Network Management Center Blog : scott steves

Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations? part 3

Michael_Procopio — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:01:00 GMT

by Scott Steves, State of Kansas

Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations?

In my first post, Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations?, I said that management told my team “you need to consolidate operations and increase staff productivity”. We did it and these are the five tips I can pass on from my experience. In the second post, Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations? part 2, I covered tips 1 and 2. In this post, I’ll cover the rest of the tips.

Tip #3: Software should support the organization’s consolidation goals

The wide variety of management software can be daunting when deciding what’s best for the organization. It’s important to look at your organization’s consolidation goals and use software that aligns with those goals. My department required software that was capable of multi-vendor management because we did not want to worry about which vendor’s network equipment we needed to support. We also needed software that was capable of scaling across our entire infrastructure, making sure it would not encounter issues even after monitoring 1,000 nodes.

Tip #4: Pay attention to the richness of the portfolio

When evaluating management software, it’s also important to evaluate the “functional density” of the portfolio. By that, I mean an integrated portfolio that delivers as much of the capability that you need as possible. This will allow you to do more without adding unnecessary complexity to the toolset or interfaces. We were able to reduce the State of Kansas’ network’s MTTR by at least 15-20 percent by taking advantage of HP’s network management software features. When you are able to reduce MTTR, it improves both the quality of network service delivered and staff productivity. This translates into significant cost savings. Even more importantly, reducing MTTR improves network availability. The state cited our improved network availability as an example of program success in the Kansas State Legislature. Finally, having a single, unified and standardized interface with easy to use features saves our operators hundreds of hours per year.

Tip #5: Automate whenever possible

Use network automation software to track and regulate network configuration and software changes. This will make it easy to correlate changes with faults. We learned the value of this during a recent upgrade of network hardware. Change management in a network of our size can be an overwhelming task but, with the automation software, we did not have to monitor configuration changes manually. Instead, the software managed this.

To summarize, implementing standardized business service management software was the right decision for my organization, especially during these tough economic times. It could be the answer to your challenges as well. Be sure to look for standardized management software that aligns with your organization’s goals, research the richness of the tools and use automation software whenever possible.

I'm Scott Steves; I work in the Network Analysis Group as a Systems Network Software Consultant for the Division of Information Systems & Communications at the State of Kansas. I provide research and support for the network and configuration management solutions in the Division. Feel free to connect with me via www.linkedin.com/in/ssteves

If you are interested in BSM see our BSMblog. If you are interested in IT Operations see our ITOpsBlog

For more information on network management products go to the Network Management Center page

Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations? part 2

Michael_Procopio — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:15:00 GMT

by Scott Steve, State of Kansas

In my first post on this topic, I said that management told my team “you need to consolidate operations and increase staff productivity”. We did it and these are the five tips I can pass on from my experience.

Tip #1: Implement standardized management methodologies wherever possible We have an infrastructure that spans dozens of state agencies and services, including the Departments of Labor, Corrections and Transportation--to name a few. Previously we operated in a heterogeneous environment with various operating and management systems. We support hundreds of thousands of citizens, tens of thousands of employees and several hundred contractors accessing our network every day. With a network this complex, it was critical from an efficiency perspective to implement standardized management methodologies. We found that HP provides a number of solutions that fit our needs. This includes NNMi (Network Node Manager) and the iSPI for Performance, for fault and performance management. We also use Network Automation for network change and configuration management, it integrates with NNMi. Using industry-standard integrated software such as this for fault, configuration and performance solutions means different people viewing will see the same data. This also results in reduced training costs, easier product maintenance and better MTTR (Mean Time To Repair). Not to mention we didn’t need to spend money on point products unnecessarily.

Tip #2: Consider replacing point-to-point tool providers     After using management software for a while, it became apparent that a number of our “point” management tools could easily be replaced. By doing this replacement, we reduced the number of network management tools, which translated into tens of thousands of dollars saved on an annual basis. With fewer tools, we lowered the software support cost. More important were the efficiencies gained in standardizing our management environment. A common interface--using the same software--reduces complexity in a management environment. This means it’s easier to maintain. In addition, since there are fewer applications running, you’re minimizing training costs. For example, instead of running separate fault and performance tools, iSPI for Performance is an add-on tool to the NNMi fault product. A less complex management environment also reduces the risk of technical glitches that can result in network downtime.

In the next post, I’ll cover tips 3, 4 and 5.

If you are interested in BSM see our BSMblog. If you are interested in IT Operations see our ITOpsBlog

For more information on network management products go to the Network Management Center page

Why HP is the 'Cisco of network management software' to some

Michael_Procopio — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:27:00 GMT

I was interviewed by Denise Dubie of Network World on some of the points around our tools consolidation that I started blogging about in my post 'Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations?'. If you'd like to read the article it is titled Why HP is the 'Cisco of network management software' to some.

Who says you can’t lower the cost of network operations?

Michael_Procopio — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:18:00 GMT

Who says you can't lower the cost of network operations?

Part 1 - Guest post by Scott Steves, State of Kansas

Picking the right tools for software consolidation is challenging. It is even harder when you are managing a geographically dispersed and architecturally diverse network. We are going through an organizational change and, like everywhere, it took our team a bit of time to absorb the change. However, when our departments at State of Kansas heard we needed to find ways to consolidate operations and improve staff productivity, our group in Networking Services decided we could do it. Ultimately, we got improved network availability and performance, increased staff efficiencies and lowered operational costs. Here are five tips that I learned when going through our technology infrastructure transformation. Keep these in mind the next time your team hears someone utter the words "consolidate" and "boost." It's not as difficult as you might think.

Tip #1: Implement standardized management methodologies wherever possible

Tip #2: Consider replacing point-to-point tool providers

Tip #3: Software should support the organization's consolidation goals

Tip #4: Pay attention to the richness of the portfolio

Tip #5: Automate whenever possible

I'll do another post with more details on each tip later.