Medium-Size Office Network

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Medium-size office network

A medium-size office network has the following characteristics:

  • Several LAN segments with a backbone (for example, one segment on each floor or wing of a building).

  • Dial-up connections for users who connect from home or while traveling.

  • Internet connections.

The following illustration shows an example of a medium-size office network.

Medium-size office network

A medium-size office network typically uses a few different types of network media. The different office segments can use 10-megabit-per-second (Mbps) Ethernet or token ring networks, but the backbone network that is used to connect to the different networks and host servers can use 100-Mbps Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), or other types of networks.

The following table shows the network media that is used in this medium-size office network scenario.

Router Role Medium

Router 1

Connects to Network A

One Ethernet (10 Mbps) or token ring adapter

 

Connects to the backbone

One Ethernet (100 Mbps) or FDDI adapter

Router 2

Connects to Network B

One Ethernet (10 Mbps) or token ring adapter

 

Connects to the backbone

One Ethernet (100 Mbps) or FDDI adapter

Router 3

Connects to Network C

One Ethernet (10 Mbps) or token ring adapter

 

Connects to the backbone

One Ethernet (100 Mbps) or FDDI adapter

Router 4

Connects to the backbone

One Ethernet (100 Mbps) or FDDI adapter

 

Connects to dial-up networking clients

Modems and/or ISDN adapters

This section covers:

Note

  • The example companies, organizations, products, people and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, person or event is intended or should be inferred.