I agree that there's alot of interest in ITIL but I'm not so sure it offers a conceptual model that makes sense of network management. ITIL is more generic that FCAPS so it would be like describing scientific method in terms of Aristotle's concepts of form and matter. Bad analogy? The usefulness that I see in the model is it's ability to present a big picture of the functional areas that must be addressed if an enterprise or sp is to manage a network well. It's a communication device. When you explain to someone who has never heard of it that well run networks have teams that manage network faults, network configuration, network accounting, performance and security....they tend to go, "oh yeah. I see." The question I am asking is whether or not there are key activities that are outside FCAPS but nonetheless essential these days to running a network....with the overarching awareness that there are some activities that are so generic that they don't warrant being specifically part of the mission of network managers .... At 02:59 PM 11/10/2004, Irwin Lazar wrote:
We see a lot of interest among enterprises in ITIL for IT service management, which I'm guessing would overlap the FCAPS framework. Is anyone investing it for the SP side?
(what's ITIL? - http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp?id=2261)
Irwin
From: Christian Kuhtz <christian.kuhtz@BELLSOUTH.COM> Date: Tue, 09 Nov 2004 13:23:31 -0500 To: Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com>, "Hannigan, Martin" <hannigan@verisign.com> Cc: <nanog@merit.edu> Subject: Re: Status of FCAPS model? Useful? Obsolete?
Seems the latest cluster of hype is around (e)TOM from the TMF, much more than strict FCAPS etc.
On 11/9/04 1:13 AM, "Sean Donelan" <sean@donelan.com> wrote:
On Mon, 8 Nov 2004, Hannigan, Martin wrote:
Does the FCAPS model still hold currency among network managers/engineers today?
What's FCAPS?
I suppose that answers the question whether FCAPS holds currency among network managers/engineers.
It is an ITU-T developed network management model composed of Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security (FCAPS).
Some people think it is a mandatory specification for how to manage a network; other people think it is an antiquated view of telecom network management; and yet other people think it is as relevant as the ISO 7-layer network model.
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