Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA) found itself with a rapidly expanding network and data center. Our network devices, servers, and software were all growing in complexity and we knew that we would have to leverage technology to gain better control of our IT systems and network. In the past, we confronted the same dilemma that systems administrators in all IT organizations face: weighing the value of simple monitoring solutions versus expensive, feature-rich enterprise solutions that require labor intensive maintenance. We attempted to implement a large-scale system and network monitoring package from a major vendor but found the product was never fully implemented or adopted by the users because of its overbearing complexity. We then quickly implemented an inexpensive, low-end package that provided basic monitoring ? but lacked much of the deeper functionality our organization required, such as performance and application monitoring.
We knew we had to take a completely new approach. We decided to develop a set of best practices to ensure that new investments in system and network monitoring would be successful.
At the core of these best practices are two themes ? simplicity and cost-effectiveness HMSA's core best practices rest on five elements:
- Data center monitoring technology should be Web-based. Web-based technology simplifies rolling out the system, because no client-side application must be installed and upgraded. In addition, administrators can work from any location. Web-based user interfaces are also typically easy to learn, easing adoption and lowering training costs.
- Monitoring technology should be standards-based. HMSA chose to adhere to industry standards such as Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP) in order to simplify setup and installation and to avoid getting locked into one vendor's solution. Because SNMP is supported by almost all hardware and software vendors, monitoring a heterogeneous environment composed of many products is greatly simplified.
- Monitoring technology should be automation driven rather than consulting or manpower intensive. Expending costly and valuable IT resources on long-term enterprise software projects has proven risky and expensive.
- Data center operations should be viewed as a business process. IT departments tend to look at monitoring technology as something that displays trending graphs and sends alarms when there are network problems.
- Monitoring technology with simple license terms is preferable to products with many add-on or hidden modules. To control the costs of a monitoring implementation, a company needs visibility of up to five or 10 years of ongoing maintenance costs. Many enterprise software vendors' products are composed of many modules and components that have separate pricing models and require different training and support. HMSA believes that products with a number of components tend to be more expensive and complex to maintain over time.
We evaluated more than 15 vendors against these best practices and found that CITTIO's WatchTower monitoring platform was the closest fit. Equipped with WatchTower and our strong best practice approach, we successfully deployed enterprise-class system and network monitoring on 500 servers and network devices in a timely and cost-effective manner. Moreover, we are gaining the complete system control and network visibility our large, complex organization requires.
Oswego taxi to Midway ..While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions offers several ERP applications: Great Plains, Navision,... Read More
Former Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise, and currently Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
And kill the best layout software in the process of... Read More
All your software is stored on a hard-drive. But how... Read More
Our hosted solution allow you to run your own search... Read More
Currently Microsoft Business Solutions is on the way of creating... Read More
Background: For many organizations like ours, the interim target of... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains could be tuned and setup to fit... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM become more and more... Read More
Microsoft SQL Server is the leader for inexpensive and middle... Read More
Looking at all the ads which promise to get rid... Read More
Handling character strings in Java is supported through two final... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Small Business Manager is scaled down Great... Read More
Great Plains Software Dynamics, Dynamics C/S+, eEnterprise were written on... Read More
Do you remember that frustrating feeling when you find an... Read More
If you are in a business that passes documents around... Read More
Beginning with Domino version R4 it has integration with the... Read More
How many steps does it take you to locate and... Read More
Shareware has been fighting the stigma of being misunderstood for... Read More
When you visit department stores and see that majority of... Read More
Usually, the easiest way to tell you have spyware is... Read More
Logistics automation is often considered as barcoding extension to Sales... Read More
Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past... Read More
In the case when you represent mid-size or mid-size-to-large business,... Read More
shuttle from Midway Morris ..What is RAID RECOVERY?RAID stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive... Read More
I like my software simple. If it's too complex or... Read More
Preventive Maintenance (PM) is defined as scheduled work done on... Read More
Before September 1995, Microsoft Windows was an MS-DOS program. DOS... Read More
ERP Consulting industry is on the way to serve clients... Read More
I provide, here clear explanations and a count of function... Read More
You might think you don't need a firewall... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics, eEnterprise has... Read More
What is installation in the language of technology? Installation... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains is one of three Microsoft Business Solutions... Read More
Although statistics often is blamed for various deadly sins --... Read More
Language development computer: Computer-based method for aiding language development seems... Read More
CD and DVD replication is a process that works by... Read More
So, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I... Read More
Now is the time to look at an alternative to... Read More
With so many Microsoft Windows related viruses, errors, and other... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was designed back in the... Read More
It is a well known fact that Java as a... Read More
Mike Dunville* had a decision to make. As the new... Read More
The Windows Indexing Service provides you with the ability to... Read More
When it comes to running an office, the SOHO entrepreneur... Read More
DBxtra goes ASPGetting to the information hidden within corporate databases... Read More
When it comes to screenplay software each screenwriter needs to... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is web-based CRM application, deploying all... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and Axapta are Microsoft Business... Read More
Software |