Is Your Network Performance Alarming?
| Category: Traffic and Tracking | Date: 2001-04-04 |
The Alternative to Poor Network Monitoring
I once had a smoke alarm that just went off, by itself, on a regular basis. It got to the point where I just ignored it-it was always going off, so why bother going down and taking the battery out?
Then there was the fire. It wasn't *much* of a fire; someone had nudged the burner knob and turned on the heat under an empty pan. The plastic part of the pan's lid melted (caught on fire, actually, it was quite spectacular) and the outside of the (white) pan was permanently scorched. But no harm done.
Needless to say, I replaced the smoke alarm. Ignoring it when it was inconvenient for me could have burned down my home.
There are multiple ways to monitor and maintain your network. For big companies, the most common method is network monitoring software and a full-time network administration staff.
Most small companies use monitoring software but skip the dedicated staff. In a perfect world the existing technical staff responds to an alarm when the monitoring software "alerts" them. The truth is, most software isn't very "smart." Network monitoring software checks to see if the network is performing within "normal" parameters. If anything happens outside of those parameters, the software sounds an alarm. However, just because a network is outside "normal" parameters doesn't mean that a network emergency is occurring. Most often it is smoke but no fire. Kind of like my faulty smoke alarm. The people (sometimes person, singular) in charge of monitoring those alarms and checking the system get complacent, thinking that "this is just another false alarm." If it's convenient for them, they'll check the network, but if it's 2 a.m. on a Sunday in December in Maine, they may stay in bed and figure it will wait till Monday. No, this is not ideal, no, it's not how we want our people or our software to operate, but it's the truth.
It's also the truth that software really isn't all that smart. It knows how to look for what it's told to look for, and that, unfortunately, is all. So if the software constantly alarms on things that are not "real emergencies" for your network, then the alarms will be ignored, or the tolerances will be set so high that the software doesn't alarm on anything. Neither of these situations is good-they're both like having a pot on the stove just waiting for someone to turn it on-and no smoke alarm to let you know.
If you have a larger company, with a larger pocketbook, you could set up a full-time Network Operations Center (NOC) staffed 24/7 with the best network technicians your money can buy. Let's see...that's 4 people, at a minimum of $50,000 per year, or $200,000 in payroll alone...YIKES
So what's a network owner to do? How can you know that the alarms are being investigated and handled, if necessary, without paying a full-time networking staff? Is there an alternative that doesn't cost a gazillion dollars? Is there a way to have a live staff without sacrificing every other part of your company?
There is. It's commonly known as outsourcing; you do it on almost everything else, including your *other* packet delivery services (the Post Office and UPS). The absolute best way to insure that your network is running at optimal performance, round the clock, is to hire a network operations center that doesn't live in your building. Find a qualified, competent company that handles network monitoring and administration from their own site-remote monitoring, in other words.
iLAN Systems [www.ilan.com] is one such company, offering complete network baselining, monitoring and technical assistance. You'll find that their NetEquality Baselining Product offers Real-Time Alarm Processing (validated alarms), Daily Exception Report (for early warning of problems), Network Performance Analysis (providing unique "user perception" view), and On-Call Technical Assistance (1-800 around the clock). It's also considerably less expensive than even one full-time network technician, meaning that your kids can eat, your companies can have their offices inside the building rather than on the parking lot, and your coffee supplier will continue to bring the caffeine on a regular basis.
When it comes to the best solution for running a network efficiently and effectively, remote network monitoring is the best solution for most businesses, and iLAN Systems [www.iLAN.com] is the best provider of the best solution.
About the Author
Angie Dixon is a freelance writer and consultant. For more information on network baselining see http://www.ilan.com/ Contact Tom Reynolds at reynolds@ilan.com for more info on iLan Systems and NetEquality Baselining
This article provided by the InfoZone Archives at: http://www.MakingProfit.com
add@hotpop.com
http://www.ilan.com
I once had a smoke alarm that just went off, by itself, on a regular basis. It got to the point where I just ignored it-it was always going off, so why bother going down and taking the battery out?
Then there was the fire. It wasn't *much* of a fire; someone had nudged the burner knob and turned on the heat under an empty pan. The plastic part of the pan's lid melted (caught on fire, actually, it was quite spectacular) and the outside of the (white) pan was permanently scorched. But no harm done.
Needless to say, I replaced the smoke alarm. Ignoring it when it was inconvenient for me could have burned down my home.
There are multiple ways to monitor and maintain your network. For big companies, the most common method is network monitoring software and a full-time network administration staff.
Most small companies use monitoring software but skip the dedicated staff. In a perfect world the existing technical staff responds to an alarm when the monitoring software "alerts" them. The truth is, most software isn't very "smart." Network monitoring software checks to see if the network is performing within "normal" parameters. If anything happens outside of those parameters, the software sounds an alarm. However, just because a network is outside "normal" parameters doesn't mean that a network emergency is occurring. Most often it is smoke but no fire. Kind of like my faulty smoke alarm. The people (sometimes person, singular) in charge of monitoring those alarms and checking the system get complacent, thinking that "this is just another false alarm." If it's convenient for them, they'll check the network, but if it's 2 a.m. on a Sunday in December in Maine, they may stay in bed and figure it will wait till Monday. No, this is not ideal, no, it's not how we want our people or our software to operate, but it's the truth.
It's also the truth that software really isn't all that smart. It knows how to look for what it's told to look for, and that, unfortunately, is all. So if the software constantly alarms on things that are not "real emergencies" for your network, then the alarms will be ignored, or the tolerances will be set so high that the software doesn't alarm on anything. Neither of these situations is good-they're both like having a pot on the stove just waiting for someone to turn it on-and no smoke alarm to let you know.
If you have a larger company, with a larger pocketbook, you could set up a full-time Network Operations Center (NOC) staffed 24/7 with the best network technicians your money can buy. Let's see...that's 4 people, at a minimum of $50,000 per year, or $200,000 in payroll alone...YIKES
So what's a network owner to do? How can you know that the alarms are being investigated and handled, if necessary, without paying a full-time networking staff? Is there an alternative that doesn't cost a gazillion dollars? Is there a way to have a live staff without sacrificing every other part of your company?
There is. It's commonly known as outsourcing; you do it on almost everything else, including your *other* packet delivery services (the Post Office and UPS). The absolute best way to insure that your network is running at optimal performance, round the clock, is to hire a network operations center that doesn't live in your building. Find a qualified, competent company that handles network monitoring and administration from their own site-remote monitoring, in other words.
iLAN Systems [www.ilan.com] is one such company, offering complete network baselining, monitoring and technical assistance. You'll find that their NetEquality Baselining Product offers Real-Time Alarm Processing (validated alarms), Daily Exception Report (for early warning of problems), Network Performance Analysis (providing unique "user perception" view), and On-Call Technical Assistance (1-800 around the clock). It's also considerably less expensive than even one full-time network technician, meaning that your kids can eat, your companies can have their offices inside the building rather than on the parking lot, and your coffee supplier will continue to bring the caffeine on a regular basis.
When it comes to the best solution for running a network efficiently and effectively, remote network monitoring is the best solution for most businesses, and iLAN Systems [www.iLAN.com] is the best provider of the best solution.
About the Author
Angie Dixon is a freelance writer and consultant. For more information on network baselining see http://www.ilan.com/ Contact Tom Reynolds at reynolds@ilan.com for more info on iLan Systems and NetEquality Baselining
This article provided by the InfoZone Archives at: http://www.MakingProfit.com
add@hotpop.com
http://www.ilan.com
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