A poorly designed network can increase support costs, reduce service availability, limitations when adopting new applications, and quickly become a support and cost burden for its users, with negative effects increasing over time.
Suboptimal performance, often caused by congestion and inadequate design, directly impacts end-users and their resource access. Even initially validated network architectures can degrade due to uncontrolled expansion.
For instance, a flat network without a structured design may lead to bandwidth sharing, broadcast domain issues, and unpredictable performance as devices and applications are added, emphasizing the critical importance of careful network design.
In poorly designed networks, several common issues tend to arise:
- Large Broadcast Domains: While necessary to a degree, large broadcast domains should have well-defined boundaries and a limited number of devices to mitigate their negative impact.
- Challenges in Administration and Management: Poor organization, documentation, and unclear traffic paths can lead to management and support difficulties, making maintenance and troubleshooting more challenging.
- Security Vulnerabilities: Inadequate network design may expose vulnerabilities, such as unsecured access points, unauthorized access, and weak traffic monitoring, making the network susceptible to attacks and data breaches.
- Failure Domains: Without clearly defined Layer 2 and Layer 3 boundaries, failures in one area can have cascading effects throughout the network, emphasizing the importance of a well-structured design.