Thwack

Webcast on Reducing Network Firefighting

Josh Stephens — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:29:00 GMT

On Thursday (8/28/2008) we'll be hosting a webcast on ways to reduce network firefighting. We'll be covering some best practices for quickly solving critical network issues and we'll even do a sneak peak at the new Orion NCM and the integration between that and Orion NPM. One of the subjects we'll discuss is network issues that we've seen caused by configuration errors. I certainly know that I've brought down my share of networks over the years with fat-fingered ACLs, bad...(read more)

Orion Network Configuration Manager (NCM) - Sneak Peak

Josh Stephens — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:20:00 GMT

Usually when I'm working with companies on their network management strategy, while fault and performance management are top of mind, configuration management falls by the wayside. Nearly everyone that I've worked with wants to have easy to use, effective, and integrated configuration management - but for the most part this has historically been just too much trouble to make it feasible with everything else we have going on. I'm proud to announce that this situation has now changed. Tomorrow...(read more)

New Release - Orion APM v2.0 - Our geekiest application and system monitoring tool yet...

Josh Stephens — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:37:00 GMT

For those of you that haven't seen it, Orion Application Performance Monitor (APM) Version 2.0 is now officially released and early feedback is that it's a big hit. As you know, Orion APM v1 focused on ending the blame game and giving us as network engnineers enough visibility into application status and performance to know if the issue was the network, server, application, or database. APM 2.0 goes well beyond that and offers us the ability to do extensive server and application monitoring...(read more)

Apple iPhone use in the Enterprise

Josh Stephens — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:36:00 GMT

For those of you that aren't aware, I became an iPhone addict early after their initial release and continue to be a huge fan with the release of the new software versions and the 3G versions of the device. You can read a bit more about it in these blog posts - " Top of the Mornin to You from Cork " and " Blackberry is out - iPhone is in ". All that said, that's my perspective as a user of the iPhone. As a network engineer running an enterprise network, it sort of scares...(read more)

Cool article on cross-platform tools...

Josh Stephens — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:16:00 GMT

There's a pretty cool article on Networkworld.com focused on cross-platform tools - i.e. tools for Windows, Unix, and Mac. Definitely worth checking out... Also, the author specifically highlights Orion for its ability to manage these multi-vendor, heterogeneous environments. Flame on... Josh...(read more)

Hello from Singapore!!!

Josh Stephens — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:02:00 GMT

I'm working from our Singapore office this week so not much time to blog. If you ever have the chance to visit, Singapore really is a cool place... Flame on... Josh...(read more)

New Free Tool - Real-time NetFlow Analyzer from SolarWinds

Josh Stephens — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:11:00 GMT

As I've said before, Netflow is a must-have technology for most network engineers today. The insight that it can give you into the traffic on your network is priceless - and now you can get it for free... We've decided to release a new free tool called the SolarWinds Real-time NetFlow Analyzer. It's a windows based application that allows you to receive and analzye netflow data right there on your laptop or PC. You can download a copy of the new free tool from SolarWinds.com and you can...(read more)

The lost art of packet gazing...

Josh Stephens — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:02:00 GMT

Well, I'm fresh back from a short vacation down in Argentina and I find myself working on a problem today that required the use of a protocol analyzer or "sniffer". It got me to thinking about the fact that many network administrator's today have never actually taken a packet trace or analyzed a packet. Furthermore, when the need does arise, many of the people I deal with don't really know how to get started. So, with that in mind, here are few things to keep in mind if you...(read more)

Switch Port mapping

Josh Stephens — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:07:00 GMT

Hey guys, check out this new video where I provide some quick tips on mapping switch ports. I am on my way to Argentina for a quick vacation so have a great week. Flame on!!...(read more)

Tips and Tricks for Improving SQL Performance

Josh Stephens — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:24:00 GMT

SQL Server performance is a hot topic these days, especially if you're leveraging your SQL Server for a high performance NMS. This can become even more critical when you add applications like NetFlow which tend to carry a significant I/O burden. In some organizations you can rely on the DBA team to own/maintain/optimize the database servers for you. Unfortunaely, for many of us this isn't an option either because we dont' have a DBA team or because it's such a political mess trying...(read more)

Why do we always blame the network?

Josh Stephens — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:14:00 GMT

I've been doing network engineering ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper and I'm still just as guilty as the next guy - when I see a problem the first thing I do is blame the network. Case in point, I was hosting a webcast for some of our partners today and during the presentation the demo server that I was using suddenly started timing out. My first thought - we have a performance issue on the network. Before I could stop myself I'm reviewing NetFlow statistics, running TraceRoute...(read more)

Orion's new UnDP - Universal Device Poller

Josh Stephens — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:48:00 GMT

I get asked a lot about monitoring "custom" attributes with Orion and while this was definitely possible in Orion v8.x it's dramatically improved in Orion 9.x with the new "Universal Device Poller" or "UnDP". The UnDP is one of the new features of Orion v9 which released on July 1st of 2008 (about 2 weeks ago). It not only allows you to pull basic data stored within propietary MIBs but also allows you to do some pretty advanced monitoring like pulling in entire tables...(read more)

Video segment with Lockergnome on Network Troubleshooting

Josh Stephens — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:32:00 GMT

This week I had the opportunity to discuss some network troubleshooting tips with Chris Pirillo at Lockergnome. If you're interested, you can watch the segment on YouTube.com by visiting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVjuRBL9s9Q Thanks, Josh...(read more)

Webcast on Network Management Architectures

Josh Stephens — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:21:00 GMT

We're hosting a free webcast on network management architectures - distributed vs. centralized - this Thursday. Go here to sign up or learn more: http://www.solarwinds.com/register/index.aspx?Program=847&c=70150000000Dmwh Flame on... Josh...(read more)

A lighter subject for heading into a long weekend...

Josh Stephens — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:50:00 GMT

If you haven't seen this video, it's pretty darn funny... http://www.solarwinds.com/orion/index.aspx?DCMP=OTC-TWIT-Orion-Gameshow Josh p.s. Happy Independence Day and I hope you all have a Safe and Happy Holiday Weekend....(read more)

TFTP FAQs...

Josh Stephens — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:34:00 GMT

Last week at Cisco's Networkers Live we answered a lot of questions about the SolarWinds TFTP Server and TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) in general so I thought I'd take a few moments to share some of the most common questions and answers. q) Does the SolarWinds TFTP Server still have a 32MB file size limitation? a) No. The SolarWinds TFTP Server now has a 4GB file size limit. q) Why did the 32MB file size limitation exist? a) The original RFC for TFTP used a fixed block size, which...(read more)

SolarWinds at Cisco Networkers Live - Orlando Baby!!!

Josh Stephens — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:40:00 GMT

Hello out there. I'm out in sunny Orlando Florida at Cisco Networkers Live this week. Come by the booth and see us if you're out in this neck of the woods... Flame on... Josh...(read more)

Just plain scary...

Josh Stephens — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:59:00 GMT

It never ceases to amaze me when I talk to companies that run large networks and don't even have the most basic of configuration management systems in place. I talked with some guys today that run a network with over 100,000 routers, switches, and firewalls and do all of their config changes by hand and don't have an easy way of backing up the device configs. I've been there - and it's a scary way to live... I think the reason for this is that so many of us have had horrible experiences...(read more)

The U.S. Open and its effect on the network...

Josh Stephens — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:32:00 GMT

A few minutes ago I was walking through the office checking on things and answering questions when some of the guys stopped me to ask why the "internet" was running so slow. My first reaction was to explain that the internet was actually running quite normally but that our connection to the internet seemed to be experiencing higher than average latency. However, as I looked over the shoulders of the guys asking me I noticed that each one of them had a window open trying to watch streaming...(read more)

New Geek Speak webcast this Thursday

Josh Stephens — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:49:00 GMT

On Thursday we're hosting a webcast on "How Network Management Systems Work. We'll cover technologies including SNMP, WMI, SSH, MIBs, Syslog, Traps, and more. To sign up visit: http://www.solarwinds.com/register/index.aspx?Program=823&c=70150000000DhqJ&CMP=ILC-ILC-GeekPg_HNW_Webc We'll also be doing some giveaways and of course it'll be recorded and posted to the website for anyone that misses the live event. Flame on... Josh...(read more)

Template-based NetFlow

Josh Stephens — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:11:00 GMT

Recently we added support for NetFlow Version 9 to the Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. Since then, I've helped several customers configure their devices to correctly send NetfFlow v9 data and based upon some of the questions I'm seeing in our forums and elsewhere I figure'd it would be a good topic to write about tonight. The single most distinguising factor of Netflow v9 (which later became the basis for the IETF standard and for IPFix) is that it is template-based. In NetFlow v5, you...(read more)

New SolarWinds Exchange Monitor - Sneaking it to you a little early...

Josh Stephens — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:15:00 GMT

As you may have read in a previous post , SolarWinds has been working on a new free tool for monitoring Microsoft Exchange Servers. As you know, a big part of our culture here at SolarWinds has always involved supporting and contributing to the community and providing cool free software is an important part of how we do that. Well, the new free tool isn't officially available yet but we've decided to give it to our loyal community members a bit early. You can download from: http://www.solarwinds...(read more)

What a load of syslog...

Josh Stephens — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:03:00 GMT

For many of us, especially those of us managing firewalls, the volume of syslog messages that we receive on a daily basis can be overwhelming - especially for the systems that we have receiving, analyzing, and storing them. Orion NPM includes a great Syslog Server - we've it tested under loads of several thousands of messages per second without issue - but if you're receiving 10,000 syslog messages every minute and you're keeping 30 days worth of history do you really need 432,000,000...(read more)

Sneak Peak - New Free Tool for Monitoring Microsoft Exchange Servers

Josh Stephens — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:54:00 GMT

Up until now I've been sworn to secrecy, but it looks like they're finally going to let me talk about this... SolarWinds is just about to release a new free tool for monitoring Microsoft Exchange Servers. For those of us that have had the, well, ummm, "privilege" of managing and monitoring Exchange servers we know what a pain it can be and how crazy our users get (especially the executives) whenever there's a problem with the e-mail server. This new free network monitoring software...(read more)

Collecting System Logs for PCI Compliance

Josh Stephens — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:46:00 GMT

Here lately I've been asked alot about using Orion to collect data for PCI compliance. For the most part, this is pretty easy as Orion does a great job of managing routers, switches, firewalls, and servers. As a matter of fact, I've helped hundreds of customers setup special reports in Orion to highlight these features. Things get a little more complicated when it comes to collecting logs from Windows servers and PCs. One way to tackle this is to use the Windows Event Log forwarder that we...(read more)