EXTREME NETWORKS SOLUTION BRIEF
Extreme Networks Purview
Integration with Nexthink
End-user IT Analytics
Solution Overview
ABSTRACT: This guide highlights
Organizations can now resolve IT issues faster, improve security compliance and
the business value, specific use
threat detection, and elevate service levels through the integration of Extreme
cases, and integration processes
Networks Purview Application Analytics with Nexthink End-user IT Analytics.
for gaining comprehensive visibility
into IT Operations across Users,
Devices, Networks, and Applications
using Extreme Networks Purview
integration with Nexthink End-user
IT Analytics.
By correlating user data with applications, networks and infrastructure, this
unique solution provides comprehensive real-time and historical views into the
entire IT ecosystem, and fine-grained management that enables IT to optimize
security policies, network investments, and application performance.
In lieu of separate interfaces for various analytics requirements, the solution
provides a single holistic view that streamlines troubleshooting and enables IT to
PUBLISHED: April 2015
work more efficiently within a more secure environment.
With the Nexthink software agent collecting real-time insights into all aspects of
end users’ context and activities, such as devices, applications and connections,
Extreme Networks Purview extends IT visibility into cloud-based and enterprise
applications and network infrastructure elements such as access points, switches,
routers, and more. The solution can be custom-tailored to unique requirements,
and easily and rapidly deployed on any standards-based network infrastructure.
As a user connects or disconnects to the network, a state change indication is
sent from NetSight to the FortiGate mapping tables to overwrite stale entries
and ensure accurate policy application. When a credentialed user is successfully
authenticated by NetSight, the FortiGate handler sends a Radius accounting
Extreme Networks Purview Integration with Nexthink IT End-user Analytics – Solution Brief
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Broader and deeper visibility into the entire ecosystem enables better operational
decisions regarding resource allocation, security postures, IT architectures, IT
workflows, and investment strategies. The coupling of Purview and Nexthink bridges
today’s IT visibility gap to provide end-to-end transparency that enables teams to
perform more proactively and efficiently.
High Impact Uses Cases
IMPROVING IT SERVICE QUALITY
Nexthink provides automated alerts that indicate if a user or set of users lacks access
to an IT Service. IT management can quickly identify the impacted devices using
Nexthink Finder, then drill down using Extreme Networks Purview to obtain information
regarding the network configuration of the impacted devices to identify, for example, an
erroneous configuration within a switch the devices were connected to when the access
issue arose. There is no requirement to manually open another reporting application,
log in and search for the devices.
Using Extreme Networks NetSight Management application, the IT manager can then
correct the misconfiguration, and resolve in minutes a challenge that in the past has
required hours to track and identify. He can also validate the remediation process by
using Nexthink metrics to confirm that the previously impacted users are now accessing
the IT Service without issue.
Track End User IT Service Quality Across the Network
FAST TRACK BETWEEN USER, NETWORK,
AND APPLICATION VIEWS
If an end user requests IT support, the administrator can search for their particular
device or devices currently in use and retrieve critical end-system data, including
abnormal workloads, processes running, and applications in use.
If the device appears to be functional, by simply right-clicking the administrator can
bring up the same device within Purview and view related data sets from a broader
perspective, including each network element the device is attached to and all
application specific data.
Conversely, the administrator can begin the troubleshooting process from within
Purview to gain an application or network-centric perspective, with a simple right click
on the device seamlessly moving the view to user-centric perspective of Nexthink.
Extreme Networks Purview Integration with Nexthink IT End-user Analytics – Solution Brief
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Access Network and Application Analytics from Nexthink, or access End User Analytics from
Extreme Networks OneView Reports
CORRELATE APPLICATION USAGE WITH USER DATA
Instead of relying on an IP address or DNS name to identify users of a given application,
IT administrators can use the Purview-Nexthink integration to identify specific
application users, including those presently using the application, those who have used
it within a specific time frame, or total use over time.
They can also view a list of the destinations of an application by access time, traffic
volume, number of connections, and more to gain real-time fine-grained application data
insights. Network metrics such as applications vs. network response times, access point
performance, port status, failure alerts, and other variables are also easily accessible.
IMPROVE COMPLIANCE AND ONBOARDING
Extreme Networks Network Access Control (NAC) integration with Nexthink ensures
control of non-compliant devices and enables compliance to be customized for
specific customer requirements. If a non-compliant device is connected to the network,
Extreme Networks NAC will redirect the browser to a page indicating that the device is
quarantined. The page will include a report indicating which compliancy validations failed.
Extreme Networks Purview Integration with Nexthink IT End-user Analytics – Solution Brief
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Coupling NAC with Nexthink endpoint monitoring and user analytics provides three key
advantages:
• Planning NAC: Understanding the IT landscape from a user centric perspective
helps define the impact of and most appropriate policies for groups, users, and
devices, as well as related activities, roles, and risks.
• Enforcing NAC: While non-compliant devices be quarantine or rejected, IT
administrators can offer “close control” status, in which users are allowed network
access but have their activity strictly monitored and logged. Compliant devices
can be allowed access but behavior monitoring using NAC can block any device
engaged in risky activity.
• Improving NAC: Leveraging NAC data over time to improve its efficiency, the
integrated solution refines the threat identification process, identifies situational
parameters underlying policy risks, and enables IT to fine tune NAC policies to
proactively address security challenges.
APPLICATION DISCOVERY AND MAPPING
Nexthink discovers all executable file activities - including name, app, version, and path
– in real-time as they run, and maps their activity both locally on the device and in the
network connections. Without requiring an extensive and cumbersome knowledge base,
IT managers can automatically track, discover, and profile all applications on user devices.
Application information from Nexthink can easily be assigned to a network activity (IP
to IP at time X over port 443 = iexplorer to dropox.com), providing tremendous value to
network administrators by automatically tracking all applications at all time. Additional
information such as user privileges for a given application can also be obtained for
compliance and security purposes.
Extreme Networks Purview Integration with Nexthink IT End-user Analytics – Solution Brief
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Integrating Extreme Networks NetSight Management Application with Nexthink’s
Finder application enables administrators to custom-tailor the solution to their
requirements and easily and rapidly deploy the solution in their environment. By linking
the two systems together, you greatly improve ease of use and troubleshooting time.
Administrators and help desk staff can also easily link from Extreme Networks OneView
Identity & Access end-system database to Nexthink’s end-system analytics application.
Solution Components
NEXTHINK COMPONENTS
• Nexthink Finder V5
EXTREME NETWORKS COMPONENTS
• Extreme Networks NetSight 6.2 or above
• Extreme Networks NAC 6.2 or above - NAC-A-XX, NAC-V-XX or IA-ES-XX
To learn more, contact your authorized Extreme Networks Partner or visit us at
www.extremenetworks.com.
http://www.extremenetworks.com/contact
Phone +1-408-579-2800
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