Dealing with Downtime: Maintaining High Availability with NMS Failover...
In a previous post, I outlined a couple of steps you should take to ensure that you are best protected against "apocalyptic disaster" on your network. In short:Get a Network Management Software(NMS) to...
View ArticleShould I Use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)?
Most network monitoring solutions (NMS) are going to use some combination of Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP) and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to monitor your network. SNMP and...
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Getting Certificates Up to Speed - Updating RSA Key Security
It's possible you missed it because you've been busy, but in 2007 the National Institute of Standards and Technology published their "Recommendation for Key Management" in which they state that, by...
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Faster, Greener, Cheaper -- Part I: Cisco EnergyWise
As a network engineer, you're no doubt intimately familiar with the various species of conventional network hardware and related equipment: servers, routers, cables, switches, and, of course, more...
View ArticleFaster, Greener, Cheaper -- Part II: Cisco Unified Computing System
With a previous post, we've started a series looking into ways to make your network faster, even greener, with the further possible upside of being cheaper to maintain. Last time, we looked at making...
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Taking Another Look at DNSStuff for IP and Domain Management
Hey, it's December, which means that It's that time of the year when gifts are given and we reflect on the year that was. 2012 was a great year for SolarWinds, and we hope it was for you, as well. So,...
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Errors and Discards: A Brief Review for Network Managers
Getting Serious About Network ManagementInevitably, if you are serious about managing your network, you're going to need to address the issues of packet errors and discards. Sure, you can ignore them,...
View ArticleThe "Ultimate Network Management Dashboard" - Part I
Helping you, a present or future SolarWinds user, to determine how best to manage your network is pretty much Job #1 for me and the rest of us posting on Geek Speak. A lot of the time, hopefully, that...
View ArticleThe "Ultimate Network Management Dashboard" - Part II: User Accounts and Access
As promised in a previous post, I want to go a little deeper into a few of the steps outlined in brad.hale's great white paper, "How to Create the Ultimate Network Management Dashboard", that we've got...
View ArticleTHE "ULTIMATE NETWORK MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD" - PART III: Network Discovery and...
As mentioned in previous posts Part I and Part II, I want to now continue to go a little deeper into a few of the steps outlined in brad.hale's great white paper, "How to Create the Ultimate Network...
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THE "ULTIMATE NETWORK MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD" - PART IV: Network Mapping
As promised in a previous post, I'm back, bearing pretty colors and fancy lines. Specifically, I want to talk about generating informative maps that you can then include in your "ultimate network...
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THE "ULTIMATE NETWORK MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD" - PART V: Customizing Resources
The Ultimate Network Management Dashboard -- A ReviewYou've made it! Finally. The last installment in a series of posts providing steps to create a custom network management dashboard using SolarWinds...
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A private cloud, or just blowing smoke?
What's in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet - JulietWhat's in a name? If we call it a private cloudOr a virtualized environment, it's still pretty sweet! -...
View ArticleDesperately Seeking IT Security Experts
In case you missed it last week, Evernote, the online note-taking app, was hacked, and, If you're an Evernote user, you've probably already changed your password. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting...
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March Madness: Major Headache or Minor Malady?
So, did you get your bracket done this year? Yeah, I have to admit, I was surprised Wintermute lost to HAL in the first round, too. Oh, right, you didn't think I was talking about the SolarWinds Sci-Fi...
View ArticleThe Gigabits are Coming! The Gigabits are Coming!
...to Austin, anyway, in 2014... So, Google disagrees somewhat with this guy:[Austin’s] a mecca for creativity and entrepreneurialism, with thriving artistic and tech communities, as well as the...
View ArticleTo upgrade or not to upgrade...that is the question.
"To upgrade, or not to upgrade, that is the question:Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to sufferThe Slings and Arrows of outrageous license upgrade fees,Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles (i.e....
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Net Admin Likes Candlelight Dinners, Good Conversation, and Long (SNMP) Walks
OK, no, not really. No, we haven't changed the format here on thwack: though you can get some good conversation in our forums, no one is going to suggest the use of candles in your network closet. And...
View ArticleNot-So-Stupid Poller Tricks
If, for any significant length of time, you have been using SolarWinds NPM for network management or SolarWinds SAM for application and server management, you have probably heard of an additional...
View ArticleReporting Like You've Always Known It...And a Whole Lot More
By now, you are no doubt aware that SAM 6.0 and NPM 10.6 are both out. Yes, we're pretty excited about it around here, and I want to highlight one particular feature you may have missed: web-based...
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