IT Central Station

Author Archives: IT Central Station

What IT admins love/hate about 8 top network monitoring tools

Network monitoring systems typically look for slow, overloaded, failing or crashed servers, routers, switches and network connections – and alert network administrators to the problem. According to the IT Central Station user community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing network monitoring software are scalability, flexibility and multi-tenancy.Eight of the top-ranked network monitoring software products are CA Unified Infrastructure Management, SevOne, Microsoft SCOM, FortiSIEM (AccelOps), ScienceLogic, NetScout TruView, Opsview Enterprise and Nagios, according to online reviews by enterprise users in the IT Central Station community.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

The best (and worst) parts of server virtualization products

Server virtualization software partitions a physical server into multiple, isolated virtual machines to make the most efficient use of server resources. According to the IT Central Station user community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing server virtualization software are simplicity of deployment, stability, and safe automated management. The goals? Increased IT agility and flexibility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

The best (and worst) parts of server virtualization products

Server virtualization software partitions a physical server into multiple, isolated virtual machines to make the most efficient use of server resources. According to the IT Central Station user community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing server virtualization software are simplicity of deployment, stability, and safe automated management. The goals? Increased IT agility and flexibility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

6 tools for producing a great mobile app experience

Mobile app performance management (APM) software provides visibility into mobile app performance and helps pinpoint and resolve issues that affect end-user experience. It typically provides crash reporting, network monitoring and user interaction monitoring to keep users active and satisfied with the app.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IT managers critique enterprise flash-storage products

The market for enterprise flash array storage is highly competitive, with traditional storage vendors battling against innovative startups. Tech buyers are typically looking at factors such as ease of use, improved data management, performance, deduplication algorithms, a small footprint and low power usage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IT managers critique enterprise flash-storage products

The market for enterprise flash array storage is highly competitive, with traditional storage vendors battling against innovative startups. Tech buyers are typically looking at factors such as ease of use, improved data management, performance, deduplication algorithms, a small footprint and low power usage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

IT service desk suites: The features users love and hate

IT service management (ITSM) tools typically focus on serving the needs of internal customers and solving their IT problems. Enterprise IT managers say the most important criteria to consider when choosing an ITSM vendor include customizable workflow automation, a system for creating trouble tickets and escalation mechanisms.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

4 tools for managing firewall rules

Firewall devices are only as good as the hundreds, or even thousands, rules that govern them. Misconfigurations, unused rules and conflicting rules can cause firewalls to fail in their crucial missions. Firewall security management products can help security managers monitor compliance, orchestrate device policies, optimize rules and manage firewall changes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

4 tools for managing firewall rules

Firewall devices are only as good as the hundreds, or even thousands, rules that govern them. Misconfigurations, unused rules and conflicting rules can cause firewalls to fail in their crucial missions. Firewall security management products can help security managers monitor compliance, orchestrate device policies, optimize rules and manage firewall changes. According to the IT Central Station user community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing firewall security management software are visibility for network devices, scalability, and ensured security and compliance.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Software-defined storage: Users reveal the best (and worst) features

There is no standard definition of software-defined storage, but it typically involves decoupling the management software from the storage hardware (vs. the tight integration of traditional storage products). The goal is to make it easier for administrators to flexibly manage a variety of storage devices via software and automated policies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Software-defined storage: Users reveal the best (and worst) features

There is no standard definition of software-defined storage, but it typically involves decoupling the management software from the storage hardware (vs. the tight integration of traditional storage products). The goal is to make it easier for administrators to flexibly manage a variety of storage devices via software and automated policies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Infrastructure monitoring products: Users pinpoint the best and worst features

IT monitoring software probes various parts of the infrastructure -- servers, networks and applications -- and alerts IT about problems before they can cause an outage that affects the business. According to IT managers in the IT Central Station community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing infrastructure monitoring software include compatibility with existing infrastructure and customizable views.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Infrastructure monitoring products: Users pinpoint the best and worst features

IT monitoring software probes various parts of the infrastructure -- servers, networks and applications -- and alerts IT about problems before they can cause an outage that affects the business. According to IT managers in the IT Central Station community, the most important criteria to consider when choosing infrastructure monitoring software include compatibility with existing infrastructure and customizable views.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

SIEM review: Splunk, ArcSight, LogRhythm and QRadar

IT and security managers in the IT Central Station online community say that the most important characteristics of security information and event management (SIEM) products is the ability to combine information from several sources and the ability to do intelligent queries on that information. Four of the top SIEM solutions are Splunk, HPE ArcSight, LogRhythm, and IBM Security QRadar SIEM, according to online reviews by enterprise users in the IT Central Station community. But what do enterprise users really think about these tools? Here, users give a shout out for some of their favorite features, but also give the vendors a little tough love.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

SIEM review: Splunk, ArcSight, LogRhythm and QRadar

IT and security managers in the IT Central Station online community say that the most important characteristics of security information and event management (SIEM) products is the ability to combine information from several sources and the ability to do intelligent queries on that information.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

BI review: Tableau, QlikView, MicroStrategy and Oracle OBIEE

Among the most important buying criteria for BI tools are scalability and performance, usability and UI, ease of development, and mobile/cloud based customization. An effective BI solution should be able to access any data source and provide capabilities for internal and external users from the same platform, as well as provide better integration with other systems (e.g. CRM, ERP).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)