Advertisment

FOCUS: NETWORK MANAGEMENT: The Network is the Enterprise

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

Blackout! In October 2002, UUNET experienced a major

service outage practically shutting down Internet traffic on several parts of

WorldCom’s vast IP backbone network. The outage crippled many businesses that

depended on WorldCom as their sole backbone provider. The outage also hit

service providers and enterprises with multiple transport contracts who found

their IP traffic severely restricted. Experts diagnosed that the problem was

caused by software upgrades WorldCom performed on its border routers - the

routers at all peering points and hosting locations. They contended that

WorldCom had bought some bad software from a vendor, and when the software went

live - thousands of routers went out of operation.

Advertisment
WHO’S THIS STORY

FOR?
An IT chief facing a growing network across offices
WHAT DOES IT

ANSWER?
n What

are the real threats?




n What

do I protect? How?




n How

much should I spend?




n Which

product should I buy?




n Will

it impact our business?

The Slammer Punch: At the time of writing, the Slammer worm was causing havoc

in networks across the world. The worm shut down ATMs of the Bank of America and

caused problems resulting in delays at Continental Airlines in the US. Unlike

most worms and viruses, the "SQL Slammer" did not rely on e-mail as a

carrier–instead it spread directly through networks….

Network management means different things to different people. At the most

basic, it is the management of a company’s local area and wide area networks–including

switches, hubs, routers, VSATs and the software that goes with them.

Advertisment

A broader definition involves managing everything on the network using

separate tools for each network element. For instance, CiscoWorks to manage

Cisco routers and switches and Insight Manager to manage HP/Compaq servers and

desktops. It includes...

n  Server

management



n  Desktop

management



n  Mail

management



n  Security

management



n  Back

up management



n  LAN

management



n  WAN

management



n  Storage

management



n  Inventory

management



n  Software

management: distribution, inventory and licensing



n  Application

management



n  Call

management

The

different services from network management service providers are:

n  Onsite

network management




n  Remote

management services




n  Fault

location




n  End-to-end

network monitoring




n  Bandwidth

auditing




n  Performance

auditing




n  Network

security




n  Applications

management




n  Consulting

and capacity planning

Advertisment

In its broadest sense, network management is the management of everything on

a corporate network through an integrated enterprise management platform...a

level at which NM essentially becomes enterprise management.

Network management solutions can, therefore, range from point solutions from

companies like Concord Communications, RiverSoft to network/enterprise

management platforms like HP OpenView, CA’s Unicenter, IBM’s Tivoli and Sun

Solstice.

The fundamentals: Monitoring, upgrades and data



Whatever the scope or definition, the basis of all network management is the

monitoring of the network, configuration changes and upgrades when required and

possible and finally, providing of data for any design changes that may be

necessary for improved performance.

Advertisment
Network

Integrators
n

Wipro Infotech
n

Datacraft India
n

HCL Comnet
n

CMC
n

IBM Global
n

HCL Insys
n

Network Solutions
n

ARM
n

Tata Infotech
n

Ramco Systems

Monitoring is done in many ways: Through replies to specific queries

through SNMP



(Simple Network Management Protocol) — which is a language used by all

devices to talk to each other; setting up of alerts or thresholds inside a

device so that an alert is sent out through SNMP whenever that threshold is

crossed; or through setting up devices to report specific statistics

periodically.

A key thing to remember however is that network management is not network

design or implementation. It is not even about actual network maintenance. Any

network management software can only manage a network (monitor and make some

upgrades) that has already been designed and implemented. It can provide data

that can help improve that design — but the new design itself is generally not

in the purview of an NMS. Nor are things like a hub conking out. An NMS can tell

the administrator that a hub is not working, can help rectify it to the extent

that it is an issue with rebooting, configuration or a new OS upgrade. But if

the problem with the hub is physical — it is the realm of network maintenance,

not management.

Advertisment

In fact the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) model,

popularly called the FCAPS model defines five functional areas of network

management. They are:

n Fault

Management that involves the detection, isolation, notification, and correction

of faults encountered in the network.




n Configuration

Management involves the configuration aspects of network devices such as

configuration file management, inventory management, and software management.




n Accounting

Management looks at usage information of network resources.




n Performance

Management deals with monitoring and measurement of various aspects of

performance so that overall performance can be sustained.




n Security

Management aims at providing access to network devices and resources to

authorized individuals and entities.

Points

to Ponder Before Going Wireless
Everybody

seems to be talking about them. Even, your organization may be

considering a switch to wireless local area networks in the near

future. Here are some dos and don’ts as far as implementing

wireless networks are concerned:
n Always

do a wireless site survey.
Conduct

a wireless site survey before you implement. Interference from

electronic equipment may bring down the effectiveness of wireless

network. The presence of a something as simple as a microwave, glass

or metal can affect your wireless range
n Test

the products in the field. Do not get carried away by what the

product manual says. A lot of external factors influence wireless

transmission. Tune the antenna carefully, so that the field does not

spread beyond your premises
n Secure,

re-secure your network. Wireless LANs are a relatively new

technology and security fears still exist
Advertisment

Different needs, different concerns



The criticality of network management is no longer in dispute. What often

becomes the issue is identifying which component of network management is key

and critical to any organization. Historically, various aspects of network

management have been over-riding issues. In the mid-90s LAN management was the

big concern when networks operated over 10 Mbps shared LAN segments. When LANs

became switched LANs and got upgraded to fast Ethernet 100 Mbps LANs, they were

no longer the key bottleneck and therefore ceased to be so crucial from a NM

point of view.

Then with the software and enterprise networking booms, WAN management and

monitoring of VSAT links became crucial. For one, ERP software like SAP, Baan,

PeopleSoft, JD Edwards etc usually ran on a central server. For another, WAN

links cost the moon. So WAN management and keeping that link un-choked became

crucial. Now of course other options like leased lines are available.

NM

Vendors
n

Alcatel
n

Compaq
n

Compuware
n

Concord
n

Ericsson
n

HCL Comnet
n

IBM Tivoli
n

HP
n

Lucent
n

Microsoft
n

NetScout
n

Network Associates
n

Seagate
n

Sun
Advertisment

Either way, bandwidth management has been and will continue to be a key issue

in network management. From verticals like banking which deal with complex wide

area networks that have to constantly deal with disparate customer profiles,

heavy loads and time issues to the now booming call center industry that is

dependent on the bandwidth of its WAN links and its utilization.

In addition, different industries will have specific requirements that are

critical to their business needs. Storage management could be key in a software

development house that uses diverse platforms for instance. Other things like

the profile of applications will also determine the critical management areas.

Some like Telnet will be very time sensitive while others like CAD/CAM might be

resource hungry.

The moral of which story is — one size doesn’t fit all. Different

enterprises in different verticals and different stages of evolution will have

different needs.

NM

Solutions
n

CA’s Unicenter TNG
n

CiscoWorks
n

Concord’s eHealth
n

Enterasys Netsight
n

HP’s OpenView
n

IBM Tivoli
n

Lucent’s VitalNet
n

Nortel’s Preside
n

Novell’s ZenWorks

Finding the right NM solution



It’s a bit like building a house. One would ideally like it to look

elegant, take care of all possible contingencies, plan for growth, build it once

and hope it lasts forever. That ideal house however would probably look like a

palace, take years to build and cost a bomb. In the real world however where

most enterprises have both time and cost constraints here are some key pointers

to finding the right NMS for you and making it work

n  Design

Carefully
: You cannot manage a bad design. A network management solution —

whether driven by point tools or an enterprise suite — is only as affective as

the network itself. So pay attention at the design stage. This might sound like

a no-brainer but it is amazing the number of things that can be overlooked at

this stage. Here are two examples:

  l  A

few years ago a hub kept crashing at an MNC milk factory in India. The network

administrator looked at the design, found nothing wrong and could not figure out

why the problem was recurring. Till he went down to the factory. Sure enough,

the hub was placed 12 feet above ground level and should have been safe from

normal physical damage. Except, he found out that everyday at the end of the

shift, employees sprayed water all over the walls and the roof of the factory to

wash off the milk. In the process, they also liberally sprayed the router with

water.

  l  When

a healthcare company in India decided to set up a new office a while ago, it

chose to use different contractors for what it thought were disparate works.

First came the building contractors who put up the structure. Then came the

electrical contractors who dug up the whole place to put in the electrical

wiring and left. After those holes were fixed came the network contractors who

re-dug the whole place to put in network connections. The place looked like a

bomb raid site and a job that should have been finished in a few months took

over a year.

n  Standardize:

Managing different systems running different software and a network with a

combination of different switches and hubs can be a nightmare. For one,

integration issues have to be dealt with. For another, not all network

management solutions work with all vendor hardware equally. Some solutions may

be great with Sun systems but quite below par on say IBM Mainframes. Finally,

rollout of upgrades could be a trip to hell. A simple Office XP upgrade

requiring minimum hardware and software specs for instance could end up being a

major exercise if you have vendor desktops thrown in with assembled systems and

all variations of operating systems. At the very least, have large bunches of

similar systems.

n  If

it ain’t broken, don't fix it:
A standard management mantra that

also works with networks. Identify pain points and strongly consider whether you

want an entire Enterprise Management platform or just a few point tools to fix

two or three issues. For instance, in a medium sized enterprise, the systems and

anti virus software might be working just fine. But there may be issues with the

LAN/WAN traffic. An EM platform can be both time consuming and expensive by

itself. Add implementation costs and you might end up buying a spade to kill an

ant. If the problem areas are limited, it’s possibly a good idea to look for

point solutions. They can handle specific problems far better, are cheaper and

scalable.

n  Plan

the deployment
: If you decide to go with an enterprise suite plan the

deployment to address the pain areas first. Network management issues will

simply pile up otherwise. If the big pain areas were storage and security

management, deal with those before you start looking at bandwidth management

issues.

TV Mahalingam in

BangaloreWith inputs from Sarita Rani

Network Management Best Practices

n  Be

proactive and cost effective: If you can see in advance where things are most

likely to go wrong, and put measures in place before anything does, savings in

network and lost productivity costs is likely to be high.

n  Look

before you leap: Research into network management alternatives before pursuing

solutions. Spend time in researching and identifying several key goals that you

want to achieve with its network management. These goals will point the way to

specific hardware and software solutions that are furnished by vendors.

n  Use the

magnifying lens: Carefully evaluate both the vendor and the product. Invite the

vendor for a product demo at your site. If the vendor cannot successfully deploy

his product in a reasonable timeframe, its time to say —"next"

n  Take care

of the pennies: Always look for a compelling return on investment (ROI) from the

solution that you choose. When you combine cost effectiveness with effectiveness

of network management, you have a solid combination.

n  Keep an

eye out for the past: Many network management tools that are commercially

available in the marketplace today are real-time only. They do not offer a

historical analysis. If you incorporate tools in your network management

practice that gives you both present and past performance, it allows you to

perform analyses, and to be proactive with network problems.

n  End to

end solutions: Consider investing in ‘end-to-end’ diagnosis tools that are

commercially available, which will enable enterprise CIOs to look into the

entire chain of network and application components when you trouble-shoot a

problem.

n  Cross-function:

When multiple network and applications components are involved in an

enterprise-wide environment, it is often necessary for you to work together

effectively with individuals from other departments. Explore setting up

cross-functional teams with cooperative goals.

n  Watchout:

Always stay in touch with vendors and security solutions companies to know more

about security threats like viruses and worms and the latest trends in network

security.

FCAPS Best Practices

Fault management



n
  Enable

Traps on a consistent basis on network devices.



n  It is
important to check and update the configuration files of traps to ensure the

proper decoding of traps.



n  Conduct
a periodic review of configured traps, which will ensure effective fault

detection in the network.



n  Consider
an event management system that is capable of correlating different network

events.


Capability management



n
  Have

naming conventions for network devices, starting from device names to individual

interface as part of the configuration standard. A well-defined naming

convention provides administrators with the ability to provide accurate

information while troubleshooting.



n  When
adding new configuration commands on existing network devices needs, verify

commands for integrity before implementation.



n  Changes
to software in network devices should be tracked to assist in analysis when

another software maintenance is required.

Accounting management



n  Measure

the utilization of all important network resources. Analysis of the data

provides insight into current usage patterns.



n  A
usage-based accounting and billing system is a prerequisite of any SLA. It helps

in defining obligations under an SLA.

Performance management



n  Document

the network management business objectives.



n  Create
detailed service level objectives.



n  Spend
a lot of time on drafting the performance criteria’s in the SLA. An effective

SLA solution requires three components to be implemented:



    l  comprehensive,
enterprise-wide data collection



    l  measurement
and intuitive reporting



n  Collect

a list of the variables for the baseline, including details like polling

interval, network management overhead incurred, possible trigger thresholds.



n  Have
a periodic meeting to review the analysis of the baseline & trends.

Security management



n  Create

a platform-specific minimum configuration standard for all routers and switches

that follow industry best practices for security and performance



n  Enable
security features that ensure that only authorized management stations are

allowed to perform changes on network devices

Advertisment