KYAMBOGO

UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

A TECHNICAL REPORT ON NETWORK CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

BY

THEMBO JIMMY Email: jkikoma@kyu.ac.ug jkikoma@yahoo.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1Background of study ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Why Network Configuration Management? ........................................................................................... 3 1.3 Traditional Network Configuration Management Practices: .................................................................. 4 1.4 The solutions to problems as a result of traditional configuration management practices ..................... 4 CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Hardware Configuration Management.................................................................................................... 6 2.1.1Router Configuration ............................................................................................................................ 6 2.1.2 Network Switch Configuration ............................................................................................................ 8 2.2 Software Configuration Management ................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Subnetting ............................................................................................................................................. 11 2.4 Firewall Configurations ........................................................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................................. 13 3.0 Predictive maintenance ...................................................................................................................... 13 3.1Technologies used in Predictive Maintenance ....................................................................................... 13 3.2 Merits of Predictive Maintenance ......................................................................................................... 14 3.3 Software Preventive maintenance ......................................................................................................... 15 3.4 Advantages of software preventive maintenance.................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER FOUR..................................................................................................................................... 17 Discussion, Recommendations And Conclusion ........................................................................................ 17 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................... 17 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 18 References ................................................................................................................................................... 19

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IT NCM VLAN WAN LAN IP CLI NCCM OSI SDRAM ISP CLI NVRAM DRAM VLAN SCM TFTP Information Technology Network Configuration Management Virtual Local Area Network Wide Area Network Local Area Network Internet Protocol Command Line Interface Network Change, Configuration and Compliance Management Open System Interconnection Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory Internet Service Provider Command Line Interface Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory Dynamic Random-Access Memory Virtual Local Area Network Software Configuration Management Trivial File Transfer Protocol

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ABSTRACT Modern enterprises depend on network availability for business continuity. In heterogeneous networks, administrators face numerous challenges in properly managing device configurations, carrying out changes, ensuring compliance to regulations, and in minimizing network downtime triggered by human errors. This Report discusses the challenges in detail and examines the traditional, manual configuration management. The ways to tackle the challenges, the need for an automated NCM solution to simplify the job of administrators, the vital ingredients that one should expect in an NCM solution and the factors to ponder before zeroing-in on an NCM solution

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION Overview Today, IT organizations are being pushed and pulled in many directions. Evolving business models create complex technology challenges that IT is being asked to solve. Yet in most organizations, IT resources and headcount remain flat. Additionally, IT use is empowering users, which in turn introduces new devices and risks that IT must manage and balance. But these new consumer devices are powerful tools that can deliver big productivity gains, if harnessed properly.

1.1 Background of study

Networks form the backbone of the modern IT and other enterprises. The components are the backbone, the network infrastructure are quite complex and varied with the presence of hundreds or even thousands of mission-critical edge devices such as switches, routers, firewalls and others from dozens of hardware vendors. Enterprises make huge investments on procuring network infrastructure and employ highly skilled professionals to manage and administer the network infrastructure. But often, a few administrators manage a large infrastructure. Managing the network is a challenging task as business continuity directly depends on network availability. Even a few minutes of network outage could have a rippling effect on the revenue stream as critical business services get affected. And as business needs grow, network complexity also grows up exponentially. The enterprise naturally puts this squeeze on the few network administrators mandating them with the responsibility of ensuring network availability. Not just network availability, but also ensuring security, reliability, optimizing performance, and optimal utilization of the network fall under the ambit of the administrators and since business needs are in a constant state of flux, administrators are required to respond to the needs often by configuring the network devices, which is a sensitive and time-consuming task. It requires specialized knowledge, familiarity with
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all types of devices from different vendors, awareness on the impact of changes, precision and accuracy. Network configuration management (NCM) is the process of organizing and maintaining information about all the components of a computer network. When a network needs repair, modification, expansion or upgrading, the administrator refers to the network configuration management database to determine the best course of action. This database contains the locations and network addresses of all hardware devices, as well as information about the programs, versions and updates installed in networked computers. (Searchnetworking 2011) Configuration management involves identifying the configuration of a network system at given points in time, systematically controlling changes to the configuration, and maintaining the integrity and traceability of the configuration throughout the lifecycle. The items placed under configuration management include the software and hardware products (e.g., routers and switches) that comprise the network as well as items required to create or maintain these products (e.g., initial routing tables and switch configuration data). Proper configuration management enables an organization to answer the following questions: What is the process for making changes to the network? Who made a change to the network? What changes were made to the network? When were the changes made? Why were the changes made? Who authorized the changes?

Network configuration management therefore allows you to control changes to the configuration of your network devices, like switches and routers. Using configuration management tools you can make changes to the configuration of a router, and then roll the changes back to a previous configuration if the changes werent successful. Contrast to the previous situation with a network configuration management system with the situation without a network configuration management system. You would make the changes, hopefully remembering to document what you changed. If the changes werent successful you would, at best, have to undo the changes you

made manually from your documentation. At worst, you would be left with trying to remember what was changed and why. Hence the goals of configuration management include: To gather and store configurations from network devices (this can be done locally or remotely). To simplify the configuration of the device To track changes that are made to the configuration To configure ('provision) circuits or paths through non-switched networks To plan for future expansion and scaling

Configuration management can be summarized as: Device hardware and software inventory collection Device software management Device configuration collection, backup, viewing, archiving and comparison Detection of changes to configuration, hardware, or software

1.2 Why Network Configuration Management? Networks of any size are in a constant state of flux. Any of the engineers responsible for the network can change the configuration of the switches and routers at any time. Configuration changes to live equipment can have devastating effects on the reliability of the network and the services provided by it. Network configuration management is designed to allow you to take control of network changes. Network configuration management is intended to simplify the job of managing medium to large networks. The aim of network configuration management is to save your time and reduce errors on your network due to misconfiguration of network devices. Even if your network changes do cause errors, network configuration management allows you to fix the errors faster. There are times when one would wish to move a systems configuration back in time to when the device worked properly. Having a network configuration management system means that you

can change a devices configuration with a much reduced risk of downtime. If you make a mistake, simply roll back your changes to a version of the configuration that you know works. When a fault has been identified on your network it can be invaluable to have an audit trail of all configuration changes of your network devices. Not only will you quickly be able to identify which devices have changed, but also what the changes were, when the changes were made and by whom.

1.3 Traditional Network Configuration Management Practices: While carrying out changes, most of the administrators document the proposed changes. They login to each device separately and carry out the change. In case, the configuration changes are not successful, they will turn the configuration to the previous working state by undoing the changes as recorded by them in the documentation

In big enterprises with a large number of devices, the administrators cannot follow the change documentation' process. Instead, they develop custom scripts to push configurations to multiple devices. With the enormous diversity of hardware vendors, the administrators develop numerous custom scripts to suit the syntax of each device type. Still worse, some administrators follow the haphazard way of carrying out changes to live equipment without any management plan. When errors in configuration cause network outage, they end up wishing that they could move the configuration back to a proper working version. They manually troubleshoot hence causing damage to some network devices.

1.4 The solutions to problems as a result of traditional configuration management practices Conquering the complex, multifaceted operational and technological challenges of network configuration management is getting simpler nowadays with the availability and automation of Network Configuration Management (NCM) solutions. The NCM solutions are designed to automate the entire lifecycle of device configuration management. The process of changing configurations, managing changes, ensuring compliance and security are all automated and the

NCM solutions prove to be powerful at the hands of network administrators. It helps save time and ensures network uptime. (Gartner Inc., 2007)

Replace manual processes with network device configuration management tools to monitor and control the change process, reducing risk and enabling compliance policies to be enforced. These tools provide an automated way of maintaining network configuration, offering an opportunity to lower cost, reduce human error and improve compliance with configuration policies.(Gartner Inc., 2007)

By leveraging NCM solutions, administrators can put in place both proactive and reactive configuration management strategies. Proactively, administrators can reduce manual errors and prevent unauthorized changes; when something goes wrong, they can react to the contingency within minutes by getting to the root cause or by rolling-back to the previous working version. (Gartner Inc., 2007)

CHAPTER TWO Overview This chapter presents the different Network configurable devices available and how they are configured and interconnected to deliver high performance results in a network 2.1 Hardware Configuration Management For most network infrastructures, the lynchpins are the router and switches. Unlike many devices in a customer's network, routers require extensive configuration before they become the efficient and reliable tools to provide reliable and optimal performance. Switches, in the meantime, may work straight out of the box, but in order to achieve their full potential, they need some tweaking as well. This series of tips goes over some of the first and minimal steps needed to get a new hardware up and running

2.1.1Router Configuration A router is a device that forwards data packets along networks. A router is connected to at least two networks, commonly two LANs or WANs or a LAN and its ISP's network. Routers are located at gateways, the places where two or more networks connect, and are the critical device that keeps data flowing between networks and keeps the networks connected to the Internet. The router will also choose the best route for the data packet so that you receive the information quickly. (Hardware 2011). The basic steps for the router configuration include:

Interface configuration IP address and subnet mask creation

Router Interface Configuration To access the command line (CLI), you can use the console port or a remote access protocol such as Telnet or Secure Shell and depending on the port you're using, you might have to press enter to get the prompt to appear (console port). The first prompt will look like Routername> the

greater than sign at the prompt tell you that you are in user mode. In user mode you can only view limited statistics of the router in this mode. (Cisco, 2011) To change configurations you first need to enter privileged EXEC mode. This is done by typing enable at the Routername> prompt, the prompt then changes to Routername#. This mode supports testing commands, debugging commands, and commands to manage the router configuration files. To go back to user mode, type disable at the Routername# prompt. If you want to leave completely, type logout at the user mode prompt. You can also exit from the router while in privileged mode by typing exit or logout at the Routername# prompt. (Cisco, 2011) Global Configuration Mode Enter this mode from the privileged mode by typing configure terminal or (conf t for short). The prompt will change to Routername(config)#. Changes made in this mode change the running config file in DRAM. Use configures memory to change the startup config in NVRAM. Using configure network allows you to change the configuration file on a TFTP server. (Cisco, 2011) Interfaces Mode While in global configuration mode you can make changes to individual interfaces with the command Routername(config)#interface ethernet 0 or Routername(config)#int e0 for short, this enters the interface configuration mode for Ethernet port 0 and changes the prompt to look like Routername(config-if)#.(Cisco, 2011) A Typical Router Interface Configuration Code Press RETURN to get started Router> Router > enable Router# Router#config terminal
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Router(config)#enable password test Router(config)#enable secret Vinita Router(config)#line console 0 Router(config-line)#password console Router(config-line)#login Router(config)#line vty 0 4 Router(config-line)#password telnet Router(config-line)#login Router(config)#line aux 0 Router(config-line)#password aux Router(config-line)#login Router(config)#interface fastethernet 0/0 Router(config-if)#description Student Lab LAN Router(config-if)#ip address 192.168.20.1 255.255.255.0 Router(config-if)#no shutdown Router(config)#exit Router IP Address and Subnet Configuration Where R1 is the name of the router R1#configure terminal R1(config)#interface serial 0 R1(config-if)#ip address 196.20.32.15 255.255.255.5 R1(config-if)#exit R1(config)#interface ethernet 0 R1(config-if)#ip address 195.20.32.10 255.255.255.10 Router(config-if)#no shutdown 2.1.2 Network Switch Configuration A network switch is a small hardware device that joins multiple computers together within one local area network (LAN). Technically, network switches operate at layer two (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model. In most instances, you can take any brand of switch out of the box and turn it on and without any configuration whatsoever, have it provide the connectivity you need. In this tip, we look at when you need to configure something extra for better performance in a managed switch. (Compnetworking 2011) First there is a minimum level of security that every network device should meet. That would include: Setting the password, Setting community strings, turning off all the methods of administration you won't use, especially the Web interface, configuring logins or an authentication server and configuring a syslog server to store log entries remotely. The rest of
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our configuration list depends on what you intend to do with the switch and to some extent, how complex your environment is. If you have more than one IP subnet on a switch, you may need to configure VLANs or trunk ports. Don't forget to put user ports into the appropriate VLANs after you create them. Note that if you are using a Cisco switch, even if you only have one subnet, its strongly recommend that you do not use the default VLAN 1 as this behaves somewhat differently than other VLANs. Create another VLAN and put all the ports into it. There are of course, dozens of other things you can do to make your network better, like configuring labels on each port to help you track what device is plugged into them, or manually setting the speed and duplex on some ports, or turning off unneeded protocols like Port Aggregation Protocol. (Compnetworking 2011) Creating and Configuring VLANs on Managed switches Configuring VLANs can vary even between different models of Cisco switches. Our goals, here is to Create the new VLANs Put each port in the proper VLAN

Lets say we wanted to create VLANs 5 and 10 and put ports 2 & 3 in VLAN 5 (Marketing) and ports 4 and 5 in VLAN 10 (Human Resources). On a Cisco 2950 switch, here is how you would do it: CAT1#conf t, to enter the configuration mode CAT1 (config) #vlan 5 CAT1 (config-vlan) #name Marketing CAT1 (config-vlan) #exit CAT1 (config) #vlan 10 CAT1 (config-vlan) #name Humanresource CAT1 (config-vlan) #exit CAT1 (config) #interfaces fast CAT1 (config) #interfaces fastEthernet 0/2 CAT1 (config-if) #switchport mode access CAT1 (config-if) #switchport access vlan 5 CAT1 (config-if) #exit CAT1 (config) #interfaces fastEthernet 0/3 CAT1 (config-if) #switchport mode access CAT1 (config-if) #switchport access vlan 5 CAT1 (config-if) #exit CAT1 (config) #interfaces fastEthernet 0/4 CAT1 (config-if) #switchport mode access
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CAT1 CAT1 CAT1 CAT1 CAT1 CAT1

(config-if) #switchport access vlan 10 (config-if) #exit (config) #interfaces fastEthernet 0/5 (config-if) #switchport mode access (config-if) #switchport access vlan 10 (config-if) #exit

2.2 Software Configuration Management Software configuration management is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software. SCM concerns itself with answering the question somebody did something, how can one reproduce it. Often the problem involves not reproducing it identically, but with controlled, incremental changes. Answering this question thus becomes a matter of comparing different results and analyzing their differences. Traditional configuration management typically focused on controlled creation of relatively simple products. Now, implementers of SCM face the challenge of dealing with relatively minor increments under their own control, in the context of the complex system being developed. According to another simple definition: Software Configuration Management is how you control the evolution of a software project (Wikipedia 2011) With software configuration management certain software can be configured to manage configurations, take control of changes, Ensure compliance, and automate tasks. As an example of software configuration management; Device Expert is a web based, multi-vendor network change, configuration and compliance management (NCCM) solution for switches, routers, firewalls and other network devices. Trusted by thousands of network administrators around the world, Device Expert helps automate and take total control of the entire life cycle of device configuration management. (manageengine, 2011)

Monitoring a network is easy. Isolating problems is tough. However, software like Orion Network Configuration Manager (NCM) notifies you in real-time when configurations change, helping you quickly determine which changes could potentially cause network issues. With Orion NCM, you will never have to guess who changed what and when as you troubleshoot that infamous user complaint `the internet is down. plus, you can rest easy and save time with

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features such as nightly configured backups, bulk configuration changes, user tracking, inventory and compliance reporting. (Network-monitoring, 2011) 2.3 Subnetting Subnetting is a network design strategy that segregates a larger network into smaller components. While connected through the larger network, each subnetwork or subnet functions has a unique IP address. All systems that are assigned to a particular subnet will share values that are common for both the subnet and for the network as a whole. Subnetting can also be defined as a process of borrowing bits from the host bits, in order to divide the larger network into small subnets. (wisegeek, 2011)

Network Id
204.17.5.0 204.17.5.32 204.17.5.64 204.17.5.96 204.17.5.128 204.17.5.160 204.17.5.192 204.17.5.224

Subnet mask
255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224 255.255.255.224

Address Range
1 to 30 33 to 62 65 to 94 97 to 126 129 to 158 161 to 190 193 to 222 225 to 254

Table showing subnet masks and their respective number of subnets and hosts Id ranges

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2.4 Firewall Configurations A Firewall is a system which limits network access between two or more networks. Normally, a firewall is deployed between a trusted, protected private network and an untrusted public network. For example, the trusted network might be a corporate network, and the public network might be the Internet. A Firewall might grant or revoke access based on user authentication, source and destination network addresses, network protocol, time of day, network service or any combination of these. It might be implemented as an Application Level Firewall or a Packet Level Firewall as well as a content filter, such as a Virus Wall. Thus an enterprise with an intranet that allows its workers access to the wider internet installs a firewall to prevent outsiders from accessing its own private data resources and for controlling what outside resources its own users have access to. (Concepts, 2011) The simplest firewall rule set nowadays will probably look something like the following: Source IP INTERNAL INTERNAL DNS-server [Any] Destination IP Any Any Any [Any] Protocol http(tcp) ftp(tcp) DNS(udp) [Any] Action ALLOW ALLOW ALLOW [IMPLIED REJECT]

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CHAPTER THREE 3.0 Predictive maintenance Maintenance costs are one of the largest factors impacting organizations budget. Attempts to reduce these costs and increasing asset utilization have led to the development of several maintenance strategies one of which is predictive maintenance based on the goal of predicting the future trend of the equipment's condition. Many types of component use electronic sensors to capture data which provides live condition monitoring which is the process of monitoring a parameter of condition in a network device, such that a significant change is indicative of a developing failure. This is a major component of predictive maintenance because it allows maintenance to be scheduled, or other actions to be taken to avoid the consequences of failure, or before the failure occurs (Wikipedia 2011). Predictive maintenance therefore is a defect inspection strategy that uses indicators or involves observation to prepare for future problems by taking notes of indicators that may signal larger problems using principles of statistical process control to determine at what point in the future maintenance activities will be appropriate, thereby minimizing disruption of normal system operations resulting in substantial cost savings and higher system reliability. The Predictive Maintenance approach removes the guess-work as it evaluates the condition of the machinery and can provide early identification and elimination of a fault before it causes serious problems or a breakdown. The aim is to extend machine life, reduce maintenance costs, and avoids unexpected failures causing interruptions in productivity and to carry out maintenance on a more informed basis. (Predictivemaintanence 2011)

3.1Technologies used in Predictive Maintenance The technique is dependent on the fact that most device components will give some type of warning before they fail. Configuration management systems incorporate the most advanced predictive technologies, including infrared, vibration, ultrasound, and equipment/machine

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analysis to optimize your conditioned base maintenance programs. (predictivemaintenance, 2011) Vibration analysis is by far the most important of the different disciplines utilized by predictive maintenance. When properly done, vibration analysis allows the user to evaluate the condition of equipment and avoid failures. Many units display the full vibration spectrum of three axes simultaneously, providing a snapshot of what is going on with a particular device. Devices, which would affect operations adversely if they were to fail, can be subjected to continuous vibration monitoring, in which an alarm is sounded if the vibration level exceeds a predetermined value. In this way, rapidly progressing faults are prevented from causing catastrophic failures. (predictivemaintenance, 2011) Sonic monitoring equipment is less expensive, but it also has fewer uses than ultrasonic technologies. Sonic technology is useful only on mechanical equipment, while ultrasonic equipment can detect electrical problems and is more flexible and reliable in detecting mechanical problems in machines. (Wikipedia 2011) Infrared monitoring and analysis has the widest range of application (from high- to low-speed equipment), and it can be effective for spotting both mechanical and electrical failures of your system. Thermography is the measurement of surface temperature by infrared detection, and is very useful in detecting problems in electrical switchgear. (Wikipedia 2011)

3.2 Merits of Predictive Maintenance With predictive maintenance it provides a reliable data flow for informed decision making (InCheck 2011) Allows maintenance specialists to shift focus and concentrate on their key function. (InCheck 2011) The overall device condition at any time is known, thus much more accurate planning is possible. (predictivemaintenance.htm 2011) Another benefit of predictive maintenance is reduced expenditures for spare parts and labor. (predictivemaintenance.htm 2011)
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Machines that fail while in service often cost ten times as much to repair than if the repair were anticipated and scheduled .( predictivemaintenance, 2011)

3.3 Software Preventive maintenance This is the process of maintaining software and its facilities in satisfactory operating condition by providing for systematic inspection, detection, and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects. Software preventive management and maintenance concerns activities aiming at increasing software maintainability and prevent problems in the future. (emaint.com, 2011) Software Preventive maintenance consists of a schedule of planned maintenance actions aimed at the prevention of breakdowns and failures of software. The primary goal of software preventive maintenance is to prevent the failure of software before it actually occurs. It is designed to preserve and enhance software reliability by replacing worn components before they actually fail. (Richard D Palmer, 2002) Software Preventive Maintenance was designed to simplify and enhance your preventive maintenance program. With the help of good preventive maintenance software, an effective preventive maintenance program will catch maintenance problems early, reduce equipment downtime and keep equipment running in top condition. Because of this, an effective preventive maintenance program always results in reduced costs and maximized profits.

3.4 Advantages of software preventive maintenance Reduced production downtime, resulting in fewer software breakdowns. Timely, routine repairs circumvent fewer large-scale repairs. Reduced cost of repairs by reducing secondary failures. When software fails in service, they usually damage other parts. Better quality products as a result of well-maintained software Improved safety and quality conditions.

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3.5 Software Preventive Maintenance practices

Firmware Upgrades: Check the vendors website for latest firmware version for the system. It is recommended to upgrade the firmware if the vendor suggests it as a critical update or the system is generating issues. Driver Update: Always keep the system up to date with latest drivers from vendors website so the system can work more efficiently.

Windows Service Pack Upgrades: Check the vendors website time to time for latest service packs of Windows and update the systems with it. Windows Update: After updating the service just not finishes the task, one should download and install the windows updates time to time from Microsofts site Registry cleaning: Adding and removing system components leaves orphaned entries in the windows registry. This can increase the time your computer takes to boot and can slow system performance. So, one should run registry cleaner periodically

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CHAPTER FOUR DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

This chapter presents the discussion, recommendations and the conclusion Discussion Ironically, most of the configuration changes are repetitive, labor-intensive tasks for instance, changing passwords and Access Control Lists. Yet, as even minor errors in configuration changes to the devices in production carry the risk of causing network outage, the skilled network administrators spend a significant part of their time on configuring the devices. They find it hard to concentrate on strategic network engineering and administration tasks. Besides, with increasing security threats to mission, critical network resources and serious legal consequences of information mismanagement, enterprises and organizations everywhere are required not just to follow standard practices, internal security policies, stringent Government regulations and industrial guidelines, but also demonstrate that the policies are enforced and network devices remain compliant to the policies defined. Ensuring compliance has become a priority for network administrators nowadays. This drives them to take extra care while changing configurations. Administrators also have to continuously monitor the changes carried out to the devices, as any unauthorized change can wreak havoc to the network. Organization expects the network administrator and the IT department to deliver operational efficiency continuously and contribute for cost-effective network management. It is evident that administrators face pressures from multiple angles; but, how do they normally manage configurations? The solution to this lie in automation where device detection and configuration is automatic, error free and straight forward Recommendations Based on the researchers understanding of network configuration management the researchers would like to put across the following recommendation for efficient and optimal network performance

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Automation provides a solution for scaling operations specifically in the area of resourcing and configuration. Going forward, there is little choice to use tools for automation. To handle the size of the network, hiring some additional resources may be required, but network engineering resources are difficult to find and hire, and without these additional resources, it is simply not possible to manage a large network, and important operational functions wont be completed. This is where automation provides a solution to this problem.

All network administrators need to keep a record of all the devices on the network, this helps in quickly identifying and isolating the points of failure in the event of network failure

Conclusion If you are currently grappling with a number of network devices, managed by a team of people then network configuration management may well be worth investigating. If most of your network downtime is caused by people changing configuration of one or more devices, then again network configuration management may well be worth a look. Network configuration management provides the tools to give you an audit trail of changes to your network. It can also make enforcing corporate policy for device configuration much easier.

Lack of efficient and effective device configuration management affects the business continuity of enterprises. Manual configurations of devices eat away the time and efforts of the skilled administrators, who are struggling to keep track of configuration changes and as networks grow big and bigger the solution remains in automation. Automated NCM solutions enable network
administrators to take total control of the entire life cycle of device configuration management. Changing configurations, managing changes, ensuring compliance and security are all automated. These solutions improve efficiency, enhance productivity, help save time, cost and resources and minimize human errors and network downtime.

With a good NCM solution in place, enterprises can make best use of their network infrastructure. They can achieve increased network uptime and reduced degradation and performance issues.

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