Google Networking Best Practices for Large Deployments - Manual (Page 14)

14 Networking Best Practices for Large Deployments
Below are the recommended steps to assess and test your network prior to deployment.
• Conduct an inventory of all of your network locations, including location name, Internet
access type (e.g., T1, VPN, DSL), and available Internet bandwidth.
• Test DNS resolution from all network locations to Google Apps, to ensure that clients in
your network can resolve Google Apps hostnames.
• Test ICMP connectivity from all network locations to Google Apps, to ensure that clients in
your network can reach Google servers.
• Test TCP/UDP reliability from all locations to Google Apps, to ensure that clients in your
network can reliably establish and maintain a connection to Google Apps.
• Assess WAN bandwidth between your Internet egress location and network locations
which use that egress point.
Inventory of Network Locations
When planning for a Google Apps implementation, it is important to create an inventory of all
locations from which users will access Google Apps. The goal of this inventory is to gather
information about the Internet connectivity and capacity from each network location.
When conducting an inventory, include the following information about each network location:
• The location’s name and a description of its Internet access. Example: “Headquarters,
DS3.”
• Internet bandwidth average and peak usage. Example: “50% average usage, 70% peak
usage.”
• Number of proxy servers, and current average and peak usage.
• Number of firewall appliances, and current average and peak usage.
• Number of DNS servers, and current average and peak usage.
Once you have collected this information for every network location, use the data to assess
current capacity, and whether any upgrades are needed.
Network Testing
Use the information you have gathered during your network inventory to test each network
route, DNS server, and proxy server. Run the following tests for all relevant network
connections in each location.
Note: The third-party testing software described in this section is available for various
operating systems, including Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, and Windows.
DNS Resolution Test
Ensure that clients in your network can resolve Google Apps hostnames and URIs by testing
DNS Resolution from all of your network locations to Google Apps hostnames, as follows: