Chapter 3
The Basic Ingredients of Network Management
Interconnection
The network being managed must be interconnected
Allows communication between devices
Network management relies upon an interconnected network
to allow the problems to be transferred to the manager
The organization of the network is most important for the
proper running of the network
Basic components of network management
Management support organization
Management systems
Management network
Network devices
The Network Device
The managed devices are called network elements
(NE)
Elements of the management process
Management agent
Management information
Management Agent
Must have a way for the network device to communicate with
the managing system
Management communication is asymmetrical
Managing application is the “manager” (client)
Network device is the “agent” (server)
The software that connect these two together is the
management agent
The management agent consists of three parts
Management interface handles communication
Management information base holds data views
Core agent logic translates between the interface, MIB, and
actual device
Management Information
Many attributes of the network device is useful to the
management of the network
Software version needs to be known
Use of ports must be assessed
Environmental data helps with overheating
Fans must be monitored
Packet counters need to be monitored
Protocol timeout patterns must be configured
Firewall rules must be configured to define security
policy
Managed Objects (MOs)
A real-world aspect of a network device
Could be a fan, port, firewall rule, etc.
MIB in SNMP
Parameter in a CLI
Any other method to define the object
Not all parts (parameters) of the object are useful in a
given situation
Abstraction is used to determine the usable details
Real Resources
The underlying object that an MO represents
Different uses for the real resource result in different
abstractions for the resource (and different MOs)
No matter what you call the real resource or how you
collect data about it, it is always the same real resource
Example no matter how you view it, a dog is still a dog
Management Information Base
MIBs are the collection of attributes (parameters) that
are exposed to the network element’s managing systems
Consists of all information that a management tool needs
to know about a device
Can be thought of as a conceptual store of information
Translate this to the fields of a database
Although this database can be queried, changed and
deleted, it is connected to the real resource
Some changes to the MIB for the real resource can change
the way that the real resource works in the network
Basic Management Ingredients II
A successful network consists of three parts
The management support organization
The network (or the real world)
The management technology that acts as a buffer
between the two
Management agents
Management systems
Management protocols that allow a conversation between the
two
The Management System
Provide the tools to manage the network
These tools were described in chapter 2
Management application = management system
Management system is not the same as a host
Can be spread over many hosts
Scalability
Robustness
Manager Role
A manager (role) is not a management system
(application)
One management system may play agent and manager
One management system may be the agent for one function
and the manager for another
Data may be passed from one application to another
To be effective, the management system must be able to
“talk” to its network element(s)
It is the consumer of the network element’s output
Although the network element has its own MIB, often the
management system has a database of network elements
that it manages
Manager Role (cont)
Management agent is a proxy for the real device
Management system is a proxy for the real world
The two actually see their proxy systems as the real
thing
Management System’s Reason for Being
Exists only for the purpose of network management
The network can run fine without it
Quality of service (Q0S) suffers however
The Management Network
Is a distributed application that runs over the network
Management network provides the interconnection
between the network management system and the
network elements
That is, the managers and agents
Production network carries the traffic for the users
Can be different physical networks or a combined network
Management networks directly communicate with the
network elements
Production networks use the network elements
The Management Network (cont)
The Agents run on the network elements as apps
E. g. Routing software
SNMP
Agents generally have their own port
SNMP is 161
Networking for Management
Network elements most often are connected to the
management system through their port(s)
Routers use the serial (console) interface
This is called a craft terminal
Connects to a laptop or
Uses a terminal server
Can connect using multiple ports to multiple network elements
Most have an IP address and Ethernet interface allowing for
connections through the network
Creates a simple management network
Biggest problem is keeping track of which network element is
connected to which terminal server port
Networking for Management
Another connection method is to use an Ethernet port
Creates an IP-addressed port for management purposes only
Can also use a port that is shared with other traffic
Called in-band management
Pros/Cons of a Dedicated Mgmt Net
Quickly creates a sophisticated network dedicated to
network management
Can be designed in two ways
Management network is overlaid on the production
network
The two can be separate networks
Which to use?
It depends on the network, design, and devices
Pros/Cons (cont)
Advantages of using a dedicated management network
Reliability
Interference avoidance
Ease of network planning
Security
Disadvantages
Cost and overhead
No reasonable alternative (no way to easily make a
dedicated management network)
Pros/Cons (cont)
Will we need a management management network?
Management network will provide management for its
separate network elements as well as the production net
Because cost is a big drawback, we can use a hybrid
management system for some networks
The Management Support Organization
We need a support organization (people) to use the
management system and technology associated with it
Operational support system (OSS)
The combination of the technical and the organizational
aspects
Managing the Management
Tasks required of the organization
Monitoring the network for failures
Diagnosing failures and communications outages
Planning for new services and user changes
Keeping the network performance acceptable
Planning network upgrades
Planning network topology and future additions
Managing the Management
Structure the organizational support by
Analyzing the tasks required of the staff
Determine the workflows associated with each one
Divide up this information into units and assign
responsibility to staff for each
Make sure that dependencies between different units are found
and planned for
One example of units
Network planning
Network operations
Network administration
The only group to physically interact with the network elements
Customer management
Managing the Management (cont)
Network operator – generic staff member
Various units are not entirely independent
One feeds off the other’s output producing new output
Telecom success relies upon efficiency which is derived
from optimization of the organization
Larger IT companies embrace a lot of the Telecom
Smaller IT companies and departments have to farm
out some or most of their requirements to 3rd parties
Managing the Management (cont)
Requirements to have a smooth-running network
Good organizational structure
Clear network management responsibilities
Established processes and policies
Includes necessary documentation
Auditing and personnel auditing trails
Network documentation
Reliable backup/restore procedures
Emphasis on keeping the structure secure
Inside the Network Operations Center
Location of the real resources is important for larger
companies
The NOC is the place from which large companies’
networks are run
Houses the management systems
Often has real resources
Really large global companies use many NOCs
Use the “follow the sun” methodology
Sometimes NOCs are referred to as central offices (CO)
Sometimes COs are terminals for the network
Chapter Summary
Network devices are agents, management systems are
managers, MIBs (or similar) hold the conceptual data
store and real resources are the managed objects
The management network connects the manager to the
managed objects
It can be dedicated or run on the production network
Dedicated management networks add significant cost
Besides the physical part of the network, organizational
segments (staff) are needed
The organization is often divided up according to function
The management center is called the NOC
