DATASHEET

NetMRI

Business Benefits Reduce Risk and Improve IT Efficiency by Automating

Network Configuration and Change Management
• Detect and automate net-
work changes, and see who
Today, up to 80% of network problems are caused by change—mistakes made when
changed what, where, when
manually changing devices, setting poor configurations that cause problems later and
and assess the impact of
using inconsistent standards. New initiatives, such as virtualization, cloud computing
changes on the health and
and IPv6, are only adding to the challenge. While new virtual servers can be spun up
stability of the network
and down in a matter of minutes, the network infrastructure supporting these dynamic
• Reduce guesswork with environments typically requires days and weeks to change—properly.
complete discovery, dynamic
inventory and a view of all NetMRI is the world’s leading multi-vendor network automation solution. It includes
network devices, network the functionality of Infoblox Switch Port Manager and Automation Change Manager
constructs, their dependencies and adds functionality for change and configuration management and compliance
and topology enforcement. With hundreds of built-in rules and industry best practices, it automates
• Identify suboptimal configura- network change and configuration management, intelligently manages device
tions with intelligent analysis configurations and reduces the risk of human error.
of device configurations before
problems arise NetMRI is a key solution for managing dynamic and complex
environments, such as virtualized and cloud networks, and
• Ensure consistency and provides management support for IPv6 deployments. With
minimize time to prove compli- automation for both physical and virtual devices, NetMRI
ance with built-in regulatory gives your network the power to keep with pace with rapidly
standards and customizable changing network components. With tight integration with the
compliance reports Infoblox Trinzic DDI solution, users can leverage the auto-sync
• Improve capacity management with the IPAM database and implement changes faster with the
and rogue device detection Automation Task Board.

Complete Network Change and Impact Analysis

NetMRI detects and tracks all network changes—including who changed what, where
and when, and the impact of changes—and saves every historical device configuration
with easy side-by-side comparisons. This automated network solution also includes
embedded jobs, scripts and customizable templates to help you move away from
manual CLI-based changes.

NetMRI leverages hundreds of standards and industry

best practices to understand and correlate the impact of
change on both network health and compliance. Instead
of assuming a change works, NetMRI detects the
change and completes an automated analysis to identify
variances from correct configuration and vulnerabilities
to the stability of the network. Auto-generated issues,
graphical summaries and the unique Network Scorecard
highlight whether changes have a positive or negative
impact on the network.

The dashboard view highlights the impact of change over time on both network
health and network compliance and stability

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NetMRI

Key Features Total View of the Network

Today, many organizations
• Includes Switch Port Manager’s rely on manual spreadsheets
comprehensive multi-vendor and generic ping sweeps
network discovery, switch port for network discovery and
capacity views and end-host inventory, but the results
management produced by these has-been
techniques are often out of
• Includes Automation Change date and can waste valuable
Manager’s robust and dynamic staff time in inefficient network
network change automation management and prolonged
capabilities troubleshooting efforts.
• Automatic network discov-
ery for multi-vendor network NetMRI offers complete
devices with multi-perspective network discovery and
topology views dynamic inventory for multi-
vendor, Layer 2 and Layer 3
• Built-in expert analysis of physical and virtual network Auto-discovers multi-vendor network devices including
configuration and health elements. User-friendly layer 2 physical, layer 3 logical and network topology views
assessments analysis and graphical views
• Standard and custom rule and provide rich information on network elements, including devices, VLANs, routes, routing
reporting for faster compliance tables, HSRP/VRRP peers, subnets, OS and models.
analysis
NetMRI automatically collects information and continuously keeps it up to date,
• Change monitoring and track-
making it always available for key tasks such as inventory, troubleshooting and
ing for who changed what,
maintenance reconciliation. Find planned and rogue devices automatically, report on
where, when and the impact
variances as they happen, and highlight the network connections across the entire
of the change on the health of
infrastructure. Also, automatically sync the rich network data with Infoblox’s IP address
the network
management solution.
• Collection and archiving of cur-
rent and historical of network
devices’ configuration files with Proactive Network Configuration Management
easy side-by-side comparison
• Automatic network problem NetMRI identifies and exposes
identification with auto-remedi- lurking and intermittent problems
ation options often caused by poor configurations,
which are typically very difficult and
• Built-in packaged scripts, such
sometimes impossible to troubleshoot.
as OS upgrades, password
Using built-in expertise and analytic
changes and many others
techniques to identify network issues
• Job scheduling, approval and and poor configurations, NetMRI
peer-review enforcement detects symptoms before they evolve
• Executive-level dashboards into faults.
that show correlation of change
with network health and com- Focusing on a holistic network view
pliance, overall network score and analysis instead of just individual
and other high-level views devices, NetMRI helps you discover
hidden problems and remediate them Proactively monitor against industry best practices and
• In-bound and out-bound API faster than any manual processes compliance rules receive automated alerts when issues are
support for third-party solutions can. By uncovering potential issues detected with the ability to drill down into individual devices

• Integrated with Trinzic DDI for early, NetMRI empowers you to take
auto-sync to IPAM database preventive action proactively well
and enhanced automation for before the end user experiences poor
common network tasks performance or application degradation.

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NetMRI

Network Change Automation

Even though networks are becoming
ever more dynamic through
technologies such as virtualization
and cloud computing, many IT teams
still use manual processes or write
custom scripts to make changes. These
processes require extensive internal
expertise, have large time commitments
and increase the risk of human error.
As a result, many IT teams have limited
control and change documentation.
Moreover, manual processes simply
cannot keep pace with the changes that
virtual devices bring to the network.

NetMRI, which includes Automation

Automatically track all changes made to the network devices (including physical card changes) Change Manager, employs embedded
and answer what device changed, by who, when and what changed expertise and customizable templates
to execute basic and complex changes,
helping IT teams reduce manual processes and create fewer unique scripts. Instead
of handling just basic tasks, NetMRI focuses on customizable, dynamic concepts –
enabling powerful automation with the Automation Task Board.

Automated Network Compliance and Standardization

When confronted with new standards requirements and
compliance regulations, many organizations simply file
the specifications documents in a large binder when
they arrive and don’t think about them again until there
is a problem or an audit is scheduled. Then members
of the IT staff go through the network from one device
to the next, rule by rule, and attempt to find the issues,
ascertain the state of the requirements, institute the
newly mandated regulations and scramble to prove that
the processes have been followed. The result is that
chaos ensues.

NetMRI solves the problem of network compliance and

standardization by automating the process with built-in
rules and templates for common standards, including
PCI, NSA, SANS, DISA and others, and also allowing
you to create your own custom policies and reports.
NetMRI passes each rule across every single network
device 24/7, and highlights all violations immediately
as detected.

For both internal best practices and external compliance mandates, NetMRI’s Employing customizable attributes/policies and
continuous monitoring and single-click reporting ensures ongoing standardizationcontinuous proactive monitoring, NetMRI alerts you
to any rule violation, shows you who caused the
problem and offers remediation options in real time.
Instead of spending weeks chaotically compiling the information for audits, you are able
to generate reports for both internal standards and external mandates (such as SOX,
HIPAA, FERC and NERC) automatically with a single click.

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NetMRI

Switch Port Management Visibility

Often organizations add unnecessary switch
port capacity to be safe, which both increases
security risks because of limited visibility and
also compounds expenses. With NetMRI,
you can automatically track connected end
devices and monitor what was connected, by
whom, when and where.

NetMRI lets you easily identify and locate

rogue devices or use device forensics for
troubleshooting. Since NetMRI monitors all
end devices, determining used, free and
available ports is easy and simple and allows
IT teams to plan capacity throughout the
View total, free and available ports (as defined by end user tied to time being free),
and filter by custom and dynamic device groupings organization with more assurance and insight.

Automating and Simplifying Common Network Tasks

Common networking tasks that appear “simple and fast” still require
extensive manual effort and multiple handoffs that all too often lead
to human error and excessive delays. Turning a port up or down,
reconfiguring a VLAN or creating a new subnet is not extremely
complex, but still takes hours or days for most organizations.

By integrating Trinzic DDI and NetMRI, the Automation Task Board

provides a single, intuitive user interface to complete a common task
quickly, effectively and securely. Initiating tasks through a single
interface, authorized staff can make common changes immediately,
thereby eliminating the need for elaborate, custom scripts and manual
processes. This rich automation capability crosses organizations
boundaries allowing more experienced staff to focus on critical
business initiatives, instead of dealing with manual, repetitive tasks.

The Automation Task Board simplifies common network

changes with the intuitive interface Network Automation for Efficiency, Security, Analysis,
and Compliance
In short, NetMRI empowers your network with automation that
ensures up-to-date compliance, offers full visibility in real time at all
times, controls change and configuration management, gives you the
insight you need for fast troubleshooting and provides the tools for
managing today’s dynamic and complex environments, including the
challenges of virtualization and cloud computing.

Infoblox Product Warranty and Services

The standard hardware warranty is for a period of one year. The system software has a 90-day warranty that will meet published specifi-
cations. Optional service products are also available that extend the hardware and software warranty. These products are recommended
to ensure the appliance is kept updated with the latest software enhancements and to ensure the security and availability of the system.
Professional services and training courses are also available from Infoblox. Information in this document is subject to change without
notice. Infoblox Inc. assumes no responsibility for errors that appear in this document.

Corporate Headquarters: +1.408.986.4000 1.866.463.6256 (toll-free, U.S. and Canada) [email protected] www.infoblox.com

©2013 Infoblox Inc. All Rights Reserved. Infoblox-datasheet-netmri-March2013 4