Main Office with Fast-WAN Satellites

This configuration is common in many universities, government organizations, and smaller companies with only a few geographical locations. This type of deployment is relatively easy to set up and administer because there are no (or very few) slow WAN pipes to consider.

Note the following about the diagram:

• In this configuration, the relays are used both to relieve the server and to distribute the communications, optimizing the bandwidth.
• This scenario has large WAN pipes, so office relays can communicate directly with the main server. A thin WAN could force a change in the layout of the relays (see the scenarios above and below).
• The more relays in the environment, the faster the downloads and response rates.
• Because of the nature of this network, when the clients are set to Automatically Locate Best relay, many of the relays are the same distance away. In this scenario, the clients automatically load-balance themselves amongst all the relays that are nearby.
• For this high-speed LAN, a relatively flat hierarchy is recommended, with all relays reporting directly to the main server. Any extra levels in the hierarchy would only introduce unnecessary latency. However, if there were over 50-100 relays in this environment, another level of relays should be considered.