LAN Switching first-step

Hierarchical Topology

To meet your customer's business and communication goals for a corporate network design, you might need to recommend a network topology consisting of many pieces and parts—certainly a daunting venture. This venture can be made easier if you can break things down and develop the design in pieces, or layers. Breaking the design into layers is like cutting a pizza into slices instead of trying to eat the entire pizza at once; you can try designing the entire network as a whole, but tomato sauce might drip down your front.

The hierarchical network design model serves to help you develop a network topology in separate layers. Each layer focuses on specific functions, enabling you to choose the right equipment and features for ...