Telecommunications Management /635 Network Management

Grant Need for Network Management èNetworks and distributed systems are becoming pervasive èNetworks and distributed applications are critical to organizational performance èMore things can go wrong in a network environment to disable the network or downgrade performance èHuman effort alone is not sufficient to manage complex networks èAutomated network management tools are essential

Grant Key areas of Network Management (OSI) èFault management èAccounting management èConfiguration and name management èPerformance management èSecurity management

Grant Fault management The facilities that enable the detection, isolation, and correction of abnormal operation of the OSI environment èFault: an abnormal condition tha t requires management attention to repair èWhen faults occur: l Determine where the fault is l Isolate rest of the network from the failure so it can continue functioning without interruption l Reconfigure or modify network l Repair or replace failed components

Grant Fault management èUser Requirements l Fast and reliable problem resolution l Immediate notification that a problem has occurred l Information on network status and scheduled and unscheduled service disruptions èEntails: l Proactive, rapid and reliable fault detection and diagnosis l Redundant capacity to provide alternatives l Problem tracking and control

Grant Accounting management èTracking network use for l cost accounting l abuse of access privileges l Network use efficiency l Planning network growth èUser requirements l specifying the kinds of information to be recorded at each node and when they should be sent to higher-level management nodes l Specifying the algorithms to be used in calculating charges l Determining and monitoring access privileges to accounting information

Grant Configuration and name management èConcerned with l initializing a network and gracefully shutting down all or part of it. l maintaining, adding, updating the relationships among components èUser requirements l automated startup or shutdown of network operations l identification of network components and desired connectivity level l Ability to change and reconfigure networks in response to new needs and performance evaluation

Grant Performance management èNetwork communications need to take place within certain performance limits èPerformance management: l Monitoring l Controlling èPerformance issues l Level of capacity utilization l Nature of network traffic: excessive or not l Level of throughput l Existence of bottlenecks l Response time

Grant Performance management èUser requirements l Network performance history (response times and reliability l Network performance statistics to assist in planning, managing and maintaining large networks l Statistics help managers to: recognize potential bottlenecksrecognize potential bottlenecks take corrective action such as changing routing tables to balance or redistribute traffic loadtake corrective action such as changing routing tables to balance or redistribute traffic load

Grant Security management èConcerned with l Generating, distributing, and storing encryption keys l Maintaining and distributing password and access control information l Monitoring and controlling access to computer networks l Collecting, storing, examining audit records and security logs èUser requirements l Security of information l Security and integrity of network facilities

Grant Network management systems èAn integrated collection of tools for network monitoring and control, which contains a l Single, user-friendly operator interface l Minimal amount of separate equipment èConsists of incremental hardware and software implemented on existing network components èSoftware resides on host computer èViews the entire network as a unified architecture

Grant Network management entity (NME) èSoftware at each node that perform network management tasks èTasks performed include l Collection of statistics on communications and network-related activities l Local storage of statistics l Response to commands from the network control center l Sending messages to the network control center when local conditions change significantly

Grant Network management application (NMA) èCollection of software that controls network management activity throughout the network èIncludes an operator interface to allow an authorized user to manage the network èResponds to user commands and issues commands to NMEs throughout the network èUses the same communication architecture as other distributed applications

Grant Agents èEnd systems that support user applications l host computers l servers l workstations èNodes that provide a communications service l front-end processors l cluster controllers l bridges l routers

Grant SNA network management architecture èProblem management l problem determination, problem diagnosis, problem bypass and recovery, problem resolution, problem tracking and control èPerformance and accounting management l response-time monitoring, availability monitoring, utilization monitoring, component delay monitoring, performance tuning, performance tracking and control, accounting

Grant SNA network management architecture èConfiguration management l physical/logical resource identification, resource relationship identification èChange management l software change control, microcode change control, hardware change control

Grant Technical control èAvailability - most important characteristic of a network and its services èIncreasing reliance on networks make downtime costly èNetwork technical control involves l Automatic and remote systems testing and monitoring to reduce downtime l Restoring and reconfiguring the system when it fails l Providing network performance and functioning statistics to facilitate

Grant Technical control approaches èComponent-level technical control l monitors network activity at the point of attachment of host systems to the network l Line monitors digitaldigital analoganalog l Protocol analyzers