ServersCheck CEO's Blog

Multi-site monitoring for MSP's released

2010-02-10T10:25:00.003+01:00

Earlier today we released the Command Center: a MSP or multi-site monitoring feature for our ServersCheck Monitoring Appliances.

This new feature offers a central view of appliances deployed in multiple locations like remote customer sites, technical rooms, ...

The Command Center receives over HTTP status information from appliances which push the information. On a single screen a user can immediately see the health of the remote systems and when an issue is detected take immediate corrective actions.

For MSP's the solution has double benefits:
- standalone monitoring solution running on customer premises with monitoring, reporting and alerting capabilities
- centralized monitoring to get a wholistic view

Technicians can communicate with the appliance over HTTP (port forwarding required), Teamviewer host (optional) or via SMS (using the 2 way SMS capabilities). Using SMS you can still communicate with customer sites even when the network is down.

More info on http://www.serverscheck.com/msp-monitoring

Cold reboots via SMS

2009-11-26T16:50:00.004+01:00

Today we have launched release 8.0.3 of our Monitoring Software with an exciting new (patent pending) feature: cold reboot via SMS.

A cold reboot (also known as a hard reboot, cold boot or cold start) is when power to a computer is cycled (turned off and then on).

ServersCheck's PDU enable users via a secured web interface to perform power cycles onto any device connected to it.

With this release, power cycle signals can be sent via secure SMS to the PDU. This is done through the Monitoring Software which receives and authenticates the reboot command via SMS.

No matter where you are, via secure SMS you can now restart a router, server, etc... by performing a power off / power on cycle.

More info on this feature is available here: http://wiki.serverscheck.com/index.php/SMSPDU

BTS Monitoring Solution - a 3D overview

2009-11-08T16:08:00.006+01:00

We have just released the 3D video of our solution for monitoring mobile base stations (BTS). The solution is designed around four main focus points:
1. monitor all IP & SNMP devices & networks
2. monitor environment to safeguard equipment
3. monitor mobile services from an end-user perspective
4. monitor power usage & perform remote reboot
5. monitor I/O contacts (door, smoke, generator, ...)

Enjoy the video!

BTS Monitoring Solution Released

2009-10-06T12:19:00.001+02:00

At ITU World Telekom in Geneva we have released our monitoring appliance for BTS stations. These stations are small technical rooms in which all the equipment runs to make mobile communications possible. The BTS Monitoring Appliance is an industrialized version of our traditional appliance with additional sensors and a special end-user simulation module.

More info can be found on our new website: http://www.btsmonitoring.com

This is the press release that was sent out earlier today on the subject:

ServersCheck now monitors antennas of mobile operators

Zaventem, Belgium / Geneva, Switzerland, 6 October 2009 – As ITU Telecom World 2009, the world’s largest telecommunications event, got under way, the Belgian company ServersCheck presented its new BTS Monitoring Solution. This solution has been designed to monitor continuously the performances and the surrounding factors of antennas and other remote technical facilities. In the meantime, this solution has been the subject of tests among different mobile operators in the Asia-Pacific region.

A compact appliance that offers integral monitoring and simulates the end user
ServersCheck’s BTS Monitoring Solution has been developed, above all, to monitor the availability of the Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), crucial elements of mobile networks. A station such as a BTS is composed of a radio transceiver and all the expensive technical gear that goes with it together with an antenna and is directly in contact with all the mobile appliances that use the network. The continuous growth in mobile telephony and data requires greater performance from networks and the fastest possible solution of any failures, caused by problems with a BTS.

5-level control
The compact BTS Monitoring Solution offers comprehensive and continuous monitoring, and does so at 5 levels, which are essential for the operators. Through the BTS Monitoring Appliance and ServersCheck’s computer equipment which is connected to it, the solution monitors:
1. all the appliances connected to a network within the BTS,
2. all the surrounding factors (temperature, air humidity and water),
3. mobile services from an end user’s perspective (telephone conversations, SMS and 3G connections),
4. power usage, with the possibility of restarting appliances remotely,
5. all the I/O contacts (gate, smoke, backup generators, etc.)

According to Maarten Van Laere, ServersCheck’s CEO, this solution opens up new markets and new opportunities for BTS Monitoring: “We have combined our current network monitoring, detector and software expertise in this new product. The increasing number of mobile networks require high-performance networks and therefore reliable monitoring. With our BTS Monitoring Solution, we are the first to propose a comprehensive monitoring solution which is also capable of simulating the end user. That makes it possible for the operators to check and ensure optimal operation of all the telephone services while focusing on the data exchange services above all. Today, the actual customers are often the ones who have to point out the problems, which is not, commercially speaking, a good thing. Thanks to our solution, however, they are now warned of any defects in real time.”

ServersCheck v8 Released

2009-09-08T14:38:00.003+02:00

We have released version 8 of our Monitoring Software.

Version 8 bring a whole set of new features making ServersCheck an even more unique solution compared to other players in the market.

What's new in v8

1/ Integrated MIB Browser & SNMP Scanner. To use a MIB file, simply drop it in the /mib foler. Go to the device properties in the ServersCheck software and scan the device. The mib will be used to make SNMP data readable and ready for monitoring.

2/ WMI monitoring: any WMI parameter, available in the Windows system being monitored, can now be analyzed.

3/ Time line reporting. You can now visually navigate to the alerting history of your monitoring solution. Simply move your browser over the report.

4/ RDP enabled remote devices? Through a single mouse click you can now connect to your monitored systems when looking at them in the device properties screen

5/ API: ServersCheck has innovated the monitoring market again by now offering an API. Anyone can now write custom checks using any of the check types available within the software. The first API made available is for monitoring routers from ImageStream.

You can download v8 from following url:
http://www.serverscheck.com/monitoring_software/download.asp

ServersCheck Overview Video Released

2009-07-24T18:44:00.005+02:00

Earlier this week we released a 3D video describing the ServersCheck solution as clear as possible to anyone unfamiliar with what we do. I hope you'll like it. Sit back and relax while watching this 1m40seconds video.

CommunicAsia - Singapore - June 2009

2009-06-21T16:20:00.002+02:00

CommunicAsia is South East Asia's largest technology show. As we did open an office in Singapore early this year, it was a natural step for us to exhibit and promote ServersCheck during the almost one week event.

Time for us was right. Over the past 6 months we have setup an indirect channel with a dedicated and motivated distributor based out of KL, Malaysia who deals with our resellers in the region. At the same time we have setup a sales team for dealing with large corporate accounts in the Asian market. While having all processes in place, we were anxious to await the response and feedback from the market in this region of the world. On top of that, for the first time in Asia we would officially show our Monitoring Appliance.

Response has been overwhelming and it will require anyone's talent from our sales staff, distributor and resellers to make sure that every enquiry is catered for. However rest assured that we will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Singapore and its visitors have given the ServersCheck a very warm welcome this year and interest has exceeded our most optimistic scenario's with even deals signed at the booth.

For our new business partners: welcome to the ServersCheck family. To our new customers: a big thank you and rest assured that you can count on our support.

Monitoring Appliance wins Best Of Interop Finalist Award

2009-05-22T18:50:00.000+02:00

On May 2nd, ServersCheck received the Best Of Interop Finalist award in the Network Management category.

Best of Interop recognizes some of the world's most innovative technologies across eight major categories. More than 160 companies submitted products for consideration. The panel of judges was made up of award-winning editors and analysts from InformationWeek Analytics who selected the products they believe will have the greatest potential to impact and advance business technology efficiencies.

"The Best of Interop Awards contribute to Interop's goal of moving business technology forward and driving adoption of the latest technology advancements," said Lenny Heymann, Interop General Manager. "We saw strong competition and innovation from this year's submissions and congratulate our 2009 finalists."

"Every year, Best of Interop highlights important technology that is ready for enterprise use," said Art Wittmann, Managing Director, InformationWeek Analytics. "The Best of Interop continues to showcase the industry's most innovative technologies."

At ServersCheck we are extremely proud of this award as it again underlines the innovative character of our products. This award complements our previous awards: Windowsnetworking.com Reader's Choice Award and Best Networking Product at ITProExpo Japan.

Also we would like to post a big thank you to our numerous supporters and fans at Interop and for their valuable feedback that will make its way into our product.

ServersCheck Interview at Interop Las Vegas 2009

2009-05-20T13:23:00.000+02:00

Interview by ITBuyerGuide.org with Maarten Van Laere, ServersCheck's CEO about the ServersCheck Monitoring Appliance showcased during Interop Las Vegas 2009 where the product received an award as Best Of Interop Finalist

WindowsNetworking Readers' Choice Award

2009-03-25T00:06:00.003+01:00

I am very proud to announce that ServersCheck received the WindowsNetworking Reader's Choice Award as best Network Monitoring & Management product.

WindowsNetworking.com is a leading website for Windows system administrators and draws around 650.000 visitors each month. This award is given each year based upon a poll conducted by WindowsNetworking.com.

The award was won last year by SolarWind's IPMonitor with GFI Network Monitor as runner up.

The nice thing about this award compared to many others is that it comes from the user community. Users determine who wins. That being said, I would like to thank you all for your support as a customer, business partner and employee. I can only stress that this award is a big motivation to even try harder. Yes we can!

Server Monitoring Systems

2009-02-09T10:42:00.002+01:00

Of all the things you might be concerned about when running a server, cluster, or even a full data center; the chances are good that a server monitoring solution can allay the majority of your fears, cut costs, and reduce down-time.

Server monitoring solutions come in many shapes and sizes and frequently boast a blistering array of hardware and software applications, combined with sensors and communication protocols. They can be needlessly complex, deceptively simple, and everything between.
Hyperbole aside, the tasks of any server monitoring system is three fold:

Integrate into your server hardware and software without the need to disrupt that hardware or re-deploy software.

Use software and hardware sensors to monitor environmental and networking conditions inside and outside of your servers.

Continually report back on server status, providing alerts for critical software, hardware, or environmental situations.

In reality this ideally results in complete environmental and systemic monitoring of your critical services so that you, your potential customers or employers, and even your insurers, are never taken off guard by unforeseen hardware damage or software failure.

Though many network administrators are all too aware of the need for continual network device monitoring, most assume individual, periodic hardware failure to be an inevitable but acceptable rarity. This is correct, and server monitoring equipment can certainly help, but there are far more serious threats to your server hardware, dangers which can take down an entire data center for many weeks and potentially demand the replacement of all server hardware.

Environmental conditions change and, even in the most highly secured custom built server room, there are still a range of risks which can wreak havoc upon your hardware. These come in the form of excess humidity and temperature, power failure or, in the most extreme cases: Fire and Flood.

Server monitoring hardware sensors can be deployed throughout your hardware and environment to keep tabs on these otherwise silent server killers. Admittedly, most data centers or corporate IT offices are equipped with air conditioning that controls overall temperature and humidity, but a simple failure of this single part –while unpleasant for human employees- can spell the end for server hardware.

Enough doom and gloom, now. Any experienced server administrator or technician will understand the damage which can be caused by overheated systems or excess humidity, and hopefully they have implemented a monitoring system to keep a watchful eye on these environmental factors. On the other hand, more pressing and frequent problems are caused by isolated software and hardware failures which, unless monitored closed, can go unnoticed for many days.

The range of software monitoring options can be dazzling and varied, and while most monitoring systems will allow for a range of monitoring options, only a few do so with ease and consistency. Systems being monitored can include a raft of server applications, based upon their assigned ports, these might include:

Internet Related Checks
SNMP Related Checks
Mail Related Checks
Media Server Checks
OS Specific Checks
Applications Specific Checks
VOIP Checks
Database Checks
File Checks

Suffice to say, the built in functionality of server monitoring systems should cover the majority of your needs but, due to the way the software monitoring system works, it should also be possible to set up custom checks on any running service you desire.

These networked software and hardware tests are carried out in three steps. First, the monitoring software needs to know which services you wish it to monitor, this can be configured manually (via I.P. and port specification) or, in the case of ServersCheck, you may be able to automatically map your network devices and services.

In either case, the server monitor will periodically check known IPs and Ports to monitor their response state and times. In the event that any part of the system fails and a response is not forthcoming, your server monitor can be configured to alert you in a variety of ways, such as:

SMS
MSN messenger
Email
Voice messages
Or audio and video alarms

This is also true for environmental warnings which might need human attention. In this way, there are multiple opportunities to track your server performance and environmental factors, any of which could give you a clue to why a server has failed or, preferably, that a server might fail due to one of the tracked statuses.

The final part in the puzzle is the tracking and display of these environmental and network environments over time. This is where a server monitoring system becomes far more than it might immediately seem. Using ServersCheck system as an example, you can expect graphs which display the following variables readings over time:

Server, environmental and network status
Temperature and humidity over time
Bandwidth usage over time
Many more.

A combination of these unique and robust server monitoring systems ultimately ensures you have total control of your server and its environment. When combined with time based reviews, you can gain unique insight and understanding of the many varied factors which contribute to the cost, up-time and failure points in your server. Ultimately, you’ll save time, money and steer clear of potential catastrophe.

Network Monitoring – Keep Your Network Running Smoothly

2009-01-30T14:15:00.000+01:00

Network monitoring is a key component of any networked system. This monitoring allows technicians to determine the reliability of the network and prevent large crashes by fixing or replacing downed components. In certain cases, careful monitoring can point out problems in the network before they become large enough to affect network users. Careful network monitoring can also affect the percentage of downtime that is planned compared to unplanned, thus improving general network availability statistics.

Most network monitoring programs send periodic requests to different servers in the system and measure the response times. These response times are typically derived from port and service ‘pinging’ which tells the system administrator how quickly the servers speak to one another, or indeed, if they are offline.

Good network monitoring applications will also monitor the amount of data sent and the bandwidth used. This allows the system administrator to monitor and control network bandwidth usage by individual servers and systems. Of course, it’s also a great way to catch broken components and security issues.

This is not the only thing you can do while monitoring a network. Network tomography helps with the design of useful networked systems. Tomography uses the ends points of data sent through the internet in order to figure out the path that information takes to get from point A to point B. Using this information, it is possible for system administrators and computer scientists to design better computer networks, and better ways to connect servers. The idea is to reduce the distance and time spent in any server request through design. Thus improving the efficiency of your network, and improving usage of hardware.

Although it is not as common as using network monitoring systems to check the uptime of a server, network tomography is a growing field, and can be used as in a similar manner to regular monitoring to figure out where network delays occur. Tomography can also be used to figure out which links are naturally more lossy than others. This makes it possible to fix those links in the network and speed up network response times and reliability.

Ideally, any network monitoring would include alerts for failed server requests. Depending on the type of network monitoring system, these alerts can take the form of a visual/audio alarm or messages sent to the system administrator’s SMS, instant messenger, email or voice mail.

Features to look for in network monitoring systems:

How does it send alerts? Make sure that the system will send you alerts in a way that will definitely get to you. The system should be capable of being set to send more than one alert at a time. That way, no matter where you are, you will always be able to know when the network goes down. This will minimize unplanned downtime.

High ratings and/or good reviews. One of the best network monitoring programs on the market right now is ServersCheck. It has won awards for best network product at the ITpro Expo in October of 2008 and continues to release innovative new products and services in its network monitoring range. This is due to the ease of use, reliability, and the many different ways that the system can send alerts. Whether you prefer to get phone calls, emails or instant messages, ServersCheck will alert you to system downtime.

Free trial. It is a good idea to look for network monitoring systems that allow you a free trial. ServersCheck, for example, gives a free 21 day trial so that you can test out the program features yourself. Make sure that the free trial is at least three weeks – otherwise, you might not have enough time to test all of the program features. While you are testing the program, you should make sure that you run some tests to see whether or not the monitoring software is working properly.

Other features. Many of the network monitoring options on the market will only monitor the network, or are otherwise limited in their features. If you are only looking for a tool to monitor your bandwidth use, then this may not be a major problem. However, there are other options available that will give you many more features for your money. If you are planning on running a server for a long period of time, then you should look into a program that will monitor much more than uptime and bandwidth.

There are a few monitoring options that do not require downloads – these monitors can be accessed online. These options are often open source and free, however the features are usually limited.

Once again, ServersCheck can deliver – it promises to monitor with more than 60 different checks ranging from the standard network monitoring all the way to environmental monitors. This way you can keep an eye on your network up time as well as the physical environment around the servers. Why go with a type of network monitoring system that doesn’t also monitor server room temperature, humidity and under-floor flooding?

Overall, network monitoring has become a much more precise science in recent years. It is possible to find applications, software and hardware monitors to check almost any server room conditions. Although network tomography can help to study networked servers, your best bet will always be network-specific options. With proper network monitoring, you can keep your network running smoothly – and get immediate alerts when any servers go down.

Environmental impact of a server and network monitoring solution

2009-01-14T20:17:00.006+01:00

While preparing the official launch of our Monitoring Appliance, we have spent some time studying the environmental impact of a monitoring solution.

A monitoring solution (Open Source, freeware or commercial) is installed on a server which needs electricity to power and cool it.

The hard thing to find is: how much power does a server use on average. There is one known study that was published by AMD and made by Stanford's Consulting Professor Jonathan Koomey.

He identifies in his study 3 types of servers: volume, mid-range and highend. Most monitoring solutions run on a volume server.

Stats are based on 2005.

When looking at the total number of volume servers deployed and the total energy used by them you get an average power consumption of 438 Watt per server.

A monitoring solution runs 24x365. So how do we calculate the power consumption for a "traditional" server monitoring and network monitoring solution?

438 Watt is 0.438 kWh. The calculation is 0.438x24x365 = 3,836 kWh

What does that mean in CO2 emission? The US Government makes Energy statistics periodically available through the Energy Information Administration. The report can be viewed here:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/pdf/e-supdoc.pdf

The PDF tells us that on average 1.34 lbs CO2 is emitted per kWh energy produced.

CO2 emission is 1.34 * 3836 or 5140 lbs or 2.3 metric tons!

A quick search on the Internet showed that to compensate that CO2 offset 24 trees are needed.

One solution could be virtualization to reduce power consumption. A non-confirmed study showed that an average 5 virtual servers are put on one physical machine. Often a higher powered server is then used instead of a volume server. Average power consumption needed for a mid-range server is 10852 kWh per year or 3 times more. Per virtual server this is 2829 kWh per year

An electricity saving per system of 25% is reached. Expressed in CO2 emission this is still 1.7 metric tons CO2 emission.

As a Google engineer once suggested, the real savings are coming when power usage of server goes down.

The ServersCheck's Server and Network Monitoring Appliance is our effort in that area. A small low powered CPU using up to 15 Watts. Power usage per year: 131 kWh per year, a CO2 emission of 79kg. 30 times less than a volume server.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2008-12-24T09:45:00.000+01:00

As the year 2008 comes to an end, I would like to thank all ServersCheck employees and contractors for their work performed in the past year.

2008 has been a year of many challenges resulting in new opportunities. The most important milestone of our company this year was certainly the introduction of our Monitoring Appliance. The speed to market we have shown with the Monitoring Appliance has been phenomenal. I am really proud of what and how we did it. We have gone with the appliance in a new direction. The only way we know that the Monitoring Appliance is a right move is by looking at how customers respond to it. Response has been overwhelming, beating our most optimistic expectations.

2009 will see some more investments into our Monitoring Appliance with new hardware versions coming along.

Running a business is a team effort of everyone involved: employees, contractors and suppliers. The only reason they can do this is because of the interest, support and loyalty of our customers. Customers is what our business is about and we should never forget that.

With this message I would like to thank every customer who has supported us in this year by ordering a ServersCheck product. Your trust and support is valuable to us

I send best wishes for a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year

ServersCheck wins Network Award at ITPro Expo 2008 in Japan

2008-10-17T07:02:00.000+02:00

On October 17 2008, ServersCheck was awarded a Best of Show award in the Networking product category at ITPro Expo 2008 held in Tokyo Japan.

ITPro Expo is one the largest tradeshow events in Japan for the ICT industry.

The judges awarded ServersCheck for its Monitoring Software business edition.

More info on http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20081017/317219/

LCD Display launched

2008-10-06T00:17:00.000+02:00

We just launched a new feature for the Monitoring Software & Monitoring Appliance: the LCD display.

Too often people walking around in a server room do not have instant access to a browser to view the latest information of their monitoring status. If they want to know it then they had 2 options until now:
- connect to the webserver using a mobile device or PC
- send a SMS message to the software

With the LCD display users of our monitoring solutions can now immediately see the status of their monitoring environment but alsohighest temperature & humidity readings and the most recent error message.

The LCD displays are manufactured by Crystalfontz. They connect through USB to the device running the Monitoring Software. Just configure the USB COM port in the software to which the display is connected to and restart the monitoring service.

More info:
http://www.serverscheck.com/hardware/lcd_status_display.asp

Server Room Monitoring through SMS

2008-09-29T14:16:00.006+02:00

ServersCheck was one of the first companies to launch a server and network monitoring system that was entirely web based compared to the full client versions from most other vendors.

Today ServersCheck has innovated again by introducing 2 way sms as part of its 7.14 release. From now on users of the ServersCheck Monitoring Software or Monitoring Appliance can query the monitoring software by sending commands via SMS.

All you need is a mobile phone and a GSM modem connected to the Monitoring Software or Monitoring Appliance.

With this feature the ServersCheck Monitoring Software can not only be accessed through a web browser (HTTP or HTTPS) but also via SMS.

We have made available on our website a free live demo of this new SMS feature:
http://www.serverscheck.be/monitoring_software/2way_sms.asp

Comparing server monitoring vendors

2008-09-08T14:35:00.003+02:00

Often we get customers asking us how we compare to competitors. This perfectly understandable as one wants to make the best purchase for his budget.

The good news is that most products that have been on the market for quite some time are very decent. The bad news is that there is no objective comparison.

A good vendor will by nature think that he has the best product in his portfolio. So getting an objective comparison is something that is hard to obtain from a vendor. A vendor will emphasize his best features compared to the specific competitor and not always mention others where he might be weaker.

What is the best way to compare? First make a shortlist of vendors based on published information you can find on the websites of the different players, press reviews etc...

Once your shortlist is made, try them out! There is no better way to know if a product is going to work than by installing it in your network and using it in trial mode to do what you require it to do. This is the only subjective way to compare. Indeed your requirement is subjective as it is specific to your organization, needs etc...

There are 2 ways to trial monitoring software: the do-it-yourself approach or the consultant way.

ServersCheck offers a do-it-yourself trial whereby limited support is available using a built-in link from within the software. Do it yourself results in a lower license fee - similar as to why IKEA is able to offer quality furniture at a lower price.

Having a presales team installing a monitoring software in your organization is another option.

Not so long ago we had a customer asking is we could come to their site and implement the trial edition as a big IT company was doing it for "free". We told them that our business model, and low pricing, is based upon a trial whereby you install ad test the software with remote support available. They were disappointed that we couldn't do it. We told them that they wouldn't when they would get the quote for the licensing fees from the big IT company. Their price was 60 times (!) more expensive for a similar solution.

At the end of the day when a vendor sends a presales team on site to implement a trial, then the cost of it will be almost always reflected in the license fees. Those presales consultants have to be paid by someone. You can't expect a company offering a DIY approach to offer the same as a company sending a presales team when the license fee is way less.

Seeing monitoring solutions work in your environment is the best way to compare. You will end up going with the product that appeals you most when working with it.

Monitoring in an appliance - at last

2008-09-01T17:25:00.006+02:00

After a long time of preparation and many hours of overtime we managed to get our newest product out right at the deadline: the ServersCheck Monitoring Appliance. Thanks to everyone who contributed on making this launch. It is a big milestone for us and your help was key to making this possible.

Up until today companies wishing to invest into a monitoring solution had to find a software matching their needs. This task isn't an easy one with all the different players on the market. Once a decision was made for a software, one had to look at the hardware requirements and make the necessary purchases: Operating System licenses and server hardware.

With the ServersCheck Monitoring Appliance you get everything in one price: monitoring software, operating system and hardware.

Size Matters

With rooms lacking space in cabinets we had to come up with an appliance that would easily fit in existing companies. It was obvious that size would become a key focus point: making the appliance as small as possible will still filling it with a lot of hardware (80GB HDD, 1GB RAM ...)

Based on the feedback from customers and partners having seen the first prototypes of our appliance, I think that we reached our objective. Everyone was stunned when seeing it the first time. We have tried to bring that sensation online by having a 360 degrees tour of the appliance.
The device has the surface of a traditional CD and a height of 1/3 of a coffee mug. It is small. We haven't seen anything smaller and probably there is but is definitely amongst the smallest out there.

Monitoring goes green

Another hot topic at this moment is the environment. Everybody is now speaking about green data centers without really knowing what is meant with it. Fortunately spiking energy costs have made everyone aware that energy usage should go down. As eletricity is still made using plants producing a lot of C02, reducing the energy need has a double benefit:
- reduces your energy bill
- reduces your CO2 footprint

Feature rich monitoring

It runs the ServersCheck Monitoring Software which is one of the most feature rich monitoring software solutions on the market. The version on board is the Business 100 edition - it allows you to monitor up to 100 items which is sufficient for most SME server rooms.

You can download a trial version of the Monitoring Software off our website.

Why MSN as an alerting feature?

2008-08-23T23:50:00.009+02:00

When doing a meeting with partners or prospects, a question I often get is why ServersCheck offers MSN as an alerting feature.

Monitoring becomes less more valuable in terms of ensuring business continuity if one cannot be notified when an issue is detected. Alerting allows the recipient to take whatever steps are required to resolve the problem.

For a monitoring software package being capable to alert is good. Fortunately for all of us I have yet to encounter the first monitoring software that has not alerting possibilities.

In a previous post I have explained the benefit of using SMS alerting as this option uses the phone network rather than the GSM network.

Other alert options offered by ServersCheck are email, MSN, netsend,... Why MSN?

Alerting is about trying to pass-on a message as quickly as possible to the end-user while trying to increase the possibilities that he will read the message fast.

Email used to be the eye-catcher causing people to jump to their mailboxes once a "You've Got Mail" sound rings. Due to the large amount of genuine emails (and SPAM) we receive, watching our mail box has become less of a concern.

MSN has the benefit that it displays a small box on the PC but morehowever that people are paying higer attention to instant messaging tools compared to other types of communication.

From our perspictive we have to try to catch the attention of the end-user. Simple studies have demonstrated us that next to mobile phone, MSN has the highest eye catcher and it's free

To setup MSN alerting you will need to Live Messenger accounts:
- one MSN account for sending the chat messages -> configured on server running our software
- LiveMessenger or similar on your PC to receive the msn messages from our software.

Signal Tower - A new visual alerting feature

2008-08-18T11:59:00.003+02:00

With the release of 7.13 earlier this morning, we have introduced a new alerting hardware feature.

The 26cm tall signal tower enables to visually indicate the status of the monitoring tasks performed by the ServersCheck Monitoring Software.

The tower will either show a green, amber or red light. On failure it can also flash a red light to stress on the situation.

On top of that it can also generate an audible alert of 85dbs measured at 1m distance. This will ensure that detected failure will not get unnoticed.

The tower is available in 2 versions:
- CE Certified for the European Union with an European style power plug (220V)
- FCC Certified for the North American market with a 2 pin straight US power adapter (110V)

The towers are available for order. A 2-3 weeks lead time has to be taken into consideration.

Technical information on the Signal Tower can be found on following url:
http://www.serverscheck.com/hardware/signal-light-tower_phe-3fb.asp

ServersCheck in French Polynesia

2008-08-10T09:09:00.003+02:00

Our company's strategy has been since inception is to take care of cultural differences. This resulted in having our software available in more than 30 languages, pretty unique in our market space.

We have a "Think Global, Act Local" approach. While having a standard solution almost world wide, different markets ask different approaches. Rather than opening offices in all countries of the world, we rather team up with local players in different markets.

Our market coverage is now almost world wide as through the partnership signed with 17s149w in French Polynesia, we are now represented in the Pacific region. This emphasis our believe in not only the traditional big markets where everyone is active but also the smaller markets.

I was quite surprised to hear that only one of the Big Three had a local presence in French Polynesia while speaking to a prospect. He was quite pleased to hear that ServersCheck took interest in this market as well and had partner with an innovative company like 17s149w.

You can visit our French Polynesian website at http://www.serverscheck.pf

Through our French Polynesian partner, all islands & countries in the Pacific can now turn them to a local contact that is able to assist them regarding the ServersCheck products.

Monitoring a website

2008-08-01T03:13:00.000+02:00

A question we often get is: how do I monitor a website.

One has first to understand the different layers involved in a website and to what info he has access.

1. Hardware level:
A simple PING check will reveal if a server is alive or not. Monitor the response times as slower response times might indicate an error

2. OS level:
if you can then you can use the WindowsHealth or LinuxHealth check types to monitor the general health of the host running the site. This may help you to avoid situations like full dis, low memory resulting in a website failure.

3. Web server level:
A website runs on a machine, that hosts an Operating System and that has a web server. The site itself can be static or an application running as a layer on top of the web server.

A web server is typically monitored by using the TCP check to see if the server responds on the defined port (by default 80 or 443 for HTTPS)

4. Web application level:
The fastest check is to perform a HTTP HEADER check that verifies the header data sent back for a specific URL

The best option though is to use the HTTP check. It will load the given page and then scan the content to see if a predefined string is returned. If not, then an error is triggered.

You can also monitor the page download time; this is the time required to download the HTML - excluding images and any other embedded content.

Depending on your level access to your web site and server, you can define multiple layers of monitoring.

With ServersCheck you will know when your site fails before your customer(s) start calling you that there is an issue.

Email as best alerting option?

2008-07-14T10:12:00.002+02:00

While getting through our Web Analytics reports, one thing that surprised me is that most people seem to be interested into a server monitoring software or environmental sensors with email as alerting capability.

Monitoring is not only detecting when something goes wrong but also making sure that you receive the alert when something like that happens.

Almost any competitive product on the market supports email alerting as it is the most basic way of alerting.

Unfortunately most customers are happy with this most basic way of alerting without realizing the potential risk of it. Some go a step further by having the email forwarded as a text message or on their PDA / Advanced Cell Phones.

Bottom line remains the same though: email requires network connectivity.

If your network is down, then your email alerts will not help you much. You will not get alerted and know that something serious is happening.

Therefore we stress on the fact that you should consider using SMS alerting using a GSM modem. I want to stress on "GSM Modem". As in the ServersCheck's software, quite a few other players offer SMS capabilities through gateways. ServersCheck uses ClickATell to date as one SMS alerting option. If you use SMS alerting through a gateway, the same critic as for email alerting applies: you will not get any SMS message if your network is down.

GSM modems are modems that are attached to a host computer (in our case the system running our software). They require a SIM card and behave like a cell phone. This means that through these GSM modems the software will send out the text message using the wireless phone network to deliver the text message. Even when your network is down you will get the alert message.

We want to stress on the importance of GSM modems as being one of the best ways of alerting (next to email - one does not replace the other). To emphasise this importance, we have decided to run this month a promotion whereby you get in North America & Europe a free FALCOM SAMBA USB GSM Modem for the purchase with a software license from ServersCheck (Business 500 or Premium Edition).

Impact of temperature on systems

2008-07-07T14:45:00.004+02:00

Customers have reported to us server racks having caught fire due to an airconditioning failure resulting in an overheat in the racks.

Fire is not something we hear quite often as a result of temperature increase and the lack of temperature monitoring. Fortunately most servers nowadays have built-in security shutting down equipment when temperature is too high.

One of the issues people least are familiar with, is the effect of too high temperatures on CPU calculations. I am not talking in this article about processors melting down - yes that happens more than you think and way before systems catch fire.

Let's return to calculation errors.

A CPU is made of transitors and when those are becoming hot then they tend to leak current. This leakage causes calculation errors having impact on applications stability. Too many errors can cause a system crash.

The frustrating part of this is that initially errors go unnoticed. Only when applications start to fail, server and network monitoring software deployed will trigger alerts. If you want to act before it is too late, then temperature monitoring should be part of your overall monitoring strategy as it has a direct impact on applications & systems availability.

Maximum operating temperature of a CPU is often set around 40°C (104 F). Going above that 40° operating temperature and you are risking big issues rather sooner than later.