In this section we hope to provide you with and understanding of network management functions and help you gain a practical knowledge of network management tools and technologies that are used to maintain computer networks. Networks are an essential part of connecting users and sharing information in the business world. Any issues with a network can result in lost time in the workplace and in some instances can have catastrophic effects leading to lost business and revenue. Therefore, it is important to ensure that a network activity is constantly monitored to ensure it is running at the optimal level and that any issues are resolved before they become serious. Updates to network hardware and software should be planned in advance to cause minimal disruption.

We will look at networking technologies and the different hardware and software tools needed to manage networks. Building on this we’ll go on to investigate and understand network management functions an explore having management policies in place along with keeping work logs of network management and configuration.

Details of topics we’ll talk about are listed below:

• description of network technologies
• the purpose of networking tools
• emerging network technologies
• functions of network management
• identifying network assets and their configuration
• routine network management tasks
• potential impact of emerging network technologies
• goals of fault management
• accurate records of network management tasks
• routine performance management activities
• network security policy for small organisations

We hope you can build on these skills and set up your own home network and even configure your home network so that you can access it remotely and backup work that you do when you are on the move.