background image
W
e'll begin this book with a review of internetworks and a
discussion of the typical business requirements for their implementation in
today's marketplace. This discussion will lead naturally into exploring the
ubiquitous but avoidable problem of network congestion. Examining both
its causes and the solutions for controlling it, we'll describe the key require-
ments for a scalable internetwork. We'll also look to the Cisco three-layer
model for the inherent solutions it provides and unveil helpful Cisco IOS fea-
tures that will aid us in scaling large internetworks.
Internetworks
A
n
internetwork
is the communication structure that works to tie
LANs and WANs together. Its primary goal is to efficiently move informa-
tion anywhere within a corporation quickly, upon demand, and with com-
plete integrity. Today's users have become increasingly dependent on their
networks--just make a group of users' server or hub go offline and watch the
chaos that results around the office.
Where this has led--and what this means for corporations that want to
remain capable of competing in today's global market--is that the networks
they depend on today have to efficiently manage, on a daily basis, some or
all of the following:
Graphics and imaging
Files in the gigabyte range
Client/server computing
High network traffic loads
Copyright ©2001 SYBEX , Inc., Alameda, CA
www.sybex.com