Cisco Expert Network Consulting and Support

An abundance of network management products from Cisco and third-party suppliers highlights the value and difficulty of supporting IT infrastructure. Progent's seasoned network management consultants are experienced at assisting companies develop management strategies based on SNMP, SYSLOG services, and Cisco Netflow protocols to build powerful tools for network bandwidth usage and latency, monitoring important router and switch operational metrics, and identifying traffic profiles, processes, and appliances that use network resources.

Progent can assist businesses to deploy a broad selection of open source and license-based management tools to manage Cisco infrastructure. Utilities used by Progent's engineers include MRTG, Cacti, Nagios, Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM), Cisco Network Assistant, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, AlterPoint DeviceAuthority, Adventnet Netflow and Firewall Analyzer, Solarwinds Orion, and NetMRI.

Network management tools can enable organizations to be aware of current system usage and intelligently plan for downstream capacity expansion. Management utilities can also be deployed to identify inefficient or inappropriate utilization of network resources, such as streaming multimedia, peer-to-peer sharing, etc. that can waste expensive or scarce network bandwidth. A well designed network management strategy can also enable organizations to make informed decisions on system improvements once they understand the amount of system resources really needed at specific times.

Having an effective network management platform in place in advance is essential to avoid major disruptions that can result from Denial Of Service attacks and malicious viruses/Trojans. Such assaults can leave the network unusable and in the absence of appropriate tools it can be difficult, and in some cases virtually impossible, to discover the location of the trouble.

Network Management Tools from Cisco
Cisco has developed a selection of powerful utilities that should be the basis for any management strategy. Utilized in conjunction with appropriate third-party applications, Cisco's network management software can improve the competitive value of network infrastructures for organizations of any size by helping with important areas such as system utilization, throughput, availability, security, repair, and capacity planning. Cisco's top network management products include:

Cisco Adaptive Security Device Manager is a web utility that allows you to set up and operate the management utilities built into security devices. ASDM is installed by the network appliance, and allows you to set up, track, and manage the unit.

Cisco Monitor Manager is a comprehensive management solution developed to meet the needs of small and midsize organizations. Cisco Monitor Manager continuously monitors key device processes on voice and data environments serving 5 to 250 workers and with as many as 250 IP phones. Cisco Monitor Manager provides:

• Up-to-date tracking of important appliance processes on Cisco SMB-class routers, switches, and voice gateways, Cisco Communications Manager Express, Cisco Unity Express, security devices, access points, and Cisco Unified IP Phones
• Ability to manage the Cisco Unified Communications 500 appliance for companies with as many as 50 users

• Network discovery and topology
• Physical and service level views of Cisco Unified Communications deployment
• Networkwide inventory collection and documentation
• Advanced security and reliable communication
• Device performance monitoring
• IP Telephony monitoring
• Connection status and traffic tracking
• Immediate alerts and notifications
• Reports
• Setup archive

Cisco Network Assistant is a desktop-hosted management tool designed for for wired and wireless LANs (WLANs) for growing organizations that have up to 40 Cisco switches and routers. By using Smartports, Cisco Network Assistant simplifies setup, installation, and ongoing administration and support of Cisco-based networks. Cisco Network Assistant offers a unified network view and allows network managers to employ its functions among switches, routers, and wireless access points.

Security Manager is a highly functional but easy-to-use solution for managing all facets of device set up and security policies for Cisco PIX and ASA security appliances, VPNs, and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). Security Manager effectively manages even small environments consisting of fewer than ten appliances, but also scales to manage enterprise systems composed of thousands of Cisco routers, security appliances, and switch services modules. Scalability is enabled via smart policy-driven management procedures that can streamline administrative overhead. Key features of Security Manager are:

• Supports provisioning for Cisco routers configured with a Cisco IOS security image, Cisco ASA 5500 Series adaptive security appliances, Cisco PIX firewalls, Cisco IPS 4200 family sensors, and Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series security modules
• Reacts more quickly to attacks: specify and apply new security policies to thousands of appliances in a few easy steps
• Intuitive GUI provides exceptional ease-of-use
• A variety of looks that offer versatile methods to manage devices and security policies including the capability to manage the security network visually on a system topology image
• Extensive video training for the new user to speed up learning time
• Globally specify which policies are common and inherited by additional appliances to ensure corporate policies are configured consistently, at the same time providing optional versatility to modify policies at the local device level
• Capability to build a common firewall rule table for Cisco platforms with smart evaluation of firewall policies to determine anomalies in the rule base
• Easily configure site-to-site, hub-and-spoke, full-mesh IPsec, or extranet VPN connections by means of a few mouse clicks
• Compatibility with Cisco Access Control Server (ACS) for granular role based access management to devices and management functions
• Operation with Cisco security MARS to associate monitored data against related firewall rules to help with quicker decision making and enhanced network up time
• Ability to assign specific tasks to every administrator during the deployment of a policy, with structured change control and tracking; allows the security and network operations team to work together as a single group with effective coordination

Progent can also assist you to utilize network management utilities to monitor and classify system data to enable traffic shaping, which permits you to configure Cisco routers to impose a variety of throughput constraints on certain classes of activity based on the importance you specify. By buffering and queuing excess packets above your contracted volume, and by giving preference to critical processes, traffic shaping can prevent service provider excess usage charges from spinning out of reach and/or eliminate gaps in worker productivity caused by brute force enforcement of your network traffic volume restrictions during periods of heavy demand.

Progent's CISM and CISSP security specialists can show you how to create a comprehensive security plan that encompasses your network management processes, and Progent's remote and on-site network experts and Cisco CCIE and CNA qualified engineers can use advanced network management technology to isolate and remediate problems rapidly to keep your network in business.

To see more details concerning Progent's engineering support for Cisco products, pick a topic:

• Introduction to Cisco Network Support
• Fast and Affordable Remote Help from a CCIE Engineer
• Cisco Firepower NGFW Series Firewalls: Integration and Management Services
• Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Firewall with Firepower Services: Integration and Management Services
• Cisco ASA 5500 Series Firewall Management Support
• Cisco PIX 500 Firewall Maintenance Help
• Cisco Routers Consulting Services
• Cisco Wireless Engineering Support
• Cisco Aironet Wireless APs Design Support
• Cisco Small Business Wireless APs System Design Services
• Catalyst 802.11ax Access Points Solution Design, Configuration and Debugging Consulting
• Cisco Wireless Controllers Consultants
• Meraki Wireless APs Deployment Support
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM or Unified CM) and CallManager Integration and Troubleshooting
• Cisco Voice over IP (VoIP) Phones and IP Video Phones Expertise and Cisco Wireless VoIP Phone Configuration
• Cisco Jabber Consulting and Support Expertise
• Catalyst Switches Configuration and Maintenance Expertise
• Cisco Nexus Switches Support and Troubleshooting Services
• Meraki Switches Support and Troubleshooting Expertise
• Cisco VPN Setup and Troubleshooting Expertise
• SIP and CUBE Integration Solutions: SIP Trunking and Cisco CUBE Integration Consulting
• Design Solutions for Cisco-based Datacenters
• Infrastructure Optimization Services for Internet Service Providers