Network management systems assist organizations to deploy network infrastructure efficiently, look up client information rapidly, monitor network health, troubleshoot problems, protect against and react to cyber attacks, and maximize responsiveness. Network management tools can spot inefficient or inappropriate uses of network resources like streaming multimedia or peer-to-peer file sharing that can waste bandwidth, reduce employee productivity or allow data leaks. A prudently crafted network management solution can also help organizations to make smart network enhancement moves by surfacing tendencies in resource demand for different periods or types of jos.

Meraki Dashboard Consultants

The Meraki Dashboard offers unified cloud management for Cisco infrastructure appliances

Cisco offers a rich and expanding portfolio of infrastructure management solutions that support centralized management for on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid network architectures. With Cisco's later generation of security, switching, and wireless networking devices, you can run Meraki, DNA Center, or CLI management platforms for network management. For example, you can interface the latest Catalyst or Meraki switches and Catalyst or Meraki WiFi 6/6E access points to the Meraki dashboard to monitor and manage critical components of your IT infrastructure from the cloud. Progent's Cisco Catalyst WiFi AP consultants, Meraki WiFi AP consultants, Catalyst switches integration experts, and Cisco Meraki switches experts can help you to design, implement and tune an up-to-date solution for network infrastructure management.

Traditional Network Management Tools from Cisco and Others
Network Management Solutions Consulting and Support ServicesA wealth of network management tools from Cisco and third-party vendors highlights the importance and difficulty of network management. Progent's Cisco qualified network management engineers are expert at assisting businesses design network management strategies based on Simple Network Management Protocol, SYSLOG services, and NetFlow protocols to create effective tools for understanding network utilization and latency, viewing important router and switch operational characteristics, and recognizing traffic patterns, applications, and appliances utilizing available services. Progent can help businesses to utilize a broad range of free and license-based monitoring and management tools to manage Cisco infrastructure. Utilities familiar to Progent's engineers include MRTG, Nagios, PRTG, Cisco Cisco ASDM, Cisco Monitor Manager, Cisco Security Manager, OpenView, Concord E-Health, Adventnet Netflow, Solarwinds Orion, and Necordia NetMRI. Network management tools can enable IT administrators to be aware of existing system usage and intelligently plan for future traffic expansion. Management tools can also be deployed to identify poor or inappropriate utilization of network resources, for example streaming audio and video, peer-to-peer sharing, etc. that can use up expensive or limited network bandwidth. A well crafted network management strategy can also help organizations to make informed decisions on network enhancements after they recognize the amount of system resources historically needed at various times. Putting an efficient network management platform in place beforehand is essential to prevent major problems that can follow Denial Of Service (DoS) attacks and malicious viruses/Trojans. These events can leave the network unusable and without appropriate tools it can be time consuming, and in some cases virtually impossible, to find the location of the problem. Network Management Products from Cisco
Cisco has created a selection of powerful tools that should be the foundation for any network management solution. Used in conjunction with the top outside vendor applications, Cisco's network management software can improve the business value of networks for organizations of all sizes by helping with key areas such as system utilization, throughput, resilience, security, repair, and capacity planning. Cisco's most popular network management tools include: Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM) is a web Java applet that allows you to set up and operate the management utilities built into security appliances. Adaptive Security Device Manager is loaded by the Cisco appliance, and allows you to set up, track, and manage the device. Cisco Monitor Manager is a management and monitoring solution developed for the requirements of small and midsize companies. Cisco Monitor Manager continuously monitors key device processes on voice and data networks serving five to 250 workers and equipped with up to 250 Voice over IP phones. Cisco Monitor Manager provides:

  • Real-time monitoring of key device parameters on small and midsize business-class network appliances, Unified Communications Manager Express, Unity Express, security appliances, WAPs, and VoIP phones
  • Support for the Cisco Unified Communications 500 for businesses with up to 50 workers
Monitor Manager scans the system on a round-the-clock cycle and periodically touches and gathers identification and performance-monitoring information from the monitored appliances in the network. Monitor Manager is a Windows-based utility and is entirely invisible to IT processes and does not use any agent software on managed appliances. Cisco Monitor Manager offers a rich set of useful features including:
  • Voice and data network discovery and physical topology
  • Device and service level views of Cisco Unified Communications implementation
  • System wide device identification collection and reporting
  • Advanced security and dependable operation
  • Cisco device performance tracking
  • IP Telephony tracking
  • Connection status and data traffic tracking
  • Real-time alerts and event notification
  • Documentation
  • Configuration archive
Cisco Network Assistant is a desktop-based management application optimized for wired and wireless LANs (WLANs) for expanding companies that have up to 40 Cisco switches and routers. By utilizing Cisco's Smartports mechanism, Cisco Network Assistant simplifies setup, deployment, and continuing management and support of Cisco-powered environments. The application provides a unified system view and permits IT administrators to deploy its functions across switches, routers, and WAPs. Security Manager is a highly functional but simple to operate solution for managing all facets of appliance set up and policies for PIX and ASA firewalls, VPNs, and IPS. Cisco Security Manager effectively handles even small networks with no more than than ten appliances, but also scales to manage large-scale networks composed of thousands of appliances. Scalability is achieved via smart policy-based control procedures that can simplify administration. Highlights of Cisco Security Manager are:
  • Allows control of Cisco routers running a Cisco IOS security image, ASA 5500 Series security appliances, PIX firewalls, Cisco IPS 4200 sensors, and Cisco Catalyst 6500 security services modules
  • Respond more quickly to attacks: define and assign updated policies to many hundreds of devices in a few simple steps
  • Rich graphical user interface provides superior ease-of-use
  • A variety of looks that offer versatile methods to manage appliances and policies including the option to administer the security environment graphically on a topology image
  • Extensive video help for the first-time user to accelerate training time
  • Centrally specify which policies are shared and inherited by new appliances to make sure corporate policies are configured regularly, while offering sufficient versatility to customize policies at the individual device level
  • Ability to build a single firewall rule database for all Cisco platforms with intelligent evaluation of firewall policies to determine conflicts within the rule table
  • Quickly configure location-to-location, hub-and-spoke, full-mesh IPsec, or extranet VPN interfaces by means of a few mouse clicks
  • Compatibility with Cisco ACS for granular role based connection control to devices and administration services
  • Operation with Cisco security MARS to associate monitored data with related firewall rules to promote faster management decisions and increased system availability
  • Capability to allocate specific jobs to each manager in the course of the deployment of a rule, with structured change management and tracking; allows the security and network operations staff to act together as a cohesive group with effective coordination
How Progent's Cisco Certified Experts Can Help You with Network Management Solutions
Progent's Cisco-Premier network consultants can assist you to use Cisco's management utilities alongside a variety of powerful open source and proprietary programs to create a complete management toolkit to keep your infrastructure functioning smoothly, consolidate valuable resources, protect your information, recover rapidly from equipment breakdowns or deliberates assaults, and allow you to scale or repurpose network resources effectively and affordably as your company evolves. Progent can also help you to use network management utilities to monitor and categorize network data to implement traffic shaping, which permits you to program routers to impose a variety of bandwidth constraints on designated classes of activity based on the importance you specify. By buffering and sorting excess packets above your contracted rates, and by assigning preference to the most important applications, traffic shaping can prevent ISP excess usage penalties from spiraling out of reach and/or eliminate lost productivity resulting from indiscriminate enforcement of your network traffic volume limits during periods of heavy use. Progent's CISM and CISSP security professionals can assist you to create an end-to-end security strategy that incorporates your network management solution, and Progent's remote and on-premises support experts and Cisco CCIE and CNA qualified consultants can use the latest network management technology to isolate and remediate trouble rapidly to keep your network running smoothly. To see additional information concerning Progent's professional expertise for Cisco solutions, choose a subject:

In order to contact Progent about consulting assistance for Cisco networking, phone 1-800-993-9400 or see Contact Progent.

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