How to affordably create maps of your customers networks Whitepaper Guides for MSPs

Transcription

1 How to affordably create maps of your customers networks 2017 Whitepaper Guides for MSPs

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary Section 1: Challenges with the current approaches Section 2: Overview of the Solution Section 4: Technology Deployment Section 3: Benefits & Savings Business Case

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Beneath the hot topics such as data breaches and business continuity - is a major threat that has been festering for many years lack of reliable network maps and documentation. Left to fester, it s a matter of time before this risk explodes into a major threat for those managing mission-critical networks. Despite the various automation tools available today, maintaining an accurate view of a customer s whole network as things change, is still an unsolved problem. This white paper examines an affordable solution for Managed Service Providers to create and maintain accurate maps of customer networks, without needing a large pool of network engineers to draw Visio drawings.

4 The Challenge

5 Maps from Visio Expensive, not scalable and error prone Current approaches are not working Maps from Monitoring Tools Not useful or flexible

6 Maps from monitoring tools are not usable / flexible Multiple issues prevent maps from monitoring tools from being useful: Maps are incomplete showing only parts of the network Maps are often confusing visual hairballs; the tools are not flexible enough to enrich the maps, or make them readable as maps get complex. There are over 5,400 [1] different types of networking equipment in use globally; whilst they most support scanning protocols such as SNMP and WMI, devices behave differently. Because of these variations, no one vendor can scan all types of devices equally well They fail to integrate virtual servers and virtual storage into network maps. Not everything in the network can be scanned; key aspects such as locations, ISP s, cable types, patch panels, rack placements, etc., are not discoverable. Prohibitive pricing models monitoring tools are priced by the nodes they monitor, but network maps often contain many assets/nodes that are not always monitored. Paying for these simply to get an accurate view of the whole network makes the cost per asset of these tools too high for creating maps / documentation. [1] Reference

7 Visio maps are expensive, not scalable and error prone Manually creating Visio diagrams requires a lot of people. MSPs with large customer networks resort to employing a small army of people to draw network maps using Visio. MSPs are drowning in Visio diagrams but they are often out of date and cannot trusted when they are really needed. Omissions / errors in Visio Maps make them risky Networks change constantly and its not possible to keep maps up to date. Because its time consuming, port level information is often missing from maps. Having unreliable, inaccurate and out of date maps amplifies operational risk. Visio maps cost more in the long term Using Visio is very costly because of the time needed to: Draw lines and arrange icons and keep maps readable as they get large. Add asset details such as names, IP addresses, serial numbers, etc. Keep different versions of maps in sync Learn Visio Visio is a powerful general purpose drawing tool, but it requires many hours to learn. Concepts like layers, shapes, and sizing all add complexity and time to the task, without adding much value.

8 Solution Overview Document your customer s networks Accurate, Scalable Affordable. Solution Overview

9 Solution Overview 10SCAPE is an integrated network mapping tool to help you discover, document and plan upgrades DOCUMENT DISCOVER PLAN Monitoring Tools

10 Accurate port-level network maps 10SCAPE s discovery creates port-level maps of each of your customer s locations

11 Deployment Option 1 Discover your customer s assets & network topology: 10SCAPE helps you to discover assets / nodes and connections between devices on your customers networks. The Managed Switch Port Mapping module runs on each of your customer s network and 'maps' or discovers information about each switch's ports and report on the attached devices. It does this by accessing switch internal information using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) over the network. SNMP access credentials must be provided in order to access the data in the switch. This module has been used on switches as small as the Cisco SF series all the way up to core switches like the Cisco 6500 series. 10SCAPE s open API also helps you to enrich your maps and documentation by integrating the information from your existing network management and monitoring tools. Software as a Service (SaaS) Platform Your Existing Network Management Tools API Information discovered includes: Interface name, description Interface type (ethernet, gigabit ethernet, etc.) VLAN (default and multiple VLAN assignments per port or by device) Port Speed (10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps etc.) Port Duplex mode (full, half, auto, FDx, HDx etc.) MAC addresses of devices attached to ports IPv4 addresses and Hostnames of those devices if available Attached device interface manufacturer. CDP / LLDP - shows neighbor connection information between devices attached to the port like switches and routers. Customer Site: VM or Flash Drive 10SCAPE Managed Switch Port Mapper

12 Deployment Option 2 Discover your customer s assets & network topology For MSPs that have not yet deployed a network management tool on each customer site, 10SCAPE provides a cost effective solution which involves two modules: a managed switch port mapper working in combination with Spiceworks. The managed switch port mapper module runs on each of your customer s networks to 'map' or discover information about each switch's ports and report on the attached devices. Software as a Service (SaaS) Platform Spiceworks is a free tool that, can be deployed in a VM / appliance at each of your customer site and will regularly scan the network for changes. The asset information can then be imported (synced) to 10SCAPE to add rich information to your network maps API Spiceworks : Performs network scans using multiple protocols (SNMP, WMI, SSH, etc.) Supports agentless deployment Tracks Hardware details, serial numbers Track software details and warranty information Integrated modules for network monitoring and help desk Customer Site: VM or Flash Drive 10SCAPE Managed Switch Port Mapper

13 Document & Plan Creating useful network maps is complex work network engineers will often wish to customize maps to meet the needs of a specific project or proposal. 10SCAPE helps reduce the network documentation effort by using discovery to automatically create started maps that can then be enriched and customized. The same maps can then also be used for planning network upgrade projects. Reduce the effort of customizing and enriching discovered maps 10SCAPE brings several features to help reduce the effort to document, plan and customize maps. Such as the ability to: Automatically adjust the layout and lines, so that maps are always neat and readable however complex the map gets Add information such as cable and connection types show additional information such as locations, racks, patch panels Add information on assets, ports, IP addresses, VLANS, etc Keep different maps in sync when things change Promote collaboration & consistency amongst network engineering teams

14 Benefits 10SCAPE helps MSPs tackle this large-scale problem of maintaining accurate maps and records of customer networks in an affordable way. Helps network engineers to move away from Drawing to Enriching It does this by: Integrating with network management / monitoring tools to import data that can be scanned Reducing the manual effort needed to make maps more accurate Making it affordable for MSPs to scale the solution to their entire customer base

15 Cost Savings / Business Case As your network doubles, the complexity of maintaining accurate network maps and documentation increases exponentially. The table below illustrates the savings business case in more detail. Estimating assumptions Network Engineer - average salary of $35/hr 10SCAPE saves approx. 70% of the effort vs. drawing it manually using Visio.

16 Document your customers networks Accurate, scalable, affordable. 10SCAPE provides software and solutions designed to help Companies and Managed Service Providers create accurate network maps and documentation. Located in Toronto, Canada, 10SCAPE helps a wide variety of industries to reduce their IT technology risk. To learn more about 10SCAPE visit SCAPE Inc. All Rights Reserved