Chapter 11 Network Management Networking in the Internet Age by Alan Dennis 1st Edition Copyright 2002 John Wiley Sons Inc 1 Copyright John Wiley Sons Inc All rights reserved Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that named in Section 117 of the United States Copyright Act without the express written consent of the copyright owner is unlawful Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department John Wiley Sons Inc Adopters of the textbook are granted permission to make back up copies for their own use only to make copies for distribution to students of the course the textbook is used in and to modify this material to best suit their instructional needs Under no circumstances can copies be made for resale The Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors omissions or damages caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information contained herein 2 Chapter 11 Learning Objectives Understand what is required to manage the day to day operation of networks Be familiar with the network management organization Understand configuration management Understand performance and fault management Be familiar with end user support Be familiar with cost management 3 Chapter 11 Outline Introduction Organizing the Management Function The Shift to LANs and the Internet Integrating LANs WANs and the Internet Integrating Voice and Data Communications Configuration Management Configuring the Network and Client Computers Documenting the Configuration Performance and Fault Management Network Monitoring Failure Control Function Performance and Failure Statistics Improving Performance End User Support Resolving Problems Providing End User Training Cost Management Sources of Costs Reducing Costs 4 Introduction 5 Introduction Network management means monitoring and controlling the network so that it is working properly and providing value to its users A lack of planning and organization can mean that network managers spend most of their time firefighting dealing with breakdowns and immediate problems The four main areas of network management are configuration management performance and fault management end user support cost management 6 Organizing the Management Function 7 The Shift to LANs and the Internet Since the 1980 s networks have moved from using mainframes and terminals to PCs LANs and the Internet Mainframes are still important but network management now focuses more on LANs BNs and Internet resources Currently a critical issue is the integration of organizational networks and applications The two main problems are the technical compatibility of technologies and protocols cultural differences in personalities and management styles of network managers WAN mainframe managers prefer more highly structured and controlled environments than do LAN and Web managers 8 Integrating Voice Data Communications Traditionally voice and data networks were separate i e the telephone system and the organizational LAN respectively Separate networks mean higher network costs as well as additional staffing requirements Integrating voice and data simplifies the network and can lower network costs Most organizations will likely integrate voice and data within the next 5 years 9 Configuration Management 10 Configuring the Network and Client Computers Configuration management means configuring the network s hardware and software and documenting that configuration Two common configuration activities are adding and deleting user accounts updating the software on the client computers attached to the network Electronic software delivery ESD can be used to manage costs by eliminating the need to manually update programs on each and every client computer 11 Documenting Hardware and Software Configuration documentation includes information on network hardware software and user and application profiles Net hardware documentation uses a set of maps see Figure 11 1 These must be supplemented with lists of hardware details on each component such as serial number vendor date of purchase warranty information repair history phone number for repairs etc Documenting network software is similar but includes other information such as the network OS software release date and site license details 12 Figure 11 1 Network Configuration Diagram source netViz 13 Documenting User and Application Profiles The third documentation type is the user and application profiles which should be automatically provided by the network operating system or outside software agreements Other network documentation that must be routinely developed and updated include software standards and operations manuals vendor contracts and licenses Documentation should include details about performance and fault management maintenance guidelines disaster recovery plans end user support and cost management 14 Performance and Fault Management 15 Performance and Fault Management Performance management ensuring the network is operating as efficiently as possible Fault management preventing detecting and correcting faults in the network circuits hardware and software The two are interrelated Both require network monitoring i e tracking the operation of network circuits and devices to determine how heavily they are being used and ensure they are operating properly 16 Network Monitoring Most organizations use network management software to monitor and control their networks The parameters monitored by a network management system fall into two distinct categories physical network statistics and logical network information 17 Network Monitoring Parameters Physical network statistics come from monitoring the operation of modems multiplexers and circuits linking hardware devices Logical network parameters are monitored by performance measurement systems that track user response times traffic volume on a specific circuit the destinations of network packets and other indices showing the network s service level Performance tracking is important since it enables net managers to be proactive and respond to problems before users complain otherwise network management can revert to firefighting 18 Failure Control Function Failure control requires problem reporting often handled by the help desk A central troubleshooting group should also be responsible for contacting hardware software vendors or common carriers To aid in network monitoring managed devices are now being installed that record data on the messages they process and send this