It’s almost that time of year! We’re in full preparation mode for THWACKcamp™ 2018 and can’t wait for you to experience our sessions. Covering everything from network monitoring and management,…
THWACKcamp 2018 Preview – Monitoring Microservices: IT’s Newest Hot Mess
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…
Databases 101 – Factors to Consider When Choosing a Database
In part one of this series, we discussed the different types of databases available on the market today. In part two, we discussed how to choose the right database for…
The Echo Chamber: Visibility and Mapping Webinar
“The Echo Chamber” is a semi-regular series where I reflect back on a talk, video, or essay I’ve published. More than just a re-hashing of the same topic, I’ll add insights as to what has changed, or what I would say differently if I were doing it today.
Monitoring Your Systems in the Cloud
What happens to our applications and infrastructure when we place them in the cloud? Have you ever felt like you’ve lost insight into your infrastructure after migrating it to the…
The Effects of Software-Defined IT on Admins and Engineers
When it comes to networking specifically, software-defined networking is a model in which the use of programmability allows IT professionals to increase the performance and their ability to accurately monitor…
Defining an SLO – Understanding Business Needs
Building a monitoring and alerting system should always be driven by your business needs. This is an ongoing debate between the IT organization–which tends to focus on granular measures–and the…
Choosing What to Monitor – Understanding Key Metrics
Monitoring has always been a loosely defined and somewhat controversial term in IT organizations. IT professionals have very strong opinions about the tools they use, because monitoring performance metrics and…
Be Responsive and Responsible
Over the years, I’ve read more than a few articles about the qualities that are found in the best administrators. These articles focus on soft skills, but sometimes will list…
How DevOps Changes Monitoring
One of the most interesting changes that I have observed in my career is Microsoft shifting from just being a development organization to truly becoming a DevOps team, in the…