8CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT
| Reducing Downtime | Network downtime can affect your business and its productivity. When | 
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 | this happens, it is important that you restore connections as quickly as | 
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 | possible. | 
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 | Reactive network management does reduce downtime by responding to | 
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 | device and link failures. However, a network management solution | 
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 | provides you with a proactive management capability. This reduces the | 
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 | number and severity of failures and can help avoid downtime altogether. | 
| Improving | Network topology and monitoring information give you an accurate view | 
| Performance | of your network’s structure and traffic rates. Using this information you | 
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 | can make changes to the structure of your network to improve its | 
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 | performance. | 
| Freeing Up Personnel | Using a network management solution which gives a full view of your | 
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 | network and actively warns you of problems, reduces the  | 
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 | demands on personnel to find and fix problems. This automation allows | 
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 | people to focus on key management activities. | 
| Reducing Equipment | Network management enables you to make better use of current | 
| Costs | equipment, delaying expensive and disruptive upgrades until they are | 
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 | necessary. Understanding your network also enables you to choose | 
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 | upgrades that give the best return for any investment. | 
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| Key Network | The key network management functions described here are useful tools | 
| Management | which help to deliver the benefits of network management described in | 
| Functions | “The Benefits of Network Management”. | 
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 | ■ Monitoring Network Capacity | 
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 | ■ Predicting Problem Links and Devices | 
| Monitoring Network | This lets you track recurring bottlenecks and plan for a regulated | 
| Capacity | expansion of the capacity (bandwidth) available to your users. | 
