Network management

Hulkster

Hulkster

Hulkster

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Joined
21 Apr 2011
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99
I'm keen to hear what tools/methods you guys use for network management.

- Do you follow frameworks like ITIL/FCAPS?
- How important is change and incident managment in your organisation?

I've got a pretty good monitoring solution with Nagios but growth in the company (~400 staff now) is really paving the way to be more formal with this stuff.

Note this is more about the network kit ie switches, routers, etc, as opposed to service desk, servers and the like.

Keen to hear any input :) ta
 
Ive done the ITIL v3 Foundation exam and at work we use ITIL/ITSM compliant service desk software, however that's about it. We only VERY loosely follow the ITIL framework.
We have about 1000 members of staff, not all full-time/normal hours though and our IT dept is quite small, so change management is usually nothing more than an email to the manager if anything at all.
With regards to changes of networking gear, its usually just done when required and we don't have a framework in place.
We could do things much better but due to a few major projects recently implementing frameworks has been put slightly on the back burner.
 
Briefly, we follow broadly ITIL procedures - we have a change request process and some definition of what is routine etc. Routine changes get done without approval, other changes require peer review and sign off. Anything that needs to be done out of hours (that is, anything risky) usually goes through a full change advisory board, works well for us really. Maybe slows things down a little but that's sometimes a good thing. All changes get recorded (which cuts down on mistakes, having to write your config first in a ticket makes you think a bit).

Beyond that we have lots of accounting for device access, lots of automatic config backups and some lockdown of allowed commands on a per user/group basis.

Incident management is less structured, we have the concepts of an incident manager and somebody responsible for communications but beyond that it's a little loose.

I'd like to say we're basically applying the bits which make sense without becoming completely process driven....
 
We are an ISO9001, 20000 and 27001 certified organisation, means we follow all the elements of ITIL anda bit more on top. Currently using Solarwinds for network monitoring and keeping configs etc, a lot easier to use than Cisco Works which it has replaced.
 
I work in a large outsourced managed service organisation as a Change Manager, though I come from a technical background.

I'd stress that ITIL, SMBOK, COBIT, ISO20k are great principles but you have to pick and choose what works best for your organisation and you don't have to boil the ocean in one go. You need management buy in and support for whatever you plan to do.

There are a number of Light ITIL frameworks around and the poster above has got what I would say is the right priority. Some form of Change Management is crucial (ideally with some form of Configuration Management so you know where you are as well as where you want to go), Incident/Problem are more a matter of style and communication for me.

Experience and statistics have shown me that generally, a very large proportion of day to day issues are the result of some uncontrolled change or some fallout from an untested change. Getting mature about how you change and reconfigure your IT assets is probably the single biggest positive measure you can take in any reasonably complex IT environment. You will save your technical teams a lot of hassle in the long run and deliver an enhanced, open service to your customers (internal or otherwise).
 
Thanks for the input so far. Becoming entirely process driven isn't something which we would look for really, as I think trying to go too far will just result in an excessive burden.

What tools can you reccomend for config management? I have played with Solarwinds but I really didn't get the impression of them being all that solid. I have had a good play with Orion and it seemed to promise a lot but I didn't get much out of the trial.

To start with it's more a case of change logging, as opposed to change management...the idea being to try to get out of the habit of on the fly changes of which the possible side effects have not been discussed.

I agree about comminication, I think that is what needs to be nailed first.
 
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Yeah I keep meaning to give Rancid a blast. Can this save configs or is it pretty much just for doing diffs against files?

I will give Solarwinds another blast as admittedly I did not actually try their Config Management tool.

We have HP infrastructure and they do Procurve Manager and Intelligent Management Center...PCM is OK, IMC is good but it's complex and very pricey.
 
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