Description

Network management is the poor cousin of network design and implementation.
All too often it is treated as an inconvenience by equipment manufacturers, or forgotten entirely. But the ability to manage network devices is fundamental to their utility, and a successful and functional network can only be built from equipment that can be easily managed and operated.

Management refers to the ability to confi gure, control, operate, and diagnose equipment. Of course, no vendor ships devices that cannot be managed, but typically each is operated and controlled in a different way. This is not a problem for the vendor, and might not be a problem for a network operator if all equipment in the network is located at the same site and purchased from the same
vendor. Obviously, however, networks are dispersed across large distances, have components in unattended sites, and are constructed from switches and routers supplied by various companies (often with different versions and releases of the
devices that come from the same firm). This makes diverse network management approaches a signifi cant hurdle to effi cient and effective network operation.