Like most things in Management there will always be some things that work and others that fail, which is why when performing Network Management, you need to be able to quickly detect and rectify the faults with the network to prevent downtime and limit impact on the User Experience process.
Fault Management provides a range of tools and techniques that keep the network working efficiently and minimises the risk of downtime due to the network failing. If it was to fail, then the Fault Management System helps to minimise downtime due to implanting planned contingency plans. Fault Management uses software to detect, isolate and resolve problems in a network which enables it to perform efficiently. If installed and setup correctly then the software has the capability to keep the network in its optimum state.
Fault Management is required to allow administrators to detect and repair weaknesses in their network, this helps keep the network in optimum condition whereas networks where there is no fault management are more likely to fail and cause downtime to the users, but where fault management is in place because the networks maintained to a high standard with quick and efficient fixes when problems occur preventing downtime; thus, saving the organisation time & money. Fault Management will record faults in a database, if a fault is entered multiple times then this will need to be fixed, it also shows the components which are failing and may need to be replaced. On networks without active fault management, it will take longer for the fault to be identified causing the problems solution to take longer as its likely to be harder to fix and potentially cause further damage to the network.
Fault management has several goals that are important to keep a network functioning properly:
• To monitor and report the status of a network component to the administrator
• Use alarms to alert the administrator of problems or decrease in network performance
• To log faults and repairs
• Remotely control network components so administrators can reboot, repair or shut down problematic components
‘To monitor and report the status of a network component to the administrator’ this is important because it allows administrators to view how the network is performing, this is achieved by the reports the fault management system provides on the networks components, information included in the reports is items like current statistics, performance and the components previous report information, this in turn allows the administrator to assess the status of the network and how its preforming, this will help keep the network healthy and reduced the risk of a fault occurring.
‘Use alarms to alert the administrator of problems or decrease in network performance’ this is critical in any fault management system as the whole idea of them is to keep the administrators informed of any problems with the network so they can get a quick response with minimal impact, the use of alarms is a way to make them aware of a problem quickly, this could be an email alert, audible alert, visual notification on a monitor or SMS alert this way the administrator will be informed quickly so the fault doesn’t go undetected.
‘To log faults and repairs’ this is used to track any faults with the network, this can be used to see where the network may be overloaded or needs upgrading due to components failing, it also provides a quick record of whether a fault keeps appearing. ‘Remotely control network components so administrators can reboot, repair or shut down problematic components’ This is used to allow network administrators to quickly troubleshoot and solve problems quickly without causing too much impact on the network potentially reducing downtime for more serious problems.
If a fault management system is not implemented correctly or the administrator doesn’t actively manage the faults on the network, the number could increase, and downtime is more likely, the more faults the slower a network will become, and it’ll be unable to support as many users and could possibly crash causing staff to be unable to work, losing the organisation money.
In larger organisations it’s important to keep stock of replacement components to aid quick recovery and replacement, if they don’t have the component then it’ll waste more time and money whilst the part is being delivered and configured to work with their network. Not only should companies have physical hardware replacements, but they should have backups of the configurations for quick recovery, backup software should be used to keep copies of the systems in the event of power or environmental failure causing damage to the network components such as servers or work stations this means that the downtime will be less.