In the real world, companies tend to follow one of two network management strategies. The first strategy involves working on solving problems after they occur, dealing with issues reactively. The second strategy is a more proactive approach, actively attempting to identify potential problem areas before they can seriously impact the network.
Calling reactive management a “strategy” is stretching the truth to some degree. Since many companies are already stretched thin when it comes to day-to-day network and system administration tasks, there is often little time left to head off problems before they occur. As such, these companies react to problems, trying to deal with them as quickly as possible. Obviously this is not optimal. Network failures will usually have a marked impact on the productivity of all users, leading to additional costs. These costs are often much higher than those associated with taking a proactive approach to network monitoring and analysis.
