What is a network management solution?
Question:
Discuss About The Network Management System Best Practices?
A network management solution facilitates the proactive management of devices found in a network. It allows the devices in the network to be constantly queried for configuration and performance. This can be done using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) together with MIB (Management Information Base). SNMP refers to an application layer protocol that allows information to be exchanged between devices in a network (Rufus P. Credle Jr., Uma Maheswari Kumaraguru, Gilson Cesar de Oliveira, Micky Reichenberg, Georg Senfleben, Rutsakon Techo, Maulide Xavier, IBM Redbooks, 2013). The MIB on the other hand refers to a database that contains information describing the parameters of a device in the network. The MIB contains standard control values for the hardware of the managed devices in the network (Hele-Mai Haav; Ahto Kalja, 2009). The SNMP utilizes this database to request for information about a managed device and translates this information as required by the network management system. Below is a scenario design of a network management solution together with its implementation that makes use of SNMP manager and MIB database for management of devices in a network.
The design of a network management solution will largely be dependent on the five areas of functionality as defined by the International Organization of Standards body. These areas include fault management, configuration management, performance management, security management and accounting management (Cisco, 2007).
Fault Management is concerned with the detection, notification, isolation and correction of faults occurring within a managed device in a network.
Configuration Management deals with the settings aspect of a device in the network, such as file management configuration and software management. This ensures the configuration parameters are checked to avoid incompatibility issues.
Performance Management ensures the optimal levels of performance of a network. It is required to perform a routine check of the quality service and performance level of each networked device.
Security Management goal is to prevent and protect intentional or unintentional sabotage of the network by controlling access by the users in that network.
Accounting Management refers to the process of regulating the utilization parameters of a network to maintain an optimal level of performance. This way, individuals and groups can be allocated network resources according to their usage patterns.
The Design of a Network Management System will contain the following.
Different functions will be performed by the router in this network infrastructure. Firstly, the router will be handling all the addressing of other networked devices. In this case, a class C addressing scheme is used where the available ip addresses range from 192.0.0.0 – 223.255.255.255. The router address is 192.0.0.1. The rest of the devices in the network will take an ip address within the remaining range.
Secondly, the router will house the SNMP agent together with the MIB database. The SNMP agent is a software that collects data from the devices in the network, stores it in the MIB and makes it available for the manager. The SNMP interacts with the agents using different types of commands, namely Read, Write, Notification. Using Read command, the SNMP manager reads MIB objects availed by the SNMP agents. Using Write command, the SNMP manager can modify the MIB objects and object instances stored the by the agents in the database. The read and write access is achieved by a concept known as Community strings. Community Strings act as passwords that allow authorized users only to get access to the agent. By default, the community strings are set to public which only authorizes a read-only access. The Notification command allows the SNMP manager to be issued with reports regarding a device state on the network. The SNMP agent makes use of traps to send notifications. On the other hand, MIB will contain the data from the devices that is shared between the networked device and the manager software.
Five areas of functionality in network management
The network management system is a management console installed with a network monitoring software with built-in SNMP. The SNMP employs a client-server kind of communication where a request is sent by the NMS to the managed devices which in turn return a response. The SNMP uses four most common request operations. Get, GetNext, Trap and Set. Get is used to retrieve an instance of an object from the agent. GetNext retrieves the next instance of an object from a list or a table within the agent. GetNext operation reads through the table until all elements are retrieved indicated when the request returns a value outside of the list. Set operation is used to modify values of objects in the agent. Trap operation allows the agent to send notifications to the SNMP manager asynchronously during the occurrence of some event. The NMS takes the ip address 192.168.0.20 in the network. It communicates with the agent that provides data – either performance or configuration data – from the devices in the network.
In this regard, a printer is a node on the network that can be queried by the network management system to provide data about its state. At any time, the queried data can show the printer’s state as available, idle or active. The printer takes the ip address 192.168.0.30 in the network.
As a node in the network, the UPS can be queried on different objects of the SNMP. For example, when queried, the UPS can return the battery system status (temperatures, charge) or the device working mode (online, offline). The ip address of the UPS is 192.168.0.15.
A workstation can be any console device that is used by the user to interact with the network. A workstation can provide data regarding its name, workgroup, status (online or offline), performance and data usage level in the network. In this network design, the workstation takes the ip address 192.168.0.25. Below is a description of the design of a network management solution (PCWDL, 2017).
To effectively implement an SNMP, there are essential prerequisites to be considered. To start with, an MIB file for the managed object should be made available. All Objects in the MIB are defined using a common set of Abstract Syntax Notation(ASN) known as the Structure of Management Information(SMI) that specifies the allowed data types and classes of management information. There exist two types of object identifiers(OID) or managed objects, namely scalar and tabular. Scalar objects return a single value or object instance. On the other hand, tabular returns multiple object instance that are put together in the MIB table. For Example, the object atInput is a scalar object because it contains a single integer value that shows the total input packets on a router. CPU utilization query would return separate results for each CPU hence it is a tabular object identifier.
MIB’s contain Object Identifiers (OID) that uniquely identify MIB’s, MIB tables, MIB objects and object indices that the SNMP monitors. The organization of the MIB is hierarchical and is represented as a tree with levels emanating from the root to the leaves. Each level has its own OID presented as numbers. Each node along the path has a name and a number associated with it. For Example, to get to the LAN Manager, the tree structure would look like this: Iso(1).org(3).dod(6).internet(1).Private(4).Enterprise(1).LAN Manager(77). The OID object number would be 1.3.6.1.4.1.77. The equivalent MIB tree structure is as explained below.
To start with, at the top of the tree is an organization concerned with standards:ISO(1). Under Iso, there is a node known as org(3) which stands for organizations. Below this level, there is a node called dod(6) which stands for the Department of Defence. Under dod, is the internet(1), from which the internet community branches. The directory(1) is a subtree of the internet(1) and contains the OSI directory. The management(2) represents the RFC standard objects. The experimental(3) represents internet experiments. Lastly, the private(4) is vendor specific and contains those MIB’s from the vendor.
For the printer, the system up time can be queried using the following command, assuming the printer’s ip address is 192.168.0.10.
%snmpget -v 2c -cpublic -mALL 192.168.0.10 system.systemUpTime.0
Ans: system.sysUpTime.0 =Timeticks: (586753771) 67 days, 21:58:06.70
The next command snmpgetnet returns the following OID in the tree sequence and its value.
%snmpgetnext -v2 2c -cpublic -mALL 192.168.0.10 system.systemUpTime.0 Ans: system. sysContact.0 = Peter Parker [email protected]
The snmptranslate command converts a numeric OID and returns a corresponding MIB name in text form.
%snmptranslate .1.3.6.1.2.1.1.3.0
SNMPv2-MIB: : sysUpTime.0
Conclusion
The SNMP offers numerous commands that can be utilized to query data from the nodes in a network. Different network monitoring applications contain snmp that facilitates proactive management of networked devices. By using snmptrap command, alerts can be sent from a device to a network management software informing of a fault occurrence in the device. This technique allows effective maintenance of big networks and prevents destruction of computing devices in the network.
References
Cisco. (2007, July 11). Network Management System: Best Practices White Paper. Retrieved from A Cisco Corporation Website: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/availability/high-availability/15114-NMS-bestpractice.html
Hele-Mai Haav; Ahto Kalja. (2009). Databases and Information Systems V: Selected Papers from the Eighth International Baltic Conference, DB&IS 2008. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
PCWDL. (2017). What is SNMP? Basic Tutorial on NMS, MIBs, OIDs, Traps & Agents. Retrieved from PC&Network Website : https://www.pcwdld.com/what-is-snmp-and-tutorial
Rufus P. Credle Jr., Uma Maheswari Kumaraguru, Gilson Cesar de Oliveira, Micky Reichenberg, Georg Senfleben, Rutsakon Techo, Maulide Xavier, IBM Redbooks. (2013). IBM z/OS V2R1 Communications Server TCP/IP Implementation Volume 2: Standard Applications, Volume 2. Lampeter, UK: IBM Redbooks.
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