An abundance of network management tools from Cisco and third-party suppliers highlights the value and complexity of network management. Progent's Cisco-certified network management consultants are experienced at helping businesses design network management solutions based on Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), SYSLOG services, and NetFlow protocols to build effective tools for understanding network bandwidth usage and latency, monitoring key router and switch performance characteristics, and identifying traffic patterns, applications, and appliances utilizing network resources.

Progent can help businesses to deploy a rich selection of free and license-based monitoring and management utilities to manage Cisco infrastructure. Tools familiar to Progent's engineers include MRTG, Cacti, Nagios, Cisco Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager, Cisco Network Assistant, CiscoWorks, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, Concord E-Health, AlterPoint DeviceAuthority, Adventnet Netflow, Solarwinds Orion, and NetMRI.

Network management tools can help IT administrators to be aware of existing system utilization and effectively plan for downstream capacity expansion. Management tools can also be used to detect inefficient or inappropriate uses of system services, for example streaming audio and video, peer-to-peer file exchange, etc. that can waste valuable or limited network bandwidth. An efficiently planned network management plan can also help businesses to arrive at informed choices on WAN and LAN improvements once they appreciate how much network bandwidth historically needed at any one time.

Having an efficient network management platform in operation beforehand is vital to avoid severe problems that can be due to Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks and malicious viruses/Trojans. Such assaults can render the network unstable and in the absence of proper utilities it can be difficult, if not virtually impossible, to discover the location of the trouble.

Network Management Tools from Cisco
Cisco provides a selection of effective utilities that should form the foundation for any network management strategy. Used in combination with the top third-party applications, Cisco's network management software can improve the business value of networks for companies of any size by dealing with important areas such as system utilization, throughput, resilience, protection, repair, and scalability. Cisco's most popular network management products include:

Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager is a web utility that allows you to set up and operate the management utilities on security appliances. Cisco ASDM is installed by the adaptive security appliance, and allows you to configure, monitor, and control the device.

Cisco Monitor Manager is a management and monitoring solution designed to handle the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Cisco Monitor Manager continuously checks key device parameters on voice and data environments used by five to 250 users and equipped with up to 250 IP phones. The application offers:

• Real-time scanning of important device parameters on Cisco SMB-class network appliances, Unified Communications Manager Express, Unity Express, security appliances, access points, and VoIP phones
• Support for the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series communications appliance for businesses with up to 50 users

• Network discovery and physical topology
• Device and process looks at Unified Communications implementation
• Networkwide inventory collection and reporting
• Advanced security and reliable operation
• Device performance monitoring
• VoIP Telephony tracking
• Connection status and traffic monitoring
• Immediate alarms and notifications
• Reports
• Configuration log

Cisco Network Assistant is a PC-based network management tool designed for for wired and wireless LANs (WLANs) for expanding companies that have up to 40 Cisco switches and routers. By using Smartports technology, Network Assistant streamlines setup, installation, and continuing administration and support of Cisco-based networks. It provides a centralized network view and allows IT administrators to employ its functions among Cisco switches, routers, and wireless access points.

Cisco Security Manager is a feature-rich but easy-to-use solution for centrally provisioning all aspects of device configuration and policies for PIX and ASA firewalls, VPNs, and IPS. Security Manager effectively manages even small environments consisting of no more than than ten appliances, but also scales to manage large-scale systems composed of thousands of Cisco routers, security appliances, and switch services modules. Expansion is enabled through intelligent policy-based management techniques that can simplify administrative overhead. Highlights of Security Manager include:

• Allows control of Cisco router platforms configured with a Cisco IOS security image, ASA 5500 family firewalls, PIX firewalls, IPS 4200 family inline security appliances, and Cisco Catalyst 6500 security services modules
• Reacts faster. more rapidly to attacks: define and assign updated policies to thousands of devices in just a few steps
• Rich GUI provides superior ease-of-use
• A variety of looks that offer versatile ways to manage devices and policies including the capability to manage the security network graphically on a system topology map
• Extensive video help for the novice user to accelerate training time
• Globally specify which policies are shared and inherited by additional devices to ensure corporate policies are configured regularly, while offering sufficient versatility to customize policies at the local appliance level
• Ability to build a common rule table for all Cisco firewalls with smart analysis of firewall policies to determine conflicts within the rule table
• Quickly set up site-to-site, hub-spoke, full-mesh IPSec, or extranet VPN links by means of a VPN wizard
• Integration with Cisco ACS for low-level role based access management to appliances and administration functions
• Integration with security MARS system to associate monitored data with corresponding security appliance rules to help with faster management decisions and enhanced network availability
• Ability to assign specific tasks to every manager during the implementation of a policy, with structured change control and logging; permits the security and systems operations team to work cooperatively as a single group with effective teamwork

Progent can also help you to use network management utilities to monitor and classify network data to implement traffic shaping, which allows you to program routers to enforce different throughput constraints on designated classes of processes according to the importance you assign. By storing and sorting data packets that exceed your committed rates, and by giving preference to business-critical applications, traffic shaping can prevent Internet Service Provider excess usage charges from spiraling out of control and/or eliminate gaps in productivity resulting from brute force enforcement of your network traffic volume restrictions during periods of heavy demand.

Progent's CISM and CISSP security professionals can assist you to develop an end-to-end security strategy that incorporates your network management processes, and Progent's remote and in person support experts and Cisco CCIE and CNA qualified engineers can use the latest network management tools to identify and remediate trouble quickly to keep your network productive.

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