Five network management categories making up the FCAPS model Essay

Five network management categories making up the FCAPS model - Essay Example CISCO (2009) provided the information that this specification was introduced by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and became known as a draft standard in 1995 in RFC 1757. This specification enables the network to be monitored from various aspects with the help of functions and statistics that facilitate communication with the console managers and network probes. SearchSecruity.com (1998) defined network probe as the act of attaining knowledge about a network by inserting a program or a device at a certain point on the network. The exchange of information between the RMON probes and RMON console managers takes place on the basis of simple network management protocol (SNMP). RMON probes are programmed to communicate with the console managers on the basis of their IP. The primary function of the RMON probe is to measure the packet flow at a certain juncture in the network to generate statistical information. The information is sent to RMON console managers where the network manager can analyze the data and judge the condition of the network. Aoshima (2000) stated that the RMON probes send statistical data to the RMON managers where it is converted into more comprehensive statistical formats, for example, lists and graphs. The statistical nature of the information facilitates fast and effective decision making and analysis. Aoshima (2000) also pointed out that the format of statistical data is based on the RMON Management Information Base (MIB). MIB possesses different monitoring mechanisms, namely RMON1 and RMON2. RMON1 possesses statistical information regarding the data link layer and physical layer, while the other one contains information about the n etwork layer and application layer. The information in RMON1 relates to the MAC addresses and ports, whereas RMON2 contains information about IP addresses and applications. RMON managers are designated to overlook all the branch networks to