Principles of Computer Systems and Network Management (eBook)

Principles of Computer Systems and Network Management 2
Preface 6
Contents 9
Introduction 14
1.1 Introduction 14
1.2 Computer System Life Cycle 15
1.3 Shared Hosting Data Center (SHDC) 18
1.4 Large Enterprise 20
1.5 Network Service Provider 22
1.6 History of Systems Management 25
1.7 Summary 27
1.8 Review Questions 27
References 28
Planning and Implementation 29
2.1 Requirements 30
2.1.1 Performance Requirements 30
2.1.2 Resiliency and Availability Requirements 31
2.1.3 Power and Thermal Requirements 32
2.1.4 Security Requirements 33
2.1.5 Manageability Requirements 34
2.1.6 Backward Compatibility 34
2.1.7 Other Requirements 35
2.2 Evaluating Computer Systems 36
2.2.1 Evaluating Computer Systems Performance 38
2.2.1.1 General Principles for Performance Evaluation 39
Utilization Law 39
Little’s Law 39
Forced Flow Law 40
Safety Margins 42
2.2.1.2 Queuing Theory 43
2.2.1.3 Queuing Networks 44
Canonical Delay and Throughput Curves 45
2.2.1.4 An Example 47
2.2.1.5 Simulations 48
2.2.2 Evaluating Resiliency and Availability 49
2.2.2.1 Reliability Analysis 50
2.2.2.2 Critical Component Identification 52
2.2.2.3 Failure Effects Modeling 54
2.2.3 Power and Thermal Analysis 55
2.2.4 Computer System Security Analysis 59
2.2.4.1 Comparison Against Checklists 60
2.2.4.2 Vulnerability Analysis 60
2.3 Planning to Satisfy Requirements 61
2.3.1 Systems Planning Process 62
2.3.1.1 Architecture Definition 63
Tiering 63
Perimeter Defense 65
Separation of Management and Operations 65
Hierarchical Architecture 66
Standardization of Components 67
2.3.1.2 Logical Plan Development 67
2.3.1.3 Approaches for Satisfying Requirements 69
Reuse from a Catalogue 69
Extrapolate from a Catalogue 70
2.3.1.4 Dynamic Composition of Configurations 70
2.4 Implementation 71
2.5 Summary 71
2.6 Review Questions 72
References 73
Operations Management 74
3.1 Operations Center 74
3.2 Management Data 77
3.3 Manager Agent Protocols 80
3.3.1 Remote Consoles 80
3.3.2 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) 81
3.3.3 Common Object Repository Broker Architecture (CORBA) 82
3.3.4 Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) 83
3.3.5 Web Services 83
3.3.6 NetConf 84
3.3.7 Comparison of the Different Management Protocols 85
3.4 Management Information Structure 85
3.4.1 Management Information Base 86
3.4.2 Common Information Model 88
3.4.3 Issues with Standard Representation 89
3.5 Device Agent Structure 91
3.6 Management Application Structure 92
3.7 Operations Center Function 94
3.8 Summary 97
3.9 Review Questions 97
References 98
Discovery 99
4.1 Discovery Approaches 100
4.1.1 Manual Inventory 100
4.1.2 Dictionary/Directory Queries 101
4.1.3 Self-Advertisement 101
4.1.4 Passive Observation 102
4.1.5 Agent-Based Discovery 102
4.1.6 Active Probing 103
4.2 Discovery of Specific Types of IT Infrastructure 104
4.2.1 Discovering Servers 104
4.2.1.1 DNS Zone Transfer 104
4.2.1.2 Traffic Analysis 105
4.2.1.3 Agent-Based Discovery 106
4.2.1.4 Agent-Less Discovery 107
4.2.2 Discovering Client Machines 107
4.2.3 Discovering Applications on Servers and Clients 108
4.2.4 Discovering Layer-3 Network Devices 110
4.2.5 Discovering Layer-2 Network Devices 111
4.3 Storing Discovered Information 112
4.3.1 Representing Hierarchical Relationships 113
4.3.2 Representing General Graphs 116
4.3.3 Representing Generic Relationships 117
4.3.4 Other Types of Databases 118
4.4 Summary 119
4.5 Review Questions 119
References 120
Monitoring 121
5.1 Monitored Information 121
5.2 Generic Model for Monitoring 122
5.3 Data Collection 124
5.3.1 Passive Monitoring 124
5.3.1.1 Applications 125
5.3.1.2 Servers, Personal Computers, and Laptops 126
5.3.1.3 Networks 128
5.3.2 Active Monitoring 129
5.3.2.1 Applications 129
5.3.2.2 Servers, Personal Computers, and Laptops 131
5.3.2.3 Networks 132
5.4 Pre-DB Data Processing 133
5.4.1 Data Reduction 133
5.4.2 Data Cleansing 134
5.4.3 Data Format Conversion 137
5.5 Management Database 139
5.5.1 Partitioned Databases 140
5.5.2 Rolling Databases 141
5.5.3 Load-Balanced Databases 141
5.5.4 Hierarchical Database Federation 142
5.5.5 Round-Robin Databases 144
5.6 Summary 144
5.7 Review Questions 144
Fault Management 146
6.1 Fault Management Architecture 146
6.1.1 Common Types of Symptoms 148
6.1.2 Common Types of Root Causes 150
6.2 Fault Diagnosis Algorithms 152
6.2.1 Topology Analysis Methods 153
6.2.2 Rule-Based Methods 156
6.2.3 Decision Trees 157
6.2.4 Dependency Graphs 158
6.2.5 Code Book 160
6.2.6 Knowledge Bases 161
6.2.7 Case-Based Reasoning 162
6.2.8 Other Techniques 163
6.3 Self-Healing Systems 164
6.3.1 Autonomic Computing Architecture and Variations 164
6.3.2 An Example of a Self Healing System 166
6.4 Avoiding Failures 167
6.4.1 Redundancy 167
6.4.2 Independent Monitor 168
6.4.3 Collaborative Monitoring 169
6.4.4 Aged Restarts 169
6.5 Summary 170
6.6 Review Questions 170
References 171
Configuration Management 173
7.1 Configuration Management Overview 173
7.2 Configuration Setting 175
7.2.1 Reusing Configuration Settings 176
7.2.2 Script-Based Configuration Management 178
7.2.3 Model-Based Configuration Management 179
7.2.4 Configuration Workflows 181
7.2.5 Simplifying Configuration Through Higher Abstractions 182
7.2.6 Policy-Based Configuration Management 183
7.3 Configuration Discovery and Change Control 184
7.3.1 Structure of the CMDB 185
7.3.2 Federated CMDB 186
7.3.3 Dependency Discovery 186
7.3.3.1 Application Dependencies 187
7.3.3.2 Network Dependencies 188
7.3.3.3 Service Dependencies 189
7.4 Configuration Management Applications 189
7.4.1 Configuration Validation 189
7.4.2 What-If Analysis 190
7.4.3 Configuration Cloning 191
7.5 Patch Management 191
7.5.1 Patch Identification 191
7.5.2 Patch Assessment 192
7.5.3 Patch Testing 193
7.5.4 Patch Installation 194
7.6 Summary 195
7.7 Review Questions 196
References 196
Performance and Accounting Management 198
8.1 Need for Operation Time Performance Management 199
8.2 Approaches for Performance Management 199
8.3 Performance Monitoring and Reporting 201
8.3.1 Performance Metrics 202
8.3.2 Addressing Scalability Issues 203
8.3.3 Error Handling and Data Cleansing 205
8.3.4 Metric Composition 207
8.3.5 Performance Monitoring Approaches 209
8.3.5.1 Networks 209
8.3.5.2 Servers 210
8.3.5.3 Applications 210
8.3.6 Performance Reporting and Visualization 212
8.4 Performance TroubleShooting 216
8.4.1 Detecting Performance Problems 216
8.4.1.1 Thresholds 216
8.4.1.2 Statistical Abnormality 218
8.4.1.3 Help Desk Reports 218
8.4.2 Correcting Performance Problems 218
8.4.2.1 Misconfiguration 219
8.4.2.2 System Changes 219
8.4.2.3 Workload Growth 219
8.4.2.4 Workload Surge 220
8.5 Capacity Planning 220
8.5.1 Simple Estimation 221
8.5.2 ARIMA Models 222
8.5.3 Seasonal Decomposition 223
8.6 Accounting Management 224
8.7 Summary 226
8.8 Review Questions 226
References 227
Security Management 228
9.1 General Techniques 229
9.1.1 Cryptography and Key Management 229
9.1.2 Authentication 233
9.1.3 Confidentiality/Access Control 235
9.1.4 Integrity 236
9.1.5 Non-Repudiation 238
9.1.6 Availability 238
9.2 Security Management for Personal Computers 239
9.2.1 Data Protection 240
9.2.2 Malware Protection 241
9.2.3 Patch Management 242
9.2.4 Data Backup and Recovery 243
9.3 Security Management for Computer Servers 244
9.3.1 Password Management 245
9.3.2 Single Sign-On 246
9.3.3 Secure Access Protocols 247
9.4 Security Management for Computer Networks 248
9.4.1 Firewalls 249
9.4.2 Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems 250
9.4.3 Honeypots 252
9.5 Operational Issues 252
9.5.1 Physical Security 253
9.5.2 Security Policies 253
9.5.3 Auditing 255
9.6 Summary 255
9.7 Review Questions 256
References 257
Advanced Topics 258
10.1 Process Management 258
10.2 Helpdesk Systems 259
10.3 Web, Web 2.0, and Management 261
10.4 Summary 262
10.5 Review Questions 262
References 262
Index 263