What Is Configuration Management?

Evolution of configuration management

Department of Defense 1950s

Roots of configuration management can be traced back to 1950s when the United States Department of Defense introduced it as part of the overall process to provide oversight on defense equipment. This was done as a technical discipline to manage hardware and other material items. Configuration management was the process to maintain consistency of the functionality and performance with the requirements and design throughout the lifecycle of defense equipment.

Network management 1980s

In the early 1980s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) introduced the FCAPS (fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security) model both as the standard and primary means for understanding major functions of network management. This was done to move away from a reactive form of network management to a proactive approach, as, for example, to empower administrators to take more control of their infrastructure to identify and rectify minor issues before they become major problems. Configuration management provides visibility and control of all attributes of the network. It is a critical capability that is foundational to all other network management functions.

IT Service Management 1990s

In the 1990s, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation embarked on the journey to create the industry's most widely accepted best practices guidance for IT Service Management (ITSM). Configuration management helps ensure that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services and its components are available where and when needed. As adoption of the ITIL framework gained momentum, organizations started integrating network configuration management with IT service management to enhance visibility across IT services and reduce operational costs.

Network configuration management

What is network configuration management?

Network configuration management is the process of maintaining configuration information for optimal functioning of a network, as well as the lifecycle management of the network and its components.

Network configuration management can be summarized as:

• Collecting and maintaining inventory of network device hardware, software, other components, and their configurations, and securing access to this information
• Recording physical and logical network topology, as well as relationships among network components
• Defining and maintaining standard asset configurations and software images
• Managing changes to device configurations and software, auditing all changes
• Viewing, comparing, backing up, and archiving network device configurations
• Detecting and reporting changes, as well as deviations from the defined standards
• Planning for scaling and expansion of the network
• Lifecycle management of all components

Why is configuration management important?

Configuration management provides consistency between your IT assets and the software to help ensure that the network keeps running efficiently with uninterrupted delivery of IT services to the business.

Effective configuration management:

• Increases visibility across network and all of its components, resulting in faster issue resolution and improved service availability
• Reduces costs and avoids wasteful duplication by helping to ensure accuracy of IT asset inventory and configuration information
• Improves quality of service delivery by maintaining alignment with business requirements
• Reduces unauthorized changes and improves accountability
• Minimizes security vulnerabilities and enables compliance

What are the best practices for configuration management?

Like everything else in the world of IT, effective configuration management involves people, process, and technology. It requires a well-defined process for managing configurations and changes, as well as monitoring compliance with this process. In addition to the expertise in network technologies and management tools, people need to understand and internalize the processes. Technology must enable standardization and automation to ensure smooth operation of the network.

Some of the best practices for configuration management include:

• Automated discovery, identification, classification, and inventory
• Integration with a central Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as the single source of truth
• Standardization of configuration templates, profiles, and software images
• Automated device software management
• Provisioning automation through plug-n-play, zero-touch provisioning
• Automated monitoring and auditing of device configurations and reporting of deviation from standard configurations
• Device lifecycle support automation, including monitoring and reporting of license compliance, end-of-support and end-of-life protocols
• Integration with a change management system

Operational models for network management systems

Cloud-based

Agility, flexibility, and scalability

Whether you need to prepare your central campus for its new role as a hub of hybrid work or you're scaling out hundreds (or thousands) of branch sites, cloud-based network management systems are designed to give you the flexibility and reach you need. These platforms offer easy access and monitoring across highly distributed networks and make provisioning of remote sites simple.

Cloud-based platforms also provide a high level of configurability and customization, through open APIs and robust application ecosystems. These platforms also support advanced analytics, automation, and optimization use cases, through large data lakes and the power of cloud computing to support sophisticated machine learning applications.

On-premises

Higher performance and scalability

On-premises network management systems can be used for large campus networks that require greater performance and scalability. They also provide advanced features such as analytics, assurance, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Organizations that need sovereign operations can benefit from on-premises network management servers, since all the data is stored onsite.

In many cases, network management systems for larger networks can generate a lot of data that is collected from telemetry and SNMP.

On-premises systems are usually larger servers that have enough power to process the data so that it can be used to provide the insights IT needs to manage the network. This is one reason an on-premises server is usually located in the core of the network. Although it can be accessed from the internet, remote access requires a VPN connection.