Network Management Template
Group Project

Tech Corp
5/19/2013

* Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2 1.1 Individual Responsibility 2 2. Configuration Management 3 2.1 Inventory Management 3 2.1.1 Management Criteria 3 2.1.2 Design Overview 3 2.1.3 Usage & Rationale behind the Template 4 2.1.4 Value to Management 4 3. Performance Management 5 3.1 Performance Log 5 3.1.1 Management Criteria 5 3.1.2 Design Overview 5 3.1.3 Usage and Rationale Behind the Template 6 4. Fault Management 7 4.1 Device Fault log 7 4.1.1 Management Criteria 7 4.1.2 Design Overview 7 4.1.3 Usage & Rationale behind the Template 8 4.1.4 Value to Management 8 5. Security Management 9 5.1 Software Security 9 5.1.1 Management Criteria 9 5.1.2 Design Overview 9 5.1.3 Usage and Rationale Behind the Template 10 6. Conclusion 11 7. References 12

Introduction

N etwork management is a broader subject of managing the whole network consistently. There are some supportive products like software and hardware to enable the users of network to manage the network properly. It covers a wide area of management such as fault, security, performance, configuration and more. These all aspect of network management has to be accomplished successfully to gain the obvious management of network. To gain these management aspects templates need to be take control as a management tool of network. Each criteria of network has to be handled by templates. So the templates we designed here will support the Tech Corp Company and it will cover most of the aspect of network management.
The templates we have developed here will incorporate with the Tech Corp Company as their main functionalities and acquisition has been identified and implemented in these templates. The template has been designed by considering the issues behind the company management and their business outcomes. Network expansion, increment in devices, performance speed up, security constrains have been take it into account and enhanced templates accordingly.
We have developed user manual for each template in a understandable manner. So the managerial staffs can learn by their selves and can handle them without further help. All templates will generate reports for the future use and management use.

Individual Responsibility

Configuration Management
Inventory Management

Component Number | Device Name | Device Type | Made | Model Number | Network Address(IP) | Location | Work Status | Warranty | History | 42 | Pavilion | Desktop Computer | HP | | | | | | | 43 | | Router | D-Link | | | | | | |
Management Criteria

This template basically developed to improve the collection of devices in the network which acquired by the Tech Corp company. All these attribute of the network components are covered under configuration management which allows enhanced control through the configuration of network devices and improve tracking of inventory throughout the network.
This is an essential aspect for successful management of any network. By using this template report can be generated for the purpose of making strategic decision by the company’s administrative department. These are the proper tools like this template which enhances the work of managerial staff to make their workload easy.

Design Overview

This template is designed to simplify tracking of devices successfully throughout the network. Network devices will be tracked by using physical location and network IP address and status of the network component can be observed by the work status. Basically this template is a tool of monitoring not only the components which Tech Corp Company holds but also their implementation.
This template is valuable when vendors reviewing the contracts as made, model and brand name with respect to the status. Device status can be viewed in three diffident instant such as active or inactive or impaired to make easy to maintain those devices in a way. By the connection of these two templates, user can view devices in the network and order them according to the staff desire.
This template is enclosed with warranty period and the history of device. This information is very important when it comes to the management of devices. These information need to be added to the database to maintain healthy equipment and warranty is more important to ignore the financial losses. It can generate standardized ordered reports also when managerial coordinators needs to check the configuration, maintenance of component and expansion of the network.
Location of the device will allow the managerial inspectors to view and track the device’s physical location. It will serve much time by physically searching a particular device in a large company if problems occurred.
Component number attached to the devices is the key element to identify uniquely each and every device in the network acquired by Tech Corp Company and it will allow user to track device and link one template to another related to the network management. This template will be needful management tool when make link to the device fault template via some programs, thought design is very simple.

Usage & Rationale behind the Template

The first field going to be explained here is Component Number which will be auto generated with a uniquely identifying number, which will allow the device to be identified through many different management documents. This randomly auto generated number will act as a primary key for each devices added into the database and each additional devices acquired by the Tech Corp will be uniquely added to the directory.
Secondly the device name, device type, made, model number will be recorded. Device name and device type are not only to identify the device in detail but also to organize the device details that will be more considerable when network expands in size. By identifying the made company, queries can be constructed so that reports can be generated providing detail, which type of vendor products are being employed across the network. The model number helps to identify the devices uniquely even with in the same made and same type of devices. This number is unique for all devices come out from the production company. This number will enable managerial personals to verify the specification of a certain device with other relevant details given in template.
Location is one of the important fields when a device needed to be physically located and make easier to find. Location can be described as room, unit, building, office or any other preference made by the company. Network address of a device must be stored as all components are connected via network. This will authorize the company staff to map the network devices and remotely configure and access them if needed.
The status of all devices in the network has to be recorded to the database. This must be done in real time. So the status will indicate the healthiness or current situation of the device. If work status is “Active” that means device working properly and if work status is “inactive” then it’s not currently connected to the network and if work status is “impaired” then some hardware or software problem found.
Warranty period and device history has to be stored to track the condition of devices. Warranty details can be differing according to the warranty type (Full or partial). History record holds the information about the upgrade from past to future.

Value to Management

This template is going to be an important to management of Tech Corp network and it enhance many network management processes with useful tasks like inventory tracking, generate standard report, remote configuration and access, warranty and track upgrades.

Performance Management
Performance Log

Date & Time | ID Number | Computer Type | Temporary? | Latency? | Local Service? | Ability to perform? | Connection Loss? | 12/03 9:00 am | 134 | Windows | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | 14/0312:32 pm | 135 | Mac | | | | | |

Management Criteria

This Performance log is a Network Performance management tool which is used to help determine and prioritise the network performance issues that may occur. The way its done is that identifies the area’s of the network that may be having performance issues which could include temporary issues such as connection loss. Minor issues that may occur are still recorded so that management and network technicians can go through this information to determine why Temporary losses occur, and fix this issue so that the issue doesn’t keep occurring. By the management and technicians teams going through this information they can determine problems before they cause connection loss and faults on the network.

Design Overview

When it comes to organisations people don’t want to be waiting around while performance issue’s occur such as connection loss or issues causing network downtime. The reason TechCorp should have the performance logs is to help Technicians and management determine problems that may affect the network.
These performance report logs are filled out then sent to the Help Desk which they can then determine the problem more accurately and work on them. Without these performance logs being done, management would only be getting fault reports that come from the network, which would not help clarify the problem that the people are having as saying the problem is in the network is to brief and will not tell them what’s wrong. This would be one reason why TechCorp should implement this performance log, as it will help the Network Technician as well as management, as they can determine what’s happening with their network, depending on what user put down in the log, then can address it, for example, such as connection loss due to server overload.
By using these performance logs managers are better able to prioritize their staff and resources as they will be able to determine the problem more accurately and once they determine the problem they can work from where it is to fix it. This will also benefits managers because they can assess the network efficiency by assessing users who are not experiencing acceptable Network Performance.

Usage and Rationale Behind the Template

In the performance log we ask the user to enter their computer type as this will help prepare the support staff to deal with the issue as they will get staff who know about the that specific type of computer and can work on the issue. The temporary column is there to determine if it is just a small issue that is occurring such as a high load on the servers which is causing people a connection loss. Connection loss is used as an indicator to determine if it is a big issue or just a minor issue.
The local service is there to show whether the network is getting clogged or whether its external issue that is causing the issue. We have put the Latency there to show if the connection is still there, to determine whether the issue could still arise because of the slow connection. Also because of this slow connection people would not be able to work with slow speeds, so the manager would see this as an urgent issue and will try fix the problem quickly.
The ID number is the number that is used to link the job to the technician, as each technician has there own skill in which computer type they will use to try and resolve the issue. Finally the “able to perform functions?” was put it to also determine if the network was functionable and is still able to be used. If not the technician and manager would have to prioritize this as a major issue as users can’t do anything.
The technical staff can monitor the performance fault logs and determine if the performance logs are just a one of thing, or if they keep occurring. From this they can also determine if it is a wide variety of user who are experiencing issues or if it is only a minimal amount of people. They can also then determine if the issue is a major issue and has to be fixed right away or an issue that can wait while another more important issue is being resolved. Also by keeping logs of the issues occurring, they can then determine later on when issues occur if they are the same issue, and if they are, they will know how to fix it and can get the issue resolved in no time allowing users access to the network. These things all determine if there is something wrong with the performance of a network and can determine if it is a big problem, and then work out what to do to fix the problem.

Fault Management
Device Fault log Component Number | Device Name | Occur date & Time | Trigger | Symptoms | Diagnosis | Solution | Checked by | 1 | Router | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Management Criteria

This template is developed to identify the faults in devices throughout the network which acquired by the Tech Corp company and find solution for the existing fault to maintain devices perfectly. Essentially this template works as a fault management template.
Fault identification can be done by some ways beginning with information gathering. There is a technique in information gathering, where a query is sent to network devices in pre-determined intervals and the response is received and analysed is called polling network devices. Understanding, monitoring and managing the individual components of a network may not be a problem but if the system increases in size and complexity then there is a need of template as a fault management tool which can enhance these problems. Once the fault has been identified and isolated, it can be solved as soon as possible.

Design Overview

Previous fault management template hold by Tech Corp is insufficient to manage errors in the log, as they acquired new devices and new offices around the country. If a fault management is not completely accomplished in the company, there are lots of possibilities that problem can occur in the network. It decreases the reliability of user; put more work load to their daily business. First step to overcome the network fault is detecting the fault occurrence and this template is directly connected to the network devices so there can be link failure. This template is linked to the device management template as I have stated in my configuration management to make easy to find device which has problem. The identifying fields such as component number and device type will allow the device to be identified uniquely. This template also enclosed with generating report of fault log. So if an error has notified to specific device it will be informed to the staff using some protocols. For that the network should not get failed. Otherwise using report problem will be identified. Once the error identified there is a need of isolate the error which can be done remotely by the managerial staff. Symptom of an error has to be recorded in the template and diagnosis has to be found.

As a final step the solution of the error can be defined in the template that will reflect in another template for upgrade purpose or to experience the errors. The other thing is this template has to be work in real time. Then only using this template report they can easily detect which device has problem to find the solution. Date and time has to be recorded to prioritize the error found and find solution accordingly.

Usage & Rationale behind the Template

The first two fields are used to identify the device uniquely. Component number and device type have been driven from the device management template. As these fields are driven from another base, it allows the network to speed up its process and it’s just for reference for a staff. Next field is occur date & time is used identify the error occurred in the network. Date and time has to be recorded together in real time by the system. This will help to find out the periodical event errors. The trigger is most important field needed to be recorded as this is the root cause of the error. This allows the staff to identify the fundamental mistake for the error and this is basic element of solution. This is filled up manually. Symptom is also allowing the user to identify the fault. By inspecting the device completely this will be recorded. This will be trigger of assuming the correct diagnosis.
The Diagnosis is identified by specialist of devices. This is one of the important parts of this template because the solution will be based on the diagnosis that found by the specialist. So if they identify this correctly, then error can be solved easily. This will be recorded by the factors of triggers and symptoms.
The last step is defining the solution for the problem occurred in the network devices. Even, if the error has been solved or not this field has to be recorded with the current progress. Because, this progress may be the hint to find the solution in future.

Value to Management

Faults cannot be ignored in the network. So this template will replace as a solution to manage the faults in the network devices. This template will help to identify, isolate and resolve the problems found in the devices which are remotely or physically connected. Reports generated by this template will assist staff to solve problems as much as possible, as those reports will act as experience of the network management.

Security Management
Software Security Company Name | IP Address | Anti-Virus Software | Firewall | occurred Date | No. of affected PC | Trojan | Virus | Tech Corp | 192.168.0.0 | AVG | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Management Criteria

This Software Security template is a network security management tool which is used to help identify the security issues that may occur in the network. The software security management has the following functions: using different types of managerial and technical measures to fix the network system to normal operations. Ensure data integrity, availability and confidentiality of the network. Protect the Network from unauthorized users who try and get into the network. Finally to get rid of any existing threat or potential threat that the software might have in the network system. These functions are the main things to consider when creating this template to ensure the functions listed above.

Design Overview

There are many benefits that software security management has when looking at network management. With the increase in development of internet technology, computers have to be able to handle the companies’ development in the network. Network information is an important part of the development of a company and its network.
Information is an important decision making tool that is used to help companies such as Tech Corp, make decisions about what type of software security they should put in place. Network information is vulnerable to a variety of human attacks from things such as information theft, data tampering, Trojans and other types of viruses. If a company want’s to protect themselves from these types of attacks they need to improve their network security protection with things such as firewalls. Because Tech Corp is a big company, which has lots of staff, there is a large amount of data which is being exchanged over the network which needs to be properly protected so it doesn’t get taken by attackers.
Firewall is software that keeps dangerous things from the internet away from the network. If there was no firewall everything that is on the network would be exposed to other people who are able to get into your network. Anti-virus software is also used when it comes to getting rid of computer viruses that may affect a computer network. So finally, there are many things that a network must consider when it comes to software security, and it includes, anti-virus, firewalls and other forms of network protection to stop hackers from getting into your network.

Usage and Rationale behind the Template

In The Software Security log we get the user to input the company name so we know who is experiencing the problem. We then get the IP address of the network so that we can identify the network that has the problem. Once we have determined the IP address of the network, we get the antivirus that was used and check it to see what was wrong when the problem occurred.
With Anti-virus we can real time monitor it to make sure everything is okay, so when something does occur they can try and fix the problem before anything bad happens to the network. We then asked for the firewall that was used to make sure that it was properly protecting the network from attackers and viruses.
The date that the problem occurred is also recorded so that Tech Corp can monitor when problems occur and can see if a pattern is occurring, in which they can then act and try and fix their problem. “The Number of computers affected” is also included, so that Tech Corp can determine how big the problem is and can then try and find out what the real problem is determining on how many computers are affected.
The Trojan and Virus were added into the template so that once the problem has occurred, you can determine what virus or Trojan it was, and then in the future, can work on it the same way you did now to get rid of it and fix the network. These things are all used to determine software security issue that may occur in a network, and what occurred during the attack such as what virus got through the network.

Conclusion

This document covers almost four major functional areas which is needed for the Tech Corp Company currently. These templates define the most appropriate management aspects of network management. It allows the user to interact with the template independently. There were some issues we found when process of development and we tried our best to overcome with the issues. We have covered the major functions each and every criteria of management had. These templates have connected to network to perform some task requested by the user. Mainly Security issue, arrangements of devices, network slowly down, network expansion and fault tolerance has been solved diligently.
We have a hope that our templates will assist the Tech Corp company management staffs and higher management personnel. It will allow the future expansion in all area of network management.

References

[1] En.wikipedia.org “FCAPS management categories” viewed at: 16/5/2013
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCAPS>

[2] En.wikipedia.org “Network management model” viewed at: 16/5/2013
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_management_model >

[3] oidview.com “Network Management Overview” viewed at: 18/5/2013
< http://www.oidview.com/network_fault_management.html>

[4] Searchnetworking.techtarget.com “What is fault management?” viewed at: 18/5/2013
< http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/fault-management>

[5] Clemm, A 2007, ‘The Basic Ingredients of Network Management’, Management Network Fundamentals, Edition 1, Cisco Press, Indianapolis, IN 46240 USA

[6] En.wikipedia.org “Network performance management” viewed at: 18/5/2013
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_performance_management>

[7] Configurationtoolkit.com “The Configuration Management Plan and Tool”
Viewed at: 18/5/2013 < http://www.configurationkit.com/>