Chapter 15; network management

Whew. Last chapter. What a ride it's been.

Chapter 15 was the shortest since something like chapter 2. It covered some final points of managing a network that don't fall (completely anyway) under accessibility and integrity. The chapter touched on things like documentation, which, while not strictly an integrity thing, will sure help when the printer at IP address 192.168.4.7 stops talking to the printer server at 172.100.38.9.

The chapter also covered baseline measurements, policies, procedures, and regulations, network management software, system and event logs, traffic shaping, and forth.

The real unifying theme amongst all of this material was that it's the tools you need to accomplish the things in chapters 12, 13, and 14. Sudden spike in inbound traffic? Is that a hacker, or were we just slashdotted?

The chapter also covered the day-to-day tasks of network management like updating obsolete hardware and software, scheduled maintenance, and so forth.

A final note: Thanks, Mike. It's been a good class.