Evolution in IT Support

Transcription

1 My Metrics Evolution in IT Support Like all businesses, you depend on your network. Have you ever needed to send an important or access vital information, but the system or data was inaccessible? Traditional support models have you call for help, and wait for a technician to be dispatched to troubleshoot the problem. In some cases, making multiple trips for parts! This model forfeits precious uptime for diagnosis, travel and repair - all on your dime. We've put an end to that. Do these issues plague your business? IT budget crunch? Under pressure to reduce IT costs, increase value or maximize profitability? Network secure? How confident are you that your network is protected from hackers and cyber crime? Stuck in a break-fix nightmare? Many service providers just address the symptoms of downtime, and not the root cause! Program Advantages: Prevention of network problems and failures: Through early detection of impending issues, we can work to resolve many issues before they can affect your network and your employees' productivity. "Save your company thousands of dollars annually by eliminating the manual process of preventative maintenance. Strengthen the security and stability of your network." Our responsive offering gives you the assurance that your organization's IT infrastructure receives the required level of support. Built on the strength of our suite of tools and our renowned customer service, we respond rapidly to changes in the health of your network and applications, and to your requests for help. Efficient troubleshooting means that we get you up-and-running faster than ever. Our enterprise-class IT support and monitoring capabilities empower us to dramatically reduce the time it takes to diagnose and resolve network problems or failures. This translates into increased employee productivity and cost savings for you. In some cases, problems can be avoided before they even happen. Faster issue resolution with full-time network monitoring: With 24x7x365 monitoring, we dramatically shorten the time from computer failure to issue resolution. This also allows you the customer to always know the health of your company network. Immediate troubleshooting means lowered IT support costs: 24x7x365 monitoring provides visibility into your network. We immediately determine the root cause of any network issue, reducing diagnostic time from hours down to mere minutes, thereby saving you tons of money normally spent for diagnostics.

2 Program Features: 24x7 Performance Monitoring ensures all of the critical network devices that comprise your network are healthy and functioning reliably and optimally. Monitoring of Your Backup Solution ensures that the backup of your important corporate data occurs as scheduled and without error, protecting your organization from data damage or loss. Patch Management ensures all of your Windows servers and PCs have the most up-to-date security and system patches, helping to optimize performance and minimize security risk. Performance Monitoring of every device and system connected to your service. We stay constantly aware of the user experience. Antivirus Monitoring and Updates on Servers and Workstations ensures your antivirus programs are functioning properly and that the latest industry security updates to your systems are being received and installed. Monthly Network Health Review dedicates time to review reports and issues that are important to the ongoing performance of your network. We translate technology into business terms for you. Standard Features Description Networking Basics Monitoring the vital statistics of your routers, switches and VPN equipment & Messaging Services Monitoring your , spam filtering and mobile messaging services Backup Essential Monitoring the success of your onsite backup solution(s) Absolute Security Intrusion prevention, antivirus maintenance, identifying failed logon attempts, and more PC Care & Maintenance Ongoing preventative maintenance of your PCs to make them reliable and secure Complete Server Monitoring Monitoring of the health and performance of your servers and shared applications Standard Reporting Network health reporting and monthly reviews by our experts, including recommendations License Compliance Verifying that the software you own is what is really being used by your employees Training Our IT experts train your staff on the use of our Managed Services solution (if so desired) IT Consulting Network health reports, regular IT strategy meetings and procurement assistance VoIP Management Asset Reporting Ongoing monitoring, troubleshooting and analysis of your voice-over-ip system Greater control of your IT assets through regular audits of what they have 2008 My Webtek LLC - All Rights Reserved. Managed Services for a Fraction of the Price

3 Managed Services Sample Network Diagram Questions and Answers (FAQs) Question 1 What is it, and how does it work? Imagine that science one day advances to the point where we can monitor anything you can think of with regard to the human body. The beating of someone s heart, their cholesterol level, the appearance of viruses and/or disease, etc... And, imagine you have implemented that technology for yourself and that you are out one brisk morning, jogging through your favorite park. Now imagine, that this same technology could warn you in advance, that a half a mile down the road (if you don t stop jogging immediately), you are going to have a fatal heart attack. Would you stop running? Of course you would (at least if you wished to continue walking, or jogging, among the living). Now imagine that the same technology existed for businesses, so that business owners (and/or their IT Staff) could know in advance that a server is about to run out of disk space, that the amount of memory in one of their web servers will no longer be sufficient in a week, that CPU utilization on every one of their workstations averages 92% on average (costing them hours of

4 lost productivity, per end user, every business day), that backups failed every night for a week (leaving their valuable company data at risk), that each night the outside interface on their firewall goes up and down sporadically (possibly indicating future failure of the device), or that viruses detected on their network could not be cleaned by their antivirus solution. Now, wake up from that fantasy, because this type of technology actually does exist, maybe not yet for human beings, but most assuredly for businesses. This is what Managed Services is, monitoring as many aspects as possible about your network, desktops, laptops, printers, servers, applications, operating systems (i.e.; Windows, Novell, Linux, UNIX), etc, every second of every day (or of every business day, whether 9-5 or 24x7x365). But unfortunately, in reality, it is really not as simple as that. It is actually some what of a science, and not every solution out there that claims to be for Managed Services can do the job, just like not every IT Solutions provider out there can manage a given Managed Services solution, or configure it to maximize notification and alerting (and/or response, depending on the Managed Services solution used) for issues that arise on a customer s network. Managed Services is made possible by deploying a monitoring agent (a small software program) on a server or workstation of your choosing, residing somewhere on your network. (Note: Network devices do not require monitoring agents). Then, using credentials that you provide us with (i.e.; a SNMP Community string, Windows Authentication Credentials, etc ) we are able to collect vital performance data from your network assets, and to receive alerts about activity that is deemed to represent a security threat, poor system performance, unexpected application performance, and so on. For example, we are able to monitor by how much (percentage-wise) your server s CPU is being utilized, and by which processes its resources are being occupied. We are also able to monitor: How much memory and disk space a server is utilizing What services are currently running (and when and if services stop for any reason on your server or desktop) All recordable events from the Event Viewer logs (Application Log, System Log, Security Log, etc. Errors from within application logs (events recorded in any text file) Network device interface status (Administratively Up or Down and Line Protocol status) Bandwidth consumption Missing patches Open vulnerabilities Whether a backup job succeeded or failed in Backup Exe, ARCServ, and/or other software Whether a virus was detected during a routine Symantec or McAfee antivirus scan (once again, other antivirus software is supported as well) The average delivery time for s processed by your Exchange Server and much, much, more Various hardware and software solutions can be monitored by our Managed Services solution, including but not limited to the following: ADIC Tape Libraries APC PowerChute devices APC PowerNet Environmental devices APC UPS devices

5 Avaya IP Office Brocade switches Cabletron devices CheckPoint firewalls Cisco IP Telephony devices Cisco PIX firewalls Cisco switches and routers Citrix Compaq Insight Manager ELM Compaq servers Compaq Storage Works Computer Associates ARCServ Backup Concord SystemEDGE Agents Dell OpenManage ELM Dell servers Foundry switches F5-Big-IP switch GDC switches Generic Mail Generic Web sites HP Omniback HP Procurve (and more) HP Serviceguard HP-UX IBM 3270 NetWare Gateway IBM AIX IBM Lotus Notes IBM (X-Series) Legato Backup Liebert UPS Linux servers Lucent Brick McAfee Anti-Virus Microsoft Active Directory Microsoft Exchange 5.5 Microsoft Exchange 2000 Microsoft IIS Web servers Microsoft SQL 7.x Microsoft SQL 2000 Microsoft Terminal Services Microsoft Windows 2000 Security Monitor Microsoft Windows Account (login/logout) Microsoft Windows Health Monitor Microsoft Windows NT4 Security Monitor NetBoltz Environmental Monitor NetScreen firewalls Network Appliance Nortel BCM Nortel Contivity Norton Anti-Virus Novell NetWare NSI Double-Take Oracle Databases Oracle ELM

6 Packateer PacketShaper Print Spooler Health Raptor firewalls Frame Relay (RFC 1315) Sensaphone SonicWALL firewalls StorageTek Linux Series Tape Drives Sun Solaris Sybase databases Symantec PCAnywhere Trend Micro Control Manager Trend Micro Network VirusWALL Uptime System Probe Veritas Backup Exec WatchGuard firewalls WTI PollCAT PBX and many other brands of network equipment Question 2 Is Managed Services secure? Yes, in order to protect your sensitive network details, all data transmitted between your systems and our central monitoring facility is protected by an SSL Tunnel (SSL encryption). Question 3 Do I need to open any additional ports on my firewall? No, all that is required to be configured on your firewall is outbound HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) access. Almost 100% of the time these ports are already forwarded by default on perimeter gateway devices such as firewalls and routers (in which case, no configuration changes would be required at all). As far as other configurations requirements are concerned, SNMP and/or Syslog needs to be configured on network devices such as switches, printers, firewalls, routers, load balancers, etc, should you desire to monitor such devices. Note: We can (either supervised or unattended) make any and all necessary configuration changes for you, to ease your transition into a monitored network environment. Question 4 Can I resell your services? And if so, who handles what?

7 Yes, you can offer our services to your own customers, and they in turn can offer the services to their customers, and so on, and so on. Note: In all cases, we will add the systems to be monitored by our Managed Services solution. It will then be populated into the Web Portal that you, the customer, will have access to. You need only stipulate how you wish to be notified of alerts (via phone, via pager, by , etc ). We will also configure notification rules based on the coverage you wish to have (9am to 5pm, 24x7x365, or any variation thereof) Question 5 What do I get for my money? (What does Managed Services include?) Upon electing to participate in Managed Services IT Support Coverage, a basic SLA (Service Level Agreement) will be established, detailing what type of support you wish to receive, when and how you wish to receive regular reports, how you wish to be notified in the event of a detected fault, or whether you wish to have notification directed at a third-party (perhaps you have your own IT Staff) via pager, , etc Services that you will receive (or can elect to receive, or not) will include: 1) Patch Notification or Patch Management. Patch Management - is defined as regularly scheduled patch deployments, to promote the stability and security of devices in a networked environment. Patch Monitoring - is defined as regularly scheduled patch reporting, to notify an entity (company) that software-related vulnerabilities exist (in a program or Operating System), what they are, and how they can be countered. 2) Remote Support Tools Via your Managed Services Web Console, you will be able to remotely access devices monitored on your network, using protocols and application such as RDP, VNC, and others. 3) You will also choose whether to have monthly PMs (Preventative Maintenance Services) performed. Preventative Maintenance - is defined as the regular review of a system s health. During a PM, we will check Event Viewer logs, to see if errors or warnings exist that indicate that your applications or hardware devices are faulting. We will also clean out temporary files to free up additional disk space. We will run Spyware remover to get rid of any adaware that exists on your units. We will verify that your antivirus software s virus definitions are up-to-date, and that no files were detected that could not be removed or quarantined. We will check to see if backups are being completed without issue (if applicable). Furthermore, we will also check and report on disk space, and perform diagnostics on average resource consumption, to ensure your system is not being

8 bogged down, and to help identify viruses or other malware that may reside on your systems. (Note: All findings will be delivered to you via report.) 4) You can also opt to have a completely managed environment, in which case we will deliver regular reports to you, notify you of issues that can potentially impact your business, yet resolve all your issues for you, either remotely or locally, as soon as they occur. 5) Furthermore, you will decide whether to have Monthly Executive Status Reports with all findings (trends, issues identified, suggestions for upgrades, etc ) ed to you, or whether to have a formal review with a certified engineer about your network s current health. Question 6 What benefits if any, do your Managed Services offerings provide? There are numerous benefits associated with our Managed Services coverage, including but not limited to the following: 1. Central access to our monitoring solution s Web Console (Dashboard) via any common Web browser. Here you can check on the status of your network assets, remotely access your network assets, export reports, and more. 2. Configurable notification and alerting (customizable rules for notification of whoever you want, via or pager). 3. Configurable user accounts. Note: You can have additional users created, but limit their rights and abilities. 4. Access to real-time system and network performance data for your company. 5. Regular patch reports to identify Critical updates that are available, and/or remote Critical update/patch deployment. 6. Monthly Full Patch Reports and/or remote Patch Deployment. 7. Near-instant identification of IT issues (to promote faster remediation and maximize your business uptime). 8. Customizable filters to allow monitoring of in-house products and solutions (i.e.; custom or home-grown applications). 9. Built-in support for pager and notification. 10. Support for WMI, SNMPv1 or SNMPv2, and Syslog monitoring.

9 11. The ability to create custom event monitors or alerts. 12. Access to built in diagnostic tools such as an SNMP-Walk Tool, ICMP Ping Tool, Traceroute Tool, and File Transfer Utility. And more Note: We also have a Managed Services solution designed specifically for monitoring and alerting of PACS environments (nicknamed Managed PACS), such as in hospitals, imaging centers, chiropractic practices, podiatry practices, orthopedic practices, and radiology centers.