Lecture #20: Network Management

1. Lecture #20: Network Management C o n t e n t s • Functional Architecture • Management Areas • Management Implementation • Management Levels • Management Solutions • Management Requirements • Management Performance • Management Questions

2. Functional Architecture Network Management is integrated conglomeration of functions that may be on one machine but may span thousands of miles, different support organizations and many machines and databases. FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE. Four basic levels of functionality. 1. Managed Objects: devices, systems and/or anything else requiring some form of monitoring and management. Examples:routers,concentrators, hosts, servers and applications like Oracle, Microsoft SMS, Lotus Notes etc. 2. Element Management Systems (EMS).Manage a specific portion of the network. For example SunNet Manager, an SNMP management application. Element Managers may manage assign lines, multiplexers, PABX’s, proprietary systems or an application. 20/1

3. Functional Architecture (cont.) 3. Manager of Managers Systems (MoM). Integrate together the information associated with several element management systems, usually performing alarm correlation between EMS’s. There are several products: NyNEX AllLink, OSI NetExpert and others. 4. User Interface. The user interface to the information, whether real time alarms an alerts or trend analysis graphs and reports, is the principal piece to deploying a successful system. If the information gathered cannot be distributed to the whole MIS organization to keep people informed and to enable team communications, the real purpose of MNS is lost in the implementation.

4. Management Areas These systems components are in turn mapped back to what is called Management Functional Areas. The OSI “FCAPS” is model of MFAs. FCAPS is an acronym : Fault Management Configuration Management Accounting Performance Management Security Management

5. Management Areas (cont.) Some of the other areas covered under MFAs include: Chargeback, System Management, Cost Management. Fault Management. Detection of a problem, fault isolation and correction to normal operation. Most systems poll the managed objects search for error conditions and illustrate the problem in either a graphic format or a textual message. Fault management deals most commonly with events and traps as they occur on the network. That using data reporting mechanisms to report alarms or alerts . Configuration management is probably, the most important part of network management. Changes, additions and deletions from the network need to be coordinated with the network management systems personnel. Dynamic updating of the configuration needs to be accomplished periodically. Accounting. The accounting function is usually left in LAN based systems or special servers managed by System administrators.

6. Management Areas (cont.) Performance Management. Performance. Performance of WAN links, telephone trunk utilization, etc, are areas that must be revisited on a continuing basis as these are some of the areas easiest to optimize and realize savings. Security. Most applications address security to network hardware such as someone logging into router or bridge. Some network management have alarm detection and reporting capabilities as part of physical security. Chargeback. In many implementations, chargeback is accomplished on the individual Server providing the service. Systems Management. This is administration of services provide on the network. Network management systems can show significant capabilities, streamline business processes, and save the customer money with just a little work. Cost management. This one function is an enabler to upgrade equipment,delete unused services and tune the functionality of the Servers to the services provided.

7. Management Implementation COMMON IMPLEMANTATIONS. Most implementations center around a Network Management Center of some sort. Most fault detection, isolation and troubleshooting is accomplished in the Network Management center. This is not clear that today this is good idea. The Right Implementation. The MIS manager are looking at the benefits of network management to reduce downtime and overall cost to your program, make sure that the business case requirements drive the implementation and not the implementation drive the business cases. Business Case Requirements. The implementation must solve a business problem and increase efficiency of the current methods of accomplishing work while reducing overall costs. The hardest part of building a business case is the gathering of the information. 20/2

8. Management Levels Haw to save the organization money. Levels of Activity: 1. Inactive. No monitoring is being done and if you did receive an alarm in this area, you would ignore it. 2. Reactive. You react to a problem after it has occurred yet no monitoring has been applied. 3. Interactive. You are monitoring components but must interactively troubleshoot to eliminate the side effect alarms and isolate to a root cause. 4. Proactive.You monitoring the components and the system provides a root cause alarm for the problem at hand and automatic restorable processes are in place where possible to minimize downtime. This activities outline how your support organization is dealing with problems. Within the support organization are teams with different goals and focuses (Unix support, desktop support, network support, etc.)

9. Management Solutions SYSTEM FOCUS. Network management elements are considered, among other things, tools in which troubleshooting can be accomplished. Most implementations focus these tools at a global level in that they are located in the Network Command Center. When a global problem occurs the information is concentrated and orchestrated by the Network Command Center. All the devices beyond the point of breakage are down.Without alarm correlation, all devices will be depicted as bad. The ideal network management system should be designed and implement around the real work processes. It should focus the tools toward those staff members supporting the managed area in a manner which makes their job easier and faster. Help Desk personnel should know what is happening and who is working on what at glance. Depicts a more distributed system providing global information with local focus. In this system alarms can be passed from site to site and even around a problem with simple client server database techniques. 20/3 20/4

10. Management Solutions HELP DESK INTEGRATION. The help desk is the key to any based organization. They are direct line to users having problems, and should distributed information associated with network alarms and alerts to them in a language they can understand. The real business case is that the Help Desk personnel to be well informed and have helpful information at their fingertips. People are more motivated when they are hired and trained within the organization. Building a knowledge base of symptoms and the tasks associated with finding and correcting those problems just makes good common sense. Building this knowledge base and deploying it throughout the organization, enables new personnel to be productive day one. (I.e. Desktop support, Surver Support, Database support ,etc.). TROUBLE TICKET INTEGRATION. Once a problem has been detected it should be owned by a Help Desk technician, and a trouble ticket need to be initiated. This is also a key function in gathering the necessary information to calculate the cost of maintenance.

11. Management Requirements RULE. The customer is happy because the service is focused toward them and money is saved because it costs less to replace that aging old box that kept breaking. BUILDING Requirements. How do develop a requirements. • Develop a list of information attainable from each managed object. • Take the list to the Support organization responsible for that device function . • Formulate the reporting strategy for the device. What elements of information are pertinent to alarm reporting: -Establish thresholds, i.e. three counts in one hour time period. -Establish the priority of the alarm and any thresholds associated with priority escalation of the alarm. -Establish any diagnostic processes that could be run automatically

12. Management Performance What elements of information are pertinent to monthly reporting. -Availability of devices and services. -Usage and load. What elements of information are pertinent to trending and and performance tuning of network functions. -Look at ways to combine data elements or perform calculations on the data to make it more useful to the support organization. • Interview Management to ensure the NETWORK Management SYSTEM IS MANAGING ALL AREAS pertinent to the business unit. • Reduce the MEAN time to REPAIR TIMES ON THE CORRECTION OF PROBLEMS. • Provide a proactive approach to the detection and isolation of problems. • Enable collaboration and the flow of information across support departments and sites

13. Management Questions Questions to Ask. As an MIS Manager, when you are approached by staff vendors concerning Network Management, there are a few questions to ask: 1. How much will the system cost? 2. Will the proposed system integrate into and enhance my current MIS support capabilities? 3. Is the proposed system modular in design? 4. Is the product proposed just an Element Management System or is it an Integrator of EMS? 5.What does the system monitor? 6. Does the proposed system enhance the capabilities of the current support staff or does it add more support staff? Source material/Further reading:http://www.itmweb.com/essay516.htm

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