How to avoid configuration errors in your network?

Recently we saw how an error in the configuration could generate a cascading effect in the entire infrastructure. In the date of 10/04/2021 an important technology company of social media had its main services interrupted all over the world. The interruption lasted more than 6 hours, hit billions of users and resulted in sky-high losses both for the company and for the clients that utilize the services as a work tool.After the services have been restored, one of the executives of the company has published the following message: “alterations in the configuration of the routers of backbone that coordinate the network traffic between our data centers caused problems that interrupted this communication”.

Until the moment we don’t know more details about which were the configurations applied. However, after such an important event we cannot cease of speaking about the importance of the configurations management. Mainly with regards to the conformity of the configurations in relation to the information security policies and IT infrastructure.

According to the model FCAPS, “The management of configuration has the purpose of inventorying the network. In this manner discovering and monitoring the configurations of the objects. Thus orchestrating changes of configurations of assets with the due agility in conformity with the policies of the company.”

The keywords are agility and conformity. In this manner, reducing the probability of errors of configuration and providing agility in the restoration of configurations when necessary. For the definitions below let us utilize as an example the functionalities of the CFGtool.

POLICY COMPLIANCE

Keeping the compliance of the configurations of equipment is crucial for the maintenance of the good functioning of the network and for the policies of information security. The network equipment cannot have the respective configuration changed in an arbitrary manner.

Reports of policy compliance can be generated for visualizing if the devices are respecting certain rules of configuration. The configurations of all the network equipment can be verified simultaneously. In this manner, the checks will be based in policies that, on the other hand, are based in customized rules. Guaranteeing, in this manner, the conformity with the infrastructure policies.

The management system of configurations will be able to store versions of configurations of the equipment and purchasing them with the current configuration in search of non-planned changes. In this manner, in case non-planned changes are identified, alarms can be generated. The alarms are able to notify the administrator by e-mail, SMS, Telegram or trap SNMP. Keeping the manager informed about the conformity of the configuration of the network equipment.

RESTORATION OF CONFIGURATION

Agility in the recovery in case of undue configurations is crucial. In this sense the backup of configurations is necessary. With the CFGtool is possible to store all the configurations of each device in the network. In this manner being possible the consultation and the application of the last configuration valid of any device monitored by the tool.

With the configurations of its devices stored and versioned, it will be possible to choose one of the versions as a baseline. In this form, selecting one of the versions as a point of initial restoration of a device. Therefore, providing agility and assertiveness in the choice of the correct version in restoration scenarios.

In this manner guaranteeing total control, visibility and organization about the configurations of network devices.

CFGtool is a simple tool to use and with a great value for money. With remote and quick configurations guaranteeing the economy of your time

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The interruption in your network beyond financial damages, can also be able to harm the reputation of your company. The visibility and monitoring of your infrastructure is allied of good practices of governance, which is crucial to attract investments and new clients.

In this sense, there are no doubts about the importance of investing in network management. In this manner, we are able to not only bring benefits for the visibility of the infrastructure, but also representing a way to guarantee greater agility and capacity of anticipating to problems.

Thinking about that,  Telcomanager, leader in Latin America in the sector of software for network management, since 2002 in the market with a unique and innovative methodology, makes available smart solutions for the monitoring of data in order to provide complete visibility to the infrastructure of the client, allowing your Company to accompany the main aspects of your network.