Integration with Other Software

Supporting the wide variety of NEs in enterprise networks requires a rich mix of NMS and operational skills. Our primary concern in this chapter is the NMS, and in this section we briefly review the function of some ancillary systems to which it may be attached. These can include software applications that handle:

• Data export of network topology/inventory data for business asset analysis ” for leaseback arrangements, departmental billing, and so on.

• Data export to software-based modeling packages ” traffic analysis, network design, and capacity planning.

• Alarm generation ” trouble tickets, audible/visual, email, mobile telephony text message, pager, phone, and so on.

• Performance analysis ” the number of packets, frames , and cells transported in a given period by a node, interface, link, or connection.

• Billing ” reports generated using call detail records and other data, such as connection type, class of service, and bandwidth consumed.

• Security ” distribution of keys, user account names and passwords, digital certificates, encryption settings, authentication, and so on.

• Workflow ” unsignaled virtual connections, such as ATM PVCs, require manual (or software-assisted) creation. A workflow system external to the NMS may provide this facility by handling task delegation, tracking, and completion.

Business asset analysis can be used for depreciation studies, lifecycle management, and department billing. NEs are expensive items that need to be recorded, managed, and maintained from initial deployment through decommissioning. Issues like upgrade and replacement have an important bearing on the network operator.

Specialized software applications can be used to carry out offline traffic analysis. A snapshot of the discovered topology can be exported into a modeling package, and the user can execute what-if scenarios, for example, increasing the bandwidth on a given link. The effects of any such changes can be viewed offline before making a change in the network. Modeling packages may also allow new topology details to be exported back into the NMS.

Alarms generated by the network can be routed via the NMS to trouble ticket applications. This allows for recording and directing any remedial work required to clear the fault. Another method of alarm annunciation is the simple audible variety, such as sounding a bell or a computer speaker. Visual indication can be a GUI topology object color change. Routing a message to an email recipient (or a short text message to a mobile phone or pager) can be used to indicate text-based fault indication. It is even feasible that a voice phone call could be initiated by the NMS to indicate a particularly serious fault.

Performance analysis can be facilitated by a combination of special reports and third-party applications. Many NEs generate performance data records (PDR) that provide utilization details for:

• Ports, links, and virtual circuit utilization

• Protocols

• Networking technologies

Mediation software can process PDRs to produce data ready for export to reporting. This is similar to billing. Billing is already a critical SP business requirement, particularly as IP service billing becomes increasingly important [IPDR-ORG]. Enterprises also need billing as SLAs become more common.

Many NEs generate call detail records (CDR) that are preprocessed by mediation software prior to export to billing. The raw NE data blocks in Figure 5-1 are generally CDRs and/or PDRs.

Security is an issue of grave concern to the owners and operators of all large networks. The distributed nature of managed networks provides possible targets for attack:

• SNMP agents can be flooded with request messages (denial of service).

• NMS hosts can be attacked by various means, such as by viruses or hackers.

• The network joining the NEs and the NMS can be broken or spied upon.

• The data passing between the network and the NMS can be stolen, modified, or destroyed .

Security is required at all levels of a managed network, and this may require additional specialized software, such as directories for secure storage of relevant data.

Networks generally do not remain static, and changes need to be applied in a controlled manner. Workflow systems can help achieve this by tracking and managing the tasks required for running a network. This is discussed in more detail later in the chapter.

NNM Integration

Many third-party applications can be integrated into NNM: This is one of its great strengths. This includes Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), which can be launched via the pull-down NNM menus . The reason for integrating applications in this way is to assist in solving operational problems. Clearly, it is a matter for the network operator to decide if such close integration is required. For example, if an enterprise application starts to misbehave by continuously sending out network messages (e.g., an NMS auto-discovery application), then the operator could locate the offending machine and then launch SMS to remotely remove the application.