network assessment help!!!

[Lex]

hopefully i have your attention given the title.

I have been asked to give an assessment of a network that has around 100 users and on a mac infrastructure.

the background
The company is wanting to get rid of the network manager and has asked me to go behind his back to just take a look at the network. I'm assuming i need to determine:

- what systems they're running both workstation & server
- the number of workstations
- the number of servers
- connections speeds
- software licenses
- printers, scanners

I believe funadamentally they want me to see what it is they got, offer solutions to current problems and offer any recommendations. Incidently this is a media company so they're very application/resource hungary.

can you guys give me some further detail to which would be useful for me to ask or find out?

 

[zetec452]

What are your company going to do without the network manager?

Personally if you are getting rid of the network manager it would be wise to get somebody else in before you do so as there may be many niggles on the network that nobody is aware of (I know this is easier said than done).

Not a complete list but I would look at the following:

• All hardware specs and warranty (warranty very important for servers)
• server hardware configurations, what RAID, dual PSU, dual Nic, how is it configured, load balancing etc
• Licensing - pc, desktop, applications (office etc)
• Server roles - where are your DC's, DNS, file servers, web servers etc
• Firewall / internet connectivity / security - who dials in etc, any back doors the NM uses
• Applications used, on what server, on what pc
• Passwords for apps, network accounts. Passwords for licenses online i.e MS eopen and other apps
• Who are your software / hardware suppliers
• Backups, are they working, where are they, any tapes off site at NM house, what software, has it been working?
• DR - if any

You'll want to consider other things such as if the NM is fired can he get into the building and start ripping out server hard disks. Does he have a back door into the system and start deleting files etc?

Be careful when snooping around, a decent NM will have logging all over the shop and could see what you are doing.

Good luck.

Jon

 

[LordSplodge]

The background

The company is wanting to get rid of the network manager and has asked me to go behind his back to just take a look at the network. I'm assuming i need to determine:

Danger Will Robinson.

How well do you understand networks and how well do you understand administrating Apple computers and servers (I assume seeing as it is a Media Company they will be running an XServe or two!)?

I'm guessing by what you have posted that you are not 100% sure on both of the above counts and snooping around may not help you much. Given that they are having problems it looks like the previous (current?) Network Manager doesn't have a complete grasp of the situation. This doesn't mean he won't have enough know how to have logging in place and catch you snooping.

If the company is willing to shaft him then they will be willing to shaft you if you don't get it right...

On a technical side the management tools on OS X Server (or Active Directory) will gleam you some of the knowledge as will examining the config of network switches. None of this will give you enough information to
replace the Network Manager without some pain and it doesn't help with non technical issues such as software licenses, documentation, change management and all the other things that go along with being a Network Manager.

Tread carefully.

 

[Phobia_mp3]

How complex is the current set up, does it use vlans, sticky mac addresses and so on ... basically how much do you know about the current set up.

Also without a network manager if your network goes down can your company afford the downtime? Do you have a backup system incase it goes down?

 

[Lex]

How complex is the current set up, does it use vlans, sticky mac addresses and so on ... basically how much do you know about the current set up.

Also without a network manager if your network goes down can your company afford the downtime? Do you have a backup system incase it goes down?

the idea is to replace the network manager. i myself am going to visit the company and do an i.t audit (siliently if possible) and make my recommendations but this is a first project for me but i think i can do it. just wanted some more depth to my knowledge on what to look out for.

 

[Lex]

if i wanted to do an i.t audit now on their hardware & software (no 108 machines 60% pc the rest mac) unfortunately i think i'd have to do it manually because i cannot install an agent on users machines to pickup their applications and pc spec as this whole operation is to be done silently. wonder if there's anything on the server machine?

 

[Sin_Chase]

You will not be able to easily silently ascertain enough of the information with enough accuracy to get a decent audit, with reference specifically to software licenses.