Cisco Certified Network Consultants

A wealth of network management products from Cisco and other suppliers highlights the importance and difficulty of supporting IT infrastructure. Progent's seasoned network management consultants are experienced at assisting businesses develop management strategies utilizing on SNMP, Syslog, and Cisco IOS NetFlow to create effective mechanisms for understanding network utilization and network latency, viewing key router and switch performance characteristics, and recognizing traffic profiles, processes, and appliances utilizing available services.

Progent can help businesses to deploy a rich selection of open source and license-based monitoring and management solutions to manage a Cisco-powered environment. Utilities used by Progent's consultants include MRTG, Nagios, PRTG, Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM), Cisco Monitor Manager, Cisco Network Assistant, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, AlterPoint DeviceAuthority, Adventnet Netflow and Firewall Analyzer, Big Brother, Solarwinds Orion, and NetMRI.

Network management platforms can enable IT administrators to understand existing network usage and effectively plan for future traffic increases. Management utilities can also be deployed to identify poor or inappropriate uses of system resources, for example streaming multimedia, peer-to-peer sharing, etc. that can use up valuable or scarce network resources. A well designed network management strategy can also aid companies to arrive at informed choices on system improvements once they appreciate the amount of system bandwidth actually required at specific times.

Having an efficient network management system in operation ahead of time is critical to prevent major problems that can follow Denial Of Service attacks and malicious viruses/Trojans. Such events can render the network unstable and in the absence of proper tools it can be difficult, and sometimes virtually impossible, to identify the source of the problem.

Network Management Products from Cisco
Cisco has created an array of powerful utilities that should be the foundation for any network management solution. Utilized in combination with appropriate third-party products, Cisco's network management offerings can improve the competitive value of networks for companies of all sizes by dealing with key areas such as system utilization, throughput, availability, security, repair, and scalability. Cisco's most popular network management products include:

Cisco ASDM is a web utility that lets you set up and monitor the software on network devices. ASDM is installed by the Cisco device, and enables you to set up, monitor, and control the unit.

Monitor Manager is a management and monitoring application developed to meet the requirements of small and medium-sized businesses. Monitor Manager continuously monitors key device parameters on voice and data environments serving 5 to 250 workers and equipped with as many as 250 IP phones. Monitor Manager provides:

• Up-to-date scanning of key appliance parameters on Cisco SMB-class network appliances, Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express, Cisco Unity Express, security appliances, access points, and Cisco Unified IP Phones
• Compatibility with the Unified Communications 500 appliance for companies with as many as 50 workers

• Voice and data network discovery and topology
• Physical and service level looks at Cisco Unified Communications deployment
• System wide device identification collection and documentation
• Highly secure and dependable operation
• Cisco device operations tracking
• Cisco Unified IP Telephony tracking
• Interface status and data traffic monitoring
• Real-time alerts and event notification
• Reports
• Configuration log

Cisco Network Assistant is a desktop-based network management application designed for for wired and wireless LANs (WLANs) for expanding companies with up to 40 switches and routers. By running Cisco's Smartports mechanism, Network Assistant simplifies setup, deployment, and continuing administration and support of Cisco-powered environments. Cisco Network Assistant provides a unified network view and permits IT managers to deploy its functions across switches, routers, and wireless access points.

Security Manager is a powerful but simple to operate application for managing all aspects of device configuration and policies for PIX and ASA firewalls, VPNs, and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). Cisco Security Manager efficiently manages even small environments with fewer than ten appliances, but also expands to control large-scale networks with thousands of Cisco routers, security appliances, and switch services modules. Expansion is achieved via intelligent policy-based management techniques that can simplify administrative overhead. Key features of Security Manager include:

• Supports provisioning for Cisco routers configured with an IOS security software image, ASA 5500 Series firewalls, PIX security appliances, IPS 4200 Series sensors, and Catalyst 6500 family security services modules
• Respond more quickly to threats: specify and assign updated policies to thousands of devices in just a few steps
• Intuitive GUI offers superior ease-of-use
• A variety of looks that provide versatile ways to manage devices and security policies including the option to manage the security network visually on a system topology map
• Extensive animated training for the novice operator to accelerate learning period
• Centrally call out which policies are common and inherited by new appliances to make sure corporate policies are configured consistently, while offering sufficient flexibility to modify policies at the local appliance level
• Capability to create a common firewall rule table for all Cisco platforms with smart evaluation of firewall policies to detect conflicts within the rule table
• Easily configure site-to-site, hub-and-spoke, full-mesh IPsec, or extranet VPN interfaces by means of a VPN wizard
• Compatibility with Cisco ACS for low-level role based connection control to devices and management functions
• Operation with security MARS system to correlate monitored data against related security appliance rules to promote faster decision making and enhanced network availability
• Ability to assign specific jobs to each manager in the course of the implementation of a rule, with structured change control and tracking; permits the security and systems operations staff to act together as a cohesive group with efficient coordination

Progent can also assist you to use network management tools to analyze and classify network data to implement traffic shaping, which allows you to configure Cisco routers to impose a variety of throughput constraints on certain types of activity according to the importance you specify. By storing and queuing data packets that exceed your contracted volume, and by assigning priority to business-critical applications, traffic shaping can prevent Internet Service Provider overage penalties from spiraling out of reach and/or eliminate gaps in productivity caused by indiscriminate enforcement of your network traffic volume limits during peak use.

Progent's CISM and CISSP security specialists can assist you to create an end-to-end security strategy that incorporates your network management solution, and Progent's remote and on-site network specialists and Cisco CCIE-certified engineers can use the latest network management tools to isolate and remediate problems rapidly to keep your IT system running smoothly.

To learn additional information about Progent's professional support for Cisco solutions, select a subject:

• Overview of Progent's Cisco Consulting Services
• Timely Remote Assistance from a Cisco CCIE Network Engineer
• Cisco Firepower NGFW Series Firewalls: Integration and Troubleshooting Services
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Firewall with Firepower Services: Integration and Management Expertise
• ASA 5500 Firewall Troubleshooting Help
• Cisco PIX 500 Series Firewall Upgrade. Migration Assistance
• Cisco Routers Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Wireless Consulting Support
• Cisco Aironet Wireless APs Consulting Help
• Cisco Small Business 100, 300 and 500 WiFi APs Consulting Expertise
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Experts
• Meraki APs Design Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and Cisco CallManager Integration and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP Phones and IP Video Desktop Phones Expertise and Cisco Wireless IP Phone Integration
• Cisco Jabber and Management Expertise
• Cisco Catalyst Switches Consulting and Support Services
• Cisco Nexus Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco Meraki MS Switches Deployment Expertise
• Cisco VPN and Security Consulting Expertise
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP Trunking and Cisco CUBE Integration Expertise
• Design Solutions for Cisco-powered Data Centers
• Infrastructure Design Services for ISPs