Top 5 Branches Office Design Tips

Planning for a branch office roll out is like going to your inlaws family reunion. You just know in the end there is going to be trouble… It is difficult to find a good formula that addresses the needs of the branch. The bean counters look at the branch from a low port count point of view and push non managed devices or even hand me downs from the central LAN. Looking back at the branch office/replicated sites I have rolled out in the past, I have noticed five things in common across the board that seem to contribute to a successful roll out for the IT staff, Management and Bean Counters. Tip 00×01 Build a template. I am the first to scream against using a cookie cutter approach in building out networks. In the branch office, I think it is critical. Have a simple IBM style flow chart that looks at; cable plant, seats supports, number of closets, voip, service level agreement, etc. Then build out your set up scripts add the new branch to the NOC support plan and start deployin’ Not only is this easier on you by far, but now bean counters can see the IT cost associated with a roll out and management can do people planning better…/insert joke here Tip 00×02 Accelerate the WAN. I am a big fan of WAN accelerators. I have tested and installed most of the popular one on the market today. Personally, I like the Cisco WAAS module best of all. Now I know y’all are thinkin’ “whatta a knob! of course he likes WAAS he works for Cisco doesn’t he read Gartner?” True I work for Cisco and no I do not read any analyst that has never been in the field and built street cred yo. They write about that in the networking geek handbook; Something about talkin’ the talk… I have really beat that product up in testing big time. I love the conf options, performance, management and modular design of WAAS. Either way, WAN acceleration is a great way to optimize bandwidth for a low cost and certain a MUST in branch deployment. Tip 00×03 Let end users focus on their job. Training end users in network security is important but all too many times, I see IT departments go from security awareness training to Navy SEAL Team level intense security bootcamp training. I actually watched a group of end users jogging thru the breezeways carrying a Proliant server over their heads singin’ cadence. Install a client protection software package on the end users machines. I absolutely love Cisco’s CSA. Out of all the products that Cisco sells, CSA is one of my top three favorites. Version 6 is out now and it is really a smokin’ hot product. The management options, monitoring, flexibility and behavioral protection is amazing. Protecting the clients is so much more then just antivirus software. Data Leakage Protection has too be planned for in any network, but even more so at the branch. Tip 00×04 Service Level Agreement. This is a real tough one to get folks to agree on. The trick is not to look at the branch as staying in communication with the central site but how long can they conduct normal business when communication is broken between the main site. This includes things like VOIP dial plans to the PSTN, IP services like DHCP, DNS, Application work flow, etc. Cisco features like SRST solve the VOIP issue but also some newer stuff like Windows on WAAS and the most awesome Cisco AXP module that allows you to build applications on ISR module that can run locally. Also, factor in trouble ticket call to resolution time with this branch autonomy. It should go down if the branch can operate independently, thereby lower your cost. Tip 00×05 18 month design. A branch office should been designed to scale and add users after initial deployment for 18 months. Now sometimes that requires a bit of guess work. I have heard all types of methods, but truthfully I just look at users and add 20% for 288 users and below. 288 is a mighty darn big branch office. But also consider that folks that you can support via telecommuting. That requires sizing out a VPN concentrator and running encryption software on any and every laptop that leaves your physical property. I am hearing more and more stuff in the field about branch office design. Cisco has some really good planning docs on this subject AND: *********************** Shameless Plug Alert!!!! *********************** Robb Boyd and I put together a TechWiseTV show on using newer technologies to supercharge the branch office without destroying your capital outlay budget. Check it at: http://bit.ly/1xiHEW if you like longer URLs that look more offical then you can click on this one: http://www.cisco.com/go/semreg/septemberempbr/166495_31 We certainly hope y’all will tune in! Also, these are not hard and fast rules, just my experience in the field. I love building out branch roll outs, so please share your ideas here as well! Well, I gotta go and try to talk my wife out of heading to Toledo for another reunion, I get tired of bailing her kin out of jail…. Jimmy Ray