Chapter 14
Managing E-Business and
Network Systems
Introduction
• Managing e-business systems and their
underlying infrastructure is a critical
success factor for managers
• In the e-business world, networks are the
key ingredient linking, systems, processes,
and people
– Networks add value and complexity to
information infrastructures
System Operational Disciplines
Managing Batch Systems
• Batch systems processing involves
receiving and aggregating incoming
transactions and distributing the resulting
output data
– Regularly scheduled applications
– Applications are commonly executed on
centrally located computer facilities
• Accounts payable, inventory, ledger
– Applications commonly use computer
scheduling because of interjob dependencies
Network Systems Management
• Networks form the basis for many well
known and emerging businesses
– Amazon, eBay
• Network technology enables and
encourages restructuring and reengineering processes
• Web technology adds new dimensions to
a firm’s systems and management
processes
Network Management’s Scope
• Network management’s focus is broad and
diffuse
– Managers are responsible for owned as well
as leased assets
– Boundaries are also blurred between data
and voice applications
• Network managers must provide seamless
support for customers while tracking and
solving problems across the enterprise as
well as those involving outside vendors
Managers’ Expectations of
Networks
• Growth in networked applications
demands increased network management
capability
• Users expect networks to be capable,
reliable, and cost effective
• Unfulfilled expectations are an important
source of difficulty for IT managers;
networks can be a prime source of failure
Network Management Disciplines
• Disciplined techniques are critical for
network management success
– SLAs incorporate customer expectations of
reliability, responsiveness, and availability
– Managers must focus on problem, change,
and recovery management
– Performance planning and analysis, capacity
planning, and configuration management are
also important
The Disciplines of Network
Management
Network Service Levels
• Users view networks as a unified entity, so
the SLAs must treat applications,
computer and network hardware, network
links, and user workstations as an
integrated whole
– SLAs must include measures of availability,
service quantities, and reliability
– They must include some measures of
workload
Configuration Management
• Configuration management includes a database
containing an accurate record of the network’s
physical and logical connections and
configurations
• Configuration management’s scope includes
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Physical Connectivity
Logical Topology
Bandwidth
Equipment (inventory and specifications)
User Information
Vendor Data
Fault and Change Management
• Fault management is similar in many ways
to problem management
– Networks can be created with monitoring to
automatically flag failures and attempt to
reconfigure
– Faults can arise from hardware, software, or
configuration failures
– Troubleshooting these failures requires the
skills of network engineers and technicians
and access to configuration databases
Recovery Management
• Network managers must plan to recover
from local disasters as well as disasters
affecting vendors
– Redundancy in name (using different carriers
for reliability) may not be redundancy in fact
(the carriers use the same physical ROW)
– Managers must remain aware of this problem
and explicitly address it when initiating SLAs
with telecom vendors
Network Management Systems
• Automated tools that help manage and
operate networks
– Gather statistics from routers and switches
• SNMP traps
– Exist as hardware embedded in the network
to create diagnostic logs
– Monitor network usage and performance
• Vendors offer integrated monitoring and
management packages
Performance Management
• Techniques for defining, planning,
measuring, analyzing, reporting, and
improving on infrastructure performance
– Defining performance
– Performance planning
– Measuring performance
– Analyzing measurements
– Reporting results
– System tuning
Defining Performance
• System performance is the volume of work
accomplished per unit of time
– CPU throughput, network transmission
bandwidth, number of transactions posted
– In e-business applications, system response
time is a critical performance measure for end
user satisfaction
– With rapidly improving hardware performance,
managers are shifting from increasing HW
efficiency to improving end user satisfaction
Performance Planning
• Establishes objectives for human/
computer system throughput
– Workload characterization is the cornerstone
of all performance and capacity programs
– System performance and associated factors
must be well understood prior to system
capacity increases
– System tuning (optimization) can also yield
performance increases without capacity
expansion
Measuring and Analyzing
Performance
• Measuring response time and system
throughput under a variety of workloads is
critical
– Transaction service time
– Transaction rates
– Average response time
• These measurements are used to judge
delivery of SLAs, capacity trends, and
tuning results
Network Performance Assessment
• Network managers must monitor
performance to exceed SLAs
• As usage and loading changes, network
bottlenecks occur
– Without some system of monitoring,
resolution of these problems is delayed with
user satisfaction declining
– Network availability is a calculation derived
from MTBF and MTTR
Availability = (MTBF)/(MTBF + MTTR) X 100
System Tuning
• System tuning or optimization can be used
to create performance increases without
capital expense
– Risks of performance tuning include the risk
of change as discussed earlier
– Sometimes limiting access to a resource,
while decreasing capacity, improves
throughput
– Tuning of complex systems can be very time
consuming and tedious
Capacity Management
• Process by which IT managers plan and
control the quantity of system resources
needed to satisfy user needs
• The goal is to match available system
resources with those needed to meet
service levels
– Must also anticipate future needs and plan for
increased usage
– Must also identify obsolete or underutilized
hardware and services
Capacity Analysis
• Managers must perform a detailed
analysis of current system resource
requirements
– Acts as a benchmark for proposed changes
– Needs to identify daily workload peaks as well
as peak loading for weekly and monthly
timeframes
– Capacity assessment and monitoring must be
a continuous process in rapidly growing ebusinesses
Capacity Planning
• Managers must anticipate future need and
plan accordingly
– Techniques range from simple to complex
– Managers must pick the correct metrics to
follow, as technology changes so do needs
– Planning must be grounded in fact and logic,
not hunches and guesswork
Additional Planning Factors
1. Changes in the organization’s strategic
directions that might modify or increase
IT services
2. Business volume changes (either
increases or decreases)
3. Organizational changes (always a
potential impact on IT resources)
4. Changes in the number of people using
IT services
Additional Planning Factors
5. Changing financial conditions within the
firm or industry
6. Changes in service-level agreements or
service-level objectives that might have a
bearing on system performance
requirements
7. Portfolio management actions that might
impact system throughput, such as the
addition of new applications or
enhancements to current applications
Additional Planning Factors
8. Testing new applications or making
modifications to current applications that
require additional system resources
9. Application schedule changes initiated by
operations or user managers
10. Schedule alterations for system backup
and vital records processing
11. System outage data and job rerun times
from the problem management system
Linking Plans to Service Levels
• Periodically the performance and capacity
management processes must be reviewed
to assess their effectiveness
– Did forecasts agree with actual demand?
– Did capacity needs match capacity
resources?
– Were service levels met?
– Were budgets adequate?
– Are customers satisfied?
Management Information Reporting
• Reporting is an essential role – it creates
transparency to IT operations
– The intent of reporting is to
• Improve operations
• Promote organizational learning
• Engage customers in dialog that generates results
– Communication increases trust and
confidence between participants
– Reports are essential not only to providers but
also customers
The Network Manager
• Network managers need to be skilled
generalists
– Their duties transcend organizational,
political, cultural, and geographic boundaries
– Technology adoption enables and mandates
structural changes
– They must be capable tacticians,
understanding where they need to take the
firm and how to get there
Summary
• Centralized batch systems and network
applications depend critically on network
performance and computer resources
• There exists a strong link between system
performance and system capacity
• Quality IT business processes must be an
overriding consideration in the IT
organization