Define from the outset what it is you hope to accomplish with your network. Research the functionality required by your client applications, then assess the resources that are available to meet those requirements. Determine which machines or nodes are best suited for client or server applications. Select a networking protocol which best suits your existing or future networking requirements. You may be able to choose a single transport level protocol that works well on all the components in your network.
Protocols are available for most of the major protocols on many platforms.
Your network may also involve clients or servers operating over more than one protocol. If you decide to use multiple protocols on your network, determine which nodes are best suited to install Oracle Connection Manager. Your choice of nodes will be determined by the networking protocols you have chosen as well as the machine's capacity to handle anticipated traffic. It helps sometimes to draw a picture of your network layout displaying the logical as well as physical relationships between networking components. Once you have defined your network layout, you will need to decide how best to configure and manage your network implementation.