How to Stabilise & Audit Using Network Configuration And Compliance Monitoring

What is Network Configuration and Compliance Monitoring

Network Configuration and Compliance Monitoring (or NCCM) is a system that works closely with all devices in a set network, transmitting and receiving data from a wide range of devices to ensure that everything is acting in a compliant manner. In addition to this, NCCM can ensure that your devices are configured correctly, and in the case that they are not, can schedule reconfigurations at a time that is convenient to the user.

Automating NCCM processes is often required because companies often have thousands of devices that cannot be handled manually, making the entire process far simpler and more accurate through automation. One example of an NCCM is Opmantek’s “NMIS”, a network management system designed to offer comprehensive information to network engineers to assist in the diagnosis and resolution of network problems.

Change detection and rectification

When dealing with a device configuration, there are relatively few commands that you need to be aware of to know exactly how it is set up. In theory, by remembering these and applying them to a new device, it should act identically to the previous one. When these configurations change and nobody is informed, however, it can become incredibly difficult to replace the device should it become faulty.

By implementing effective change detection, which discovers any configuration adjustments in a device, you can stay on top of all of your device configurations and replace them with ease. Additionally, you can receive alerts to let you know of every configuration change, and how many times the configuration has changed. This change detection can be used with products such as “opConfig”, which processes and records configuration changes across entire networks.

Device configuration changes

The configuration backups are all saved without restriction, so reverting to any previous configuration is incredibly simple. Your NCCM can keep hourly backups of your configuration settings, allowing you to revert a previous device, router or switch to a previous version when the device was working as intended. This will either resolve the issue or inform you that the issue is likely with the hardware in use (in which case you can simply install new hardware with the successful configuration in place).

Servers and network scanning

In addition to tracking the configuration of your devices, it’s also possible to use an NCCM as a performance tracking tool. By performing automated network management, the system is also taking in significant amounts of data, including the levels of packet loss within servers over a set period of time. This can help you in an audit to establish whether the performance of a particular server is degrading. If the performance declines, you can compare this data with configuration changes to ensure that your network is using the optimal settings, and resolve the issue without having to go through a more thorough investigation of your network. The data is already collected and ready to be analysed.

Try Opmantek’s products

If you’re interested in Opmantek’s range of products and would like to learn more, listen to Packet Pushers’ episode with Keith Sinclair, or contact us today. We are proud to offer effective solutions to IT departments, providing meaningful and actionable data to assist in the troubleshooting process.