What Does DCIM Stand For?
By Jason Sherman - August 24, 2018Call me old school or just call me old: when DCIM first started making headlines here and there, I never really understood the acronym. What does it stand for and what does it really mean? DCIM stands for ‘Data Center Infrastructure Management’. Why is it ‘DCIM’ for ‘Data Center Infrastructure Management’ anyways? My best guess…
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Network Diagram Software 101
By Jason Sherman - August 23, 2018If you manage a complicated network, or if you’re establishing one, network diagrams are a necessity. A good network diagram defines the network’s structure and layout using a variety of symbols that represent the devices and connections between them. A ‘completed’ network diagram for a complex network will, most likely, have hundreds of symbols —…
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What is the OSI Model?
By Hannah Ash - August 21, 2018Before you dive into what you may want to document and include in a network diagram, you’ll probably want to have a basic understand of what, exactly, the OSI model is. The Open Systems Interconnection Model (OSI) is, in a nutshell, a theoretical or reference model which defines how the different applications in a network…
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DCIM Software: How to Avoid a Failed Implementation
By Hannah Ash - August 20, 2018If someone were to ask me today, “Hey, you know about this stuff: is DCIM failing users?”, I would set them straight: “No, it’s not the software. It’s the hype that’s failing the software.” AS DCIM continues to gain steam, the more people use it and the more people talk about it. A joint survey…
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Can You Diagram the Network with Visio?
By Jason Sherman - August 17, 2018If you manage a network, you know (all too well) that IT documentation is one of those things you need to do but never seem to have the time to get done. It can be an especially daunting (and joyless) task if you plan to diagram and document with Visio network diagrams. That being said,…
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How DCIM Can Lower PUE
By Fred Koh -Data center power and cooling costs are expensive…and as infrastructures continue to expand, these costs are only going up. Because of solutions such as DCIM software, costs don’t have to keep skyrocketing. DCIM can give insights as to where power is being drawn by servers that aren’t performing any functions, for example, or true power…
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DCIM: Hype vs. Truth
By Hannah Ash - August 16, 2018As Frank Sinatra might have sung, ‘2007 was a very good year’. Apple introduced iPhone, the final Harry Potter book was published, and the Departed won an Oscar (hey, I’m from Boston). It’s also the year that DCIM software really made a splash on the tech market and major software vendors took notice and followed…
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View Your Entire Cloud & Network Infrastructure
By Fred Koh -The digital transformation movement is leaving no prisoners behind in its wake: infrastructure-as-a-service (the Cloud) — for example — has become immensely popular as it frees up IT and development time and the costs to maintain a data center. A 2016 IDG survey returned staggering results: 47% of companies have transitioned their messages to the…
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How Network Diagrams Help You with Compliance & Regulations
By Fred Koh - August 15, 2018Recently, I wrote a blog entitled ‘Network Documentation: Is It Really a Priority?’: in this blog, I discussed the importance of network diagrams and documentation in capacity planning, reducing mean-time-to-repair, lowering expenditures, cutting down on IT clutter, and more. One significant issue I didn’t discuss in that blog is this: regulatory compliance. Graphical Networks, my…
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Why You May Not Need DCIM
By Jason Sherman - August 14, 2018So, you think maybe it’s time for DCIM. Costs are getting out of control, troubleshooting problems abound, capacity planning is not going well, and you have zombie servers attacking your data center. DCIM can be a sizeable investment — and before you sign on the dotted line, it’s crucial to ensure that 1. you find…
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Where Has All The Good Data Gone?
By Jason Sherman - August 13, 2018So…you’re sick of troubleshooting that takes forever, fed up with buying IT stuff just to realize 6 months later you didn’t really need it or already had it, and you’re completely exasperated by those expenditures that keep going up, up, and away? You’ve finally decided that you want – no, scratch that – need to…
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Network Documentation: Is It Really a Priority?
By Fred Koh - August 10, 2018Let’s face it: we all say “network documentation is important”… but for some reason it is never truly considered urgent or a higher priority. I hear it all the time. Yet, when the ‘you know what’ hits the fan, we all go desperately scrambling for those uninspired network documents…only to find them outdated and basically…
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