Hands-Off System Monitoring

Technology: Page (1) of 2 - 03/07/06

Hands-Off System Monitoring By Esther Schindler Keeping a data center purring smoothly requires a deft hand. You need to keep an eye on the network and all its applications, to find problems before they become emergencies, and to respond to issues before the company's business is affected. Doing so, however, can add another layer of complexity to your already-overworked network, especially if you need to install proprietary hardware or software. That's a pain that DataVelocity promises to eliminate.

The company offers several services, including monitoring, change control management, application documentation (for developers, that is), and project management. All are accessed through a browser interface and require the use of a site-to-site VPN using Cisco hardware. We spoke with Adam Warshaw, president of DataVelocity, about Erudition for Monitoring, and what it can offer IT shops.

Unlike the typical way of monitoring network performance, Erudition doesn't need to be installed as a separate application or as an agent on one of your company's servers. "We don't put anything on any of their machines," explains Warshaw, so there is no possibility of software conflicts, no downtime (while getting those agents set up), and no issues with version upgrades (when utilities are least likely to play well with each other). Plus, points out Warshaw, "Since we're a managed service provider [MSP], we handle all the maintenance."

Even though the software isn't running on your local servers, DataVelocity can get its hands on system information in order to track performance. It interacts with the Windows system registry, can look at Oracle system tables and views, and so on.

The Data's Offsite
All the monitoring information is kept in a repository at Data Velocity -- which offers another benefit, says Warshaw. Given the size of any meaningful log file, and the finite nature of disk space, it's likely that you minimize the amount of tracked information. For most companies, the log file history only goes back a week. But what if someone says, "The system seems to be slow during the first week of the month." If your dataset only goes back for seven days, you have no idea what the situation is.

Plus -- and this is what we thought was pretty nifty -- having a corporate memory for system performance can help you predict future needs, a fact that can be especially useful at budget time. Erudition can tell you that you'll probably run out of disk space in six months, or that your CPU usage is climbing close to its limits. In addition to helping you know how much headroom your systems have, the knowledge can assist in budgets. If you need to plan ahead for system purchases (and if you have a CFO, you probably do), this can help you determine future spending. Nice.

One unique capability of Erudition is its ability to understand slices of time. Your servers probably operate differently at night (when, say, they're busy with batch processing) than they do during the day (when they serve end-user needs). According to the company, Erudition can manage alerts and system performance separately based on when the demand occurs.

Nervous about the idea of putting your data outside the firewall? If your company requires it (as do some financial firms, for instance), DataVelocity can install a black box in the customer's data center, so that the data never leaves the premises. That does add the issue of the MSP's own upgrades (such as you moving from one version of SQL Server to another), but it's better than losing control of your network or databases.

Page: 1 2 Next Page

Related Sites: Digital Producer , IBN - IT Business Net , IBN - Enterprise Applications , IBN - Hardware , IBN - Networking , IBN - Security
Related Newsletter: Digital Media Net , IBN - IT Weekly Newsletter