agentless network inventory

Gartner, Inc. had developed a Gartner's Networking Maturity Model to enable network teams to identify shortcomings, to establish priorities, and to set goals for improvement (Pultz, 2005). This network maturity model describes network maturity in five phases: Chaotic, Reactive, Proactive, Managed, and Optimal as illustrated in Figure 1. In the initial, Chaotic phase, the network is undocumented. There is no procedure in place to guide employees’ actions when problems arise; only ad hoc approaches that are applied on an individual or case-by-case basis.

The overall approach to management is agentless network inventory disorganized. In the Reactive phase, processes have been developed to the stage where similar procedures are followed by different people undertaking the same task. There is no formal training or communication of standard procedures, and responsibility is left to the individual. Network administrators deal with networking problems after they had occurred. In the Proactive phase, procedures have been standardized, documented, and communicated through training. Network personnel sets thresholds on various parameters for the network management tools to send warnings to alert the personnel before network problems arise. In addition, network administrators record trends of network usage and proactively management the utilization.