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Campus Internetworks

model. And you will learn how to design networks based on switch and core
blocks.

This chapter, then, will provide you with a thorough overview of campus

network design (past, present, and future) and teach you how, as a network
administrator, to choose the most appropriate technology for a particular
network's needs. This will allow you to configure and design your network
now, with the future in mind.

Campus Internetworks

t doesn't seem that terribly long ago that the mainframe ruled the

world and the PC was just used to placate some users. However, in their
arrogance, mainframe administrators never really took the PC seriously, and
like rock `n' roll naysayers, they said it would never last. Maybe they were
right after all--at least in a way. In the last year or two, server farms have
replaced distributed servers in the field.

In the last 15 years we have seen operators and managers of the main-

frame either looking for other work or taking huge pay cuts. Their elitism
exacerbated the slap in the face when people with no previous computer
experience were suddenly making twice their salary after passing a few key
certification exams.

Mainframes were not necessarily discarded, they just became huge stor-

age areas for data and databases. The NetWare and NT server took over as
a file/print server and soon started running most other programs and appli-
cations as well.

The last 20 years have witnessed the birth of the LAN and the growth of

WANs and the Internet. So where are networks headed in the twenty-first
century? Are we still going to see file and print servers at all branch loca-
tions? Are all workstations just going to connect to the Internet with ISPs to
separate the data, voice, and other multimedia applications?

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