The Link Light

 

How many management systems do you have in your environment?  Do you have one for inventory, another for monitoring, another for your storage devices, and a fourth for reporting?

 

In this real world I keep hearing about, no application does everything that we need it to do.  I’ve also seen that two different applications do the same things very well with only slight differences.

It has been my experience that finding software that does most of what you need and making that the base of your management system is ideal.  There will always be another application that does some new thing better than what you have.  But, when it comes time to decide on this fancy new application, you must ask, “Can this integrate with my existing management application(s)?”

Applications that use open and standardized interfaces, such as web services or SNMP trap forwarding, should always be at the top of the “management wish list” because these applications, typically, are at the very least architected for integration with other applications.

The more disparate systems for management that you have in place in your environment, the more you will need to train your technicians to use, the more licenses you will have to manage, the more machines you will have to keep running. 
It is one thing to have the applications in place to manage your environment.  It is much more important, though, to say that you have a strategic solution for your needs.  Having one console for the management of your environment will help you and your technicians to be more productive. 

 

Keep ‘em blinkin…

 

Scott

How many times have you forgotten to do something?  How many times have you had some automated task in Outlook remind you that you needed to do something?  If you’re anything like me, the automations provided in the software that you use is the only thing that can help you keep your head on straight.

Redcell offers some powerful scheduling abilities as well as automation tasks.  It is so important that a management system is able to responds to a changing environment.  When you see an alarm come into your management system, you would like an email, right?  How about a snapshot of the devices configuration?  Is that device in compliance with its configuration?  These are all things that you would expect a management system to be able to do. 

What about scheduled reports?  Can I get a monthly report of bandwidth utilization of my key interfaces?  What about a customer’s interfaces for their bill?  With Redcell, you can schedule a report to run on the first of every month then have this report be exported as CSV, PDF, Excel, or HTML.  This report can also be emailed upon execution. 

There are many reports that Redcell can run including inventory reports, alarm reports, configuration and compliance, performance reports, and many others. 

 

Keep ‘em blinkin…

 

Scott

 

Every so often we get a bill from someone reminding us that we have to renew our maintenance contracts.  How many times have you seen the number that you’re billed for differ from the number you expect to renew?

An effective inventory management system is more than simple asset tracking, but should be able to track warranty and support information as well.  Does your management system allow you to add multiple custom fields?  Does your management system report on these custom fields.

Our customers have told us how important it is for them to be able to reconcile devices they have in service with bills they receive from software and hardware vendors.  When you receive a bill from Vendor X with a listing for 32 devices requiring maintenance contract renewals, you need the ability to run a report that tells you how many devices are in your network that are due for maintenance renewal in the month for which you received the bill.  If there is a discrepancy, you can use your inventory reports to figure out what caused the discrepancy.  Is it a billing error from the vendor?  Has the device been retired from service? 

 

Keep ‘em blinkin…

 

Scott

 No one likes to deal with resolving IT issues.  The people who need the resource are not able to do their job adequately while they are waiting and the person working to resolve the issue usually hears about it!  When you are under someone’s desk looking for the service tag of their PC or looking desperately at the back of a router for some cryptic serial number - obviously not on a sticker that says “Serial Number” and typically right next to some other number that looks surprisingly like a serial number – you probably are thinking to yourself, “Why don’t I have this information somewhere else?”

An inventory management system should allow you to track service tags, serial numbers, support contacts and other custom information as needed.  Network devices are more than just IPs, vendors, contacts, and locations.  A network device is probably running some operating system, probably belongs to some group in your organization, probably has a maintenance contract or warranty expiration date, and probably requires some other interesting facts to be tagged to it.  Along with the typical attributes you would expect to discover on your network, Redcell has the ability to add custom fields and to report on this data as well. 

 

Keep ‘em blinkin…

 
Scott

The fact that you are reading this post makes me believe that you have a little computing experience…

So, what is the coolest application in the world and why?  I’m not just talking about applications in the network space.  What are the tools that you use every day? 
Personally, I think that Outlook 2007 is pretty darn cool.  Microsoft has taken a key piece of my day and found a pretty and usable interface to wrap it in.  I also love Apple’s iMovie.  I made a montage of a Disneyland trip I took last year from the 2-minute videos I took with my digital camera.  I simply spliced them all together and did some fancy editing.  It was awesome and easy to use. iGoogle is also an interesting application, because it is an application of applications.  It is so customizable that it HAS to be right for me.  NetBeans IDE is getting to be pretty advanced and has some cool niceties right out of the box.  I played with it for a little while and found it quite easy to use and very well integrated to other development tools such as Subversion.

The common theme, for me at least, is usability, usefulness, and customization.  The tool must be appropriate for the job and I must be able to put appropriate information where it needs to go.

So, when you have a job to do, what tool do you use and why is it cool?

 

Keep ‘em blinkin…

 

Scott

Based on the significant demand we've received from Altiris and Redcell customers, Dorado Software, in conjunction with certified Symantec-Altiris development partner Bay Dynamics, are completing the first phase of a Redcell integration effort with Symantec's Altiris Management Platform. The result will provide Altiris customers with full end-to-end IT infrastructure visibility and management of their existing Altiris deployments.

The initial release of the "Redcell Integration Component for Altiris" will let existing and new Symantec-Altiris customers incrementally obtain detailed network inventory and connectivity in addition to network health and performance monitoring. The integration will also initiate specific Altiris configuration "tasks" that trigger pre-defined Redcell configuration operations to be performed, such as configuration backup, restore, and change detection.

Dorado presented the joint solution at Symantec ManageFusion in Orlando this week. Please refer to the Symantec press release for more information.

Keep 'em blinkin....

Scott

DORADO SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES REDCELL STORAGE COMMANDER FOR AUTOMATED MANAGEMENT OF iSCSI AND FIBRE CHANNEL SANS

Integrated Advanced Storage Management Streamlines Converging Infrastructures

FOLSOM, CA - October 8, 2008 - Dorado Software (http://doradosoftware.com), a leading provider of infrastructure lifecycle management software, today announced the release of Redcell Storage Commander, a management product that provides automated configuration and management solution for both iSCSI and Fibre Channel SANs. Redcell Storage Commander is a new addition to the Redcell v6.1 portfolio of comprehensive data center automation solutions for managing servers, storage, networks and software patches that supports both physical and virtualized infrastructure.

Redcell Storage Commander is a fully integrated add-on product to Redcell OpsCenter - the foundation for Redcell's deep discovery, CMDB inventory and advanced monitoring of devices, interfaces and services. It is also fully integrated with all Redcell enterprise products, including Redcell Network Commander for comprehensive change and configuration management. The integration offers a single pane of glass view into the datacenter which allows for quick problem resolution without the use of multiple point tools. It also offers the power and flexibility to manage storage via a customizable permission-based graphical user interface (GUI). For instance, the connectivity data, when synchronized with asset data in the CMDB, creates a complete picture of the IT infrastructure that can be represented in highly customizable reports or via a topology view.

Read More Here

Keep em blinkin...

Scott

Recently a comment was posted that asked about my experience in network management.  Not to give too much up about my age, but my first experience with networking was using 2400 Bps modems on DOS.   It has been over 20 years that I've been dealing with systems and networking.  In that time, the complexity of systems and networks have changed drastically.  In the last few years, the complexity has increased exponentially with new network devices, new protocols, and new federal regulations.

One of my least favorite things to do is to call support for ANYTHING.  Whether it's a video game for my daughter, a tool for the house, or an application that I really need to have working, it always seems that calling support is the last thing I want to do (even after taking the tool apart and figuring out how it works myself).  That is not what the support organizations want to hear!  They want you to call, they want you to feel comfortable, and they want your issue resolved.  All that said... here is a list of tips and tricks that may help you avoid a support call.  These tips aren't for Redcell in particular, but really any application.
1.  Read the installation guide - Understanding what the application installer is doing and how things get configured will help you to set up the application and system resources appropriately. Remember kids, reading isn't just fun, it's fundamental.
2.  Understand your installation - How much performance do you need from your installation.  The installation of Redcell will require varying amounts of resource depending upon what it is that you are trying to do.  Make sure that you have more resources than you think you will need. Physical hardware is getting pretty cheap, but I don't know when time will ever be cheap.
3.  Know your Operating System - Understanding the file system properties and security settings of your system may help you to resolve an issue before needing to call support.  Example - If you are using Linux, then certain files need to be owned and executable by Root and certain files need to be owned and executabe by the installation user.  Windows Firewall is another good example of a system security setting that can make an application not perform properly.
4.  Take your time - Do not rush through an installation or a configuration task.  How many wizards have you clicked "Next" on only to think, "Oh man, I didn't mean to do that.  Now I have to..."  I can honestly tell you that more than once, I have clicked "Next" and cost myself several hours of time.  Make sure to read and fully understand what it is that you are about to do.  If you're not sure what to do, then refer to the installation guide or online help.  If you do not find your answer, then call support....
Reminds me of a great story... My uncle was teaching me how to drive.  We came up to a stop sign and I was supposed to turn left.  The sun was just about to set and it was impossible to see to my left and check for traffic.  I asked my uncle, "Can I go?" He asked, "Are there any cars coming?" I said, "I don't know, I can't see.  How will I know when I can go?"  He said, "When you can SEE that it is clear, then you can go."....
We sat there a long time until the sun set... Seriously, not joking (it was only about 5 minutes).
back to work...
5.  Call support - WHAT??? I thought this was a post to avoid having to call support.... Really... Call support when you are about to do something and it is not clear what the ramifications are.  In order to prevent a difficult to diagnose issue down the road, make sure you get your system configured appropriately the first time.  It is much easier to fix a problem before it happens.


Keep 'em blinkin...

Scott

A management system is an important piece in a successful IT management strategy.  What happens, though, when there is a need for some fancy report, customer portal, or some other feature that a management system either doesn't do or doesn't do as well as another system?  One must find a way to use the information from the management system from within the other system.

There are many examples of having an element management system from one vendor and a fault management system provided by another vendor.  For service providers, there is often a need to have a customer portal where their customers can view data from within a monitoring application, but not have access to the entire management system. 

Integration of software pieces is key to any management system.  Let's face it, no single software solution provides all the functionality that every customer demands.

How do you successfully integrate two independent software solutions?  Well, there are several methods.  Here is one example:
Within Redcell, there is a function called Adaptive CLI.  There is a web service that one can call to make the Redcell application execute an Adaptive CLI.  The web service allows the caller to specify values for attributes within the Adaptive CLI command (e.g. a device's IP, an interface name, or any other attribute that is defined within the Adaptive CLI script).

The key to integration is finding some common tie between the two software pieces.  When services are well defined and follow well documented standards, integration between two software pieces becomes "easy". 

Custom development of solutions is another option.  In the case of a customer portal, you would have to have somebody develop the web site and logic built around the portal.  Understanding how your management system is capable of producing data to make available to another application is very important.  Redcell has the capability to produce PDF reports of both tabular and graphical data.  A customer portal would make these PDFs available via the web server and now you have a successful integration!

Keep 'em blinking....

Scott