NETWORK MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

• Gain a knowledge of network maintenance activities.

• Discuss the impact of not maintaining our network.

• Highlight the importance of maintenance activities.

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AIMS

REGULAR MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES

• A network is a key part of any business IT system.

• To keep it running smoothly and securely it’s important you perform some basic

network management tasks.

• Network management and day-to-day administration often involve the same

types of activities.

• These activities occur as a direct result of network usage and changes in

organisational need (e.g. new departments, employees, hardware, projects

etc.). As such they are hard to avoid.

• A well-managed network will serve your business better, reducing the time you

spend solving problems and allowing you to get on with running your company.

WHY NETWORK MAINTENANCE MATTERS

There are several reasons why good network management is important.

• Prevent problems. Much like servicing a car, good network management will

stop problems occurring and prolong your network’s life.

• Work efficiently. Good management ensures your staff have access to the IT

they need to do their jobs effectively.

• Maintain security. Even if you set your network up securely to begin with, you

need good management to ensure it stays that way.

• Stay up to date. Although network technology doesn’t move as fast as other

areas of business IT, careful upgrades may help improve performance.

KEEPING ON TOP OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

• To make sure network management and maintenance tasks are carried out regularly,

make someone in your business responsible for them and build the tasks into your

company’s schedule.

• If you leave them until someone has a spare moment, then they’ll probably never get

done!

• To minimise disruption, always perform network maintenance outside of normal working

hours.

• Tasks like optimising hard drives, running virus scans or testing backup systems can slow

down a network server.

• You may also be able to automate some management tasks. For instance, virus scanners

can be set to perform a full scan at a specific time and if you opt for cloud backup, the

service provider will do most of the heavy lifting for you.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

User account creation and deletion,

• The creation of user groups and individual user accounts is a vital aspect of network

management.

• The rights and privileges granted to a user as part of their account contributes to:

• the functionality they can access (i.e. which applications they can use, devices they can install)

• the data they can see (i.e. which files and folders they can access)

• the configuration and customisations they can make

• the shared resources (e.g. printers) they can use.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

• In addition, the use of user accounts and the individual responsibilities they bring

contribute many of the practical aspects of any network security policy.

• It is important that network accounts be managed regularly by updating rights and

privileges where required (for example as a result of an employee being transferred

to a management group through promotion) and deleting accounts of employees who

have left the company. WHY?

• The latter is vital, especially if the individual has left under poor relations with the

organisation (it is not unknown for an ex-employee to maliciously damage data or

systems if the opportunity presents itself).

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

Login scripts

• A login script is a set of instructions (usually written in a scripting language, e.g. VBScript

or a command line batch file for Microsoft Windows NOS) that forces a networked

workstation to perform specific actions when the user logs into their account.

• A default login script is often created when a user account is created, based on the set

actions required by the user group to which that user belongs.

• This can then be modified and personalised by the network manager or administrator as

part of the user’s network profile.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

Login scripts

• Login scripts are a key component of a network’s security strategy and form the basis of the user’s

initial settings when they log into a workstation.

• Common elements of login scripts are:

• mapping network disk drives or folders to local logical device names. e.g. net use G:

\\MyFileServer\SMITHJ01.

• redirecting printer output to a shared network printer e.g. net use LPT1:

\\MyPrintServer\HPLaser.

• fixing a specified (organisational) screen saver or desktop wallpaper

• deleting temporary files

• automatically launching programs from the command line (e.g. monitoring programs).

• It should also be noted that some NOS also permit logoff, startup and shutdown scripts.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

File system maintenance

• Routine maintenance should be performed on all native file systems.

• This should include operations such as:

• anti-virus signatures

• back-up of settings, data files etc.

• file clean-up.

It is likely that these operations would be scheduled to run automatically at periods of

low network activity.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

BACK UPS

• The main purpose of this is to make sure that you are able to go back to a

working system should any major problem arise.

• When backing up the system you have 3 main options.

1. Imaged- based backup

2. File based backup

3. File Synchronization

IMAGE-BASED BACKUPS

• Image-based backup is a backup process for a computer or virtual machine that

creates a copy of the operating system and all the data associated with it,

including the system state and application configurations.

• The backup is saved as a single file that is called an image.

• If your main disk gets damaged this allows you to quickly recover, as every piece

of data will be stored in the backup, even the software applications and registry

data.

• They do take a long time to complete.

FILE-BASED BACKUPS

• File based backup is the type of backup that most people are familiar with.

• This form of backup has been around for a long time.

• The technologies employed are quite numerous, and backup solutions have been

developed for about every situation that can be imagined.

• While only a few dozen different disk imaging programs are currently on the market,

literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of various file backup programs and systems exist.

• File based backups can be performed manually and are a simple case of moving specific

files from one machine to another machine/device/network areas or cloud storage system.

• This type of back up is faster however human error can come in to play.

TASK

Research 2 types of back up Image based and file base.

•Give an example where they might be best suited.

• Create a comparison table highlighting there possible strengths and

weakness.

• Conclude by selecting one of the backups and justifying your decision.

• Class will discuss their findings.

ADVANTAGES OF FILE BACKUPS

• Fine control over every aspect of your backup routine.

• Ability to work with small sets of files which is not usually possible with image backups.

• File fragmentation is greatly reduced if not nearly eliminated in backup archives.

• Easier to restore full backups or migrate data to new or different hardware.

• Generally more practical for remote backups over a network or Internet. • Real-time

backup or continuous data protection and versioning.

• Deduplication technologies work better on file based systems.

• Considered by many to be more resilient to error or corruption than imaging

technologies.

DISADVANTAGES OF FILE BACKUPS

• Human error can lead to lost files or files that have not been saved at all. • Some files

may not be able to be copied due to file format or software related issues.

• Some files may become corrupt during the transfer process and as a result all data will

be lost.

• Password protected items may become an issue or some files can become read only when

transferred between operating systems.

• The process although generally quicker than image backups can be a tedious exercise

depending on the amount of files to backup.

FILE SYNCHRONIZATION

• File Synchronization (“file sync”) is really a specialized adaptation of file based backup

technologies.

• Some would even say it is not true backup, but the result is basically the same.

• The primary design of sync programs are to replicate or mirror working files in two or more

locations where both sets of files will still be put into service.

• One way to understand the difference between synchronization and backup is that backup copies

files in one direction while synchronization copies files (or changes) in two directions.

• In backup you have a “source” and a “destination.”

• In true synchronization you really have two sources.

• For example, when a group of files are set to be synchronized between two computers, files which

are changed on any one of the computers will be reflected on the other.

ADVANTAGES OF FILE SYNCHRONIZATION

• Improves productivity when working with the same set of files in different

locations.

• Files synchronized to online sources can often be easily accessed from any

computer or mobile device such as a smart phone.

• Some programs combine real-time sync with a versioning system that allows for

easy collaboration between individuals working on the same file, and usually

provide diff comparisons and merging capabilities

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

Virus Scans

• One of the top priority tasks for system administrators is keeping a network clean from

different threats.

• It can be achieved by using active antivirus protection on each PC and performing regular

network virus scanning.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK MAINTENANCE

Other maintenance activities

There are a wide range of tools that network managers can use to manage performance or

fault find, so every network should have appropriate tools for these tasks.

• Managing performance.

• Fault finding.

• Finding network assets.

• Tracking device performance.

• System testing.

TASK

Research and provide 3 examples of how a network manager can do the following,

• Manage performance.

• Fault find.

• Find network assets.

• Tracking device performance.

• System testing.

Provide a working example use the college as a guide if you like.

• Gained knowledge about network management functions.

• Discuss what needs to be considered when designing a network.

• Evaluated Network design.

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CONCLUSION