CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE
Remote resource management in the spotlight Going wild with your network by Derek Watkins, Director of Sales, Opengear EMEA
Remote management of network and other critical ICT equipment has evolved rapidly over the last decade. Clever monitoring and automation technologies can detect and fix problems without human intervention, however providing remote access and control for operators and technicians is still key. When the location in question is half
a world away on a mine site or oil rig, then remote management can become a challenge for many different reasons. If as a network manager, you have
Derek Watkins explains the subtle benefits of wireless APNs...
ever tried dialling remote analogue modems for remote network access, then you would have certainly run into line quality issues. And this assumes the remote
phone line has not been accidentally disconnected – the classic gotcha of remote management over dial in. Even with the rise of ubiquitous
wireless IP networks, many organisations are still using POTS/PSTN dial in lines for remote management. The reason is typically lack of cellular coverage, lack of understanding as to how remote access over cellular works or concern as to its viability as a reliable fail safe. Low loss cabling and high gain
antennas can help address the first issue, and as coverage improves, remote management over cellular is becoming an option where only satellite would serve before. Whilst cellular does not suffer from
the same line connectivity issues as PSTN or other wired solutions, it is by nature more complex and therefore requires technically sophisticated, dedicated remote management hardware to guarantee high availability. Using a business grade data plan, or
SIM with a public APN designed for machine-to-machine telemetry - such as smart metering - remote access is simple. Just browse, VPN or SSH to the SIM’s IP address. However, network accessible SIMs
may not be offered by your preferred carrier, or the incremental pricing model may not make sense for your usage pattern, particularly where an always- up cellular connection is preferred – an option that can push data usage into the 100s of MB per month. On the other hand, commodity SIMs only or bring your own device plans are readily available with generous blocks of data for as little as £5/month in the UK
– subject to a few caveats. The first is that your carrier will
typically masquerade the connection behind NAT (network address translation) the same way office LANs are hidden from the WAN, in a private address space. Remote management devices solve this by establishing a VPN or SSH tunnel or tunnels back to your central management network. Security is another area to be mindful
of when using the public WAN or cellular network. As a minimum, we recommend that all connections into and out of the management device are encrypted using strong cipher HTTPS and SSH, while best practice is using IPsec or similar VPN for an added layer of security. As with any public service, always use
strong passwords, or consider disabling password authentication entirely and using SSH key authentication instead. The 3G and 4G LTE cellular
network is proving a more compelling alternative to PSTN, ISDN, DSL and other wired solutions for out-of-band access for remote network provisioning, maintenance and repair. Last year we saw sales for our cellular
out-of-band solutions surpass the more traditional dial-up modem by just shy of 33% - mobile data has never been cheaper.
Finding the right technology for
remote management over cellular is not a huge challenge but it is also worth considering the process changes that admins or trouble-shooters need to consider when an onsite visit really is out of the question. One of the most important features
is remote power cycling that can be triggered via automation on detection of a freeze state. Another area to consider is environmental and physical sensor monitoring. The principles of managing network
and critical elements in truly remote areas extend to any remote network with no or limited on-site technical staff which is increasingly the norm, so an understanding of a few of the key considerations is a useful skill to keep in the back of the mental storeroom.
Powering the remote network 16 NETCOMMS europe Volume IV Issue 1 2013
www.opengear.com www.netcommseurope.com
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