If you manage or operate an industrial automation network, then network management is something that you are already doing. All of the activities that are involved in configuring, maintaining, monitoring, and troubleshooting your network are network management. For example, it is important to know which parts of your network are dependent on each other, how heavily each section of the network is being used, whether some devices are more prone to failure than others, and when devices should be replaced to prevent failure while in use. In industrial networks, chances are that most of these complicated tasks are done manually. Would it be not ideal to automate these management tasks with software in order to improve the efficiency of the process? That is exactly what network management software (NMS) does.
What is network management software (NMS)?
With network management software, it is possible to quickly to assess the health of your most valuable asset: the network. Many networks today are so complex that if something goes wrong it takes a long time to locate the problem. In this kind of situation, attempting to fix the problem without an accurate picture of what is wrong amounts to trouble-shooting in the dark. With proactive network monitoring, it is possible to locate problems before they become emergencies, and locate emergencies before they become catastrophes.
Enterprise-based information technology administrators have long enjoyed the benefits of NMS on enterprise networks. With NMS, IT administrators can identify which services are most heavily used and when or where to add more resources that maximise uptime. Industrial automation (IA) engineers, envying the efficiency and reliability that NMS provides to IT networks, have long wished that a similar solution existed for their own networks. Some have even gone so far as to attempt to use existing enterprise NMS (eNMS) software for their industrial networks. Unfortunately, the results have been less than ideal.
Shortcomings of eNMS in industrial networks
The problem is that most NMS software packages available today are not actually network management software in the broad sense of the term: they are actually enterprise network management software (eNMS). eNMS is an excellent solution when used in the scenarios for which it is designed: IP-based office networks, commonly arranged in a dual tree or star topology. But when eNMS attempts to manage industrial networks, it is like asking a F1 race car to run an off-road rally course: eNMS simply is not designed for the rigors of this kind of challenge. A number of key obstacles prevent eNMS software from truly fulfilling the dreams of IA engineers.
Readers wanting to read the full white paper and find out more about Moxa’s new industrial iNMS solution can visit: http://instrumentation.co.za/+C13995
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