Friday, February 19, 2021

Newbie at Network Architecture

Hello networking friends!

I'm being tasked with creating a whole new networking setup for 3 remote offices and I'm looking for some pointers and/or physical equipment preferences from you folks.

Backstory:

I'm the sole "IT Manager" for this company (I know what you're thinking; yes, it does suck and the title is purely lip service) and we have a new office being made in a different state plus the existing offices have Cisco equipment that is EOL and I don't know a thing about Cisco routing/switching. This job now comes with the friendly perk of wearing a network architect hat and while I know the basics. I've never had to start from scratch. Essentially all of the equipment in the 2 existing offices need to be replaced and with the addition of a new office, we would like to make the setup cohesive. Previous techs left no documentation and I'd rather start off fresh so I'll know everything about our setup moving forward.

Some things to know:

  • We have a hybrid environment with no physical on-prem servers. Almost all of our internal resources and data are housed in AWS, with a handful in Azure or GCP - depending on the clients request.
  • We recently acquired a Citrix Workspace subscription. We unfortunately don't have the Virtual apps add-on but the goal here when we made the switch was to do away with VPNs. In an attempt to future proof, I recommended SASE and they decided on Citrix. The goal is to have everyone use their Azure AD account to auth with Citrix to SSO into any AWS client account that they are working on
  • 80% of our workforce works remotely and not in any offices. Since the pandemic, WFH has been the default and coming into the office is rare. (Why are they opening a new office then? Your guess is as good as mine ;) )
  • Port count:
    • Office 1 = (2) 48port switches
    • Office2= (3) 48 port switches
    • Office3= (1) 48 port switch

Things I've done so far:

  • I've reviewed all the helpful links in the r/networking wiki but unfortunately it seems that the two things I need to focus on (Routing/Switching) don't have any links :(
  • I'm looking into getting a demo from Juniper. So far, they seem to tick all of these boxes:
    • Remote management
    • Extensive and free training with options for certifications
    • If I end up epically failing, they offer Managed services
  • Attempted to make a rough draft networking layout but I think I'm stuck on where to start?

Tips I'm looking for:

  • Router/Switches/Firewall Recommendation that don't have a steep learning curve or if not, a vendor that has a good support team and training available
  • Network design tips. Any sites or reference guides that you find helpful would be much appreciated here!
  • Any pointers that you think a newbie like me might overlook - i.e security, features
  • Site to Site VPN - do I even need this if our goal is to use Citrix for all secure connections to resources?
  • Features:
    • Remote management
    • scalability
    • not really sure what else I need to look for :/

Anywho, I know this is a long post - thank you for reading! And TIA for your help!

Sincerely,

One lost kid

Edited: Added in port count and specific features



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