Cisco Network Consulting Network Management Solutions From CCIE and CCNA Certified Experts
A wealth of network management tools from Cisco and third-party suppliers underscores the importance and difficulty of supporting IT infrastructure. Progent's seasoned network management consultants are experienced at assisting businesses develop network management solutions utilizing on SNMP, SYSLOG services, and Cisco Netflow protocols to build powerful mechanisms for understanding network utilization and latency, viewing key router and switch performance metrics, and recognizing traffic profiles, applications, and appliances utilizing network resources.
Progent can help businesses to utilize a broad selection of open source and license-based monitoring and management products to maintain a Cisco-powered environment. Tools familiar to Progent's consultants include MRTG, Nagios, PRTG, Cisco Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager, Cisco Monitor Manager, CiscoWorks, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, Concord E-Health, AlterPoint DeviceAuthority, Advent and Firewall Analyzer, Solarwinds Orion, and Necordia NetMRI.
Network management tools can enable organizations to understand existing system usage and intelligently prepare for downstream capacity expansion. Network management utilities can also be used to detect poor or inappropriate uses of network services, such as streaming multimedia, peer-to-peer file exchange, etc. that can use up valuable or limited network bandwidth. A well planned network management strategy can also assist organizations to make informed decisions on system enhancements once they recognize how much system resources actually required at various times.
Having an effective network management system in place in advance is critical to avoid severe disruptions that can result from DoS attacks and dangerous viruses. Such events can render the network unstable and without proper tools it can be time consuming, and sometimes virtually impossible, to discover the location of the problem.
Network Management Tools from Cisco
Cisco offers an array of effective tools that should form the foundation for any network management solution. Utilized in conjunction with appropriate third-party products, Cisco's network management software can enhance the competitive value of networks for companies of all sizes by dealing with important areas such as resource utilization, performance, resilience, security, repair, and scalability. Cisco's top network management tools include:
Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) is a browser-based Java applet that permits you configure and monitor the software built into network devices. Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager is loaded by the adaptive security device, and enables you to configure, track, and manage the unit.
Monitor Manager is a management solution developed to address the requirements of small and medium-sized companies. Monitor Manager continuously scans key device processes on voice/data environments used by 5 to 250 workers and with as many as 250 Voice over IP phones. Monitor Manager provides:
Real-time monitoring of key device processes on SMB-class routers, switches, and voice gateways, Communications Manager Express, Unity Express, security appliances, WAPs, and Cisco Unified IP Phones
Support for the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series appliance for businesses with as many as 50 workers
Monitor Manager monitors the network on a round-the-clock basis and periodically polls and collects inventory and performance-tracking data from the managed appliances in the network. Monitor Manager is a Microsoft Windows-based utility and is completely invisible to system operations and does not use any agent software on managed appliances. Cisco Monitor Manager provides a variety of useful features and benefits including:
Voice and data network discovery and topology
Device and service level views of Cisco Unified Communications implementation
Networkwide device identification logging and reporting
Highly secure and reliable operation
Cisco device operations monitoring
IP Telephony monitoring
Connection status and data traffic monitoring
Real-time alerts and event notification
Reports
Configuration log
Cisco Network Assistant is a desktop-based management application optimized for LANs and WLANS for growing businesses that have as many as 40 switches and routers. By utilizing Smartports, Cisco Network Assistant streamlines configuration, installation, and continuing administration and maintenance of Cisco-powered environments. The application provides a centralized system view and permits IT administrators to deploy its features across switches, routers, and wireless access points.
Security Manager is a powerful but simple to operate application for centrally provisioning all aspects of device set up and security policies for PIX and ASA firewalls, VPNs, and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). Security Manager efficiently manages even small environments with no more than than ten appliances, but also expands to manage enterprise networks with thousands of Cisco routers, security appliances, and switch services modules. Expansion is achieved via intelligent policy-based control procedures that can simplify administrative overhead. Key features of Cisco Security Manager include:
Allows provisioning for Cisco router platforms running an IOS security software image, Cisco ASA 5500 firewalls, PIX security appliances, IPS 4200 Series inline security appliances, and Catalyst 6500 family security modules
Reacts faster. more rapidly to attacks: specify and apply updated policies to many hundreds of devices in a few simple steps
Intuitive graphical user interface provides exceptional ease-of-use
A variety of views that offer versatile methods to manage appliances and security policies such as the capability to manage the security environment visually on a system topology image
Comprehensive video help for the new user to reduce learning period
Globally call out which policies are common and inherited by new appliances to ensure company-wide policies are implemented regularly, at the same time offering sufficient versatility to modify policies at the individual appliance level
Ability to create a single firewall rule table for Cisco platforms with intelligent analysis of firewall policies to determine anomalies in the rule base
Easily set up location-to-location, hub-spoke, full mesh, or extranet Virtual Private Network interfaces by means of a VPN wizard
Integration with Cisco Access Control Server (ACS) for granular role based connection control to appliances and management functions
Operation with security MARS to associate events against corresponding security appliance rules to enable quicker decision making and enhanced network up time
Capability to allocate particular jobs to every administrator in the course of the implementation of a rule, with formal change management and tracking; permits the security and network operations staff to work together as a single unit with effective teamwork
How Progent Can Help Your Business with Network Management
Progent's Cisco-certified network management engineers can help you to use Cisco's management tools alongside a selection of powerful open source and proprietary applications to develop a comprehensive network management toolkit to keep your network running dependably, consolidate expensive resources, protect your information, recover quickly from hardware failure or malicious attacks, and allow you to expand or repurpose network resources intelligently and affordably as your organization evolves.
Progent can also help you to use network management utilities to monitor and classify system data to enable traffic shaping, which permits you to configure Cisco routers to enforce different bandwidth restrictions on certain types of activity according to the importance you specify. By storing and sorting excess packets that exceed your committed rates, and by giving preference to business-critical applications, traffic shaping can prevent service provider excess usage charges from spinning out of reach and/or eliminate gaps in worker productivity resulting from brute force policing of your network traffic volume limits during periods of heavy demand.
Progent's CISM, CISSP, and ISSAP security professionals can show you how to create a comprehensive 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 utilize advanced network management technology to identify and fix trouble quickly to keep your network in business.
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A wealth of network management tools from Cisco and third-party suppliers underscores the importance and difficulty of supporting IT infrastructure. Progent's seasoned network management consultants are experienced at assisting businesses develop network management solutions utilizing on SNMP, SYSLOG services, and Cisco Netflow protocols to build powerful mechanisms for understanding network utilization and latency, viewing key router and switch performance metrics, and recognizing traffic profiles, applications, and appliances utilizing network resources.
