Separating management, application and backup networks
Network design should make it clear which systems may communicate and who may administer them. Separating management, application and backup traffic can make access policies easier to maintain, but a network label or VLAN alone is not a complete security control.
Prepare a network inventory
- List each network, address range, gateway and the systems that need to use it; avoid overlapping ranges with existing sites or VPNs.
- Identify management interfaces and restrict their access to approved administrators and trusted access paths.
- Document required application flows by source, destination, protocol and port.
- Specify backup and migration traffic, routing requirements and any expected bandwidth peaks.
Review firewall and routing changes as one coordinated operation. Test permitted traffic and blocked traffic after deployment, and keep an emergency access method available. Include your current network diagram with a configuration request when possible.
