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PLATFORMS

Few, if any, organizations use more than one platform with equal distribution. Usually there is a primary platform (i.e., a single workstation architecture, networked Macintoshes, a mainframe) with other platforms in much more limited use. In-house expertise has to be supplied to match the type and quantity of equipment in use.

NETWORKS

This terms covers a multitude of technologies. In this chapter, networks are LANs only; the term does not embrace interconnectivity technologies (i.e., those used to connect one LAN with another). A LAN is a group of connected PCs or workstations.

Network operating systems (NOSs) are appearing on the market in ever greater variety. Each type and each brand has strengths and weaknesses, and each will be appropriate for certain applications and inappropriate for others. At present a user can choose a server-centric NOS (e.g., Novell’s NetWare or Banyan’s Vines), a host-centric NOS (e.g., UNIX or Windows NT), or a peer-to-peer NOS (e.g., Artisoft’s LANtastic or Microsoft’s Windows 95). The support group will have to perform the same administrative, maintenance, and network management tasks whatever type of NOS is used.

If the number of LANs, particularly large ones, is small the support staff should be more administratively oriented, with much less emphasis on the maintenance and management tasks. Some maintenance tasks can even be outsourced, especially if infrastructure changes are rate or infrequent.

If the organization has many LANs, of whatever size, more network management expertise, in addition to administrative knowledge, will be needed in the support group. Maintenance has to be performed no matter the number of LANs or their sizes. Applications, drivers, and devices have to be upgraded; PCs, workstations, peripherals, and servers need repair. The ability to handle these tasks has to be a component of the support staff’s knowledge base.

CABLE PLANT

The cabling plant (this term also refers to wireless LANs) in a small or midsized environment (less than 200 clients) is usually considered to be part of the network. In an environment where moves, adds, and changes are fewer than 25% of the installed base per year, maintenance of the cabling plant can be done by the LAN support staff.

For larger networks, or ones in which moves, adds, and changes exceed 50% of the installed base, it may be necessary to dedicate one or two employees to the cabling plant alone. For large, internetworked environments where there are some 2,500 or fewer clients but with a high percentage of moves, adds, and changes, a separate (but related) department that is dedicated to the cable plant may be needed, because maintenance and upgrading in such an environment are ongoing activities and include the internetworking and communications facilities.

INTERNETWORKS

The term intranets is coming into greater use and is starting to mean far more than just connecting LANs. Included in this category are the increasing number of devices and technologies used to extend and interconnect local and remote LANs (e.g., repeaters, routers, brouters, bridges, hubs, concentrators, channel service units/data service units, firewalls) as well as Web servers. More and more of these devices are sophisticated computers in themselves, with software and firmware that require specific expertise to operate, troubleshoot, and maintain. Choosing these components and integrating them into a growing environment requires a level of expertise beyond that possessed by most LAN administrators, and should be considered as a staff requirement if their use of these devices demands more than the support afforded by the carriers and vendors (which is usually a low level of support).

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Tools for diagnosis and troubleshooting will probably never keep up with the technologies they are designed for. Vendors develop products first. Only after a market for them has developed does the vendor turn to creating diagnostic facilities. (Some manufacturers are starting to design diagnostics and management facilities into their products, but this is often proprietary, and the practice is just beginning.) Third parties have developed a niche for network management hardware, firmware, and software to monitor, manage, and report on the state of a network.

Regardless how user friendly a networking product is, it still requires expertise, time, and attention to understand, install, and use it productively. The more sophisticated a network or internetwork, the more these tools are required.

In a simple environment, the tools that come with the product are often sufficient to monitor and manage the network. These can be supplemented when necessary with software that provides more useful information than the utilities that are part of the NOS and equipment. In a sophisticated environment, these separate tools are necessary to perform management activities that could not possibly be done manually, either because of the number of network components, their geographical distribution, or both. The more automatic these network management tools are, the better. But no matter how automatic they are, they still will need the attention of someone who is familiar with the entire network’s structure and operation.


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