Information Technology : NETWORKING Assignment - Essay Example

Network Management: Routine Maintenance tasks XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX Network maintenance, at its essence, is doing whatever is required to keep the network functioning and meeting the business needs of an organization (Claise and Wolter 2007). The subtleties of each network should be considered when constructing a structured network maintenance model. This is considering that the list of tasks required in maintaining one network could be quite different from the list of tasks required to maintain another work.

Network maintenance tasks can be categorized as; structured tasks or interrupt-driven tasks.In structured tasks approach, maintenance is performed as a predefined plan while in interrupt-driven tasks approach the maintenance involves resolving issues as they are reported. Routine network maintenance tasks help administrators in not forgetting important tasks, for example, file servers backup. These routine maintenance tasks also help in the efficient response of the network manager. They are able to respond to problems, ideally before the end user is impacted.

This gives them the element of proactive approach to network maintenance since they are able to monitor all their network data for early warning signs across their entire IT infrastructure.It is important for the manager to provide the Network Operation Center (NOC) with controlled, self-service and real time data access from the network devices (Mani 1999, p. 50). The NOC uses this data in analyzing the performance and utilization of the network. They are able to project the load, peak time and network downtime with charts and graphs.

As a result, the NOC can diagnose problems much faster by searching and analyzing all the network infrastructure data. The manager’s routine tasks will provide him with this and more data to use and therefore tangible results to the NOC.An important part of routine performance tasks for a network manager is checking the network logs. Frequent monitoring of the network logs gives a detailed visibility of the function points and failure point of the network to the manager. Managers are at an advantage using the logs for post-incident analysis; this means that they can deduce what caused a fault or certain failure in the network using the logs.

In essence, this routine gives the manager a well detailed visibility of their network and clear analysis that they need to troubleshoot issues.“There is no dull moment in a network manager’s routine” – this is the description that most managers give about their work. In an enterprise network change is one constant that is unavoidable and with latest innovations it is happening at an alarming rate. For this reason, a manager has to be most informed and have up to date technical know-how.

Safeco can benefit from this by being able to implement new technologies that are more efficient and that could drive its business objectives towards the set goals and standards. An efficient manager in their role has to have the desire to learn. This is coupled by the motivation to go forward in the face of a widening array of technologies to support. This gives the network manager some business acumen to understand the role of IT and be able to explain it to senior managers in a way that makes sense to them.

Safeco will benefit from this by having the valuable input of the manager in streamlining the business process.Resource consumption in problem response is significantly reduced by an efficient network manager. Safeco will benefit from reduced obsolescence of relatively new purchases. This is because the routine and efficiency considers underlying business goals where resources are allocated to complement business drivers. A harmonized role playing, between the head manager and assistants ensures that the IT personnel do their work in more structured way.

Safeco will benefit by utilizing the workers energies in meaningful development for the company.ReferencesClaise, B & Wolter, R 2007, Network Mangement: Accounting and performance strategies, Cisco Press, San Francisco. Clemm, A 2006, Network management fundamentals, Cisco Press, San Francisco. Limoncelli, T, Hogan, J & Chalup, S 2001, The Practice of system and network administration, Addison-Wesley Professional, Boston. Mani, S 1999, Network management: Principles and practice, Addison Wesley, Boston.

Oppenheimer, P 2010, Top-down network design, John Wiley and Sons, New York.