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In addition to selecting HPOV as the SNMP-based network management application, the organization selected the following third-party value-added applications to develop an enterprise level network management system:
The organization carefully considered including additional types of value-added applications, but in maintaining a phased system implementation approach, instead it chose initially to roll out a suite consisting of the barest minimum needed to manage the network effectively.
Physically, the NMS comprises four SSPARC 20 WS that are situated at the NOC. The primary workstation and redundant secondary workstations (i.e., the WS1 and WS2) are connected to the TCP/IP network by an Ethernet LAN. These workstations collectively run HPOV NNM, ARS clients, and Sybase clients. Two additional workstations, WS3 and WS4, support the NMS. WS3 houses the SAS application as well as the ARS clients and Sybase servers. WS4 hosts Isicads physical management software. WS4 is also used as an X-Terminal.
The four NMS workstations are connected internally to each other by an Ethernet LAN, which is also used for printer connectivity. Each workstation on this LAN supports Ethernet and FDDI interfaces and are also connected to high-speed, secured modems through the RS232 port to perform out-of-band management. A standalone 486 PC hosts the capability to manage the modems that are used for the out-of-band network access.
The Hewlett Packards OV NNM 3.3.1 is used to monitor and control the network and provides the necessary platform to integrate middleware applications to maximize data sharing and processing. The NNM:
Two copies of NNM are deployed on NOC workstations WS1 and WS2. WS1 houses the primary NNM, whereas WS2 hosts the secondary copy. Each copy is configured and customized in an identical manner. Database synchronization between these copies is maintained by scripts that are automatically initiated on a periodic basis.
Each NNM is configured at various levels. The map views of each are customized to view and isolate faulty devices easily. Each NNMs alarm and event handling is configured to notify operators in real-time using a combination of beeps, pop-up windows, and E-mail messages. The map and event color schemes are carefully defined to quickly determine fault criticality (e.g., red implies critical failure; yellow is minor; blue is unmanageable). The capability to obtain real-time performance graphs for selected backbone links is also implemented for quick status reports. Finally, to ensure that sufficient Management Information Base data is collected for performance, fault, and accounting purposes, selected MIB variables, with associated collection frequency, are identified for all network devices. Applicable threshold checks are also instilled.
The SAS Corporation offers a suite of products capable of integrating with HPOV NNM to perform data processing, analysis, and report generation. These products collectively allow the users to import data from NNM MIB files into its proprietary database, reduce the collected data, and perform statistical analysis on this data to generate strategic and performance baseline reports. These reports are used by the NOC operators, managers, and sustaining engineers to jointly perform network trend and capacity planning analysis.
By using the SAS product suite, the organization is able to parse information and reduce the amount of storage needed without compromising on disaster recovery requirements; also, SAS provides the ability to more easily summarize network performance data and generate reports on circuit utilization, LAN utilization, and device performance.
The organization has developed a help-desk call process model with the goal of handling the users problem on the first call. To that end, the organization will people the help desk on a 24 * 7 basis with a mix of operators and operations support personnel. These NOC personnel interface with the remote node personnel using a combination of commercially available trouble-ticketing packages, secured telephone lines, facsimiles, and E-mail to resolve problems in a timely manner.
Remedy Corporations ARS 2.0 was selected as the centerpiece for the organizations help desk. The ARS generates trouble tickets and tracks network events in a customizable work-flow process. The ARS uses an interactive process similar to E-mail to track network events with repair personnel. To accomplish this, the ARS provides the capability using a GUI to customize the following:
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