When it comes to network infrastructure implementation of your company's network, you need a detailed documented plan. Since network implementation is a rather complex undertaking, it requires a well-trained, experienced, Cisco certified network designer who can follow the steps properly and carry it out, while other tasks included in the documentation can be carried out by other staff members.
Practically speaking, large enterprise infrastructure design requires an adequately trained staff who understand all the odds and ends of the undertaking. Deploying a new design and Cisco hardware requires hands-on approach that requires an implementation plan that takes into account the organizational goals, traffic expectancy and load management.
Moreover, the implementation design must also think about the possibility of failure, even after your prototype network is up and successful pilot test has been conducted. However, the possibility of failure is significantly minimized when the staff involved have had Cisco certification training. Now, let's take a look at various implementation components that go into network implementation planning.
Implementation Elements
Network implementation design comprises of various phases, hardware installation, system configuration, deployment and so on. Every phase contains several steps, and each of the steps contain the following documents:
- Detailed description of the steps involved
- Clear referencing to network design documents
- Detailed guidelines on how to carry out the implementation
- In case of failure detailed guidelines on roll-back procedure
- Estimated time required for implementation
PPDIOO Lifecycle
Now that we are clear on the implementation components, let's talk about the approach needed for network design and implementation. The process is known as the "PPDIOO" lifecycle, which is short for, Prepare, Plan, Design, Implement, Operate, Optimize.
PPDIOO lifecycle is a Cisco methodology which clearly defines the constant life-cycle of network services need for a successful implementation and a stable network. The PPDIOO phases that require detailed documentation from your network designer are as follows:
Prepare
This phase calls for the establishment of precise organizational requirements for a network. This includes development of a network strategy followed by proposition of the conceptual architecture that identifies the technology that best supports the network infrastructure you aim to build. This phase also provides justification for the finance required to fund the network strategy.
Plan
The planning phase calls for the identification of network requirements based on the organizational goals, its facilities, user requirements and so on. This phase characterizes sites and assesses existing network performance gaps to determine if the existing infrastructure and environment can handle the proposed systems. A plan for the project is crucial in helping to manage the responsibilities, the tasks, setting milestones and allocating resources to perform network implementation. Finally, this plan needs to align with score, resources and cost parameters originally established in the business requirements.
Design
The requirements initially derived in the preparing and planning phase would drive all the activities performed by network designer. The specifications of a network are a detailed and comprehensive design that is supposed to meet the current technical and business requirements. It also incorporates specs to ensure reliability, availability, scalability, performance, and security. The specifications for network design is the base upon which all the implementation activities are carried out.
Implement
The next phase is implementation, a network is built, and components are added as specified in the design documentation. The goal is to integrate devices without causing disruption of the existing network and also taking care not to create points of vulnerability.
Operate
Finally, the effectiveness of network design is done in this phase, operations testing. This involves the maintenance of the network health through daily business operations. Which includes maintaining availability and possible expense reductions. The staff needs to stay alert for fault detection and correction, all the while monitoring the performance of the network to provide data for the optimization phase.
Optimize
This phase is all about proactively managing the network with the goal to identify and fix issues before they can affect the company. In this phase the network designers and maintainers can call for a network redesign should network errors or issues begin to arise or the performance doesn't meet the expectations set.
Benefits of the PPDIOO Lifecycle Approach
The Cisco certified PPDIOO lifecycle approach has a variety of key benefits apart from organizing the design process. The main reasons are a decrease in the overall cost of owning a network and an increasing overall availability of the network
Network Costs
The cost of owning a network is an important consideration especially in the business climate of today. Executives are aggressively assessing how to decrease overall IT expenses. A proper approach to the network lifecycle can lower expenses by:
- Identification and validation of technological requirements.
- Planning for resource requirements and infrastructure changes.
- Creating a network design aligned for business goals.
- Improving efficiency through Cisco certified staff support.
- Decreasing operation expense with improved efficiency.
Network availability
The primary priority of organizations is network availability 24/7, where downtime can mean significant loss of revenue. Downtimes can prevent market trading, failing to implement a decision due to a cut in interest rates, or perhaps not being able process payments through credit cards transaction during black Friday. All of these are horror stories to be sure, the network lifecycle can improve availability of your network by:
- Supporting the design proposed through hardware capability and by assessing the state of security a network.
- The specification the correct software version and hardware, as well as keeping them current and operational.
- Validation of network operations and developing a good operational design.
- Staging the proposed network infrastructure and testing it before official deployment.
Through Cisco certification training, you can significantly improve upon the skills of your staff working on the network. Allowing them to proactively monitor your systems while also assessing the network availability trends both inside the organization and for the end user. You can also have the benefit of your staff being able to proactively identify breaches in security, while creating remediation plans side by side.