Performance and Fault Management: A Practical Guide to Effectively Managing Cisco Network Devices (Cisco Press Core Series)

Filled with tips and advice on designing and deploying effective fault and performance network management, Part I provides you with the background to understand the techniques and data presented in Part II. The tips and techniques were gathered from the authors' individual experiences as network managers, developers, network engineers, Cisco TAC engineers, and network management product managers.

Chapters 1 3 discuss techniques that should be considered and in place before implementing performance and fault management. These chapters describe the steps necessary to build a sound network management infrastructure, including:

• Auditing and documenting the existing network

• Baselining and reporting the performance of the existing network

• Creating a knowledge base for the storage of the elements that make up rules, policies, and service level agreements

Chapters 4 7 describe techniques useful for defining, collecting, and reporting network and network device performance and fault data.

• Chapter 4 discusses four areas of network performance: Availability, Response time, Accuracy, and Utilization.

• Chapter 5 introduces thresholding in which collected data can initiate events based on preset threshold values.

• Chapter 6 discusses events and how to integrate them into a fault environment. Once an event occurs, what do you do about it?

• Chapter 7 discusses network statistics and data manipulation. This chapter introduces the statistical methods and techniques typically used with network performance and fault related data.

Chapters 8 and 9 highlight the general protocols and tools that apply to the concepts in earlier chapters.

• Chapter 8 provides a brief overview of the technologies described and used in Part II. This includes SNMP, RMON, syslog, and Netflow.

• Chapter 9 highlights various fault and performance tools discussed in the book. Use this chapter to learn helpful criteria to consider when purchasing network management tools.