Modern network management Essay
Major problems in modern network management are considered. The issues of data volume, transit, saturation, analytics and triggering are discussed, as well as the increase of operating costs. Approaches for solving these issues and potential software/hardware solutions to these issues are discussed.
Introduction
Network management is a complex discipline which includes all kinds of activities related to managing computer networks. Key issues of network management relate to network performance, security and reliability (Abeck & Farrel, 2008). Network management procedures have to cover such areas as administration of network systems, their maintenance, operation and provisioning using a variety of appropriate hardware and software. The growth of computing power and the number of nodes in modern networks as well as increasing complexity of these networks result in a number of pressing issues. The purpose of this paper is to discuss such issues and the methods of resolving them.
Pressing network management issues
The majority of network management pressing issues relate to the areas of network deployment, network scalability, data storage and network monitoring (Abeck & Farrel, 2008). The major problems currently posed to network managers are (Mani, 2010):
Data volume issues – greater amounts of data overwhelm systems, increase complexity and do not necessarily contain useful information
Data transit issues – negative impact of traffic monitoring on effective network bandwidth and multiplicative phenomena for enhanced traffic monitoring systems
Data saturation issues – network management and monitoring is focused around insignificant data
Data triggering and threshold issues – extensive monitoring of possible network problems and a large number of false alerts
Data analytics issues – centralized analysis of data leads to extensive work load
Operational expense issues – increasing variety of different NMS for different purposes required to manage complex networks increase operational expenses and management overhead
Potential resolutions to these issues
For data volume issues, it is reasonable to use analytic algorithms and systems for data collection and classification, with possibilities of dynamically altering and tuning procedures of data collection. NMS capable to distinguish various kinds of data and prioritize them should be selected (Allen, 2000). Developing a network model in order to minimize storage of interrelated data may be appropriate if the questions of data volume are the main pressing factor.
Effective tools for addressing data transit problems are systems for distributed collection of data and distributed analytics. These tools help to reduce the traffic in the system, and transfer analytic load off the NMS (Allen, 2000). Targeted analytical and monitoring instruments should be used when data saturation is high: basing on key variables, these tools allow to make a conclusion whether network load is reasonable or not.
One of common and extremely important problems is the issue of fault alerts for security and performance triggering events. Potential solutions to this issue are programs dynamically adjusting alert thresholds, which are also able to address element-based thresholds, thus analyzing the performance of a given channel with regard to different factors (or network segments) (Mani, 2010). More complex systems of this kind are also able to determine factors correlating with network issues, which should be added to monitoring and to baseline identification. These systems can also be applied to address the troubles related to data analysis. Finally, the issues related to operational expenses can be solved by selecting one suitable NMS with diverse functions, and enhancing its functions using the above-mentioned tools (Morris, 2003). Preliminary analysis of the network, consideration of scalability and modernization problems and alignment with corporate strategy will help the network administrator to select one right system, and thus to reduce operating costs and overhead.
Conclusion
Network management has to deal with rapidly developing complex network structures with growing requirements to them. As a result, challenges and higher network demands arise. Currently among the major pressing network management issues such problems as data volume, transit, saturation, analytics, triggering and operational expense issues were identified. Possible solutions to them involve thorough network analysis and selection of appropriate NMS, tools and methods, and network structure. Use of distributed methods, application of enhanced metrics and baselines in network management is also likely to address these issues. The goal of a network manager is to develop an effective combination of above-mentioned methods with hardware and software network management tools.
