Network - Architecture

Four basic characteristics that network architects must address to meet user expectations:

Fault Tolerance

Scalability

Quality of Service (QoS)

Security

Fault Tolerance:

A fault tolerance is one that limits the number of affected devices during a failure.

Having multiple paths to a destination is known as redundancy.

A single message, such as an email or a video stream, is broken into multiple message blocks, called packets.

Scalability

A scalability network expands quickly to support new users and applications.

These networks are scalable because the designers follow accepted standards and protocols. 

Quality of Service (QoS)

Congestion occurs when the demand for bandwidth exceeds the amount available. Network bandwidth is measured in the number of bits that can be transmitted in a single second, or bits per second. When simultaneous communications are attempted across the network, the demand for network bandwidth can exceed its availablity, creating network congestion.

The focus of QoS is to prioritize time-sensitive traffic. The type of traffic, not the content of the traffic, is what is important.

Network Security

Network administrators must address two types of network security concerns:

        network infrastructure securiy

        information security

Security the network infrastructure includes:

        1. physical securing devices that provide network connectivity

        2. preventing unauthorized access to the management software that resides on them

Network administrators must also protect the information contained within the packets being transmitted over the network, and the information stored on the network attached devices. In order to achieve the goals of network security, there are three primary requirements:

        Confidentiality - only the intended and authorized recipients can access and read data

        Integrity - data integrity assures that the information has not been altered in transmission, from origin to destination         alter = change

        Availability - Data availability assures users of timely and reliable access to data services for authorized users.