Introduction
The rapid growth of data-driven enterprises has placed immense pressure on IT infrastructures to provide scalability, resilience, and security. Organizations increasingly adopt hybrid network architectures that blend on-premises infrastructure with cloud resources to support business continuity and disaster recovery.
This study presents the design and implementation of a Hybrid Data Centre Network tailored for outsourced backup operations. The project integrates on-premises servers, remote sites, and a cloud-based backup infrastructure, ensuring low latency, secure communication, and high availability.
Research and Planning
A systematic research methodology was adopted prior to deployment, focusing on:
- Hybrid Network Models — Analysis of on-premises and cloud integration strategies, including cost, performance, and operational trade-offs.
- Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) Practices — Review of redundancy models, data protection mechanisms, and compliance requirements.
- Routing and Protocols — Evaluation of OSPF for dynamic routing and VPN GRE tunnels for secure interconnectivity.
- Security Mechanisms — Study of Access Control Lists (ACLs), encryption standards, and network segmentation.
- Traffic Engineering — Investigation of QoS mechanisms to ensure critical workloads remain unaffected by backup processes.
Key Considerations
- Guaranteeing data integrity across all locations.
- Achieving low-latency, high-availability connectivity for mission-critical backups.
- Maintaining security compliance with enterprise and regulatory standards.
- Ensuring future scalability for expansion and cloud growth.
Implementation
The proposed network design included:
- On-Premises Data Centre
- Core Server
- Monitoring Server
- Backup Server
- Storage Area Network (SAN) devices
- Two Remote Sites
- Interconnected via serial links
- High availability configured between redundant paths
- Cloud Data Centre
- Connected using VPN GRE tunnels with encryption and authentication
- Dynamic Routing
- OSPF deployed for automated route exchange and optimized path selection
- Security
- ACLs configured at boundary routers to enforce least-privilege access
- Traffic Optimization
- QoS policies applied to prioritize backup traffic while protecting production services
Tools Utilized:
- Cisco Packet Tracer (latest version) for network simulation
- Microsoft Visio for professional network topology design
Challenges and Solutions
-
Challenge 1: Balancing Backup vs. Production Traffic
Solution: Applied QoS with strict traffic classes, protecting VoIP and real-time applications. -
Challenge 2: Securing Cloud Connectivity
Solution: Configured VPN GRE tunnels with strong encryption and authentication for end-to-end data security. -
Challenge 3: OSPF Instability in Dual Remote Sites
Solution: Implemented route summarization and optimized OSPF hello/dead timers to minimize route flapping.
Testing and Validation
The design was validated through rigorous testing:
- Connectivity Tests: End-to-end ping and traceroute verification.
- Redundancy Checks: Simulated link/node failures to confirm high availability.
- Security Validation: ACL and VPN tunnel enforcement testing.
- Performance Evaluation: QoS monitoring under simulated peak backup load.
Results
The final hybrid network achieved:
- 100% uptime in simulated failover tests
- Secure encrypted data transfer between all nodes and the cloud
- Optimized traffic flows, ensuring backup operations did not affect production services
- Future-ready scalability, with modular expansion for new sites or cloud providers
Lessons Learned
- Security-first design is crucial; retrofitting ACLs and encryption later proved inefficient.
- QoS policies are non-negotiable in hybrid networks where backup traffic coexists with real-time applications.
- Comprehensive documentation of topology and policies significantly reduces troubleshooting and accelerates scaling.
Conclusion
This research-based implementation highlights the significance of planning, security engineering, and traffic optimization in hybrid networks. The proposed architecture effectively combines on-premises infrastructure with cloud resources, delivering a robust, secure, and scalable platform for outsourced backup operations.
Download Detailed Configuration: Hybrid Data Centre Config PDF
Network Topology
