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Whether you’re running an enterprise in the IT, banking, or manufacturing sector or an insurance provider, your IT teams need to handle your network connections effectively. Otherwise, you may lose track of connected devices, device configurations and an accurate picture of the device connections. Without an up-to-date record of device configurations, your teams will be lost when any unavoidable problem occurs. According to the most recent Gartner analysis on configuration management for virtual and cloud infrastructures – approximately 80% of all the network outages in any enterprise are due to manual error, while only a small percentage of outages are due to equipment failures, such as a faulty cable. This is why organizations must implement a robust network configuration management to efficiently handle network management while managing the growing complexity, scale, and dynamic nature of the modern infrastructure. With the help of network configuration manager, admins can make changes on hundreds or thousands of routers, switches, controllers, and other networking devices across different on-premise and cloud environments. In particular, network configuration management (NCM) systems give businesses the ability to track configuration changes, keep track of network changes, and roll back to pre-misconfiguration settings when necessary. To clearly understand this motive, you must know the basics about network configuration management!
What is Network Configuration Management?
Network configuration management is a collection of techniques and procedures that assist businesses in ensuring their networks are running smoothly and according to plan. It is a continual activity of controlling software and firmware installation, setup, and maintenance of all network devices. Following are some of the steps involved in the network configuration management process: 1.Creating and maintaining an inventory of network devices. 2.Regular backups of the settings for the devices. 3.Regular network device software updates. 4.Cloud service provisioning and administration. For businesses, having a solid network configuration management system is essential since it makes it easier to locate devices, monitor their setup and condition, and keep tabs on their inventory. Using a network configuration manager, managers can keep track of any changes made to the device settings and how those changes may impact the security of the network as a whole. Network configuration management also aids in preventing potential issues brought on by incorrect device configurations or unauthorized changes to your company’s network. It also decreases disruption brought on by problems with device configuration by enabling administrators to restore a functional configuration version as necessary.What is the Purpose of Network Configuration Management?
A lot of configuration changes happen every day as a result of growing business needs. Although network administrators can make manual modifications, there is a great likelihood that these changes may result in mistakes, resulting in incorrect settings. An incorrect configuration vulnerability can even result in network failures because they are so easily accessible. Users can plan backup settings for jobs that require regular backup operations, take automated backups every time a configuration is changed, and instantly back up device/device group configurations with a single click using the network configuration manager. One of the main advantages of network configuration is that it uses access control to stop data from being misused. Network configuration management is crucial for an organization’s operations, IT effectiveness, and connection, but there are also a lot of other reasons you shouldn’t ignore it. It can introduce visibility, traceability, and accountability into your network system. Networks are dynamic; therefore, maintaining their stability requires tracking and reporting network traffic flow. By properly configuring your network, you can: 1.Keep track of fundamental setups 2.Evaluate information 3.Rapidly spot any deviations from your baseline Along with improving network stability, network configuration also increases compliance and security. A perfect network configuration will facilitate procedures for security, troubleshooting, and agility. Due to this, security breaches and downtime are less likely to occur, and if they do, you can recover quickly. Neglecting network configuration exposes your network’s software and hardware to multiple dangers while depriving end-users of a seamless experience, especially as your networks get more complex.The Importance of Device Configuration Backups in Network Management
While manual configuration changes are possible for network administrators, the ever-growing needs of businesses can lead to frequent adjustments, increasing the risk of errors and incorrect settings. These misconfigurations can be easily exploited, creating vulnerabilities that result in network failures.
Network configuration management offers a solution through automated device configuration backups. This ensures you have a recent copy of your network’s settings, allowing you to:
- Recover from mistakes: If a configuration change introduces problems, you can quickly restore a known good state by using your device configuration backup.
- Maintain stability: By having a record of changes, you can easily identify and revert any modifications that destabilize your network.
- Improve disaster recovery: In case of a device failure or security breach, a device configuration backup allows you to swiftly restore critical settings and minimize downtime.