Today´s enterprises are leveraging the network as an agent for business change. By integrating new features and services with advances in technology, they are able to design networks to drive business growth while reducing risks from unplanned events and threats. With this flexibility, the Enterprise Campus Architecture requires automated, integrated, and simplified network management solutions that protect and optimize the network foundation. Cisco provides an integrated suite of management tools that simplify administration, increase productivity and reduce total cost of ownership. The four components of the Enterprise Campus Architecture include:
Campus Infrastructure
The core infrastructure of a network provides the foundation and underlying technologies of the Enterprise Campus Architecture. For enterprises to achieve their business goals, this infrastructure must be resilient, secure and scalable. Cisco provides an integrated, easy-to-use management solution that utilizes automated deployment and management, along with detailed network visibility to improve operational productivity and cost savings.
CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) provides a suite of management tools needed to simplify the deployment, administration, monitoring and troubleshooting of a diverse Cisco campus infrastructure. By leveraging common centralized systems and network inventory knowledge, CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution delivers a unique set of capabilities that reduce network deployment times and administration overhead. Key features include:
- A robust set of Layer-2 tools for device and connectivity discovery, detailed topology visualization, Layer-2 service configuration, and end-station tracking that facilitate the configuration, management and understanding of the physical and logical network infrastructures. Learn More
- A GUI-based view of the network devices with displays for dynamic, real-time status, monitoring, and configuration information, which simplifies device diagnostics and troubleshooting. Learn More
- Real-time fault detection, analysis and reporting using detailed device knowledge and fault rules based on Cisco "best practices." Learn More
- Simplified time-consuming administrative tasks and seamless, centralized network administration through device change management, network configuration and software image management, and network availability and trouble analysis. Learn More
Campus IP Communications
Convergence of a company's voice and video traffic over its existing data network is a key component of the Enterprise Campus Architecture. Cisco provides an IP communications management suite to effectively manage the converged campus network and lower the total cost of ownership of the entire communications network.
CiscoWorks IP Telephony Environment Monitor (ITEM) is a suite of applications that proactively evaluates and reports on the operational health of your converged IP network and Cisco IP Telephony environment. CiscoWorks ITEM provides functionality throughout the full lifecycle of management activities from planning through operations. Key features include:
- Planning tools that are critical to the successful migration to a converged network. These planning tools utilize the intelligence of the network to be able to tell the network manager what the latency and delay would be if there were voice calls on the existing data network. This provides key information on whether the data network is ready for voice.
- Distributed intelligence within the network and the ITEM management suite, which allows IT administrators to proactively monitor quality of voice by simulating voice calls across the entire business. These simulated calls are used to determine proper telephony voice quality and can alert the IT staff to potential problems often before users experience them through the use of the actual phones.
- Data collection and comprehensive report generation that range from showing where phones have physically moved to performance reports useful for capacity planning. Data is stored in a published format and available to use with 3rd-party reporting tools, allowing customers that use powerful reporting applications to consolidate their voice reports together with the other reports they already use today.
- Protection of important information. While many different teams are involved in providing a service as critical to the business such as "voice", not all these teams should have the same privileges through the tools. An application is available to provide help-desk personnel with operational status and implementation details about individual IP telephones without having to go to the CallManager or other CiscoWorks tools.
- Increased productivity by providing your IT staff with the tools they need to manage a converged network. Everyone in the business experiences better productivity, from the IT staff and the employees they support to the vendors and customers that
Campus Mobility/Wireless
Expanding the productivity zone of corporate workers with wireless LAN technology is fast becoming a competitive corporate strategy for companies with large campuses. The Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network (SWAN) framework enables the Enterprise Campus Architecture to optimize network accessibility and workforce productivity. A SWAN-designed network achieves this while delivering the same level of network security, scalability, reliability, ease-of-deployment, and manageability that organizations have come to expect from wired LANs.
CiscoWorks Wireless LAN Solution Engine (WLSE) provides advanced wireless management capabilities to facilitate wireless LAN roll-out, tighten network security, and maximize radio performance resulting in improved IT operational productivity. WLSE manages the entire Cisco Aironet® WLAN infrastructure, including configuration, fault monitoring, performance analysis, and security configuration. Key features include:
- Automated access point provisioning and configuration management, reducing the cost and time needed for WLAN deployment and maintenance. Newly deployed access points can be automatically discovered and flexibly configured depending on its location/subnet, device type, or software version.
- An integrated wireless LAN Intrusion Detection System (IDS) with rogue AP detection, automatic switch port shutdown, WLAN intrusion monitoring, and security configuration policy monitoring to secure the wireless airspace.
- Enhanced radio management capabilities for optimized radio performance and high availability, including radio frequency (RF) scanning, monitoring and alerting, interference detection, WLAN self-healing, and automated site surveys.
Campus Security
As today's enterprises take steps to transform the network into a tool that enables employees to be more productive, they must find ways to protect the network and the data that traverses it. The Cisco security management strategy leverages integrated Cisco security infrastructure components to help the Enterprise Campus Architecture defend against external security threats, protect systems and information through internal trust and identity policies, and provide secure business communications. The result is security assurance and protection of company profits and assets.
The CiscoWorks VPN/Security Management Solution provides an integrated means to manage the security operations within the Enterprise Campus Architecture. The solution combines the ability to manage firewalls, VPNs, network IDS and host IDS, as well as continuously monitor security and performance information. Key highlights of this solution include:
- The ability to control security configuration from a centralized management console. Security policies can be defined and then automatically deployed to a large number of Cisco security products, including firewalls, VPN routers, and IDS sensors and agents. The result is significant time savings, increased productivity, and more consistency in your Enterprise Campus Architecture security policies.
- Intrusion detection and protection capabilities are enhanced with flexible management functionality. Security operations staff has the ability to monitor critical security information from a variety of sources, including IDS appliances, network modules, desktop systems and servers. The management system provides intelligent correlation and mitigation strategies, thus enabling them to create or modify IDS profiles to protect against these security threats.
- Keeping security devices at the branch offices consistent with corporate policies can be a challenge. Multiple network administrators make it difficult to keep track of periodic configuration changes, software updates, and patches. This problem is simplified by using intelligent agents in the remote security devices in conjunction with Cisco security management features. This auto-update technology provides an easy way to push initial configuration information, configuration updates, operating system updates, and periodic configuration verification to any remote Cisco security elements. This ensures that your end-to-end infrastructure maintains a consistent security profile.
- Network management operations functions can be easily extended to the security network infrastructure by leveraging this management solution. From a central point of administration, customers are able to manage their security inventory, configuration and software version, and change audit control and tracking. This provides easy access to information that is critical to network resiliency and security compliance.
