The goal of the Network Monitoring & Management Workshop (NMM) is to establish a shared operational baseline in monitoring / observability and troubleshooting across NREN and campus operators, while catalysing local community formation around GamREN and the Gambian ecosystem.
Core Topics (practitioner-first):
- Monitoring architectures and operational models
- Performance measurement, traffic analysis, and visibility
- Fault detection, incident workflows, and root-cause analysis
- Open-source tooling appropriate for NREN and campus networks
- Turning monitoring data into operational and management decisions
Format:
- 3-day hands-on workshop (optionally extensible to 4 days)
- Lectures + guided discussion + labs using realistic NREN/campus scenarios
- Clear pre-work (participant readiness checklist) and post-work (operational adoption plan)
Day 1 – Foundations for Secure Network Operations
Objectives: Establish a common operational baseline and deploy core monitoring infrastructure.
Topics
- Introduction to Network Monitoring & Management (NMM)
- Role of monitoring in availability, performance, and security
- Linux essentials for network operations (focused refresher)
- TCP/IP fundamentals and security essentials
- SNMP concepts and configuration (Linux & network devices)
- Cisco IOS configuration basics
Hands-on Labs
- Linux system setup and administration tasks
- SNMP configuration and testing
- Initial device configuration and access
Outputs
- Participants are prepared with a functional lab environment
- Network devices are accessible and instrumented for monitoring
Day 2 – Monitoring, Visibility, and Incident Response
Objectives: Deploy and integrate classical NOC monitoring and operational tools.
Topics
- Automated network monitoring and discovery with LibreNMS
- Service and host monitoring with Nagios
- Latency, packet loss, and jitter monitoring with Smokeping
- Traffic analysis using Netflow and NfSen
- Configuration backup and change tracking with RANCID
- Ticketing and incident response workflows using RT (Request Tracker)
Hands-on Labs
- Install and configure LibreNMS
- Configure Nagios alerts and thresholds
- Deploy Smokeping and Netflow collectors
- Integrate Nagios with RT for automated ticket generation
Outputs
- End-to-end monitoring and alerting system
- Functional incident and ticketing workflow
Day 3 – Modern Monitoring, Documentation, and NOC Practices
Objectives: Introduce modern observability concepts and strengthen operational maturity.
Topics
- Metrics-based monitoring with Prometheus
- Visualization and dashboards with Grafana
- Log management fundamentals (syslog / rsyslog, ELK overview)
- Network documentation and IP management using NetBoxNetdot
- Network Operations Center (NOC) best practices
- Review, assessment, and certification
Hands-on Labs
- Prometheus setup with exporters
- Pre-built Grafana dashboards
- Log collection demonstration
- Network documentation exercises
Outputs
- Metrics and dashboards in place
- Documented network assets
- Participants assessed and certified
2. Topics Flagged for a Follow-Up Advanced Workshop
To ensure depth and quality, the following topics are intentionally introduced at a high level and recommended for a Phase-2 workshop:
Follow-Up Workshop (Advanced NMM / 4–5 days)
- Advanced Linux system administration and hardening
- Full Prometheus + Grafana dashboard design and alert engineering
- ELK stack deployment and advanced log analytics
- Docker and Portainer for production monitoring environments
- Advanced Netflow analysis and capacity planning
- Security analytics and threat detection workflows
- High-availability and resilient NOC architectures
This phased approach ensures sustainability and progressive skills development.
