Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies Review

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(More customer reviews)Network Management is crucial in the successful operation of a network. Over the years Network Management has changed dramatically. Early Management systems were nothing more than a process of pinging an IP address, when you missed a ping there could be something wrong!
Now we want to know what is wrong and preferable be warned before something goes wrong. And wouldn't it be nice or even required to see who or what is eating up our bandwidth or to have proof that we get the bandwidth we pay for? All these requirements have led to many protocols and standards over the years. Here is a book that organizes all this, brilliantly.
The book is organized in three sections that I would describe as follows: Part I, The theory, Part II, The tools, Part III, How we can use these tools in different scenarios.
Part I has three chapters and counts for almost a third of the book. The information contained in these three chapters alone make buying the book worthwhile. Part I is vendor neutral and would be excellent reading for network managers to quickly acquire a detailed overview of standards and technologies.
Chapter 1 describes the need for Accounting and Performance Management. Chapter 2 (Data Collection Methodology) describes the data you need to collect and the detail required, as well as how to collect the data and be sure of its integrity. This is the longest chapter in the book and one of my favorites.
Chapter 3 deals with standards and definitions. This is the chapter with the most abbreviations.
Part II outlines the most common network management tools available on Cisco IOS devices and how to implement them. Here we find SNMP, RMON, IP Accounting, NetFlow, BGP Policy Accounting, AAA Accounting, NBAR, IP SLA. Each implementation has its own chapter and follows the same procedure: first an explanation of the feature and then how to configure it. Configuration takes up most of the chapter and is very detailed with examples and many show commands. I found this very useful.
Chapter 12 (the last chapter in Part II) connects everything in tables - these tables have already proven very useful for me.
Part III (Assigning Technologies to Solutions) applies the tools from Part II to some real world scenarios like: Monitoring, Capacity Planning, Voice, Security and Billing scenarios. In each chapter the tools are identified that will help to achieve the goal.
Both authors are Cisco engineers specializing in accounting, performance and fault management and it shows! They really know their stuff!
In short, this is a very useful book; you learn and you apply what you have learned. What else could you wish for?


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Network Management: Accounting and Performance StrategiesThe definitive guide to collecting usage information from Cisco networksBenoit Claise, CCIE® No. 2868 Ralf WolterUnderstanding network performance and effectiveness is now crucial to business success. To ensure user satisfaction, both service providers and enterprise IT teams must provide service-level agreements (SLA) to the users of their networks–and then consistently deliver on those commitments. Now, two of the Cisco® leading network performance and accounting experts bring together all the knowledge network professionals need to do so. Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies imparts a deep understanding of Cisco IOS® embedded management for monitoring and optimizing performance, together with proven best strategies for both accounting and performance management. Benoit Claise and Ralf Wolter begin by introducing the role of accounting and performance management in today's large-scale data and voice networks. They present widely accepted performance standards and definitions, along with today's best practice methodologies for data collection. Next, they turn to Cisco devices and the Cisco IOS Software, illuminating embedded management and device instrumentation features that enable you to thoroughly characterize performance, plan network enhancements, and anticipate potential problems and prevent them. Network standards, technologies, and Cisco solutions covered in depth include Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Management Information Bases (MIB), Remote Monitoring (RMON), IP accounting, NetFlow, BGP policy accounting, AAA Accounting, Network Based Application Recognition (NBAR), and IP SLA (formerly known as SAA). For each, the authors present practical examples and hands-on techniques. The book concludes with chapter-length scenarios that walk you through accounting and performance management for five different applications: data network monitoring, capacity planning, billing, security, and voice network performance. Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies will be indispensable to every professional concerned with network performance, effectiveness, or profitability, especially NMS/OSS architects, network and service designers, network administrators, and anyone responsible for network accounting or billing. Benoit Claise, CCIE® No. 2868, is a Cisco Distinguished Engineer working as an architect for embedded management and device instrumentation. His area of expertise includes accounting, performance, and fault management. Claise is a contributor to the NetFlow standardization at the IETF in the IPFIX and PSAMP Working Groups. He joined Cisco in 1996 as a customer support engineer in the Technical Assistance Center network management team and became an escalation engineer before joining the engineering team.Ralf Wolter is a senior manager, consulting engineering at Cisco. He leads the Cisco Core and NMS/OSS consulting team for Europe, works closely with corporate engineering, and supports large-scale customer projects. He specializes in device instrumentation related to accounting and performance management.Compare accounting methods and choose the best approach for you Apply network performance best practices to your networkLeverage built-in Cisco IOS network management system components to quantify performanceUncover trends in performance statistics to help avoid service degradation before it occursIdentify under use of network paths, so you can improve overall network efficiencyWalk through hands-on case studies that address monitoring, capacity planning, billing, security, and voice networksUnderstand Cisco network performance, deliver on your SLAs, and improve accounting and billingThis book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press®, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

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