A wealth of network management utilities from Cisco and third-party vendors highlights the importance and complexity of network management. Progent's Cisco-certified network management engineers are expert at helping companies develop network management solutions based on SNMP, SYSLOG services, and Cisco IOS NetFlow to build effective mechanisms for network bandwidth usage and latency, viewing important router and switch operational metrics, and recognizing traffic patterns, applications, and appliances utilizing network resources.

Progent can help businesses to deploy a rich range of open source and proprietary monitoring and management utilities to manage a Cisco-powered environment. Tools familiar to Progent's engineers include Cacti, Nagios, Paessler Router Traffic Grapher, Cisco Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager, Cisco Monitor Manager, Cisco Network Assistant, CiscoWorks, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, Wireshark/Ethereal, Concord E-Health, AlterPoint DeviceAuthority, Adventnet Netflow, Solarwinds Orion, and Necordia NetMRI.

Network management tools can help IT administrators to be aware of existing system usage and effectively plan for future capacity expansion. Network management tools can also be deployed to identify inefficient or inappropriate utilization of network resources, such as streaming audio and video, peer-to-peer file exchange, etc. that can waste expensive or limited network resources. An efficiently crafted network management solution can also help companies to arrive at intelligent decisions on wide and local area network upgrades once they recognize how much system resources actually required at specific times.

Having an effective network management system in place in advance is vital to prevent severe disruptions that can follow Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks and malicious viruses. Such events can render the network unusable and without proper utilities it can be time consuming, and sometimes practically impossible, to identify the source of the trouble.

Network Management Products from Cisco
Cisco provides a selection of effective tools that should form the foundation for any network management strategy. Utilized in conjunction with the top third-party products, Cisco's network management software can improve the competitive value of network infrastructures for organizations of any size by dealing with key areas such as resource utilization, throughput, resilience, protection, repair, and capacity planning. Cisco's top network management products include:

Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) is a web utility that permits you configure and monitor the management utilities built into security appliances. Adaptive Security Device Manager is loaded by the network appliance, and allows you to set up, track, and control the device.

Monitor Manager is a management and monitoring solution developed for the requirements of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Monitor Manager actively tracks key device parameters on voice and data networks serving five to 250 workers and with as many as 250 VoIP phones. Monitor Manager provides:

• Up-to-date monitoring of important appliance parameters on small and midsize business-class routers, switches, and voice gateways, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express, Cisco Unity Express, security devices, WAPs, and IP phones
• Ability to manage the Cisco Unified Communications 500 appliance for companies with as many as 50 workers

• Network discovery and topology
• Device and service level views of Cisco Unified Communications implementation
• Networkwide device identification collection and reporting
• Highly secure and dependable communication
• Appliance performance monitoring
• VoIP Telephony monitoring
• Connection status and data traffic monitoring
• Immediate alarms and event notification
• Reports
• Configuration archive

Network Assistant is a desktop-based management application optimized for LANs and WLANS for growing organizations with as many as 40 Cisco switches and routers. By utilizing Smartports technology, Cisco Network Assistant streamlines setup, installation, and ongoing management and maintenance of Cisco-powered environments. Network Assistant provides a unified system view and allows IT administrators to deploy its features among Cisco switches, routers, and WAPs.

Security Manager is a highly functional but easy-to-use solution for centrally provisioning all facets of device configuration and policies for Cisco PIX and ASA security appliances, virtual private networks (VPNs), and Intrusion Prevention Systems. Security Manager efficiently handles even small environments consisting of no more than than ten devices, but also expands to manage enterprise networks composed of thousands of devices. Scalability is enabled through intelligent policy-based control procedures that can simplify administration. Highlights of Security Manager are:

• Allows provisioning for Cisco router platforms running an IOS security software image, ASA 5500 adaptive security appliances, PIX security appliances, IPS 4200 family sensors, and Catalyst 6500 family security services modules
• Reacts faster. more rapidly to attacks: define and apply new security policies to thousands of devices in a few easy steps
• Rich graphical user interface offers exceptional ease-of-use
• Multiple looks that offer versatile ways to manage devices and policies including the capability to administer the security network graphically on a system topology map
• Comprehensive video training for the new operator to accelerate learning time
• Globally call out which policies are common and inherited by additional appliances to make sure company-wide policies are implemented regularly, while providing sufficient flexibility to customize policies at the individual appliance level
• Ability to build a common firewall rule database for all Cisco platforms with intelligent evaluation of firewall policies to detect conflicts in the rule base
• Quickly configure location-to-location, hub-and-spoke, full mesh, or extranet VPN links with a VPN wizard
• Compatibility with Cisco Access Control Server (ACS) for granular role based connection management to appliances and administration services
• Integration with security MARS system to associate monitored data with corresponding firewall rules to support quicker management decisions and enhanced system availability
• Ability to assign specific jobs to every manager in the course of the implementation of a rule, with formal change management and logging; permits the security and systems operations staff to act in sync as a single group with efficient coordination

Progent can also help you to use network management utilities to monitor and categorize network data to enable traffic shaping, which allows you to program Cisco routers to enforce different throughput constraints on designated classes of processes according to the priorities you specify. By buffering and queuing excess packets that exceed your contracted volume, and by giving preference to business-critical applications, traffic shaping can prevent Internet Service Provider overage charges from spiraling out of reach and/or avoid gaps in productivity caused by indiscriminate policing of your network traffic volume restrictions during peak demand.

Progent's CISM and CISSP security consultants can assist you to create a comprehensive security plan that encompasses your network management processes, and Progent's remote and in person support specialists and Cisco CCIE-certified consultants can utilize advanced network monitoring and analysis tools to isolate and repair trouble quickly to keep your IT system in business.

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