internetworking
Network Design for a Small Business by Mike on June 3, 2010 · 6 comments in Server Management
This image represents a basic network plan for a small company. The goal of this article is to use this image to help describe basic concepts of networks and how they typically constructed as well as why they are designed the way they are. Of course there are many variations to this basic design. Many times the variations depend upon the needs of the company as well as the skills of those who work for the company.
Gateway
The Gateway connects two dissimilar networks. In this example the Gateway connects the Internet to the LAN and the DMZ which are both on different networks. The Gateway, as is often the case, also performs another function in that it acts as a firewall. The firewall is doing both Nat (Network Address Translation) to the LAN and port forwarding to the DMZ. Note that the DMZ is on a different network from the LAN.
LAN
The Local Area Network (LAN) is typically where you will place your workstations. This should be the most secure area of your network as this is where your company needs to protect its data as well as the workstations on the network. Typically the LAN is on a private network, which means that these IP Addresses on the LAN are not designed to route through your Gateway nor on the Internet they are only available on the local network.
Caching DNS Server
The LAN has a Caching DNS Server which the workstations point to for DNS resolution. The caching aspect allows the LAN to have faster access to commonly accessed sites as the server will cache this information for future use. The Caching DNS Server is only available to the local network and may be used to provide DNS resolution for the local workstations.
DHCP Server
The DHCP Server provides IP Addresses automatically to the workstations, network printers and to the wireless network as people hook up laptops to it. The IP Addresses can be assigned permanently to
This image represents a basic network plan for a small company. The goal of this article is to use this image to help describe basic concepts of networks and how they typically constructed as well as why they are designed the way they are. Of course there are many variations to this basic design. Many times the variations depend upon the needs of the company as well as the skills of those who work for the company.
Gateway
The Gateway connects two dissimilar networks. In this example the Gateway connects the Internet to the LAN and the DMZ which are both on different networks. The Gateway, as is often the case, also performs another function in that it acts as a firewall. The firewall is doing both Nat (Network Address Translation) to the LAN and port forwarding to the DMZ. Note that the DMZ is on a different network from the LAN.
LAN
The Local Area Network (LAN) is typically where you will place your workstations. This should be the most secure area of your network as this is where your company needs to protect its data as well as the workstations on the network. Typically the LAN is on a private network, which means that these IP Addresses on the LAN are not designed to route through your Gateway nor on the Internet they are only available on the local network.
Caching DNS Server
The LAN has a Caching DNS Server which the workstations point to for DNS resolution. The caching aspect allows the LAN to have faster access to commonly accessed sites as the server will cache this information for future use. The Caching DNS Server is only available to the local network and may be used to provide DNS resolution for the local workstations.
DHCP Server
The DHCP Server provides IP Addresses automatically to the workstations, network printers and to the wireless network as people hook up laptops to it. The IP Addresses can be assigned permanently to