server monitoring

[UKalliance]

Hi all,

I'm about to start monitoring servers remotely, but really could do with some guidance in terms of hardware and configuration. I want to be able to do this remotely for several customers. Monitoring systems such as Server 2000, 2003, Exchange 2000, 2003, backup, and networks.

I was thinking of using Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, and possibly What's Up Gold for networks.

What sort of hardware are we going to require to get access to the remote systems? Is the Citrix Access Gateway an expensive option? Is it the best you can get?

Thanks


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The Collective known as
The UK Alliance
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[WhoKilledKenny]

There are a million ways to skin a cat...

What do you want to monitor?
How do you want to be notified?
What Action do you want to be able to perform if an issue arises?
HOW MUCH MONEY IN THE BUDGET TO DO THIS????

You mentioned MOM - Very Expensive!!!!

If you have a low budget - Learn VBScript and build your own tools.

 

[UKalliance]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Ideally would be monitoring services that are running on the server, such as exchange services, disk space, memory, backup jobs. would like to be able to view something on a screen at our office, and an alert would ideal be a visual pop-up or an email to a mailbox. actions taken in the instance of a problem would be to either contact a local user or remote into the system and resolve it.



________________________________________

The Collective known as
The UK Alliance
________________________________________

 

[WhoKilledKenny]

GFI may have some mid-range tools that may work. Check out

http://www.gfi.com

For real-time monitoring from a remote-site? I would set up a workstation at the customers site, install whichever tools you decide, and use RDP to remotely connect to the workstation.

agian, so many ways to do this...

 

[UKalliance]

yeah I have been looking at some of the GFi products, already using the LAN Guard which is a great tool.

Hmmm, so if we was monitoring 6 companies systems, that would mean 6 RDP sessions on one screen. Not really the best way for proactive monitoring. Unless got the monitoring system to email a generic mailbox at our office, which was being monitored regular, and then use the RDP tool to connect in to reolve any issues.

I'm sure the What's Up Pro 2006 allows you to monitor more than one network. I think it uses IP addresses to monitor servers, but not sure how it would handle the internal IP addresses. For example, Company1 has an excange server with address 192.168.1.154, and Company2 has a web server that has an address of 192.168.1.154, how would the tool know which was which? guess I need to test this with the trial software and see what the configuration is like.

________________________________________

The Collective known as
The UK Alliance
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