MIS2231 Network Management II

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MIS2231 Network Management II

• Network Management 1

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• Objectives
• Become familiar with
• the network management organization
• end user support
• cost management
• several types of network management hardware
  tools
• Understand
• what is required to manage the day-to-day
  operation of networks
• configuration management
• performance and fault management
• the role and functions of network management
  software

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Five Areas Of Network Management

• Planning
• Organising
• Directing
• Controlling
• Staffing

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Planning

• Establishing requirements
• Forecasting
• Scheduling
• Resource allocation
• Policy development

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Organising

• Developing structures
• Delegation (difficult for most technical
  managers)
• Developing procedures
• Developing relationships

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Directing

• Making decisions
• Generating initiatives
• Communicating ideas
• Motivating staff
• Facilitation

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Controlling

• Developing performance standards
• Performance evaluation
• Performance measurement
• Correcting performance

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Staffing

• Job specification
• Developing selection criteria
• Interviewing candidates
• Selecting staff
• Staff development

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Centralisation of Network Management

• Information activities cause unique
  organisational problems for managers because they
  are centralised and distributed
• In general it does not matter if the applications
  and data are centralised or distributed.....
• The data communications function should be
  centralised

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Network Management

• Just as the central nervous system integrates
  subsystems and dictates the paths that
  communication may take so the communications
  function carries out the same task at an
  organisational level
• The manager is concerned with ALL forms of
  telecommunications - as trends towards
  integration continue the distinction between data
  and other communications is less distinct

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Organising The Network

• Really about people not technology
• Management must have an overarching philosophy
  concerning the total networking function i.e.
  there is a single authority for the planning,
  testing and handling of emergencies
• The communications division must have a charter
  that defines its mandate, goals (short, medium
  and long term) and operational philosophy

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Organising The Network

• These goals are driven by and are conformant with
  the parent organisations goals and must be
  clearly stated
• Long term policies require procedures for their
  implementation, the combination of these two will
  provide the guiding structure for day to day work
  of the communications staff

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The Ultimate Goal

• Moving data from one location to another quickly
  and efficiently and making the necessary sources
  available to achieve this end
• This is seldom achieved because managers lose
  sight of the goal as day to day problems arise -
  often these problems are beyond the control of
  management e.g. circuit failure etc.
• Often the problem is a lack of pertinent data
  needed to ensure that the network provides the
  required level of service to all users

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Delegation

• Managers develop their own decision making
  information and support systems but waste time
  firefighting i.e. they spend too much time on
  control and not enough on planing and organising
• In order to achieve effective managers must
  delegate (could be linked to staff development)

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Network Status

• Must be continually monitored by the internal
  audit group or the design and analysis group
  (see later)
• Information gained here is vital for future
  planning and evaluating the performance of the
  network

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Questions To Ask

• Are voice and data combined?
• Does the network manager have sufficient status?
• How many independent networks are there?
• Who manages LANs?
• Is the network management software in use?
• What is the total budget?
• Are the applications independent of the
  communications?
• What is system availability like?
• What is the network configuration for all
  hardware and circuits?
• What si the disposition of software in the
  system?
• Is there a formal network management organisation?

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Questions To Ask

• Is the network mission critical?
• What is the ratio of network operations to
  network management?
• What network reports and documentation are
  available?
• Are those reports timely?
• How good is fault diagnosis?
• What 3rd party facilities are in use?
• etc.

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Network Reporting

• To plan effectively organisations require
  adequate reporting. Information for the reports
  comes from host computers, FEPs, network
  monitors, management group, vendors, test
  equipment etc.
• The contents of reports include
• cumulative downtime subnet downtime
• circuit usage
• response times
• failure rates
• hardware utilisation rates

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• usage histograms
• peak volume statistics
• voice v. data usage per circuit
• traffic distribution by time location
• distribution of packet character volume
• gateway activity other statistics
• usage by user category (local, remote etc.)
• correlation of present activity with similar
  periods
• queuing statistics
• not exhaustive but indicative!

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Network Documentation

• Packages exist to document hardware and usually
  can be used for system flowcharting
• Cost control is best handled by a spreadsheet
  (like) package
• Documentation includes
• legalities
• network maps
• circuit layouts
• hardware and software standards
• intranetwork connection details

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• software listings by hardware
• vendor agreements contracts
• operations manuals
• vendor manuals
• disaster plan recovery, escalation levels
• site test requirements
• diagnostics
• switching criteria and redundancy provisions
• user site contact details
• hardware maintenance history
• cost analysis

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Staffing

• How many - 1 per 100 devices as a rule of thumb,
  not suited to larger networks
• Diversity is a problem - different LANs skills
  bases. Reduce diversity if possible and hence
  reliance on key personnel, training costs etc.
• achieves vendor independence

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Introduction

• Network Management the process of operating,
  monitoring, and controlling the network to ensure
  that it works as intended and provides value to
  its users.
• Without a well-planned and designed network, and
  a well-organized network management staff,
  operating the network becomes extremely
  difficult. Unfortunately, many network managers
  spend most of their time firefighting - dealing
  with breakdowns and immediate problems.

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The Shift to LANs and the Web

• Since the late 1980s, there has been an
  explosion of microcomputer-based networks.
• Although the management of host-based mainframe
  networks will always be important, the future of
  network management lies in the successful
  management of the LAN, backbone network, and
  Internet resources.

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The Shift to LANs and the Web

• Today, the critical issue is the integration of
  all organizational networks and applications.
  This presents two problems
• First, technical compatibility of technologies
  and protocols
• Second, the cultural differences in personalities
  and management styles of network managers. WAN
  and mainframe managers prefer more highly
  structured and controlled environments than do
  LAN and Web managers.

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Integrating LANs, WANs, and the Web

• The key to integrating LANs, WANs, and the Web
  into one overall organization network is for both
  LAN/Web and WAN managers to recognize that they
  no longer have the power they once had.
• The central data communication network
  organization should have a written charter that
  defines its purpose, operational philosophy, and
  long-range goals.

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Integrating Voice and Data Communications

• Another major challenge, the separation of voice
  and data worked well over the years, but now
  changing communication technologies are causing
  enormous pressures to combine these functions.
• There is no perfect solution to the problem of
  integration, because it must be handled in a way
  unique to each organization.
• In communications we are moving from an era where
  the computer system is the dominant IT function
  to one in which communications networks are the
  dominant IT function.

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CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

• Managing the networks hardware and software
  configuration and documenting it.

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Configuring the Network and Client Computers

• One of the most common configuration activities
  is adding and deleting user accounts.
• Another common activity is updating the software
  on the client computers attached to the network.

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Configuring the Network and Client Computers

• Electronic software delivery is one solution to
  the configuration problems associated with
  software updates.
• ESD greatly reduces the cost of configuration
  management because it eliminates the need to
  manually update each and every client computer.

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Documenting the Configuration

• Configuration documentation includes information
  about network hardware, network software, user
  and application profiles, and network
  documentation.
• Network maps must be supplemented by
  documentation on each individual network
  component.
• A similar approach can be used for network
  software.

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Documenting the Configuration

• Software documentation can also help in
  negotiating site licenses for software.
• The third type of documentation is the user and
  application profiles, which should be
  automatically provided by the network operating
  system or outside software agreements.
• In addition, other documentation must be
  routinely developed and updated pertaining to the
  network (incl. manuals).

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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.

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Network Monitoring

• Most large organizations and many small ones use
  network management software to monitor and
  control their networks.
• In large networks, network monitoring becomes
  more important.
• The parameters monitored by a network management
  system fall into two distinct categories
  physical network statistics and logical network
  information.