Who must be blamed for the problems in your network?

Are you experiencing problems with the network performance? Then, who is to blame?

An interruption in the network is a synonym of damage to any Company. In the face of this delicate scenario, teams which were dealing directly with the Company’s IT, are certainly pressured. Therefore, without the visibility of the network the situation will certainly be chaotic.

We should not start seeking for the ones to be blamed, but for solutions actually. However, in many cases the solution is only possible after discovering the guilty party. The focus is not on “blaming”, but actually correcting the problem. Finally avoiding the “Blame Game”, where each team transfers the guilt to the other.

Below, we have a scenery which illustrates the importance of possessing the right means to find the “guilty one”

SCENARIO

A company was suffering with the recurrent interruption of one of its services. This service specifically depends on the network infrastructure in conjunction with servers of databases. The team that was taking care of the database said that the problem was on the infrastructure, and the infrastructure team said this was a problem in the database. The teams were feeling pressured. Primarily, because the interrupted service might be an important activity for the capture of revenues by the company.

In this scenario, the company decided to implement the TRAFip and the SLAview. During the implementation, a survey was carried out about all the assets which were between the database and the clients. Therefore, everyone would be monitored, including the servers.

With the monitoring, a server specifically raised awareness. It has been noticed that up until the moment of the interruption, both the traffic recipient and the sender for the server were dropping. However, the processing load was becoming very high.

With the ownership of such information which would contain, beyond the details mentioned, the scheduling of the event, it was possible to direct the focus. In this manner, the report from the team of the database has been requested about the modifications that were being executed in that server on the timing scheduled. It turned out that in this situation specifically a series of commands were being carried out in the database, what caused a ripple effect and deteriorated all the operation of the system. It was enough to interrupt the commands and the system has returned to normal.

In this scenario, what has been crucial for reaching to the root of the problem?

THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

The scenario above shows the potential monitoring of the network. Mainly uniting the information obtained through the exportation of flows and data obtained through the SNMP protocol.

With real data the expression “I think” was exchanged by “let me show you”. Previously a team would transfer the culpability to another team. With the monitoring showing exactly the root of the problem, being the high load of processing along with a drop of traffic in a specific server, in a determinate time, we were able to reach to the root of the problem.

In this case specifically, it has been observed a high consumption of processing due to an overload perpetrated by the data bank. However, other sceneries can affect the performance of the CPU such as, for example, an elevated number of simultaneous accesses. However, it has been observed that the traffic was diminishing. Before such perspective, the usage of traffic and performance monitoring stand out with one information complementing the other.

The most important thing is the capacity of obtaining agility in the solution of problems. As well as, possessing data through graphics and reports that point out to the source of the problem. Therefore, allowing a deeper investigation until the root cause is found. Primarily, avoiding unnecessary conflicts between the teams in the search for the ones to be blamed.

With the visibility of the network the benefits will not be be just the fast resolution of problems, but also the anticipation of the same. With reports, charts and alarms in real time allowing the IT Team, to act more efficiently and with more proactivity.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

In this way, there are no doubts about the importance of investing on network management. In this same manner, bringing not only benefits to the network visibility but also being a complementary way to seek for the prevention of problems that might cause the dropping of network services.

Thinking of that, Telcomanager present in the market since 2002, and a leading Latin America brand in the sector of software for managing networks. Also counting with a unique and innovative technology, deploying smart solutions in the monitoring of data that will provide a stratified vision of the traffic, is now allowing your Company to follow the most important aspects of your network, in real time.