Geek Speak

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

2008-07-03T13:50:00Z

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...

2008-07-02T13:34:00Z

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!!!

2008-06-24T03:40:00Z

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...

2008-06-19T03:59:00Z

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...

2008-06-16T20:32:00Z

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

2008-06-16T16:49:00Z

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

2008-06-12T02:11:00Z

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...

2008-06-09T03:15:00Z

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...

2008-06-04T04:03:00Z

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

2008-06-03T14:54:00Z

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

2008-05-30T18:46:00Z

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)

Greetings from New Jersey...

2008-05-29T00:12:00Z

Well, I'm out in New Jersey this week talking with the DoD about network management systems, interoperability, and best practices for building NOCs. I'd planned to take my iPhone out and get some cool pics of me standing in front of a tank or something but it's been dark when we finish every day. It's interesting to hear everyone's opinion about how network management systems should operate and interoperate. Definitely some very smart people here and I'm looking forward to...(read more)

Understanding SNMP Polling and Counters

2008-05-20T15:40:00Z

Two of the things that I get asked about a lot are a) how often you should poll your devices and b) how SNMP counters work. Let's address the question about polling frequency first. There are two primary types of polling - polling for status (up/down/warning) and polling for statistics (latency, traffic, errors, CPU, memory, etc). There are many schools of thought on how often you need to poll for status. On the extreme I've worked wiht customers that want everything from "once per day"...(read more)

SolarWinds Survey - Win a Wii...

2008-05-14T18:22:00Z

The marketing team here is hosting a survey and giving away some pretty sweet prizes. Well, I would never actually purchase a Wii myself, but if I won one I'd sure as heck play it :) Here's a link to the details. Help us out and take a few minutes to fill it out... Take a few minutes to share your thoughts in this short online survey. Why, you ask? Well, it's a great opportunity to have your voice heard back at SolarWinds HQ, plus we'll be giving away a Nintendo® Wii® to TWO lucky...(read more)

Back from Virginia...

2008-05-14T18:20:00Z

Well, I'm home now and had a great trip out to Virginia. I got to meet with several customers and some people that are interested in becoming customers so it was a great trip. For those of you that responded but I was unable to visit this time, I'll be headed out that way again soon. Josh...(read more)