Additional Level Two and Level Three Support Tools

1
Additional Level Two and Level Three Support
Tools
11

• Guide to Help Desk Technology, Tools, and
  Techniques

2
Objectives
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• In this chapter you will learn
• The objectives for IT systems management
• Common system management software features
• The components of a managed system
• The primary software vendors for level two
  support tools

3
What Is Systems Management?
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• Systems management is the process of protecting
  the integrity of business applications, the
  companys data, and the technology assets that
  connect those applications and data
• Systems management is also called enterprise
  management, which emphasizes that a companys
  technology , in all locations worldwide, is
  managed through a single support group
• IT staff are specialists in managing certain
  types of systems, and often have administrator
  as part of their titles

4
What Is Systems Management?
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• As with help desks, there are two approaches to
  systems managementreactive and proactive
• The reactive approach focuses on maintenance,
  diagnostics, and problem resolution, similar to a
  level one support groups reactive approach
• Reactive administrators are concerned with
  whether the network is working correctly
• The main performance measure for higher levels of
  support is system availability
• System availability compares the time it took to
  repair a failure to the time the system was
  accessible before the failure

5
What Is Systems Management?
11

• The formula for system availability is
• system availability MTBF / (MTBF MTTR)
• where
• MTBF mean time between failures,
  measured in hours
• MTTR mean time to repair a failure,
  measured in hours
• System availability is also included in SLAs
  between the support group and customers

6
Sample System Availability Statistics
11
7
Systems Management Software Features
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• Systems management software is a set of tools or
  utilities used by administrators that monitors
  hardware and software applications
• Additional types of equipment and operating
  systems may be added to meet the companys
  business needs, creating a heterogeneous
  computing environment, which is a mix of
  different computing devices and operating systems
• Each individual device, or node, has a unique
  identification, or address, on the computer
  network
• The systems management software builds a
  topology, a graphical representation of the
  network nodes and the links between them

8
Systems Management Software Features
11

• A topology can be rendered in 2-D view or 3-D
  view to help administrators better understand and
  troubleshoot the network
• There are several ways to represent the topology
  graphically
• Logical connections
• A gateway is a network point that acts as an
  entrance to another network
• Geographical connections
• Physical locations
• Customers

9
Sample Network Topology
11
10
Systems Management Software Features
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• The systems management software continuously
  checks and updates the network topology
• The software will poll the entire network to
  check the operational status of each piece of
  equipment and the connecting telephone lines
• Software polls for devices depend on the type of
  network connections (mainframe network or TCP/IP)
  in place
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a
  set of standards for communication with devices
  connected to a TCP/IP network

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Systems Management Software Features
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• Polling generates thousands of device response
  messages every few minutes, which is more than
  support staff can examine manually
• Special software programs, called intelligent
  agents (or simple agents), collect and process
  this information
• Support staff use special workstations or
  monitors that poll results and error messages
• The console is a workstation that can access
  computers on multiple networks

12
Managed Systems Components
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• As managed systems monitor network performance
  and other problems, they concentrate on specific
  events
• An event is an action or activity that has
  significance to a task or programs
• Error messages are a significant event, but
  software messages that signal the end of
  important processing steps are also significant
• Software agents can process warning and error
  events automatically

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Sample Windows NT System Log File
11
14
Managed Systems Components
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• Modern computer systems are closely interrelated,
  and, as data moves between slower computers,
  transactions may temporarily back up between
  network connections
• A bottleneck occurs when a resource reaches its
  maximum capacity and cannot keep up with the
  demands placed on it
• Delays between requests and responses grow
  longer, resulting in timeout errors over the
  network

15
Systems Management Areas
11
16
Network Management
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• Network traffic describes the transactions that
  pass between devices on a network
• Network management support staff use protocol
  analyzers and data collision detectors to analyze
  network traffic during normal and peak activity
  periods
• Normal traffic takes into account weekly and
  monthly computing activities
• If a section of a network is regularly overloaded
  with traffic, the IT staff will find ways to
  reroute traffic through additional devices to try
  to balance the increased traffic

17
Server Management
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• Many common support calls are caused by servers,
  and level two support staff with special
  privileges on these systems must resolve most of
  these problems
• One type of server is a computer that provides a
  service for other computers or workstations
  connected to it via a network
• A common problem for computer-based servers is to
  run out of disk space
• A second type of server is a program that
  provides services to other computers

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Server Management
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• A daemon is a program server that runs
  continuously, waiting for requests for service
• Daemons occupy server memory and are dormant
  while they wait for some condition(s) to occur
• If a fatal error occurs at either end of the
  communication, the daemon stops running and users
  wont be able to access data until the daemon is
  restarted
• Daemon and demon can be used interchangeably
• As long as the server has enough memory, most
  users wont experience performance issues

19
Application and Database Management
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• Databases and applications frequently use program
  servers, which are also managed by systems
  management software
• Errors are recorded in event logs and agents warn
  staff before more serious problems develop
• Software administrators also schedule maintenance
  programs
• Although most series of jobs can be run manually,
  special systems management software enables
  administrators to run them automatically

20
Desktop Management
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• Software such as Microsoft Systems Management
  Server (SMS) and Intel LANDesk include proactive
  utilities to detect problems
• Agents may monitor individual PCs for available
  disk space, review errors in log files, and back
  up critical files
• Virus scanning programs can look for viruses on
  any device on the network before they spread to
  other computers

21
Security Management
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• Security management is more than setting up user
  accounts and resetting passwords
• Network security is more important now that
  companies are using the Internet to share
  information with their customers
• Most support groups restrict security maintenance
  to level two or three support staff
• Systems management software manages security by
  reviewing events and logs and scanning for errors
  that indicate unusual password activity

22
Systems Management Software Vendors
11

• There are several common systems management
  software vendors
• Integrated system management suites of tools
  offer the advantages of a common user interface
  and consistent menus to higher levels of support

23
Chapter Summary
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• Systems management attempts to protect all
  business applications and data
• There are two approaches to systems management
• Reactive management - Proactive management
• Most networks are heterogeneousa mix of
  different computer platforms and operating
  systems
• Many network messages use the SNMP protocol
• Network management tries to prevent bottlenecks
  between devices

24
Chapter Summary
11

• There are two types of servers
• 1. One is a computer that provides services, such
  as storage, for other computers on a network
• 2. The second is a program that provides services
  
• Databases and applications also use servers
• Security is more than adding logins and setting
  passwords
• System management applications can monitor
  password failures and changes in files that dont
  occur under normal conditions