers comes to you, expressing extreme concern that risk is being considered during the design phase. Which design component can you produce to that manager to demonstrate the incorporation of risk management in the overall network infrastructure design?

1. Risk matrix

2. Life cycle analysis

3. Risk factor

4. Legal analysis

13. You are in the process of creating a network infrastructure design for Good Foot Shoes, Inc. Currently, the company is outsourcing responsibility for IT management. What steps must you take to accommodate this outsourcing in your overall network design?

1. You must exclude IT support from your network design.

2. You must meet with the outsourcing company to determine its requirements and how the network design can accommodate them.

3. You should meet with company management to try to convince them to move responsibility for IT management in-house.

4. You should contact the outsourcing organization to have it create your network infrastructure design.

14. During the process of creating a network infrastructure design for Corporate Training, Inc., you find that you must submit your design to the change-management board for approval. Your boss feels that this step is unnecessary because he has complete faith in your ability to create an excellent infrastructure design. However, you are glad that the change-management process exists, and you attempt to explain to your boss the benefits of an effective change-management strategy. What are some of the elements in favor of the change-management process that you can cite while explaining your position to your boss? (Choose two.)

1. The change-management process slows down the ability to make changes in the enterprise.

2. The change-management process ensures appropriate responsibility for changes to the production environment.

3. The change-management process ensures adequate recovery strategy should a change implemented to the production environment create problems.

4. The change-management processes cost more money and will therefore increase the amount you can charge for creating your network design.

5. The change-management process is rarely implemented, so in this case, it is good practice, but nonessential.

15. You're in the process of creating a network infrastructure design for Charles Films Distribution Co. During the process, you spend considerable time documenting information flow throughout the company. Your boss considers this to be time wasted and wonders why the network infrastructure design is not completed. What will you tell him about the benefits of documenting information flow to help justify your actions?

1. Documenting company information flow takes considerable time, increasing the number of hours you can bill for your network infrastructure design.

2. Documenting company information flow helps you understand senior management's motivations and gain approval for your design.

3. Understanding information flow in an enterprise helps ensure that you design a network infrastructure that enables information to be delivered where it is needed, when it is needed, as quickly as possible and at as low a cost as possible.

4. Documenting the information flow within an organization helps you create charts and graphs to include in your network infrastructure design to make it seem more feasible.

Answers to Review Questions

1. A formal change-management process allows an organization to carefully analyze proposed changes and let all affected parties give input before a change is implemented in the production environment. This helps avoid implementing changes that have surprising and sometimes disastrous results. See "The Change-Management Process."

2. The major benefits of conducting a risk analysis are the ability to develop plans to prevent risk factors from happening and the ability to develop plans to help mitigate the impact of risk factors that cannot be prevented. See "Acquisitions Plans."

3. Several characteristics distinguish a WAN from a LAN. First is the geographic scope. A WAN occupies a much larger geographic region than a LAN. Another characteristic is bandwidth. WANs typically (but not always) offer much less bandwidth then LANs. Finally, LANs are usually under the complete control of the company that owns them, whereas WANs use leased lines from public carriers and are subject to control by the carrier administrators. MAN stands for Metropolitan Area Network. A MAN is a subset of a WAN, with a shorter area span, usually within the boundaries of a single city. SAN stands for Storage Area Network, which describes the newer technologies available for mass data storage where large arrays of storage are distributed across a building or campus and connected via high-speed data links. See "Introduction."

4. Many factors contribute to the TCO of a single computer beyond the purchase price. Some factors include the cost of any cables that must be purchased to connect the computer's components, the cost of the electricity to power the PC, the cost of peripherals, such as printers and scanners, the cost of the operating system and any applications software installed on the computer, the labor cost associated with assembling the computer, and installing and configuring the operating system and applications software. See "Identifying the Total Cost of Ownership."

5. A product life cycle starts when the product is initially conceived, extends through the design and production stages, and continues until the product is rendered obsolete and is finally retired or discontinued. See "Service and Product Life Cycles."

6. The company's projected growth plans are a significant factor to be considered when designing a network infrastructure. If your design assumes moderate growth for the company, and after implementation you find that the company has aggressive growth plans, your network infrastructure will be inadequate for the demands placed on it. If you plan for aggressive growth and the company plans to grow slowly or moderately, your network design will probably specify a network that is too expensive to be justified by the level of demand for network services. See "Identifying the Projected Growth and Growth Strategy."

7. Table 1.1 lists the pros and cons associated with a centralized approach to Information Technology administration.

   Table 1.1 Pros and Cons of Centralized IT Administration

   Pros	Cons
   Limited risk of misconfiguration	The administration is not close to resources and the people who use them
   Lower staffing costs	Lack of flexibility
   Greater control over Enterprise configuration	Often unable to respond quickly to localized failures at remote sites

   
   

   See "Centralized and Decentralized Administration."

8. Companies whose business focus is not a technical one tend to outsource their Information Technology responsibilities for the following reasons:

   • Outsourcing is cheaper than employing and managing technical staff.

   • Outsourcing eliminates the risk of losing " significant administrative capabilities due to employee turnover.

   See "Outsourcing Network Responsibilities."

9. Chances are that the two companies have very different and possibly incompatible network infrastructures. When designing a network infrastructure for a company that you know will be acquiring another, you will need to determine the following:

   • Which of the new company's systems and services will need to be retained?

   • Which of the new company's systems and services will need to be retired?

   • Which of the new company's systems and services will replace existing systems and services?

   • Which of the existing systems and services will need to be extended into the newly acquired company?

   • What are the barriers to integrating the two companies' network infrastructures?

   See "Acquisitions Plans."

10. Local laws and regulations can impact your network infrastructure design in many ways. For instance, local regulations might dictate which types of cabling you may use. Local laws might affect the placement of certain network devices, such as microwave transmission devices. See "Identifying the Relevant Laws and Regulations."

Answers to Exam Questions

1. D. The Whirled Foods, Inc. network is comprised of the individual networks of all the five operating companies. These operating companies are distributed worldwide, making the Enterprise network an international one. The International business model applies to Whirled Foods, Inc.'s Enterprise network. See "Analyzing the Company Model and Geographic Scope."

2. A. The Whirled Foods, Inc. Enterprise network would be a Wide Area Network that connects each of the operating companies' Local Area Networks. See "Introduction."

3. B. Each of the operating companies under the Whirled Foods, Inc. umbrella is responsible for managing its own IT resources. Some of the companies' staff manages their resources internally, and others outsource the responsibilities. This is an example of a decentralized approach to IT management. See "Centralized and Decentralized Administration."

4. B. Whirled Foods, Inc. plans to acquire another two operating companies within the next year and plans to hire at least 200 more employees in the next two years. Understanding ahead of time the company's growth plans and strategies allows you to incorporate and accommodate them in your network infrastructure design. See "Identifying the Projected Growth and Growth Strategy" and "Acquisitions Plans."

5. B, C. An understanding of the company's relationships with its partners, vendors, and customers is important prior to the design phase of a new network infrastructure. Whirled Foods, Inc.'s plans to sell products to its customers over the Internet and to communicate with its suppliers and distributors will require consideration during the design phase of its network infrastructure. You will want to make sure that the network infrastructure design accommodates these types of communication in order to ensure that the design helps the company meet its business goals. See "Vendor, Partner, and Customer Relationships."

6. A, B, C, D. The TCO for information technology describes not just the purchase price of each individual component, but also every other cost associated with owning and operating those components. These include lighting necessary to allow each person to use these network devices, the operating systems and software that reside on each network device, as well as the costs associated with hiring and keeping on staff appropriate support personnel. See "Identifying the Total Cost of Ownership."

7. C. Organizations with thorough hierarchical decision-making processes can often slow the process of creating a network infrastructure design. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because the hierarchical decision-making process helps weed out errors and potential pitfalls that might result as part of the design. Working through the decision-making process and making changes to your design as you complete each step can help ensure that the design most closely meets corporate business goals and will ultimately reach approval at the final step of the decision-making process. See "The Decision-Making Process."

8. C. The full life cycle of a product or service begins on the date that the product is conceptualized, not on the date that it is offered for sale. Much time is spent between conceptualization and the date that the final product is offered for sale. This time is spent doing research and development, design, prototyping, and, finally, manufacturing or production. The end of life for a product or service comes when all supplies of that product or service have been exhausted and the company has decided to end all support for the product or service. This usually occurs long after the date the product is no longer offered for sale. See "Service and Product Life Cycles."

9. B, C, D. Company acquisitions can have dramatic impact on your network infrastructure design. Here are some of the elements that you must consider regarding corporate acquisitions:

   • Which of the company's systems and services will need to be retained?

   • Which of the new company's systems and services will need to be retired?

   • Which of the new company's systems and services will replace existing systems and services?

   • Which of the existing systems and services will need to be extended into the newly acquired company?

   • What are the barriers to integrating the two companies' network infrastructures?

   See "Acquisitions Plans."

10. A, C. Developing an understanding of a company's business priorities will help you during the network infrastructure design phase. Creating a network infrastructure design often requires resolution of conflicting requirements on the part of each network component. Compromises must be made during the design process. Understanding a company's business priorities will help you understand where to make these compromises and resolve these conflicts. In addition, understanding a company's business priorities will help you create a design that reduces the company's total cost of ownership by maximizing their investment in the components that matter to them most and minimizing the investment in components that do not serve to meet specific business goals. See "Identifying Company Priorities."

11. B. Sometimes the operation of a business is governed by a very complex set of rules and regulations. Often a company requires not just a single attorney, but a team of attorneys to ensure compliance with the relevant rules and regulations. As a network designer, you can't possibly be intimately familiar with all the rules and regulations that govern the activities of all of your clients. You'll need to recruit the assistance of the company's legal team in the design process to make sure that the final design does not include components that would result in a violation of any relevant laws, rules, or regulations. See "Identifying the Relevant Laws and Regulations."

12. A. In the process of creating the network infrastructure design, you should incorporate risk management. The way to do this is to complete a risk matrix that identifies the risk factors that the company might face, the probability that the risk factor will actually occur, the impact on the project of each risk factor, which department or group is responsible for this risk area, and the strategies that can be employed to mitigate these factors should they occur. The risk matrix should be kept up to date as the network design process continues. See "Identifying the Company's Tolerance for Risk."

13. B. When creating a network infrastructure design for a company that outsources responsibility for IT management, you will need to meet with the company that has that responsibility to determine any issues currently associated with the company's network infrastructure. The outsourcing company that has responsibility for those issues can help you prioritize them and help you design an infrastructure that either resolves or accommodates these issues. See "Outsourcing Network Responsibilities."

14. B, C. An effective change-management process can help ensure that before changes are made to the corporate production environment, adequate responsibility has been assigned for those changes, and a backup recovery strategy has been developed. This helps ensure that any changes made to the production environment have been thoroughly tested and are sure to work. In the event that unforeseen problems arise and a change creates a problem, the requirement that a backup strategy exists helps to minimize the impact of these change-related problems and can eliminate or minimize downtime associated with changes made to the production environment. See "The Change-Management Process."

15. C. As employees in a company perform their day-to-day work, information flows to and from many different locations within the organization. Efficient and effective delivery of information to its required destinations is the job of the network infrastructure. Understanding the information flow within the organization helps you create a network infrastructure design that ensures fast delivery of information to a destination that requires it, at the time it is required, as fast as possible, and for as low a cost as possible. These are the ultimate goals of the network infrastructure design. See "Information Flow."

Suggested Readings and Resources

1. Oppenheimer, Priscilla. Top-Down Network Design. Indianapolis, IN: Cisco Press, 1999.

2. Windows 2000 Deployment Guide. Microsoft Press, 2000.