Network Management Fundamentals By Alexander Clemm (Download PDF)
 

Contents
Introduction xix
Part I Network Management: An Overview 3
Chapter 1 Setting the Stage 5
Defining Network Management 5
Analogy 1: Health Care—the Network, Your Number One Patient 6
Analogy 2: Throwing a Party 7
A More Formal Definition 8
The Importance of Network Management: Many Reasons to Care 10
Cost 12
Quality 14
Revenue 15
The Players: Different Parties with an Interest in Network Management 16
Network Management Users 16
The Service Provider 16
The Enterprise IT Department 17
The End User 18
Network Management Providers 19
The Equipment Vendor 19
The Third-Party Application Vendor 20
The Systems Integrator 20
Network Management Complexities: From Afterthought
to Key Topic 21
Technical Challenges 22
Application Characteristics 23
Scale 26
Cross-Section of Technologies 30
Integration 34
Organization and Operations Challenges 36
Functional Division of Tasks 37
Geographical Distribution 38
Operational Procedures and Contingency Planning 38
Business Challenges 39
Placing a Value on Network Management 40
Feature vs. Product 41
Uneven Competitive Landscape 42
Chapter Summary 44
Chapter Review 45
Chapter 2 On the Job with a Network Manager 47
A Day in the Life of a Network Manager 48
Pat: A Network Operator for a Global Service Provider 48
Chris: Network Administrator for a Medium-Size Business 54
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Sandy: Administrator and Planner in an Internet Data Center 60
Observations 62
The Network Operator’s Arsenal: Management Tools 63
Device Managers and Craft Terminals 64
Network Analyzers 65
Element Managers 65
Management Platforms 66
Collectors and Probes 67
Intrusion Detection Systems 67
Performance Analysis Systems 68
Alarm Management Systems 68
Trouble Ticket Systems 69
Work Order Systems 69
Workflow Management Systems and Workflow Engines 70
Inventory Systems 70
Service Provisioning Systems 71
Service Order–Management Systems 71
Billing Systems 72
Chapter Summary 72
Chapter Review 73
Chapter 3 The Basic Ingredients of Network Management 75
The Network Device 76
Management Agent 77
Management Information, MOs, MIBs, and Real Resources 80
Basic Management Ingredients—Revisited 83
The Management System 83
Management System and Manager Role 84
A Management System’s Reason for Being 86
The Management Network 86
Networking for Management 87
The Pros and Cons of a Dedicated Management Network 90
The Management Support Organization: NOC, NOC, Who’s There? 93
Managing the Management 93
Inside the Network Operations Center 96
Chapter Summary 97
Chapter Review 98
Part II Management Perspectives 101
Chapter 4 The Dimensions of Management 103
Lost in (Management) Space: Charting Your Course Along Network Management
Dimensions 104
Management Interoperability: “Roger That” 104
Communication Viewpoint: Can You Hear Me Now? 106
Function Viewpoint: What Can I Do for You Today? 108
xii
Information Viewpoint: What Are You Talking About? 110
The Role of Standards 111
Management Subject: What We’re Managing 114
Management Life Cycle: Managing Networks from Cradle
to Grave 115
Planning 116
Deployment 117
Operations 117
Decommissioning 118
Management Layer: It’s a Device… No, It’s a Service… No, It’s a Business 118
Element Managment 119
Network Management 119
Service Management 120
Business Management 121
Network Element 121
Additional Considerations 121
Management Function: What’s in Your Toolbox 122
Management Process and Organization: Of Help Desks and Cookie Cutters 123
Chapter Summary 126
Chapter Review 127
Chapter 5 Management Functions and Reference Models: Getting Organized 129
Of Pyramids and Layered Cakes 129
FCAPS: The ABCs of Management 131
F Is for Fault 132
Network Monitoring Overview 132
Basic Alarm Management Functions 133
Advanced Alarm Management Functions 135
Alarm and Event Filtering 138
Alarm and Event Correlation 140
Fault Diagnosis and Troubleshooting 141
Proactive Fault Management 143
Trouble Ticketing 143
C Is for Configuration 143
Configuring Managed Resources 145
Auditing, Discovery, and Autodiscovery 146
Synchronization 148
Backup and Restore 151
Image Management 151
A Is for Accounting 151
On the Difference Between Billing and Accounting 152
Accounting for Communication Service Consumption 153
Accounting Management as a Service Feature 154
P Is for Performance 155
Performance Metrics 155
xiii
Monitoring and Tuning Your Network for Performance 156
Collecting Performance Data 157
S Is for Security 158
Security of Management 158
Management of Security 159
Limitations of the FCAPS Categorization 161
OAM&P: The Other FCAPS 161
FAB and eTOM: Oh, Wait, There’s More 163
How It All Relates and What It Means to You: Using Your Network Management ABCs 164
Chapter Summary 165
Chapter Review 166
Part III Management Building Blocks 169
Chapter 6 Management Information: What Management Conversations Are
All About 171
Establishing a Common Terminology Between Manager
and Agent 171
MIBs 173
The Managed Device as a Conceptual Data Store 173
Categories of Management Information 175
The Difference Between a MIB and a Database 177
The Relationship Between MIBs and Management Protocols 178
MIB Definitions 180
Of Schema and Metaschema 181
The Impact of the Metaschema on the Schema 183
Metaschema Modeling Paradigms 184
Matching Management Information and Metaschema 185
A Simple Modeling Example 186
Encoding Management Information 189
Anatomy of a MIB 189
Structure of Management Information—Overview 190
An Example: MIB-2 193
Instantiation in an Actual MIB 199
Special MIB Considerations to Address SNMP Protocol Deficits 202
Modeling Management Information 202
Chapter Summary 205
Chapter Review 206
Chapter 7 Management Communication Patterns: Rules of Conversation 209
Layers of Management Interactions 209
Transport 211
Remote Operations 211
Management Operations 214
Management Services 215
xiv
Manager-Initiated Interactions—Request and Response 216
Information Retrieval—Polling and Polling-Based Management 218
Requests for Configuration Information 218
Requests for Operational Data and State Information 219
Bulk Requests and Incremental Operations 223
Historical Information 224
Configuration Operations 226
Failure Recovery 227
Response Size and Request Scoping 228
Dealing with Configuration Files 229
Actions 230
Management Transactions 232
Agent-Initiated Interactions: Events and Event-Based Management 236
Event Taxonomy 237
Alarms 238
Configuration-Change Events 239
Threshold-Crossing Alerts 241
The Case for Event-Based Management 243
Reliable Events 244
On the Difference Between “Management” and “Control” 245
Chapter Summary 246
Chapter Review 247
Chapter 8 Common Management Protocols: Languages of Management 249
SNMP: Classic and Perennial Favorite 249
SNMP “Classic,” a.k.a. SNMPv1 250
SNMP Operations 250
SNMP Messages and Message Structure 257
SNMPv2/ SNMPv2c 258
SNMPv3 260
CLI: Management Protocol of Broken Dreams 261
CLI Overview 261
Use of CLI as a Management Protocol 265
syslog: The CLI Notification Sidekick 267
syslog Overview 268
syslog Protocol 270
syslog Deployment 272
Netconf: A Management Protocol for a New Generation 275
Netconf Datastores 275
Netconf and XML 277
Netconf Architecture 278
Netconf Operations 281
Netflow and IPFIX: “Check, Please,” or, All the Data, All the Time 284
IP Flows 284
Netflow Protocol 286
xv
Chapter Summary 288
Chapter Review 291
Chapter 9 Management Organization: Dividing the Labor 293
Scaling Network Management 294
Management Complexity 294
Build Complexity 295
Runtime Complexity 297
Management Hierarchies 298
Subcontracting Management Tasks 299
Deployment Aspects 301
Management Styles 304
Management by Delegation 304
Management by Objectives and Policy-Based Management 308
Management by Exception 312
Management Mediation 312
Mediation Between Management Transports 316
Mediation Between Management Protocols 316
Mediation of Management Information at the Syntactic Level 318
Example: A Syslog-to-SNMP Management Gateway 318
Example: An SNMP-to-OO Management Gateway 319
Limitations of Syntactic Information Mediation 321
Mediation of Management Information at the Semantic Level 323
Stateful Mediation 323
Chapter Summary 326
Chapter Review 327
Part IV Applied Network Management 329
Chapter 10 Management Integration: Putting the Pieces Together 331
The Need for Management Integration 332
Benefits of Integrated Management 332
Nontechnical Considerations for Management Integration 334
Different Perspectives on Management Integration Needs 336
The Equipment Vendor Perspective 336
The Enterprise Perspective 338
The Service Provider Perspective 339
Integration Scope and Complexity 340
Management Integration Challenges 342
Managed Domain 343
Software Architecture 345
Challenges from Application Requirements 345
Challenges from Conflicting Software Architecture Goals 346
Eierlegende Wollmilchsaun and One-Size-Fits-All Management Systems 348
Quantifying Management Integration Complexity 348
Scale Complexity 349
xvi
Heterogeneity Complexity 349
Function Complexity 350
Approaches to Management Integration 351
Adapting Integration Approach and Network Provider Organization 352
Platform Approach 355
Common Platform Infrastructure 356
Typical Platform Application Functionality 359
Custom Integration Approach 360
Solution Philosophy and Challenges 360
Considerations for Top-Down Solution Design 362
Component Integration Levels and Bottom-Up Solution Design 365
The Role of Standardization and Information Models 367
Containing Complexity of the Managed Domain 368
Chapter Summary 370
Chapter Review 371
Chapter 11 Service Level Management: Knowing What You Pay For 373
The Motivation for Service Level Agreements 374
Identification of Service Level Parameters 376
Significance 377
A Brief Detour: Service Level Relationships Between Layered Communication
Services 377
Example: Voice Service Level Parameters 379
Relevance 381
Measurability 381
Defining a Service Level Agreement 382
Definition of Service Level Objectives 382
Tracking Service Level Objectives 384
Dealing with Service Level Violations 386
Managing for a Service Level 388
Decomposing Service Level Parameters 389
Planning Networks for a Given Service Level 392
Dimensioning Networks to Meet Service Level Objectives 393
Managing Oversubscription Risk 394
Network Maintenance Considerations 396
Service Level Monitoring—Setting Up Early Warning Systems 397
Monitoring Service Level Parameters 397
Anticipating Problems Before They Occur 398
Service Level Statistics—It’s Fingerpointin’ Good 400
Chapter Summary 402
Chapter Review 403
xvii
Chapter 12 Management Metrics: Assessing Management Impact and
Effectiveness 407
Network Management Business Impact 408
Cost of Ownership 408
Enabling of Revenues 409
Network Availability 410
Trading Off the Benefits and Costs of Network Management Investments 410
Factors that Determine Management Effectiveness 411
Managed Technology—Manageability 412
Management Systems and Operations Support Infrastructure 416
Management Organization 418
Assessing Network Management Effectiveness 418
Management Metrics to Track Business Impact 419
Management Metrics to Track Contribution to Management Effectiveness 423
Metrics for Complexity of Operational Tasks 423
Metrics for Scale 425
Other Metrics 426
Developing Your Own Management Benchmark 427
Assessing and Tracking the State of Management 428
Using Metrics to Direct Management Investment 430
Chapter Summary 430
Chapter Review 431
Part V Appendixes 433
Appendix A Answers to Chapter Reviews 435
Appendix B Further Reading 463
Glossary 475
Index 488