The network is up

After reviewing the Network World article on ``Biggest enterprise lie: The network is down,’’ I realized that Hartford Hospital's work to keep the network “clean” should set standards for other companies.

We have a 14,000-plus node network spanning much of the Connecticut area.

Our network team is only eight people who are responsible for the infrastructure, not servers or desktops. When I first started, we were migrating from FDDI to ATM, and our main 'Clinical ELAN' was 4,500-plus nodes. We run 350-plus NetWare, Unix and Windows servers, with Windows desktops. Our broadcast rate before we rolled out Windows Domain Services for this large virtual LAN was under 100 broadcasts per second. After we rolled out the domain, we were hitting almost 300 broadcasts per second.

A review of the desktop configurations via captures revealed problems with both server and workstation configurations. When our team was done analyzing the problem, we gave the solution to our server/desktop teams, who used Novell's Zen to drop our broadcast rate to an average 40 frames per second, with IPX still enabled.

We now have a Multi-Gig Nortel backbone, and our largest user segment is approximately 1,600 devices. We are running NetWare in PureIP mode, so IPX is long gone. Our average broadcast rate on our largest user segment is eight frames per second. Even printers get adjusted to these standards.

Applications: All applications go through our team for analysis. If we see unacceptable behavior, the application is NOT allowed to go on the network without the vendor fixing the problem. If they do not fix their application, it is not allowed onto our network. By running this so clean, our desktops are still connected at 10-half, with modalities and workstations connected at 100-Full or Gig. All user ports are locked to the respective speed/duplex settings to prevent negotiation issues. All ports are disabled unless activated (with required paperwork), and port recoveries are conducted on a regular basis.

We monitor our network with Plixer's WebNM, which has Ipswitch's WhatsUp embedded in it. This is visible to the [network operating system], and the senior IS management has access to it. So, if someone says “the network is down', we say “check WebNM.” It usually is an authentication server that is the culprit, and WebNM will show that server on its exception page.