Proteus Object Tagging

The BlueCat Advantage Summary Proteus helps organizations to cut through the complexity of managing large, geographically distributed enterprise networks. Using advanced features like object tagging enable Proteus users to simplify the management of challenging network topologies by assigning tags to objects, devices. Rather than navigating complex IP trees, Proteus users employ object tagging to traverse complex configurations in a logical fashion. Object tagging enables you to organize and search network configurations by administrator, device, application, location, department or subnet, the possibilities are endless. Proteus is IPAM that conforms to your business; you don’t need to change your business to implement IPAM. Proteus Helps Organizations To: Improve the manageability of large distributed network topologies by assigning logical naming conventions to network assets. No more traversal of complex IP trees. Object tagging enables organizations to simplify asset tracking with advanced search capabilities . Object tagging enables advanced security by enabling organizations to assign restricted views of network configuration with multiple levels of delegated administration. Object tagging streamlines network management to reduce cost of ownership.

First and Second Generation IPAM Challenges

IP Address Management (IPAM) is designed to simplify the logical management and control of large, distributed enterprise IP networks. Historically there have been a number of solutions available offering varying levels of capabilities, from simple spreadsheets and internally developed applications to large, distributed databases. First and second generation solutions help organizations to group together IP address spaces into containers but do little to improve or streamline network management.

The fundamental problem with these solutions is they force organizations to conform to technology rather than use technology to enhance business operations. In an effort to streamline operations, large organizations typically assign network management to groups that are spread across multiple data centers, in multiple locations. This decentralized management approach does little to improve efficiencies as each team might service users with specific infrastructure requirements driven by applications, end-user requirements, or business operational policies.

Organizations require network infrastructure and teams that respond rapidly to change requests. First and second generation IPAM solutions remain disjointed and do little to improve the situation. The challenge with all of these solutions is they do not improve service levels nor do they help organizations rapidly resolve service level deficiencies. A next generation approach to IPAM simplifies IP modeling its relation to DNS and DHCP and provides command and control without compromise to ease of use or accessibility. Achieving these goals requires a new approach.

Cut Through Complexity

A next generation approach to IPAM improves the management and navigation of complex topologies. These multi-core IPAM solutions enable delegated management of objects, functions, configurations and groups while simplifying and streamlining network command and control. If a change is made to a network topology model, the change must be automatically translated to the DNS and DHCP configuration and vice versa.

Moving beyond IPAM solutions based on IP inventory databases that are loosely coupled to DNS and DHCP servers requires organizations to look at structuring their networks in a more logical fashion. Similar to the way DNS simplifies finding resources on the internet, effective IPAM simplifies tracking, managing and monitoring IP addresses with large enterprise networks.

Organizations managing a couple of thousand IP addresses might be able to manage the network using meta-data enabled databases or spreadsheets; enterprises with hundreds of thousands of IP addresses require an IPAM solution that:

• Automatically map and update network locations, subnets, user groups to logical resolvable names.
• Reduces the cost of ownership by making the network easy-to-use without giving up security, scalability and availability.
• Speeds information recall for rapid troubleshooting and conflict resolution.
• Enforces access policies and restricts or grants access to approved areas of the network.
• Can arrange network configurations by geography, business unit, application, asset or user group, not by just IP addresses.

Meta Data, Meta Tags

First and second generation IPAM solutions using semantic database architectures are also used as asset management systems. With these solutions, organizations can attach Meta data fields that might specify what type of asset/resource is consuming an IP address, where the asset is located and other relevant information. For example a static IP address of a static IP address of 122.74.23.44 might have Meta data that to describe the asset:

While the Meta data fields are useful from the standpoint of audit, this data does not simplify network management or configuration navigation because the Meta data is typically not standardized and is entered as a free form record. This means the data is not readily searchable. Effective IPAM enables organizations to make use of Meta data/tags and also uses tools like object tagging to simplify navigation and network management.

Introducing Object Tagging

Organizations implement IPAM for a number of reasons but the principal reason is to improve the timeliness and accuracy of IP usage throughout large, distributed networks with multiple administrators. This has a direct impact on an organizations ability to service customers in a timely fashion, generate revenue and reduce operating costs.

First and second generation IPAM are similar to manually provisioning IP services using ISC-BIND (DNS) and ISC DHCP. There are a couple of individuals in your organization that manage host records, reverse pointers, zone and configuration files; these are the only people that understand where individual records are found within a configuration.

This can work in small organizations but what happens as your organization grows? Traversing through complex configurations, looking for logical or syntactical errors is time consuming and difficult. Now try to do this with multiple administrators, across multiple locations while keeping accurate record of all configuration changes by user, by location, by device. Achieving this without a next-generation IPAM system is next to impossible.

Large organizations also require that access to parts of the network are not only restricted to users but also to administrators (with lower security clearance). Effective IPAM will enable administrators to rapidly navigate through complex network configurations, while enforcing delegation and restricting views of the network configurations. Proteus is the only solution that uses Object Tagging to simplify network management for groups of administrators on large networks.

Streamline Network Management

Rather than searching for a physical record by IP address and then attempting to physically locate the device, administrators can use object tags to traverse the network. For example if a user wanted to locate a VoIP application server in New York they would use Object Tagging to simplify the process.

Upon logging into Proteus they would use the tag feature to request all assets in North America, then Drill Down to United States/East Coast/New York/ Manhattan/VoIP/ Call Managers and find the requested object. Now the administrator can view all relevant IP information on this server. This is far simpler than looking through stacks of IP address records which can take hours.

Organizations can also use object tags to search for objects or assets on a network. Using object tags, you can search for IP addressable objects by location, administrator, business department, geography, and network or client type. By customizing Object Tags, the search capabilities are virtually limitless. And with Proteus’ built in delegated administration, organizations have complete control over what is searchable by a specified user and what is not. Object tagging helps organizations to cut through complexity and improve network usability.

Enforce Business Policy and Security

Object tagging can effectively enable organizations to enforce business policy. When used with security access controls, organizations can assign individuals to specific areas of a network configuration. This means that Proteus can assign an abstracted view of the network configuration based on the end-users needs by grouping together and presenting only relevant objects. This ensures that organizations can securely delegate tasks without exposing restricted or sensitive areas of the network as they are hidden from view. This also helps organizations to comply with privacy laws governing customer records and financial information.

Asset Grouping and Management

Large organizations with distributed operations often have multiple data centers and remote service offices; these offices might have VoIP systems, printers, servers, firewalls and other IT assets.

Organizations that are looking to centralize the management of these resources are thus greatly constrained. Object tagging enables organizations to group together IT objects under assigned fields regardless of object location. For example, if an administrator is responsible for internal DNS and caching for all locations, he/she needs to be able to make configuration changes at each branch/remote location. Without object tagging the administrator must have an updated list of all DNS servers, the related resource records (c-names, pointers, glue records etc.) and then must work with a remote connection or with staff at a specific location to enforce changes. With object tagging the administrator can log into Proteus, and use the DNS tag to view all DNS servers/appliances on the network and then drill down to a physical location to make the required changes. Object tagging not only simplifies management but also makes tracking critical IT assets easy.

Reduce Cost of Ownership

Object tagging not only improves the logical structure of your network but it also improves security and ease-of-use. This means organizations can save money by delegating lower level tasks to administrators with less experience. Experienced administrators have complete autonomy and can oversee all changes but can no focus on more important tasks. Using Object Tagging and Multi-Core Architecture, Proteus substantially lowers your total cost of ownership and drives a compelling ROI within less than 6 months.

Accessibility and Manageability

Proteus is the only IPAM solution to provide Object Tagging for customized asset grouping. Using Object Tags organizations can assign navigational tags or descriptive tags to groups of objects (by location, configuration, subnet, device type, user group, administrator, etc.). Administrators can use Object Tags to rapidly navigate expansive configurations; eliminating the need for administrators to traverse complex IP tree structures.

Object Tags also enable organizations to run complex queries and searches on the network that dramatically improve network visibility and logical layout, while enhancing overall usability. Proteus enables organizations to build, manage and monitor network configurations that are structured to conform to business and regulatory needs.

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