Whatever the driver for network compliance – government regulations, contractual requirements, industry practices, or simply the needs of the business – well-run enterprises do two things:
- Set the standards that define how networks are configured. These standards tend to fall into one or more of the following categories: network security, network reliability and network performance.
- Ensure those standards are enforced rigidly and uniformly across the network, whether it is physical, virtual or both. This should include regular reporting or auditing to prove that networks or devices remain compliant.
Combined, these two steps define what it means for networks to be compliant.