Juniper Networks Network and Security Manager

Network and Security Manager Overview:

Network and Security Manager provides unparalleled capability for device and security policy configuration, comprehensive monitoring, reporting tools, and tools for investigating potential security threats in your network.

Juniper Networks NSM Central Manager (NSM CM) appliance enables scalable large scale deployments and the ability to do global policy enforcement via a hierarchical distribution of NSMXpress and NSM Central Manager.

Juniper Networks Network and Security Manager takes a new approach to network and security management by providing IT departments with an easy-to-use solution that controls all aspects of Juniper Networks routing, switching, firewall/VPN and IDP Series Intrusion Detection and Prevention Appliances, including device configuration, network settings, and security policy management. Unlike solutions that require the use of multiple management tools to control a single device, Network and Security Manager (NSM) not only enables IT departments to control the entire device life cycle with a single, centralized solution but also provides visibility with a complete set of investigative and reporting tools. Using NSM, device technicians, network administrators, and security administrators can work together to improve management efficiency and security, reduce overhead, and lower operating costs.

Features & Benefits:

Architecture and Key Components:

Network and Security Manager’s architecture is comprised of a device server, a GUI server, and a UI. To maintain flexibility and performance, all device interaction and log storage is handled by the device server, while all configuration information is placed on the GUI server. Both device and GUI components can reside on the same server where cost and/or simplicity are the primary requirements, or reside on separate servers where performance and deployment flexibility are more important. Independent of the chosen deployment of the device and GUI servers, the UI provides the single point of access for the administrator to all of the information and capabilities of the system.

Network and Security Manager with Central Manager (NSM CM) can manage up to 10 regional NSM servers and solves scalability problems by allowing management for up to 6000 routers, 3000 switches, 6,000 firewall/VPN devices or 2,000 firewall/VPN devices with 100 Juniper Networks IDP Series appliances per regional server. Juniper Networks NSMXpress (NSM appliance) manages up to 100 routers, 150 switches and 500 firewall/VPN devices. Together, these provide an overall solution to scale for large enterprise and service provider environments.

Centralized Policy Management

Network and Security Manager introduces a global policy feature that allows security administrators to create one master policy that can be applied to all regional management servers. This feature allows security administrators to enforce mandatory corporate policies across all devices in the network efficiently and ensures uniform security across the enterprise.

At the regional level, security administrators can create region- or device-specific policy rules. Overall, this hierarchical approach provides flexibility and scalability from a centralized location while leveraging commonalities across infrastructure.

Note: For additional information refer to the NSM Central Manager and the NSMXpress datasheets.

Visibility and Reporting

Network and Security Manager includes a high-performance log storage mechanism that allows an IT department to collect and monitor detailed historical information on key criteria such as network traffic and security events. Using the complete set of built-in analysis tools, administrators can quickly generate reports for investigative or compliance purposes. For integration into existing tools, logs can be forwarded to a third-party reporting tool or database.

Logs that are stored within Network and Security Manager can be analyzed in the following ways:

• Log Viewer allows logs to be viewed in real time. User-defined filters allow an administrator to perform rapid analysis of security status and events.
   
• Security Explorer presents an interactive graphical view of the relationships between hosts, networks, services, and attacks.
   
• Report Manager provides Top-N predefined reports and allows an administrator to generate, view, and export reports summarizing logs and alarms originating from the managed Juniper devices. For example: Top Destinations for UAC, Top Configuration changes for EX Series Ethernet Switches, Top 20 Attackers for SSG, Top Authorization Failures for SSL, and Top 20 Attacks Prevented for IDP Series. For more in-depth reporting, the Juniper Networks STRM Series Security Threat Response Managers is the recommended solution.
   
• Profiler Manager (for IDP Series sensors and integrated security devices) helps administrators view baseline network activity and quickly identifies new hosts and applications.
   
• Other tools include a dashboard and Log Investigator.

Delegation of Administrative Rights

Network and Security Manager allows enterprise IT departments to delegate appropriate levels of administrative access to specific users locally or via RADIUS for a wide range of tasks. Using role-based administration, enterprises can provide or restrict system permissions to different individuals or constituencies within the organization, based on skill set or responsibility.

Role-based administration can be accomplished using the predefined roles within Network and Security Manager or by creating a custom role from more than 100 assignable tasks within the system.

Diagram:

Network and Security Manager provides comprehensive device management with centralized security policy management, provisioning, logging and reporting.

Minimum System Requirements:

User Interface

Operating systems supported: Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0

Management Server (GUI Server and Device Server Combined)

Operating systems supported: Solaris 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0. and 5.0

Performance-Enabling Services and Support

Juniper Networks is the leader in performance-enabling services and support, which are designed to accelerate, extend, and optimize your high-performance network. Our services allow you to bring revenue-generating capabilities online faster so you can realize bigger productivity gains, faster rollouts of new business models and ventures, and greater market reach, while generating higher levels of customer satisfaction. At the same time, Juniper Networks ensures operational excellence by optimizing your network to maintain required levels of performance, reliability, and availability.

Device & Software Support:

Documentation:

Download the Juniper Networks Network and Security Manager Datasheet (PDF).