Use the following checklist to aid in gathering information for your architectural design.

Table 1. 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)

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

“Determine the organization’s requirements” on page 26

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.

“Obtain network information” on page 26

If possible, schedule and discover the network.

Schedule a time to inventory the organization’s network using the discovery process.

“Obtain network information” on page 26

Describe the organization’s network priorities.

Document these priorities in the deployment build guide.

“Network priorities” on page 29

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.

“Determine requirements for installing software” on page 29

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.

“Determine requirements for installing software” on page 29

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.

“Integrating existing software with EMC Smarts software” on page 30

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.

“Identify the types of equipment in the network” on page 29

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.

“Determine number of managed network devices” on page 30

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.

“Accounting for network growth” on page 35

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.

“Determine quantities of devices for licensing” on page 36

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 VMware, Inc. supports MD5 and SHA authentication protocols), privacy protocol and password (currently VMware, Inc. supports AES and DES privacy protocols), and context name, if used.

Document the security features in the deployment build guide.

“Gather network security information” on page 37

List any other network requirements or features that might affect the VMware Smart Assurance deployment.

Document the features in the deployment build guide.

“Other network features affecting deployment design” on page 38