Network Management Components: The Basics of an Effective Management Strategy

Overview:

This article will define a network management strategy to manage the network. It is necessary to define how the equipment will be monitored and determine if the current management strategy is adequate or if new applications, equipment, protocols and processes must be identified. Next, the management components are integrated with infrastructure and security. These main elements comprise any well-defined management strategy and should be considered when developing your strategy.

Network management strategy

Network Management Groups

SNMP Applications

Monitored devices and events

Network Management Groups

Fault

· Performance

Device

Security

Change

Setting

Implementation

fault management

This describes the proactive monitoring of devices, circuits, and servers for errors. Specifies which events are monitored and the thresholds to generate alarms. Once alarms are generated, there is an escalation process to address any errors. It could be a circuit problem, a router interface, or a server link. Service level agreements with local loop providers and long distance IXCs for circuit repair are important, as are vendor equipment repair contracts. Out-of-band router management enables troubleshooting and configuration of routers with a modem attached. The representative does not depend on the primary circuit to reach the router. They will use a separate analog dial-up line with a modem connected to the router’s auxiliary port. Escalation support processes are defined that are used by network operations center (NOC) employees for effective problem resolution. Here are some typical support activities:

Established Tier support levels with well-defined job responsibilities for each Tier group

Defined severity levels and which level group is responsible

Defined response times for severity levels

Trouble Ticket Requests

Establishing problem-solving procedures for employees.

Root cause analysis

· Survey support groups for skill levels, identify gaps, and plan training programs to address that.

Performance management

Describes proactive monitoring of device, circuit, and server performance levels. That translates to monitoring and reporting trends with device CPU, memory and link utilization, circuit bandwidth utilization, server CPU, memory, and disk I/O speed . Additionally, campus segments and device interfaces should be monitored for collisions, CRC errors, and packet drops. Bandwidth capacity planning is an ongoing process of monitoring bandwidth utilization trends for the enterprise network and considering business growth estimates. This information is used to develop a provisioning strategy that addresses the company’s bandwidth capacity needs. The dynamic nature of an enterprise network is such that new locations, employees, and application deployments will increase network traffic and use available bandwidth. Trend monitoring tools are typically run from the network operations center and focus on business traffic patterns and the performance of circuits, routers, and switches.

RMON is a popular protocol used to monitor router, switch, and campus segment performance with probes at various offices throughout the enterprise. Information can be collected at all layers of the OSI model for statistics on usage, packet size, and errors. In addition, there are specific SNMP applications designed for bandwidth capacity planning. The bandwidth provisioning strategy could involve faster campus and WAN equipment, increased bandwidth for circuits, QoS protocols, or a combination of any of those elements.

security management

This describes device and server security management that is consistent with corporate policies. Typical devices are firewalls, routers, switches, TACACS servers, and RADIUS servers. Security includes community strings, password assignment, policy change, dial-in security, and Internet security.

Device management

This describes maintaining a database inventory that lists all campus and server devices, modules, serial numbers, iOS versions, documentation, and design. It is important for companies to maintain information on these assets for support and warranty purposes.

Configuration management

This describes the process of configuring and documenting devices, circuits, and servers on the corporate network. A process should be in place for setting up new computers, modifying current computers, and maintaining TFTP servers. Those scripts should be saved on TFTP servers and documented for later use with later configurations. Create a directory structure with a folder for each equipment type and subdirectories for model types.

Change management

This describes a process for approving and coordinating device configuration changes and is essential for network availability. Staff members making unapproved changes without alerting affected departments can cause problems if the changes don’t work and are made during the busiest times of the day. Any change in the production network must involve at least the network operation center and someone from the engineering group. It could also be important to inform application developers about changes in the network. Any change management process should have these components:

Review process

Affected departments consider impact of changes and discuss concerns

· Proof of concept and quality control tests

Develop a timeline for changes approved by all departments

Departments plan for contingencies in the event of network issues

Approval process: the software manages and registers the approvals of the groups

Proactive monitoring of unauthorized changes

Implementation Management

This describes the process for managing new deployments so that there is no disruption to the production network and the deployment is efficient and effective. Here are some network operations center (NOC) activities that should be part of any typical deployment management strategy. Consider vendor support contracts for design, testing, and configuration scripting support, as this will promote effective deployment.

Network Operations Center Standard Activities:

1) Power up circuits and ping all new devices to verify connectivity

2) Modify SNMP applications in the network operations center for proactive fault and performance monitoring of new devices

3) Verify devices are SNMP enabled and security is applied

4) Update the inventory database and save the configuration scripts to a TFTP server

SNMP Applications

There are a large number of SNMP applications on the market that focus on managing servers, devices, and circuits. A business customer will sometimes employ multiple applications, including their own software, which is targeted at each management group. The version of SNMP that is implemented must be noted on each device and server. This is a list of popular business apps and how they might be used.

Monitored devices and events

Typical devices, such as routers, switches, and circuits, are configured and monitored using SNMP applications. Thresholds are defined for each event that will trigger an alarm when exceeded. A polling interval is configured for each event, which describes the time interval between sending status information from the device to the network management station. An example would be a router CPU utilization threshold of 60% and a polling interval of 10 minutes.