What is a Small-Business Unmanaged "Ad Hoc" Network

"Many small businesses have unmanaged, ad hoc enterprise networks that are incapable of supporting the availability, performance, and security requirements of today's cloud computing, social networking, and web environments."

These ad hoc networks are generally composed of:

• ISP-supplied DSL or cable modems installed using default parameters,

• Outdated wireless and/or wired routers with little (or no) remote management capabilities,

• One or more unmanaged Ethernet switches,

• legacy application servers supporting a variety of non-standard network protocol standards, and;

• A variety of wired personal computers running out-dated operating system such as Windows XP, Windows VISTA, and Windows 2000.

• Non-standard network protocols such as NetBIOS,

• Netware, SNA, X.25, and AppleTalk.

While these ad hoc networks may have provided adequate networking support for in-house applications and databases, and casual access to the Internet, they are incapable of supporting the radically-different availability, performance, and security requirements of new cloud Internet-based information processing architectures. These new metered, on-demand information processing architectures require new continuously managed technology infrastructures such as our Typical Small-Business Technology Infrastructure.

Network Hardware Components From Different Vendors

An unmanaged ad hoc enterprise network is generally composed of mismatched hardware components acquired from different vendors to meet specific business requirements such as:

In some instances, ad hoc networks include low-cost residential components instead of hardware that has been certified for small business use. And although this hardware may appear to work, its low-end quality and unpredictable performance usually results in network problems that are hard to isolate, and even harder to correct. These hardware components are generally installed by:

• Tech-savvy employees (or more frequently, tech-savvy managers).
• Technicians employed by a hardware vendor or an ISP. (In neither of these cases is the question of "What is best for the customer's business" likely to a primary factor in the hardware selection and acquisition process.)
•  Third-party contractors.
• Technicians employed by a facility management company.

Usually the person installing the specified component will simply select the factory default parameters, and although these default parameters will work, the component will not perform up to its optimal capability. Additionally, because the component is being installed to meet a specific business requirement, there is no long-term planning involved in the acquisition or installation processes.

In some instances, ad hoc networks include low-cost consumer components instead of hardware that has been certified for small business use. And although this hardware may appear to work, its low-end quality and unpredictable performance usually results in network problems that are hard to isolate, and even harder to correct

Inventory Management

There is no formal inventory database that can be used for managing, monitoring and tracking hardware installed in an Ad Hoc network. The type of information needed for these functions include:

• Location of component.

• Model number, serial number and acquisition date.

• Backup configuration images.

• Firmware/BIOS revision.

• Admin name and password.

• Network MAC address(s).

• IP addresses.

• Vendor/ISP contact information:

  • Technical support phone number,

  • Address of customer,

  • Small-business contact number, and,

  • Contact authorization PIN.

Access to model number, serial number, and Vendor/ISP contact information can significantly reduce the time required to start the problem isolation/resolution by vendor/ISP tech support engineers.