Problem solve

Problem solve

Get help with specific problems with your technologies, process and projects.

• Syslog-ng configuration: Building a log aggregation server

  In this tip, learn how to create a log aggregation server with a syslog-ng configuration, which can organize and simplify interactions with your systems' log messages. Continue Reading

• Using OpenNMS and SNMP for open source systems management

  Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) can allow a deeper look into system information gathered from OpenNMS. This tip walks through network monitoring with OpenNMS and SNMP. Continue Reading

• Configuring OpenNMS for open source server monitoring

  With many IT organizations strapped for cash, OpenNMS is a free, open source server monitoring alternative. In this tip, learn how to install and configure OpenNMS 1.8. Continue Reading

• Prevent server over-consolidation with optimal VM resource allocation

  The push for high utilization can cause serious VM performance issues, but proper VM resource allocation can prevent server over-consolidation in virtual data centers. Continue Reading

• Using Nagios plugins for configuration and system testing

  Using Nagios plugins can be vital in performing specific system tests and configuration. In this tip, you'll learn about using default and custom plugins in Nagios. Continue Reading

• Remote server monitoring with Nagios

  After the network monitoring tool Nagios is fully configured, learn the next step in setting it up for remote server monitoring.Continue Reading

• Using benchmarks for virtualization capacity planning

  Benchmarking tools for virtualization capacity planning allow administrators to find more efficiency and forecast growth in computing resources.Continue Reading

• Recognizing and avoiding common server benchmarking mistakes

  With care and consistency, reliable server benchmark results can be achieved. In this tip, learn how to identify and avoid common server benchmarking mistakes in order to maintain long-term system performance and prevent unreliable server benchmark...Continue Reading

• Improve benchmark performance with simple optimizations

  While benchmarking is great for measuring system performance, benchmarking tools themselves are applications capable of overtaxing the CPU. However, simple optimizations can ensure benchmark performance by preventing these tools from overwhelming ...Continue Reading

• Selecting benchmarking tools for specific needs

  Narrowing down the best benchmarking tool requires testing and a careful evaluation of needs, including system compatibility, level of technical depth and scalability.Continue Reading

• Improve application performance with multithreaded applications

  Multi-core CPUs fuel a server's operating system performance and virtualization technologies. Can multithreaded applications and multi-core CPUs fuel application performance as well?Continue Reading

• Architecting application failover in your data center

  Attempting application failover by re-coding your apps may not be the right choice for every data center, as several factors, including virtualization and coding languages, affect which method you should use. This tip offers advice for finding the ...Continue Reading

• Handling weaknesses in remote server management

  Necessity and convenience have made remote server management commonplace, but there are times when this hands-off form of server administration requires a hands-on approach. This tip delves into how to handle the pitfalls of remote management.Continue Reading

• Choosing a server management tool: Hardware vendor or third party?

  The decision of whether to opt for a server management tool from your hardware vendor or a third-party software vendor depends on criteria such as data center budget, the tool's reliability and ease of maintenance.Continue Reading

• Check server specs before upgrading your operating system

  Operating system upgrades can be tricky with the number of variables involved. Users need to research server hardware specifications and OS requirements before upgrading.Continue Reading

• Sys admins: Are your config files and scripts hacks or products?

  Systems administrators often need to write scripts to fill the gaps in systems management tools. But often those scripts are just hacks -- "one off" pieces of code that don't scale or have a future. Instead, systems administrators can apply best ...Continue Reading

• CMDB Federation specification may ease configuration management system integration

  The new Configuration Management Database Federation (CMDBf) specification may ease integration problems for shops implementing a configuration management system with multiple data sources.Continue Reading

• Remote server administration tools: Manage your data center from a distance

  New systems management options are making it easier for administrators to manage servers via smartphones and laptops.Continue Reading

• Top five keys to success for a new CMDB project

  Configuration management database (CMDB) projects require a steady hand and a lot of help from IT staff. Here are some tips to help you ensure CMDB success.Continue Reading

• ITSM basics: Implementing change management processes

  What are the benefits of implementing change management? And what are the common problems that arise when an IT organization implements change management processes?Continue Reading

• Siemens Healthcare cuts IT problem management downtime

  Siemens Healthcare cuts IT downtime with standard process for identifying and classifying root causes of outages; database helps to pinpoint trends.Continue Reading

• Using HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) 5.2 for systems management and monitoring

  Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co.'s Systems Insight Manager (SIM) 5.2 offers systems management and monitoring for HP servers or WMI-, SNMP- or WBEM-enabled systems. SIM works with HP's Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) management modules to detect hardware ...Continue Reading

• Installing Nagios on Solaris for network and server monitoring

  Nagios, a free, open source network and server monitoring system, can benefit your IT infrastructure. Learn how to install Nagios on a Solaris 10 system in this tip.Continue Reading

• CMDB pitfalls in the current IT environment

  In order for IT administrators to meet the demands of today's businesses, the effort required to access the information needed needs to be minimized. While CMDB is a good source of accurate information it is not magic. Like any other important ...Continue Reading

• Emergency systems administration from your cell phone

  Kyle Rankin shows you how to handle Unix systems administration in an emergency with a cell phone and a SSH client.Continue Reading

• Turn to collaborative tools for systems performance management

  Seeking assistance outside of your immediate IT team has a long history. Collaboration efforts today can be grouped into two categories: sharing configuration and group problem solving. Both enable collaboration beyond the firewall, pulling in help ...Continue Reading

• Use Nagios to trend and troubleshoot performance issues

  Learn how to use Nagios monitoring tools to track system performance in your data center and use graphs to troubleshoot bottlenecks on I/O-bound or CPU-bound systems.Continue Reading

• Is effective performance management in the data center possible?

  Data centers are increasingly important to the delivery of business services, and performance management is more crucial than ever. IT's challenge is conducting performance management activities effectively and at low-cost. Key to maintaining ...Continue Reading

• Stop server monitoring tools from crying wolf

  A poorly-tuned monitoring server or IDS is as bad or worse than no server monitoring at all. Do a little spring cleaning on your monitoring thresholds and overall server health.Continue Reading

• Is Nagios right for your data center?

  Are you evaluating Nagios for your data center monitoring tool? Systems management expert Roger Rustad makes the case for Nagios and outlines helpful plug-ins.Continue Reading

• Windows Server 2008: PowerShell basics and top commands

  The Microsoft PowerShell team offers up the top commands and usage scenarios for the new command line shell and scripting language for Windows Server 2008Continue Reading

• IPMI Tutorial: Are you using it? Do you know how?

  This short tutorial on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) will help you take advantage of this monitoring tool.Continue Reading

• Top tactics for patch management strategy

  Patch management strategy: Regardless of which operating systems you use in your data center, patches are a fact of life, and keeping every system patched against every vulnerability is a never ending task.Continue Reading

• Flexible process automation increases effectiveness, prevents IT headaches

  Organizations have become increasingly aware of the need to develop established IT processes, but no process will remain static. By adopting a continuous-improvement mentality, IT departments can avoid the headache of re-engineering processes when ...Continue Reading

• Implement IT process controls to improve data center operations

  Contributor Gene Kim explains how implementing controls and change management can help you increase the operational effectiveness and efficiency of your IT group.Continue Reading

• Open source system management suites: A viable alternative?

  A new breed of open source management suites offer more user-friendly and enterprise-ready solutions. Are these free or for-fee open source solutions viable system management alternatives?Continue Reading

• How remote management saved me an emergency flight overseas

  Kyle Rankin finds out that a sever deployment at his company's U.K. data center has gone awry while at a corporate retreat. Quick thinking and lights out management saves the day.Continue Reading

• Symantec focuses on data center, addresses integration issues

  Symantec outlines five systems management functions it plans to focus on this year as it tries to integrate acquisitions and become a trusted name in the data center.Continue Reading

• Agentless monitoring improvements make it competitive with agent-based solutions

  The argument over agent-based versus agentless monitoring has been going on for years. What works best for your IT infrastructure? Increasing market interest in agentless monitoring has resulted in combined solutions using both technologies as ...Continue Reading

• Business service management forces systems management evolution

  Business service management (BSM) initiatives have forced systems management to improve IT operations staffs' productivity through an emphasis on better integration, automation, simplification, and visibility.Continue Reading

• BMC, CA showdown over CMDB title

  BMC and CA have both been aggressive in the practical implementation and application of CMDB's in production environments, but have differing views on what makes a quality CMDB.Continue Reading

• Controlling configuration and change management: IT process controls

  Lead researcher for IT Process Institute, Gene Kim, speaks with SearchDataCenter about change and configuration management.Continue Reading

• Lights out management: How to administer servers from the Bahamas

  While there are many solutions out there to aid an administrator in remote management, I've found the lights out management (LOM) built into many modern servers is superior to many of the alternatives.Continue Reading

• CMDB project determination: Do we need a CMDB?

  How does a company determine if they need a CMDB? Systems management expert Jasmine Noel offers suggestions.Continue Reading

• Automating server management and IT processes

  Server automation can free up data center resources to focus on higher-value activities. This tip provides some suggestions for getting started by automating low level IT processes.Continue Reading

• A general list of data center cost components

  Data center strategy specialist Charles King offers one reader a list of questions and considerations for setting up and running a data center.Continue Reading

• Database support for data center managers

  Unix expert King Ables illustrates the fundamentals of managing database systems in your data center.Continue Reading

• Systems management checklist: Software upgrades

  Software upgrades are an inevitable part of using technology, and it is likely that even the smallest upgrade will alter your system in some way. Although these changes are simply the price, for example, of security patches or better compatibility, ...Continue Reading

• Application acceleration: An introduction to data reduction

  Data reduction is one technique, along with compression, Quality of Service (QoS), latency mitigation and loss mitigation, used to achieve application acceleration and improve WAN performance. In this tip, take a closer look at how data reduction ...Continue Reading

• Top 10 considerations for application hosting

  Application hosting, whether it's done in-house, at a collocation facility or outsourced to a managed service provider, is a big undertaking. Accurately gathering and analyzing both business and technical requirements can smooth out a lot of bumps ...Continue Reading

• Best practices for managing application infrastructures

  How do the most effective IT organizations manage and optimize their application infrastructures -- the set of technology components that sits just above the operating system including databases, messaging, applications and Web servers? Over time, a...Continue Reading

• Server configuration tools ease downtime

  Early adopter IT shops and the big systems vendors are investing in configuration management software to alleviate downtime. .Continue Reading

• Self discovering Infrastructure tools key to accurate CMDB

  Organizations are increasingly dependent on their IT networks to provide a competitive advantage. These networks are becoming progressively more complex in a bid to provide more sophisticated business services. The migration toward the goal of on ...Continue Reading

• Virtualization and systems management -- a look ahead

  Virtualization and systems management: Rapid growth of virtualization technologies in the data center might make managing workloads easier and more efficient.Continue Reading

• Asset management -- It's different in the data center

  Data center managers have more to worry about when it comes to managing their assets. What they can't see could hurt them. Experts offer tips on how to craft a strategy.Continue Reading

• Choosing the right remote management system

  A short list on how to make sure you pick the best remote management system for your data center.Continue Reading

• Enterprise application deployment: The humanity of software implementation

  Enterprise software implementations are not, as is commonly assumed, about software. Certainly, software plays a part in the deployment of an application across the enterprise, but the major component of any enterprise application deployment is ...Continue Reading

• Can you recommend a product that diagnoses/analyses hardware configuration?

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• The best way to do a batch update and delete of records

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• Performance monitoring

  Robert Harris on performance monitoring in CICS environment.Continue Reading

• Configuring an Autoinstall program to handle dynamic TCPIP Tn3270 LU pool definitions

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