DOCSLIB.ORG

Assessing the Impact of Lack of Network Documentation in Higher Learning Institutions: Case of University of Dodoma

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Assessing the Impact of Lack of Network Documentation in Higher Learning Institutions: Case of University of Dodoma The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz Information and Communication Technology Master Dissertations 2014 Assessing the impact of lack of network documentation in higher learning institutions: Case of University of Dodoma Kachemela, Seif J The University of Dodoma Kachemela, J. S. (2014). Assessing the impact of lack of network documentation in higher learning institutions: Case of University of Dodoma (Master's dissertation). The University of Dodoma, Dodoma. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/1352 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF LACK OF NETWORK DOCUMENTATION IN HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS: CASE OF UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA By Seif J. Kachemela Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Computer Science of the University of Dodoma The University of Dodoma October, 2014 CERTIFICATION The undersigned certify that they have read and hereby recommend for acceptance by the University of Dodoma a dissertation entitled “Assessing the severity of the technological impact of lack of network documentation in higher learning institutions: Case of University of Dodoma”, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science of the University of Dodoma. ………………………..……. Dr. Leonard. J. MseIle (SUPERVISOR) ………………………………. Prof. Justinian Anatory (SUPERVISOR) Date……………………………….. i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, Seif J. Kachemela, declare that this dissertation is my own original work and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University for a similar or any other degree award. Signature ………………… No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author or the University of Dodoma. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank the Almighty God for the endless blessings and grace that have been the reason for this achievement. I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Justinian Anatory and Dr. Leonard. J. Mselle for their valuable guidance, comments, advice, tolerance, moral support and encouragement throughout this study. The knowledge I acquired from them in all processes of research proposal development to report writing is the most precious and appreciatable. I cannot stop appreciating their inspirations, professional guidance and supervision that led to the production of this dissertation report. I would like to convey my sincere thanks to Mohammed Msoroka and Godlove Kyakwe for their advice and support that boosted the research grounding. I also want to express my special thanks to my parents, firstly, to my Farther Juma Kachemela and secondly, to my mother Batuli Lembariti, for their deep parental care I have received as they were always with me in happy and in hard times. Thanks for everything they have done to me, your understanding, respect, patience and support; I am real indebted for their love they have shown to me. In a very special way, I would like to acknowledge my wife Mariam Mohammed, my sons Juma Seif and Mohammed Seif during the whole time of study for their moral support and patience during the whole period of my study which in one way or another, made this dissertation successful. Thanks a lot once again. Many thanks and wishes go to my colleagues of the University of Dodoma. Extraordinary thanks should go to my best friends Amer Mshenga and Diana Allan for their cooperation, support, constructive criticisms and encouragements during iii this work. They were ready to share their research experiences and ideas, which in one way or another enriched this research. iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my beloved parents for their care and great support during my education. It is also dedicated to my lovely sons, Juma Seif Kachemela and Mohammed Seif Kachemela. May the Almighty God bless them Amen. v ABSTRACT Network complexity continues to grow as enterprises add and remove different communication technologies. Software tools that identify network elements, provide logical and physical network views, track network changes, and provide accurate documentation for all network components which are needed and should be employed in the organizations. It has been observed that most of the Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) in Tanzania facing serious problems in monitoring and managing network because of neglecting documentation. This study intended to assess the impact of lack of network documentation in Higher Learning Institutions in Tanzania. Specific objectives were; to identify factors that contribute to negligence of network documentation in HLIs, to identify the effects of lack of network documentation in HLIs and to develop a prototype that will be adopted in higher learning institutions to document network. Methods used in data collection were in depth interviews and observations. The study population comprised of system administrators from the University of Dodoma. Purposive sampling was employed to get the sample size of 22 system administrators. The researcher discovered that awareness and negligence are among the factors which contributed to the lack of network documentation in HLIs. In addition, researcher found out that troubleshooting and managing network without network documentation is difficult. Finally the researcher develops prototype and use NetBrain Workstation to document UDOM network. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATION ...................................................................................................... i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ..................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ iii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLE ........................................................................................................ x LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background Information ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Objectives ............................................................................................... 4 1.3.1 General Objective ................................................................................................ 4 1.3.2 Specific Objectives .............................................................................................. 4 1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................................ 4 1.5 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................... 5 1.6 Organization of the Dissertation ............................................................................ 5 CHAPTER TWO ....................................................................................................... 6 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 6 2.1 Overview of Network Documentation ................................................................... 6 2.2 Factors that Contribute to Neglecting of Network Documentation ....................... 6 2.3 Effects of Network Documentation ....................................................................... 7 2.3.1 Positive Effects of Network Documentation ....................................................... 7 2.3.2 Negative Effects due to Lack of Network documentation ................................... 9 2.4 Best Practice of Network Documentation............................................................ 10 2.4.1 Network Components to Document................................................................... 10 2.4.2 How to Document Network Devices and Configurations ................................. 13 2.4.3 Network Documentation Systems...................................................................... 16 2.5 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................ 22 vii CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................. 24 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................... 24 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Study area............................................................................................................. 24 3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Architecture of Network Management Tools for Heterogeneous System
    (IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2009 Architecture of Network Management Tools for Heterogeneous System Rosilah Hassan, Rozilawati Razali, Shima Mohseni, Ola Mohamad and Zahian Ismail Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Information Science and Technology Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia . Human: where human manager defines the policy and organization approaches. Abstract— Managing heterogeneous network systems is Methodology: defines the architectural a difficult task because each of these networks has its own curious management system. These networks framework and the functions to be usually are constructed on independent management performed. protocols which are not compatible with each other. Instrumentation: the actual operational This results in the coexistence of many management aspects that establish the procedures, systems with different managing functions and services methods and algorithms for data collection, across enterprises. Incompatibility of different processing and reporting, and analysis of management systems makes management of whole problems, their repair, prediction or system a very complex and often complicated job. forecasting of service levels and probable Ideally, it is necessary to implement centralized meta- level management across distributed heterogeneous improvements to enhance performance. systems and their underlying supporting network systems where the information flow and guidance is S&NM aims to provide network
    [Show full text]
  • V3.5 IP Address Management Software
    GestióIP IPAM v3.5 IP address management software Documentation v1.11 www.gestioip.net GestióIP Copyright © Marc Uebel 2021 Documentation GestióIP IPAM v3.5 Table of Contents 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................7 2 Use....................................................................................................................................................8 2.1 Access.......................................................................................................................................8 2.2 Show networks..........................................................................................................................8 2.2.1 Root networks.................................................................................................................10 2.3 Show hosts..............................................................................................................................11 2.3.1 Host list view..................................................................................................................11 2.3.2 Host overview.................................................................................................................13 2.3.3 Host status view..............................................................................................................13 2.3.4 Host check.......................................................................................................................14
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Networking Monitoring and Management
    Network Monitoring and Management Introduction to Networking Monitoring and Management These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) as part of the ICANN, ISOC and NSRC Registry Operations Curriculum. Part I: Overview Core concepts presented: – What is network monitoring – What is network management – Getting started – Why network management – The big three – Attack detection – Documentation – Consolidating the data – The big picture Network Monitoring “Monitoring an active communications network in order to diagnose problems and gather statistics for administration and fine tuning.” PC Magazine Network Management …the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of networked systems. wikipedia Network Management Details We Monitor • System & Services – Available, reachable • Resources – Expansion planning, maintain availability • Performance – Round-trip-time, throughput • Changes and configurations – Documentation, revision control, logging Network Management Details We Keep Track Of • Statistics – For purposes of accounting and metering • Faults (Intrusion Detection) – Detection of issues, – Troubleshooting issues and tracking their history • Ticketing systems are good at this • Help Desks are an important component Expectations A network in operation needs to be monitored in order to: - Deliver projected SLAs (Service Level Agreements) - SLAs depend on
    [Show full text]
  • Non-Intrusive Remote Monitoring of Services in A
    NON -INTRUSIVE REMOTE MONITORING OF SERVICES IN A DATA CENTRE Hemanta Kumar Kalita, Manoj K. Nambiar, and Amol Khanapurkar Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS Innovation Lab–Performance Engineering, Mumbai Akruti Business Port, Gateway Park MIDC, Road No 13, Andheri(E)–400093 {h.kalita, m.nambiar, amol.khanapurkar}@tcs.com ABSTRACT Non-intrusive remote monitoring of data centre services should be such that it does not require (or minimal) modification of legacy code and standard practices. Also, allowing third party agent to sit on every server in a data centre is a risk from security perspective. Hence, use of standard such as SNMPv3 is advocated in this kind of environment. There are many tools (open source or commercial) available which uses SNMP; but we observe that most of the tools do not have an essential feature for auto-discovery of network. In this paper we present an algorithm for remote monitoring of services in a data centre. The algorithm has two stages: 1) auto discovery of network topology and 2) data collection from remote machine. Further, we compare SNMP with WBEM and identify some other options for remote monitoring of services and their advantages and disadvantages. KEYWORDS DES, AES, ARP, SNMP, MIB, DNS, ICMP, WBEM 1. INTRODUCTION A Data Centre is a facility for housing computer systems such as web servers and associated components, for example, dedicated Internet connection, security, support and regulated power. Since a data centre houses many servers involving business critical operations hence, 24x 7 service availability is a high priority requirement in this scenario. In order to keep the services available 24x 7 the support team in a data centre need to monitor health of each and every server periodically.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Network Management?
    Network Management & Monitoring Introduction to Networking Monitoring and Management These materials are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) Part I: Overview Core concepts presented: – What is network monitoring – What is network management – Getting started – Why network management – Attack detection – Consolidating the data – The big picture What is network monitoring? Anyone have some ideas? Monitoring an active communications network in order to diagnose problems and gather statistics for administration and fine tuning. The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages via email, pager or other alarms. It is a subset of the functions involved in network management. What is network management? Refers to the broad subject of managing computer networks. There exists a wide variety of software and hardware products that help network system administrators manage a network. Network management covers a wide area, including: - Security: Ensuring that the network is protected from unauthorized users. - Performance: Eliminating bottlenecks in the network. - Reliability: Making sure the network is available to users and responding to hardware and software malfunctions. What is network management? System & Service monitoring − Reachability, availability Resource measurement/monitoring − Capacity planning,
    [Show full text]
  • Open Source Management Options September 30Th, 2008 Jane Curry Skills 1St Ltd
    Open Source Management Options September 30th, 2008 Jane Curry Skills 1st Ltd www.skills-1st.co.uk Jane Curry Skills 1st Ltd 2 Cedar Chase Taplow Maidenhead SL6 0EU 01628 782565 [email protected] 1 Synopsis Nuts and bolts network and systems management is currently unfashionable. The emphasis is far more on processes that implement service management, driven by methodologies and best practices such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Nonetheless, all service management disciplines ultimately rely on a way to determine some of the following characteristics of systems and networks: ● Configuration management ● Availability management ● Problem management ● Performance management ● Change management ● Security management The commercial marketplace for systems and network management offerings tend to be dominated by the big four ± IBM, HP, CA and BMC. Each have large, modular offerings which tend to be very expensive. Each has grown their portfolio by buying up other companies and then performing some level of integration between their respective branded products. One can argue that the resulting offerings tend to be ªmarketechturesº rather than architectures. This paper looks at Open Source software that addresses the same requirements. Offerings from Netdisco, Cacti and The Dude are examined briefly, followed by an in- depth analysis of Nagios, OpenNMS and Zenoss. This paper is aimed at two audiences. For a discussion on systems management selection processes and an overview of three main open source contenders, read the first few chapters. The last few chapters then provide a product comparison. For those who want lots more detail on Nagios, OpenNMS and Zenoss, the middle sections provide in-depth discussions with plenty of screenshots.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    CERN-IT-Note-2012-031 Version 2 6 Nov 2012 HEPiX Fall 2012 IHEP, Beijing 15-19 October 2012 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Site Reports ..................................................................................................................................................................... 2 IT Infrastructure .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Batch Computing ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Storage .......................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Security and Networking ............................................................................................................................................... 12 Grids, Clouds and Virtualisation .................................................................................................................................... 15 Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................................................................... 17 Introduction This was the second HEPiX workshop held
    [Show full text]
  • SNMP in Docusnap – Inventory and Analysis
    SNMP SNMP in Docusnap – inventory and analysis SNMP in Docusnap – inventory and analysis | itelio GmbH TITLE SNMP AUTHOR Docusnap Consulting DATE 12/19/2019 VERSION 1.2 | valid from 12/19/2019 This document contains proprietary information and may not be reproduced in any form or parts whatsoever, nor may be used by or its contents divulged to third parties without written permission of itelio GmbH. All rights reserved. SNMP | ©2019 Docusnap – All rights reserved Page 2 of 42 SNMP in Docusnap – inventory and analysis | itelio GmbH CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 INVENTORY 5 2.1 REQUIREMENTS 5 2.2 REQUIREMENTS CISCO SNMPV3 6 2.3 SNMP INVENTORY WIZARD 7 2.3.1 SNMP V1 / V2 7 2.3.2 SNMP V3 8 ANALYSIS 10 3.1 INVENTORIED DATA 10 3.2 TOPOLOGY PLAN 12 3.2.1 TOPOLOGY PLAN – OPTIONS 15 3.3 VLAN PLAN 17 3.4 REPORTS 18 3.5 ADJUSTMENTS 20 3.5.1 EDIT SWITCH - CONFIGURE MANUAL CONNECTIONS 20 3.5.2 MAC FILTER 22 DATA PREPARATION 24 4.1 SNMP TYPES 24 4.2 INTEGRATING MANUALLY CREATED DEVICES 26 4.3 EFFECTS OF ADJUSTMENTS 27 EXTENSION 28 5.1 INTEGRATE MANUFACTURER-SPECIFIC MIBS 28 5.1.1 EVALUATE DATA 33 5.2 STATEMENT TO DELETE OLDER SNMP SYSTEMS 36 SNMP Troubleshooting - Checklists 37 6.1 Checklist - SNMP inventory not possible 38 6.2 Checklist - Missing Topology Information 39 SNMP | ©2019 Docusnap – All rights reserved Page 3 of 42 SNMP in Docusnap – inventory and analysis | itelio GmbH INTRODUCTION Active network components such as switches can be captured using the SNMP inventory with Docusnap.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Source Ghost (FOG)
    GESTÃO E MONITORIZAÇÃO DE UMA REDE DEPARTAMENTAL - UM CASO DE ESTUDO Hélder Vieira Mendes Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto 2008 Este relatório satisfaz, parcialmente, os requisitos que constam da Ficha de Disciplina de Tese/Dissertação, do 2º ano, do Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores – Área de Especialização de Automação e Sistemas Candidato: Hélder Vieira Mendes, Nº 1020359, [email protected] Orientador: Prof. Doutor Jorge Botelho Costa Mamede, [email protected] Departamento de Engenharia Electrotécnica Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto 15 de Dezembro de 2008 Agradecimentos Os meus agradecimentos vão para todos aqueles que, de alguma forma, contribuíram para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho e para a prossecução de uma experiência enriquecedora, assinalando as referências mais importantes. Ao Prof. Doutor Jorge Mamede, meu orientador, por todo o apoio científico e pedagógico, e pelas palavras de encorajamento nos momentos mais necessários. À minha namorada, Sandra Sousa, pela sua permanente compreensão e motivação, em todos os momentos desta jornada. À minha família agradeço o apoio manifestado e que me fez chegar a este momento da minha vida. Ao Morten Brekkevold da UNINETT e ao Morten Werner Forsbring da Debian, pelo apoio na resolução de erros do software Network Administration Visualized (NAV). Ao Chuck Syperski, pelo apoio na resolução de erros do software Free Open Source Ghost (FOG). i Resumo De há uns anos a esta parte, no Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) tem-se verificado um crescimento da utilização das tecnologias de informação, nomeadamente das redes informáticas. A rede de dados do Departamento de Engenharia Geotécnica (DEG) do ISEP cresceu em complexidade e dimensão, de acordo com as necessidades dos seus utilizadores.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Source Tools for Monitoring MPLS Nodes
    PROJECT REPORT Open Source Tools For Monitoring MPLS Nodes BHAVESH SHARMA 10412EN008 Mathematics and Computing PROJECT GUIDE Dr. N.P. DHAVALE Deputy General Manager Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology, (Established By Reserve Bank of India) CERTIFICATE This is to certify that project report titled Open Source Networking Tools for monitoring the MPLS nodes submitted by Bhavesh Sharma, a 2nd year UG of Mathematics and Computing, MTech. Integrated from IIT BHU, is record of a bonafide work carried out by him under my guidance during the period 17th May 2012 to 20th July 2012 at Institute of Development and Research in Banking Technology, Hyderabad. The project work is a research study, which has been successfully completed as per the set objectives. In this project assigned to Mr. Bhavesh Sharma, he has done excellent work. We wish him all the best for the near endeavors. Dr. N.P. Dhavale DGM, Infinet office IDRBT,Hyderabad Institute for Development And Research in Banking Technology 1 ABSTRACT There are a large number of RBI locations and an even large number of member banks in India. As the number of member banks registered with the RBI is very high, the monitoring of the network would be very challenging. There is a high need to constantly monitor the network for slow or failing components and notify the network administrator in case of outages. A detailed study of free open source tools including zabbix, netdisco, opennms and many more is to be performed and the best tools is to be selected for final integration. Institute for Development And Research in Banking Technology 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and particularly Dr.N.P.
    [Show full text]
  • Layer 2 Security Inter-Layering in Networks
    LAYER 2 SECURITY INTER-LAYERING IN NETWORKS A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty by Hayriye C. Altunbasak In Partial Ful¯llment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology December 2006 LAYER 2 SECURITY INTER-LAYERING IN NETWORKS Approved by: Henry L. Owen, Committee Chair School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology John A. Copeland School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Randal T. Abler School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: 16 November 2006 To my wonderful parents and my beloved family. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completing this Ph.D. has been an exciting long journey, and it would not have been possible without the help and encouragement of many people. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Professor Henry L. Owen for his continuous support and guidance throughout my studies. Professor Owen has been an awesome mentor -he truly enjoys advising. I admire his passion in teaching and conducting research. I really appreciate that he has given me a lot of freedom in my research. It has been my privilege and honor to be associated with Professor Owen and I will be forever grateful for his constant encouragement and wisdom. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Professor John A. Copeland, Dr. Randal T. Abler, Professor Mustaque Ahamad, and Professor Yorai Wardi, for serving on my proposal and dissertation committees. Furthermore, I have bene¯ted immensely from my interactions with Joachim Sokol, Hans-Peter Huth, and Joachim Grimminger at Siemens AG, in Munich.
    [Show full text]
  • Network State Awareness and Troubleshooting
    #CLUS Network State Awareness and Troubleshooting Aamer Akhter / [email protected] BRKARC-2025 #CLUS Agenda • Troubleshooting Methodology • Packet Forwarding Review • Control Plane • Topology • Logging • Routing Protocol Stability • Data Plane • Active Monitoring • Passive Flow Monitoring • QoS • Getting Started #CLUS BRKARC-2025 © 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 4 Cisco Webex Teams Questions? Use Cisco Webex Teams (formerly Cisco Spark) to chat with the speaker after the session How 1 Find this session in the Cisco Events App 2 Click “Join the Discussion” 3 Install Webex Teams or go directly to the team space 4 Enter messages/questions in the team space Webex Teams will be moderated cs.co/ciscolivebot#BRKARC-2025 by the speaker until June 18, 2018. #CLUS BRKARC-2025 © 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 5 Keeping Focused: What This Session is About • This session is about basic network troubleshooting, focusing on fault detection & isolation • Some non-Cisco specifics • For context, we will cover some basic methodologies and functional elements of network behavior • This session is NOT about • Architectures of specific platforms • Data Center technologies • This is the 90 min tour. ;-) #CLUS BRKARC-2025 © 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 6 Network Quality is a Complex, End-to-End Problem Affects Join/Roam Affects Quality/Throughput Client firmware Affects Both* WAN Uplink usage End-User services Client density AP coverage Configuration WLC Capacity WAN QoS, Routing, ... Authentication RF Noise/Interf. Addressing CUCM ISE WANWhat is the problem? There are 100+ points of DHCP Office site Where is theNetwork problem? services DC APs Cisco Prime™ failure Mobilebetween clients user and app Local WLCs How can I fix the problem* Both = Join/roam fast? and quality/throughput #CLUS © 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
    [Show full text]