“Knowing your history can give you the tools to shape your future.” – Gloria Feldt
When it comes to network management, having detailed data about various elements in your network plays a key role in making the right decisions. Deep insight on every device in your network is crucial not only to maintain network performance and security, but also to prevent future network issues.
An extensive study by the University of Michigan revealed that configuration issues are the underlying cause of 59 percent of network downtime.This makes network configuration the make-or-break factor in every network. The integrity of network device configurations is paramount to the performance of your network and applications, meaning configurations can have a huge impact on the credibility of your business.
We’ve come up with three distinct steps you can follow to ensure your network configurations are fully equipped to drive peak performance in your network.
1. Start tracking every configuration change in your network
With ever growing business needs, the demand for frequent network configuration changes has risen to new heights. In a large network with multiple network devices and network admins, such frequent changes create loopholes for accidents to happen. A survey by Veriflow Systems found that 74 percent of network admins state that changes in their network impact their business several times a year or more.
With automated change tracking in place, you can ensure:
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No change in your network goes unnoticed.
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Critical device configurations remain safe and intact.
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All changes are properly recorded.
Change tracking also ensures that you can detect a faulty configuration change and revert it to the last working configuration, which is discussed in the following points.
2. Be disaster-ready with the latest config backups
Despite being cautious, some disasters are bound to happen. At times like this, you can save your network by having a backup of the latest configurations of your network devices. But making sure you always have the latest backups is no easy task if you’re doing it manually. With automated configuration backup, you’ll be able to:
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Resolve network outages quickly.
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Revisit previous config files for comparison.
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Troubleshoot and fix network issues faster.
The repetitive and tedious process of manual backups often results in issues or outages. By using syslog monitoring, automated config backups avoid the hassles involved in manual backups and are much more efficient; every time a change is detected in your network, the latest config is backed up.
3. Stay compliant and ward off security loopholes
From organizations just being “checkbox compliant” to now having to meet strict compliance requirements like those in the GDPR, compliance is the topic on everyone’s mind. Regardless of the size of your business, compliance is a key contributor to its credibility and growth. Recent data breaches are standing proof of how non-compliance in data handling can cause severe backlash, devaluing even the largest organizations. By staying compliant with industry standards, you can:
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Increase your credibility in the market.
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Seal security loopholes.
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Avoid litigation.
Ensuring your organization is compliant involves routine checks on various policies across your network. However, these everyday checks can turn into a mundane task and carry the risk of being neglected. The most effective way to get an efficient compliance management system in place is to run scheduled compliance checks without manual intervention.
Acquiring and managing a reliable solution that can achieve all of the steps mentioned above is a task in itself. Good thing we’ve done all the research for you—meet Network Configuration Manager, our comprehensive network configuration management solution.
Network Configuration Manager satisfies these three core criteria for efficient configuration management—change management, backups, and compliance management—all through its fluid and intuitive UI. Best of all, Network Configuration Manager scales easily for networks of any size, making config management simpler and more effective for network admins around the world.
But as the saying goes, seeing is believing. Try your hands on Network Configuration Manager by downloading a fully functional free trial and experience sophisticated configuration management for 30 days.
Got any concerns or suggestions? Need assistance? Email us at
ncm-support@manageengine.com and we’ll make sure it’s taken care of.
Here’s to better configuration management!
