Principles Of Network Management Information Technology Essay

Agreeing and prioritising the requirements helps define which requested services and features are must haves, which are desirable and which are not necessary but worth noting as future developments.

Assessing requirements is necessary to assess all the requirements so that they can be converted into deliverables such as: commissioning costs, project management fees, hardware costs, software costs, ongoing support costs and training costs.

Constraints need to be examined. Obvious limiting factors are time and money but there may be other physical constraints such as cable installation or wireless networking and issues of placement of new equipment and servers.

Capacity must be planned and anticipated as this has a big impact on the network design and implementation. Good planning will account for capacity load which will maximise resources and provide a reliable service to both the internal users (employees) and external users (customers). Capacity planning will look at users needs, application behaviour, network requirements and performance constraints. Special tools can be used to do this when a live network is not in place to do tests.

Designing the network solution covers the plans of: All servers and workstation, tools and applications, placement of network devices, user groups and needs, capacity needs, cabling infrastructure, internet connection, security, contingency plans and a gantt chart of deployment. All of these will be documented.

Last of all the network performance must be reviewed. The variables that will be looked at are: User satisfaction, network data throughput, network collisions and congestion, user response times and line utilisation. Network monitoring tools can be used to do this.

Once the network has been implemented I would expect the Network Manager to be carrying out the following tasks:

Fault Management – Identifying and dealing with errors to ensure a good quality network

Account Management – Managing users and their privileges on the network

Configuration – Setting up the network and keeping it organised

Performance – Check the performance of the network and ensure it is meeting user requirements

Security – Ensuring the network is secure and protected from potential threats

Reporting – Compiling information that will assist managers or to inform users

Task 2: Describe with examples, what considerations need to be taken into account when designing a network [P2]

When designing a network the following considerations need to be taken into account:

Cost

What will be the final design cost?

What will be the cost for implementation of network media, devices and servers, software, installation, ongoing maintenance, upgrading, leasing of external lines?

How much will the disruption of installation cost the organisation?

How much will upgrades and maintenance cost?

Functionality

What types of functions will the network need to support?

Does the network functionality meet the needs identified by the users?

Will the network be able to grow?

Usability

Will the network be quick and easy to use?

Does the network make it worthwhile for a user to take up their time using it?

Speed

How much bandwidth will be required?

What kind of media will need to be implemented to support this speed?

How expensive is media for this purpose?

What kind of data will need to be transmitted across the network?

What kind of response times should the user expect?

What is the slowest response time that will be tolerated by the users?

Flexibility

Will the network be able to change to suit organisational needs?

How will it alter the network configuration physically (wiring and hardware) and logically (software and security requirements)

Expertise Availability

Is there anyone in the organisation with expertise to design the network?

Is there anyone in the organisation with expertise to implement the network design?

Is there anyone in the organisation with expertise to maintain and manager the implemented network?

If there isn’t enough expertise can the company afford to employ someone new or hire contractors?

Security Requirements

Implement a communication policy which determines user rights

What will each person need right to do? E.g. software installation, use of removable media

What network security is required? Firewalls, antivirus software, network traffic logs, locked server rooms, CCTV, Uninterruptable power supplies, use of subnets, wireless security.

Internet Access

Is an internet connection needed? If so what type of service?

What services or content will be restricted?

Who will have internet access?

Task 3: Describe and give examples of emerging networking management technologies [P4]

Emerging technologies are new ideas, products and services that have not yet been standerdised or integrated but are likely to give significant impact to an industry.

The rate of change for the IT industry is very quick, if a business was to implement an emerging technology into their organisation it could give them a business advantage over other competitors. Below are some examples of emerging technologies:

Remote Monitoring (RMON)

Remote monitoring’s management base consists of nine groups. This technology works when a device runs an SNMP-compliant agent that reports back to a workstation which is running a monitoring application (console manager) when it encounters odd behaviour.

The nine groups are:

Statistics – This provides network traffic statistics about a network device

History – This creates a sample of historic network data over a period of time, this can be used for future analysis

Alarm – This compares monitored values with an allowed threshold and raises an event if this value is exceeded

Host – This contains information about each network device that is discovered on the network

HostTopN – This is a prepared table of top hosts based on recorded statistics

Matrix – This can track conversation between two devices based on selected addresses

Filters – This allows traffic to be selected for future processing based on given criteria

Packet Capture – This captures network traffic

Events – This controls logging, handling and raising alarms

Mobile Networking

Since WIFI and Bluetooth technologies have been released mobile networking has become more popular. Mobile devices remove the need for network devices to be in a fixed location.

Web Interfacing

Many network devices used to be controlled and configured using specific applications for an operating system during installation of the device. This meant that different versions had to be designed to run on different operating systems. Web interfacing has removed the need for this. Most network devices now run a simple HTTP service that can be accessed using any browser. An advantage of this is that devices on a network can now be accessed, maintained and remotely monitored throughout the organisation, improving productivity and taking up less time for the network manager. Problems could be fixed by the network manager from home rather than them having to go back to work and physically access the device.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

This is a very popular emerging technology; it is used to transmit phone calls over an organisations private intranet or over the public internet.

Task 4: Explain using examples the goals of fault management [M1]

Task 5: Describe the potential impact on network systems of emerging technologies [M2]

SEE PRESENTATION

Task 6: Justify the inclusion of routine performance management activities within a network managers role [D1]

Task 7: Explain the need for a proactive network manager to be proactive in their role, giving examples of how such an attitude might be of value [D2]

Create a report/presentation for the network manager, showing your views on the following topics. These three activities must be accompanied by examples of how the theory is to be put into practise or can be used to enhance the productivity of the network:

Explain how the company could manage faults and suggest the best methods for dealing with fault management

Provide reasons why the company should perform routine performance management activities. What sort of information would be required to be collected for comparison at a later date?

Explain why a modern day network manager needs to have a proactive role rather than a reactive management style.