For more information on Network Management , visit: http://www.solarwinds.com/network-management-software.aspx Watch this webcast: http://www.solarwinds.com/resources/webcasts/top-things-to-plan-for-in-your-2010-network-management-strategy.html Join SolarWinds Head geek as he discusses his top 3 things every network engineer should plan for to be successful in 2010. He’ll discuss each of the following items, how they can impact your network management strategy, and what steps you can take to plan for them. • Truly know your network – Understand where you have bottlenecks, single points of failure, and limited management visibility. • Distributed management technologies – Understand how network performance metrics differ at different points throughout the network and how to gather those metrics. • Virtualization in the network – The virtual servers you saw in 2009 are multiplying and being joined by virtual switches and firewalls and virtual storage. Planning for this additional virtualization will be a key component of your success in 2010 and beyond.

2. Introduction
A big “Howdy” from SolarWinds®
based in Austin, Texas
» Josh Stephens - Head Geek, Monster Blogger, and
Constant Tweeter
» Denny LeCompte – Director of Product Management
Today’s Topic: Top 3 Things to Plan for in
your 2010 Network Mgmt Strategy
Who is SolarWinds?
» What we do…
» Who are our customers?
» The SolarWinds community…

3. Housekeeping
Can you hear me now?
If not, use the WebEx Q&A panel to
contact the moderator
How do you win the free stuff?
How do you ask questions?
Will this thing be recorded?

4. Agenda
Understanding & documenting topology
Identifying bottlenecks
Single points of failure
Distributed management options
SCP Trivia
Virtualization’s impact
Defining visibility goals
SolarWinds Demonstration
Summary and Q&A

5. #1 – Understand Your Network Topology
You have to document it first…
A picture is worth a thousand words
For this, don’t go paperless
Think layers…
No matter who you are or how
smart you are…

6. Network Discovery and Mapping
How to get started
Leverage network discovery tools to
build an inventory
Leverage network mapping tools to start
your drawings
Fill in the blanks from there

7. Tips for Usable Topology Drawings
Print them large – the bigger the better
Make the layers separable
Include lots of detail
IP addresses
Physical addresses
VLAN information
Interface details
Document key application paths

8. #2 – Identify Bottlenecks
A bottleneck is a place where traffic is
aggregated and/or constricted
Bottlenecks aren’t necessarily problems
Bottlenecks will always exist – you can’t “fix”
them
The key is to understand their impact and any
relevant trends
Always document the bottlenecks within your
key application paths

9. #3 – Identifying Single Points of Failure
These should be highlighted within your
topology drawings
Your management team needs to be aware of
them, and the cost of adding or not adding
redundancy
Your alerting strategy will be different for these
elements
Sometimes the biggest problems are the
smallest details…

10. #4 – Distributed Management Technologies
Today’s networks require not only a centralized
view of the network but also views from other
key locations
Traffic analysis needs to happen where the
traffic most needs to be scrutinized
Network performance should be measured as
close to the users and/or application servers as
possible
Having a distributed network management
strategy exponentially increases your visibility of
network health

11. Key Distributed Management Technologies
NetFlow (sFlow, JFlow, IPFIX)
Cisco IP SLA

12. #4 – Virtualization’s Impact on Network Mgmt
Virtualization technology is being deployed at a
very fast rate
Mobility of virtual servers causes unique
network management challenges
Virtualization reaches beyond servers into
network infrastructure, security devices, and
storage

13. Gaining visibility into virtual resources
Server and application monitoring systems
should include native discovery and monitoring
of virtual resources
Consider replacing built-in virtual appliances
with best in class – i.e. Cisco Nexus 1000v
Document, document, document

14. #5 – Defining Management Visibility Goals
Meet with key stakeholders to understand
their primary goals for the year
Evaluate your current systems ability to
support those goals
Document the gaps
Discuss gaps and costs to close the gaps
with your management team

15. Management Visibility as a Goal
In a recent SolarWinds poll, 80% of the
respondents listed improving visibility into
network health and performance as their
#1 management priority for 2010

16. SolarWinds Orion Demonstration
- Slide 16 -

17. Summary and Q&A
Thank you for attending!
To learn more or to download free 30-day trials of
SolarWinds products visit: www.SolarWinds.com
Contact information
Josh Stephens, Head Geek
headgeek@solarwinds.com
twitter: sw_headgeek
Blog: http://geekblog.solarwinds.com/default.aspx