Network Management Issues - Essay Example

Network management refers to the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of networked systems.

A large number of access methods exist to support network and network device management. Access methods include the SNMP, Command Line Interfaces (CLIs), custom XML, CMIP, Transaction Language 1, CORBA, Netconf, and the Java Management Extensions - JMX.

Data for network management is collected through several mechanisms, including agents installed on infrastructure, synthetic monitoring that simulates transactions, logs of activity, sniffers and real-user monitoring. In the past network management mainly consisted of monitoring whether devices were up or down; today performance management has become a crucial part of the IT team's role which brings about a host of challenges -- especially for global organizations.

There are many types of computer networks, including:
- Local-area networks (LANs): The computers are geographically close together (that is, in the same building).
- Wide-area networks (WANs): The computers are farther apart and are connected by telephone lines or radio waves.
- Campus-area networks (CANs): The computers are within a limited geographic area, such as a campus or military base.
- Metropolitan-area networks (MANs): A data network designed for a town or city.
- Home-area networks (HANs): A network contained within a user's home that connects a person's digital devices.

As capital offices are to be linked using MAN Technologies various methods are discussed.

MAN: Metropolitan Area Network, a data network designed for a town or city. In terms of geographic breadth, MANs are larger than local-area networks (LANs) but smaller than wide-area networks (WANs). MANs are usually characterized by very high-speed connections using fibre optical cable or other digital media. A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings to entire cities. MANs can also depend on communications channels of moderate-to-high data rates. A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by many individuals and organizations. MANs might also be owned and operated as public utilities. They will often provide means for internetworking of local networks. Metropolitan area networks can span up to 50km, devices used are modem and wire/cable.

Some technologies used for this purpose are ATM, FDDI, and SMDS. These older technologies are in the process of being displaced by Ethernet-based MANs (e.g. Metro Ethernet) in most areas. MAN links between LANs have been built without cables using either microwave, radio, or infrared laser links.

DQDB, Distributed Queue Dual Bus, is the Metropolitan Area Network standard for data communication. It is specified in the IEEE 802.6 standard. Using DQDB, networks can be up to 30 miles long and operate at speeds of 34 to 155 Mbit/s.

Several notable networks started as MANs, such as the Internet peering points MAE-West, MAE-East, and the Sohonet media network.

MAN adopted technologies from both LAN and WAN to serve its purpose. Some legacy technologies used for MAN are ATM, FDDI, DQDB and SMDS. These older technologies are in the process of being displaced by Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. At the physical level, MAN links between LANs have been built on fibre optical cables or using wireless technologies such as microfarads radio.

The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) protocols are mostly at the data link level which is defined by IEEE, ITU-T, etc.