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This article talks about the Network Infrastructure that exists and needs a makeover all together to keep it up and running.The routers and switches that exist are running old versions and also quite insecure.It is interesting to see how the networks have passwords which provide full access to the administrator and whoever has access to the routers and switches.They seem to have the very first versions running which have security flaws and when updated to a version 2 they get to a security level which is still not very secure.Even after updating all the network devices the firmwares seem to not be on the current versions.
The network infrastructure is a very important aspect for an IT organization and one needs to be on their toes to make sure it is updated from time to time.At some cases this might not seem feasible until a project is taken up and worked to make this update-able on a regular basis.This is a repetitive process and regular feeds will help to keep the network infrastructure current and incase of failures there is a plan in place.Considering to employ support staff and also engage consultants will be worth the money and effort.
I believe Network fails the company fails.If Security fails everything fails.These are inter related and it is the organizations top most priority to keep their Networks intact and work towards building a reliable and secure infrastructure to be able to build upon their business overall.
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ReplyDeleteNice article, Megna! I completely agree with you. The network infrastructure is crucial for any organization. It is a kind of asset that demands to be updated periodically. Differently from application components that allows corrective and adaptive maintenance, when we consider hardware components these interventions is much more limited. This scenario forces the replacement of the whole component, increasing costs.
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Allan Rocha
Blog:
https://sites.google.com/a/allanrocha.org/ea874
I agree this is a good article. Keeping switches up to date can be a pain. There just really are not many good network management tools available out there that can help you keep them up to date.
ReplyDeleteSecurity scanners will do this job (Nessus, Retina, etc) but then you need to visit each switch individually and upgrade to the latest version, which in a large infrastructure is very time consuming.
With respect to SNMP, I agonized over implementing this. Version 3 is a a lot more secure than 2 but it is also is more difficult to implement, and if you have a tool that is collecting this data, Windows servers only support version 2 so you have network devices at 3 and servers at 2.
I'm hoping some Software Defined Networking can help bring the network layer into the current century.
Allan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your inputs.Yes it is true that all result in increase in costs.Better mthodologies to manage this and newer technologies might help
@dalessit : Thank you for your valuable thoughts.It is nice to get to know about the security scanners and your expereince in implementing the SNMP.
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