SNMP discovery vs. Network connectors – which is better?
By Jan Durnhofer - November 18, 2019As netTerrain (for DCIM, Network Mapping, OSP software) offers both options, I get asked this question often: “what should I use? netTerrain’s native SNMP discovery or some connector to an existing system?” And the answer, as you may expect, is “…it depends.” SNMP discovery: “the magic button” netTerrain’s SNMP discovery is a nice feature. You…
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GDPR Compliance? How netTerrain Helps
By Jan Durnhofer - November 15, 2019Recently, a customer asked us about the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the context of his netTerrain documentation. Is netTerrain compliant, and can netTerrain help European Union (EU) organizations get/stay compliant? GDPR and Compliance GDPR is a new regulation that, among other things, expects an organization to meet certain standards for your network…
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DCIM software selection: the don’t’s and don’t’s
By Jan Durnhofer - November 12, 2019I must say that we are quite proud of our customers as they really are a smart bunch. Now, I’m not just saying this just because they happened to choose netTerrain for their Data Center Infrastructure monitoring. That is far too easy for me to say being a (biased)vendor. I truly think our customers are…
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Do I really need Outside Plant (OSP) software?
By Jan Durnhofer - November 8, 2019Our OSP software module, netTerrain OSP, seems to pop-up in discussions with our current netTerrain users quite a bit lately, maybe because it is still relatively new (it is only 4 or 5 years old versus netTerrain’s network and DCIM features, which have been around for over a decade now). Because we’ve been fielding quite…
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netTerrain 8.2: Security, Search, Usability
By Jan Durnhofer - October 23, 2019Because we like to stay on the move here at Graphical Networks, we keep improving netTerrain. 8.2 is the third incarnation of the 8.x series (also called “China”, as you may have seen from the pretty guide covers featuring beautiful landscapes from the Asian country). This time around, our engineering team worked on 35 tickets:…
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Complaint of the Week: Moving catalog objects between netTerrain systems
By Jan Durnhofer - October 22, 2019Welcome back to our complaint of the week series (we had a bit of a hiatus…I guess no complaints, eh?). We received a new complaint that was interesting: “can I move a catalog object between two netTerrain systems?” By ‘catalog object’, we don’t mean the actual inventory or instances of assets you have in your…
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Don’t Make the Mistake of Buying DCIM If…
By Jason Sherman - October 21, 2019Ok…if you’re familiar with our company (we manufacture software: DCIM, OSP, and Logical network diagram/documentation software), you’re probably thinking “what???”. I admit: it’s a pretty strange title from a manufacturer of DCIM software. There is, I promise, method to my madness. Here it comes…the # 1 reason you should avoid buying DCIM software…. Let’s start…
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Why Not Just Use a Spreadsheet to Document the Network?
By Jason Sherman - October 18, 2019In 2019, it’s all too easy to start talking about network documentation, mapping, and diagramming as though it’s a new innovation that’s evolved specifically for getting, and acting upon, information about IT networks and infrastructures. Though automated network documentation, such as netTerrain Logical, is something that has evolved in the current age of information we…
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Don’t End Up a Prisoner to Your IT Documentation Software
By Jason Sherman - October 15, 2019How many characters can I fit into a field? Well…let me tell you: more than you would probably ever need. Wondering what the heck I’m talking about? Drumroll, please… I mean the data you can place into a field for an object: an object might be a building or a network device such as a…
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DCIM Software: How Long Will it Really Take to Implement?
By Jason Sherman - October 11, 2019“Yeah, it all sounds great but honestly, this seems like a lot of work: how long is this DCIM project going to take us?” The above is real question from a data center manager interested in purchasing data center infrastructure management software (DCIM), we hear questions like that a lot as vendors of DCIM software….
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Procrastinating on Network Documentation? Your Ultimate Self-Help Guide
By Jason Sherman - October 4, 2019I was recently reading (ok, ok…listening, I’m lazy…) to a book. So, it was a book about habits…maybe to get some less lazy habits going on in my life, but hey: I am going off topic already! Anyway, what does me reading a book about adopting less lazy habits have to do with network documentation…
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Sick of Backhoes and Magic 8 Balls? 3 Big Reasons You Need OSP Software
By Jason Sherman - October 1, 2019“Oh, why didn’t I document my fiber…woe is me. Now, I’ve got a hole where my bytes used to be.” Ah, the reasons you may need outside plant software…as if you need more reasons you need it! That said, below are some of those real big-ticket reasons that many of our netTerrain OSP users ultimately…
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