Deploying Your NMS

Owned by Mark Henry (Unlicensed)
Last updated: May 20, 2020
2 min read

Why?

Simon Sinek said it best - "Start with Why."

Yes, you can download our installers, or our virtual machine, get the software installed, and start throwing devices into it with no preparation or forethought. After all, we designed it to work right out of the box for the majority of users. So, why all this fuss about deploying your NMIS? Because there's a huge gulf between just getting by and being successful. In this guide, we're going to lay out a framework you can follow which will help you identify key decision points, understand the pros and cons of each (as well as potential impact), and in this way you can understand the WHY of those decisions.

After all, information is power. Understanding what you can do, how you can do it, and why you should/shouldn't will empower you to make better decisions.

Introduction to the Process

FIRST, PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM YOUR KEYBOARD.

Deploying an NMS solution requires a bit of forethought and planning. A couple of hours spent thinking through what you want to accomplish, the challenges you want to address, and then creating a plan on how you will get from A to Z will pay off dividends in faster deployments, more stable implementations, and improved reliability. You are also more likely to reach the end-goal you desire, as opposed to falling short.

Like most software implementations, deploying an NMS solution is best done in 5-steps:


Click the title of each section below to access detailed guides...

  • Research - Understand both what your challenges are, as well as what the solution(s) you have licensed can do for you.
  • Plan - Architect your solution, determine initial configuration/setup, create processes for deployment and rollback.
  • Implement - Execute your plan, test, and validate the deployment.
  • Observe - Monitor the system for performance, operation, and results.
  • Adjust - use your observations as inputs to adjust your Plan


A Note on Change Management

This process guide addresses the planning needs to successfully deploy your NMS solution. It does NOT address the change management requirements. The deployment of a new NMS solution will mean changes to processes - how are devices added/updated/retired; what are the steps/clicks to discovering information or reporting outages, etc. All of these changes will entail some adjustments to the physical processes users take from what they click, to what presentations they view. Which means change management MUST be included.