How to integrate network management tools

In the process of curbing the proliferation of network management tools, the efforts of some network managers have achieved results. However, there is still a long way to go to achieve a fully integrated platform-based network tool module.

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EMA's 2020 Network Management Trends Report shows that 64% of enterprises use 4-10 network management tools, and another 17% use more than 10 tools. And these are just the data reported by enterprises.

Just as individual business units privately acquire their own productivity applications through shadow IT, network managers have their own tricks, such as open source tools and some internally developed tools. Mark Leary, research director of network analysis at IDC, pointed out that if you count every advanced script written in-house, the actual number of tools used in a large enterprise may reach hundreds.

EMA's research shows that a system composed of multiple independent tools can be very expensive and bring a series of problems such as fragmented work, inefficient data collection and sharing, and escalating technical difficulties.

Network executives are well aware of this. According to EMA’s survey, from 2018 to 2020, the percentage of enterprises using 16-20 tools for network monitoring and troubleshooting dropped from 8% to 5%, and the percentage of enterprises using 11-15 tools also dropped from 12% to 9%. The most popular range is using 4-5 tools, which accounted for 41% of respondents, a significant increase from 25% in 2018.

When asked about their procurement strategy, 35% of respondents said their goal is a fully integrated multi-functional platform, while only 27% said they will select the best combination of products from multiple suppliers. However, the EMA report pointed out that for most companies, the strategy of using unified standard tools can only be a long-term goal and is not realistic at present.

A major issue for network managers is the continued pressure to keep their time and performance on track in an increasingly complex network environment. Today’s networks must support IoT devices, cloud traffic, SDN, SD-WAN, remote work, 5G, and more. All of these new demands are driving network managers to look for new tools.

The Evolution of Network Management

If you don't find the root cause, you can't solve the problem. In the practice of network management, there are many tools that can do one or two tasks well, but no one tool can handle all jobs. This is the problem.

There are tools for identifying and mapping networks, tools for monitoring network traffic, tools for troubleshooting, tools for event correlation and root cause analysis, tools dedicated to configuration management and change management, as well as application performance management, capacity planning, and more.

"Some tools can do a lot of things, but they still have limitations," said Shamus McGillicuddy, an analyst at EMA. Not only that, but each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses. As McGillicuddy said, "Maybe your configuration tool is good for basic process analysis, but it can't do change control. If you want to get smarter about configuration management, or if the tool you're using can't scale, you need to buy a flow monitoring device that can scale better."

Now you can find dozens of free open source tools and download them. McGillicuddy said, "The existing tools don't meet my needs, so I just download an open source tool and edit it myself." But the disadvantage of this approach is that the system seems fragmented, and patching and updating open source tools requires a lot of time and effort.

Leary added that the Internet is now tending to turn network managers into programmers, who can build their own tools to automate specific network management functions. But in the long run, the proliferation of customized tools will only make the problem worse.

What to do

To help enterprises integrate and optimize network management tool modules, we have listed the following practices and guiding principles:

• Take a look at the existing tools from vendors, open source, and internal development. Try to identify tools that overlap in functionality, including tools used by a former network manager, tools used by different network engineers to perform the same function, or redundant tools that are kept for backup purposes only.
• Consider the timing. Once you have identified the tools you want to integrate, the best time to start is when the application license expires or when the vendor launches a new version of the application. This is an opportunity for the company to clean up some tools.
• Look for platform products, not point products. Identify vendors that can bring together multiple, broad-based tools.
• Identify sellers with cross-supplier ecosystems. Before deciding to work with a particular vendor, ask them to walk you through how to integrate data from their tools with data from other vendors on a single management platform.
• Formalize best processes and practices for tool module management.
• Learn how to integrate tools from other IT departments. For example, look at the tools used by security and DevOps.
• Automate as many processes as possible.
• Look out for data sharing and correlation capabilities. Vendors’ log data should support intelligent operations processing, and intelligent operations tools can use machine learning to perform event correlation and other network management functions.

Tool integration is an ongoing effort that requires a lot of time, training, and planning. It took Guardian Life Insurance more than a year to replace six different tools with a single SaaS-based Zenoss platform.

Guardian improves cross-IT industry tool integration, significantly cuts costs

Five years ago, when Avronil Chatterjee first joined Guardian as enterprise monitoring technology manager, he encountered many challenges, including the existence of multiple single-point solutions, decentralized monitoring of network teams, and a lack of manpower in network, server, security and application development teams.

He began investing in agentless systems for monitoring and troubleshooting the company’s network of more than 1,000 network devices and 4,000 servers across on-premises and cloud environments.

Chatterjee eventually settled on the Zenoss platform. “We were looking for a platform that could do it all,” he said. He now uses Zenoss for network monitoring, application performance management, and event correlation.

He spent as much as $1 million a year on network management tool licenses, and after using the Zenoss platform, he saved 70% of the expenses on this item alone. Chatterjee himself said that this was a great success in terms of cost savings.

Tool integration has also been beneficial in other areas. First, operational efficiency has been greatly improved, and he doesn't have to worry about maintaining relationships with a number of suppliers as before. In addition, he no longer needs so many employees to manage tools, so he can organize more teams to cross-train and do more other work.

Of course, no large enterprise can run on just one tool. Chatterjee replaced some of his HP networking tools and some additional point products with the Zenoss platform, but he still needs to import security and application log data into Splunk tools for advanced performance and capacity planning.

He also uses AppDynamics (a leading software for application performance management using intelligent operation and maintenance technology) for application performance management, especially in optimizing the response time and overall performance of the company's e-commerce website. He also uses intelligent operation and maintenance tools from Resolve to enhance IT automation and orchestration.

Chatterjee said that the transition period of tool integration was very burdensome, and employee training was one of them. He said: "Change always encounters a lot of resistance and brings anxiety to employees. It usually takes some time for employees to adapt to new tools, but fortunately, the final results are very significant."

The current plan for the new system is to be rolled out in phases after a period of trial operation, before which the old and new systems will be used simultaneously. Chatterjee said his next goal is to increase the level of automation and introduce natural language processing technology so that senior managers can directly ask the answering robot questions without having to search repeatedly in the control panel, menu bar, and control bar.

Tool integration is urgent

While it would be ideal to find a universal tool that solves all problems, the reality is that enterprises will continue to use multiple network management tools for the foreseeable future. Instead of focusing on the number of tools, enterprises should focus on getting the most out of each tool and making sure they are compatible with the network team. If possible, it is best to work with security, servers, development and operations departments to integrate tools.

"While EMA recommends a unified approach to network management, using a multitude of disparate tools doesn't necessarily mean it won't work," McGillicuddy said. "EMA does believe that organizations using multiple tools can look for opportunities to consolidate them to optimize and unify workflows."

Leary noted that the current pandemic has made people realize that network teams must be prepared for anything that may change the way network traffic flows. Network managers should look for products that have multiple functions, support automation, are compatible with large platforms, and provide common data that can be analyzed.