Planning an Operations Center Deployment

A number of factors help decide what your Operations Center deployment will look like:

• Define your goals for the network management system.

Are you planning to manage only switched Ethernet networks? Manage all routed and switched networks? A mix of routing, switching, and security devices? Will you manage virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) networks?
These factors bear upon the type of licensed feature set for the Operations Center, and how you will deploy it.

• Estimate the size of the managed network.

Operations Center feature licensing is defined by the number of licensed devices (including but not limited to routers, switches, firewalls and servers). Each managed device occupies a device license under NetMRI. The size of the managed network helps define the level of licensing you will need for the Operation Center deployment.
Managed devices have a different licensing scheme from discovered devices. You allocate licenses based upon the infrastructure devices in your network that you want to manage; because the number of endpoint hosts may be far greater than the number of infrastructure devices, endpoints should be considered as part of the discovered devices category in most if not all cases. Discovered devices of this type should not be licensed unless considered necessary.
Conversely, unlicensed infrastructure devices can lead to incomplete network analysis issues such as topology holes and large collections of undiscovered endpoints.

• Determine how many Collector appliances you need, and how many device licenses should be provided on each Collector.

Your decision on how many Collectors you need in your deployment is generally determined by the size and the topology of your network. For large deployments, contact Infoblox Support.
Licensing levels are enforced on each Collector and cumulatively add to the total number of licenses for the Operations Center. On the Controller, you also install a specially generated license generated by Infoblox, directly based upon the features and device counts licensed for all Collectors in the full OC deployment.
Knowing to a fairly close margin what device counts each of your Collectors will manage, while allowing room for growth, helps determine how the Controller will be licensed.

• What is the rate of growth for the managed network?

Plan for growth within the network when you define and set up the Operations Center deployment. A good rule of thumb is to plan for a minimum organic growth of 5% per year, but is entirely based upon the circumstances of each deployment and whatever future plans are in place for the managed network.