What is the difference between LAN and WAN Network Infrastructure

July 3rd, 2009

Although the company should not be confused about what are the differences between the local network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) ”’ Too often, they find a bandwidth for their business are not clear on these basic principles of the entire network infrastructure’ If you are not completely understood, it affected the quality and accuracy of the final decision’ So ”’ it is important to do things’

So ”” For clarity of the real differences between the LAN and WAN:

LAN – A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a local area as a home, office or group of buildings close to each other’ Current LANs are most likely to be based on the IEEE 802′3 Ethernet switch, or the Wi-Fi operates at 10, 100 or 1000 Mbit’

In general, a local area network consists of local proximity to each other and finished the distance limitations’ The network can be wired or wireless, but there is only one place’

WAN – wide area network or WAN is a network that covers a large geographic area’ Contrast with personal networks (PAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) or local area network (LAN), which are usually limited to a room, building or campus’ The biggest and best known example of a WAN is the Internet’

A wide area network (WAN) consists of multiple LANs interconnected across distances’ And, for example, an office attached to each of its satellite offices’ This method of interconnection is provided via third airline – that is, Qwest offers wiring dependent two places at once’

WAN is used to connect local area networks (LAN) and, so users and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other places’ WAN Many are built by an organization and are private’ Others, built by Internet service providers, provide connections from local network of organizations to the Internet’ WAN are often built using leased lines’ At each end of a leased line, a router is connected to the LAN on one side and a center within the WAN on the other’ Leased lines can be very expensive’ Instead of using leased lines, WANs can also be built using less costly circuit or packet switching methods’ Includes network protocols TCP provide transport functions and process’ Packet protocols, including SONET, MPLS, ATM and Frame Relay is often used by service providers to provide the links used in WANs’ X’25 WAN protocol is an early, and is often considered the “father” of Frame Relay as many protocols and functions of X’25 are still in use today (with upgrades) by Frame Relay’

The Wide Area Network Dilemma

July 2nd, 2009

I recently attended a trade fair for the owners and operators of convenience stores’ Dynamic speakers at the show inspired many of the participants asked many questions’ As it was in our booth to talk to these business owners developed a theme: “We have our network of shops and, if so, what is the best solution for our company?”

Wide Area Networks (WAN) can often be the technology investment that doubles your income’ — Well, maybe not double’ But I have your attention, and a WAN is a “balance” manufacturer’

In fourteen years of network engineering, I am Orchestra successfully streamlining command WAN implementations, eliminating overtime and reducing the costs decrease’ But all companies need a WAN? Answer six questions — Who, What, When, Where, Why and How (How inclusive) — the point is to find out’

Who: Gaining the support of all departments’ Stakeholders should be involved at some level’ A WAN is a significant investment, even if only used for point of sale (POS) movement of the project will be easier if you buy below the CEO’ A new WAN TOUCHENT training, sales, inventory, purchasing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, IT, and everyone in between’ It’s better than what they want’

What: The choice of a hardware platform is an important decision’ May the wrong decision will cost tens of thousands of dollars in two years from now, when you want to deploy VoIP and its equipment are not supported’ Open your eyes to the overall vision and plan for the future’ I recommend to my clients that they should consider no more than five years’ The infrastructure is ready for a renovation at the time’

When: Like the critics as “Why”‘ Time is a question of balance’ Take the time you can design your WAN and implemented properly’ Moving too fast, leaving holes someone (probably you) will fall’ One of my clients a more proven method before contacting me for help’ WAN asked 32 point too quickly and the results were catastrophic’ The stores do not have enough bandwidth to work properly, and VPN tunnels are not properly secured’ He spent most of his time, the WAN could not continue running and continue their daily work’ But, as I wrote before, time is a question of balance’ If you take too much precious time was lost momentum, and is easy to overlook an element of the project, such as IP addressing scheme’ I have often said, “The WAN is the living, breathing creature and they sometimes have the attitude!

Where: This is an interesting part of design decisions’ Although each store will be part of the corporate WAN, but what about the AC? Perhaps the time has come to co-locate your data center safe, professional installation? You may be eligible to invite one or two choices of suppliers for the WAN (called extranet)’ If you have any retail stores in May to be connected to your credit card to a faster processor (and potentially less costly) operations’ The same applies to the gift card processors, providers of VoIP, etc’

Why: There are many reasons’ The one most often I hear is: “We have access to the data output of each of our stores’” Or “We want to start using email’” Other reasons include the May review inventory levels, implementing a new enterprise application, providing online training for staff in the storage, video surveillance, or the addition of VoIP’ It is essential that we explore all the reasons in advance’ Determine the largest number of components you want in the end, before the maximization of profits and return on investment’ When it comes to network design, each request, its own network’

Review (or how): WAN comes in different colors and flavors’ Private organized VPN, based on software, hardware at the base, banda ancha, layer 2 and layer 3 are just some options available’ Decomp just consider these three options:

1′ In private, Gerês: This option eliminates the need for remote access specialists or highly qualified (and expensive) engineers who have experience in WAN technology’ A private provider of managed services will help the architect of the WAN for application of project management, and proactively monitor the network 24/7/365 once it is activated’ The result is a fast and secure network that do not require coding’

2′ VPN, Unmanaged: This is the do-it-yourself network that could be free to write until four or five stores’ After that, it becomes difficult to manage and recall multiple providers of broadband services’ You need to have someone (or a computer technician) who can travel in the stores and equipment installation, and (often) the maintenance of fire safety, and firmware updates’

3′ VPN, Managed: In this scenario, mission-critical data traveling over the public Internet between the store and office’ A hardware device (or software) on each end, through the process of building a “tunnel” between the stores and the data center’ Then each device to encrypt the data packets at one end and decrypted at the other’ Keep the VPN tunnel is quite intense’ Add to this the work of encoding and decoding, and you’ll experience the high latency and failures when the tunnel down’

The market is governed by the WAN providers’ This leads to great competition’ Competition leads to innovation (another reason not to build for a period of five years)’ Some of the players most recent (2000-present) offer the best value to customers’ Tier 1 providers are of course still there’ Smaller and more agile in May of companies offer the flexibility you need’ How much should I invest in direct proportion to the service you receive’ Finding a company that wants to help you succeed’ Have at least two meetings with a company before starting to discuss “how” question’ It is absolutely essential that both understand what is required in terms of bandwidth, uptime, monitoring, redundancy, billing, and other services’ Remember, it is an investment to increase returns’ “But David, a comment that is possible? asked’ Consider this:

Fraud, theft and reduce losses from inventory are all that we want to eliminate’ Your new WAN allows immediate access to POS transactions, stock levels, and to capture the “louche up with your hands, adding thousands to your bottom line’ CCTV also catch the thief in the night, not to mention the thugs who have used the current inventory of the rear door’ The world is moving towards Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and for good reason’ Site-to-site calls are free! Site of the calls are free! The fees can be eliminated! Sending credit card and gift card transactions on the network will reduce the processing time of 30 – 40 seconds to 2-3 seconds’ Customers to quickly move through the line check and have a happy experience, bringing back more often’ In addition, processors can reduce their use of transaction costs for a connection faster than dial-up’ The creation of a network eliminates the need for expensive telephone lines’ A broadband connection you can share your fax line in May and be able to eliminate the lines of ATM machines, credit card, and others’ These add to the idea very real dollars to your bottom line’

Making the decision to design and implement a WAN is an excellent first step’ Do not underestimate the importance of effort and time needed to make your project a success’ Finding a good partner in the market that is the spirit and work with you to respond with flexibility and exceed your needs’

How much bandwidth is too much for your business

July 1st, 2009

For its business applications ”” decides to comment on how much bandwidth is needed? Is T1, DS3 or OC3 or greater? Do you have an excess of possibilities to take account of new situations? What is the approach to modeling that is used to calculate the minimum and maximum load, and therefore need to rely on their line? What determines how much is “enough”?

I suggest you answer these questions as the implementation of an end’ The pieces are workplace communication link (s), server, database and supporting systems (eg, DNS)’

Then the child’s important to remember that users perform tasks’ Any analysis based on the concept of task’ In addition, specific tasks in all the different applications, probably because the type of user, their usefulness to study the frequency of specific tasks by user groups’

Each task can be viewed in terms of time’ The total time is divided between the parties’ Before worrying about bandwidth, you must determine that the time spent on each task’ Do not consider the user action in the task of analysis – the keyboard is better with the script to eliminate this variable, and output is achieved when the full screen or printing’

The aspect of communication is influenced by the amount of data transferred, the amount of overhead of communication, bedload, packet size, protocol, latency and bandwidth’

Although there are many “favorite” tools to expedite the analysis, can be accomplished with a spreadsheet, a tool for capturing packets, and a knowledge of scripting’

There are general, you can follow this evolution’

First, while the choice of demand, most still have not found the application to improve performance across the bandwidth in the task of about 750KB’ Most do not improve once the bandwidth reaches 200Kb’ Additional bandwidth becomes an issue for many users’ Second, most applications do not suffer from slow performance to the average total exceeds 80%’

The best time to define the bandwidth requirements are being implemented for development’ The reason is that most applications can adapt to playing with much less traffic, while still in development, and traffic is often a good indication of other problems such as poor database structure or distribution best’ The second best time is an application before purchase’ Often, two similar applications have very different WAN, and this may be a key decision criteria’

Therefore, the amount of bandwidth is too much? If you can rent today have less and reduce your costs, you have too’

I strongly suggest not to enter into discussions with the supplier of broadband, while the decision on their bandwidth’ It is more likely to focus on “making a sale” that will help you with your infrastructure decisions’ Instead, seek advice from an independent unbiased broker’ It can guide you through the process of finding a solution that makes the most sense for you and your organization’

Metro Ethernet or MPLS – Which WAN is right for your business

June 30th, 2009

How can you go to choose the best network for your company? Will MPLS or Metro Ethernet? What are determinants?

First, it is important to know the bandwidth is not the definition of the solution’ Most companies think that if the lines OC3 upgrade to a DS3 circuit network problems are resolved’ Wrong! The creation of the network infrastructure of your company must be the top priority’

Compare Metro Ethernet and MPLS is not comparing apples with apples’ Metro Ethernet is a major access technologies, while MPLS (layer technology 3) is sufficient for the backbone of your business’ The advantage of MPLS is the QoS (quality of service)’

Before deciding which technology to choose the WAN, the price for bandwidth and capacity of the overlay of what is important’ It can be difficult to compare different technologies for each operator, because each one offers a variety of WAN’ Do your research before buying’

Note WAN technology based on a LEC (local exchange operators) of bandwidth to transmit the “last mile” of a remote site’ Because of this need for an LEC, WAN circuit failures are due to physical layer issues of supplier selection of CO compared to the kind of technology your company is extremely important, especially if you need delivery services in urban areas with a time of rural infrastructure’

Determine your company’s needs’ Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each type of service and make a “wish list” of features you want an urgent need for the company’ Also, think about the location of its offices in connectivity’ Are they all located in a metropolitan area or in remote areas? Carrier Ethernet you can access all areas of your office? If not, then MPLS would be best suited to your needs’

MPLS advantages of a network that uses multiple connection speeds and multiple stakeholders’ Metro Ethernet is the best when connecting separate offices where staff doing similar work’ The most coherent network installation MPLS Metro Ethernet WAN interfaces such as the spine’

But if you must choose a technology based on flexible methods of access, support, scalability requirements for bandwidth, quality of service and traffic capacity prioritizating and MPLS WAN of choice’

Note that each company is unique, the network infrastructure’ It is best to conclude that “one size does not fit all’” Do your research and purchase of the WAN that are best suited to your business’

What you should consider a WAN optimization solution

June 29th, 2009

You are evaluating your WAN (Wide Area Network) and I wonder commentary can optimize performance across the network’ What are realistic options for a solution?

Note that this is not necessarily a solution for bandwidth, such as MPLS or ethernet say’ Rather, it is a matter of bandwidth usage’

I suggest looking for WAN optimization applications: Riverbed, Juniper, Packet’ In many cases, they do a very good job with the latency, especially if the main source of the problem is ignored issues CIFS WAN (copy / open / edit files using Windows)’

The first step, in my opinion, is finding the path IP packets take’ May cause a delay if your connection is via satellite and not a land line (Earthbound wireless, fiber or basement, etc)

First, I would say that the way of tracking packages ””’ then an SLA with your service provider and see if they can guarantee the quality you have in the configuration of biological weapons, delay, jitter, etc’

I will not jump into buying or installing anything before!

Note that all-latency WAN accelerators issues’ Therefore, choose a provider that has the WAN acceleration’ But the choice of law is not easy’ It depends on your WAN traffic’

If you use applications (like Citrix, SAP), an accelerator to prioritize traffic (or PACKET Ipanema) offers the best results’ However, if the traffic is directed to the file (MS-Office) ””’ you get the best results with the data reduction accelerators like Riverbed, Juniper and Cisco Citrix’ In general, it is likely to get better results with Riverbed’

Wan aircraft optimizations only affect the flow of TCP’ If you have any problems with the latency of UDP flows (VoIP) I do not think you can do something against this (real-time traffic is very sensitive to latency)

About the optimization of generic TCP streams, you will find many suppliers in the market for the sale of products that matches your needs: WanScaler Citrix, Cisco WAAS, Juniper, Riverbed, Expand, and probably many other suppliers ” ‘

Here’s the catch, they used to mask the effects of latency (not to hide the latency, because there are hidden effects), the WAN optimization solutions as a transparent TCP proxy, spoofing d ” IP address of the server to the client and the client IP spoofing and the server TCP Ack messages sent locally’ So you do not have to wait for the travel time back and forth to get the message ACK’ Enables you to ” fill the pipe fast’ This is a great solution to avoid the effects of latency, the performance of TCP is very sensitive to latency, because of the return Ack messages, including control of congestion has a terrible start when TCP connections’

Also apply selective ACK with large windows and the initial flow control using the total bandwidth of the WAN link’ Add to that the mechanisms of compression to artificially increase the available bandwidth, and some optimizations of the layer 7 (mainly for file sharing CIFS, HTTP, but also basa compression), QoS built things, and you have a vision of set of so-called “Wan optimization’

Whatever supplier you choose, all of them to implement what has been described previously’