It was once a widely held belief that operational technology (OT)—used to control physical processes—and information technology (IT) should be kept separate. In the engineering and manufacturing industries, operations were carried out using isolated and standalone devices which used the "security by obscurity" approach.
Industries have since grown to realize the immense potential of integrating IT in manufacturing processes. IT networks allow for real-time control, better coordination, and greater automation of industrial components and processes. The convergence of IT and OT has made the modern factory floor smarter and more efficient. This trend will only accelerate with the current adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and industry 4.0 technologies.
Network monitoring and management has become a stalwart requirement for OT systems in this new interconnected environment. Network outages can delay production operations or worse: completely halt it. This leads to revenue loss and supply chain issues down the line. Network monitoring enables IT admins to keep an eye on critical industrial networks and ensure smooth operations.
Since most manufacturing operations are spread across the world, remote data centers are essential to store data, host VMs, and perform control operations locally. Data center endpoints like servers, routers, switches, and storage devices should be monitored for availability and health. Remote data centers should also be monitored to operate at optimum temperature and humidity.
OT components constantly communicate with each other using industrial Ethernet or wireless networks. These are usually over a LAN, but they can also span networks. Such communication is facilitated using industrial switches, routers, and servers. Many industrial networks also have firewalls to safeguard the network from bad actors.
Newer generation process monitoring and control systems use web-based and cloud-based technologies so that process data can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and control measures can be taken. Network monitoring is an essential tool for ensuring good availability and performance of these systems.
Data backup is crucial for manufacturing industries for a variety of reasons. Data backups aid in capacity planning, training AI and ML systems, failover in case of crashes or downtime, protection against malware, easy auditing, and more. Having a proper disaster recovery plan is also part of data backups. Recovery can be from on-site or off-site storage systems.
Data processing is part of the control architecture. This involves input/output components like valves, sensors, and actuators; control devices like programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and remote terminal units (RTUs); and supervisory computers, servers, and human machine interfaces that process information, exercise control, and store historical data.
An array of websites, applications, and software support manufacturing operations such as inventory management, energy management, employee management, and process monitoring. They have to be up and running constantly for smooth operations.
High availability and low latency data transmission are critical for manufacturing operations. Production is coordinated between various machine components like robots, sensors, valves, PLCs, and workstations, which perform operations, gather feedback, and correct errors. Data congestion in industrial Ethernet can cause faulty products, machine damage, and loss of revenue. It can also impact other industries down the supply chain. IT teams must prioritize high availability and minimal latency for these networks.
Data security is another priority in the manufacturing and engineering sectors. Many companies have sensitive information, which bad actors could try to exploit. IT teams must ensure that the network follows relevant compliance standards for enhanced cybersecurity. They should also check endpoint security devices like firewalls for vulnerabilities or weak points and correct them.
IT teams must also prioritize fault management. In the manufacturing sector, time is valuable. Every second of downtime means that production is disrupted and potential revenue is lost. Any issues that do occur need to be troubleshooted and fixed quickly.
Manufacturing operations are sequential: each process depends on the one before it. Downtime in any of the components up the production line would disrupt the whole operation. Similarly, disruption of production in supply chain industries could affect multiple larger industries down the line.
Relying on human operators to monitor and control critical manufacturing processes can lead to errors or lack of precision. An electronic control system, on the other hand, can automate routine operations and execute human commands remotely if the need arises. Such systems communicate over a network and can experience latency or downtime if they aren't monitored constantly.
Frequent updates and maintenance activities are necessary to keep manufacturing networks functioning optimally. This includes hardware and software upgradation. IT admins must keep an inventory of important parameters such as disk space and CPU utilization, and schedule maintenance and upgradations without disrupting daily operations.
IT admins must make sure that manufacturing networks are compliant with various industrial cybersecurity standards. Examples of such standards include IEC 62443 for industrial automation and control systems, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Manufacturing industries are part of the national infrastructure, so they could be the target of cyberattacks and data exploitation.
Manufacturing networks are inherently distributed in nature since operations are rarely confined to a single locality. Components are manufactured at different sites, and there are parts and raw material suppliers from all over the world. These operations are usually managed using remote data centers and with cloud technologies. Distributed networks need to be monitored for high availability and performance.
Factory floor layouts have to be planned to the last detail and set up in such a way that network resources are utilized efficiently. Important manufacturing components have to be connected to the network, operational flow must be optimal, and cable management has to be done. Network planning is an essential part of the job for IT admins.
This involves IIoT software and applications developed to optimize end-to-end manufacturing operations. IT admins must ensure these systems are always available and responding quickly.
Network monitoring tools are essential for network admins to monitor and manage a network effectively. A network monitoring tool resides in a network, gathers information, checks availability, and generates useful insights that admins use to optimize network performance.
OpManager is such a network monitoring tool. OpManager monitors and manages network devices like routers, switches, hubs, servers, storage devices, and VMs. OpManager can gather information using a variety of protocols like SNMP and ICMP, and alert admins regarding any discrepancies. In addition to these basic functionalities, OpManager also has extended features like advanced scheduling, failover, AIOps, ML, and easy configuration change options to make the life of network admins easier.
OpManager's advanced features make it suited to monitor any network conveniently. Some of these include:
With a comprehensive network monitoring tool at their disposal, IT teams can rest easy and be alerted about any issues before they snowball into situations. OpManager's intuitive tools and features cover every base of network monitoring and make manufacturing networks resilient to any situation that might arise.
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