Network Support and Maintenance Plan

Network maintenance plan until something forces them to think about it. It's good practice to have documentation about your computing environment, have procedures in place and thoughts around other areas such as disaster recovery. It's also important to have a backup person to go to if your main IT person is not around. Here's an outline of a plan that covers the major components.

Start with a description of your current infrastructure:

- Inventory all equipment.

- Make a list of vendors contact data and account numbers.

- Create a detail network map.

- Make a list of the tools and applications you currently use and what they do.

- Document any special configuration.

Tip: Consider taking a picture of the setup to help others visually identify the setup... Of course, this really only helps if you're lab isn't row-after-row-after-row of the same rack-mounted guys. :)

Preventive Maintenance:

List activities you can do here. For example, think about expected life of the equipment, budget for new equipment, additional capabilities for the system (planning for expansion), and how to find deficiencies in your system.

Maintenance Procedures:

- Start a log book for keeping records of all activities.

- Set a time (downtime) when you can take down the network. Example: last Friday of the month from 1am - 3am.

NetworkView 3.6 is a compact network discovery and management tool for the Win32 platforms : in a few minutes, NetworkView 3.6 will discover all TCP/IP nodes and draw a full graphical map (including routes) using DNS, MAC Addresses, SNMP, NetBIOS, WMI and TCP Ports information. It can also poll the network and send an email when nodes are unreachable. With more than 28000 entries in its SNMP and MAC addresses databases, NetworkView 3.6 can be used from a FLOPPY DISK ! Full print and print preview capabilities for maps and lists.

Main Features of the NetworkView 3.6

Discover TCP/IP nodes and routes using DNS, SNMP, Ports, NetBIOS and WMI

Get MAC addresses and NIC Manufacturer Names

Monitor nodes and receive Alerts

Document with printed Maps and Reports.

Control and Secure your network with the SNMP MIB Browser, the WMI browser and the Port Scanner.