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
20 Dec 2024
Compare 8 tools for IT monitoring in 2025
Effective monitoring is a cornerstone of any IT environment. Examine the available tool options for IT monitoring and compare their features, benefits and costs. Continue Reading
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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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Feature
10 Jul 2019
VM automation strategies and benefits for sizable workloads
Before automating VMs, admins must consider several factors, such as workload size and cost efficiency. Otherwise, automated VMs can cause issues rather than yield benefits. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Jun 2019
Hardware options to support a reverse cloud migration
Moving back on premises can require new infrastructure if maintenance windows have expired, and admins must meet power and storage demands to ensure apps migrate successfully. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Jun 2019
Assess AIOps benefits and challenges for enterprise IT teams
To successfully reap the benefits of an AIOps implementation, IT teams first have to navigate some crucial cultural and technical shifts. Continue Reading
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News
26 Jun 2019
SysAid launches Automate Joe for ITSM platform automation
Integrating Automate Joe with the SysAid ITSM platform will boost automation, minimize repetitive tasks for service agents and improve productivity, according to the vendor. Continue Reading
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Guide
25 Jun 2019
How AIOps monitoring eases modern IT challenges
Operations teams can apply artificial intelligence to modernize their IT monitoring strategy for distributed architectures. Use this guide to learn the basics and get started. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Jun 2019
Reality strikes when enterprises deploy Kubernetes in production
It's easy to run containers with Kubernetes, but Kubernetes in production -- with enterprise security, monitoring and compliance demands -- is a different story. Continue Reading
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Answer
24 Jun 2019
Does DevOps require end-to-end monitoring tools?
While basic monitoring services and feedback loops provide critical insight for DevOps teams, an end-to-end monitoring tool gives them a more holistic view of the end-user experience. Continue Reading
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Feature
20 Jun 2019
VMware vSphere HA capabilities ease VM management
VMware vSphere HA provides admins with the ability to manipulate their virtual environments to avoid excessive VM restarts and ensure peak performance. Continue Reading
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Answer
20 Jun 2019
How do I plan a network management strategy for multiple tools?
Many IT teams deal with a bevy of network management tools, which complicates data integration and leads to errors. A network management strategy that focuses on coordination can help. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jun 2019
Micro VMs can present unique management challenges
The haphazard deployment of micro VMs can eventually lead to issues ranging from IP address depletion to serious performance problems resulting from extreme resource contention. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jun 2019
3 tools admins can use for private cloud capacity planning
Admins can better manage their private clouds with capacity planning tools, such as specified quotas, resource monitoring and predictive scheduling. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2019
AIOps tools beef up insights, but long-term scope unclear
AIOps tools present a way to cope with IT infrastructure sprawl and complexity, but how far they can go with hands-off automation features is still a topic for debate. Continue Reading
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News
12 Jun 2019
AIOps early adopters tackle data quality issues
AIOps is new in many ways, but early adopters must also heed a time-honored IT maxim: garbage in, garbage out. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Jun 2019
AIOps monitoring arms IT staff with broader, deeper insights
Conventional monitoring gives ops teams critical visibility into the health of their IT systems, but with limited scope. Through an AIOps tool, they can significantly broaden their view. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Jun 2019
5 critical features that put the 'AI' in AIOps tools
Don't fall victim to AI-washing in the IT systems management market. Instead, know what to look for in a truly 'intelligent' operations platform -- starting with these 5 capabilities. Continue Reading
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Tip
06 Jun 2019
Use ManageEngine OpManager to monitor your virtual environment
ManageEngine OpManager offers monitoring capabilities that enable IT teams to gather resource metrics, such as CPU usage and I/O operations, to help manage their environments. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 May 2019
What are the differences between KVM, Virtuozzo and OpenVZ?
These virtualization platforms are related, but they vary in terms of whether they're open source or commercial products and the types of instances they provide to run applications. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 May 2019
DevOps security best practices span code creation to compliance
Developers and operations staff who split security responsibilities as part of a DevOps workflow should apply these best practices to ensure no vulnerability goes unnoticed. Continue Reading
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Opinion
30 May 2019
What to do when virtualization management tools go cloud
As more tools transition to the cloud, SMBs that keep workloads on-premises must make a decision about how they'll manage their virtual environments going forward. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 May 2019
How resource contention affects VM storage performance
VM performance issues often occur when resource contention is present. Admins can check the number of IOPS requests and storage array connections to address any bottlenecks. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 May 2019
Accenture turns to ITSM integration tool for data compilation
IT orgs that subscribe to help desk management services must access huge quantities of information for analysis. Read how one company overcame this challenge. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 May 2019
Artificial intelligence for IT operations pays off -- with time
IT professionals say AIOps holds great potential to optimize day-to-day operations tasks. First, though, teams must lay a foundation of data, consistency and trust. Continue Reading
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Tip
24 May 2019
Combine reactive, proactive monitoring for optimal IT visibility
IT monitoring tools can be either proactive or reactive in nature. But, despite their differences in function, cost and required resources, these two types of tools both have a place in modern IT environments. Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2019
Application dependency mapping expands in New Relic One
DevOps monitoring vendors rev their engines as enterprises take on more sophisticated IT monitoring practices to reach the next major phase of app modernization. Continue Reading
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News
14 May 2019
RHV 4.3 updates take backseat to container-native virtualization
Most new apps start in containers nowadays. However, certain legacy applications still don't work with containers. RHV 4.3 hopes to help bridge the gap. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Apr 2019
Strategies for managing multi-hypervisor environments
Efficient multi-hypervisor management often comes down to where you place your workloads in terms of compatibility and security and how accessible your management tools are. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Apr 2019
Review the benefits of network performance monitoring strategies
This compilation delves into five points regarding the benefits of network performance monitoring, as well as various monitoring tools and strategies. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
18 Apr 2019
Manage Elasticsearch documents with indices and shards
Before they can put the search capabilities of Elasticsearch to use for their organization, admins need to properly organize and manage documents via indices, shards, replicas and mapping. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
18 Apr 2019
Use Elasticsearch shard allocation to distribute workload demand
Learn how to use Elasticsearch shards to distribute data storage and retrieval across physical resources, as workload demands grow. Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Apr 2019
AI in ITSM reshapes operations practices and tasks
AI capabilities are merging within ITSM practices to augment IT's performance and enhance the user experience. Read on to learn more about AI uses for ITSM, and how to approach them. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Apr 2019
Xen vs. KVM in 2019 is a no brainer
Xen might have lost the hypervisor war against KVM, but that doesn't mean it's dead. Niche use cases such as the automotive industry are keeping the open source project alive. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Mar 2019
Prepare for Industry 4.0 challenges on storage, networks
With Industry 4.0 poised to grow across industries, enterprise IT organizations must ask what it will take to support this revolution. Learn how to manage the data-led transformation. Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2019
Monitoring distributed systems means first, do no harm
SRE veterans who work with large, complex, latency-sensitive infrastructures say some monitoring tools can hurt the systems they're meant to help. Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Mar 2019
Improve help desk management for smooth IT operations
A streamlined help desk benefits both IT ops teams and end users. Learn how to improve your organization's help desk with these expert tips on templates, automation and AI. Continue Reading
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Tip
18 Mar 2019
Evaluate on-premises vs. SaaS tools for IT systems management
While there are a lot of factors for enterprises to consider when choosing an IT management tool, the on-premises vs. SaaS decision can be a particularly tricky one. Continue Reading
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News
12 Mar 2019
AWS Elasticsearch distro stokes open source competitive fires
The new AWS-backed Open Distro for Elasticsearch may constitute a fork of the popular distributed search and systems analytics engine. What it means for customers is yet to come. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Mar 2019
Get familiar with these SLA maintenance tips
The basics of SLA management come at the intersection of business goals and the reality of possibility. IT teams must learn how to strike a balance between specific and conditional promises. Continue Reading
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Tip
04 Mar 2019
How to measure IT performance, step by step
While IT performance measurement can be a tedious challenge, done correctly, this process provides essential analysis and assessments. Learn how to optimize these reviews. Continue Reading
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News
28 Feb 2019
Sensu architecture smoothes monitoring data workflow for NCR
Sensu Go's architecture and monitoring as code prompted NCR to switch away from Zabbix and pass on SolarWinds, as it sought to collect data from 80,000 restaurant customers. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Feb 2019
ICYMI: How IT monitoring systems take on modern challenges
Don't lose track of IT monitoring as you come to grips with containers and AI advantages. These articles gear up IT and cloud admins to refine processes and improve efficiency. Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Feb 2019
Let an IT and application monitoring strategy drive tool choices
A monitoring tool that simply gets the job done isn't always the best option for IT ops teams. Use metrics and staff feedback to determine if it's time for a change. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Feb 2019
Create Hyper-V containers in Windows Server 2016
Once you enable the Hyper-V role and Windows container feature, install Docker Engine, container modules and a base OS image to prepare the host for Hyper-V container deployment. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Feb 2019
Add Elasticsearch nodes to a cluster in simple steps
Elasticsearch, part of the Elastic Stack with Logstash and Kibana, uses YAML for configuration scripting. Follow these steps to configure an Elasticsearch cluster with two nodes. Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Feb 2019
Words to go: Aspects of an IT monitoring strategy
To establish an IT monitoring strategy can feel overwhelming, but guarantee efficiency in systems and application performances. Review the core methods and fundamental tools. Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2019
AIOps wars heat up with New Relic-SignifAI deal
An already heated struggle between DevOps monitoring vendors becomes an all-out rumble, as New Relic acquires SignifAI and ups the AIOps ante for rivals. Continue Reading
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Tip
04 Feb 2019
Automate the IT service desk workflow for maximum success
The automated help desk using ITSM software does for IT operations and support what the CI/CD toolchain has done for developers and DevOps engineers. Continue Reading
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News
23 Jan 2019
AppDynamics AIOps injection sets the stage for IT automation
AIOps IP from Perspica broadens AppDynamics' automated root cause analysis features, but enterprises must evaluate IT and business analytics options carefully before they commit. Continue Reading
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News
22 Jan 2019
AthenaHealth picks SignalFx to smooth public cloud monitoring
IT monitoring through SignalFx's Prometheus and AWS CloudWatch integrations helps AthenaHealth manage multiple public cloud environments from a central interface. Continue Reading
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News
16 Jan 2019
Latest Kubernetes monitoring, AIOps features trace DevOps trends
It won't be long before Kubernetes and AIOps support are standard features among familiar DevOps monitoring tools, which will ease the learning curve for cloud-native infrastructure. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Jan 2019
Top 5 SCVMM PowerShell commands
Manually making changes to Hyper-V hosts and VMs is very time-consuming. Manage System Center Virtual Machine Manager with PowerShell commands to make administration easier. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Jan 2019
Hyper-converged infrastructure vendors adapt to AI workloads
Hyper-converged infrastructure evolves to accommodate the increasing demands of resource-hungry AI workloads. AI, in turn, promises to improve management of HCI and non-HCI resources. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 Jan 2019
Manage application log files with the right tools and guidelines
IT operations teams face costly and complicated steps to monitor the crucial data in log files. Learn to use log management and aggregation tools to interpret trends without waste. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Jan 2019
How to improve help desk support via knowledge management
Your organization's help desk support system could be more efficient. Find out how knowledge management and natural language processing solve hidden IT woes. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Dec 2018
Troubleshoot Host Guardian Service with guarded fabric diagnostics
Take advantage of the built-in guarded fabric diagnostic tool to discover and resolve common issues that can afflict Host Guardian Service and guarded fabric deployments. Continue Reading
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Answer
18 Dec 2018
Manage SCVMM logical networks with PowerShell
Use System Center Virtual Machine Manager and PowerShell to make logical network management easy. Execute a script to display network virtualization information in a simple chart. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Dec 2018
5 skills every Hyper-V administrator needs to succeed
Windows Server skills aren't complete without these five Hyper-V skills, which range from failover clustering to storage, and remain essential for virtualization administration. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Dec 2018
AIOps use cases address complexity in virtual data centers
The ever-growing complexity of virtual infrastructures is making management a struggle, but an AIOps platform can enable admins to transform raw data into useful information. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Dec 2018
Create an IT support process to take on any outage
Every IT incident must be met with a streamlined resolution procedure, all the way from critical to trivial. Ensure those plans are in place before it's do or die. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Dec 2018
Meet Hyper-V cluster requirements to maintain high availability
Hyper-V high availability is important for failover, so check that Hyper-V clusters meet the proper requirements, which range from hardware management to network configuration. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 Nov 2018
What's the best way to achieve Hyper-V security for hosts?
Hyper-V security is complicated, but you can set the foundation of your security strategies by following a few best practices, such as simplification and encryption. Continue Reading
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Answer
29 Nov 2018
Hyper-V 2016 security comes down to VM considerations
Secure guest VMs and OSes to ensure Hyper-V security Continue Reading
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Answer
28 Nov 2018
Use shielded VMs, guarded fabric to enable Hyper-V encryption
Enable Hyper-V encryption using guarded fabric, the Host Guardian Service and shielded VM technologies. Host systems must be proven trustworthy before operating protected VMs. Continue Reading
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Answer
27 Nov 2018
How does Linux Secure Boot affect Hyper-V 2016 VMs?
Linux Secure Boot can help ensure you're booting trusted OSes, but navigating different distributions and digital signatures can be challenging without these considerations. Continue Reading
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News
20 Nov 2018
Kibana monitoring apps zoom in on Kubernetes infrastructure
A new set of time-series Kubernetes infrastructure monitoring and APM tools in version 6.5 of Elastic Stack take their place among many choices for IT pros. Continue Reading
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News
16 Nov 2018
AWS Lambda monitoring goes mainstream with New Relic beta
New Relic users and prospects will investigate AWS Lambda monitoring features released in private beta, as serverless usage filters in to enterprise IT shops. Continue Reading
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Tip
16 Nov 2018
Manage host, VM access with a Hyper-V administrators security group
Use Hyper-V roles to limit users to predefined levels of access. By creating security groups and managing them with PowerShell, you can implement role-based security at scale. Continue Reading
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Tip
14 Nov 2018
Generate a Hyper-V report to track clusters, nodes with PowerShell
It's difficult to navigate all the information related to Hyper-V nodes and clusters, so use PowerShell commands and scripts to generate reports and automate information retrieval. Continue Reading
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Answer
12 Nov 2018
Setting up Hyper-V replication requires preplanning
Hyper-V replication is easy to use, but there are a number of steps you should take during Hyper-V replication setup to ensure you stay abreast of potential failures and data loss. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Nov 2018
Hyper-V VM template creation made easy
Creating Hyper-V VM templates is a straightforward process, but there are a few things you should consider, such as template creation source and administrative password assignment. Continue Reading
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Answer
02 Nov 2018
How do you find Hyper-V nodes with PowerShell?
Manage Hyper-V clusters more easily with PowerShell cmdlets and scripts that automate the retrieval and display of node information, including node statuses. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 Oct 2018
Enable and disable Hyper-V secure boot with PowerShell
The manual process of enabling secure boot is time-consuming, so use PowerShell cmdlets and scripts to make it efficient to use secure boot in Hyper-V. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Oct 2018
Use Microsoft SCVMM to clone a VM
There are some requirements you must meet to clone VMs with SCVMM, but the steps to clone an existing VM -- whether it's running, paused or shutdown -- are fairly simple. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Oct 2018
Buy the right help desk tools to track and resolve incidents
Help desk management tools help admins manage, track and resolve problems. Learn about the leading products and the reporting, communication and support features they offer. Continue Reading
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Opinion
25 Oct 2018
Invest in an IT infrastructure upgrade -- or keep fixing it
Because upgrades to infrastructure equipment can be expensive and difficult, the easier decision is to renew a support contract. But delay comes at a cost, too. Continue Reading
- 25 Oct 2018
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News
22 Oct 2018
IT pros shore up Prometheus monitoring via third-party tools
Upstream Prometheus monitoring isn't ready for prime time in enterprise environments, but it gets by with a little help from its friends, such as Sysdig and Rancher Labs. Continue Reading
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Answer
16 Oct 2018
What VM automation tools are available?
There are many different VM automation tools available -- some of them part of much wider product and feature suites. Determine which features you need and find the tool that works. Continue Reading
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Answer
16 Oct 2018
What are the most common virtualization automation mistakes?
Avoid automation issues by coordinating with the wider organization to ensure employees know how to provision resources and remain aware of evolving business needs and policies. Continue Reading
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Answer
15 Oct 2018
What organizations are best-suited for VM automation?
Automating VMs isn't universally beneficial. Determine whether your organization needs mass production of VMs before deploying automation tools or platforms. Continue Reading
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Answer
15 Oct 2018
What are the primary use cases for VM deployment automation?
Automate the deployment of VMs to meet the demand for resources while ensuring each VM remains properly configured and follows lifecycle and governance policies. Continue Reading
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News
12 Oct 2018
New Relic acquisition of CoScale boosts Kubernetes prowess
Kubernetes monitoring is all the rage, and New Relic's CoScale buy gives it an edge in an increasingly noisy market for container monitoring tools. Continue Reading
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Tip
05 Oct 2018
Get to know the Hyper-V processor compatibility mode feature
Hyper-V processor compatibility is relatively easy to use, but it disables some advanced CPU features and is only intended for specific circumstances on a temporary basis. Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Sep 2018
Top five SCVMM 2016 features to look out for
SCVMM 2016 provides new features, such as Nano Server management, and enhancements to existing networking and security features to better manage the entire virtualization stack. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Sep 2018
Design a custom Hyper-V Integration Services component
The steps for creating a new component of Hyper-V Integration Services include registering an app, creating and binding a Hyper-V socket, and compiling server and client apps. Continue Reading
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Answer
20 Sep 2018
Is your VM frozen? Isolate the cause and problem solve
Many issues cause VMs to become unresponsive, including invoking particular tasks, such as snapshots or migrations, resource configuration and infrastructure unavailability. Continue Reading
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Answer
20 Sep 2018
Common VM network latency causes explained
There are many potential causes of network performance problems when it comes to VMs. Familiarize yourself with the most common causes to aid in troubleshooting. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Sep 2018
Use VMware vSphere templates to manage VMs at scale
VM templates in vSphere enable IT administrators to manage large environments by rapidly deploying fully configured VMs using the content library interface. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Sep 2018
Create VM templates without encountering errors
Creating a VM template is a fairly straightforward process. Even so, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with Microsoft's documentation to avoid common mistakes. Continue Reading
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News
11 Sep 2018
PagerDuty incident response tools loop in business stakeholders
PagerDuty follows Atlassian with incident response tracking for corporate management, while IT pros on the front lines of incident triage also seek enhancements to low-level alerting configurations. Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Sep 2018
Assess IT help desk software options based on these features
Explore communication channels, ticket management, agent management, knowledge base options and reporting capabilities when evaluating prospective help desk management software. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Sep 2018
Anomaly detection methods unleash microservices performance
When distributed applications run in containers, admins suddenly have a whirlwind of metrics to track instead of just a short list. These methods reach into the heart of the task. Continue Reading
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Tutorial
07 Sep 2018
Create and configure a shielded VM in Hyper-V
In just a few easy steps, including installing a Host Guardian Service server and creating certificates, you can shield a Hyper-V VM to protect it against access or tampering. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Aug 2018
Application performance metrics and tools fit for modern architectures
Distributed applications and cloud hosting have led to new application interactions and KPI categories -- and different performance concerns need different metrics. Continue Reading
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Answer
28 Aug 2018
Open source hypervisor technical support, update considerations
Even though open source software itself is completely free to obtain and use, effective hypervisor technical support options for production environments might cost money. Continue Reading
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News
27 Aug 2018
VMware vSphere update tweaks HTML5 client, bundles AppDefense
Hoping to keep its broad base of vSphere users engaged, VMware debuted an updated version of the virtualization offering and a version bundled with AppDefense. Continue Reading
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Answer
27 Aug 2018
Is the XenServer hypervisor worth the cost?
There is a free, easy-to-obtain version of Citrix XenServer, but additional features and commercial support from Citrix -- which some shops might need -- require a license. Continue Reading
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Answer
24 Aug 2018
Evaluate Oracle VM Server as a potential hypervisor
Oracle VM provides useful features such as high availability and live migration, but it's important for admins to size the server for the workloads it's intended to host. Continue Reading
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Answer
23 Aug 2018
Red Hat Virtualization hypervisor adoption considerations
IT admins considering Red Hat Virtualization might inadvertently overlook certain system requirements or forget to consider whether they need support. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Aug 2018
SCVMM PowerShell commands for server health checks
Perform regular SCVMM health checks -- such as monitoring clustered shared volume utilization and host participation in SCVMM placement -- using simple PowerShell commands and scripts. Continue Reading
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Tip
15 Aug 2018
XCP-ng offers new hypervisor option for cost-conscious shops
A new open source fork of Citrix XenServer includes many features proprietary hypervisors offer, but it's not likely to displace market leaders any time soon. Continue Reading
