Introduction

Main subject of course: methods of planning

(design) of communication/computer
networks
What is network planning?
In one sentence: mapping given requirements into
a network.

In other words: find the network design that

satisfies the requirements with as low cost as
possible.
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Why is it important?
A network (especially a large one) is a big
investment.
Even few percents of cost savings can make a
significant difference.
The quality of the network for a company or
institution may have a strong influence on how
well the business can go.
The design may also have a strong effect on
future investments (extension, upgrade, changing
requirements etc).
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Example

Answer

Example
The above example is for illustrative purposes.
A similar argument holds for optical cables
Refer to the bust of early 2000s too much
optical fiber

A typical scenario
Given requirements/input:
Traffic demands among various sites (traffic matrix)
Traffic characteristics (constant or variable rate, delay tolerance,
burstiness etc)
Performance requirements (delay and loss bounds, data rate
guarantees, etc)
Conditions on network topology (example: should provide backup
route in case of a link/node failure)
Cost structure
Other: reliability, security, manageability, business and political
priorities etc.

Available information is often incomplete, inaccurate,

indirect.
Finding full information may be infeasible
Often needs to rely on (rough) estimations.
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Task
Given the requirements (known or estimated), find:
Network topology: what to connect to what

Technology: what kind of equipment and links to use

Dimensions (capacities of links and equipment)
Map traffic onto network (flow routing)
Implementation plan (from which vendors to buy
equipment, Internet service etc.)
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Other issues
Future proof design: plan the network to serve the
current demand plus the projected future demand
increment within the planning time horizon.
Again the telecom bust of 2000s.
Dilemma:
Short term view: minimize cost for now. May need costly upgrade
soon.
Long term view: overdesign now with extra cost, but save more
later, on the long term.

Security
Reliability
Manageability
Business and political priorities
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Requirements in practice (example)

Initial requirements
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How do we derive actual traffic demands from this, if the management

does not provide more info?
We may feel we never solve the design problem
Answer: Never say never!

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User questionnaire

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Second iteration
of requirements

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Requirements map

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Another example of a requirements map

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Network Planning Process

Network planning process involves three main
steps:
Topological design: This stage involves determining
where to place the components and how to connect
them. The (topological) optimisation methods that can
be used in this stage come from an area of mathematics
called Graph Theory. These methods involve determining
the costs of transmission and the cost of switching, and
thereby determining the optimum connection matrix and
location of switches and concentrators.[1]
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Network Planning Process

Network-synthesis: This stage involves
determining the size of the components used,
subject to performance criteria such as the
Grade of Service (GOS). The method used is
known as "Nonlinear Optimisation", and
involves determining the topology, required
GoS, cost of transmission, etc., and using this
information to calculate a routing plan, and
the size of the components.[1]
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Network Planning Process

Network realization: This stage involves
determining how to meet capacity
requirements, and ensure reliability within the
network. The method used is known as
"Multicommodity Flow Optimisation", and
involves determining all information relating
to demand, costs and reliability, and then
using this information to calculate an actual
physical circuit plan.[1]
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 These steps are interrelated and are therefore

performed iteratively, and in parallel with one
another.

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Dimensioning
The purpose of dimensioning a new network/service
is to determine the minimum capacity requirements
that will still allow the Teletraffic Grade of Service
(GoS) requirements to be met. To do this,
dimensioning involves planning for peak-hour traffic,
i.e. that hour during the day during which traffic
intensity is at its peak.
A dimensioning rule is that the planner must ensure
that the traffic load should never approach a load of
100 percent
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Load Balancing
Load balancing is a computer networking methodology to
distribute workload across

multiple computers or a computer cluster,

network links,
central processing units,
disk drives, or other resources,

to achieve optimal resource utilization, maximize

throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload.

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Load Balancing
Using multiple components with load balancing, instead of a
single component, may increase reliability through
redundancy.
The load balancing service is usually provided by dedicated
software or hardware, such as a multilayer switch or a Domain
Name System server.
Eg

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Network Monitoring
The term network monitoring describes the
use of a system that constantly monitors a
computer network for slow or failing
components and
that notifies the network administrator (via
email, sms, pager or other alarms) in case of
outages.
It is a subset of the functions involved in
network management
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Why is network planning hard?

We want to find a design that minimizes the cost,
such that all requirements are satisfied.
Impossible to try out all possible design choices
Typically there is an astronomical number of possibilities
(practically infinite)
Efficient algorithms are needed, looking for clever
shortcuts.

Generates very hard optimization problem

It is often hard to come up even with a good formulation!
Finding a globally optimal solution is usually hopeless

So, what can be done?

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Ways out
Segment (decompose) the problem into
relatively simpler ones.
Solve each separately
There may be more chance to get close to
optimum within the subproblem.

Put together the parts

Combined optimum is not guaranteed, even if
each subproblem is solved optimally.
But at least we put together good parts.
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Decomposition Example
Design network topology, based on the
topology requirements only.
Dimension link capacities and equipment, for
the already found network topology.
Map traffic onto network (flow routing), for
the dimensioned network topology.

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Sample problem
(arises as part of topology design)

Minimum how many link failures can disconnect this network?

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More questions
Is it possible to design routes
in this network topology,
such that there is always a
link-disjoint backup route,
when the main route fails
between two nodes?
(Path protection)
Is it always possible to find a
backup route for any given
route if it fails?
Such questions lead to the
systematic study of
protection mechanisms.
Becomes harder if capacities
and costs are involved.
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Even more
Still too easy? All right, then answer this one:
How many link failures can significantly disconnect it, in the
sense that no connected component contains more than, say,
75% of nodes?

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How about this network?

Clearly, guessing is very unreliable here; systematic algorithms are needed.

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Analysis vs. Design (Synthesis)

The sample questions were analysis questions:
given a network topology (represented by a
graph) what are its properties?
Design (synthesis) question: given some
properties (requirements), find a network
topology of minimum cost that satisfies them.
Usually harder than analysis.

One has to learn about analysis methods first to

attack synthesis issues.
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A sample topology design problem

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Given a cost matrix for n nodes (ci,j = cost of connecting nodes i,j)
There may be disallowed links: ci,j =
Find a network topology, such that
It is connected
No single link failure can disconnect it
The total cost is minimum.

Hard problem, no efficient algorithm is known to find the exact

optimum. Not even likely to exist! (NP-complete)
But: efficient approximations are known, with performance
guarantees.
Quality may further improve if extra information is available.
Examples of such extra information:
Costs satisfy triangle inequality (distance-proportional costs).
Allowed links have equal cost
(unweighted minimum cost 2-connected subgraph problem).
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What if even a subproblem is too hard?

(it can easily happen, as the examples suggest)
Find the optimum, if you can.
If no optimum can be guaranteed, or it takes too much
time to find it, then we are satisfied with an
approximate optimum.
If not even a good approximation can be guaranteed,
then satisfied with a heuristic solution
(= approximation of unknown quality).
What if not even heuristics is available?...
Too bad, but it practically never happens with an expert
We can always do something!

But: how do we know which of the above applies?

No easy answer!
Only way out: you need to know many techniques
and results. (Thats why we are here!!)

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