Chapter 1

Do you know how much money is in your bank account right now? Do you know how much
money will be in your bank account after pay day? You probably have a fairly good estimate.
Your bank account is important to you, and consciously or unconsciously you baseline it. But
do you know how much traffic is on your network right now? Or how much traffic will be on
your network at 09:00 next Tuesday?

Do you plan for the cost of your annual holiday? Or do you just hope that when the time
comes you will have enough money to pay for it? If your Personnel Department hires more
people, or your company moves some production from one site to another, do you manage
the performance of your network? Or do you just hope that the network will cope?

Networks are a critical factor in the performance of a modern company. At best, a network
failure can lead to a reduction in productivity. Alternatively it can result in huge financial loss,
or worse. Managing a network is as important as managing any other aspect of a company’s
performance.

Both Network Baselining and Performance Management are key components in any network
management strategy. Although these functions are often considered to be identical, subtle
differences exist, which affect the way you should implement these functions. This article is
intended to give an overview of both functions.