The Art of Data Center Migrations
By Jason Sherman - April 20, 2018I know what I want to do next week: move some servers….what fun! I might as well move some mountains while I’m at it. So, how the heck do you plan out a data center migration? With a notebook and piece of paper (of course): 1. Draw a picture of the servers switches and routers….
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Tales of Fiber Network Outages
By Jason Sherman - April 18, 2018Ever seen the insurance ad that goes something like, “Insurance: when you need it, you really need it” alongside a photograph of a house with extensive damage? Fiber network documentation goes something like that: when you need it, you really need it. Fiber networks are, by their nature, vulnerable to damage. Wondering what the top…
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Why Airports Need Inside & Outside Network Maps
By Jason Sherman - April 16, 2018Ever really look at a map of the airport? It’s a bustling network of terminals, concourses, shopping centers, food courts, kiosks, security checkpoints, and, of course, airplanes. If you’ve ever been delayed for hours, you know that airports can be a destination unto themselves (for better or worse). Airports are constantly evolving — and their…
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Buying DCIM? Don’t Overlook Customer Service
By Jason Sherman - April 4, 2018In general, the importance of good customer service can’t be overstated: with DCIM, it’s crucial to a successful implementation. Unfortunately, with DCIM — it can prove hard to find. I manage customer support for our documentation suite: DCIM, network mapping, and outside plant. I think one reason we have had success is being able to…
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When You Can’t Google the Network
By Jason Sherman - April 3, 2018Need to find an answer to your network question quickly? How would you find it? These days, we’re used to being able to get the answers to our questions in seconds (thanks, Google). Need to know where the nearest Indian restaurant is when you’re driving through the middle of nowhere (this happened to me recently)….?…
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How to Keep the Network Compliant with Security Standards
By Jason Sherman - March 26, 2018Is your network in compliance with industry security standards such as the PCI Data Security Standard? These standards exist to safeguard sensitive information from vulnerabilities. The PCI Data Security Standard exists to ensure that organizations handling credit cards keep information secure in the following ways: Ensure Secure Networks and Systems Secure/Protect Cardholder Data Manage Vulnerability…
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Why My Uber Driver Quit Working as a Network Engineer
By Hannah Ash - March 19, 2018So…I had an interesting ride this morning: my car is in the shop and I used Uber. I had a great ride and my driver got five stars and a tip from me — but that’s besides the point. Over the course of our conversation, he shared that he was a relatively new driver for…
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Manage Your Outside Plant with Dynamic Maps (Intro)
By Jan Durnhofer - March 15, 2018Need an easier way to document and map your fiber backbone? netTerrain OSP*, our outside plant management platform, is used by our customers to manage their inside and outside plants — from fiber splices to manholes to GIS-enabled street views (with 6-decimal precision) all the way to fiber patch panels inside buildings. This blog series…
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Does This Make My Server Look Fat?
By Jason Sherman - March 13, 2018Does this make my server look fat? Is my floor starting to bulge? Yeah, we have all been there. The server room is starting to look a little heavy…or is it? Hey, we’ve all told ourselves a few little white lies from time to time, ‘maybe it’s just the way the light is hitting this…
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The DCIM Competitive Analysis Gone Wrong (Part Two)
By Jan Durnhofer - February 27, 2018This article continues our previous blog on why we don’t engage in competitive analyses; it is designed to give you an example of why an ‘us vs. them’ DCIM vendor comparison fails. Let’s break it down. First, here’s a link to a competitive analysis on netTerrain from another vendor (who’s never used netTerrain). Now, let’s…
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Why We Won’t Waste Your Time with a DCIM Competitive Analysis (Part One)
By Jan Durnhofer -Sometimes a prospect asks us if we can give them a competitive analysis: you know, how we stack up against some other DCIM competitor. I totally get why we’re asked for these; it is part of the usual song and dance and many organizations want them. We’re not immune: in fact, we have something like…
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From Hieroglyphics to NASA, Data Visualization Isn’t Anything New
By Jason Sherman - February 26, 2018I was spending some time (or wasting….you decide) on Reddit last week when I came across this article on how NASA uses IT visualization to tell visual stories from technical details. While we’re not a BI tool, what NASA is doing — and why they’re doing it — is at the very heart of the…
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