Dec 28 2007 11:31PM GMT
Posted by: Ryan Shopp
Network monitoring,
Performance management,
Symantec,
BMC,
EMC,
NetIQ,
Alcatel-Lucent,
NetScout,
DataCenter,
CA,
OSS,
Systems monitoring,
InfoVista,
IBM Tivoli,
HP Software,
Quest Software,
Netuitive,
Integrien,
NetQoS,
Compuware,
Fluke Networks,
Network Instruments,
Opnet,
Entuity,
Brix Networks,
Keynote,
Gomez,
Xangati,
Apparent Networks,
Packet Design,
Groundwork,
Hyperic,
Nagios,
OpenNMS,
ZenOSS,
Zabbix
First things first, we have many of the same vendors from the Availability & Notification functional area of this Data Center Automation Blueprint in this category. Which probably begs the question, do we combine Availability & Notification with Performance & Capacity? I know in the OSS (not Open Source Software but telco-oriented Operational Support Systems) model they do this and call it “Service Assurance”, another name could be Service Level Management as they two monitoring-centric functions are about ensuring service levels are met…or simply I call it Availability & Performance? I’ll come back to this at the end after I type up the players in this Performance & Capacity area:
But then, we have a slew of others that have been around for quite some time now…
And some innovative up-and-comers in some unique technology/approaches…
Real-Time Behavior/Pattern Analysis through Dynamic Thresholding
IP Traffic/Packet Flow Monitoring & Analysis
Open Source Software (OSS) vendors
Whew..that was more work then I expected to pull together and I’m not done yet… Please throw into the comment who I’ve missed (I know there has to be a few).
The major challenge here is organizing and breaking down this functional area. There are so many approaches to obtain performance metrics from/for the data center. Some of the techniques and perspectives include;
- passive vs. active
- agent vs. agent-less
- in-line appliance vs. out-of-band appliance (e.g., span a port)
- proprietary vs. leverage infrastructure mgmt. capabilities (e.g., Cisco Netflow)
- outside the data center looking in vs. inside the data center itself.
- Reactive troubleshooting vs. Proactive Predictive
I’m going to need to have a part two (and maybe more) for this functional category breaking down the pro’s and con’s of various approaches. Which vendors do what, etc. I also need to revisit that question from the top of do we combine this into a single “availability & performance” functional category??? For now, this first pass will have to do…
Dec 21 2007 9:36PM GMT
Posted by: Ryan Shopp
OSS,
Systems monitoring
Just learned about this and it sounds really cool! Thanks for the heads-up Doug, and to think it’s just down the road basically in my backyard.
http://barcampesm.org
BarCampESM will throw users, developers, vendors, and anyone else interested in systems management together at a non-commercial event, organized by volunteers, with free attendance for all
Current topics being planned/considered:
- State of Open Source Systems Management
- Good, bad, ugly of monitoring
- Standards-based management
I’m sure their will be more to come but if your in Texas and care about systems management (most likely if your reading this that answer is yes) this will be something to check out. And if your not in Texas, well this is a great excuse to check out the great city of Austin!
Nov 12 2007 10:54PM GMT
Posted by: Ryan Shopp
Networking,
Network monitoring,
DataCenter,
OSS,
NCCM,
Alterpoint
Simple, take advantage of FREE but powerful tools to do your job better/faster/easier! Then share these cool tool finds with your friends.
I had the chance to take a look at ZipTie, a free network administrator “cockpit”, over the weekend. The utility, available for download from www.ziptie.org, is part of a growing open source movement in network and systems management. I recommend putting aside 60 minutes over lunch one day to download and check this out while you ‘re eating your sandwich.
The best comparison I can make around current ZipTie capabilities would be to imagine PuTTY or SecureCRT on steroids. NOTE: you need to have credential password access to the network devices to get the value I’m going to talk about from here on out…so if you don’t have those rights on your network devices then this may not be for you. Below is a quick screen shot that shows the primary cool features I’m going to hit.
What is so impressive about this desktop utility is it’s simplicity. Download, install, discover and now you have a personal inventory list (e.g., routers, switches, wireless access points, application acceleration devices). From that device list you can take a variety of forensic or troubleshooting actions when you need to:
- telnet/ssh
- ping
- traceroute
- nslookup
- SNMP MIB walk
- Port status
- Interfaces status
- View current configuration files (search it)
- Compare to historical configuration files
- NIPPER (a really cool configuration auditing tool that analyzes your configurations for vulnerabilities)
- and much more…
If you don’t see a tool that represents a current script you typically use when you’re troubleshooting, no worries. You can build one (remember this is open source) or if that’s not your forte, head up to their user community, post the current script you use and ask for someone else to help build it. Same thing goes with making sure ZipTie has support for the network devices you need. Say for example you have some firewall that it seems no other network management vendor supports, not a trouble for ZipTie. There is a “how to guide” to build it yourself or again, post up to the community and ask for help! Also, while your up on the site, check out the other capabilities the utility offers while making sure you review their complete road map which they publish.
It’s amazing how far network management has and still is evolving. Functionality like this would have cost an enterprise tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars less then 10 years ago. This will be another angle to consider as I get back on track and continue to build out the Data Center Automation Taxonomy I’ve been working on. Just wanted to take a moment and share this find.
Full disclosure: I worked for AlterPoint over a year ago. This ZipTie initiative was just about to start when I left. This was my first chance to check it out and since I was so impressed I felt compelled to share my perspective.
