Cisco has been a pioneer in network infrastructure since 1984. With a host of network devices including servers, routers, switches, unified computing system (UCS) devices, firewalls, and load balancers under its belt, it's one of the most sought after network infrastructure vendors for many organizations across the globe. The reliability, efficiency, and performance of Cisco devices has built such a legacy around the brand over the last couple of decades that in the present environment, it's almost impossible to find network systems that run without any Cisco devices.
Cisco management is the need of the hour as Cisco devices are not only present in almost every network environment across the globe, but also play a key role in them. Cisco servers are used to host business-critical applications; Cisco firewalls are used as entry-point security systems; Cisco routers are used to route business critical traffic across the network infrastructure; the list goes on and on.
Every minute, Cisco devices all over the world are responsible for processing and transmitting data worth millions of dollars. In addition to this, the need for organizations to get the most out of every penny invested in their Cisco IT infrastructure makes Cisco management a critical component of any organization's well-defined network monitoring and management policy. Incorporating a well defined Cisco management sofware that monitors all the critical metrics of Cisco switches, Cisco routers, Cisco firewall, and Cisco servers is vital for any organization with Cisco IT infrastructure.
The factors that ensure the maximum efficiency of any Cisco infrastructure include:
The various factors to consider in Cisco management, which is comprised of Cisco server management, Cisco firewall management, Cisco UCS management, Cisco router management, Cisco network performance management, and Cisco switch management, includes: uptime (availability); chassis input and output power; fan speed; motherboard power consumption; motherboard input voltage, current, etc.; IP routing discards; buffer hits; router CPU utilization; firewall CPU utilization; VPN status; packets sent in and out of the VPN; buffer failures; buffer misses; Cisco memory utilization; Cisco Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), including tracking call paths by jitter, packet loss, MOS, and latency, and WAN RTT monitoring, including monitoring available and performing paths and tracking RTT threshold violation; temperature; open socket count; aborted and missed interface count; and more.
ManageEngine OpManager is an integrated, simplified Cisco management solution that helps IT admins across the globe manage their Cisco network infrastructure. The following are some of the highlights of OpManager that makes it one of the most preferred Cisco network management software in the market.
With support for over 1,500 different Cisco device types like the ASR series, Catalyst series, Nexus, UCS, etc. and more than 100 parameters for performing Cisco network monitoring and Cisco network management operations including Cisco switch management, Cisco server management, Cisco firewall management, Cisco UCS management, and Cisco router management, OpManager acts as a unified Cisco management controller that can be used to manage an entire Cisco network environment from a single console.
Apart from the support for the default set of Cisco devices, OpManager's Cisco network software also offers the option to create custom device templates for monitoring other Cisco devices, enabling any Cisco device in a network with a valid IP address to be managed using OpManager.
OpManager's Cisco management capabilities are not limited to the physical Cisco devices; network admins can also monitor and manage the interfaces associated with these Cisco devices in order to ensure efficient network performance.
OpManager's cisco monitoring comes with Workflow, an automation tool that helps admins automate routine Cisco management and maintenance activities. This includes basic fault management operations, like Cisco device ping to check status and restarting or shutting down Cisco devices, as well as advanced fault management activities like executing custom scripts, pushing configurations to Cisco devices, raising tickets via IT service management (ITSM) tools, etc.
Workflow not only helps IT admins manage device-level fault management operations, but also supports fault management for processes and services that run on these devices.
The success of a well-defined Cisco management strategy depends on the level of visibility network admins have on their Cisco infrastructure. To help network admins gain optimum of visibility, OpManager's Cisco management system comes equipped with a host of network visualization tools including Business Views, Maps, Layer2 Maps, Rack Views, and 3D Floor Views. These network visualization tools help admins gain a holistic view of their Cisco network organization. They can also help admins identify the potential impact of a fault in a Cisco device, understand dependencies and data flow between various Cisco devices, etc.
Want to learn how OpManager's visualization tools can help you gain a better visual of your Cisco network environment? Register for a personalized demo now!
With OpManager's Discovery Rule Engine feature, network admins can make their Cisco devices monitor ready as early as during their discovery into OpManager. With the Discovery Rule Engine, admins can add specific process or performance monitors to Cisco devices, assign notification profiles, associate them with Business Views, classify devices into groups based on certain predefined criteria, etc. This saves admins the hassle of identifying devices individually after the discovery process, and then assigning monitors, Business Views, or Notification Profiles individually.
OpManager, a potent Cisco management tool, enables advanced Cisco management with one-step integration to various internal tools, facilitating operations such as Cisco configuration management, compliance management, Cisco bandwidth management and traffic analysis, Cisco firewall rule and policy analysis, cisco port monitoring etc.
The very purpose of Cisco network management is to identify and troubleshoot faults in a Cisco network environment before the faults turn into potential business losses. To make this easier and to help network admins get the most out of their investment in Cisco management, OpManager comes with one-click integration to various external tools including ITSM tools such as Servicedesk Plus and ServiceNow, alarm management tools like AlarmsOne, communication tools like Slack, etc. OpManager also provides support for Rest API, which means any external tool with REST API capabilities can be integrated with OpManager to facilitate easier and more efficient Cisco network fault management.
