Leveraging Route Analytics to Support Routing Operations Best Practices
by Packet Design
Published 2005, Posted October 2005

Abstract:

IP routing is one of network management's most complex domains. And no wonder. Not only are routing protocols highly automated and distributed in nature, but routing errors can have a large-scale, sometimes calamitous, impact on quality and availability across the entire network.

Network engineers performing routine routing management tasks are at a significant disadvantage today because they lack both the global visibility to understand distributed routing dynamics, and the automation to quickly gather and interpret dynamically changing routing state. Without these capabilities, they often find themselves working with inaccurate information when planning and executing changes in the network, leading to costly and time-consuming errors; lower confidence in executing, validating and documenting network changes; and ultimately slower responsiveness to customer requirements. Analyst and academic studies bear this out, noting that routing misconfigurations contribute significantly to network downtime, as well as application and VoIP quality and availability problems, even in carrier-class IP networks with highly disciplined network engineering processes and practices.

Route analytics provides the first network management platform for empowering accurate and timely routing management best practices. Deployed by dozens of the largest enterprises, service providers, government and military agencies and educational institutions, route analytics solutions offers unprecedented network-wide routing visibility, re-playable routing history, automated analysis, and change modeling capabilities that, integrated into network engineering practices, enable IT departments to deliver greater accuracy, confidence, responsiveness and service quality.

This white paper reviews the challenges of current routing management practices and their implications for IT performance, introduces route analytics routing management capabilities, then provides three detailed examples of how route analytics can uniquely empower routing operations best practices.

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