Recently a coworker was giving a talk and he just froze up. When I asked him about it later, he said, “What happened yesterday has never happened before. It was…
Finding Strength in Failure
Seeing the Big Picture: Give Me All of the Data
The collection of operational and and analytics information can be an addictive habit, especially in the case of an interesting and active network. However, this information can quickly and easily…
When Does an Incident Become a Problem?
Dealing with incidents is a common, if not everyday, function of just about every IT department. Incidents may be indicative of underlying problems (and they quite often are), but they…
How to Use Monitoring Tools to Sniff Out the Root Cause
When it comes to IT, things go wrong from time to time. Servers crash, memory goes bad, power supplies die, files get corrupted, backups get corrupted…there are so many things…
The Difference Between Lock Wait Timeout and Deadlock
If you use ACID transactional databases, you’ve probably heard of lock wait timeouts and deadlocks. What are these? And how are they different? Inevitably, many of us will come across…
Success Factors for ITSM Governance Structures
The question is: How do you approach ITSM and ITIL governance structure in a way that promotes buy-in on all levels of the organization?
Security Monitoring – It’s All About the Data
In this series, we’ve covered some key areas that can help prepare for potential attacks. Preparation is essential. Security policies are essential. Understanding your network and its assets is essential.…
Rear-View Mirror: Looking Back at Four Years as a SolarWinds Head Geek
It was LinkedIn that reminded me how long it’s been. A sudden flood of “Congratulations on your work anniversary” messages (thank you, by the way, to everyone all the well-wishers) hit my inbox, little popup messages lining the bottom of the dedicated tab in Google Chrome. My first thought was, “has it been that long?” which was followed almost immediately by, “OF COURSE it’s been that long.
How TV Viewership Is Like Application Monitoring
Have you ever read about TV ratings? Almost every person that watches TV has heard of the ratings produced by the Nielsen Media Research group. These statistics shape how we watch TV…
ITIL v3 Suggested Change Management KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPI) are values that every business can measure and track – values that show the effectiveness of your performance as an organization toward your business objectives.