An experienced network engineer from a mid-sized business encountered a frustrating scenario. The company had scheduled a routine updating of the network infrastructure over the course of a weekend.
The objective was simple: Replace some older switches and enhance the network’s capability prior to the endeavors for growth anticipated in the next quarter.
However, as the team set to work, there were many problems that arose. Some of the devices were older than anticipated, while several switches had been placed into production several years prior, without proper records.
There was also one router that was beyond its vendor support state. Even more problematic was the fact that some of their systems were configured in a manner that they did not foresee.
This article will discuss how the inventory of a network enables more effective planning of hardware refreshes and a view of some of the obstacles faced by IT teams without an accurate inventory of their assets and how effective modern management of networks can better manage the life cycle of the network infrastructure.
Why does hardware refresh planning matter more than ever?
Enterprise networks face increasing levels of demand from businesses to provide applications that require greater bandwidth, lower latency, and greater security controls than ever before.
As businesses introduce hybrid workers, migrate applications to the cloud, and develop new digital services, they place much greater demands on their networks.
The increased demands placed on enterprise networking infrastructure can create significant stress on current infrastructure.
Older network hardware may not provide sufficient capabilities for the performance demanded by current business applications.
Outdated equipment may also lack important security features or software updates.
Delaying hardware refresh cycles may result in greater chances of outages, performance issues due to a lack of performance capability, and greater vulnerabilities from security issues in network inventory as per Slurp’it.
To reduce the risk of network performance issues and minimize the impact of network outages, organizations must have a consistent, structured refresh plan in place. Such a refresh plan enables organizations to do the following:
- Provide a greater level of confidence to employees and clients in regard to the reliability of their networks.
- Reduce the likelihood of unforeseen network performance issues or outages.
- Ensure their networks continue to support new/current applications and services.
- Maintain vendor support and the ability to receive security updates.
- Create predictable and manageable upgrade spending patterns for the business.
Proper refresh planning requires organizations to have complete and accurate information related to their existing network environments.
What are the hidden barriers to effective hardware refresh planning?
One of the key barriers to developing a successful hardware upgrade strategy is an inability or lack of visibility into your assets.
As an organization grows, it creates a complex network of asset types.
Assets may be added during expansion projects, removed due to scheduled maintenance, or added for a specific initiative.
If these changes have not been documented accurately, you will quickly find your inventory information is no longer accurate in network inventory as per Slurp’it.
Can you imagine trying to create plans for the upgrade of your hardware without having access to accurate information about what you currently have? Here are some of the details an IT team may not be able to find:
What hardware models are currently still being sold by their vendors?
Where in your network configuration are these specific devices?
Are any of these devices critical to my business?
Without this data, there will be no opportunity to proactively plan for hardware upgrades.
Hardware will either be replaced or reacted to due to a problem.
What should a modern network inventory include?
The modern network inventory should not only provide a comprehensive list of devices; it should provide an organized representation of the network’s infrastructure in order to allow teams to have insight into their network’s technical and operational state in network inventory.
It should generally include:
1. Asset Identification
To begin with the asset identification section of the inventory, documentation of each asset in your network needs to be created, detailing as follows:
- Type of device (router, switch, firewall, etc.)
- Vendor and model number
- Serial number and asset Tag
- Where the device is located in either a physical or logical format
By compiling this information, teams will also be able to see where their infrastructure is distributed across multiple locations and/or environments as per Slurp’it.
2. Lifecycle and Support Information
The hardware refresh planning process needs visibility into the lifecycle stages for all hardware assets.
The most critical data points regarding each asset are:
- Date of purchase or installation
- Vendor end of sale date
- End of support or end of lifecycle date
- Warranty and maintenance contract
This information enables IT teams to know which devices will be retiring over the next several years.
3. Configuration and Software Information
Configuration visibility is necessary for making decisions on hardware upgrades.
Inventory applications track the following:
- Operating system version,
- Firmware revision,
- Patch level of the software.
4. Configuration policies
By having access to this data, organizations can evaluate whether an upgrade can be performed through software changes or if a hardware replacement will be needed.
5. Performance and Utilization Data
Planning for a hardware refresh encompasses more than just assessing the asset’s age; performance is just as important as per Slurp’it.
Network inventory solutions that provide integrated performance monitoring allow teams to gather the following types of data:
- Utilization of interfaces
- Traffic Patterns
- CPU and Memory Utilization, and
- Error and Performance Trends.
These metrics enable teams to prioritize upgrades based on real-world demand for their network.
What is the role of automation in modern inventory management?
With larger and constantly evolving inventory systems, it is hard to maintain effective and efficient records of stock on hand through paper methods alone.
As more and more devices are introduced, relocated, or modified, our networks dynamically evolve through automated means, resulting in data being continually added, removed, and developed on a daily basis.
Due to this dynamic environment, many organizations are now implementing automated network discovery & inventory management software solutions that perform automatic scans of infrastructure to collect information about connected devices and to maintain the current inventory database through automatic inventory updates in network inventory.
Automated solutions enable us to have accurate and reliable inventory databases, as well as freeing the IT department from performing time-consuming manual inventory management, thereby allowing them to concentrate on other strategic projects such as modernizing network infrastructure.
To conclude, automating network inventory management provides organizations with the ability to maintain a complete and current inventory of all network devices, complete with detailed lifecycle, performance, and configuration statuses.
Having access to detailed inventory information allows IT directors to target the upgrades for their aging infrastructure, as well as obtaining information that will help them to strategically prioritize which upgrades they will undertake now and when they will need to make future investments. To know more about network inventory, contact us at Slurp’it!