Complex Integrated Networks

Discussion (20 Points):

“Complex Integrated Networks” Please respond to the following:

Per the text, in complex integrated networks, a combination of many different protocols and technologies deliver network services that support the enterprise applications. Identify the network elements that are interrelated, dependent, or independent of one another. Next, analyze the overall manner in which a failure in each area will affect other network elements. Provide one (1) example or scenario of such failure to support your response.

Isolate one (1) of the difficulties of communicating in the troubleshooting process and recommend one (1) way that the network troubleshooting engineer can do to overcome it. In your response, be sure to indicate the importance of communication at the reporting, data collection, analysis, testing, and solutions steps of the troubleshooting process. Provide a rationale to support your recommendation.

Response:

“Complex Integrated Networks”. Per the text, in complex integrated networks, a combination of many different protocols and technologies deliver network services that support the enterprise applications. The network elements that are interrelated, dependent, or independent of one another are varied. With respect to the OSI model, I believe no network elements are independent of one another. I would suggest that all network elements are interrelated, or dependent on each other, or run in parallel. The interrelated (related or connected to one another) network elements of an OSI model are would be seen as network performance through the physical and session layers as well as network security through all seven layers. All layers of an OSI model are dependent because each layer serves the upper layer and also depends upon the services from the lower layer. The parallel (side by side) elements of an OSI model are layers 1 through 7 stacked upon each other like 7 layer sandwich. The Application layer rests upon the Presentation layer and so on.

The overall manner in which a failure in each area will affect other network elements could be the loss of transmitted data. One (1) simple example or scenario of such a failure would be a malfunctioning or disconnected ethernet cable.

An isolation of one (1) of the difficulties of communicating in the network troubleshooting process is documentation. One (1) recommended approach that the network troubleshooting engineer can perform to overcome the difficulty is to document customers’ networks. Documenting can make the troubleshooting process much more efficient when problems arise. These same network documents can also help an engineer spot areas of a customers’ network that may need to be upgraded which could provide extra revenue. A good network documentation proves that an engineer has adhered to industry best practices, and could their best defense should a customer ever file litigation against the engineer for something network-related.