Cisco Systems Network Support Outsourcing

An abundance of network management utilities from Cisco and other suppliers highlights the value and complexity of network management. Progent's Cisco-certified network management consultants are experienced at assisting companies develop network management strategies utilizing on SNMP, Syslog, and Cisco Netflow protocols to create effective mechanisms for understanding network bandwidth usage and latency, monitoring key router and switch performance metrics, and identifying traffic patterns, processes, and devices utilizing available services.

Progent can help customers to deploy a rich selection of open source and license-based management tools to maintain a Cisco network. Utilities used by Progent's engineers include MRTG, Nagios, PRTG, Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM), Cisco Monitor Manager, Cisco Network Assistant, CiscoWorks, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, Concord E-Health, AlterPoint DeviceAuthority, Advent and Firewall Analyzer, Big Brother, and Necordia NetMRI.

Network management platforms can allow organizations to understand existing system utilization and intelligently plan for downstream traffic increases. Management utilities can also be deployed to detect poor or improper utilization of system services, such as streaming audio and video, peer-to-peer file exchange, etc. that can use up valuable and limited network resources. A carefully planned network management solution can also assist companies to arrive at intelligent choices on WAN and LAN improvements after they appreciate how much network bandwidth really required at any one time.

Having an efficient network management platform in place ahead of time is vital to avoid severe disruptions that can be due to DoS attacks and dangerous viruses. These assaults can leave the network unusable and in the absence of proper utilities it can be time consuming, and sometimes virtually impossible, to identify the source of the problem.

Network Management Products from Cisco
Cisco has created a selection of effective utilities that should form the foundation for any network management solution. Utilized in conjunction with appropriate outside vendor products, Cisco's network management software can enhance the business value of network infrastructures for companies of any size by improving important areas such as resource utilization, throughput, availability, security, repair, and scalability. Cisco's top network management products include:

Cisco ASDM is a web utility that permits you configure and operate the software on security devices. Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager is loaded by the Cisco appliance, and enables you to configure, track, and control the device.

Cisco Monitor Manager is a management solution intended to address the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. Monitor Manager continuously checks important appliance parameters on voice/data networks serving five to 250 users and with as many as 250 IP phones. The application provides:

• Real-time scanning of key appliance processes on Cisco SMB-class routers, switches, and voice gateways, Communications Manager Express, Unity Express, security appliances, access points, and Cisco Unified IP Phones
• Compatibility with the Cisco Unified Communications 500 communications appliance for companies with as many as 50 users

• Voice and data network discovery and physical topology
• Physical and service level views of Cisco Unified Communications deployment
• Networkwide device identification logging and documentation
• Advanced security and dependable communication
• Appliance operations tracking
• Cisco Unified IP Telephony tracking
• Interface status and traffic tracking
• Immediate alarms and event notification
• Documentation
• Setup archive

Cisco Network Assistant is a desktop-based management application designed for for wired and wireless LANs (WLANs) for expanding businesses that have up to 40 Cisco switches and routers. By utilizing Cisco's Smartports technology, Network Assistant streamlines setup, deployment, and ongoing management and maintenance of Cisco-powered environments. Cisco Network Assistant offers a unified system view and allows IT managers to employ its functions across switches, routers, and WAPs.

Security Manager is a powerful but easy-to-use application for centrally provisioning all facets of appliance set up and policies for Cisco firewalls, VPNs, and IPS. The solution effectively manages even small networks consisting of no more than than ten devices, but also scales to manage enterprise networks with thousands of appliances. Expansion is achieved through smart policy-driven control techniques that can simplify administrative overhead. Key features of Security Manager are:

• Allows provisioning for Cisco router platforms configured with an IOS security image, Cisco ASA 5500 adaptive security appliances, Cisco PIX firewalls, Cisco IPS 4200 inline security appliances, and Catalyst 6500 Series security services modules
• Reacts more quickly to attacks: define and assign new security policies to many hundreds of devices in just a few steps
• Intuitive GUI offers exceptional ease-of-use
• A variety of views that provide versatile ways to control appliances and security policies such as the ability to manage the security network visually on a system topology image
• Comprehensive animated help for the first-time user to accelerate learning period
• Globally specify which policies are shared and automatically inherited by new appliances to ensure corporate policies are implemented consistently, at the same time providing sufficient flexibility to modify policies at the local appliance level
• Capability to create a common rule table for all Cisco platforms with intelligent evaluation of firewall policies to detect anomalies in the rule table
• Easily set up site-to-site, hub-spoke, full-mesh IPSec, or extranet VPN interfaces with a few mouse clicks
• Integration with Cisco ACS for granular role based access management to devices and administration functions
• Integration with security MARS to compare events against related security appliance rules to support quicker decision making and enhanced network up time
• Ability to allocate particular tasks to each administrator during the deployment of a rule, with structured change control and tracking; allows the security and systems operations team to act together as a single group with effective teamwork

Progent can also help you to use network management tools to analyze and categorize system data to enable traffic shaping, which allows you to configure Cisco routers to enforce a variety of throughput restrictions on certain types of processes according to the importance you specify. By buffering and sorting data packets that exceed your committed rates, and by giving priority to critical applications, traffic shaping can keep service provider overage penalties from spinning out of control and/or avoid lost productivity resulting from indiscriminate policing of your network bandwidth restrictions during periods of heavy demand.

Progent's CISM and CISSP security consultants can show you how to develop an end-to-end security plan that encompasses your network management processes, and Progent's remote and on-site network experts and Cisco CCIE-certified engineers can utilize the latest network monitoring and analysis technology to isolate and remediate problems rapidly to keep your IT system in business.

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