Purpose and Origin

Technical Detail

Note: In general, network management systems available from vendors today do not support all the key functional areas, and in a supported functional area, the coverage may be incomplete even though support is claimed.

• Fault Management: Provides facilities that allow network managers to discover faults in managed devices,² the network, and network operation, to determine their cause and to take remedial action. To enable this, fault management provides mechanisms to:
  • Report the occurrence of faults
  • Log reports
  • Perform diagnostic tests
  • Correct faults (possibly automatically)
• Configuration Management: Monitors network configuration information so that the effects of specific hardware and software can be managed and tracked. It may provide the ability to initialize, reconfigure, operate and shut down managed devices.
• Accounting: Measures network utilization of individual users or groups to:
  • Provide billing information
  • Regulate users or groups
  • Help keep network performance at an acceptable level
• Performance Management: Measures various aspects of network performance including the gathering and analysis of statistical data about the system so that it may be maintained at an acceptable level. Performance management provides the ability to:
  • Obtain the utilization and error rates of network devices
  • Provide a consistent level of performance by ensuring that devices have a sufficient capacity.
• Security Management: Controls access to network resources so that information can not be obtained without authorization by:
  • Limiting access to network resources
  • Providing notification of security breaches and attempts

Network Management Architecture. In general, network management systems have the same basic architecture, as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27: Typical Network Management Architecture [Cisco 96]

The architecture consists of the following elements:

• Network Management Station(s): The network management station³ runs the network management application⁴ that gathers information about managed devices from the management agent⁵ which resides within a managed device. The network management application typically must process large amounts of data, react to events, and prepare relevant information for display. It usually has a control console with a GUI interface which allows the operator to view a graphical representation of the network, control managed devices on the network and program the network management application. Some network management applications can be programmed to react to information collected from management agents and/or set thresholds with the following actions:
  • Perform tests and automatic corrective actions (reconfiguration, shutdown of a managed device)
  • Logging network events
  • Present status information and alerts to operator
• Managed Devices: A managed device can be any type of node residing on a network, such as a computer, printer or router. Managed devices contain a management agent.
• Management agents: Provides information about the managed device to the network management application(s) and may also accept control information.
• Network management protocol: Protocol used by the network management application(s) and the management agent to exchange management information.
• Management Information: The information that is exchanged between the network management application(s) and the management agents that allows the monitoring and control of a managed device.

• Network environment (scope and nature of the network)
• Network management requirements
• Cost
• Operating systems involved

• Simple Network Management Protocol
• Common Management Information Protocol

Usage Considerations

Many network management implementations do not provide support for network devices which use vendor specific protocols.

A network management system for a small isolated network may not be cost effective or needed. This of course depends on functionality, reliability and performance requirements of the network and attached systems.

Maturity

Numerous network management packages are available from a wide variety of vendors. Some packages are simple and provide network management facilities for a single network, others can be complex and handle multiple types of networks. New products and enhancements to existing network management packages are announced frequently.

Costs and Limitations

Index Categories

Name of technology	Network Management
Application category	Protocols (AP.2.2.3) Network Management (AP.2.2.2)
Quality measures category	Openness (QM.4.1.2) Interoperability (QM.4.1) Maintainability (QM.3.1) Scalability (QM.4.3) Security (QM.2.1.5)
Computing reviews category	Network Operations (C.2.3) Distributed Systems (C.2.4)

References and Information Sources

Current Author/Maintainer

Modifications

19 June 97 (original)

Footnotes

¹ A voluntary, non-treaty organization founded in 1946 which is responsible for creating international standards in many areas, including computers and communications. Its members are the national standards organizations of the 89 member countries, including ANSI for the U.S.

² A managed device is any type of node residing on a network, such as a computer, printer or routers that contain a management agent.

³ The network management station is the system that hosts the network management application.

⁴ The network management application is the application that provides the ability to monitor and control the network.

⁵ The network management agent is the software that resides in a managed device that allows the device to be monitored and/or controlled by a network management application.