Data Center Swinging Between Availability & Efficiency? You May Need DCIM
By Fred Koh - October 7, 2020If traditional cars need gas and oil, millennials need avocado and toast, and Teslas need electricity and a battery, it follows that data centers need the following to run: availability and efficiency. The problem? Have too much availability and efficiency is going to suffer and visa versa. The modern data center swings on something a…
Learn More
How Does Network Discovery Help Prevent Cyberattacks?
By Fred Koh - September 30, 2020Over the years, we’ve written extensively about zombie servers, cables that aren’t fully decommissioned, and much more. If we had to sum all that up into just one sentence, it would probably be something like this: IT documentation helps you find resources that are drawing power but not performing any functions. Just as technology and…
Learn More
OSP Fiber Management: Save Time, Money, and Stress
By Fred Koh - September 25, 2020If you’re in charge of managing an Outside Plant (OSP) fiber network, you already know there’s nothing like the threat of backhoes and hurricanes to make you lose sleep. What will get damaged…and what else will be impacted? Are you going to have to send someone out in the field on a wild goose chase?…
Learn More
IT Audit? Software Helps
By Fred Koh - September 22, 2020From time to time, when I ask a company why they are looking for network diagram and documentation software such as netTerrain, they say it’s because they just acquired another company and have no idea what’s on their network and what assets the other company has. If you are considering acquiring a company, ask the…
Learn More
How Network Diagram Software Helps You Go Home Early
By Fred Koh - September 15, 2020Whether you love Jimmy Buffet or hate him, everyone knows, and probably can relate, to his famous tune, “it’s five o’clock somewhere’ about a worker who’s frustrated with his job and wants it to be five o’clock. What happens, however, when it’s actually five o’clock and you can’t go home?. When people call us in…
Learn More
Network Rack Diagrams 101
By Fred Koh - September 14, 2020Over the years, I’ve talked with lots of IT folks who need software for network mapping and network documentation such as netTerrain. These discussions tend to focus on items such as, “can this software go out and discover my network? Can it provide monitoring, like polling services to see if a device is up or…
Learn More
Is DCIM’s ‘Single Pane of Glass’ a Myth?
By Fred Koh - September 11, 2020In IT management, there’s a lot of chatter about the idea of the ‘single pane of glass’. The concept of the single pane of glass is this: instead of IT staff being left to sort through various tools and incompatible systems across departments, an organization’s entire IT staff can trust just one platform to deliver…
Learn More
netTerrain Version 8.6: Enhanced Performance, Customization, Usability
By Jan Durnhofer -Another year, another step closer to documentation heaven…welcome to netTerrain 8.6! This is the fifth (and last) incarnation of the 8.x series (also called “China” — as you may have seen the pretty guide covers that feature beautiful landscapes from the Asian country as well as in the login pictures). For 8.6, we worked on…
Learn More
DCIM Cable Management Software: 3 Helpful Reports
By Fred Koh -If you were to make a list of mission-critical assets in a data center, cables would near the top. They provide connectivity that lays down the tracks on which the data center runs. From copper to fiber and everything in between, data centers contain a wide range of cabling. Regardless of whether the cables are…
Learn More
Haunted IT Network? When You Can’t Call Ghostbusters
By Fred Koh - September 10, 2020Does your network have servers left running, performing no functions, and just wasting space and power? You may have a zombie server problem. What about network diagrams that are so old and out-of-date they’re cobwebbed over? That’s a lot of dust. Is the network compliant and secure? If not, you’ve got a lot of “Do…
Learn More
Need Outside Plant Software? Decide if You Also Need DCIM…
By Fred Koh - August 28, 2020Managing your cabling infrastructure is no small feat: it takes time, money, and manpower to implement. It is, however, an investment that has the potential to pay off in dividends (when the right software is chosen and implemented well). Before you buy a cable management or outside plant (OSP) system, ensure it will scale with…
Learn More
Data Center Capacity Headaches? How DCIM Helps
By Fred Koh - August 27, 2020Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software (such as netTerrain DCIM) makes capacity planning easy: DCIM gives you the insights necessary for key infrastructure and financial decisions. WIth DCIM software, you can plan out new data center builds, expansions, consolidations, and consider different scenarios — all while armed with insights about current capacity and usage. netTerrain…
Learn More