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General Information
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October 8, 2010
• Vol.32 Issue 21
Page(s) 26 in print issue
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Managing From Afar
How To Improve IT’s Vision Into Network & System Performance
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 | Key Points
• Relatively new technologies such as VoIP and virtualization are challenging IT to implement more service- and business-oriented monitoring capabilities.
• IT should standardize device naming conventions, usernames, and passwords before bringing in a new monitoring solution.
• Remote management and monitoring solutions can play a key role in reducing power usage across the network. Use projected power and cooling savings calculations to help build the business case for these tools. | | As the rush toward more efficient, secure, and consolidated data center facilities continues, keeping track of performance becomes more critical than it’s ever been. Updated monitoring tools can help IT maximize performance and minimize downtime, but the organization risks flying blind if it fails to invest in proper processes, as well.
“There has to be a requirements match between your technology and your monitoring solution,” says Dan Birck, senior product marketing manager with Nimsoft (www.nimsoft.com). “It is essential to properly prepare your data center environment and select the correct monitoring technology to meet today’s and tomorrow’s objectives.”
 Key Considerations
 Although out-of-the-box monitoring solutions may have been sufficient in the past, today’s complex networks require IT decision-makers to take a more services-focused approach. Birck recommends asking yourself a range of key questions before narrowing down your choice of monitoring solutions.
Does the product support VoIP or virtualization? The growth of bandwidth-heavy applications has rendered traditional QoS criteria inadequate. Interruptions that the average user might not notice--a slight delay in load times, for example--could be fatal to a real-time voice or video call.
“IT departments must have the tools to measure, in real time, application performance as perceived by the end user and, more importantly, the actionable information needed to quickly pinpoint the likely cause of the performance problems so service level can be restored before it impacts the business,” says Ali Hedayati, president and COO of Coradiant (www.coradiant.com). “Trying to pinpoint the cause of performance problems without an end-to-end monitoring and diagnostic tool will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Are your naming conventions up to snuff? Environments where devices and services are deployed with a consistent naming convention are easier to transition into updated monitoring solutions than those that have evolved in a haphazard fashion. Virtualization makes a bad situation worse.
“We see the rise of vast virtual machine (VM) deployments across the enterprise due to the simplistic ability to provision a new VM,” says David Richardson, product manager with the Avocent division of Emerson Network Power (www.avocent.com). “We see this VM sprawl across the enterprise and see customers struggle with establishing the processes to ensure VM infrastructure and resources are managed properly.”
Clean up the environment with operational processes and a one-time sweep before bringing in new network monitoring and management services.
Do you have up-to-date network diagrams? You can’t manage what you can’t see. Graphically laying out all your equipment, as well as usernames, passwords, and credentials, simplifies implementation and long-term monitoring operations.
“Customers that have large-scale, heterogeneous server deployments are seeking a way to leverage their service processor investment but are finding the ability to keep track of each username and password for each service processor a management challenge,” Richardson says. “Those customers that do not have an access and control management solution that can manage the access and control of heterogeneous service processor cards and provide an aggregate view are resorting to storing access data in spreadsheets, or worse, using standard usernames and passwords to enable users’ access to server infrastructure, creating security and audit risk.”
Do you have a green agenda? Growing pressure to reduce power and cooling expenses and shrink the organizational carbon footprint is helping strengthen the business case for network and systems management investment. Current-generation solutions allow IT to power individual devices on and off across the entire network landscape, which gives data center staff greater ability to hold the line on energy consumption.
Extend Into Incident Management
Against this evolving backdrop, remote monitoring is moving away from its roots as a simple means of improving visibility into system and network performance. Nimsoft’s Birck says one of the most visible value-adds beyond basic console operations can be found at the help desk.
“Integrating with the service desk or network operations center’s incident management system is a great way to gain support for adoption and to leverage the value of the proposed monitoring solution,” Birck says. “By letting the monitoring solution open incidents for items and issues that are critical to the business, you add a whole layer of value. You’re not just opening up another console that can just be ignored. You’re taking things a step further than simply generating an alarm.”
This real-time, service-driven capability allows IT to improve business-as-usual operations while proactively closing incidents. It also lays the groundwork for longer-term improvements to the operational environment by identifying root causes and preventing issues from recurring.
Focus On People & Processes, Too
Beyond the technology itself, remote management tools encourage more efficient deployment of human assets.
“With the use of remote management tools, IT administrators, departments, and end users are able to manage the systems from their desks without having to travel to the server room, saving time and money, whether the data center is in another building up the street or across the world,” Richardson says. As organizations grow and establish offices in different geographic regions, the need becomes even more acute. Richardson says this often leads to each location developing its own processes and standards.
“Remote management tools provide the ability to have a common view and the ability to access and control the inventory,” he adds. “This capability enables the opportunity to standardize processes across the organization. This helps companies achieve greater uptime, faster SLA response, and better customer service, which results in cost savings.” 
by Carmi Levy
Top Tip: Know What You Need Before You Buy
The sheer range of monitoring capabilities means, contrary to vendor marketing claims, no single solution can do it all. Itemize the key needs of both IT and the business before beginning to assess which solution meets your particular needs. Major categories include performance availability monitoring, software distribution, antivirus and malware protection, and incident management and ticketing. No one vendor is best-of-breed in all of them, and claims of enterprise scalability aren’t always easy to validate. Test drive each solution to determine whether its features match your anticipated needs. |
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