Network Capacity Management - Why Few Do It, but Everyone Should - Part II

In my last blog I discussed the need for a Network Capacity Management program and what should go into that program.

So, now that you have a policy and know what you need to monitor, there are plenty of software tools around to do the job (in fact, do I dare complain that there are too many options?). Vendors fall over themselves to convince IT departments of the need for their capacity management tools. But because no single tool is a silver bullet, users can become quickly disillusioned. Some tools are very good and provide stellar information, but none shows everything. Worse yet, no one tool could ever provide a single picture to answer to all capacity questions. Capacity management is an analytical process that must be done by an intelligent entity that can understand business requirements, application traffic patterns, costs, and needs. That requires a person. So the first problem network managers discover with capacity management is that it is always labor intensive. This means that it must be elevated to a strategic program and given resources including at least a mid-level engineer, assigned to run the capacity management program.

That's part of the reason why I feel IT departments rarely continue, or sometimes even begin, a capacity management program. Before assigning resources, IT departments must show a direct business benefit. For IT groups that have little experience with capacity management, this can be a tall order. Networks have historically been considered an overhead expense to the business – and the goal of every overhead expense is to keep it as low as possible. Simply knowing if the network was down and when to add more bandwidth (which can be easily tracked with free software) is simple. All the other information that capacity management programs could provide has been considered auxiliary or couldn't be translated into business benefits. But, as I mentioned before, times are changing and capacity management is needed.

So, now that you have a policy and the tools, you need a person to do the analysis. This person understands the policy and the business goals, uses the tools to look through all the data, and makes decisions and recommendations. This is a recurring process that, at minimum, should occur once a month. This is in conjunction with the automated alerts the tools can provide (for example, alerting if delay jumps to 500 ms on your circuit to India). This person also produces the recurring reports for management and customers. I have found this needs a middle level engineer, but is also a good learning process for an ambitious junior engineer.

Enterprise network capacity management is rapidly approaching requirement. While it does require investment, if done right, the payoff can be substantial. If you have customers, develop a service offering that demonstrates why they need a program. If you're in IT, do the same and challenge your management to support a program. The benefits are there. It will make your network and your business better.