How Do You Monitor and Troubleshoot Network Applications?

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:31:25 +0000

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Josh from SolarWinds joined me again. This time, he was here to discuss ipMonitor. This is geared toward network and system administrators, and is used for pinpointing and troubleshooting application and server issues on corporate networks. You can download your own 21-day free trial of ipMonitor to check it out for yourself. If you enjoy the program, there will be special pricing available for you for a limited time, using that same link.

SolarWinds ipMonitor delivers out-of-the-box, entry-level monitoring that is perfect for keeping up with your network devices, servers, and applications. ipMonitor is a reliable network monitoring software solution that enables system administrators to get a leg up on problems before they get swamped with calls from high-maintenance users.

Plus, ipMonitor includes a built-in database and Web server, so users don’t need to install anything but ipMonitor – making it fast, affordable, and easy to use in any environment.

ipMonitor’s highlights include:

Quickly discovers IP-based network devices and automatically recommends SmartMonitor settings for each device.

Performs out-of-the-box monitoring of Active Directory®, DNS, Microsoft® Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server™, and SMTP.

Creates customizable network maps that enable you to visually monitor network data and to drill down to take immediate corrective actions.

Monitors end-user experience with synthetic transactions.

Automates recovery and remediation actions to reduce downtime.

According to Josh, there are three basic categories of server-side applications that you could encounter problems with: Web Servers, Exchange/Mail Servers, and File/Print Servers. In most organizations, it makes it hard to get your job done if any of these are not working properly. ipMonitor is a tool that will allow you to keep track of these things at all times, and know instantly if something is out of whack.

When you launch ipMonitor for the first time, it’ll run you through a wizard. It’ll automatically go out and find your routers, switches and servers. It will detect what statistics are available to monitor those. It’ll “talk” to each of them, and will automatically build monitors and throw them into the application. The next thing you’ll see is basically a picture of your network, with the status of all your severs, server-based apps, and network equipment. It’s easy to set up, and will take you less than 15 minutes to get going.

There are many different protocols that are used in discovery and configuration. The best part is that as a user, you don’t necessarily have to know about protocols, it’s done behind the scenes. There are many ways to go out and discover your applications and servers. We used those things to build the monitor that will help you keep an eye on everything.

With ipMonitor, each particular type of device on the network is going to get a different type of view, and different tools to monitor and measure it. A printer will have a printer icon, and so on. The characteristics used to track devices will be different, based on what is being looked at. This just makes it so much easier on the Network Administrator. They will know there’s a problem even before someone is calling or emailing them to complain.

Any type of server platform can be monitored, no matter what platform or Internet service you are using. Anything you can think of is supported out of the box. SolarWinds is dedicated to providing software that is vendor-neutral, and that anyone can use. Your particular skill-set shouldn’t have to be that of a genius. You should be able to do your job, and do it well. Using software like ipMonitor will help you do just that.

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How Do You Monitor and Troubleshoot Network Applications?

How Do Network Admins Troubleshoot Traffic Problems?

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 08:47:51 +0000

How Do Network Admins Troubleshoot Traffic Problems?

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It’s always a fun time when I get together via video with Josh from SolarWinds. We hooked up this month to talk about NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, which will help you easily monitor your network traffic.

Real-time NetFlow Analyzer unlocks the power of NetFlow on your network. This new free tool determines the types of traffic on your network, where it’s coming from, and where it’s going. Real-time NetFlow Analyzer takes the guesswork out of diagnosing traffic spikes and stores up to one hour of NetFlow data – giving you X-ray vision into what’s on your network!

Put an end to complaints about the network being slow! With Real-time NetFlow Analyzer, you’ll get the visibility into NetFlow data that you’ve been waiting for. This free tool will enable you to

Investigate, troubleshoot, and quickly remediate network slowdowns.

Easily identify which users, devices, and applications are consuming the most bandwidth.

Isolate inbound and outbound traffic by conversation, application, domain, endpoint, and protocol.

Personalize NetFlow data displays to view traffic by specified time periods (up to 60 minutes) and by traffic type.

Customize refresh rates and display units for NetFlow traffic.

This is an excellent way to figure out where everything is going (and coming from!), without much “Geekitude” involved. In many situations, you may not have access to a connection to show you this information. Routers have a ‘probe’ of sorts built into them. NetFlow will allow you to access that ‘probe’, and keep track of what’s going on at all times.

The more troubleshooting issues you have at your disposal, the easier it is to manage your network. Even for a home network, using a tool like NetFlow makes your job as a network admin much easier. You may have traffic generating from your network that no one knows about. You could have picked up some type of Malware, or someone could have hacked in through your firewall and be accessing your files.

When it comes to network traffic for a newer System Administrator, what should they look out for? According to Josh, it’s important to keep in mind that you need to be able to use tools, such as SolarWinds’ Engineer’s Toolset. Use this to monitor the traffic going in and out. As long as you’re not over-subscribing your use, then it’s not so important how you’re using it. It’s a matter of understanding when you start to reach a threshold and you need to start budgeting your bandwidth. Once you reach that threshold, the first key is to be sure you have hardware that is manageable, and will allow you to grow as your needs grow.

NetFlow Analyzer is another excellent tool to keep in your arsenal, courtesy of our friends at SolarWinds. Thanks to Josh, as always, for taking time to talk with us.

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How Do Network Admins Troubleshoot Traffic Problems?

Chris Pirillo » network-admin

How Do You Monitor and Troubleshoot Network Applications?

How Do Network Admins Troubleshoot Traffic Problems?