How to Eliminate the #1 Cause of Network Down-time
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Too many network incidents are due to configuration errors. Studies show that over 80% of network problems are due to improper configuration and change management. Mistakes like these are costly and can lead to loss of confidential data and mission or business disruption. But configuration errors can be prevented, while still maintaining standards compliance, if you know how to implement a few proven best practices. This free webinar will show you: 1. The best ways to develop and implement solid configuration baselines 2. What’s needed to monitor and protect configuration baselines from harmful changes 3. How to easily audit configurations for compliance with standards such as DISA STIG, NIST/FISMA and HIPAA 4. Which change controls work best to continuously improve configuration baselines Quickly drive impactful changes to your organization by eliminating network configuration errors and improving network availability. Register now and plan to join us for this invaluable presentation.
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How to Eliminate the #1 Cause of Network Down-time
- 1. 1 Working to Eliminate the #1 Cause of Network Down-time August 20, 2013 © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 2. 2 Agenda » Introductions Francois Caron, Product Management Director, SolarWinds Edward Bender, Head Federal Systems Engineer, SolarWinds » Overview » The Problem with Configuration Management » The Solution and Best Practices » Demonstration » Q&A © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 3. 3 Networks are Becoming Larger and More Complex Our organizations and their missions depend on network availability © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 4. 4 Network Uptime is Essential, But … 80% of Network is Caused by Preventable Error "Through 2015, 80% of outages impacting mission-critical services will be caused by people and process issues, and more than 50% of those outages will be caused by change/configuration/release integration and hand-off issues." (Gartner: Ronni J. Colville and George Spafford Configuration Management for Virtual and Cloud Infrastructures) Source: CIO.co .com © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 5. 5 What Does “Network Downtime” Cost? Large Organizations (more than 1000 users) 95% say the hourly cost exceeds $100,000* 50% saythe hourly cost exceeds $300,000* • Mission risk • Lost/damaged data* • Customer or Constituent dissatisfaction* • Regulatory compliance exposure* • Restarting/return to full operation* • Lost revenue* Why? Source: * ITIC Consulting (2013) * * ezutc.com If you are a 7x24 operation with 99.9% System availability, then you experience 8 hours and 45 minutes of “downtime” each year ** at an estimated cost of $875K to $2.6 mil. © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 6. 6 Why is Network Configuration so Error Prone? » Heterogeneity Many different device types and models Many different vendors Lack of standardization » Command-line interface (CLI) Primary mode of device administration » Single Device Administration Model Each device is managed separately » Complexity Devices are complex / Admins need advanced skills Admin methods often not scalable hostname Admin interface gigabitethernet 0/0.200 nameif outside security-level 0 ip address 209.165.201.3 255.255.255.224 no shutdown interface gigabitethernet 0/0.201 nameif inside security-level 100 ip address 10.1.0.1 255.255.255.0 no shutdown interface gigabitethernet 0/0.300 nameif shared security-level 50 ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0 no shutdown passwd v00d00 enable password d011 route outside 0 0 209.165.201.2 1 nat (inside) 1 10.1.0.0 255.255.255.0 Example of a device configuration script using Cisco IOS commands Lack of Standardization Quantity and Diversity of Devices Complexity © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 7. 7 Example: Top 10 Cisco® IOS Configuration Mistakes 1. Password reset verification 2. Incorrect use of wildcard masks 3. Confusion over when to use the Clock Rate vs. Bandwidth commands 4. Not configuring remote management to use SSH vs. Telnet (default) 5. Incorrect Ethernet Duplex settings 6. Confusion over when to use Process-ID vs. ASN (autonomous system number) 7. Configuring EIGRP auto-summary (defaults changed) 8. Configuring Split Horizon (default settings changed) 9. Failure to change default (unsecure) SNMP settings 10.Properly configuring switch port security Source: *Petri IT Knowledge ** Cisco Support Forum Did You Know? There are approximately 17,000 IOS Commands!** © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Most Common IOS Mistakes*
- 8. 8 What is Needed? Being able to … » Know and protect working configurations » Know what changed and when » Know when configurations are not compliant with standards or best practices DISA STIG, NIST/FISMA, HIPAA » Reduce the time to recover from problematic changes or catastrophic device failure © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 9. 9 How an IT Governance Framework Can Help ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) provides a framework of Best Practice guidance for IT Service Management Key Processes & Purposes Change Management Ensure that changes are recorded, evaluated, authorized, prioritized, planned, tested, implemented, documented and reviewed in a controlled manner. Purpose Ensure that standardized methods are used for the efficient and prompt handling of all changes. and that overall business risk is optimized. Configuration Management Provides accurate information and control across all assets and relationships that make up an organization’s infrastructure. Purpose Identify, control and account for service assets and configuration items (CI), protecting and ensuring their integrity across the service lifecycle. Benefits • Complement IT Operations Management • Reduces errors and downtime • Increases standardization and efficiency • Improves compliance The ITIL Service Transition phase delivers services that are required by the business into operational use and focuses on implementing all aspects of the service. It strives to ensure that the service can operate in foreseeable extreme or abnormal circumstances, and that support for failure or errors is available. © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 10. 10 5 Network Configuration and Change Control Best practices »Inventory and profile network systems »Develop and deploy standardized device configurations »Protect configurations against changes »Audit configurations for compliance to standards »Use change controls to manage updates © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 11. 11 1 Inventory and profile network systems Objective: Identify all network devices under management » Use network discovery to identify and map network nodes » Organize nodes into management groups » Create custom node attributes » Associate key End-of-Life dates with devices © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 12. 12 2 Develop and Deploy Standardized Device Configs Objective: Reduce errors by improving consistency and standardization across device configurations » Use standard access properties (e.g., protocols, ports, ID’s and passwords) » Use configuration templates to build standardize configuration tasks » Use bulk deploy to push changes out to devices © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 13. 13 3 Protect configurations against changes Objective: Protect stable configurations from unauthorized change or catastrophic device failure » Backup device configurations for failsafe restores » Monitor configurations in real-time for unintended changes and respond immediately » Use tools to identify specific changes to a configuration » Maintain change audit trail to always know who made changes © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 14. 14 4 Audit configurations for compliance to standards Objective: Policy Compliance » Assess configurations against organization risk, industry regulatory and industry best practice standards » Create or modify compliance rules to reflect internal best practices © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 15. 15 5 Use Change Controls to Manage Updates Objective: Keep configurations protected while adapting to evolving organization needs » Create configuration baselines » Use automation to perform routine tasks » Use workflow to ensure proper change request review and approval » Track and manage device end-of-life © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 16. 16 SolarWinds® Network Configuration Manager Device Discovery and Mapping Configuration Backup and Restore Configuration Change Monitoring Device End-of-Life Management Configuration Templates Bulk Deployment Task Automation Compliance Assessment & Reporting © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 17. 17 Summary Using these Network Configuration and Change Management best practices you can minimize network disruption and deliver impactful benefits like these: » Improve network MTBF and MTTR » Improve network security and compliance » Increase standardization and efficiency » Improve operational efficiencies and margins Financial & Operational Benefit with 80% improvement Reduce average downtime from 8 hours and 45 minutes (99.9%) to 1 hour and 45 minutes (99.76%)* Save $700K to $2.1 mil in “downtime costs” © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. * Source: ezutc.com
- 18. 18 © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 19. 19 Q&A Contact Us Federal Sales Call: 877-946-3751 Email: federalsales@solarwinds.com Email our Government Reseller DLT: solarwinds@dlt.com SolarWinds Sales Call: 866-530-8100 Email: sales@solarwinds.com © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 20. 20 More on SolarWinds » Watch a short demo video: http://www.solarwinds.com/sedemo » Download a free trial: http://www.solarwinds.com/downloads/ » Visit our Federal website: http://www.solarwinds.com/federal » Call the SolarWinds Federal sales team: 877-946-3751 » Call SolarWinds sales: 866-530-8100 » Email federal sales: federalsales@solarwinds.com » Email our Government Reseller DLT®: solarwinds@dlt.com » Email SolarWinds sales: sales@solarwinds.com © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 21. 21 The SOLARWINDS and SOLARWINDS & Design marks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks, registered or pending registration in the United States or in other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be or are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. © 2013 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Editor's Notes
- Please use the Q&A chat area on the lower right side to submit your questions – we will be answering your questions during the Q&A session at the end. You can submit a question at any time during the webinar and I encourage you to do so. Today’s webinar is being recorded and we will send out a link to the recording and the slides a few days after the webinar.
- Talking PointsNetworks are growing in size and complexity as mission and business demands increaseQuickly evolving to where everything we work and interact with is “connected”As a result, networks host more and more different types of devices from different vendors and with unique configuration requirements“Old ways” of managing don’t scale and don’t work best
- Talking pointsNetwork availability has never been more criticalDowntime unfortunately does occur and with it operational disruptionSurprisingly a large number of network service disruptions are due to process and human error configuring and changing device configurationsThink about your network – how many of the last dozen incidents can be traced back toNot following process?Simple mistakesInsufficient knowledge
- Network downtime represents more than an inconvenience.Downtime disrupts operations with a financial impactSurveys routinely estimate the fully burdened cost of network downtime to be between $100K and $300K per hourDowntime costs increase rapidly when you factor in the disruptive impact upon the organization and this must be consideredExplore further some of the implications in the “WHY”
- Talking PointsPrimary reasons network configuration is so complex is because of 1) lack of standardization, 2) Sheet quantity and diversity of devices and 3) Complexity required to configure devicesExplore these three primary reasons and supporting points
- http://www.petri.co.il/cisco-ios-configuration-mistakes.htm#https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/2162135Talking PointsTalk about use cases (how easy it would be to make these mistakes and the resulting impact) for some of these common problem IOS commandsUnderscore the complexity of device configuration and the skill that must be masteredUnderscore the propensity of making mistakes across a staff with varying levels of skillUnderscore this is only for Cisco (and compatible) devices
- Talking PointsSo what is the ideal solution -- what is needed?A way to establish a body of known working configurations and to protect themKnow when a configuration changedKnow whether configurations are compliant Know how to quickly
- Talking PointsLike most IT problems – the solution often requires a balanced approach consisting of good process, practices and toolsA framework like ITIL can help set a foundation of processes and practicesConfiguration Management is addressed in ITIL under SERVICE TRANSITIONDiscuss process and purposes and benefits
- Talking PointsTo summarize to this point we have been talking about why network availability is paramount, what the leading cause of network downtime, why network downtime is so costly, why achieving error-free network configuration is so difficultWhat an ideal solution would look likeHow an IT governance framework can help establish a foundation for process and practiceThis brings us to the heart of our presentation – recommended best practices to help you improve network availability by reducing configuration errorLets explore each one of these in more detail
- Talking PointsFirst best practice is to identify each device to be managedTalk about each recommended action to takeWhy is this importantWhat is involvedWhat the benefit isStories / examples
- Talking PointsSecond best practice is to drive standardizationTalk about each recommended action to takeWhy is this importantWhat is involvedWhat the benefit isStories / examples
- Talking PointsThird best practice is to protect device configurationsTalk about each recommended action to takeWhy is this importantWhat is involvedWhat the benefit isStories / examples
- Talking PointsFourth best practice is to assess and report complianceTalk about each recommended action to takeWhy is this importantWhat is involvedWhat the benefit isStories / examples
- Talking PointsFifth best practice is to implement effective change controlsTalk about each recommended action to takeWhy is this importantWhat is involvedWhat the benefit isStories / examples
- SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) is a network configuration management solution. NCM is part of the SolarWinds Orion Management platform. The Orion platform offers integrated network performance monitoring, systems and application monitoring, network configuration management, security event monitoring and more. Using Network Configuration Manager, you can increase efficiency, reduce network downtime and manage configuration compliance by managing and automating major configuration management and change management tasks.
- Talking PointsReducing Network Configuration errors will improve network availability and provide financial and operations benefitsIn addition, implementing these best practices will improve the standardization, the efficiency of your staff and help improve overall compliance These are relatively easy and low cost practices to implement which will deliver impactful results fast
- We will be sharing the recording of today’s webinar and a copy of the presentation slides with each of you via email within the next few days. And now we’re going to take questions from the audience. Please use the Q&A chat area to submit your questions if you haven’t already.