Network Management

Network management software addresses such integration problems as well, though it generally
does more than that. The term commonly refers to products intended to manage the
network as a whole and to mediate between disparate network element management systems.
The ideal is that the network management software should allow the network administrator to
control any element in the network from the same computer console and indeed from the
same screen menu. Every element in the network becomes completely subordinate to the ultimate
service objective that the entire network must support, and when a service is ordered, the
network will respond automatically to the command with appropriate actions across the chain
of network elements over which the particular application must run.
Both network element management software and network management software commonly
include diagnostic tools for identifying problems in the network and determining their
place of origin. Many such subsystems can issue “trouble tickets” that prompt technical support
staff to perform corrective actions. Incidentally, almost all OSS platforms, not limited to
the previously mentioned classes, are capable of generating detailed status reports.