1. Eric Severson – CCNP, CCDP, MCSE Network Specialties, Inc. eric@network-specialties.com (817) 491-0267

2. Agenda Network Design for availability Definition of a Managed Network Basic tools used to manage a network Discussion

3. Availability Uptime Maximum Downtime per Year Six nines99.9999%31.5 seconds Five nines99.999%5 minutes 35 seconds Four nines99.99%52 minutes 33 seconds Three nines99.9%8 hours 46 minutes Two nines99.0%87 hours 36 minutes One nine90.0%36 days 12 hours * Unscheduled downtime

4. Design for Availability Availability of a Single Component Availability = MTBF/(MTBF+MTTR) Example: MTBF = 120,000 hr MTTR = 4 hr Availability = 0.99997 = 99.9967% Annual downtime = 17.5 minutes

5. Availability – Multiple Components Multiple Components Availability = Avail(component 1) x Avail(component 2) … x Avail(component n) ISProuterfirewallswitchserver

6. Availability – Server System

7. Availability – Multiple Components

8. Availability – Other Components What about A/C power availability? What about software errors – IOS bugs, application code errors, bad patches or antivirus updates that cause outages? How about the human fat-finger?

9. Availability – Power/Software added

10. Availability – How Can you Improve? Add redundancy Reduce repair time Manage your network…

11. Availability – With Redundancy ISProuterfirewallserver ISProuterfirewallserver switch Parallel Availability = Same product of availabilities but use 1-((1-availability)*(1-availability)) for each component that has been made redundant.

13. Managed Network Characteristics Systems must be managed towards a common goal Network must be secure Infrastructure is thoroughly documented Equipment must be manageable Enterprise synchronized to a common time source

14. Managed Network Characteristics Logging SNMP trapping SNMP polling Vendor specific alerting – e.g. Dell iDRAC Application monitoring Personnel trained on equipment and management systems Network Management System

15. Why do we want a managed network? To achieve the availability that was designed into the system Downtime is costly!

16. Equipment is Manageable Enterprise grade hardware Configurable Supports industry standards Evolves to support new standards/features Redundancy available if design demands it Remotely accessible (SSH, http, telnet, SNMP)

17. Comprehensive Documentation Organized repository (online/offline) First Responder documents Network diagrams - logical and physical Network device lists Circuits lists Applications/firewall rules Contact lists – IT/vendors/support/site Policies/procedures/service level agreements Business continuity/disaster recovery plan

18. Enterprise synchronized to a standard time Hierarchical design NTP (Network Time Protocol) is used Real -time clock or approved Internet source All network hardware must synchronize All active systems ( Windows, UNIX and proprietary platforms) must synchronize

19. Equipment must be maintained Vendor hardware maintenance Vendor software maintenance Hot/cold spares Periodic patches to fix software/hardware issues Upgrades to add new features Configuration management Change control Life cycle planning

20. Logging Syslog server for accepting logged events Windows/UNIX Event logging Logging properly configured on all systems Systems in place to interpret log events Predetermined/proscribed actions for log events Out-of-band alerting for actionable events

21. SNMP Trapping SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) NMS to accept SNMP messages Devices configured to send SNMP messages when events occur Systems in place to interpret SNMP events Predetermined/proscribed actions for SNMP events Out-of-band alerting for actionable events Operational guidelines for responding to events

22. SNMP POLLING SNMP server configured to proactively retrieve operational/performance data NMS system in place to interpret SNMP events Proscribed actions for SNMP events Provide detailed metrics on hardware/software systems Out-of-band alerting for actionable events Operational guidelines for responding to events

23. Application Monitoring Specific TCP/UDP ports are checked for proper response - e.g. HTTP, SSL, SMTP, DNS, etc Synthetic transactions are issued – e.g. a query against a web site/database system Out-of-band alerting for actionable events Operational guidelines for responding to events

24. Trained Personnel Network design LAN configuration, operation & troubleshooting WAN configuration, operation & troubleshooting Windows active directory/networking operations Vendor specific tools Generic tools

25. Systems must be managed towards a common goal Availability should be specified Expectations should be explained to customers Customer expectations should be met Network metrics should be developed and publicized

26. Network must be secure Only authorized access is allowed Network equipment must be in secure areas Network equipment must be hardened AAA (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) should be in place Network design should support the security paradigms

27. Logging Syslog is native to Unix/Linux Kiwi Syslog is a free Windows program Syslog can be a part of a network management software package Windows event logs can be retrieved by NMS or other application Define how syslog will be used

28. SNMP Polling/Trapping Define what you want to track and thresholds for actionable items SNMP community strings defined on each device/host SNMP polling and trapping is configured on NMS Define actions (NMS and human) should an actionable state occur

29. How to Build a Managed Network Document existing infrastructure Set up logging host Configure all devices/hosts for logging & SNMP Set up Network Management Station Configure logging, polling and traps Document specific actions for events

30. No-Cost Systems Use the tools that vendors provide free Syslog - Linux or Kiwi syslog NMS – Nagios, OpenNMS, Zenoss, Pandora, Groundwork, Hyperic, NetXMS Configuration management Kiwi Cattools - routers, switches and firewalls Scripting – Perl/TCL/Expect/WMI

31. Low-Cost Systems Whats Up Gold PRTG GFI Network Monitor

32. Enterprise Systems HP Openview Solarwinds Orion CA eHealth IBM Tivoli EMC Ciscoworks Cisco MARS

33. Next Steps Develop strategy Develop short-term tactical plan to rapidly move towards a more manageable network

34. Further Information Comparison of network monitoring systems - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_network_monitoring_systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_network_monitoring_systems Popular Network Management Software in Comparison - http://ipinfo.info/html/network_management_software.php http://ipinfo.info/html/network_management_software.php

35. Eric Severson Network Specialties, Inc. eric@network-specialties.com 817-491-0267