Optimal Routing Design

Chapter 2. Applying the Fundamentals

Chapter 1, “Network Design Goals and Techniques,” discussed the primary goals of network design:

• Reliability

• Scalability

• Manageability

In the process of considering these goals, you also saw some statistical and network design analysis and learned about information hiding. All of this theory is useful, but how do you apply these goals and techniques to real networks? How can you actually build a network to meet these goals?

This chapter narrows its focus on information hiding, covering the two intertwined techniques for hiding information in a network: hierarchy and summarization. The first section of the chapter begins with a discussion of abstraction and how its use through layering helps to hide information ...