NETWORK AND SERVER MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 E-SPIN PROFESSIONAL BOOK NETWORK MANAGEMENT NETWORK AND SERVER MANAGEMENT ALL THE PRACTICAL KNOW HOW AND HOW TO RELATED TO THE SUBJECT MATTERS. COMPREHENSIVE MONITORING FOR NETWORKS, SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS, AND EVENT LOGGING

2 Editor s Summary E-SPIN Marketing Department OCTOBER 19, 2012 E-SPIN Professionals Book on Network Monitoring Solution for Network and Server Management. Being a network or systems manager in today s technology environment requires some guts, strong shoulders that can carry critical responsibility and a broad repertoire of skills. Not only does the business depend on you to keep the IT infrastructure and applications humming - you also need sufficient oversight that it is being done the right way. Network monitoring solutions have become crucial nowadays because so many companies are relying on their internal network to be productive in their line of work. Network failures and irregularities, server downtime, service or application crashes can seriously threaten the livelihood of a business, costing thousands (if not millions) of dollars in revenue and productivity. As part of the E-SPIN Vulnerability Management and Security Management solution portfolio, E-SPIN have actively in promoting Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold full range of products and technologies as part of the company Network Management solution portfolio The enterprise range from university, telecommunications, government agencies, listed corporate, managed network services provider to network engineers and administrator / manager or datacenter manager or infrastructure manager for Network Operation Center (NOC) applications. E-SPIN also provides consulting, supplying, training and maintaining WhatsUp Gold full range of products for the enterprise, government and military customers (or distribute and resell as part of the complete package) to other regions. I am honored to all users as if this book on how the Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold full range solutions would be helping in order to manage your company network for better solutions and best results. Hoping with this information and the solution as I recommended will give some ideas and knowledge on networking solutions. Last but not least, enjoy reviewing the book. Until then, we ll meet again in the next upcoming issue. Chief of Editor Natalie Bhatt Therefore, with the use of network monitoring solutions, you can deliver a better service and cut costs by fixing issues before any of your users notice a problem. i

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS Page INTRODUCTION..III CHAPTER 1 Network Monitoring For IT Pros... IV CHAPTER 2 Comprehensive Network Monitoring... VI CHAPTER 3 Network Management Tools... XI CHAPTER 4 WhatsUp Gold : Know Your Network... XII ii

4 INTRODUCTION Network Monitoring Definition and Solutions A high performance network is a basic must have for a functioning IT infrastructure in any company. To ensure smooth business procedures, all processes should run without complications, including the internal and external communication between various company locations, as well as with clients and partners. Malfunctions and failures in operational processes easily result in loss of time, as well as financial loss. A network monitoring software which constantly monitors processes in the network, performs analysis and alerts IT personnel as soon as an error occurs or critical values are exceeded is highly recommended in order to keep track of the availability, performance and bandwidth usage in an IT network. Network monitoring enables the administrator to intervene quickly, even remotely, if he or she is not on location. Of course, every company has different requirements for a network monitoring solution, and as the market offers numerous different tools and solutions, careful selection of a suitable solution is a must. This white paper shows the various options a network solution can offer, if the right criteria are considered in the decision making process. Network monitoring is far more strategic than its name implies. It involves watching for problems 24/7, but it's also about optimizing data flow and access in a complex and changing environment. Tools and services are as numerous and varied as the environments they guard and analyze. Network Server Management aims to keep network servers operating at peak efficiency. The tools such as configuration and patch management utilities automate tasks that administrators would otherwise perform manually. It also might be a stand-alone utilities or components of a comprehensive management suite. As for the server management is aims to keep servers running in top condition. Its utilities keep tabs on remote servers and centralize data about server performance in a single, easy to understand dashboard view for administrators. It also utilities by allow the administrators to manage the performance of a relatively large number of network servers. iii

5 CHAPTER 1 NETWORK MONITORING SOLUTIONS FOR IT PROS A good network administrator quickly addresses issues that jeopardize your company s network infrastructure. But a great one goes the extra mile and uses a reliable network monitoring solution to proactively identify, intercept, and prevent the issues. What s network monitoring? And why should I care? Network monitoring serves as your eyes-and-ears, alerting you to any issues on your network. You can keep track of things like printer supplies, software installations, hard drive space, contract due dates just about anything you can think of that relates to your network. The vast majority of problems that arise in a network are directly related to something changing. The best network monitoring solutions will not only alert you to these changes, but will also help you troubleshoot the issue by allowing you to compare your network s current state with what it looked like before the change. This means you can solve the problem faster! The most proactive of IT pros set up their network monitoring systems to alert them via or text message whenever issues arise. This not only keeps them on top of potential problems so they can address them as quickly as possible, but it also prevents them from creating an issue. Plus, this type of proactive problem solving makes you a household favorite with everyone from your boss to your customers! What should I look for in a network monitor solution? While every network is different, there are four areas that any best-of-the-best network monitor should be able to do: Monitor PC hardware and supplies: A key component to network monitoring knows when changes are made to your network devices. You need to be alerted when disk space is low, disks are removed or added, devices lose connectivity, or toner gets low so you can immediately address the problems. Monitor software: Monitoring software is more than just keeping track of what is being installed and uninstalled on your computers. Proper network monitoring means: iv

6 Keeping track of installations Noting which licenses are set to expire Knowing which hotfixes (patches to fix specific bugs) are installed Staying on top of the current state of all Windows services on each machine Making sure all of your computers are protected with an up to date antivirus software Monitor web traffic: Networks only have a limited amount of bandwidth for all employees to share. For instance, if one employee is using a large chunk of the bandwidth, it causes a traffic jam that negatively impacts everyone else on the same network. This becomes an even more pronounced issue when you use network switches and end up accidentally overloading another switch which leaves the others practically empty. An effective network monitoring setup will let you see where bottlenecks are occurring and how evenly the devices are distributed. Keep track of your IT services info: There are many things on your network you'll want to track that aren t necessarily physical objects, such as noting which IT service contracts are set to expire. It's not something you initially think of when working with a network monitor, but it can provide additional benefits such as helping your organization to save money. By giving you plenty of advanced notice that your IT contracts are set to expire, you allot yourself plenty of time to shop around and do your research to get the best deals. Which network monitoring tool is best? As with any other major purchase, you want to do your research and investigate which solutions software companies offer. You ll find plenty of companies out there with network monitoring solutions that could help your organization. But note that several network monitoring software packages cost thousands of dollars for setup and installation, training, maintenance, and regular patches and fixes. Not to mention, the amount of valuable time you ll spend evaluating each product to ensure it s worth its price. So this is why WhatsUp Gold full range solutions exist! v

7 CHAPTER 2 Comprehensive Network Monitoring WhatsUp Gold network management solutions are a powerful network monitoring solution designed to help you protect your business. WhatsUp Gold uses a relational database to store information about the devices on your network that are being monitored. That information allows the application to effectively watch over your network by actively polling devices and services, or by listening for messages sent across your network. Depending on the response from this polling, WhatsUp Gold then fires Actions based on the device state change that is invoked by the response or message. Along the way, WhatsUp Gold keeps track of what it finds and provides a series of reports that lets you view real-time and historical data based on the devices and monitors configured in your database. How it works? After installation and configuration, WhatsUp Gold monitors each of the devices in the device list, using the monitors you add to those devices. There are three types of monitors that you can assign to a device: Passive Monitors, Active Monitors, and Performance Monitors. The differences between these monitors come in the way they gather and report data. Active. Active Monitors query network services installed on a device then wait on the response. These monitors tell you if your devices, and the services on those devices, are up and responding. Passive. These monitors listen for specific types of information on a device (SNMP traps, Windows Events, etc.) When something is heard by WhatsUp Gold, it fires off an alert. vi

8 Performance. These monitors gather data about specific properties on a device (CPU, memory, disk space, interface utilization, etc.) This data is then presented in WhatsUp Gold Performance Reports. vii

9 Device State Key to WhatsUp Gold are the device icons and colors associated with these icons. The shape and color of the icons represent the current status of each device. When that status changes as a result of one of the polling attempts, the color and shape change depending on how long the device has been in that state, and what else is happening on the device. viii

10 CHAPTER 3 NETWORK MANAGEMENT TOOLS - FOR NETWORK MONITORING Network & Application Monitoring Platform for Managed Service Providers: WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition Manage any number of customer networks from one central location WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition provides a complete solution for MSPs to monitor any number of customer networks from a single central NOC site. With powerful discovery, mapping, SNMP v1-3 and WMI monitoring, alerting, notification and reporting capabilities, WhatsUp provides 360 visibility, actionable intelligence and complete control. Intuitive Windows and web-based management interfaces provide a complete picture of each customer network in separate and secure customized workspaces in real-time. ix

11 Network availability is a critical component to the success of any business. However, many small businesses lack the IT sophistication and proper tools to manage their networks themselves. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) provide a valuable set of services to customers, leveraging in-house expertise to effectively and transparently monitor and manage customer networks. One of the biggest challenges MSPs face is consistently demonstrating value to their customers. Through remote monitoring and management platforms and desktop management tools, MSPs are able to work "behind-the-scenes" and keep networks running with little or no customer visibility. The better job you're doing, the less the customer sees you. To increase your perceived value to your customers, you need to be able to: Maintain or increase service levels Build the role of trusted advisor to your customers Assist with planning customer IT investments Differentiate your managed services offering By incorporating the strongest network management solution into your service offerings, you can achieve your business objectives and demonstrate your continued value to customers. x

12 Knowing your customers' networks better than they do is the key element to delivering predictive, SLAcompliant network monitoring. WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition is the only MSP focused solutions that not only supports a diverse client base with a wide variety of network types, architectures, and equipment, but is also priced low enough that you can make the margins you need to grow profitably. Turnkey solution for offering network management and application monitoring services to their clients WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition is a complete turnkey solution for MSPs wishing to offer network management and application monitoring services to their clients. IP services, Unix/Linux and Windows server infrastructure, firewalls, routers and WANs can all be monitored from a single secure console. In addition to enabling predictive and pro-active management of customer networks, WhatsUp Gold MSP Edition provides built-in reporting that demonstrates the performance of a customer's IT infrastructures from a business perspective; including SLA measurements, critical systems and of course the physical network. You can leverage comprehensive reporting capabilities to create reports that depict the impact your services have on the customer's critical business infrastructure. xi

13 CHAPTER 4 WHATSUP GOLD: KNOW YOUR NETWORK WhatsUp Gold is the world's leading Network Management and Monitoring solution that discovers, maps, monitors, alerts, and reports on changes in state of all mission-critical network gear and Windows-based servers and applications. WhatsUp Gold introduces new features, new plugins and functional enhancements across all versions of the product family. Highlights include Flow Monitor plugin, the VoIP Plug-In, and the WhatsConnected plugin. Discover and Map your network quickly, and with no additional software needed. Get notified when problems happen on your network. Generate reports about your network. Anytime, anywhere network management. New VoIP Monitor Plugin available for WhatsUp Gold. New WhatsConnected Plugin available for WhatsUp Gold. New Flow Monitor Plugin available for WhatsUp Gold. xii

14 Comprehensive Network Monitoring WhatsUp Gold Premium provides a powerful, cost-effective network management and application monitoring solution for single-site networks of all sizes that installs, discovers and maps network connected assets in minutes. By proactively monitoring all critical network devices and services, WhatsUp Gold reduces costly and frustrating downtime that can impact business. Isolate Your Network Problems with WhatsUp Gold As a market leader in network monitoring software, WhatsUp Gold isolates network problems and provides awareness and understanding of network performance and availability: Discovers IP-based network devices and maps them Allows for manual input of non-standard IP devices and virtualized devices Includes full SNMP and WMI monitoring out of the box without the need for agents Notifies you when problems happen on the network Includes drag-and-drop MIB support for all SNMP and WMI devices and applications Gathers real-time and trending network information for easy report generation Provides anytime, anywhere network monitoring xiii