ArcSight NSP (Network Synergy Platform) NCM & TRM
Network Security & Configuration Management
ArcSight NCM - Simplifying Network Configuration Management
The Problem
Most organizations find that 80% of network configuration changes are tedious, Simple tasks?but they are still being performed by the enterprise's highly skilled network engineers. This is because many of these tasks require indepth knowledge of the individual network devices, network topology and a pervasive understanding of the business impacts of these changes. Often only the enterprise's most skilled engineers have this level of information and understanding of the network and all of its components. For Example:
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Performing pre-defined incident response actions
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Conducting compliance reporting
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Implementing simple change management processes
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Applying default SNMP settings
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Adjusting port speed and duplex settings
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Creating VLAN memberships
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Writing device interface descriptions
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Collecting troubleshooting information
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Completing IOS upgrades
Main Features
ArcSight NCM interacts with network devices using any combination of telnet, SSH, TACACS/Radius accounts or local accounts. NCM does not use SNMP. This architecture ensures that network operations teams do not have to make changes to the infrastructure during deployment. ( Product Brochure )
Predefined wizards provide a normalized process of changing standard settings. A Wizard Builder provides the ability to quickly define simple forms, enabling lower level support staff to implement changes or run commands without needing direct access to network devices or knowledge of command syntax. Command scripts and configuration file templates can be used to automate changes across multiple devices. And for engineers that want to work directly with the network device's CLI, there is a Webbased telnet or SSH feature that automatically captures user sessions for auditing and reporting without requiring additional steps to document actions.
Device Configuration Library ArcSight NCM automatically builds and maintains a library of configurations for each device, Provides easy rollback capabilities. Configurations can be compared to visualize changes in different revisions or across devices.
ACL, Filter and Rule Management ArcSight NCM enables network engineers to centrally view, compare and search access-control lists, filters, and firewall rules, and review changes. Predefined processes implement changes safely and consistently, without fear of being locked out of the device or accidentally taking down part of the network.
Configuration Auditing ArcSight NCM enforces configuration standards, pushes correct configurations in response to audit failures and regularly reports the status of scheduled configuration audits. A compliance dashboard provides quick status of how current network device configurations comply with the organization's standards.
Rules and User Rights ArcSight NCM provides flexible rules and granular user rights enable easy and powerful control of who can work with devices, and what, when and how they can interact with the devices.
Reporting and Topology Mapping ArcSight NCM provides quick and easy Web-based reports for network device inventory information and configuration settings. Audit and change reports summarize network configuration changes by device, device groups, user or user groups. A comprehensive 2D and 3D map accurately shows the topology of the network. Maps are automatically updated as ArcSight NCM detects changes to the network configuration.
Scheduler ArcSight NCM allows scheduled configuration changes to occur during maintenance hours.Bigger projects can be scheduled as combinations of multiple actions that depend on one another.
Network Discovery ArcSight NCM supports automatic network device discovery or can leverage data from existing network management applications already performing device discovery.
Integrations ArcSight NCM provides customizable notification messages that can be sent as email, SysLog messages to other applications or generate trouble tickets. For quick and easy integrations with any type of security or network management
system, ArcSight NCM provides an integration plug-in tool. In addition, ArcSight NCM provides a SOAP/XML interface that can be used for tight integration with the organization's own internally developed applications.
