Redundancy and Traffic Management in a Small Network

Redundancy In a Small Network

Redundancy is another important factor of the network design. Its provide reliability in the network. In a business community, the breakdown of the network can be very costly. So, to maintain reliability in the small network, the redundancy is must be required in the network design. It helps to get rid of single points of network failure. There are several ways to achieve redundancy in the small network.

The network redundancy can be taken by installing standby and alternate network devices e.g router and switches but it can also be taken by installing duplicate network links for important areas within the network. In the case of redundancy, When the primary path is not available, the redundant path can immediately start to make sure minimal downtime and continuity of network services. 

The Small networks normally give a single route in the direction Internet using one or more default gateways. If the gateway fails, the whole network loses connectivity to the Internet. So, in this case, it may be suitable for a small business network to pay for a second service provider as a backup. The figure below illustrates network redundancy. 

Traffic Management

The traffic management is another consideration for network administrators. There are different types of traffic and their behavior in the network design to be considered. The real-time traffic required configuration of router and switches, such as voice and video; in a different way relative to other data traffic. A good network design will categorize traffic according to the priority of traffic; as shown in the below table how traffic is categorized. In the end, to enhance the efficiency of the staff and minimize network downtime is important for a small network to minimize downtime.

 

Voice	High Priority	Real-Time Traffic
Video	High Priority	Real-Time Traffic
SMTP	Medium Priority
Internet Messaging	Normal Priority
TCP	Normal Priority
File Transfer Protocol	Low priority