In a mobile-cloud-IoT world, enterprise IT environments grow more complex and less predictable than ever before. Yet IT staffing pressures often result in fewer or less experienced staff. At the same time, the cost of network errors continues to grow – and downtime is simply not tolerated. Customers don’t want to come back later, and employees get frustrated when they can’t do their jobs. Human error is one of the most frequent cause of network outages. And configuring a network—or making changes—is one of those stressful moments that is fraught with the potential for human error.
5 Common Configuration Issues
The reality is that it’s hard to configure a network that spans hundreds or thousands of devices, even for the most experienced and skilled network teams. From retail chains to large universities to big manufacturers, configuration issues can cause downtime, security or performance issues. When it comes to network configuration, organizations:
- Need consistent configurations for network devices. But it’s pretty common to see anomalies in device configurations, especially if the network has been set up by different people or has been operational for a long time. And network features or protocols that are set up differently can hinder smooth operations and slow troubleshooting when problems occur.
- Need to maintain compliance. Many organizations have policies that keep the network aligned with the business and maintain compliance with regulations. For instance, sensitive traffic or payment information may need to be isolated from other network traffic.
- Need to get it right the first time. Testing the network to validate changes before rolling them out requires time and resources that administrators often don’t have.
- Quickly know when we got it wrong. Post-change procedures are often rushed and limited in scope (leading to hope over planning) because they must fit within ever-shrinking change windows.5. Don’t want the team to create custom tools. Developing custom management tools or single-purpose utilities takes away resources from the team’s primary task of designing and evolving the network.
- Don’t want the team to create custom tools. Developing custom management tools or single-purpose utilities takes away resources from the team’s primary task of designing and evolving the network.
Crush Configuration Complexity
Aruba launched NetEdit last month to enable ArubaOS-CX systems (including the 8400, 8325 and 8320 series switches) to simplify the configuration enterprise networks. NetEdit provides intelligent assistance and continuous validation that ensures that device configurations are consistent, compliant and error-free. Instead of painstaking manual configuration and verification, NetEdit provides automated assistance, leveraging your team’s existing knowledge and experience.
The NetEdit interface will look instantly familiar, but it provides a superior, holistic experience and outcome for network configuration, taking into account all relevant devices. There’s no need to retrain or become expert at a new technology or even invest in the development of a custom tool.
Learn More
Contact your Aruba account representative or partner for more information on NetEdit. And watch this space for more technical information.
