Tips

Tips

• How and when to enable hardware-based TPM security on servers

  Most servers include a Trusted Platform Module, but you only want to turn it on and manage TPM when the server handles high-value encrypted workloads.  Continue Reading

• Sizing up hardware resources to allocate to IT automation tools

  IT automation tools have minimum hardware requirements, but these increase depending on how many devices the automation tool will serve.  Continue Reading

• How to write your IT automation wish list

  IT automation is great, unless complicated, underperforming products that hog resources, time and money overwhelm IT staff.  Continue Reading

• Reshaping IT organizations to fulfill a DevOps strategy

  DevOps IT delivery requires a lot of up-front investment and time. It's a difficult project for even the most committed IT organizations.  Continue Reading

• Agile exploratory software testing: Why IT inefficiency pays off

  Agile exploratory software testing is inefficient by traditional IT standards. Which is why it belongs in modern, end-user-centric IT strategies.  Continue Reading

• How to overcome the limitations of remote server management

  Remote server management tools enable granular server control from anywhere, but they're useless without a network connection or power supply.  Continue Reading

• Frequently asked questions about server automation tools

  Server automation tools save time and reduce errors. But what should tools offer, and are point systems or suites the way to go? Find out in this FAQ.  Continue Reading

• Choosing the right server monitoring tool for your environment

  Before buying a server monitoring tool, assess your data center's needs, plan a budget and choose a deployment plan.  Continue Reading

• The requisite and advanced features of performance monitoring software

  All performance monitoring tools must include certain core features, and advanced features can boost application performance and return on investment.  Continue Reading

• Better server performance monitoring tools needed with virtualization

  Server and infrastructure performance monitoring is important for virtualized data centers. New tools are combining monitoring with analytics.  Continue Reading

• Tailoring server BIOS settings for cool servers without wasting energy

  A few tweaks to server BIOS settings will keep fans quiet and workloads processing smoothly, allowing data centers to consume less energy.  Continue Reading

• Using Zabbix with embedded devices via SNMP monitoring

  Some devices you want to monitor with Zabbix cannot have software installed. For these appliances, SNMP monitoring may be the right choice.  Continue Reading

• How to choose the right server performance monitoring tools

  Advance planning and careful due diligence can help a business select the best server performance monitoring tools for its unique needs.  Continue Reading

• Core parking helps drive down energy costs

  Core parking can save significantly on server energy use, but sys admins need to decide when to use it, since system performance will take a hit.  Continue Reading

• Tips for improving Active Directory performance on servers

  Striking the right balance of memory and disk performance can help optimize Active Directory performance.  Continue Reading

• Avoiding access issues with Microsoft Network Access Protection

  Configuration problems can make Microsoft Network Access Protection overly zealous and lock out users who need data center access.  Continue Reading

• How time affects systems management planning

  Proper use of time is a critical consideration when it comes to systems management planning and responding to tasks.  Continue Reading

• Tips for improving server reliability and available memory

  New memory modules and system capabilities can increase available memory and reliability on mission-critical servers.  Continue Reading

• Remote reboot: Tips for colocation and emergency service

  When the data center is far away and you need server maintenance, there's a simple fix. Explore two methods for performing a remote reboot.  Continue Reading

• IPMI can remedy remote server access issues in your data center

  IPMI can help with server management across many servers when proprietary tools can't do enough.  Continue Reading

• Facilities management team to the IT department: Let's work together

  For the business to run smoothly, facilities management and IT must learn to use automation tools to cooperate.  Continue Reading

• Moving workloads to new servers

  The task of moving a workload to a new server often seems simple enough, but the process is plagued with gotchas. Here’s what to watch for before making the move to new hardware.  Continue Reading

• VM management: How to walk the data center resource balancing act

  Use these tools and techniques to improve VM management efficiency and address problems before they become a crisis.  Continue Reading

• Managing and monitoring server log data

  See how proactive system administrators help themselves avoid a security breach by putting an effective log management policy in place.  Continue Reading

• Making the most of server performance monitoring

  Performance monitoring tools can produce more accurate and valuable results by following some general guidelines.  Continue Reading

• Five questions on systems management

  As reliance on systems management tools increases, administrators face varied challenges in deployment, skill sets, infrastructure support and other issues.  Continue Reading

• Data center monitoring system considerations

  An effective monitoring system can track environmental variables and alert admins of a potential problem before it becomes a critical emergency.  Continue Reading

• Expert roundtable: IT skillsets for change and configuration management tools

  Technical knowledge, business and compliance skills will all benefit change and configuration administrators.  Continue Reading

• The challenges of change and configuration management

  Due diligence, business alignment and proper deployment are key to mastering change and configuration management tools.  Continue Reading

• Prioritizing alerts with server monitoring tools

  Setting and prioritizing alerts with server monitoring tools can help an administrator respond quickly to critical problems without being bothered by insignificant alarms.  Continue Reading

• Application performance tips: Workload optimization and software pathing

  IT pros looking to maximize application performance should look beyond basic software, tuning to products from vendors pathing software and hardware.  Continue Reading

• Organizing a data center with unified network management tools

  As data centers grow in complexity, so do management chores. Unified network management tools can help ease the burden of those responsibilities.  Continue Reading

• Weighing the pros and cons of the Trusted Computing Platform

  When used as designed, trusted computing can provide a high level of security, but limitations and potential for abuse prohibits its usefulness.  Continue Reading

• Exploring remote server management options

  Today's remote server administration tools give IT pros more choices to monitor and control entire data centers from across town or around the world.  Continue Reading

• Best practices for remote server management

  Remote server management will continue to be an important part of data centers, but administrators should also take steps to ensure someone onsite will be able to perform tasks as well.  Continue Reading

• Choosing remote server administration tools

  There are many remote server administration tools available to IT professionals that can help reign in remote servers.  Continue Reading

• Risks and rewards of ignoring Microsoft's hardware compatibility list

  Data center administrators shouldn't disregard hardware just because it isn't included on Microsoft's hardware compatibility list.  Continue Reading

• Recognizing the versatility of IT asset management software

  Using IT asset management software not only helps companies track inventories, but can also save time and money by logging other important details.  Continue Reading

• Configuring the server monitoring tool Zabbix

  Installing the server monitoring tool Zabbix used to be difficult, but Ubuntu 11.04 makes it easier to configure the appliance and monitor a network.  Continue Reading

• Using the Net-SNMP agent for systems management

  The Net-SNMP agent has evolved over the years to become a useful systems management tool used to track important statistics.  Continue Reading

• Application availability: Using the right tools

  Minimize application availability anxiety by setting realistic expectations and choosing the technology that fits your organization's business needs.  Continue Reading

• Turn aggregated syslog messages into OpenNMS events

  Turn syslog messages into OpenNMS events, notifications and alarms to help facilitate network management processes.  Continue Reading

• 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

• 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 2008  Continue 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: Choosing your vendor partner

  Choosing a vendor for your CMDB requires planning and an understanding of your design concept. Expert Richard Ptak offers things to consider when taking on this project.  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

• 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