What to consider when evaluating the hardware for the network infrastructure (routers, etc, etc)

If you have placed in the unenviable position of making decisions about choosing a hardware solution for network infrastructure, business .... LAN or WAN .... evaluation can be overwhelming. Without a plan you are destined to failure .... and a huge headache.

Note that it is important to consider the culture of your company and what are the characteristics of values.

For example, if the values ​​of independence in it - or sees it as its core business - canare more likely to seek the "best of breed solution. If it is below the center of society, as a solution widely implemented properly it can be easy to find experts on the work of the election will be the solution.

In short, so that the list of properties that we all want a piece of gear / seller is easy. Understand what is stress testing, the real challenge and analysis that should guide your decision really.

To make things go easier ..... Focus on theseeasily on the Internet your review.

The answer to number one is the integrity of the company. What is very important that the company must commit to their products work as advertised and documented, and no compromise on quality.

Another important factor, but it will be customer service and technical support. What is the time to turn around for parts that are defective is received. When it comes to technical support, or are responsibleProduct certification, which support the platforms and runs on the product.

Base the evaluation of the supplier at the top and the rest will follow.

More .... confirm the design requirements, the amount of network traffic, the type of traffic (data, VoIP, etc.), the number of remote networks, WAN, future growth, redundancy. Cisco is an online tool that suggests answers to these appropriate device based on the type of questions.

If the cost if there were no object, you do well withCisco. It may be useful to evaluate Foundry, Juniper and, depending on your needs and solutions for SMEs, it can also consider options such as open source Vyatta router / firewall.

Over the years I have seen people work around this problem, all in a variety of ways. What I most often the desire to focus more documentation / product analysis and diligence, without attention to what is seen to create the game.

It is not too complicated the issue - focus on their specificNeeds, and be sure to exclude for the future. What you need now, can only be the icebreaker for what are the needs for the future - be sure to scale from a plan.

The other big problem that I think will be overlooked remaining cost of the equipment purchased. Many companies are Gung Ho purchased for maintenance every year .... Remember that there is a cost associated with downtime, and is prohibitive in some environments, in some it is a non-impact. This factorThe things in your evaluation as well as expenses to support the solution.

For a quick checklist:

* First evaluate known and trusted brands, if possible, since the question of the continued support of the company and the availability of repair and replacement would be a major concern of a significant investment.

* Second - Choose the right level of product safety for the job. Do not pay more functionality, if the client would never, never (be careful, things canChange in use) these things. Do not buy the limo, if you only have a bike.

* Third - compare performance, price and average time between failures (MTBF). Search "end of life announcements. If you are looking for a bargain or do what the longevity is a good clue.

* Fourth - Google the product (s) in question to find reviews and opinions of others.

* Fifth - Hands-on evaluation to help with an invitation to the final product.

Somewhere here, you may need to consider the need forfor failover or redundancy. If this device provides a single point of failure without a backup .... warranty policy of the ship or the local availability of cross can be decisive.

General ..... It all starts with knowing your needs. The routers have the ability to create networks with different media, connect to various networking techniques in conjunction. Examples are fiber-to-Ethernet UTP and ADSL. And 'course, you should have a device that can meet your needs. Your needs change in the future, and ifthe device is able to adapt to these changes?

Other considerations are security ..... stand the unit on the outskirts of the network, with the risk of being attacked, or is connected somewhere in the middle of your LAN, only sections of the nucleus. In the first case, you could do something with a set of firewall, in the second case, a Layer 3 switch.

Do not forget ..... What is the amount of traffic that the router needs to process.

Once you know what youneed, and bring your white list for devices that meet the needs, more choices must be made.

When it comes to IT in general, money is a big problem. How do I adjust as something that costs money to see. So at first thought, the unit price is important.

BUT ...

You should also check that, for the management of the network environment. If start-up costs are low, but spend much time keeping up and running, it is difficult to adapt toChanges or your company suffer from power outages ..... The management will not be happy. We must look at the figures of MTBF, Mean Time Between Failure, and how quickly you can get a replacement. Some place exotic brands can be a problem.

For routers really important you should have a hot standby configuration, which costs more but automatically switches to a failure without anyone knowing the primary router is dead. Except you, of course, as we haveMonitoring of both devices.

Another important point relating to the management of equipment, how it fits into your IT department. If the network engineering department is a group of highly qualified specialists Juniper, Cisco leads the purchase of an additional cost for training.

Boiling down here is the real message:

First, as with any business considerations must be taken into account the costs, it makes no sense to look to the top of the market when the operation is on coursePoint. It is worth discounting the cheapest options at the earliest, if the company is willing to provide the solution, not the cheapest pay.

The next test depends on the nature of your business, your need for security and reliability. But in general, companies need something more reliable. This means that if you have remote offices or remote areas with little support, you want something with a lot of time between failures. The safety often depends on the nature of your businessSecurity. Financial and medical information is considered more of a risk that most of the general data. There is always a basic need for security .... But once again, as always, must be a balance between cost, ease of use and safety. It should never be your only consideration. It also depends on the size of your IT support organization. Hundreds of people have access to this device .... or this will be limited to a select few? It is to centralize access and control is useful forDoes your organization?

Sustainability is also part of this equation, something can be very remote management capabilities, or something everyone can do easily. If you buy less material, may be more difficult to find the remote service personnel to help the situation. However, if you design systems well .... with spare parts and redundant paths .... a central office can do this for you. You see all depends on your approach.

Next whatScala, has forecast growth for the future. There are new applications or new business acquisitions seriously affect the solution. If you say you move from one backbone bandwidth of a DS3 backbone OC3 bandwidth in a few years?

Once we have all seen the discussion must be consistent. Classify the different places and have set new standards in operating systems, hardware platforms, IP addressing and configuration for web sites. This is great from a TCO Perspective and supports the network more easily and economically. Even when using low-end devices that replaces a standard is available, it was much easier to try a new configuration in the heat of a power failure. The documentation also makes it easier is the core of world-class architecture. Support for websites without the documentation is always a nightmare.

For network designers, it is obvious features many considerations, but more often than recommended> Cisco solutions. I can recommend a Cisco perspective, security management, scalability and maintainability. However, it can be very expensive depending on your needs.

It's up to you to manage the balance between price and the rest. You may end up with a different provider for routing, switching, wireless, VoIP, etc. The important thing is to try to keep it manageable. The final price is not the total cost of view maintenance, support and reliabilityEquation. Sometimes the more expensive version has far better support than the cost under the advanced options at affordable prices.

The solution chosen in the end .... hopefully a well thought out plan to follow the process of inclusion of the above questions and suggestions.

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