NMSaaS Blog

Network monitoring is an important part of ensuring service delivery and reliability in any business. The benefits of a cloud based system make it easier than ever to implement a solid network monitoring solution in very little time and with minimal up front costs.

When your company is going through a period of growth, making major changes to your network is the last thing you want to do.

Cloud-based network management solutions are becoming more popular by the day. They have made it possible for businesses of all sizes to adopt high-end network management strategies and protocols that were often unavailable at a cost-friendly rate in the past. They have also simplified some of the internal processes and responsibilities of network administrators on a day to day basis. 

Network monitoring is moving to the cloud and it's going to change everything about the way your managed service provider (MSP) protects and manages your system. 

In the past, in-house or local monitoring tools were considered to be more secure and more reliable.

As cloud-based networking monitoring continues to advance and evolve, however, those advantages are starting to fade and the benefits of off-site monitoring are pushing the industry forward.  

There is a lively debate among IT professionals as to whether the improvements in cloud technology have truly provided the usefulness and security they advertise.

So you’ve committed to a cloud-based network monitoring solution, and you’re ready to start implementation. Stop! As great as the advantages afforded by such may be, there are nonetheless a multitude of ways you can trip over your feet with your adoption of cloud applications. Make sure you’re aware of these common problems and pitfalls, and take steps to avert them before you fall headfirst into one.

When it comes to a vulnerability check, many security teams are unsure of when and how often they should be auditing their devices. Fortunately, Cisco has conveniently included the PSIRT audit as part of their platform so users can easily compare recent notifications to their own inventory database and get a report of any affected devices in the network within minutes. Here are some of the signs that it's time to do just that:

For years Cisco has been an industry-leader in network infrastructure and security devices. One of the tools they use to stay ahead of their competition and ensure that their customers are protected from malicious behavior is the Cisco PSIRT Vulnerability Audit, which is a process by which the company tests and analyzes Cisco products and networks for potential security weaknesses. 

One of the questions we get quite a lot from our customers is related to upgrading and replacing older Cisco devices.  The questions usually takes the form of “When should I replace an older devices (even if it still works?) or “How do I know when a device should be targeted for replacement?”  While there are many possible answers to this question, one of the main pieces of information that should inform the decision is: At what stage in the announced product lifecycle are your current devices?

When we talk to Network Managers around the world and ask them what is the number 1 priority for your team this year we are hearing more and more the answer being “security”. 

This is a little bit of a departure from previous years when the most common responses were “Ensuring uptime”, “Reducing MTTR” and “Deploying new services”.   This may be because in the past security was mostly considered to be the domain of the server and application teams and/or a specialized security team. 

However, with the multitude of known (and unknown) attackers out there, security really must become a cross-team discipline with everyone being involved to a degree in ensuring the integrity of the IT estate.

In writing there is an adage that says “write what you know”.  In business this has been popularly extended by consultants and gurus to “Focus on Core Competencies and Outsource the Rest.” The idea is that it’s so difficult today to manage (and be great at) the many aspects of business, that it’s in any companies best interest to focus completely on their core business, and then outsource as many ancillary functions as possible to companies which focus on those tasks.  This concept has probably taken root most deeply and effectively in IT.