Comments on: Seven Arguments Against DIY Server & Network Monitoring http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/ Business, Technology and Staffing insights from RSA Corp. Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:06:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: website monitoring http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-4045 website monitoring Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:11:02 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-4045 Nice post. Thanks for sharing it Nice post. Thanks for sharing it

]]> By: Stephen Sweeney http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3444 Stephen Sweeney Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:10:50 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3444 Demian, I'm very sorry to hear that ... although I hope the traffic was welcome and not an attack of some sort. Knowing that you're down typically is not the problem ... at that point it is too late ... knowing well-enough in advance is the challenge. I'd ask what monitoring and alerting is in place to identify capacity issues before they happen? Most any IP device can be monitored and thresholds set so that the proper resources are alerted when when peaks or averages exceed a threshold. If the answer is none, then you should go down the buy vs. outsource path. If your company has monitoring software, then it may be misconfigured or not fully utilized or perhaps it doesn't support all of the areas where failure could originate. If you have a provider monitoring for you already, then it is time to ask for a credit on next month's invoice! I know that you understand that excess capacity can be quickly absorbed by outlier spikes. As such, there is always the possiblity that monitoring and alerting wouldn't have helped. -Stephen Demian,

I’m very sorry to hear that … although I hope the traffic was welcome and not an attack of some sort. Knowing that you’re down typically is not the problem … at that point it is too late … knowing well-enough in advance is the challenge.

I’d ask what monitoring and alerting is in place to identify capacity issues before they happen? Most any IP device can be monitored and thresholds set so that the proper resources are alerted when when peaks or averages exceed a threshold. If the answer is none, then you should go down the buy vs. outsource path. If your company has monitoring software, then it may be misconfigured or not fully utilized or perhaps it doesn’t support all of the areas where failure could originate. If you have a provider monitoring for you already, then it is time to ask for a credit on next month’s invoice!

I know that you understand that excess capacity can be quickly absorbed by outlier spikes. As such, there is always the possiblity that monitoring and alerting wouldn’t have helped.

-Stephen

]]> By: Demian Perry http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3432 Demian Perry Sun, 02 Aug 2009 12:52:52 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3432 My company got shut down a couple of days ago by a massive traffic spike from Yahoo. We caught the problem right away, but it took us nearly an hour to ramp up capacity. Any advice? My company got shut down a couple of days ago by a massive traffic spike from Yahoo. We caught the problem right away, but it took us nearly an hour to ramp up capacity. Any advice?

]]> By: Stephen Sweeney http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3416 Stephen Sweeney Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:13:34 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3416 Franck, Business trips to Fiji! Who wouldn't see that as a value-add? I agree with your points. We definitely see misconfigured alerting thresholds and I too suspect that the root cause is to minimize false positives. A good managed service provider will instead set the thresholds appropriately and investigate the positives. AJ, I'm glad to see you agree also. The economics are very compelling so long as clients understand and acknowledge the hidden costs of delivering support in-house. A discounted cash flow model with the appropriate cost of capital would demonstrate that the up-front investments and opportunity costs in the short term are far more expensive than the recurring expense over the long term. Then layer on the fully deductible operational expense versus the capital depreciation of hardware and software expenses ... no brainer. Perhaps that's a topic for another blog post. Thanks! Franck, Business trips to Fiji! Who wouldn’t see that as a value-add? I agree with your points. We definitely see misconfigured alerting thresholds and I too suspect that the root cause is to minimize false positives. A good managed service provider will instead set the thresholds appropriately and investigate the positives.

AJ, I’m glad to see you agree also. The economics are very compelling so long as clients understand and acknowledge the hidden costs of delivering support in-house. A discounted cash flow model with the appropriate cost of capital would demonstrate that the up-front investments and opportunity costs in the short term are far more expensive than the recurring expense over the long term. Then layer on the fully deductible operational expense versus the capital depreciation of hardware and software expenses … no brainer. Perhaps that’s a topic for another blog post.

Thanks!

]]> By: Susan http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3408 Susan Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:02:47 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3408 I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. Susan http://8080proxy.com I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Susan

http://8080proxy.com

]]> By: AJ Walters http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3399 AJ Walters Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:03:33 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3399 The whole software as a service (SaaS) and managed service is the new 'right' IT decision for many businesses. High value, low cost and all the reasons stated above. The whole software as a service (SaaS) and managed service is the new ‘right’ IT decision for many businesses. High value, low cost and all the reasons stated above.

]]> By: Franck Martin http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3397 Franck Martin Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:31:42 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3397 These are very good points. Add to the fact that a dedicated remote monitoring service will have staff 24/7 which will analyze alerts as they happen, and you are sure to catch important events in the middle of all the traffic. Automatic systems generate a lot of false positives, and these alerts may not require immediate critical action, but will grab the attention every time of inhouse on call engineers. They will get burn down, and will not perform adequately their daytime job, which is to deploy more infrastructure. Finally it does need to be expensive, you can outsource it to any place in the world. We have started this kind of business from Fiji, it is closer to the west coast of the USA than anything, in terms of timezone (4 hours) and speed. Usually I don't see the difference of being in Fiji or in California when accessing data centers in California. And you can come teach us about your systems and carry on vacations ;) These are very good points. Add to the fact that a dedicated remote monitoring service will have staff 24/7 which will analyze alerts as they happen, and you are sure to catch important events in the middle of all the traffic. Automatic systems generate a lot of false positives, and these alerts may not require immediate critical action, but will grab the attention every time of inhouse on call engineers. They will get burn down, and will not perform adequately their daytime job, which is to deploy more infrastructure.

Finally it does need to be expensive, you can outsource it to any place in the world. We have started this kind of business from Fiji, it is closer to the west coast of the USA than anything, in terms of timezone (4 hours) and speed. Usually I don’t see the difference of being in Fiji or in California when accessing data centers in California.

And you can come teach us about your systems and carry on vacations ;)

]]> By: jonathan http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3378 jonathan Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:05:54 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3378 The monitoring will save your time a lot. Great for the information and review. Thank you. The monitoring will save your time a lot. Great for the information and review. Thank you.

]]> By: Susan Kishner http://partnerit.com/2009/07/server-network-monitoring-peace-of-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-3376 Susan Kishner Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:01:34 +0000 http://partnerit.com/?p=72#comment-3376 Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days. Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.

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