Network management station

FCAPS is the ISO Telecommunications Management Network model and framework for network management. FCAPS is an acronym for fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security, the management categories into which the ISO model defines network management tasks. In non-billing organizations accounting is sometimes replaced with administration. FCAPS is the ISO Telecommunications Management Network model and framework for network management. FCAPS is an acronym for fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security, the management categories into which the ISO model defines network management tasks. In non-billing organizations accounting is sometimes replaced with administration. The ISO, under the direction of the OSI group, has created a network management model as the primary means for understanding the major functions of network management systems. The model in question is interchangeably called either the OSI network management model or ISO network management model so the full name could be the OSI/ISO network management model. The comprehensive management of an organization's information technology (IT) infrastructure is a fundamental requirement. Employees and customers rely on IT services where availability and performance are mandated, and problems can be quickly identified and resolved. Mean time to repair (MTTR) must be as short as possible to avoid system downtimes where a loss of revenue or lives is possible. In the early 1980s the term FCAPS was introduced within the first Working Drafts (N1719) of ISO 10040, the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Systems Management Overview (SMO) standard. At that time the intention was to define five separate protocol standards, one for each functional area. Since initial experiences showed that these protocols would become very similar, the ISO working group responsible for the development of these protocols (ISO/TC97/SC16/WG4, later renamed into ISO-IEC/JTC1/SC21/WG4) decided to create a single protocol for all five areas instead. This protocol is called common management information protocol (CMIP). In the 1990s the ITU-T, as part of their work on Telecommunications Management Network (TMN), further refined the FCAPS as part of the TMN recommendation on Management Functions (M.3400). The idea of FCAPS turned out to be very useful for teaching network management functions; most textbooks therefore start with a section that explains the FCAPS. The OSI network management model categorizes five areas of function, sometimes referred to as the 'FCAPS model:' FCAPS can be seen as the predecessor of the newer FAB model defined in the Business Process Framework (eTOM). FAB is short for fulfillment, assurance, billing. As guideline, you can map the two models as follows: The FCAPS model can be seen as bottom-up or network-centric. The FAB model looks at the processes more from top-down, is customer/business-centric. The two standards that have emerged are Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) by IETF and Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) by ITU-T. A fault is an event that has a lot of significance. The goal of fault management is to recognize, isolate, correct and log faults that occur in the network. Furthermore, it uses trend analysis to predict errors so that the network is always available. This can be established by monitoring different things for abnormal behavior. When a fault or event occurs, a network component will often send a notification to the network operator using either a proprietary or open protocol such as SNMP (such as WhatsUp Gold, HP OpenView or Sun Solstice–formerly Net Manager), to collect information about network devices or at least write a message to its console for a console server to catch and log/page. In turn, the management station can be configured to make a network administrator aware of problems (by email, paging, or on-screen messages), allowing appropriate action to be taken. This notification is supposed to trigger manual or automatic activities. For example, the gathering of more data to identify the nature and severity of the problem or to bring backup equipment on-line.