Chapter 1. Analyzing Business Goals and Constraints

This chapter serves as an introduction to the rest of the book by describing top-down network design. The first section explains how to use a systematic, top-down process when designing computer networks for your customers. Depending on your job, your customers might be other departments within your company, those to whom you are trying to sell products, or clients of your consulting business.

After describing the methodology, this chapter focuses on the first step in top-down network design: analyzing your customer's business goals. Business goals include the capability to run network applications to meet corporate business objectives, and the need to work within business constraints, such as budgets, limited networking personnel, and tight timeframes.