Network Management Systems (NMSs) : Ensuring Business Performance and Continuity

Networking is now the main and unavoidable solution to most modern information technology companies, generating services to the whole world. Management of information is the most important thing to be kept in mind. Large amount of data needs to be managed and stored and retrieved as and when needed. Data can be stored centrally or distributed over the component machines. So the various components need to communicate among them. So, a network has to be established among all the components. First and foremost importance is data availability. Network management system has to be done for fast data retrieval. And here comes in the thought of network management system.

Planning for a network management system requires that a number of network management tasks be folded in a single software solution. The network management system should automate the processes of expense management auditing, asset lifecycle management, inventory deployment tracking, cost allocation and invoice processing.

Network management system means different things to different people. In some cases, it involves a solitary network consultant monitoring network activity with an outdated protocol analyzer. In other cases, network management involves a distributed database, auto polling of network devices and high-end workstations generating real-time graphical views of network topology changes and traffic. In general, network management is a service that employs a variety of tools, applications, and devices to assist human network managers in monitoring and maintaining networks.

A number of network management systems are capable of managing multiple geographically distributed sites. It is quite natural that units of an organization be situated quite a far off distance geographically, data sharing and retrieval becomes hard. This is accomplished by exchanging management data between management consoles at remote sites with a management station at the main site. The main advantage of a distributed architecture is that it reduces management traffic, thus, providing a more effective usage of bandwidth. A distributed architecture also allows personnel to locally manage their networks from remote sites with systems.

A typical enterprise is comprised of different network elements. However, each device normally requires compatible element for network management systems in order to effectively manage the network elements. A recent enhancement to management platforms is the ability to remotely manage network elements using a web interface. This type of network management systems is an enhancement which eliminates the need for special client software on individual user stations to access a management platform. The data collected by different systems is stored in separate databases, creating administration overhead for users. Companies now follow the three tier architecture to manage large sets of data. Such situations have initiated the companies to adopt standards such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) to facilitate the exchange of management data between management platforms and element management systems. CORBA specifies a system that provides interoperability between objects in a heterogeneous, distributed environment and in a manner that is transparent to the programmer. Its design is based on the Object Management Group (OMG) object model. With organizations adopting standards in network management system development, users can expect interoperability and cost savings in deploying and managing the infrastructure.

Most network management systems architectures use the same basic structure and set of relationships. Computer systems and other network devices run software that enables them to send alerts when they recognize problems when one or more user-determined thresholds are exceeded. Upon receiving these alerts, management entities are programmed to react by executing one, several, or a group of actions, including operator notification, event logging, system shutdown, and automatic attempts at system repair.

Management entities also can poll end stations to check the values of certain variables. Polling can be automatic or user-initiated, but agents in the managed devices respond to all polls. Agents are software modules that first compile information about the managed devices in which they reside, then store this information in a management database, and finally provide it (proactively or reactively) to management entities within network management systems (NMSs) via a network management protocol. Well-known network management protocols include the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP). Management proxies are entities that provide management information on behalf of other entities.