can be categorized into the following general areas:
analyzing traffic flow on an internetwork is much like looking at commuter traffic patterns in a
busy metropolis. During rush-hour traffic, bottlenecks slow traffic and affect commuters.
During periods of heavy usage, bottlenecks slow network traffic and affect network users. To
regulate traffic flow, large vehicles such as transfer trucks are restricted to certain highways and
certain lanes. To regulate traffic flow, bandwidth-intensive applications are restricted to certain
segments of the network.
could go from Point A to Point B without using a major highway. Likewise, some campus traffic
is local. Campus traffic that does not enter the backbone and does not cross a router is
considered local. Some commuter traffic is remote. In this situation, the phrase remote
commuter traffic suggests that the traveler might need to travel a great distance to go from Point
A to Point B and might need to use a major artery. Similarly, remote campus traffic refers to
network traffic that needs to cross the network backbone or travel through a router.
Understanding the traffic flow is important. Other design requirements such as scalability and
security depend on knowing the traffic behavior in the network.
prise servers support central functions such as e-mail, whereas distributed servers usually
support local user groups. As up-and-coming software applications continue to place a greater