Cut Costs and Increase Productivity
in your IT Organization with
Effective Computer and Network
Monitoring.
Copyright © T3 Software Builders, Inc 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for
this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the
reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to
republish requires written permission from the author.
Scott W. Ortel <[email protected]> EDUCAUSE 2004
Agenda
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Overview – System and Network Monitoring
Case Study
SiteMaestro Live Demonstration
Questions
System & Network Monitoring
• Why Monitor?
– Forecast/Prevent System and Network Failures
– Reduce/Prevent Impact to Business When These
Failures Occur
• Types of Monitoring
– Passive (Shallow - trap-based)
– Semi-Proactive (Medium - network-based)
– Proactive (Deep - agent-based)
Case Study
• Local Maryland College
– 2,000 students, 30+ Servers, 50+ network devices
– Database, Website
• Needs
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Inexpensive
Supported
Easy to setup and maintain
Proactive notification of user-defined conditions
Flexible customization (scripts, performance counters)
Long-term storage with graphing
Centralized console
Case Study (cont)
• Rejected Solutions
– Shareware
• Inexpensive
• Unreliable support
• Implementation can be costly
– Large Solutions (CA Unicenter, IBM Tivoli, etc)
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Very expensive
Huge learning curve
Very complex
Not easy to customize
Case Study (Solution)
• SiteMaestro
– Inexpensive
• As little as $299 per server
• Minimal training investment
– Easy to deploy
• Up and running in as little as one day
– Supported
• Each client is assigned a personal support technician
• Quick answers to technical issues/questions
Case Study (Solution)
– Supported (cont)
• Product updates that address issues and respond to customer
needs and feedback
– Easy to setup and maintain
• Usually up and running in one day
– Features
• User-defined alarm conditions
• Notifications via pager, email, and others
• Easy to customize with your own scripts, performance
counters, and code
Case Study (Solution)
• Long-term storage of data for analysis
• Graphing of data
• Central console/dashboard
Case Study (Impl)
• Solution Implementation
– SiteMaestro agent on each critical server
• Time = 3 minutes/server (approximately 90 minutes)
– Configure one agent to ping all network devices
• Time = 15 minutes
– Configure one agent to monitor core router and
switches via SNMP
• Time = 30 minutes
– Configure one agent to monitor website and database
• Time = 5 minutes
Case Study (Impl)
• Solution Implementation (cont)
– Start console (auto-detects all agents)
• Time = 1 minute
– Install central repository on database server
• Time = 15 minutes
• All agents automatically start sending data
– Install repository GUI client on workstation
• Time = 3 minutes
– Onsite training
• Time = ½ day
Live Demonstration
• Agent
Live Demonstration
• Central Console
Live Demonstration
• Central Repository
Higher Education
• SiteMaestro is a perfect fit for Higher Education
IT
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Budget sensitive
Requires minimal staff to deploy and use
Allows existing IT staff to do their real job
Supported by a company committed to being a partner
Questions?
www.sitemaestro.com