Hello All,
I would appreciate if you could share your experiences of settting up
out-of-band management networks especially large # 50 - 100+ sites.
Appreciate your experiences on the follwing and any other:
- out-of-band network circuit going thru the same transport equipment
as the managed network
- topology (i.e Frame,ATM,leased circuits etc)
- redundancy in out-of-band network for criticial monitoring ( Dual hub-spoke
for redundancy etc, dial-on-demand with POTS, ISDN, wireless etc)
- hierarchy with regional aggregation for out-of-band networks to reduce
costs
- SLAs for out-of-band monitoring
-static routes versus dynamic protcols (RIP,OSPF, EIGRP)
Michael Chang
Most providers rely on dialup async terminal/console port access
as their out-of-band management network. It is generally a terminal
server connected to the equipment console ports, with a dialup modem
for external access.
A few (very few) providers have a dedicated out-of-band management
network. Generally a frame-relay circuit to a management hub/router
connected to the async terminal server and low-speed (10 meg) ethernet
port on some routers. One problem with high-end routers, it is either
expensive (lost opportunity cost) or impossible to connect low-speed
circuits to high-end routers.
Non-facility based providers often purchase their out-of-band circuits
from a different provider than their primary circuits. AT&T is a
popular supplier for out-of-band management networks. AT&T may not
be price/competitive for high-bandwidth circuits, but for 64k/128k
frame-relay management links, it may make sense.
Carrier/facility based providers tend to use their own facilities. Yep,
facility based providers have cut their own facilities in the past,
including one provider which took their own NOC off-line for most of
a day.
On Mon, Nov 05, 2001 at 04:47:31PM -0500, Sean Donelan reportedly typed:
A few (very few) providers have a dedicated out-of-band management
network. Generally a frame-relay circuit to a management hub/router
connected to the async terminal server and low-speed (10 meg) ethernet
port on some routers. One problem with high-end routers, it is either
expensive (lost opportunity cost) or impossible to connect low-speed
circuits to high-end routers.
The Cisco 3640 makes for a nice console server to hook up to your
out of band network. It supports a 32port Async module as well as
10/100 ethernet and T1 WIC (supports Frame Relay, of course). It also
supports E1 for your non-domestic sites.
Carrier/facility based providers tend to use their own facilities. Yep,
facility based providers have cut their own facilities in the past,
including one provider which took their own NOC off-line for most of
a day.
It's always good to have a backup, even for your management netowrk. When
the Frame Relay network fails, there's always the OOB modem/POTS.
Dave