Network complexities be damned: The warfighter as an IT admin?

Story

September 02, 2011

David Kimball

SolarWinds

Warfighters have always had a challenging job, from dealing with technologies not commonly seen outside of the DoD to frequent reassignments, with less training than they'd like. Add in the continuing shift of network technology from physical servers to today's array of physical, virtual, wireless, and cloud-based technologies across the military and it's easy to see how a military technologist can be overwhelmed.

But when complexities grow, simplifying IT management for these networks can even out the odds in the warfighter technologist's favor. (U.S. Army photo by Mike Allison)

There’s no denying the warfighter’s need for real-time information and communications on the battlefield. In today’s military, a laptop can be just as important to a soldier as a weapon. Pinpointing enemy locations through UAV feeds, accessing vehicle and equipment readiness sheets, and providing on-the-ground data to a command center are just some of the many network-centric functions undertaken by soldiers during combat operations.

The downside to these expanded capabilities, however, is that as information technology evolves, so do the networks providing key services and applications to the field. Five years ago, physical servers housed the bulk of military IT resources – uncomplicated to maintain, though labor intensive. Today, these same resources are distributed among physical, virtual, and cloud-based technologies, dramatically reducing the physical footprint of the military network but driving complexity to unprecedented levels, as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Today’s Armed Services network resources are distributed among physical, virtual, and cloud-based technologies, dramatically reducing the physical footprint of the military network but driving complexity to unprecedented levels.

(Click graphic to zoom by 1.9x)

Compounding network complexity is the ever-growing training requirement of the warfighter. While command wants to shrink training requirements, advances in technology and the steady deployment of this technology to the field require quite the opposite. Warfighting technologists now need to understand basic network troubleshooting, wireless, physical, and virtual network administration and more. Adding training for traditionally complicated technologies like network monitoring and management to a full training plate overburdens soldiers, but seems like a necessary evil given the state of military networks.

Does this mean that warfighters must act as IT administrators in addition to their roles as soldiers? In many cases, it does.

Straightforward approaches to complex requirements

The increasing complexity of IT ecosystems in the business and even civilian agency worlds is creating a shift from complex system and network monitoring technologies accessible only to trained experts, to adoption of more simplified, easy-to-learn, and intuitive technologies that allow technologists to focus on the mission and not on a network management platform.

This change in approach involves replacing traditional network management frameworks with management software that is easier to install and use. Typically, the rollout for traditional monolithic network management technologies involves:

1. A combined hardware and software installation project, which can take weeks to months based on the size of the deployment and the technology, because of integration with existing systems and hardware. (This takes even longer if the systems are geographically distributed.)

2. Customization, as most of the standard enterprise-class technologies are just “frameworks” and require lengthy (and expensive) consultation projects to meet mission needs. Essentially, these frameworks are barebones, much like a formatted hard drive, with a few simple management templates. If a unit wants management capabilities beyond the templates, which is common, customization is necessary.

3. Intensive training, on top of the training already required for warfighter technologists, to allow them to actually navigate the complex menus and esoteric interfaces of the chosen technology.

Juxtapose this with modern, streamlined network monitoring software, which is as difficult to install as your average consumer PC game. In only a few hours, monitoring software can be installed, customized, and monitor a unit’s network, thanks to intuitive installation wizards and customization interfaces. Any specific training needs can be addressed via a few short YouTube videos, typically publically available online or from the vendor.

Applying easy to use, straightforward IT monitoring technologies that are efficient, intuitive, and provide immediate benefits to military networks cures many ills. First, consider the traditional network monitoring technology itself – currently, military data centers are using management platforms that are too big on features for the warzone or free/open source monitoring tools that are far too small on functionality. The problems that these approaches present are twofold:

First, having too many features makes the inherent complexities of managing a network almost insurmountable, especially in the field.
Second, a technology that is too limited does not provide enough information to actually manage a military network effectively, and often lacks the ability to scale and work seamlessly with other systems.

Finding a middle-ground technology is vital to reduce network complexity without sacrificing too many features or functionality. Ideally, the network management software will provide real-time information about network health beyond “green light/red light” without forcing warfighter technologists to wade through dozens of unnecessary features as well as historical performance data for reporting, trending, and capacity planning. The technology should also be able to scale with the network, up or down, depending on need: If a FOB expands to encompass more than a single unit, the system must scale up, and conversely scale down if a base is decommissioned or downsized.

The network’s physical size matters

Simplified network management technology goes beyond just reducing the digital complexities of military networks; it also greatly aids in reducing the physical requirements of networks. Larger IT systems need more power and cooling, which require a greater amount of fuel deliveries and power infrastructure. Reducing energy consumption is not just a “green initiative” for the military, but allows for greater mobility and a smaller logistics tail, particularly in operating theaters where a data center could be a 2' x 2' box on the back of a Humvee. DoD initiatives are also underway to reduce physical footprints by using powerful laptops as servers and leveraging virtualization to reduce the server count; virtual servers that host 10 or more virtual machines are increasingly common and, in some cases, those numbers can be increased by a factor of 10 or more.

Deploying streamlined, modern network management software that is already “virtualization-aware” allows military data centers to harness the cloud and virtual environments without requiring warfighters to learn a new monitoring system. However, with a traditional network monitoring paradigm, not only is there a training requirement for each system implemented, but each system desegregates management data and makes issue resolution and information correlation even harder. But by using software that manages as much infrastructure as possible within one single pane of glass, soldiers can monitor virtual and cloud-based resources just as they would a physical box, without having to learn new, specific skills.

This leads to the next point of how simplifying network management technology addresses complexity and reduces the training required.

Simplify to reduce the training requirement

One of the primary problems caused by complex military networks is actually related to a larger problem experienced by the whole of the DoD: warfighter training requirements. Not only are soldiers expected to learn combat, survival, and tactical skills prior to deployment, now they must learn the complexities of network management and monitoring just to use the tools issued to them, hence the “warfighter as an IT admin.”

When the management of these networks is simplified, however, overall training requirements follow in reduced complexity. Instead of learning how to navigate a complicated monitoring system with more features than needed, soldiers can gain a few simple skills that apply across monitoring/management challenges. Much like issuing iPads to soldiers in Afghanistan in lieu of a ruggedized laptop, simplified management software applies to a much wider base of warfighters and provides the features most needed to accomplish the mission. As an added benefit, this software can run off COTS hardware and operating systems, including open source, making it flexibility enough to fit nearly every unit’s operations.

Additionally, the threat of budget cuts must also be considered. It shouldn’t surprise project leads when they suddenly have fewer experts to operate clumsy legacy IT monitoring systems. Without the right team mix to prop up these sputtering dinosaurs, leads must expand their use of efficient IT monitoring applications, to not only reduce the need for extensive training on legacy systems but also to cut the costs of maintenance renewals.

Simplifying for a complex tomorrow

Network complexities are not going away and will only become more severe, particularly in military networks, unless addressed head-on by network management technology. Leveraging modern IT management software, such as that offered by SolarWinds, that supports both mature and emerging technologies helps prepare military IT teams for rapid technology insertions. SolarWinds’ Orion Network Performance Monitor is an example of a streamlined, simplified network management software (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The Orion Network Performance Monitor is an example of a streamlined, simplified network management software

(Click graphic to zoom by 1.9x)

When such IT management systems are also intuitive to use, configure, and maintain for even the most junior IT staff members, the mission can then receive the benefits of the latest technology advances while reducing complex training and staffing requirements necessitated by legacy IT management applications. Monitoring the most modern technologies requires the most modern management applications, but “modern” no longer means complicated. This is especially true for those soldiers, the “warfighter IT admins,” who are responsible for managing the technology that keeps their teams running.

David Kimball is VP of Public Sector at SolarWinds. He has more than 20 years of IT sales and senior management experience, with more than 10 years of experience focused on the federal government market. Prior to SolarWinds, he was Managing Director of Federal Sales for Cenzic and the Regional Vice President of Federal/Enterprise for SupportSoft (acquired by Consona). In addition to sales leadership positions with Intellitactics and NetIQ, David also designed and built a strong federal sales organization at Remedy Corporation. He can be contacted at [email protected].

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