Applying ITIL4 to IP address management

 The discipline of network management affords innumerable technical and business benefits to organizations via the centralization of control, monitoring, and provisioning of distributed network elements such as routers and application or services databases. These benefits include holistic management of the entire network from a centralized point where appropriate resources and expertise can be leveraged for troubleshooting, resolution, and escalation. This pan-network approach lends itself well to supporting structured network change control procedures and is even more crucial today with enterprise networks expanding into clouds, IoT subnetworks, and mobile networks.

Because IP addresses and associated DHCP and DNS functions are foundational to IT services and applications running over an IP network, these functions must be prudently managed, much as other critical network infrastructure elements are managed. The most commonly applied network management approach is that of the FCAPS model from a functional perspective and ITIL® from a service management perspective. 

To fully understand and appreciate ITIL, let’s start first with a quick review of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) network management standard FCAPS, which is an acronym for the five major management functions: Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance and Security. These five functions should be considered when implementing a network management architecture, whether it's for a service provider or enterprise environment. FCAPS is specified in the ITU’s M.3400-series, which deals with telecommunications network management. 

• Fault management deals with alarming and detection of faults within the various elements of the network and the localization or identification of the root cause of those faults, as well as the correction, repair, testing and trouble-reporting of faults.
• Configuration management involves planning, installing and provisioning of a new network element, as well as adding in customer related data. Provisioning of a new customer, for example, on a telecommunications-type service would impact the configuration management function. 
• Accounting management addresses the collection of information that can be used, perhaps by a billing or usage management system. As such, the accounting management function measures the use of the network and associated resource utilization, which can be used to generate goals for evolving and improve network services. 
• Performance management encompasses the evaluation and reporting of the behavior and effectiveness of network equipment. This includes measurement of capacity and quality of transmissions, usage of network elements and CPU utilization. In a nutshell, it helps make sure the network is running on all cylinders. 
• Security management deals with the prevention, detection and containment of any security issues or concerns related to your network, computing and applications infrastructure. It also includes an audit logging capability in order to troubleshoot or analyze any violations or to detect security violations. 

FCAPS was developed as a standard for management of telecommunications service providers’ networks. ITIL, formerly known as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a documented set of best practices for use by an IT organization desiring to manage, monitor, and continually improve IT services provided to the enterprise organization. ITIL was originally developed by the U.K. Office of Government and Commerce, and is now managed by Axelos, a joint venture company created by the Cabinet Office of Her Majesty’s Government in the UK and Capita, plc. Its IT-service oriented approach has been deployed by a number of organizations. The most common drivers for ITIL implementation include:

• Cost reduction of IT services delivery to the organization
• IT service level consistency and improvements
• Risk management through disciplined planning and evaluation of potential service-affecting changes
• Efficiencies in utilizing documented processes and continual improvement

ITIL 4, the latest version, was launched in February, 2019 as an evolution of version 3. There are many similarities between the two versions, but the major changes introduced in ITIL 4 include the following:

• The service value chain concept has replaced the ITIL 3 service lifecycle in order to loosen the implication of an ordered serial process and to more accurately reflect the use of service value chain activities alone or in conjunction with others in no specific order to provide value.
• The concept of how value is created has evolved from that of being created by IT alone (service provider) to that of being jointly created by the service provider and the service consumer, which in turn comprises the customer or services definer, user of the service and sponsor or budget authorizer.
• The concept of “process” has been broadened to that of “practice”, which defines a broader perspective and accounts for people, partners, technology and processes. 

Designed as an evolution, ITIL 4 seeks to broaden the perspective of IT services management to broader organizational goals and constituents, while building upon most of the foundational concepts and processes specified in prior ITIL versions. ITIL best practices serve as an industry benchmark against which you can measure the effectiveness of your IT practices and plan for improvements.

Whether you’re comfortable with the legacy FCAPS model or the enterprise-focused ITIL service management approach, the institution of a disciplined and documented approach to performing IT functions can help save time and money. Performing service delivery functions in a consistent, repeatable manner yields predictable and measurable service levels. These service levels can then provide a measure of IT service expectations for the end user community and enable IT to meet or exceed such expectations regularly, maximizing efficiency and productivity.

As IT services increasingly require IP-based applications and services, the reliance on an effectively managed IP network grows. It follows that IP address management functions should be on the forefront when implementing a disciplined IT management scheme. Read our white paper on Applying ITIL Best Practice Principles to IPAM for more details and for examples of how ITIL practices apply to IPAM. Contact me or your BT representative for your free copy.