Monitoring

“If there’s one thing I hate the most, it’s software licensing.” This was said to me, unprompted, by my friend Janine who works in government. She managed operations at large federal organization and handled budget items in the billions of dollars each year. But her biggest hassle was dealing with how her vendors handled software licensing.

Due to unplanned service interruptions, all IT teams must spend some time fixing problems and preparing for future issues. It’s inevitable.

A network isn’t just a technology backbone that supports a business. It is the business. When networks, servers or apps fail, things can come to a full stop. That is, except help desk tickets. Those will start showing up like a flash mob, descending upon the IT team full of complaints and concerns that take up time needed to solve the problem. It’s a vicious cycle that no IT pro wants to deal with.

The promises and challenges associated with the Internet of Things (IoT), the fragmentation of mobile devices at the workplace and the diverse applications and services we use to get our daily work done, are just some of the issues IT pros have to deal with these days.

If you hadn’t heard, there is a fatal clock flaw that is effecting Cisco and Juniper routers and switches with the Intel Atom C2000 chip. Cisco has recently released a statement on the issue:

Michael Roth, senior systems engineer, at the University of North Georgia (UNG) is proud to tell his tale about how his team chose automation over IT complexity by changing a manual network inventory process across the school’s 5 campuses.

Taiwan-based KHS is one of the world's largest manufacturers of musical instruments with popular brands like Walden Guitars and Mapex Drums. The company's five business subsidiaries used to operate independently, each with its own IT team. KHS decided to centralize all IT operations at its headquarters which led to sorting out system integration and network troubleshooting. This major IT initiative included a data center virtualization project to standardize all Point of Sale (PoS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

My name is Jason Alberino and I am a senior engineer in our professional services group and a first-time blogger here on the Network Monitor. I interact with a good number of Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold customers every month and you may see me here from time to time offering advice to those of you using our network monitoring products.

Unfortunately, no one template can guarantee 100-percent system stability. There are, however, guidelines any sysadmin can follow to define policies and procedures that proactively ensure your network doesn't have a random fire drill.

When it comes to network performance, the 5 “Ps” rule helps guarantee uptime and speed: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. In today’s non-stop world, IT pros are tasked with the increasingly difficult job of keeping their organization’s network running effectively and efficiently. In support, we’ve identified three critical focus areas and solutions to ensure poor network performance doesn’t have you playing the blues in your server closet.

Many health care IT organizations create service-level agreements (SLAs) for new applications and infrastructure projects. It's important to collect metrics related to SLA line items and review your metrics on a regular basis.

Who among us can argue that automated network monitoring isn't necessary when you consider how much the role of IT has expanded in recent years? Uptime on workstations and servers has been relegated to a secondary role and is considered the norm. While enhancing business processes and functions has become more of a primary focus.

The IT department of the Freehold Regional High School District (FRHSD) provides network management and support services to six different high schools located in New Jersey. Its network spans across over 200 square miles and is trusted to aid in the education of more than 11,000 students.

Ever think you have an issue with the interface active monitor in WhatsUp Gold being added back to devices after being removed? This is in fact, working as intended. Let me explain why!

How did web automation help a self-described “chief cook and bottle washer” spend a lot less time on repetitive tasks?

Selecting a network monitor solution should come down to value for most IT teams.

Panama is known for its sloths, but we can all agree no one likes slothy Internet and shoddy cable service.

Until a few years ago, most people thought of hackers as bright but maladjusted teenagers who mainly broke into networks for the fun of it. But now that hacking has gone big time, you're more likely to associate hacking with organized crime groups or "state actors."

In my opinion, geolocation or location-based data (call it what you will) is the most frustrating aspect of mobile device usage. Although I was unable to obtain prompt expert insights to aid story credibility, surely I can't be the only one that thinks in this manner?

The Delta Airlines power outage that grounded thousands of flights across the country was attributed to their legacy systems. What could they have done to prevent it? A network monitoring tool would have pinpointed the source of the problem possibly before the outage happened or even in just minutes instead of the reported 30 minutes. It would have allowed Delta's IT team to be nimbler while they remediated the issue.