17. ISO defines five types of
network management processes.
These are (remembered as FCAPS):
1.
Fault Management
-
This is a vital function of a
network management system. Fault
management consists of fault
detection, correction, and
verification checks on a fault.
Since any fault directly impacts
the quality of service,
automatic fault detection and
correction need to be
implemented where possible.
In addition, fault management
should include virus prevention,
and regular backups.
2.
Configuration Management
-
Configuration management
facilitates management of
hardware and software resources
more efficiently. In a large
computer network, there can be
several versions of software and
hardware resources giving rise
to difficulty in troubleshooting
and/or upgrading the systems.
The database is made easily
accessible to attend to
maintenance/ up gradation
procedures in a timely and
efficient manner.
3.
Accounting Management
-
This function helps in fair use
of resources. For example,
network bandwidth utilization by
individual groups can be
measured and appropriate quotas
can be assigned depending on the
requirement and fair usage. It
also enables billing based on
the resource usage.
4.
Performance Management
-
This includes collecting the
network parameters of interest,
such as bandwidth utilization,
packet errors, retransmissions
etc. A baseline is
established during normal
traffic flow. Performance
threshold are established,
against which the measured
parameter values are compared
for acceptable network
performance. If any
non-compliance is determined,
the network management station
is alerted by visual, audio,
logger, and/or by email alerts.
5.
Security Management
-
Security management refers to
the control of access to the
network resources. The internal
network resources should be made
available only to authorized
users or systems as per the
given criteria. All attempts to
access the resources without
appropriate authorization to a
given resource need to be logged
or an alarm may be given,
depending on the requirement.
There can be different levels of
access, depending on the user
type, such as internal or
external. Also, if the corporate
network is participating in
Internet or extranet, added
levels of security are required.
