Spring has sprung, and you’re already busy clearing out all the clutter that accumulated during the winter months. But shiny floors and polished tennis trophies won’t keep you in business. A reliable and robust network will. When your network is a mess, employees waste time troubleshooting, customers disengage, and revenue is lost. To avoid this, in addition to busting out the broomsticks, it’s imperative that you set aside some time this spring to complete a full network assessment.
A network assessment is a thorough evaluation of your IT systems. It gives you a comprehensive overview of every weakness and opportunity for improvement. In this two-part “spring cleaning” article, we’ll detail some of the simple steps you can take to get a better sense of where your network stands today.
Define and Prepare
Step one to assessing your network is preparing properly, so you save time and know what your goals are. Because if you don’t know what you’re looking for, how can you find it? Begin by defining the scope of your evaluation and decide how long it will take, who will take part, and what aspects you want to analyze. Next, make sure key members have the usernames and passwords needed to edit access rules accordingly so authorization issues won’t slow down the process. Once you’ve defined the scope of your inquiry and provided access to your chosen team, you’ll be ready to begin. For this article we’ll define our primary objectives as surveying these five key aspects of the network: inventory, infrastructure, performance, security, and management.
Assess Your Inventory
Like an old attic, your network is probably home to more than a few items you forgot existed. This is why it’s important to start digging through the clutter and make a detailed inventory. l of the devices, network appliances, software, and hardware that are currently in use (or not in use) across your network. The most effective way to do this is to create a simple spreadsheet with details such as:
• Name
• Type of Device
• IP Address
• Manufacturer
• Make
• Model/Model Number
• Serial Number
• Operating System
• Physical Location
As tedious as it may seem this is no time to slouch. You’ll want to get up on your feet, walk around, and take a look at everything in the office. Note every laptop, printer, server, router, etc. You’ll get a clear picture of what you’re using and how it’s being utilized.
Test Your Infrastructure
Now that you’ve figured out what you own, it’s time to ask yourself: Do these devices work well together? Streamlining infrastructure is the crucial next step to achieving network efficiency. Similar to our inventory process we’ll want a dedicated document containing all our findings. A network map is the most useful tool for examining the overall design of network systems. If you’re particularly talented, a hand-drawn diagram can suffice. An open-source network mapping software solution like Nmap might be more practical. Software like Nmap is especially useful because it can auto-discover devices and create live diagrams in real-time. The benefit is that you get the most thorough sense of how your systems are working together. The next step is to identify flaws and make improvements.
You’re halfway there! Stay tuned for part two. We’ll cover the best ways to assess network performance, strengthen your cybersecurity, and stay on top of these various aspects post-assessment. Already overwhelmed by the intricacies involved in a full network assessment? Consider contacting Link High Technologies. A top-of-the-line Managed Service Provider, Link High Technologies can expertly survey your entire system in a hurry to get your network in top shape just in time for summer.
