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Introduction:

I have recommended, several times, in the last few years, that each year, during June-August sometime, you engage in an activity that I call "Annual Network Architecture Review". Recently I've had several inquiries into "exactly" what an "Annual Network Architecture Review" is / does / what is the outcome, but most of the questions are related to "why should I do this". I hope that this web-page will answer a few of those questions for you. IF, after reading through this - you still have questions or issues, then please drop me an e-mail, and/or call me, and we'll help you figure out what you don't know and how, perhaps, I can help you out...

There are several reasons for this exercise:

1. Encourage both management as well as administrators to "step-back" for a little while and take an objective view of their network architecture & what is connected to it. Our networks are literally the backbone (pun intended) of our business. They are the key enabler of our employees being able to efficiently & profitably deliver to our customers.

1. Prepare some information on capital / expense spending for the following fiscal year (because budgets are prepared in the September-October time frame) if you do this ANAR in the June-August time-frame, then the output of your ANAR can be the input to your management's budgeting process.

1. If you don't engage in some activity such as this, on an annual basis, eventually, someone somewhere, will realize your network needs major re-architecting and you haven't planned for either the people-time nor the capital and expense budgets to do so. If you find yourself in this situation, then you'll ultimately impact your users, your customers and your profitability.

There are a lot of different ways to do this exercise, and I won't pretend that I know the best way, much less can convince you to do it that way. So I'll leave the methodolgy up to you to decide. However I think I can offer some suggestions on the subject-matter-items that you might want to cover.

Items you may want to consider in your ANAR, tailored to your site's needs & situation:

1.) WAN Connectivity:--------------------------------

• IS our existing connectivity to our ISP or to the "InterNET" sufficient to carry us through the next 12 months of business expansion.  OR do we need to make a plan to give to our IT / ISP / Connectivity people to help us expand our WAN capacity some time during the next 12 months
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• Do our existing router(s) have the capacity both in terms of CPU & of number of interfaces (serial and/or ethernet) in order to carry us through the next 12 months.
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• Same question for a Firewall (hardware or software) - is it going to cope with our business expansion?
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• Will we require an "XLAN"? (WAN or MAN connection to an external customer and/or external contract software developers or other contractors). This paperwork & technical implementation process can take up to six months, so if this is going to be required it will take quite a bit of advance planning.
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• Do we plan to add any new projects in the next 12 months that will put additional strains on the WAN connectivity. 
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• That is, for instance, projects that will include:
• Significant communications needs, not already addressed, at connecting with our remote offices, and utlizing desktop video-conferencing, or unusual file-transfer loads.
• Cross-centre "administrative overhead" or "office-automation" needs such as database replications, accounting records, desktop video conferencing, etc.

2.) LAN infrastructure:----------------------------------------------

• Is our existing LAN infrastructure capable of handling today's requirements (not even yet considering growth); is it sufficient, today, in terms of:
• latency, bandwidth, number of connection ports, switch or router capacity?
• if it has significant shortcommings today, what must we do to bring it up to par for today's needs (this is documented in one section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures (this section probably labelled "remedial improvement"))
• Can we define what needs we will have in the next 12 months (or more).
• A "for-instance" - there has been a lot of talk in the last 12 months or so about desktop video-conferencing. On some of our existing 10-base-T shared LANs - more than 2-3 users with this application will create problems. Are your LAN segments capable of handling desktop-video-conferencing?
• Can we then define what hardware and/or software we will need to purchase, install, configure, etc. in order to meet the needs outlined above?
• What equipment list / purchase order will this generate?
• Will these needs expansion require additional headcount, and at what time?
• Will our contract(s) with Global Staffing Organization (shared services) be able to execute on this headcount requirement in a timely manner, or must we bring this task "in-house"?
• this is documented in another section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures(this section probably labelled "future").

3.) Server environment:---------------------------------------------

• Is our existing server-farm capable of handling today's requirements (not even yet considering growth); is it sufficient, today, in terms of:
• CPU-capacity, hard-disk(s), memory, response-time, etc.
• if it has significant shortcommings today, what can we do to bring it up to par for today's needs (this is documented in one section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures (this section probably labelled "remedial improvement")
• Can we define what needs we will have in the next 12 months (or more).
• Can we then define what hardware and/or software we will need to purchase, install, configure, etc. in order to meet the needs outlined above?
• this is documented in another section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures(this section probably labelled "future").

4.) Desktop computing environment:-------------------------------

• Is our existing desktop computing (or X11-capacity) capable of handling today's requirements (not even yet considering growth); is it sufficient, today, in terms of:
• if it has significant shortcommings today, what can we do to bring it up to par for today's needs (this is documented in one section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures (this section probably labelled "remedial improvement")
• Can we define what needs we will have in the next 12 months (or more).
• Can we then define what hardware and/or software we will need to purchase, install, configure, etc. in order to meet the needs outlined above?
• this is documented in another section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures(this section probably labelled "future").

5.) Software Aplicatons or Tools environment:-----------------------------------

• Is our existing Software Applicatons and  Tools environment capable of handling today's requirements (not even yet considering growth); is it sufficient, today, in terms of:
•  
• if it has significant shortcommings today, what can we do to bring it up to par for today's needs (this is documented in one section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures (this section probably labelled "remedial improvement")
• Can we define what needs we will have in the next 12 months (or more).
• Can we then define what hardware and/or software we will need to purchase, install, configure, etc. in order to meet the needs outlined above?
• this is documented in another section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures(this section probably labelled "future").

6.) Office Communications & Connectivity(voice/PABX/fax) (recognizing SOME systems groups have responsibility for this, but some do not have responsibility for it):------

• Is our existing office communications & connectivity infrastructure capable of handling today's needs & desires?
• if it has significant shortcommings today, what can we do to bring it up to par for today's needs (this is documented in one section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures (this section probably labelled "remedial improvement")
• Can we define what needs we will have in the next 12 months (or more).
• Can we then define what hardware and/or software we will need to purchase, install, configure, etc. in order to meet the needs outlined above?
• this is documented in another section of the report, with appropriate cost & performance figures(this section probably labelled "future")
• In the realm of PABX / Fax - we also need to consider that admin-assistants / receptionists & secretaries typically may have a higher degree of HR-turn-over so we need to determine if we are staffed to continuously train the new-talent we will get in this area?
• Do we have backup hardware &/or software for these functions? _ what if our PABX card-cage goes dead ? - is part of our Disaster Recovery Scenario such that we can 'live' without a PABX for several days? - has this been cussed and/or discussed with management

7.) Support department tools, people, hardware, software:--------------

Does the existing support department have the following capabilities to handle our future tactical (12 month) growth projections:

• Skilled, long-term-commitment networking, systems, security, help-desk, operations & management people.
• Training: either in-house or scheduled, with a written program for existing and new staff and with a committed budget.
• Hardware & Software, such-as:
• Tape-backup units -in particular: will existing single-drive or multi-drive tape stackers continue to be able to keep-ahead of the projected growth in our data needs.
• Gnats and/or other problem ticket management & distribution & data collection system or systems. IF we are too small for this system, will it be required in the next year, and do we have the staff time & hardware to implement it?
• UPS systems. Are existing UPSs capable of handling next-year's growth or do we need to review their capacity vs our existing load-potential and increase the capacity of our UPSs as we grow?
• Pager / alert / monitoring / call-out system(s): what are we using, is it sufficient, will it be sufficient a year from now?
• Books / documentation: many times we expand / grow our operations, yet we fail to get and/or keep adequate documentation on the new hardware, software, and other items we must support. At a critical juncture we find nothing available for a reference. This is an ideal time to identify these needs and address them with a budget request, if necessary.
• Other items as might be applicable to your site / locale / legal / HR / culture.

• Strategic-Career-Path-Planning in place: Does / do both admin management & staff understand the needs for, and participate in this process. We have identified that Security Audit Score "success" is directly related to number of years of systems & networks administration experience. Therefore it pays, highly, to attempt to retain as many senior staff as possible.   At this time of "review" it might be appropriate to review what is possible and what is not, and how an organization might make steps to discuss careers with their admin staff.

And - Remember, Finally: can we put quotes & costs with this / these needs to present to managment?