Architectural information checklist

Use the following checklist to aid in gathering information for your architectural design.
Architectural information checklist
Complete
Task
Descripiton
Related documentation
Describe the organization’s requirements and expectations.
Organization’s vertical market: _______________________
(Reference to an organization’s documentation)
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Obtain network diagrams.
Ensure the diagrams include the locations of the following:
  • Network Operations Center (NOC) and LANs
  • Routing and switching devices
  • Firewalls
  • WAN links
  • High speed network technologies such as FDDI and Fast or Gigabit Ethernet
In addition, important IP addresses and address ranges should be indicated.
If possible, schedule and discover the network.
Schedule a time to inventory the organization’s network using the discovery process.
Describe the organization’s network priorities.
Document these priorities in the deployment build guide.
Get the organization’s testing/acceptance requirements.
Your design might be required to meet test and acceptance requirements. Obtain any specifications that cover integration testing, user acceptance testing, and operational acceptance testing. You might be required to write an installation or deployment report that follows an organization’s particular standards.
Describe the organization’s requirements for installing new software.
oLab installation and testingoStaging (
strongly
recommended)oPreproduction deploymentoShadow operation period (existing MoM still used)oOther __________________________________________
Document these requirements and how the design meets them in the deployment build guide.
List the products that currently monitor the network and will be integrated with the
VMware Smart Assurance
deployment.
The
VMware Smart Assurance
’ open architecture allows easy integration with third-party software. Many networks have at least a rudimentary network availability monitoring.
Document the products (including version) in deployment build guide.
List device types to manage.
To ensure devices are certified in
IP Manager
, obtain a list of the manufacturers and models for all devices in the network. Document the types of managed devices in the deployment build guide.
Determine the number of managed ports and interfaces in the network.
Document all quantities and calculations used to determine the number of managed ports and interfaces in the deployment build guide.
Estimate potential growth in quantity of managed devices.
The
VMware Smart Assurance
deployment must support potential network growth. Estimate the growth over a specific time period. Document the calculations in the deployment build guide.
Estimate number of managed systems and network adapters for licensing.
The
VMware Smart Assurance
deployment can only discover and manage the quantity of systems and network adapters that are licensed. Document the quantities in the deployment build guide.
Describe the network security.
Describe security features such as the firewalls that will be between parts of the
VMware Smart Assurance
deployment and if access lists are used.
Obtain SNMP security parameter values for each device where they are used: for SNMPv1 and v2c, obtain read community strings; for SNMPv3, obtain the username, SNMP engine ID (optional), authentication protocol and password (currently
supports MD5 and SHA authentication protocols), privacy protocol and password (currently
supports AES and DES privacy protocols), and context name, if used.
Document the security features in the deployment build guide.
List any other network requirements or features that might affect the
VMware Smart Assurance
deployment.
Document the features in the deployment build guide.