System Administration Best Practices

• Keep your list of managed device classes to the minimum of devices you want discovered in your network. Additional device classes in the managed device list causes unwanted devices to be discovered into your VoyencControl network, and extends the processing time of your auto discovery job. Use care when using the Generic Device class, as it can discover non-network devices, such as servers and client PCs.  

• Always set up the appropriate credentials before executing any auto discovery jobs. This ensures all devices in your network are discovered appropriately, and their configurations are pulled successfully.  

• Communication methods have different characteristics. For example, using SNMP/TFTP will not provide command failure notification in jobs, but this method is very fast. Raw SSH is secure, but much slower than using a less secure communication method like TFTP. A good compromise of speed and reporting, while not secure, is Telnet/TFTP.  

• Minimize the number of credentials in your networks whenever possible to minimize the credential management process.  

• For bulk updates, Command Line utilities exist to assist with modification of many credentials and communication methods.  

• To avoid using auto discovery, Command Line utilities exist to assist with the loading of specific device IP's for management in VoyencControl.   

• Keep in mind that the communication mechanisms you choose are only used between the device server and the end device. Communications between your client and the VoyencControl application, and the device server can be encrypted, and thus secured, regardless of the "last mile" protocol to the device.