Evaluating high availability in the enterprise network : Case study at Stora Enso Pulp Mill AB

High availability is an ever-changing area in networking. It is a very broad area with different definition depending on who you ask. Cisco high availability model is designed to help companies determine the correct path to reduce Mean-Time-Between-Failure and Mean-Time-To-Repair. There are several paths one can take depending on current limitations and business goals. Since best practices can change depending on new technologies or prerequisites, designing the network for high availability is a continuous process. The purpose of this research is to find the key factors in high availability and build a model around these to be used for evaluation around high availability. There are several other models for implementing availability these are created and directed towards specific vendors leaving an independent model of this lacking. The method used in this project is very similar to the top-down-approach. The model is designed around the method and was used to evaluate the network at Stora Enso pulp mill AB in Skutskär. The model has the ability to define the enterprise availability requirements and availability goals. Using these the model will provide the enterprise with the tools to evaluate if the enterprise reach their availability goals. After using the model limitations on maintaining a high availability network has been detected. It does however succeed in evaluating the enterprise availability. The model was designed to work independently of enterprise however it has only been tested at Stora Enso