Cabletron Systems bridges Manuel D’Utilisation

Ethernet Workgroup Design

6-5

Ethernet

When designing a new workgroup, one of the first tasks to be confronted is the 
selection of a technology and an approach to the network. These selections are 
based on the organization of the workgroups, as discussed in Chapter 5, Network 
Design

, the scale (or population) of the workgroups, and the anticipated 

bandwidth requirements of each workgroup or each station in the workgroup. 

In the examples which follow, the decision of a networking technology and 
approach to the workgroup has already been determined by the Network 
Designer. In the real world, these decisions will have to be approached in a 
sensible and thoughtful manner, because the selection of these aspects will 
determine the operational and design characteristics of the network for the long 
and short runs.

A home office is any location with a small number of stations, low data transfer 
needs, and limited expected expansion requirements. While most networks of this 
sort are located in homes or small family businesses, the “home office” 
description can also apply to small, minimal-growth departments within a state 
of the art enterprise network.

Typically, home offices have no need of the advanced capabilities that are 
available in the more expensive, high-end networking devices, capabilities such 
as segmentation and switching, management, statistics tracking, or security. 

As home offices have such limited requirements, they quite frequently need 
nothing more complex than a single standalone device. This can mean a 
significant cost savings over other network implementations, such as modular 
chassis or even stackable hubs. 

The section which follows explains some of the decisions that must be made 
when approaching a design for a home office or similar small workgroup. This is 
followed by an example scenario which goes through these steps and displays 
one way of meeting the networking needs that are defined for that network.