Network optimization and improvement

[Randel]

I started to work in a company where the position of network administrator was opened, the company is already quite large in terms of amount of equipment, everything is already interconnected correctly, I would like to know what would be the next step to optimize the network in the most efficient way possible, I would like to count on your vast experience and advice.

[balaji.bandi]

I generally go with below terms :

Key network performance metrics to watch

Latency  - in the network all the devices and services are reachability with expected latency ?

Throughput - do we have enough throughput available for applications and services to work as expected.

Packet loss - No packet loss or input errors or CRS errors on the core network interfaces.

Network Jitter - maintain well for the best of the services to work as expected.

Bandwidth  - enough bandwidth available looking at KPI.

Network availability - we do know networks go down, so we need to look at the availability by doing regular checks and proactively upgrade or patch the devices.

Network Logging - Make sure you setup a Centralize Logging and reports available for pro-active monitoring

NMS / NetFlow - For Monitoring and visibility of the network.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@Randel wrote:
I started to work in a company where the position of network administrator was opened, the company is already quite large in terms of amount of equipment, everything is already interconnected correctly, I would like to know what would be the next step to optimize the network in the most efficient way possible, I would like to count on your vast experience and advice.

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Get a professional systems integrator and do not rely on crowdsourcing a complicated and complex situation.  

[Randel]

How do you think I should be trained to carry out this research on my own?

[Joseph W. Doherty]

If everything is connected "correctly" might that preclude optimization and improvement?

But let's assume there's room for improvement, that would depend on what you have now and what you would like to have, neither of which we know.

Regarding optimization, that too would depend what you have now and determining if it can be done better.  Often areas for optimization are "blatant" such as an having multiple paths and not using them at all.  Sometimes that are subtle, like maximizing "goodput".

BTW, just because something might be optimized doesn't necessarily mean it's worth doing.