Why Network Engineers Need Better Tech Tools

By Dennis McCafferty | Posted 2017-07-03

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Why Network Engineers Need Better Tech Tools

IT networks grow larger and more complex by the day. So why are network engineers still saddled with manual tools and approaches to deal with critical tasks?
Inefficient Process

87% of the network engineers surveyed said they still rely primarily on manual techniques to create and update their network diagrams, and 33% said it takes more than one month to document their entire network with these approaches.
Long Delay

44% said it's been more than a month since they've updated their network diagram.
Diagram Challenges, Part I

58% of the network engineers surveyed said network diagrams often become obsolete, and 49% said they take too long to create.
Diagram Challenges, Part II

41% said they frequently can't see changes in network diagrams, and 35% said there often isn't enough detail in these diagrams.
Top Network-Focused Investment Areas

Security: 64%, Hardware refreshes and upgrades: 40%, Cloud computing: 38%, Capacity planning: 36%, Software-defined networking: 20%
Indispensable Element

99% of the network engineers surveyed said that a single solution for network visualization, management and analysis would be invaluable.
Big Plate

49% of the respondents at large enterprises said their organization has more than 1,000 network devices (including routers, switches and firewalls), and 21% said their company has more than 10,000.
Imperfect Approach

71% of all the survey respondents said they turn to command-line interface (CLI) as a primary way to troubleshoot network problems, but 43% said this approach takes too much time.
Additional Bottlenecks

45% said a lack of collaboration and coordination among teams creates network troubleshooting challenges, while 43% cited outdated network diagrams.
Essential Knowledge

More than half of the network engineers surveyed are required to know programming as part of their day-to-day job.
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While the enterprise network continues to increase rapidly in size and complexity, most network engineers said they continue to rely on manual techniques and tools for critical tasks such as diagramming, according to a recent survey from NetBrain Technologies. The accompanying report, "2017 State of the Network Engineer: Toward an Automated Future," reveals that network diagrams often go one month or longer before getting needed updates, and as a result, they're often obsolete or insufficiently detailed. This creates difficulties during troubleshooting, as does a lack of collaboration among network teams. What would greatly help, survey respondents said, is a single solution for network visualization, management and analysis. "Today's enterprises have reached a tipping point when it comes to network management," according to the report. "Networks are growing rapidly and becoming more complex, yet most engineers still use manual processes for managing key IT workflows—network documentation, troubleshooting, change management and cyber-security. Collaboration and information sharing often mean the difference between quickly diagnosing a problem and hours of frustration and downtime. However, today's processes depend largely on institutional … knowledge to diagnose network issues, which can be inefficient and hamper IT's speed to resolution." More than 200 network engineers, architects and IT managers took part in the research.

Dennis McCafferty is a freelance writer for Baseline Magazine.