Your edge devices play a critical role in your network management. While the muscle (or core) of your network does the heavy lifting – forwarding packets of data to other network layers – the edge houses crucial functions such as network security and content filtering. Whether in the LAN, WAN or data center, devices on the network edge require much greater performance capabilities.
The edge of your network simply requires more protocols and features, which means greater configuration. But configuring the right set of appliances and devices is a complex ordeal. Joel Snyder of BizTech recommends that you “switch where you can, [and] route where you must.”
The IT consultant with over 30 years’ experience believes that a good start to better network management is separating the user access component of your network from data center elements. These “zones,” as he calls them, have very different performance and reliability requirements. This clear separation gives you the ability to emphasize the purpose of a network when you are designing it. Using an edge device for each layer protects those different zones.
Solving Problems With Edge Devices
An article on Network Computing details the many high-performance functions carried out by edge connectors and other devices. In the LAN edge, for example, implementing QoS policy here is critical. It’s implemented closest to the source. For instance, you should be protecting the network traffic at the edge, so implementing a QoS policy here is a recommended best practice.
On the other side of the equation is the edge of data center networks, where virtualization has made defining the edge here a little less black and white. But it is essentially a virtual access switch.
Orhan Ergun of Network Computing provides the following example, discussing Cisco’s FabricPath:
“While the FabricPath leaf layer is implemented at the aggregation layer, the spine might be at the core. While the spine only knows how to route at Layer 2 to the leaf switches, the leaf nodes can learn the addresses from both the classical Ethernet side and from the FabricPath core.”
Edge devices simply help you maintain the sanctity of a network by safeguarding against oversubscription and maintaining network fluidity and performance, whether in the LAN, WAN or data center.