IT systems management and monitoring
Learn about the tools and technologies that enable more visibility into IT infrastructure, integration between IT management tools, tailored alerts for IT professionals and new areas of performance monitoring and management.
Top Stories
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Feature
18 Dec 2024
Top data center infrastructure management software in 2025
DCIM tools can improve data center management and operation. Learn how six prominent products can help organizations control costs, manage energy and track assets. Continue Reading
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News
18 Dec 2024
AWS, Red Hat hybrid cloud wares court VMware converts
Broadcom has softened some of its stances on VMware licensing and public cloud, but competitors stay poised to pounce on customers looking to defect. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
04 Aug 2022
Step-by-step guide to working with Crossplane and Kubernetes
Crossplane is built to extend Kubernetes resources to and from external sources like databases, the cloud or the edge. Try out the tool, and learn its processes with this tutorial. Continue Reading
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Definition
01 Aug 2022
real user monitoring (RUM)
Real user monitoring (RUM) is a technology used by developers and network operators to gain real-world observability into web performance and service availability. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Aug 2022
An introduction to SRE documentation best practices
SRE documentation stands distinct from other types of IT documentation, not least because it's a core responsibility for site reliability engineers. What else makes it distinct? Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2022
AWS adds Kubernetes security tie-ins amid SecOps tool sprawl
Amazon Detective pulls Kubernetes security data into a broader threat detection and CSPM context as IT pros at large orgs seek integrated multi-cloud security workflows. Continue Reading
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News
28 Jul 2022
How Zoom security incident response survived the pandemic
March 2020's influx of users meant the video conferencing company had to massively scale its incident response operation and the observability infrastructure that fed it, and fast. Continue Reading
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Definition
27 Jul 2022
most significant bit (MSB)
The most significant bit (MSB) is the bit in a multiple-bit binary number with the largest value. This is usually the bit farthest to the left, or the bit transmitted first in a sequence. Continue Reading
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Definition
27 Jul 2022
root cause analysis
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method for understanding the underlying cause of an observed or experienced incident. Continue Reading
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Podcast
25 Jul 2022
The awkward state of the remote vs. in-person work debate
TechTarget senior news writer Beth Pariseau discusses return-to-work initiatives for IT pros and in-person tech conferences coming back onto the schedule. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Jul 2022
Observability as code is key to the cloud operating model
Why is everything becoming 'as code'? Believe it or not, it's easier to manage and can save the headache of adopting a new, specialized tool. Use the tools you have for OaC. Continue Reading
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Tip
21 Jul 2022
Patching best practices IT ops and security can agree on
Patches are necessary for maintenance, but can often cause a rift between IT ops and security teams. Follow these best practices to unify expectations and keep tension at bay. Continue Reading
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Tip
21 Jul 2022
Top 12 application performance monitoring tools
Discover the basic capabilities to evaluate when choosing an APM tool, and then review a list of APM vendors to help you get started with your selection process. Continue Reading
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News
20 Jul 2022
CNCF, CISA address hurdles to SBOM for cloud security
Discussions in the tech industry about how to overcome cloud security challenges for SBOMs include an early-stage CNCF idea that uses a graph database to manage transitory metadata. Continue Reading
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Tip
18 Jul 2022
APM vs. observability: Key differences explained
If you're debating the use of application performance monitoring and observability to gather system data and improve the user experience, we break down the approaches. Continue Reading
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Tip
15 Jul 2022
Using AI and machine learning for APM
Discover how organizations can streamline operations and improve operational analytics by using AI and machine learning in their application performance monitoring environments. Continue Reading
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Answer
15 Jul 2022
The benefits and challenges of AI network monitoring
The benefits include simplified network monitoring and automation capabilities. The challenges include data quality questions and integration complexities. Continue Reading
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Opinion
13 Jul 2022
IRL: Cisco Live 2022 goes full-stack o11y
Observability, or o11y, looks more deeply and broadly into an IT environment than traditional IT monitoring. At Cisco Live in June, Cisco unveiled plans for full-stack o11y. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Jul 2022
Adopt a zero-trust framework for a safer IT ecosystem
Zero trust sounds like opposition to DevOps' all-for-one culture model, but it's a safety model organizations should evaluate. Safeguard everything with identity authentication. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Jul 2022
6 technical debt examples and how to solve them
Technical debt can be critical to an organization's success or failure -- and many don't even know it exists. Discover six examples of where it collects and how to eliminate it. Continue Reading
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Definition
07 Jul 2022
What is observability? A beginner's guide
Observability is a management strategy focused on keeping the most relevant, important and core issues at or near the top of an operations process flow. Continue Reading
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Tip
06 Jul 2022
These Azure Logic Apps examples assist with your admin needs
Admins can get some automated assistance with provisioning and monitoring by learning how to work with triggers in Microsoft's integration platform as a service. Continue Reading
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News
29 Jun 2022
ServiceNow ITSM users recharge workflows with familiar tools
Digital transformation hasn't required Flex and the city of Santa Monica to replace the IT service management system they already had, and a new IT ops workflow is on the way. Continue Reading
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Definition
29 Jun 2022
POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface)
POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) is a set of standard operating system interfaces based on the Unix operating system. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Jun 2022
Do you meet all the modern authentication requirements?
Microsoft's push to a more secure method for user authentication and authorization could catch some enterprises flat-footed if IT hasn't done its homework. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
27 Jun 2022
How to set up Exchange Online modern authentication
Microsoft plans to tighten up security on its hosted email platform to prevent attackers from gaining access to user credentials. Is your organization ready? Continue Reading
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Tip
24 Jun 2022
Send automated messages with this Azure Logic Apps tutorial
Learn to use the Microsoft cloud-based product to automatically send an email or a message from Microsoft Teams when you need to know if a task completed properly. Continue Reading
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Answer
24 Jun 2022
Do hypervisors limit vertical scalability?
Knowing hardware maximums and VM limits ensures you don't overload the system. Learn hypervisor scalability limits for Hyper-V, vSphere, ESXi and Red Hat Virtualization. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Jun 2022
7 principles of observability in modern applications
Organizations must keep these seven principles top of mind when monitoring and organizing data to institute observability practices that resolve problems quickly. Continue Reading
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News
16 Jun 2022
Splunk AIOps development to be led by new 'hands-on' CEO
Splunk product development will be led by the company's new CEO following another high-ranking exec's departure, prompting speculation about the vendor's long-term priorities. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Jun 2022
Observability vs. monitoring: What's the difference?
Although observability and monitoring are different concepts, they aren't mutually exclusive; both provide IT administrators with valuable insights on their systems. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Jun 2022
How to set up automated log collection with PowerShell
Gathering logs from on-premises Windows Server systems or Office 365 cloud services is a necessary but tedious job. Try a PowerShell script to ease the pain. Continue Reading
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News
15 Jun 2022
Splunk Enterprise users push more data into DevSecOps
Splunk shops are expanding their collection of log and observability data to offer developer self-service, correlate ops with security alerts and consolidate edge management. Continue Reading
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Definition
15 Jun 2022
Windows Registry Editor (regedit)
The Windows Registry Editor (regedit) is a graphical tool in the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) that enables authorized users to view the Windows registry and make changes. Continue Reading
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News
14 Jun 2022
Microsoft fixes Follina zero-day for June Patch Tuesday
A Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool flaw disclosed on May 30 and exploited in the wild gets resolved in this month's batch of security updates. Continue Reading
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Tip
13 Jun 2022
Common use cases for observability
These use cases for observability enable an organization to dig deeper into its systems monitoring and analysis to get ahead of potential issues and alert IT staff. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Jun 2022
8 observability best practices
Observability enables organizations to analyze data on a continuous basis and act on it quickly. Learn best practices for implementing the technology. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Jun 2022
Frameworks for an observability maturity model
Observability helps developers and IT operations teams identify and fix system issues. And with the right setup, it can improve on itself over time to catch potential problems. Continue Reading
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News
09 Jun 2022
OpenTelemetry inspires CDF's event-driven architecture plan
The CDEvents project and others like it aspire to standardize how CI/CD pipeline tools share data, filling a role similar to OpenTelemetry's in the observability realm. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Jun 2022
The 3 pillars of observability: Logs, metrics and traces
Logs, metrics and traces offer their individual perspectives on system performance. When analyzed together, they provide a complete picture of your infrastructure. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 May 2022
How to track -- and measure -- technical debt
Technical debt can grow without an organization's knowledge or control -- unless they address it at the start. Here are different methods and tools to track and manage it. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 May 2022
Where the future of AIOps use cases will take IT ops
AIOps is poised for rapid growth and maturity as it becomes accepted in the market. Organizations should draw plans to integrate it into DevOps and systems management. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 May 2022
Whip up recipes with 'Elasticsearch 8.x Cookbook'
Elasticsearch is a powerful and potentially complicated tool. With 'Elasticsearch 8.x Cookbook,' users can split exercises into manageable bites. Continue Reading
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Tip
23 May 2022
Learn to work with the Office 365 unified audit log
Administrators who need to check on suspicious activities in the Office 365 platform can perform a unified audit log search to help with their investigation. Continue Reading
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Definition
20 May 2022
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is a semiconductor company, known for designing and developing computer processors and graphics technologies. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 May 2022
Reduce cloud waste with careful DevOps cost management
To keep up with swift business demands and managing the costs of the cloud, organizations can turn to DevOps. Follow these four principles to reduce waste. Continue Reading
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News
18 May 2022
Embattled New Relic cuts Kubernetes observability overhead
New Relic made its Kubernetes observability agent more efficient and added vulnerability management to its APM tool but is struggling financially as open source tools proliferate. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 May 2022
Proactive backup measures simplify virtual server recovery
Backups and CDP are two ways to prevent VM data loss. Backups can quickly restore data despite file recovery limits. CDP stores every piece of data in use but may lag in production. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
17 May 2022
Query event logs with PowerShell to find malicious activity
Every action on a Windows Server system gets recorded, so don't get caught by an avoidable security incident. Learn how to find potential security problems in event logs. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 May 2022
Demonstrate ROI in IT with these metrics
When IT ops teams must validate a project's worth to the business to receive funding, they have to look beyond general benefits. Here are several metrics that help prove ROI. Continue Reading
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Definition
13 May 2022
troubleshooting
Troubleshooting is a systematic approach to problem-solving that is often used to find and correct issues with complex machines, electronics, computers and software systems. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2022
Red Hat CEO: We're going SaaS-first with OpenShift
Red Hat President and CEO Paul Cormier offers a glimpse into the OpenShift roadmap as IT reckons with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid work. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2022
Red Hat CEO on IBM, VMware and hybrid cloud coopetition
Two years into his tenure as Red Hat CEO, Paul Cormier discusses his company's relationship with IBM and how it's competing with its own partners in hybrid cloud. Continue Reading
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News
10 May 2022
Microsoft corrects Windows zero-day for May Patch Tuesday
Administrators should plan on extra testing after deploying this month's patches due to the heavy concentration of fixes in three distinct areas of the Windows OS. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 May 2022
Brace IT ops teams for server end of life
The end of a server's life is rarely an enjoyable time. With it comes reevaluating applications and preparing for migrations. Here's what to keep in mind as the time approaches. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 May 2022
Microsoft modern authentication deadline looms over Exchange
Support for basic authentication will end this year, giving administrators who haven't switched to a newer authentication method little time to prepare for a smooth transition. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 May 2022
Why admins should learn how to use Azure Logic Apps
In an increasingly cloudy IT world, the iPaaS offering from Microsoft can bridge management gaps with automated workflows that require little technical expertise. Continue Reading
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News
03 May 2022
Atlassian cloud outage postmortem seeks to build back trust
A detailed post-incident analysis of Atlassian's cloud outage last month is prompting both the vendor and its customers to revise and expand their resiliency plans. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Apr 2022
Data center temperature and humidity guidelines
ASHRAE maintains a recommended list of humidity and temperature level standards for data centers. Discover how to keep your data center environment in tiptop shape. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
28 Apr 2022
Avoid clock skew issues with external time source setup
Configure Active Directory domain controllers to use an external NTP server to avoid Kerberos authorization issues and other problems in your Windows environment. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Apr 2022
Windows Server 2022 security hardening guide for admins
Emerging threats continue to target the Windows ecosystem, but there are multiple methods to make it tougher to be the victim of a malicious hack attempt. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Apr 2022
Basic virsh network commands to know
It's helpful to know how to use virsh commands to manage VMs and virtual networks; some cloud providers don't support Ansible or VirtualBox. Get started with a few commands. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Apr 2022
The future of OpenTelemetry for observability
To collect and analyze telemetry data from cloud-native apps, many organizations use OpenTelemetry for system observability. Discover its benefits and primary components. Continue Reading
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News
13 Apr 2022
IT pros lambaste Atlassian communication amid cloud outage
IT pros including affected Atlassian customers and prospective cloud users were critical of Atlassian's communications both publicly and privately during its ongoing SaaS outage. Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2022
Microsoft plugs Windows zero-day on April Patch Tuesday
Microsoft issues corrections for 117 unique vulnerabilities this month with a significant number of security updates resolving printer spooler and DNS server problems. Continue Reading
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Tip
12 Apr 2022
Use these PowerShell add-ons to supercharge your experience
These PowerShell new features and modules introduce several customization and functionality features to the popular automation tool to ease coding tasks for administrators. Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2022
Atlassian cloud outage could take weeks to resolve
As Atlassian's cloud outage neared the one-week mark, the company informed affected customers that it could take up to another two weeks to fully recover. Continue Reading
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News
07 Apr 2022
Atlassian product expansion raises fresh integration questions
Atlassian added analytics and new Atlas and Compass apps to orchestrate work among distributed teams, but some customers still seek deeper integrations between its cloud tools. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Apr 2022
6 ways to perform microservices load testing
While it's not easy to conduct load testing in hectic microservices environments, certain best practices can help testing teams ensure fair and equal distribution of workloads. Continue Reading
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News
05 Apr 2022
New Relic adds SRE features, preps security offering
A New Relic observability update this week reflects the crucial role of SREs in microservices architecture, and there are plans to align with the firm's DevSecOps ambitions. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Apr 2022
Manage resource use with VMware Horizon application pools
Load balancing is challenging in any environment, but with virtual desktops, uniformity of user experience is high priority. Use VMware Horizon to distribute vital resources. Continue Reading
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News
04 Apr 2022
Can 'shift left' in DevOps pipelines go too far?
More and more functionality, from security to cost management, is now packed into DevOps pipelines -- but if done improperly, "shift left" can create more problems than it solves. Continue Reading
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Definition
31 Mar 2022
multisourcing (multi-sourcing)
Multisourcing (multi-sourcing) is an approach to outsourcing in which IT operations and technology infrastructure are contracted to a number of vendors, usually in combination with some internally provided elements of information technology. Continue Reading
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News
31 Mar 2022
Rewind adds Atlassian Jira backups to supported services
Rewind's Backups for Jira expands its portfolio of supported SaaS platforms with Jira Software Cloud. New Rewind technology will add new SaaS requests faster. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 Mar 2022
Improving open source software governance stature
Open source governance is a vital part of a software project's maturity. Embrace these tools and tips to monitor open source security, use permissions and code quality. Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2022
Observability maturity favors data clarity over quantity
Experienced SREs share lessons learned about making effective use of copious amounts of observability data, from pre-collection priorities to data visualization. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 Mar 2022
How to work with an SCCM technical preview lab
System Center Configuration Manager technical previews give Microsoft customers a way to test and provide feedback to the company for its device management product. Continue Reading
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News
23 Mar 2022
NPM 'protestware' raises questions on open source security
The deliberate sabotage of an NPM package to protest war in Ukraine worsens the already complex threat of software supply chain attacks, open source and security experts said. Continue Reading
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News
14 Mar 2022
ServiceNow pricing bucks tradition for incident response
Lightstep Incident Response, a SaaS product, also opens new competitive fronts against PagerDuty, Splunk, Atlassian and other observability vendors. Continue Reading
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News
09 Mar 2022
Critical Exchange Server bug fixed for March Patch Tuesday
The vulnerability on the on-premises mail server system is one of just three critical flaws from a total of 71 bugs corrected in Microsoft products this month. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Mar 2022
Fixing a critical bug in IT takes coordination and patience
Critical bugs are unavoidable, but IT staff can take measured steps to ease the process. The best approach combines respect for the IT staff and systems with the issue's severity. Continue Reading
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Definition
08 Mar 2022
Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC)
Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) enables several computers to host a service, and if one has a fault, the remaining computers automatically take over the hosting of the service. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
04 Mar 2022
How to use Git to save PowerShell scripts
Git eases scripting by pushing developers into better habits -- especially around change documentation. Get familiar with the technology and how to use it with PowerShell. Continue Reading
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News
03 Mar 2022
New Splunk CEO inherits a company in transition
Splunk is at a crossroads as a new chief executive takes over and the vendor navigates the classic Innovator's Dilemma. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Feb 2022
Virtual network load balancing tools and tips
There are many virtual load balancer options for IT teams to choose from, and each offers something a little different. Compare four of these tools here. Continue Reading
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News
11 Feb 2022
Observability data finds its way into BizDevOps
The digitize-or-die catalyst of the COVID-19 pandemic forced enterprises toward BizDevOps, and IT observability data has begun to inform cooperation with business users. Continue Reading
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News
10 Feb 2022
Dynatrace hands observability-as-code reins to DevOps
Dynatrace expanded observability-as-code tools to let developers and DevOps engineers determine how production services send feedback via a self-service interface. Continue Reading
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Tip
04 Feb 2022
How to create a runbook template for uniform documentation
To avoid inconsistencies and disaster, implement a runbook template to strengthen your existing runbooks -- this includes detailed and clear steps for structure and organization. Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2022
Enterprise AIOps quietly gets real
Machine learning algorithms are being used to automate some aspects of enterprise IT operations, but the original goal of advanced self-healing systems is still a long way off. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Jan 2022
Manage your IT service contracts to save money
IT contracts amount to paperwork, which IT staff members tend to hate. But it's critical to manage service contracts to prevent runaway bills -- and unused features carrying a price tag. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Jan 2022
Apply policy-as-code best practices to reap benefits
A spinoff of infrastructure as code, policy as code applies its core principles to policy management and implementation. Here's why -- and the best way -- to adopt it. Continue Reading
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Definition
24 Jan 2022
service desk
An IT service desk is a communications center that provides a single point of contact (SPOC) between a company, its customers, employees and business partners. Continue Reading
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Tip
21 Jan 2022
Discover the benefits of virtualization for ROBO
Virtualization brings cost benefits and saves time for IT teams that oversee ROBOs. Effective implementation requires cloud-based management tools and enough network bandwidth. Continue Reading
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Definition
21 Jan 2022
physical to virtual (P2V)
Physical to virtual (P2V), also called hardware virtualization, refers to the migration of physical machines to virtual machines (VMs). Continue Reading
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Definition
20 Jan 2022
abend (abnormal end)
An abend (abnormal end) is an unexpected or abnormal termination of an application or operating system that results from a problem with the software. Continue Reading
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Definition
19 Jan 2022
virtual to virtual (V2V)
Virtual to virtual (V2V) refers to the migration of an operating system (OS), application program and data from a virtual machine (VM) or disk partition to another virtual machine or disk partition. Continue Reading
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News
12 Jan 2022
AIOps vendor BigPanda raises $190 million
The vendor's funding round was led by Advent International and Insight Partners. BigPanda plans to use the funds to build out its machine learning technology and product teams. Continue Reading
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Definition
10 Jan 2022
trusted computing base (TCB)
A trusted computing base (TCB) is everything in a computing system that provides a secure environment for operations. Continue Reading
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Feature
29 Dec 2021
Anywhere Operations infrastructure enables decentralized IT
The pandemic forced companies into an abrupt hybrid workforce model. Anywhere Operations helps IT organizations support their workers, users and infrastructure -- wherever it is. Continue Reading
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Definition
28 Dec 2021
IT systems management
Systems management is the administration of the information technology (IT) systems in an enterprise network or data center. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Dec 2021
Establish an effective ransomware playbook
In an attack, an effective playbook offers IT teams a set of processes to identify compromised systems and alert the right individuals to recover the systems. Continue Reading
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Definition
17 Dec 2021
virtual to physical (V2P)
Virtual to physical (V2P) involves transferring or porting a virtual machine (VM) onto a physical machine. Continue Reading