Comments on: “New wave” network management buzz comparison http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/ Your daily IT cuppa Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:20:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: that guy http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-6325 that guy Fri, 16 May 2008 05:49:54 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-6325 [...]lame[...] [...]lame[...]

]]> By: Tweets as open source network management metric http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-6082 Tweets as open source network management metric Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:03:11 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-6082 [...] graph once again shows that Nagios is ahead of everybody. The rest are too close to draw any meaningful [...] [...] graph once again shows that Nagios is ahead of everybody. The rest are too close to draw any meaningful [...]

]]> By: Open source network management download comparison http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-5226 Open source network management download comparison Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:58:08 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-5226 [...] volume of downloads is indicative, like search trends, of the relative mind share for each project. Download volume isn’t a perfect measure, but it [...] [...] volume of downloads is indicative, like search trends, of the relative mind share for each project. Download volume isn’t a perfect measure, but it [...]

]]> By: Zenoss Blog » Zenoss Newsletter - September 2007 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-5018 Zenoss Blog » Zenoss Newsletter - September 2007 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 02:05:35 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-5018 [...] The Tech Teapot: “New Wave” Management Buzz Comparison [...] [...] The Tech Teapot: “New Wave” Management Buzz Comparison [...]

]]> By: Network management’s downward trend? http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4955 Network management’s downward trend? Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:48:34 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4955 [...] most puzzling aspect of the “New wave” network management buzz comparison is the OpenView & NetIQ graph. I find it hard to believe that either OpenView or NetIQ are [...] [...] most puzzling aspect of the “New wave” network management buzz comparison is the OpenView & NetIQ graph. I find it hard to believe that either OpenView or NetIQ are [...]

]]> By: Jack Hughes http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4942 Jack Hughes Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:11:15 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4942 @Ron: Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. I agree that network monitoring is great for exactly the reasons you outline. Unfortunately, it often get shunted into the background due to time pressures even though over time it will save time. @Ron: Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. I agree that network monitoring is great for exactly the reasons you outline. Unfortunately, it often get shunted into the background due to time pressures even though over time it will save time.

]]> By: Ron http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4940 Ron Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:33:29 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4940 Traditional monitoring is only one tool in an administrator's toolkit for keeping their systems up but it's an invaluable one. Rather than relying solely on instincts and memory, you can provide some data to back up your claims. If you've got an environment with hundreds of servers and devices, how could you keep up with all those performance and health statistics? And you can also use historical information for capacity planning. You do have the opportunity to run corrective scripts with most monitoring tools to "fix the problem" but the goal is to find root cause and fix the application itself rather than just patch with a work-around. "Nothing stops working if you aren't monitoring" but your uptime will increase if your staff and personnel are pro-actively taking measures to analyze and fix issues over the long-term. Hardware issues are unavoidable and a sad fact of any IT administrators existence. It would be wonderful to have a system that could automatically fix problems but typically each environment is unique with custom apps and requirements. There will always be an element of human intervention and intelligence required because one size does not fit all in most IT situations. Traditional monitoring is only one tool in an administrator’s toolkit for keeping their systems up but it’s an invaluable one. Rather than relying solely on instincts and memory, you can provide some data to back up your claims. If you’ve got an environment with hundreds of servers and devices, how could you keep up with all those performance and health statistics? And you can also use historical information for capacity planning.

You do have the opportunity to run corrective scripts with most monitoring tools to “fix the problem” but the goal is to find root cause and fix the application itself rather than just patch with a work-around. “Nothing stops working if you aren’t monitoring” but your uptime will increase if your staff and personnel are pro-actively taking measures to analyze and fix issues over the long-term. Hardware issues are unavoidable and a sad fact of any IT administrators existence.

It would be wonderful to have a system that could automatically fix problems but typically each environment is unique with custom apps and requirements. There will always be an element of human intervention and intelligence required because one size does not fit all in most IT situations.

]]> By: Jack Hughes http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4939 Jack Hughes Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:35:48 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4939 @Robert: I wouldn't call you "old school" Robert! What is strange about the whole exercise is how little correlation there is between one product losing searches and another receiving them. I think one problem that traditional network monitoring has is that there isn't a "grab the customer by the balls" buying event. One of the reasons for that I believe is that traditional network monitoring will give you a nice graph of something failing but it won't fix it for you. So, if it could be sold as: this tool will fix this range of problems for you 24/7 and oh, it will also give you some nice graphs and reporting as a bonus. That would be a better buying event because failures in data centres happen. Graphing and reporting is kinda nebulous in that sense. Nothing stops working if you aren't monitoring. @Robert: I wouldn’t call you “old school” Robert! What is strange about the whole exercise is how little correlation there is between one product losing searches and another receiving them. I think one problem that traditional network monitoring has is that there isn’t a “grab the customer by the balls” buying event. One of the reasons for that I believe is that traditional network monitoring will give you a nice graph of something failing but it won’t fix it for you. So, if it could be sold as: this tool will fix this range of problems for you 24/7 and oh, it will also give you some nice graphs and reporting as a bonus. That would be a better buying event because failures in data centres happen. Graphing and reporting is kinda nebulous in that sense. Nothing stops working if you aren’t monitoring.

]]> By: robert aronsson http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4938 robert aronsson Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:22:40 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4938 Very interesting article Jack! I think its interesting to see that MRTG have lost allot, but neither one of the "contenders" that you bring up have gained what MRTG lost. I think we and many other "old school" ISV's are getting that chunk of the attention. Robert Aronsson, Intellipool AB - Be the first to know! Very interesting article Jack!

I think its interesting to see that MRTG have lost allot, but neither one of the “contenders” that you bring up have gained what MRTG lost.

I think we and many other “old school” ISV’s are getting that chunk of the attention.

Robert Aronsson,
Intellipool AB - Be the first to know!

]]> By: Jack Hughes http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4937 Jack Hughes Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:18:52 +0000 http://www.openxtra.co.uk/blog/2007/09/13/new-wave-network-management-buzz-comparison/#comment-4937 @John: Thanks for popping over. I have downloaded the Hyperic PDK in order to create a plugin and I didn't find the experience particularly easy. Documentation is a bit thin :) When I get some time I will give it another go ;) There's never enough hours in the day. @John: Thanks for popping over. I have downloaded the Hyperic PDK in order to create a plugin and I didn’t find the experience particularly easy. Documentation is a bit thin :) When I get some time I will give it another go ;) There’s never enough hours in the day.

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