Managing

M i g the Modern Network

contents
[ ]
Managing the Modern Network

2 In 2008, Your Network

Will Know Who You Are,
What You Want
Sean Michael Kerner

5 The New Networking

Landscape
Sean Michael Kerner

2 7 Understanding a Network
Management Marketplace
in Transition
Dennis Drogseth

10 Opportunities Abound in
Transitioning Network
5 7 Management Marketplace
Dennis Drogseth

12 Network Discovery:
New Category of
Essential Products
David Strom

10 12 14 Network Management
Evolves Along with Networks
Michael Pastore

16 Improving Network Efficiency

at the State of Kansas
Michael Pastore
14 16

1 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network

In 2008, Your Network Will Know

Who You Are, What You Want
By Sean Michael Kerner

and what you are allowed to do (or what you're prohib-

I
n 1949, George Orwell published his masterpiece novel
1984. Even if they haven't read it, most people remember ited from doing).
the book's key takeaway: Big Brother is watching.
Intelligence in 2008 will arrive in the form of more
Fast forward to 2008 and Big Brother really is watching. Ethernet standards that provide increasing amounts of
The vehicle that makes Big Brother's omniscience pos- information about data types. Intelligence will also
sible is the network. come in the form of smarter quality-of-service (QoS)
and bandwidth-management offerings that intelligent-
The network: that mass of ly provision the right band-
boxes, interface cards, cables, width at the right QoS for
and antennae that when com- users and their applications.
bined become a platform for
every type of human interac- Network Security
tion and collaboration on the
The smarter network of 2008
planet Earth (and beyond).
will rely strongly on Network
Access Control (NAC). While
Let's take a look at how the
NAC has been a buzzword for
networking world of 2008 will
several years, NAC will go
become all knowing and all
mainstream in the coming year
seeing -- a silicon- and fiber-
thanks to Microsoft. A key
based Big Brother, if you will.
component of Microsoft
Windows Server 2008 is what
Network Smarts it terms Network Access
A theme I heard time and Protection, or NAP. The cor-
again from vendors big and nerstone of the technology is
small last year was that the pre-admission control: A NAP
network was getting "smarter." Jupiterimages server will first validate the
More intelligence is being health of an endpoint (a user
embedded into the network or machine, for instance)
layer than ever before, with 2008 now poised to be a before allowing admission to the network.
watershed year for the smart network.
Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 3, as well as
Today, networks at a basic level are no longer "dumb" Windows Vista, are both ready to serve as NAP end-
pipes that transport information. The networks of 2008 points. Due to Windows' massive installed base,
will build on recent and coming innovations to become Microsoft's NAP will be something that enterprises can
application- and user-aware -- they'll know who you are activate out of the box to begin to secure their networks.

2 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
The power of access control for the smart network of
2008 cannot be understated. If hundreds of millions of
Windows users are using NAP, it may end up being the
single most important security innovation since the
invention of the firewall.
Imagine: a world where insecure endpoints aren't
granted access to do their dirty deeds. What a wonder-
ful world it would be.
Network Identity
The smart network of 2008 isn't just more secure, it
also knows who you are and what you need access to.
While directories such as Microsoft's Active Directory
have been used for identity for years, they're not
enough. The 2008 network will have identity built into
the framework of the network itself.
The big push for network identity in 2008 will come
from Cisco, with its TrustSec initiative. Instead of a user
needing to enter multiple passwords for each and every
application they need to visit, a TrustSec-powered net-
work essentially will know who they are, what their busi-
ness function is and where they're allowed to go.
From a Big Brother-auditing point of view, TrustSec,
and its various competitive implementations from ven-
dors other than Cisco, also will offer a full audit trail of
a user's activities at both a network level and the appli-
cation level.
By embedding identity into the network layer, the net-
work will have better understanding and control over
what users are doing.
Network Speed
With greater intelligence in the network, efficiency is
likely to improve, though it still won't be enough for
the bandwidth-intensive demands that networks will
face in 2008.
It's possible 2008 could well be a breakout year for 10-
gigabit Ethernet, or GbE, which so far has lagged in
adoption. With costs falling for 10 GbE equipment, cou-
pled with rising bandwidth demands, 10 GbE will likely
be on the list of many IT admins' requisition forms.
While enterprises and data centers start full adoption of
10 GbE, standards bodies such as the IEEE will be hard
3 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
at work finalizing even faster speeds.
At some point in 2008, the 100 GbE standard is likely
to be published as a draft, providing a ten-fold increase
in Ethernet connection speeds. The 100 GbE standard
will also include specifications for a 40 GbE standard,
which will likely set the stage for a final showdown
between SONET and Ethernet.
The fastest connection possible in 2007 was the venera-
ble 0C-768 at 40 gigabits per second. Once 40 GbE and
100 GbE come into play, it may well only be a matter of
time before OC-768 loses share to the Ethernet upstarts.
IPv6: Everything Gets an Address
Orwell's Big Brother was all knowing because he was
everywhere. The networks of today aren't quite there
yet, but with IPv6, they get much closer.
The current version of the Internet Protocol (version
four, or IPv4) relies on address space that's near
exhaustion. IPv6, with its billions upon billions of possi-
ble addresses, will be its successor -- and 2008 will be
the year it finally takes off.
Why 2008? Because Uncle Sam says so.
In June, there is a Federal government mandate for the
U.S. government's IT to switch to IPv6. It's a move that
will spur tens of billions of dollars in capital and software
upgrades. It will also force all those business that deal
with the government to strongly consider IPv6 as well.
With IPv6's massive address space, anything can have
an IP address. When anything -- be it a server, a phone
or even just a refrigerator -- has an IP address, the net-
work becomes pervasive.
Vendors
So who's the power behind "Big Brother"? Who is the
face behind the network? Well, for 2007, it was Cisco.
In 2008, Cisco is still likely to be the chief mastermind
behind the network's growing capabilities, though
competitive challenges will continue to emerge.
In the core routing space, Juniper Networks will make
still more inroads, chipping away at Cisco's dominance.
Expect either someone to buy Juniper this year, or
Juniper to make its own purchase of a switch vendor to
 Managing the Modern Network

bolster its bid for network dominance.
HP, Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent and others will also ratchet
up their competitive offerings -- as well as the market-
ing hyperbole -- as each takes on Cisco.
So remember, Big Brother isn't just a literary fabrication
anymore. In 2008, Big Brother is the network. I
This article was adapted from Internet.com's
InternetNews.com Web site.

The bottom line, though, is that all the vendors are

pushing the same goal: faster, more aware and smarter
networks.

4 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network

The New Networking Landscape

By Sean Michael Kerner

In the switch market, particularly, much is up for grabs.

L
ike two heavyweight prizefighters slugging it out in a
title match, networking colossus Cisco and challenger
Juniper Networks traded monumental announcements
in early February in their battle for the multibillion-dollar
switch market.
A recent market forecast from research firm Dell'Oro
Group reported that the Ethernet switch market was
worth $18.1 billion in 2007 and is expected to hit $21.8
billion in 2012.

Make no mistake about it, the new product announce- A key driver of Ethernet switch growth is the need for
ments from Cisco (for its NX-7000) and from Juniper (for higher speeds, such as 10 GbE and greater. Both ven-
its EX-series switches) are big news in the networking dors also claim that their respective platforms will be
world. There is no question that as demand continues ready for 100 GbE, which is the next major shift for the
to increase for Internet bandwidth, Cisco and Juniper networking market. The technology is expected to
each want to be the vendor begin rolling out in late 2009
of choice to help meet it. or early 2010 as the standard
is ratified.
To add to the stakes, it's
important to remember that While the networking space
the networking business is is rife with vendors who claim
one that has typically experi- to rival Cisco, the reality is
enced long product cycles. that few have the scale to
As a result, the new products compete successfully across
from Cisco and Juniper may an entire networking infra-
well help to shape the face structure play.
of networking for the next
five to ten years, or longer. In my experience when
briefing with Cisco, I'll ask
Jupiterimages
For Cisco, the NX-7000 rep- about competitors (or there
resents a new platform shift is already a competitive slide
toward a fully 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE)-optimized in their deck.) More often than not, Cisco will name
switching infrastructure. It also marks the first major Juniper.
new switching platform from Cisco since the first
Catalyst debuted more than a decade ago. Certainly Foundry, HP Procurve, and Nortel are all
viable competitors in the networking space as well. Yet
For Juniper, the EX switch portfolio marks the entry of none of them to date have really challenged Cisco in
Juniper into the switch business itself. At long last, the core routing business, which is where Juniper con-
Juniper can now claim that it has an end-to-end portfo- tinues to gain share.
lio -- from big routers to big switches to security and
everything in between. Juniper's T1600 multi-terabit router offers some real

5 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
competition to Cisco's flagship CRS-1, AKA "Huge Fast
Router." The reality is that big routers need big switch-
es, and I'd suspect that, typically, many networking
buyers will choose to acquire both routers and switches
from the same vendor.
The day that Juniper made its announcement, I also
got some comments from Nortel, who said it wel-
comed Juniper's entry into the switch business. A
Nortel spokesperson noted that the announcement
shows that customers are demanding choices other
than Cisco, which Juniper and Nortel can offer.
The spokesperson added that the Juniper announce-
ment also validates Nortel's position that the market is
moving toward converged solutions. Yet according to
Nortel, enterprise data is a two-horse race -- Nortel and
Cisco are it, while Juniper is late out of the gate.
While Juniper is likely to disagree strongly with Nortel's
assessment, the simple reality is that Juniper is doing
well financially and is growing overall share at a rapid
6 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
rate. As a result of this and its move into the switch
business, along with Cisco, it's poised to be one of the
two companies setting the pace.
Fundamentally, success in the new networking environ-
ments is about end-to-end speed with a complete
infrastructure portfolio. The move toward 10GbE and
more importantly, 100GbE-capable networking infra-
structure, is critical to enterprises' continued growth
and stability, since they need speed to compete in the
global economy.
Regardless of who ultimately triumphs, the high-profile,
big-dollar announcements from Cisco and Juniper no
doubt will serve to expedite the move to increased
speeds. They will also raise awareness in networking
groups around the globe that a faster world for data is
coming soon. I
This article was adapted from Internet.com's
InternetNews.com Web site.
 Managing the Modern Network

Understanding a Network Management

Marketplace in Transition
By Dennis Drogseth

which have made acquisitions of their own. Among

J
ust a casual look at media headlines would suggest that
the network marketplace is in transition. But the ques- these, Fluke has acquired Crannog and Visual Networks
tion remains, a transition to what? for application service performance management,
OPNET acquired Altaworks for Web-based, transaction-
Probably the most compelling evidence is that many driven, application management, Network General
major network management vendors have been acquired Fidelia for a variety of service and event man-
acquired. agement features, NetScout then acquired Network
General and then Quantiva for application analytics,
A few examples: and NetQoS acquired
RedPoint Systems for SNMP-
• Event correlation and root based polling.
cause vendor SMARTS by
EMC in February of 2005. All this activity suggests the
• Concord/Aprisma, a combi- network management market-
nation of network performance place is consolidating and
management and root cause reshaping itself at a rapid rate.
analysis, by CA in June of Vendors are struggling not only
2005. to gobble up new real estate,
• Micromuse, a leader in serv- but perhaps even more impor-
ice level management with tantly, to reposition who they
strong service provider roots are within a broader manage-
by IBM, announced in Jupiterimages ment marketplace that’s simi-
December of 2005. larly in a rapid state of flux.
• Quest acquired Magnum
Technologies, with strengths in root cause, perform- Planning & Strategies
ance and service management in May of 2007.
What does this mean for you when it comes to plan-
ning IT management strategies that increasingly
The drumbeat goes on. HP acquired Opsware, which
depend on network efficiencies in reaching distributed
includes strong network configuration management
environments? It at least implies that traditional siloed
capabilities. On a less major scale, BMC acquired Real
approaches to buying niche tools in isolation may not
Ops with strong roots in network process automation,
be the right strategy for very much longer. Along with
and BMC also formed a partnership with Entuity for root
all these acquisitions, in fact, the network management
cause diagnostics; all three occurring in July of 2007
market is deconstructing and reconstructing itself to
support more cross-domain requirements, better ana-
Nevertheless, there are a significant number of free-
lytics, and more modular approaches to deployment
standing network management vendors, a number of
and functional packaging.

7 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
Let's take a look at some of the hot spots in the new
network management marketplace.
Deconstructing and reconstructing: Platforms such as
CA, EMC, and IBM are not just acquiring domain-spe-
cific management capabilities when they acquire net-
work management vendors. They are also looking for
extensible and reusable parts.
For instance, CA is evaluating how far it can extend
SPECTRUM’s inferencing engine as a source of root
cause diagnostics across the broader infrastructure,
including servers and application services, just as EMC
has extended SMARTS analytics to support storage
and application flows. IBM will be leveraging
Micromuse discovery and has already integrated its
dashboard into a more cohesive service management
capability.
Network management in support of application deliv-
ery: If the network is an instrumented ocean across
which all applications must flow, then it makes sense to
exploit the network as a resource in monitoring appli-
cation traffic and diagnosing application problems —
and not only when the network is at fault.
At minimum, good network management today can
accurately isolate where a problem is occurring in large
distributed environments, often pinpointing specific
servers or exposing chatty application design.
The real-time rise of real-time: Application flow man-
agement across the network is increasingly being done
in real-time, or near real-time. This is because unlike
traditional, component-centric network performance
management, it doesn't require polling.
Some capabilities, such as route analytics, expose the
actual path of application traffic in a fully real-time con-
text. This type of visibility will become yet more impor-
tant with the advent of service-oriented architectures
(SOA) that exploit distributed networked access
beyond single data center implementations.
The rise of configuration management: In part
because of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and its
emphasis on configuration management (meaning visi-
bility into configuration and topological change) as an
enabler for all management disciplines, network con-
8 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
Why Is Networking
Growing So Fast?
D
By Sean Michael Kerner
id you know that the growth of networking
spending is outpacing all other sectors of
IT? Abner Germanow, director of enter-
prise networking at IDC, gave his reasons why to a
standing-room only audience at Interop in May
2007.
According to Germanow's IDC data, enterprise net-
working growth was 17 percent in 2006. In contrast,
servers grew by 6 percent, packaged software grew
by 8 percent, and storage grew by 6.2 percent.
When he reported the figures to his management at
IDC, they asked him to double check since they
couldn't believe that networking could be growing
that fast because it's a mature market.
So what is propelling networking? According to
Germanow it boils down to five driving factors.
The No. 1 reason is voice and video. Germanow
noted that analysts and vendors have been talking
about voice and video for years, mostly as a future-
proofing topic. But in 2006, voice became a reality.
IDC is projecting an 11 percent growth in com-
pound annual growth rate for IP-PBXs through 2011
and a 22 percent CAGR for IP phone gear. That
growth will fuel additional demand on the network.
Video is also a massive networking bandwidth hog
and is placing large demands on IT infrastructure.
It's not just YouTube users that are driving network-
ing video demand, either. Germanow noted that
there is a solid case also for IP surveillance and
video training, and that there is a lot of excitement
around conferencing and telepresence.
The No. 2 reason for the growth of networking is the
rise of network-based businesses. Because the net-
work is the business, Germanow said, networking-
based business is all businesses and not just
Amazon, Google, and eBay. continued
 Managing the Modern Network

figuration capabilities are becoming increasingly strate-

"The way that companies succeed is the applica-
gic for IT buyers. The multi-purpose benefits of good
tions that they use to reach their customers,"
configuration management tools to help automate
Germanow said.
change, as well as to support more effective diagnos-
tics, compliance, security, asset management, and
There is also a shift toward an appliance-based
other disciplines represents a breakthrough in both net-
model across the networking space where both
work management and in the industry at large.
hardware and software services co-exist in one form
factor.
OSS to IT: Operation support systems (OSS) as used
by classic telecommunications providers are beginning
Originally appliances were just for security devices
to look at IT best practices such as ITIL, and more con-
but now the trend is more wide spread. "The new
scious support for application delivery services.
context for hardware appliances is as a simple serv-
ice delivery component," Germanow said.
In parallel, IT organizations are increasingly beginning
to adopt a more service provider-like posture with a
The third reason for the growth of networking,
focus on measurable accountability and quality. These
according to Germanow, is the fact that intelligent
commonalities are also causing cross currents in the
networks are winning. With all the applications and
market that are allowing vendors to repurpose innova-

users coming onto the network, the need for intelli-

tions targeted at one set of buyers to serve the other

gent networking gear is a key enterprise require-

—typically at different levels of scalability and different

ment.
price points.

The fourth reason for the growth of networking is

The famous American novelist, Nathaniel West, when

end-point growth. Germanow noted that their has

confronted with a poetry magazine called Transition

been an explosion of network touch points, which

populated by the ill-conceived writing of pampered

means that more items are connecting to the net-

starlets was asked to comment on the quality of the

contents. His reply, arguably the single fastest uptake in
the history of American literary discourse was, "All I can
say is – 'Transition' spelled backwards is 'no it isn' art.'"
But the network management marketplace is transition-
ing to something better, difficult though it is to see
through all of its complexity. Perhaps the core to
appreciating this brave new world is to focus on the
deconstruction and reconstruction along the lines of
correlation and analytics, or more advanced discovery
now visible within some of the more enlightened plat-
form architectural strategies.
work.
Virtualization is the No. 5 reason on Germanow's
list of factors driving networking growth.
"The first thing that happens is you consolidate
servers, which reduces your port count, and as a
network guy that's scary," Germanow said. "You lose
low utilization connections and move to highly uti-
lized connections where the importance of each
port is increased."

Investing in network management is no longer just
about managing networking hardware. It's about
investing in extensible technologies that may be
applied in application and service management,
change and configuration management, discovery and
asset management, security and compliance, just to
mention a few areas. I
This article was adapted from Internet.com's CIO
Update Web site.
While new application demands are helping to
drive adoption, Germanow urged the audience to
remember performance.
"While the market is shifting from speeds and feeds
to features and functions, performance is still criti-
cal," he said. "Performance has to be there."
This article was adapted from Internet.com's
InternetNews.com Web site. I

9 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
Opportunities Abound in Transitioning
Network Management Marketplace
By Dennis Drogseth
T
he network operations center (NOC) is no
longer just about managing the network, it's
now a part of a broader operations and ulti-
mately business service vision.
Now, to be clear, I realize this suggests one of two
things: either viewing network operations as an organi-
zation used to evangelize and bring IT processes into
the mainstream; and/or lever-
aging the existing capabilities
in some NOCs to manage
across net-
work/system/application inter-
dependencies to integrate
other more siloed IT organiza-
tions from the data center.
For instance, while ITIL best
practices typically don't begin
with the NOC, but more often
with the service desk and then
the data center. In fact, the
trend can sometimes be the
reverse. I would say that while
in most organizations the NOC is the last group on
board with configuration management database
(CMDB) system implementations, in probably 25 per-
cent of the cases I've worked with it's the first group to
implement an early phase CMDB; typically oriented at
service impact management. And I've often heard
NOC directors complain about the lack of network sup-
port for many CMDB system offerings today — proving
that the NOC is ahead, not behind, market.
The reasons for this somewhat schizophrenic role vis-à-
vis more holistic management shouldn't be too much
10
of a surprise. On the one hand, the NOC, and network
engineers in particular, are famous for being stubborn,
independent, and "misunderstood." By image, at least,
they are on the high end of fitting in with being classi-
cally non-communicative "Dilberts."
On the other hand, many network operations organiza-
tions are already established in managing across inter-
dependencies so that prob-
lems can be diagnosed across
the network, or isolated to the
application, or the server, or
the database. In accordance
with this, many good network
management solutions are
capable of identifying applica-
tion design issues, such as
chatty applications, or inform-
ing on server performance.
As a result, in many IT organi-
zations, it's the network team,
Jupiterimages
particularly the network engi-
neers, who are best prepared
to coordinate troubleshooting across silos, or plan for
overarching requirements in infrastructure optimization,
or manage remote locations including systems and
application access/responsiveness.
The Vendors & The Marketplace
Recent data shows that an astonishing 51 percent of
purchases involving network change and configuration
management solutions were made in conjunction with
a CMDB initiative. Standalone management purchases
came in a distant second at about 16 percent.
©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
 Managing the Modern Network
Purchases made in conjunction with systems manage-
ment configuration and other software came in next at
13 percent, beating out purchases of network device
hardware needing configuration tools at 12 percent.
This data is radically different from what we would have
seen five or even three years ago. It's one indicator that
planning network management strategies is becoming
a much more holistic endeavor. Another striking data
point is that 64 percent of our respondents from Q4
2006 indicated that their organization had done, or was
about to make, some organizational change to facilitate
better collaboration between the NOC and the data
center.
Investing in management solutions is no longer just
about buying siloed tools to manage just the network.
And much of the push and shove in the network man-
agement market is consciously or not driven by this
very fact. Vendors selling network management solu-
tions know they have to change their business model
to support a broader set of roles; from engineering to
operations to service assurance across all domains.
Given that, and getting back to technology, I'd like to
wrap up with Enterprise Management Associates' rec-
ommendations for assessing the value of management
investments for what we call "next generation service
assurance." These requirements were evolved to
address cross-domain requirements that impact all of IT
operations, but it turns out that every one of them are
relevant to making investments on the network man-
agement front.
They include:
• Discovery that supports not only network, but (ideally)
systems and application dependencies for performance
management and asset and inventory
• Analytic capabilities that can triage across network,
systems, and application issues
• Leveraging modeling technology to capture relation-
ships to drive more focused approaches to automating
diagnostics, or even reconfiguring devices
11
• Using application flow and route analytics in monitor-
ing application services themselves
• Integrated support for configuration so that when
changes are made to the infrastructure or its services,
performance management capabilities are proactively
aware of anything that's non-policy compliant
• Support for Web Services and SOA application com-
ponentry across a distributed networked environment
• Integration between fault and performance manage-
ment
• Integration between network and security manage-
ment (a No.1 priority in many shops)
• Active control to change network configurations, or
optimize bandwidth, or in some cases actually do
dynamic server rebalancing in conjunction with network
performance
• Support for lifecycle management so that under-
standing, for instance, an application's robustness in a
highly distributed networked environment prior to
deployment can help to ensure that promised SLAs are
actually deliverable.
These are, admittedly, only some pointers targeted at
evaluating solutions specifically in support of service
assurance. Other disciplines such as capacity planning,
asset management and financial planning, and configu-
ration management in and of itself have their own lists
of design attributes. But this list, in combination with a
good plan for evolving organization and process, can
serve as a good departure point for planning strategic
service management technology adoption.
These capabilities not only answer technical needs, but
they reinforce and enable the kind of cultural and
process change that many IT organizations are just
beginning to make, often with strikingly positive
results. I
This article was adapted from Internet.com's CIO
Update Web site.
©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
 Managing the Modern Network

Network Discovery: New Category of

Essential Products
By David Strom

find unauthorized hardware, such as servers, wireless

E
nterprise networks have gotten so complex that it is
rare that any single person knows exactly what is con- access points, and endpoints that users have brought
nected to them. That could become an issue, particu- into the building and running on the network. Again,
larly if someone brings an infected PC or if disaster strikes whatever you can dig up is gravy."
and a portion of the network goes south.
The Basics, And Beyond
The solution is a variety of network discovery tools and
The key takeaway here is that you need to get started,
techniques, some simple and cheap, others less so, to
and there are a wide variety of asset-tracking tools
keep up with your knowledge
available. Microsoft's System
of what's on the network.
Center, Landesk Asset
Manager, and the products
A combination of security
Symantec acquired from Altiris
threats, legal compliance
are all enterprise-wide tools
issues, and general trou-
that can capture a wide variety
bleshooting complexity have
of hardware and software types
motivated a growing number
and be useful for IT managers
of security consulting firms to
who want to ensure that they
look more closely at network
have sufficient software licens-
discovery as a bona fide prac-
es for the number of users, or
tice area. But before you rush
that their corporate-owned PCs
out and hire someone, take
are accountable.
stock of the skill set you have Jupiterimages
in your existing IT organization,
But these tools just evaluate
figure out a budget for the
the basic elements, and don't
activity, and realize that network discovery has multiple
really provide information on things like what is happen-
dimensions (this is security, after all) and not just a one-
ing on the network, who is bringing in personal laptops
stop shopping experience.
from home, and staffers who are connecting to rogue
wireless access points either by design or mistake. For
Larry Dietz, research director for The Sageza Group, in
these situations, you need one or more network analysis
Union City, Calif., thinks there are several things to con-
tools to be able to see your traffic patterns.
sider.
WildPackets.com's OmniPeek and NetScout's Sniffer
"First, there is a basic hardware and software inventory
and Visualizer product lines and are great tools for
of what the client thinks he has out there. If you discov-
doing this, but require a significant investment in train-
er things that the client doesn't know about, then the
ing to operate them properly.
client will think you are a genius. Second, you need to

12 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
"Ideally, you would like to gather this data once and
reuse it for a variety of IT purposes," says Dennis
Drogseth, an analyst with Enterprise Management
Associates.
Such purposes go beyond mere discovery and could
include optimizing applications performance, network
troubleshooting, and handling compliance issues.
Part of any solid understanding of what is happening
on your network is knowing when something has
changed, and being able to react to these changes
when error messages pop up or users start calling with
connection problems.
A good place to learn more about this is a site called
NetPerformance.com. The site also has materials on
using the analysis tools and offers training classes as
well in their use.
Another great source of tools for network analysis is
SolarWinds. The site has a product called Engineers
Toolset that sells at the low end of the price range for
network analysis tools.
The final dimension is to examine your Web presence,
including looking for unauthorized but viable Web sites
that IT doesn't know about, or potentially harmful, hos-
tile or adversarial sites such as those that may be run
by ex-employees or those of competitors that provide
links to questionable external sites, or blogs that men-
tion privileged corporate information.
"This could lead to a whole series of services, such as
vulnerability assessments, patch management, and
data forensics," says Dietz.
What tools are available? A good place to start is to
look for 30-day free licenses to try out scanning tools,
along with more extensive training classes for using the
paid versions.
13
Another place is the self-training materials that can be
found at the Open Web Application Security Project. It
has samples for how to discover and harden Web
servers, and very detailed examples of typical Web
exploits too. It is a great place to learn more about
overall Web security, as well as what you need to do to
track down other kinds of Web problems. And some-
times just doing Google searches can be an effective
means of finding a particular site of a disgruntled ex-
employee.
One tactic is to educate your C-level executives, by
looking for workshops or passing along articles and
Web sites of interest.
Brian Cohen, who was SPIdynamics' CEO before the
company was acquired by HP, suggests hiring estab-
lished security firms that are doing traditional vulnera-
bility assessments of operating systems and networks
and looking to expand their offerings into the Web
presence area. The key is having a solid grounding in
Internet security, and being able to do regular scans to
ensure that changes to a Web site haven't opened up
new vulnerabilities.
"Business managers have lots of problems they need
to investigate -- compliance, security, and just general
network operations. They need to be able to analyze
what's happening on their network and collect the evi-
dence for taking action, regardless of which application
(e-mail, IM, Web mail, etc.) is involved," says John
Bennett, VP of Marketing for WildPackets Inc.
As you can see, doing network discovery has many dif-
ferent dimensions, tools, and cuts across a variety of
skills. But as Bennett says, "IT forensics itself is simply a
new category of must-have technology that is appropri-
ate for any business manager today." I
This article was adapted from Internet.com's CIO
Update Web site.
©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
 Managing the Modern Network

Network Management Evolves

Along with Networks
By Michael Pastore

Networks Have a Role in

I
f one thing is clear from our discussion of networks in this
eBook, it's that we ask a lot of our networks and we'll be
asking even more from them in the future. The prolifera-
Corporate Compliance
tion of IP-based communications and Web applications The last decade has seen an increase in corporate com-
began in recent years, and it won't be easing anytime soon. pliance initiatives by governments, industries, and inter-
national organizations, and network management is an
The end result is that many enterprises have vast, com- important part of maintaining compliance and avoiding
plex networks that have a life of their own. It's a huge penalties.
challenge to ensure that every
cable, switch, router, and con- The most famous compliance
figuration is performing cor- law in the United States is
rectly, and the constant Sarbanes-Oxley, passed in the
changes we make to our net- wake of the Enron accounting
works to accommodate new scandal. SOX, as it is known,
applications and business took effect in 2005. It's a broad
objectives make managing the piece of legislation that covers
network even more difficult. almost every aspect of financial
accounting in publicly traded
In a white paper on Network companies, but for network
Lifecycle Management written operators the most important
for HP, Enterprise parts of the law concern the
Management Associates security of financial data.
Jupiterimages
found one IT environment Strong network security meas-
where eight out of 10 changes ures are required under SOX to
to the network required other changes to be made, ensure financial data cannot be tampered with and
and 10 percent of the time the result was catastrophic financial results altered.
failure.
Access to sensitive information is also at the heart of
The technical operation of the network is only part of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and
the issue, however. As IT becomes more involved in Accountability Act (HIPAA). Any organization involved
supporting business objectives, it's not enough to in the electronic storage and transport of medical
make sure the network hardware is operating smooth- records and healthcare information must have security
ly. Compliance and security concerns mean the net- measures in place to protect such data.
work operations center (NOC) is called upon to help
the business minimize liability and reduce risk. The Patriot Act, passed soon after the Sept. 11, 2001
terrorist attacks in the United States, also contains

14 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
requirements that affect network operators, mostly con-
cerning financial transactions and the ability to monitor
payments that may be financing illegal activity. The
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, passed in 1999, has provisions
to protect personal financial information. Outside the
United States, the European Union passed a data pro-
tection directive in 1995.
What all of these regulations have in common (as well
as many more regulations not mentioned here) is the
need to maintain the security of data, limit and monitor
access to the data, make the data available to those
authorized to receive it, and monitor events that hap-
pen on the network.
For many companies, the path to complying with these
regulations includes improving efficiencies in the net-
work operations center. Network management software
that automates manual tasks can help the NOC with
compliance because it provides a quick, efficient way to
view everything that happens across the network and
proactively alerts the operators when something goes
wrong. By automating network monitoring and report-
ing, the NOC can also more quickly respond to
inquiries concerning compliance because the historical
data is often right at the operators' fingertips.
Automating network tasks like configuration also helps
eliminate human error, which helps immensely when
trying to comply with sophisticated regulations. By cre-
ating a process once and automatically repeating it, it's
far less likely something will go wrong that will affect
compliance. Automation also helps by reducing the
possibility of an inside threat because humans are less
involved in the day-to-day management of the network
and the data that lives on it.
Companies with less exposure to compliance initiatives
are also finding ways to use network management soft-
15
ware to increase efficiency and get control over grow-
ing networks. Revenue-generating applications, such as
e-commerce sites and online self-service, require the
NOC to maximize availability and keep network per-
formance at acceptable levels. Especially important as
the economy slows is getting the most from network
assets and people. Network management plays an
important part in each of these challenges.
It's rare for a modern network to be built on hardware
and software from a single vendor thanks to years of
mergers and acquisitions, siloed IT operations, and a
proliferation of branch offices, home offices, and a dis-
persed workforce.
The network management software used to manage
today's networks needs to scale to cover the size of the
network, and it must also support equipment and prod-
ucts from multiple vendors. Custom approaches, such
as scripts implemented by the IT staff, have little poten-
tial for automation in a large, complex enterprise net-
work.
So far in this eBook we've discussed how networks are
growing and carrying even more information because
of the growth in IP communications, and how the mar-
ket for network management software is changing to
help network operators understand what is happening
across their networks and quickly address problems.
We've looked at how corporate compliance initiatives
are driving the need for network management and
automation, and how the need to make network
resources available to customers, employees, and part-
ners is crucial to competing in today's economy.
We're going to wrap up this eBook with a look at how
one large government organization uses the latest in
network management software to run a more efficient
operation and increase network availability. I
©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
 Managing the Modern Network

Improving Network Efficiency

at the State of Kansas
By Michael Pastore

agement and better align network operations with the

F
or many organizations, growing economic uncertainty
means increasing efficiency is a top priority. That's the state's goals.
situation the State of Kansas Information Services and
Communications (ISC) organization faced when it began “We’ve been using the software for many years now,
looking for ways to consolidate network management and but as the tool has matured, we’ve found new ways to
increase employee productivity. leverage it,” said Steves. “We’ve retired three other
management tools, and expect to retire another three
Network and data center platforms at the ISC depart- as well.”
ment range from IBM main-
frames to Sun Solaris and In addition to consolidation,
Microsoft Windows systems. NNMi simplifies network man-
About half of the servers are agement with automated
industry-standard HP ProLiant change and fault management.
DL145, DL380, and DL385 The ISC networking group is
servers. Approximately 22,000 currently using the latest ver-
employees and several thou- sion of NNMi with a new Smart
sand contractors use the infra- Plug-in (iSPI) for Performance
structure, as well as several add-on module, which tracks,
thousand citizens who access regulates, and automates con-
services daily via agency Web figuration and software
sites. changes across multi-vendor
networks to improve fault,
The networking group of the availability, and performance
state’s ISC department is management. The plug-in puts
Jupiterimages
responsible for a core network more power in the hands of
that connects the capital of first-tier network operators and
Topeka to Kansas City, and to varying degrees, the gives specialists more informa-
infrastructure connecting the state’s 500 regional offices tion when there are problems.
to that backbone.
“We’ll also use iSPI for trending,” Steves said. “It will
Physically, it adds up to about 1,100 network devices — provide us with the data we need to measure our per-
750 routers and 350 switches — serving 105 counties formance against our service level agreements.”
across 82,000 square miles.
Reducing mean-time-to-repair means improved staff
The ISC department uses HP Network Node Manager efficiencies because it's less likely multiple network
i-series (NNMi) software to consolidate network man- operators are working on the same trouble ticket, and

16 ©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

 Managing the Modern Network
it also improves network availability, which translates
into the ability of the state to deliver information and
services to those who need them. Network availability
could even be a matter of life and death.
“Our police officers use the network to perform real-
time operations, like running background checks on
suspects,” Steves said. “Being able to access their data
when they need it could potentially save someone from
being injured or worse.”
Kansas also uses HP Network Automation software (for-
merly Opsware Network Automation System) to auto-
mate security compliance across its network. “We flag
and dynamically correct violations across the network,”
he said. “We’d need another five full-time employees
to do this if we didn’t have the software.”
The security software’s value also became apparent
during a recent upgrade of network hardware.
“Change management in a network of this size can be
a daunting task,” Steves said. “But with this tool, we
don’t have to monitor configuration changes manually.
The software keeps on top of it.”
Help with Everyday Network Issues
Not every organization has a network as complex or
far-flung as the State of Kansas, but that doesn't mean
its network is any less important. When an internal,
Web-based application or public-facing Web site criti-
cal to the business is sluggish it means lost productivity
or lost sales. When a report comes in from a user or
monitoring application about such a problem, HP
NNMi can get to the bottom of the issue quickly.
The first step is determining exactly what is causing the
sluggish response. It may be a network problem, or it
17
could be the user's server or application. The network
operator selects the network end-points of the applica-
tion in question and brings up the NNMi Path Health
Report. This report shows utilization, discards, errors,
and availability for every node and interface in the
path.
If the utilization is within limits and there are no errors
or discards reported, the problem is likely with the serv-
er or application, and the help ticket can be forwarded
along.
Another common network problem is an overburdened
network link caused, for example, by a router interface
failure on another link. When performance data collec-
tion is enabled for a network device, NNMi polls it reg-
ularly and compares the result to administrator-defined
thresholds. An alarm alerts the operator when a thresh-
old is exceeded.
There are a number of NNMi features that can help the
network operator diagnose a problem, including topol-
ogy displays, a Chart Detail Live report, and unified
fault and performance management. A Monthly Heat
Chart color-codes network loads by day of the month
and time of day. A snapshot of the Heat Chart can then
be e-mailed to network engineering so areas of con-
cern can be investigated.
In today's environment, network management soft-
ware needs to do more than solve problems when
they arise. It needs to grow and evolve with the busi-
ness. It's an approach called network lifecycle man-
agement and it helps network operators integrate
fault and performance management, availability, and
change and configuration network management to
improve NOC efficiencies and deliver better network
service to the business. I
©2008, Jupitermedia Corp.