Unit 25 Routing Concepts

·       Aim

To provide learners with an understanding of the complexities of routing and routed networks, which includes the management of reliable communication across a distributed LAN or WAN infrastructure.

·       Unit abstract

Networks such as the internet have become a part of everyday life with many commercial, educational and governmental organisations having ownership or access to a routed network infrastructure. Where any system has to endure segmentation, for security, traffic management or distance communication, a routed infrastructure ensures the persistence of communication and the management of data transfer.

The impact of a routed network across an organisation requires the up-skilling of staff, changes to the physical environment and changes to commercial procedures. For example connectivity between departments may take a new routed pathway, and access, security and ownership of data may change as a result of the addition of routed subnets to the network. Learners will understand that consideration must be given to not only the physical network but the organisational culture as well.

Learners will also understand how routing affects network communication and how routers utilise protocols to ‘learn’ about the changing topology in a network infrastructure in order to offer reliable data transfer.

·       Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit a learner will:

1. Understand the impact of routing technologies
2. Be able to design complex routed environments
3. Be able to implement complex routed environments
4. Be able to troubleshoot and monitor routed environments.

Unit content

1         Understand the impact of routing technologies

Routing hardware: hardware eg access routers, distribution routers, core switches, layer 3 switches

Routing protocols: protocol eg interior routing protocols, exterior routing, static routing

Protocol management: management eg redistribution between protocols, route maps, route filters

Device management: management eg password control, access levels, configuration storage, remote access

Network management: types eg address allocation, interface configuration, load balancing, mirroring, costing routes, changing metrics, hop-count

Security: requirements eg MD5 hash (Message Digest), update control, access control lists, directed updates, tunnelling

2         Be able to design complex routed environments

Devices: types eg expected average number of routing devices on system Bandwidth: types eg expected average load; anticipated peak load; cost constraint Users: types eg quality expectations, concept of system growth

Applications: types eg allowing, denying ingress/egress

Communications: types eg suited to devices, suited to users, suited to environment

Scalable: types eg able to support network growth, able to support addition of communication devices, able to cope with bandwidth use and trend change

Security: network access, protocol management

Technology: network design, routing table reduction, protocol management, convergence time, protocol specific, number of hops, routing table size

3         Be able to implement complex routed environments

Devices: types eg access routers, distribution routers, core switches, layer 3 switches; installation of routing devices; allocation of networks; routing device configuration

Specialised configuration: eg routing protocol, redistribution, interfaces, network address allocation, security features

Security: types eg ACL’s (Access Control Lists), MD5 authentication, routing device

Connectivity: types eg suitable bandwidth, communication infrastructure, throughput

Testing: systems eg local communication, end-to-end communication; security; bandwidth; routing table validity

4         Be able to troubleshoot and monitor routed environments

Infrastructure performance: network monitoring tools, user access, traffic analysis, bandwidth monitoring, checking configuration, checking rules, show commands, traceroute

Resolve issues: use troubleshooting methodology; make change to resolve issue; prove resolution

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria

Learning outcomes   On successful completion of this unit a learner will:	Assessment criteria for pass   The learner can:
LO1 Understand the impact of routing technologies	evaluate current routing hardware and routing protocolsevaluate device and network managementevaluate current security requirements
LO2 Be able to design complex routed environments	design a routed environment to meet a given specification.evaluate design and analyse user feedback
LO3 Be able to implement complex routed environments	implement a routed environment from a design specificationtest the routed environmentdocument and analyse test results
LO4 Be able to troubleshoot and monitor routed environments	monitor and evaluate infrastructure performance against a given specificationresolve issues to improve performance.

Guidance

Links to National Occupational Standards, other BTEC units, other BTEC qualifications and other relevant units and qualifications

The learning outcomes associated with this unit are closely linked with:

Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Unit 5: Managing Networks	Unit 2: Computer Systems	Unit 36: Internet Server Management
Unit 9: Computer Networks	Unit 24: Networking Technologies	Unit 43: Networking Infrastructure
Unit 10: Communication Technologies	Unit 26: Design a Small or Home Office Network	Unit 44: Local Area Networking Technologies
Unit 32: Networked Systems Security	Unit 27: Network Operating Systems	Unit 45: Wide Area Networking Technologies
	Unit 28: IT Support for End Users	Unit 46: Network Security

This unit has links to the Level 4 and Level 5 National Occupational Standards for IT and Telecoms Professionals, particularly the areas of competence of:

• IT/Technology Infrastructure Design and Planning
  • Systems Development
  • IT/ Technology Service Operations and Event Management
  • IT/Technology Management and Support
  • Change and Release Management.