Bay Networks | Vendor Implementations

As part of its strategy to exploit intranets as a means for making system-wide network management information available across the enterprise, Bay Networks has added Web-based monitoring and viewing capabilities to its Optivity application suite. Optivity Web provides network managers and operations staff with real-time information on network performance, faults, and network usage patterns. Specifically, Web-based management is supported through the NetReporter trending and reporting application. NetReporter produces network usage information that can be automatically exported to a corporate Web server and viewed as needed, giving users access to the important data they need.

Bay Networks' architectural framework for delivering Web-based network management solutions features three distinct elements: the nearly universal Web browser itself; Web-enabled management applications; and HTTP-enabled devices. The framework provides network managers with direct access to individual devices and to Optivity capabilities via a Web browser. While this solution greatly simplifies overall management and makes information more universally available, several key points are worth noting:

§  Network management application processing must still be provided, although the location of the processing will evolve over time.

§  Devices must continue to become more intelligent to support functions like multilayer topology and RMON2, regardless of the shift to Web-based management tools and access.

§  Management will continue to use SNMP and any other management protocols that may become standardized, until SNMP access to legacy equipment is no longer an issue.

Optivity's object-oriented Enterprise Command Center (ECC), which offers a concise summary of all sites within the network, is Web accessible from anywhere in the enterprise. From Web access to ECC, users can launch and work with Java-based Optivity applications, including OmniView and the Enterprise Health Advisor for graphical fault management of the network.

With these Web-accessible tools, network operations staff can access detailed information from home or any desktop. OmniView is a network statistics viewing and integration tool that provides Java-based tabular and graphical output to show the state of devices and networks. OmniView can gather data from a variety of standard MIBs, including MIB II, RMON, Repeater, and ATM MIBs, as well as access advanced functionality provided in Bay Networks proprietary MIBs. Enterprise Health Advisor monitors the status of all routers, hubs, and switches in the enterprise and identifies devices with fault or performance problems, and correlates faults for each device in the network.

Optivity ECC is a topology viewer that uses an intuitive file-folder paradigm to display all devices by type—hub, router, or switch—grouped by campus or region for easier manageability. The application leverages Bay Networks' Autotopology multilayer topology feature, which automatically discovers all network devices, as well as their physical and logical relationships. ECC eases policy management by providing the ability to view and act on all devices of a certain type in one screen, rather than having to navigate across subnet views as is the case in the typical network management system map. Upon drilling down to a particular device of interest, ECC provides launch-point integration to a variety of system and device level applications, as well as simple connectivity testing such as ping.

Bay Networks also offers Web-enabled devices for remote configuration and monitoring in the device. The BayStack line of stackable hubs and routers is among the product lines to be outfitted with Web server technology, which provides forms-based configuration, performance statistics, and device fault logs. Links to on-line help and documentation, as well as to Bay Networks' corporate Web site, are also provided.