Fault management

[albertcuy]

Hi All,

i'm trying to write a proposal for a client involving an all-Cisco solution, and am getting stuck with a particular requirement with the network management software -- i.e. it should be able to detect and "automatically fix" any faults in the network.

Client setup is relatively simple: basically there will be a web application running in a DMZ, accessible to the outside and using a db backend in the local lan. No audio, video or any other service is required. 

The client want the NMS to

1.) proactively monitor *all* devices -- switches, firewall appliances, the works -- in a centralized view

2.) do trend analysis and identify network bottlenecks

3.) Fault detection, notification, and automatic resolution.

Currently i'm looking into NetIQ, NetExpert, etc.; which of the Cisco NMS products fit here?   Cisco Data Center Network Manager?  Cisco Prime?

tia

[Marvin Rhoads]

In my opinion (based on almost 30 years of data networking experience and over 15 with Cisco), no tool will "automatically fix" any faults in the network. You can build in some simple "if, then" actions with things like Cisco's EEM technology but that is limited to things you anticipate and for which you have a relatively simple remedy at hand.

Any network management approach is only one leg of the "people, processes and tools" triad. Any one (or two) of those without the other(s) is not sufficient. Typically, the more a tool promises to do all of this, the higher its cost (both acquisition and ownership) and the more work it is to implement.

My advice is to focus equally on the people and processes bits and let the tool(s) play their supporting role. Tools are not a substitute for people and processes.