subject: How Are You Managing Your Configuration Management? [print this page] How Are You Managing Your Configuration Management?
A big part of working in network management is not just fixing problems, but in configuring things. A lot of time is spent making changes and adding in new equipment, often moving a lot of things around. When you are working with these types of tasks, a lot of the time working at the command line is common. Yes, there are still many people who type in commands to get their work done because they have done it for so long it is simply faster.
The point of this is that when you are doing these tasks at the command line, they are performed manually. That means while it may seem fast to make these changes, you can probably use a really geeky configuration tool to get this done a whole lot faster.
Instead of typing out your configuration backups and changes, you can use software tools that can automate such commands. You can even schedule your backups for whenever you like. Plus, if you have a large amount of devices that require configuration changes, this can help you perform them all in bulk fashion. Basic reporting is even available, giving you port, MAC and version information quickly.
The great thing about automating your configurations is that once you set your routers, switches and firewalls, you can forget about them until there is a problem. If something changes in the configuration, you can set the tools to make sure that it notifies you of such problems.
If you're looking for an all-encompassing enterprise solution that is perhaps hosted on a server for an entire team to use, a simple configuration tool is not going to be enough for you. If that is the need for your organization, then you'll have to think about getting something that is more on the network management side of software applications, of which there are many options that could fit your needs.
