ZNDP 011 – Network Design…But Why?

Consultative Leadership, Network Design, Podcast, ZNDP

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Network Design
Network Design

Why should you care about Network Design?  Why should you care about Designing a proper solution that meets business requirements?  These are the questions that we will be answering in today’s episode of the Zigbits Network Design Podcast!  Lets jump right in!

1. How were technical networking decisions made in the past?

Type One:  Tactical Technical Decisions

  • These decisions were because of hardware resources.
  • There were days when routers and switches only had 128K, 64K, 32K, and even 16K of memory.
    • Examples:
      • Limiting the number of routers in an OSPF area
      • Overall Link State Area design
      • Prefix Aggregation and / or Summarization

At Least we had a reason why we were making a technical decision during this period of time

Type Two:  No Design thought process at all

  • A general lack of a design mindset 
  • Focused on different outcome and goals:
    • Personal CCIE Lab
    • Cool Technology
    • Biased towards a Technology / Design
  • A “Pretend” design mindset with loose focus on “best practice”
  • Straight product migration without any concern of design implications: technical decisions and what implications they will have on the business

2. What role does the network have today?

  • Business Enabler
    • The network makes the business more profitable
  • The network is the business
    • Service Providers, Cellular Networks, etc…
    • Without the Network functioning there is no business

The overall reliance on the Network in today’s world has drastically changed from a nice to have to an assumed to have and it better work.

3. The Network is now a requirement!

This is why Network Design is so important Today, this is why you need to learn how to adapt your Mindset and your thought process so you can Design solutions that meet the needs of the business.

  • You may not fully like it but you need to embrace the fact that the network needs to be a way to make a company money, directly or indirectly.
  • You need to show the value the Network has to upper management
  • You need to have high level understand of the business side of the house.
    • Business terminology
    • How a design fits into the business side
  • You need to be partnering up with key people from the development and application teams!
  • You need to be eliciting business information.
  • This business information will allow you to make better technical decisions for the business, for the organization.   

Hosted By: Michael “Zig” Zsiga

Guest Expert: None

Thank you for the podcast reviews!

  • Vayetzei from The United States said “Zig has a ton of info about the Cisco world is enthusiastic about sharing it. He has a wonderful blog that mirrors the show with additional great content. He is super nice on the podcast and welcomes audience participation/feedback. “

Thank you for the iTunes reviews as they sincerely motivate me to continue to give back to this community that I love.  If you enjoy the podcast and the information I share, please feel free to write your own personalized review on iTunes!

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This post may contain affiliate links to products or services were I may receive a level of compensation from your actions by following those links. This is seamless to you and does not add any additional cost to the products or services in question. In addition, I do not let any affiliate relationship cloud my judgement or my recommendation of a product or service. My recommendations will always be above reproach.  This is my commitment to you Ziglets!

About Zig Zsiga

Zig Zsiga, CCDE™ 2016::32, CCIE™ #44883 has been in the networking industry for 20 years. He is currently a Principal Architect supporting the CX US Public Sector Business and Customers. Zig holds an active CCDE and two CCIE certifications, one in Routing and Switching and the second in Service Provider. Zig also holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science from Park University. Zig is a father, a husband, a United States Marine, a gamer, a nerd, a geek and a big soccer fan. Zig loves all technology and can usually be found in the lab learning and teaching others. Zig is a published author now working on his second book, the CCDE OCG. He is the host of the Zigbits Network Design Podcast (ZNDP) where he interviews leading industry experts to talk about network design. All of Zig's content is located at https://zigbits.tech. Zig lives in Upstate New York, USA with his wife, Julie and their son Gunnar.