Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Network Configuration Management Tools
By now, you should have the idea that although proper network configuration management is
possible without any tools, it is much easier when you have tools to help. In this chapter, I'll
describe the various functions you'll want to look for in network configuration management
tools and provide some evaluation criteria for selecting those tools. The functionality you'll want
to look for includes:
· Project design and staging
· Change request acceptance and tracking
· Environment inventory and review
· Change modeling and risk analysis
· Change implementation and deployment
· Change archival and tracking
· Change rollback and recovery
· Management reporting
· Knowledge bases
· Problem tracking
· Enforcement and compliance
At first glance, you might be worried that I'm going to recommend that you go out and buy 10
software packages, which isn't the case. This list isn't a list of tools; it's a list of major
functionality. You'll find that most available tools implement several of these functions. For
example, a good Help desk ticket-tracking product will also include management reporting,
problem tracking, and knowledge base functionality.
For each of these major areas of functionality, I'll give you several pieces of information:
· A description of what the functionality is actually supposed to provide.
· An explanation of how that functionality contributes to network configuration
management.
· A set of evaluation criteria, including an evaluation checklist, for evaluating tools' ability
to provide the critical features that you'll need.
The evaluation criteria recommendations aren't intended to be all-encompassing or
comprehensive; I'm focusing only on features that offer a contribution to network configuration
management. For example, a knowledge base product that links to Microsoft's online knowledge
base would certainly be a useful tool, but not from the standpoint of network configuration
management, which doesn't generally involve a lot of Microsoft products.
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Summary :
The functionality you'll want to look for includes: · Project design and staging · Change request acceptance and tracking · Environment inventory and review · Change modeling and risk analysis · Change implementation and deployment · Change archival and tracking · Change rollback and recovery · Management reporting · Knowledge bases · Problem tracking · Enforcement and compliance At first glance, you might be worried that I'm going to recommend that you go out and buy 10 software packages, which isn't the case.
Tags :
tools,management,functionality,network,configuration,change,ealuation,youll,knowledge,tracking,chapter,base,proide