How To Improve Network Performance

Transcription

1 Per 1 INSIDE: 1 Emphsis on ppliction performnce mens greter need for network mngement 2 The role of performnce mngement in ppliction delivery 3 Advnced performnce mngement cpbilities The New Er of Network Performnce Mngement Tody s networks re highly complex, dynmic environments tht demnd comprehensive performnce mngement. Fortuntely, technologies re dvncing to simplify mngement on some levels nd ddress new chllenges on others. This e-book explins why mngement is more importnt now thn ever nd how it cn help deliver business-criticl pplictions better nd fster, nd it describes new functionlity emerging in this importnt re. BY JIM METZLER

2 THE NEW ERA OF IN 1 Emphsis on pps boosts need for network mngement The network is the provider of pplictions to end users, but s more pplictions re dded, ensuring tht they ll work well is chllenging. This chpter discusses the drivers behind the need for mngement nd the trends contributing to the complexity of tody's network nd pplictions environments. 2 THE FOCUS IN network performnce hs been shifting from the network to the ppliction. The network mngement function is in the process of dopting strtegies tht focus on the qulity of experience (QoE) tht user hs with the compny s key business pplictions. Effective ppliction delivery depends on the combintion of robust, secure nd highly vilble infrstructure, ppliction ccelertion nd optimiztion over the WAN, nd ppliction performnce solutions tht cn minimize user problems reltive to ccessing criticl pplictions.

3 THE NEW ERA OF IN 3 The shrpened focus on ppliction delivery hs been driving the high growth rte of WAN optimiztion nd is ushering in new er for performnce mngement solutions tht trnscend trditionl link utiliztion monitoring nd cpcity plnning to provide: Rel-time or ner-rel-time insight into how specific pplictions nd user sessions re performing. Performnce indictor metrics nd grnulr dt tht cn be used to detect nd eliminte impending problems. Improved dignostics nd remedil workflow ptterns to quickly determine the root cuse of performnce problems tht do occur. This e-book exmines the trends behind the chnges in working with performnce mngement so tht IT leders cn better understnd their network nd ppliction dynmics nd dpt to them. We ll describe frmework for mnging ppliction delivery, illustrting the wys tht performnce mngement solution cn help in the implementtion nd mngement of n ppliction delivery progrm. We ll lso discuss some of the dvnced mngement cpbilities tht re vilble. These cpbilities enble performnce mngement to enter new er driven by the need to ensure the ppliction user s QoE in the fce of constntly growing set of impediments to cceptble ppliction performnce. FACTORS DRIVING INCREASED Severl fctors re driving the evolution of IT environments nd forcing IT orgniztions to dedicte more of their resources to optimizing ppliction relibility nd performnce. These fctors include: Appliction prolifertion Enterprise IP networks must ccommodte n ever-incresing vriety of network services nd pplictions. In ddition to the trditionl dt pplictions, converged enterprise networks cn support vriety of reltime IP communictions pplictions, including voice over IP, video conferencing, telepresence, streming video, instnt messging nd collbortive sessions. Mny enterprises consider these rel-time services nd pplictions to be s business criticl s trditionl enterprise pplictions, such s ERP or CRM. Ech distinct type of business-criticl ppliction cn hve somewht different requirements in terms of network performnce. For enterprise dt pplictions, the QoE metrics re typiclly vilbility nd response time. The levels of pcket loss, ltency nd jitter hevily influence the QoE of rel-time pplictions. Configuring

4 THE NEW ERA OF IN 4 QoS functionlity for switches nd routers nd llocting or limiting bndwidth for different ppliction clsses re bsic requirements for rel-time pplictions. These techniques, while necessry, do not protect n ppliction from QoE shortflls, however, especilly in cses of nomlous network behvior or fults tht degrde network performnce. Incresed business relince on network pplictions Business globliztion nd employee decentrliztion, together with the prolifertion of business-criticl pplictions, hs mde the IP network n indispensble component of norml business opertions. Any shortfll in network vilbility or performnce cn therefore be trnslted into A networking professionl monitors network nd pplictions performnce in the network opertions center t the Interop conference in Ls Vegs. business costs in terms of lost worker productivity, reduced efficiency of business processes, or lost business opportunities. According to Ynkee Group survey, ppliction performnce issues result in n verge productivity loss of 14%. New ppliction rchitectures New styles of distributed pplictions bsed on Web 2.0 technology nd service-oriented rchitectures (SOAs) re hving significnt impct on the complexity of mnging ppliction performnce. With both of these ppliction rchitectures, different components of the ppliction my be distributed cross servers tht reside in geogrphiclly dispersed dt centers. This mens tht these newer forms of distributed PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PHOTO GROUP, 2008

5 THE NEW ERA OF IN 5 pplictions crete dditionl flows tht trverse the enterprise WAN. The dditionl dt flows increse the sources of dely, pcket loss nd jitter while complicting the performnce monitoring process nd demnding incresed levels of relibility. Resource consolidtion/ centrliztion Mny lrge enterprises hve ongoing progrms to consolidte IT resources by centrlizing server, ppliction nd dt resources in smll number of dt centers. With centrliztion, the brnch office user ccesses enterprise pplictions over the WAN rther thn on locl server. Centrliztion cn result in drmtic reduction of the costs relted to server nd ppliction deployment, s well s gretly enhncing the enterprise s security posture. However, centrliztion increses the volume of business-criticl trffic tht trverses the enterprise WAN nd subjects remote end users to the trvils of longer response times tht result from the WAN s limited bndwidth nd higher ltency. The impct of higher WAN ltency is prticulrly pronounced in those instnces in which chtty protocol (which cn tke hundreds of roundtrips to complete single trnsction) trverses the WAN. In order to mitigte problems such s those tht rise from running chtty protocol over WAN, IT deprtments hve deployed WAN optimiztion controllers (WOCs). WOCs use vriety of techniques to reduce bndwidth consumption nd offset the effects of high WAN ltencies. The combintion of the centrliztion of IT resources nd the deployment of WOCs hs incresed the demnd for performnce mngement solutions tht cn help monitor nd mnge the cceptble performnce of criticl pplictions over the WAN nd verify the benefits of WOC deployment. Virtuliztion The virtuliztion of servers nd storge is now well-estblished spect of IT progrms for consolidtion nd centrliztion of resources. In ddition, ppliction virtuliztion nd desktop virtuliztion re two emerging technologies tht re prticulrly effective in simplifying the mngement of end-user systems becuse they stremline the IT tsks relted to desktop nd ppliction support. With ppliction nd desktop virtuliztion, end-user QoE for lmost ll pplictions, including personl productivity pplictions, becomes highly dependent on network performnce. With server virtuliztion, ll the mngement cpbilities employed for physicl servers must be extended to cover the virtulized environment s well. For exmple, mngement systems tht rely on utomtic discovery of the network topology must be ble to develop n integrted view of the physicl nd virtul environ-

6 THE NEW ERA OF IN ments. This integrted view of the infrstructure must be ble to ccommodte the dynmic nture of the virtul environment where virtul mchines cn be utomticlly or mnully moved from one physicl server to nother. Server virtuliztion presents number of chllenges for performnce mngement. For exmple, the VMs tht reside on given physicl server communicte with ech other using virtul switch function within the server s hypervisor softwre. Unfortuntely, unlike the typicl physicl switch, vswitch typiclly provides limited trffic visibility for the trffic tht is internl to the physicl server. In ddition, prior to virtuliztion, most server pltforms were dedicted to single ppliction. With server virtuliztion, virtul mchines shre the server s CPU nd I/O resources. Oversubscription of virtul mchines on physicl server cn result in ppliction performnce problems becuse of fctors such s limited CPU cycles or I/O bottlenecks. While these problems cn occur in trditionl physicl server, they re more likely to occur in virtulized server becuse of consolidtion of multiple pplictions onto single shred physicl server. Top resons for purchsing network mngement products In survey of the SerchNetworking.com udience, reders predicted tht disster recovery requirements, incresed pplictions trffic in generl, nd mnging virtul environments would be their top-three resons for purchsing network mngement products in Incresed video/multimedi trffic Incresed need for security mngement Increses remote/brnch offices Mnging virtul environments Incresed pplictions trffic Disster recovery requirements SOURCE: SEARCHING.COM PURCHASING INTENTIONS SURVEY, AUGUST 2009

7 BLUE COAT GIVES YOU VISIBILITY Blue Cot gives you unmtched visibility into the security nd performnce of mission criticl pplictions so you cn respond quickly to chnging business requirements, enhnce productivity nd contin costs. Lern more t bluecot.com/controlisyours 2009 Blue Cot Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. CONTROL IS YOURS TM

8 THE NEW ERA OF IN The role of performnce mngement in ppliction delivery 2 The ide of network performnce now encompsses ppliction performnce. This chpter outlines how to use network mngement tools to pply n ppliction delivery frmework to the IT environment. 8 IN THE PAST, most IT orgniztions concentrted their mngement ttention on individul technology domins (e.g., the LAN, WAN, servers, dtbses, minfrmes, etc.) with the ssumption tht if ech of these technology domins is performing well, the pplictions tht utilize these domins re performing well. Unfortuntely, this bottom-up pproch hs not proven to be very effective. To be more successful with the mngement component of ppliction delivery, IT orgniztions need to implement top-down, ppliction-focused strtegy comprising

9 THE NEW ERA OF IN 9 severl functions. Discover the pplictions In order to mnge ppliction delivery, IT orgniztions need to know wht pplictions re running over the network. The typicl enterprise hs hundreds of pplictions, however. It is impossible to ccurtely discover hundreds of pplictions mnully. Hence, IT orgniztions need to implement tools tht will enble them to utomticlly discover ll the pplictions tht re consuming network bndwidth. Identify business-criticl pplictions As noted, the typicl enterprise hs hundreds of pplictions. However, not ll of these pplictions re eqully importnt. An IT orgniztion will not be successful with ppliction delivery if it ttempts to focus its mngement ttention eqully on ech ppliction. Insted, n IT orgniztion must use combintion of technology nd n understnding of its compny s business processes to identify nd focus on smll set of pplictions tht re criticl to the successful execution of the compny s key business processes. IT orgniztions lso must identify other key clsses of trffic. Obviously, they should identify mlwre nd eliminte it, nd they should identify recretionl pplictions nd eliminte or control the use of these pplictions bsed on compny policy. Steps to ppliction delivery nd performnce Discover ll pplictions Define wht s business criticl Write SLAs Identify key IT components Estblish performnce gols Bseline pps nd IT components Implement problem resolution Develop service-level greements Once the IT orgniztion hs identified the compny s business-criticl pplictions, the next step is to begin to crft service-level greement (SLA) for those pplictions. The SLA should contin brief description of ech ppliction, some importnt fetures of ech ppliction, nd set of QoE metrics or performnce indictors tht correlte well to QoE. Identify key components of IT After the IT orgniztion hs identified core set of criticl business pplictions, it must identify the key components of the IT infrstructure tht supports them. These components deserve higher level of mngement ttention becuse if one of them is unvilble or is not performing well, one or more of the comp-

10 THE NEW ERA OF IN 10 ny s criticl business pplictions is likely to suffer. Estblish nd monitor performnce trgets The IT orgniztion must quntify how the performnce of its key IT infrstructure components ffects performnce of the compny s criticl business pplictions. For exmple, IT must understnd how WAN dely ffects the response time of criticl ppliction such s CRM. The results of this exercise cn help in refining the set of performnce indictors used in defining SLAs nd cn lso be used to set thresholds in performnce mngement tools. These thresholds cn be used to trigger dignostic or remedil ctions. Bseline criticl pplictions nd key IT resources The performnce of both n ppliction nd the subtending IT infrstructure vries by time of dy, dy of the week, week of the qurter, nd qurter of the fiscl yer. Hving bseline to define norml ppliction nd infrstructure behvior enbles IT to identify nomlous behvior. In some cses, this nomlous behvior reflects n underlying problem requiring investigtion; in others, it cn reflect potentil security incident or degrdtion in performnce cused by trnsient event, such s user downloding lrge file. Hving bseline lso enbles n IT orgniztion to mesure the impct of deploying new ppliction or mking chnge to the IT infrstructure. Implement rpid problem identifiction nd resolution Despite efforts to become more proctive, there will lwys be unpredictble incidents. IT orgniztions must implement the tools nd processes necessry to quickly respond to sitution once it hs ffected the end user. Prt of this inititive is prioritizing troubles bsed on their potentil business impct. In order to detect problems before users re ffected, estblished bselines nd performnce thresholds cn be used to generte lerts utomticlly nd to trigger utomted remedil ction or dignostics to help determine the root cuse of the problem or potentil problem. As IT orgniztions go through the plnning nd implementtion phses of ppliction delivery following frmework similr to the one outlined bove, it becomes pprent tht optimizing pplictions delivery depends in lrge degree on the functionlity of the ppliction mngement solutions tht re deployed. Therefore, plnning n ppliction delivery strtegy is tightly interwoven with the tsks of selecting ppliction mngement nd WAN optimiztion solutions. These solutions must complement one nother nd provide the right combined functionlity to meet the needs of prticulr enterprise.

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12 THE NEW ERA OF IN Advnced network performnce mngement cpbilities 3 Tody's network performnce products do much more thn simply monitor pckets. This chpter covers dvnced cpbilities from severl vendors tht IT professionls cn leverge to sve time nd effort nd simplify dministrtion. 12 IT ORGANIZATIONS CAN leverge mny recent dvnces in performnce mngement to improve the effectiveness of ppliction delivery. In this chpter, we ll describe some of these dvnced cpbilities. Prticulr performnce mngement products my be cited s prt of these descriptions in order to provide exmples of ech cpbility. These instnces re provided for illustrtion purposes nd re not intended to be complete listing of every product tht supports given cpbility. As n dditionl cvet, it should be noted tht no ttempt hs been mde to judge, nor re we rec-

13 THE NEW ERA OF IN 13 ommending, ny cited product s being best in clss. RECOGNITION Automted discovery of networked pplictions is fundmentl requirement nd the first step of mnging ppliction delivery. In ddition, performnce mngement systems must be ble to identify underlying network trffic on both flow-by-flow bsis nd pcket-by-pcket bsis. This is required in order to ccurtely trck bndwidth utiliztion nd ppliction response-time metrics. Trditionl techniques tht switches nd routers use to identify pplictions (such s Cisco s NBAR network-bsed ppliction recognition functionlity) rely on prsing the IP pcket heders for 5-tuple informtion. The informtion is composed of source/destintion IP ddresses, TCP/ UDP protocol types, nd source/destintion port numbers. This pproch is dequte to mp flows nd pckets to most enterprise Smple trffic flow The tble shows smple output from toll such s Cisco NBAR, which identifies ppliction trffic bsed on IP pcket heders. Note the lrge volumes of trffic ttributed to HTTP-URL nd unclssified. /PROTOCOL PACKETS PER FLOW % OF TOTAL TRAFFIC RTP 217 9% Telnet 158 7% HTTP - URL % FTP 216 9% SMTP 96 4% Citrix ICA % SAP 216 9% WinMX 118 5% edonkey 220 9% Unclssifible trffic % Totl 2, % SOURCE: CISCO, BASED RECOGNITION ANALYSIS

14 THE NEW ERA OF IN 14 pplictions where the IP ddresses of the ppliction servers cn be trcked with reltive ese. Severl ppliction performnce vendors now lso use 5-tuple ppliction identifiction. This type of Lyer 4 ppliction identifiction flls short when identifying pplictions such s Skype or Npster tht use dynmiclly selected port numbers, or in differentiting mong different tsks tht my be performed vi single TCP/IP port number by single ppliction server. Enhnced ppliction wreness cn be chieved with specil pplinces or probes tht cn perform deep pcket inspection (DPI) to find ppliction identifiers nd ppliction tsk identifiers deeper within the pcket pylod. In order to perform DPI t the LAN wire speeds required in the dt center, these pplinces typiclly need some form of hrdwre-ssisted pcket processing. The Exind Networks Unified Performnce Mngement solution, which integrtes some ppliction performnce mngement functions nd WAN optimiztion in single pplince, uses DPI to recognize ppliction lyer signtures for both enterprise pplictions nd recretionl pplictions, such s peer-topeer nd file shring. Fluke Networks Visul Performnce Monitor Anlysis Service Element (ASE) probes lso cn perform DPI-bsed ppliction recognition. ASEs re generlly deployed t remote sites to monitor how pplictions re consuming WAN bndwidth. MULTI-LEVEL VISIBILITY Visibility is something of n overused term tht refers to the bility of the IT orgniztion to ccess dt relted to network or ppliction performnce t different levels of grnulrity. The hierrchy of dt grnulrity hs number of levels, including: SNMP MIBs: Simple Network Mngement Protocol Mngement Informtion Bses (SNMP MIBs) on network devices, such s switches nd routers, provide dt-link lyer visibility cross the enterprise network nd cpture prmeters such s the number of pckets sent nd received over n interfce nd the number of pckets tht re discrded, s well s the overll link utiliztion. However, this level of dt ggregtes trffic from ll pplictions nd cnnot be used to identify which network users or pplictions re consuming the bndwidth. Network flows: A network flow is defined s unidirectionl sequence of pckets between given source nd destintion. Flow dt from network elements cn be collected nd nlyzed to quntify overll link utiliztion s well s exploit 5-tuple informtion to identify which network users or pplictions re consuming bndwidth. The most populr source

15 THE NEW ERA OF IN 15 of flow informtion is Cisco NetFlow, which is feture of Cisco IOS softwre. Most performnce mngement systems cn leverge flow-level dt from NetFlow nd similr dt sources. A number of vendors gther nd nlyze network flow dt from infrstructure gents, including Net- QoS, Cisco, NetScout, CA ehelth nd Lncope. Another set of vendors, including NetQoS, NetScout, Riverbed/Mzu Networks, InfoVist nd Lncope, perform collection of this sort of flow dt vi probes on network tps or mirrored switch ports. Network pth dt: The next level of dt grnulrity focuses on gthering performnce dt reltive to end-to-end pths through the network. At this level, performnce mngement system cn monitor n entire end-to-end pth in order to determine which elements on the pth re responsible for excessive dely or pcket loss. Another spect of pth visibility is the bility to trck network performnce within VPN cloud or over the Internet. AppCriticl, from Apprent Networks, is n exmple of performnce mngement ppliction tht provides nlysis of end-to-end network pths in rel time by using non-pplictionspecific synthetic trffic. AppCriticl cn continuously monitor the cpcity nd qulity of thousnds of network pths in rel time. This pproch cn be effective in dignosing problems or lerting IT stff to possible impending performnce shortflls. Pcket-level dt: In order to respond to the chllenges of dignosing problems rpidly nd tking preemptive ction to prevent potentil problems from ffecting end users, IT orgniztions often need the pcketlevel detil tht is supplied by deploying deep pcket cpture pplinces. A typicl pproch, prtly driven by economics, is to rely on mngement dt from SNMP MIBs nd NetFlow in smll sites nd ugment this with pcket-level detil gthered from dedicted pplinces in lrger, more strtegic sites. The introduction into the mrket of lower-cost pcket cpture pplinces would llow broder deployment of these devices. NetScout ngenius InfiniStrem is n exmple of deep pcket cpture pplince tht cn be used in conjunction with ngenius K2 softwre running on n ngenius Performnce Mnger server to perform sttisticl behvior modeling nd nomly detection to the pcket-level flow dt. OPNET ACE Live nd ACE Anlyst re other solutions cpble of pcket cpture nd nlysis. Both of these systems cn help to determine the root cuses of ppliction degrdtion. REAL-TIME MONITORING/ANALYSIS OF METRICS By monitoring metrics such s ppliction response time, vilbility, ltency, jitter, nd pcket loss nd

16 THE NEW ERA OF IN 16 compring rel-time mesurements with estblished bselines nd thresholds, the performnce mngement system cn issue lerts on performnce trends nd performnce degrdtion to llow problems to be detected nd ddressed before they ffect end users. For exmple, gthering ppliction response time dt typiclly requires the deployment of n ppliction-wre pplince in the dt center, which my lso be ble to drill down to mesure the response time experienced by n individul user. The Fluke Networks Appliction Performnce Applince is n exmple of dt center device tht provides visibility of end-user response times for multi-tiered business pplictions, with visibility down to the level of individul users nd trnsctions. Net- QoS SuperAgent, the ppliction performnce mngement module within NetQoS Performnce Center, cn monitor every TCP ppliction pcket to mesure ppliction response time nd to identify the network, server nd ppliction components of endto-end ltency. (Note tht t publiction time, NetQoS hd entered into n greement to be cquired by CA.) In ddition to response time, performnce mngement systems cn provide rel-time monitoring of metrics such s pcket loss, ltency nd jitter tht my be gthered either s n ggregte figure for n end-to-end pth or t level of detil tht focuses on specific pplictions or individul user flows. The NetScout ngenius K2 ppliction monitors nd nlyzes rnge of key performnce indictors, including response time, pcket loss, ltency nd jitter. Performnce monitoring functionlity cn lso be linked with utomted dignostic cpbilities tht cn leverge visibility into multiple levels of the dt hierrchy described bove to identify the cuse of performnce degrdtion. For exmple, utomted nlysis of performnce nomlies or degrdtion trends cn result in the resolution of potentil problems before they ffect users. Exmples of performnce nlysis tools with predictive cpbilities include NetQoS s Performnce Center Predictive Problem Resolution nd NetScout s ngenius K2. INTEGRATION WITH FAULT IT orgniztions focusing on ppliction delivery need to improve their troubleshooting cpbilities in order to better isolte end users from ppliction shortflls nd to improve men time to resolution (MTTR) of performnce problems nd fults. This improvement cn be chieved vi tight integrtion of ppliction performnce mngement functionlity with fult mngement. An integrted performnce/fult mngement system is cpble of leverging topology informtion to utomticlly perform detiled root-cuse nlysis to determine smll set of probble

17 THE NEW ERA OF IN 17 cuses of the performnce degrdtion or fult. With root-cuse nlysis, the IT orgniztion cn investigte ech of the probble cuses in prllel, gretly reducing MTTR. For exmple, HP Performnce Insight Softwre cn be integrted with Network Node Mnger fult mngement vi utomted network lifecycle mngement. CA is nother exmple of vendor tht provides integrted fult nd performnce mngement solutions with ehelth Performnce Mnger nd Spectrum Infrstructure Mnger integrted vi CA Spectrum Automtion Mnger. VIRTUALIZATION As noted erlier, fult nd performnce mngement of physicl servers lso needs to be extended into the virtulized environment, idelly with common set of tools. This llows trffic visibility nd nlysis, topology discovery, event correltion, nd rootcuse nlysis to be just s effective in the physicl/virtul environment s they re in purely physicl server environment. Virtul switches such s the VMwre vswitch cn now export NetFlow dt to Netflow collectors, providing visibility of network flows mong virtul servers in the sme physicl mchine. Performnce mngement products re now beginning to leverge this cpbility by collecting nd nlyzing NetFlow dt mong virtul mchines on the sme physicl pltform. NetQoS nd Lncope re two vendors with performnce mngement products tht provide this sort of functionlity. Another pproch to virtulizing performnce mngement is to run trffic monitoring softwre on virtul mchine or virtul pplince within the virtulized server. This llows monitoring performnce for trffic flows of multi-tiered pplictions throughout the virtul environment. The NetQoS Response Time Virtul Collector is n exmple of virtul mchine softwre tht mesures ppliction response time for enterprise pplictions running in virtul mchines. The Lncope StelthWtch FlowSensor VE is virtul pplince for VMwre ESX servers tht cptures trffic sttistics t the flow nd pcket levels to monitor performnce nd discover the virtul topology even s virtul mchines re moved vi VMwre VMotion. FlowSensor lso enhnces security by performing behvior-bsed nomly detection of trffic flowing through the vswitch. While chnges in the virtul topology cn be glened from flow nlysis, more direct pproch is to ccess dt in the virtul server environment s mngement system. Gthering dt from this source lso provides ccess to performnce informtion, such s CPU utiliztion nd memory utiliztion, for specific VMs. For exmple, the NetQoS Performnce Center leverges the

18 THE NEW ERA OF IN VMwre vcenter API to extrct this sort of informtion from vcenter. Integrted with CA ehelth Performnce Mnger nd CA Spectrum Infrstructure Mnger, CA Virtul Performnce Mngement polls VMwre vcenter servers for informtion tht cn be used in dignosing performnce problems, fult isoltion, nd root-cuse nlysis. INTEGRATING TOOLS A number of emerging performnce mngement solutions hve dvnced functionlity to help IT orgniztions cope with some of the chllenges they fce in implementing comprehensive strtegy imed t meeting QoE levels for brod rnge of business-criticl pplictions. The product selection process generlly involves dditionl considertions beyond functionlity, however. These other considertions include fctors such s ese of integrtion with the existing toolset nd overlp with the cpbilities of existing tools. Idelly, IT cn settle on reltively smll set of well-integrted tools tht not only meets the needs of ssured ppliction delivery but lso cn be dopted by ll the enterprise s mngement domins (network, server, ppliction, nd networked storge) nd hence function s common ground for coopertion nd communiction. Another emerging spect of mngement tool integrtion is the integrtion between WOC mngement systems nd performnce mngement systems. Integrtion of this sort cn potentilly benefit both enterprise IT orgniztions nd providers of mnged WAN optimiztion services. For exmple, Cisco hs ddressed this re for WAAS (Wide Are Appliction Services) products through prtnership with vendors such s NetQoS nd Fluke Networks, while Riverbed cquired the Cscde network behvior performnce mngement system vi the buyout of Mzu Networks. In third pproch to this sort of integrtion, Exind Networks hs incorported ppliction performnce mngement s one of the bsic fetures of its WAN optimiztion solutions. 18 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jim Metzler is widely recognized s n uthority on both network technology nd its business pplictions. In more thn 30 yers of professionl experience, Jim hs worked in lmost every spect of the networking industry. This includes creting softwre tools to design customer networks for mjor IXC; being n engineering mnger for high-speed dt services for mjor telecom crrier; being product mnger for network hrdwre; mnging networks t two Fortune 500 compnies; directing nd performing mrket reserch t mjor industry nlyst firm; nd running consulting orgniztion.

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20 RESOURCES FROM OUR SPONSORS q Appliction Visibility nd Monitoring: An Integrted Approch to Appliction Delivery q 5 Resons Why You Need Better Visibility of Your Network q Visibility nd Optimiztion for Networked Applictions q Performnce First : A Performnce Mindset for Network Mngement Keeps Orgniztions Functioning t Optimum Levels q Adpt or Die: The Network Performnce Impertive q The Forrester Consulting: The Totl Economic Impct Of NetQoS Performnce Center Single Compny Anlysis q Improving Service Delivery Performnce q Instrumenttion Best Prctices for Optiml Service Delivery Mngement q Response Time Anlysis for Networked Applictions q Enterprise Solutions 19 q Service Provider Solutions q White Ppers, Webcsts nd Free Tril Softwre