It is very important for network communication managers to use network management systems to ensure network uptime. NMS helps administrators to monitor, diagnose, and keep network problems to a minimum. These systems can get complicated when using many different agents and probes to collect network information. To make this an easier task Network General Inc. has developed The Total Network Visibility architecture, a NMS that will let data from various agents and probes be correlated on a single console to allow network administrators to see an overall report of their network’s health.
This heterogeneous network management system can also help administrators manage traps and alarms better. Using different SMNP’s creates a complicated atmosphere when managing automatic and user-programmed alerts. The software allows operators to see alerts from any probe in one global database. Traditionally probes and agents collect different types of data on a network, which can be viewed by administrators, but commonly in separate databases. The beauty of the Total Network Visibility architecture NMS is that all those different agents can be seen together.
The wide range of sensory inputs like RMON’s embedded in most switches and routers can create a report. If the equipment was manufactured by different vendors then multiple reports can be created. Consequently, those reports would have to be accessed individually by operators to be analyzed. Reviewing a large number of reports can be time consuming and increase the risk of missing important information. Large computer networks could possibly have hundreds of probes and agents. With the management of so many agents administrators are also required to keep up with probe groups, probe user ID’s, and passwords. Centralized probe management can cure this problem and allow staff to become more productive.
Overall, the software stated above or others like it can be very helpful in monitoring multiple adapter cards simultaneously over a network. Likewise, Network General Inc. proprietary sniffer system can be viewed side by side with data from an ATM and Token Ring network.
