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In recent years, Software-Defined WAN Technology (SD-WAN) has changed the way networking professionals secure, manage, and optimize connectivity. As organizations continue to implement cloud applications, conventional backhaul traffic processes are now inefficient and can cause security concerns.

SD-WAN is a virtual architecture that enables organizations to use different combinations of transport services that can connect users to applications. Sending traffic from branch offices to data centers using SD-WAN provides consistent application performance, better security, and automates traffic based on application needs. It also delivers an exceptional user experience, increases productivity, and can reduce tech costs.

What is SD-WAN?

SD-WAN implements software to safely and effectively manage the services between cloud resources, data centers, and offices. It does this by decoupling the data plane and the control plane. The deployment process often includes vCPE (virtual customer premise equipment) and existing switches and routers. These run software that control most management functions, such as networking, policy, and security.

Until recently, a Wide Area Network (WAN) was the best method for connecting users to applications on data center servers. This would typically include Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) circuits for secure connections. But today, MPLS is no longer adequate if you’re dealing with large amounts of data and working in the cloud. Backhauling from branch offices to corporate headquarters impairs performance. Gone are the days of connecting to corporate data centers to use business applications.

With SD-WAN, it’s now easier for you to deliver exceptional network experiences with less operational responsibility for IT staff. 

What is the SD-WAN architecture?

SD-WAN architecture

Traditional WANs can limit growth and productivity due to their dependence on total hardwire network devices. SD-WAN depends on software to provide a virtual approach while implementing traditional technologies such as broadband connections.

The traditional architecture with conventional routers was not created for the cloud. Backhauling traffic was required from branch offices to data centers so detailed security inspection could occur. This method often hinders performance, causing a loss in productivity and a poor user experience.

SD-WAN, however, can fully support applications in on-site data centers. This includes SaaS services such as Microsoft 365 and Dropbox. The architecture can separate management and control functions, WAN transport services, and all applications. With centralized control, you can store and control all the data on the applications. The control plane can adapt traffic to fit application demands and provide a high-quality user experience.

How does SD-WAN work?

SD-WAN uses communication tunnels, network encryption, and firewall software to manage and safeguard computer networks across several locations. SD-WAN can distinguish and separate network hardware from central controls and streamline operations. A business that uses SD-WAN can create higher-performance WANS by using the internet instead of MPLS.

Traffic flows through a specific SD-WAN appliance, with each appliance centrally controlled and managed. This enables the consistent enforcement of policies. SD-WAN can determine each application traffic and has the ability to route each one to the correct destination. These machine learning-based capabilities enable the software to base destination routes on existing policies.

Because SD-WAN is built to work efficiently, these solutions generally offer greater bandwidth efficiency, increased application performance, and easy access to the cloud. Users enjoy all these benefits without sacrificing data privacy or security. This can also improve customer satisfaction and business productivity.

Furthermore, SD-WAN can identify different applications and provide specific security enforcement. This means that business needs are met, and the business is protected from threats. One of the reasons SD-WAN is so effective is because it can leverage new software technologies while implementing machine learning.

There are a few specific aspects of SD-WAN that enable it to work so well: 

Ability to self-learn and adapt

SD-WAN normally guides traffic according to programmed templates and predefined rules. It has the ability to continuously self-monitor and learn. This is done by adapting to various changes in the network. These changes could include transport outages, network congestion, or brownouts. This adaptation occurs automatically and in real time. This limits the amount of manual technical intervention that is needed.

Ability to simultaneously use multiple forms of WAN transport

If a particular path is congested or fails, the system can implement solutions to redirect traffic to another link. SD-WAN can manage each transport service seamlessly and intelligently. The primary purpose of SASE is to provide the best experience possible for cloud applications. The ultimate goal is to be high quality for the user. The advanced capabilities provided by SD-WAN are necessary to enable optimum SASE and find solutions for these purposes in the event of technical problems.

How does SD-WAN and automation work?

SD-WAN already provides a certain amount of automation. To improve this process, each of the SD-WAN elements needs to communicate through APIs. Improving the communication will also enhance the changes the system can make to WAN edge devices. This affects the configuration of resources such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. This way, automation works through the entire system, not just in individual components.

Real-time path selection is an example of automation. As communication within the systems improves, the ability to increase the speed and precision of automated decisions will also improve. Insights based on instantaneous data collection will continue to increase efficiency and precision. You will want to continually integrate and update SD-WAN solutions with various machine learning forms to improve manual tasks’ automation. This will enable you to simplify and scale your system to meet the specific needs of each business operation.

Several SD-WAN benefits result from improved automation. These include less human error, faster operations, and improving quality of service. In the long run, the more automation you have, the more likely you will reduce overall operating costs. Automation means reducing the need to hire more engineers and other IT professionals. A self-learning network will increasingly automate many tasks currently done by humans.  

What are the benefits of SD-WAN?

SD-WAN is able to offer solutions to many of the challenges you will likely experience when using traditional WAN. The many benefits of SD-WAN include:

Greater agility

While MPLS is good at routing traffic when there are only a few static locations, it’s certainly not as effective when doing business on the cloud. Policy-based routing is the key to SD-WAN’s agility. Traffic is sent through a network focusing on the needs of each basic application. You can use several different transport structures in the WAN. SD-WAN provides predictable agility while supporting cloud migration. This agility includes the ability to use a variety of connections interchangeably, including MPLS, LTE, and broadband.

Increased efficiency

Sending traffic from remote offices to primary data hubs can cause delays. SD-WAN can effectively tie in cloud services. As the use of cloud applications and containers that need edge access increases, so does the need to implement SD-WAN technology. Cloud resources are easily connected with the data hubs in a fast and cost-effective manner. This enables private data centers to grow while organizations can still efficiently expand their use of public cloud services. There is also a reduction in latency issues, which means greater application performance.

Improved security

SD-WAN allows security specification for individual customers that is scalable. Organizations can set up secure zones to guide traffic based on their business policies. A company can protect critical assets with specific partitions while also using firewalls as part of the security process. You can create partitioned areas, basing them on particular roles or identities. You can also monitor network connections, enable deep packet inspection, add data encryptions, and log all security events.

Reduced costs

Backhauling is not only more time-consuming, it’s also costly. MPLS connections between offices and data centers cost more than wireless WAN links or internet broadband. It may take weeks or longer to supply new MPLS links, and MPLS bandwidth is potentially expensive. The same process takes only days when using SD-WAN. In many ways, particularly when it comes to expense, SD-WAN is superior to MPLS. It can also save money by lowering maintenance and equipment costs.

Increased simplification

SD-WAN simplifies turning up new links to remote offices while managing how each link is used more effectively. There is sometimes the need to use several stand-alone appliances with MPLS. You’re able to centralize operations and more easily scale a growing network when using SD-WAN.

Better app performance

Supporting cloud usage and SaaS apps is a necessary part of the digital progress. Applications generally need a lot of bandwidth. SD-WAN provides adequate support with high priority for critical applications. The network hardware separates from the control pane using an overlay network. Network connections then determine the best paths for every application in real time.

Remote access

Cloud access is the primary reason many organizations choose SD-WAN. No matter where your branch or office is, you can easily access all available cloud applications. You can also direct traffic through the data center for critical business applications.

What are the drawbacks of SD-WAN?

SD-WAN has some disadvantages, but the correct tools can overcome many of these drawbacks. Some disadvantages include:

Providing security

Because of how network security is set up, a breach could occur in several remote locations throughout the organization if a hacker breaches security and gains access to the central data branch. This type of connectivity could affect an entire company.

Training staff

Adapting to SD-WAN is not always easy if you’re running or working for a smaller business. Your current staff may not have adequate training to understand and implement this particular technology. In some cases, you may find it counterproductive to hire new IT personnel or train existing staff to build and maintain SD-WAN systems.

Supporting WAN routers

Your SD-WAN system may not support WAN routers. An ethernet connection is likely to interfere with the WAN architecture. You’ll have to come up with a method to eliminate this potential problem. Time-division multiplexing is one option.

How do you select the best SD-WAN?

You’ll want to consider several factors when selecting any SD-WAN model:

What SD-WAN choices are available?

The following are a few of the best-rated SD-WAN solutions:

If your organization is using the cloud and subscribing to SaaS, connecting back to a central data center to access applications is no longer efficient or cost-effective. SD-WAN provides a software-centric process that will give your organization optimal access to cloud applications from all remote locations. Your team can create a network that relates to the company’s business policies and promotes the long-term goals of the organization.

LogicMonitor’s agentless collection has long provided customers with many benefits for collecting telemetry data directly from network devices. Recently, LogicMonitor added another feature, enabling the discovery of devices/sites and the collection of telemetry data from the Cisco Catalyst Center. Retaining options is essential due to the pros and cons associated with each approach. 

This new option is critical for customers who view Cisco Catalyst Center as their single “source of truth.” For those customers, integrating with Cisco Catalyst Center eliminates the need for redundant SNMP polling of devices that can strain some device types. 

This blog discusses the LogicMonitor Cisco Catalyst Center integration and the growing use of streaming telemetry for cloud-managed networks.

Streaming telemetry: A powerful new approach to Network Monitoring

Historically, most telemetry has been pulled from devices by SNMP polling. LogicMonitor supports this widely adopted and proven approach. 

Network operations teams face a trade-off between the speed of device changes being visible and the duration of the polling interval. A short polling interval leads to rapid visibility of changes yet increases data collection and puts a heavier processing load on networking devices. Conversely, a longer polling interval prolongs the time required to detect changes.

In response to these tradeoffs, the network industry has developed streaming telemetry.  This enables the immediate transmission of telemetry data without any polling from a network manager. As streaming telemetry is not yet uniform across all devices, it can be beneficial for a network equipment vendor to provide a manager that collects streaming telemetry from its own devices. 

An example of this is Cisco Catalyst Center.

Streaming telemetry has found compelling applicability within cloud-managed networking (CMN)—devices managed from a cloud-based solution—as polling often has cost implications for the SaaS provider.

Cisco Catalyst Center integration

Cisco Catalyst devices, including access points and wireless LAN controllers, establish sessions with Cisco Catalyst Center. LM Envision receives metrics and events through Cisco’s intent-based API. 

After adding credentials, LM Envision automatically discovers equipment from Cisco Catalyst Center. Through LM Netscan, the discovery process continues regularly to identify new devices.

Note: LM Envision expands coverage of different Cisco device types continuously.

Cisco Catalyst Center integration benefits

Cisco Catalyst’s pre-completed discovery process and elimination of the need for additional on-site collectors can dramatically reduce the discovery time to less than an hour.

A company that has already streamed telemetry from its Cisco equipment and uses Cisco Catalyst Center as its source of truth does not need additional integrations to poll devices using protocols like SNMP. This reduces the load on devices for every previous integration using SNMP.  

Cisco designed Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers to publish model-driven telemetry as the preferred monitoring option, diverging from the SNMP metrics in older Cisco AireOS devices.  With LogicMonitor collecting telemetry data from Catalyst Center, this SNMP coverage gap is manageable for customers.

The Cisco Catalyst Center Integration eliminates the complexity of monitoring highly available Wireless Controllers via SNMP. Observability solutions monitor the primary and secondary controllers with SNMP approaches, making rationalizing metric associations as difficult as primary and secondary change. However, collecting telemetry data from Catalyst Center eliminates this complexity and ensures accurate reporting.

Cisco Catalyst Center integration differences

The information available via Cisco Catalyst Center is not as granular as that used by SNMP. For example, the Cisco Catalyst Center intent API may not deliver detailed information about each fan or interface, but it reports on health and generates alerts when issues arise.

The integration’s overall high availability characteristics depend on the setup of Cisco Catalyst Center. Without a high-availability configuration, LogicMonitor could lose temporary visibility. However, with high availability configured, Cisco Catalyst Center is no longer a single point of telemetry failure.

LM Envision customers can use the Cisco Catalyst Center integration and SNMP polling simultaneously. The former might be leveraged to rapidly discover infrastructure and gain insights into health, performance, and issues, whereas the latter can be layered on, as needed, for additional granularity.

LM Envision for all Network Monitoring needs

LogicMonitor is pleased to add another monitoring option for Cisco customers. In addition, LM Envision enables monitoring of a wide range of switches, routers, SD-WAN devices, firewalls, and more from multiple vendors,  including Cisco Catalyst Center as another option.

LogicMonitor continues to support a wide range of network equipment and vendors through multiple approaches. Now, with the addition of Cisco Catalyst Center, LM Envision is a leading solution for all hybrid network monitoring needs and hybrid observability.
Learn more about the Network Monitoring solution here.

The Cisco Networking portfolio is an essential part of your IT support services. These networks can provide your company with the necessary efficiency, security, and productivity, so you can securely connect your team, customers, and assets.

What are the top on-prem Cisco networks?

In IT infrastructure, on-premises describes hardware and software that are hosted on-site. On-premise IT infrastructure and platforms support 38% of all workloads. It also helps 43% of enterprise workloads. These on-prem Cisco networks are dedicated, reliable, and private.

What are the top cloud-based Cisco networks?

Cloud-based Cisco networks describe a scenario where you host your IT assets at a remote data center or a public cloud platform. Cloud adoption is rising, with 85% of businesses expected to use a cloud-based application by 2025. Unfortunately, only 3% of companies have developed advanced cloud strategies. They need to take the necessary step to make these networks scalable and successful.

Here are a few of the top cloud-based Cisco networks:

Catalyst

Cisco’s Catalyst switches offer network switches, wireless access points, and wireless network adapters. Your network devices should be compatible with these switches to ensure secure and consistent up-time. With the deployment of these Catalyst switches, you can inspire and drive digital transformation within your organization. Let’s consider what Catalyst is and what it does. 

What is it?

Catalyst offers a variety of network interfaces, including Ethernet switches. They also offer access points, wireless controllers, and wireless network adapters.

What does it do?

A Cisco Catalyst access switch combines wired and wireless connectivity, so you can enforce your security protocols and simplify network management. Catalyst switches help drive digital transformation by better controlling access and traffic.

Cisco’s Catalyst was designed primarily for campus networks’ core/distribution layers and is great for small businesses.  It’s also designed to handle more customizable, large-scale scenarios. For example, Cisco Campus LAN Catalyst switches are often used to create thorough network coverage, even in demanding hybrid environments.

You can filter by levels and handle loops in unmatched Syslog information. It is also possible to troubleshoot faults early by using detailed SNMP traps. This unit allows you to route as well as switch. The larger Catalyst switches combine high-speed routing with high-density ports.

More info on Cisco Catalyst:

ASA (Adaptive Security Appliance)

Cisco’s ASAs (adaptive security appliances) serve various security needs. Technology-driven businesses need ASA, so Cisco has spent time and money developing its ASA devices. Developed over the last 15 years, ASA solutions include basic firewall, VPN, and antivirus capabilities.

What is it?

Cisco’s ASA offers enterprise-class firewall capabilities for ASA devices in various form factors. You can tap into the antivirus, firewall, intrusion prevention, and virtual private networks. Additionally, ASA software delivers comprehensive security solutions. You can easily integrate with other critical security technologies to support better cybersecurity for data centers and corporate networks.

What does it do?

There is still a lot of use for Cisco ASA today. While it had some of the same features as PIX, the enterprise-class features make ASA solutions easier to use and understand for corporate users. You can use ASA as a proactive threat defense to stop network attacks before they spread through the network. They seamlessly integrate with other corporate security measures to deliver the next-level cybersecurity measures you need. 

Cisco ASA supports a highly secure remote access solution, so you can access data and network resources from any device on your corporate networks no matter where you are. It’s also widely used and supported. More than one million Cisco ASA security appliances are used in enterprise environments globally. 

More info on Cisco ASA:

ISR (Integrated Service Router)

Cisco is a market leader in the networking equipment market, with a wide range of routers and switches. Regardless of the size of your business, you’ll benefit from Cisco’s integrated services routers (ISRs). With the recent advancement in technology, ISR capabilities have become increasingly important. For military operations, in particular, accurate ISR data is crucial.

With Integrated Service Router (ISR) routers, you can connect your branch offices reliably and securely. You can also perform multimedia and mobile tasks with the ISRs. Here’s what it is and how it works.

What is it?

Cisco’s integrated services routers (ISRs) offer affordable, reliable branch office connectivity. ISRs enable cloud computing, mobile connectivity, multimedia performance, and secure networking. They’re powerful devices on a single platform.

ISRs allow you to access multiple clouds. They support advanced security and wireless capabilities. Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) from Cisco meet the high-performance standards you need. But they’re also easy to deploy, use, and manage. You can connect to the Metro Ethernet, Internet, and wireless LANs in a highly secure way.

What does it do?

Hardware calls an integrated service routine (ISR) when an interrupt occurs. ISRs examine those interrupts so you can determine how to handle them. Then, execute the handling and return the logical interrupt values. The ISR returns a value to the kernel when the interrupt is resolved.

ICM (Intelligent Contact Management)

Cisco’s unified communications products are built on unified ICM. The unified ICM (intelligent contact management) is an open standards-based solution. With intelligent routing and computer telephony integration (CTI), you can use the easy-to-use interface to manage your contacts. Here’s what it is and how it works. 

What is it?

Cisco’s Unified Intelligent Contact Management Platform enables the enterprise-wide coordination of your contacts across multiple channels and networks. It doesn’t matter where they’re located in relation to your contact center. 

You can route and manage inbound and outbound voice, web collaboration, e-mail, and chat. With Unified ICM, you can manage routing, queues, monitors, and faults using open standards. You can integrate network-to-desktop telephony, manage multi-channel contacts, and route contacts. With that level of integration and transparency, you can see how much easier it is to manage your contacts. 

What does it do?

Cisco’s Unified ICM supports the integration of voice applications with Internet applications. You and your team can access real-time chat. ICM supports a range of communication options, including email and other collaboration channels on the Web. A single team member can handle multiple interchanges simultaneously, so you can better support your staff and customers’ needs. With ICM, you can communicate more efficiently with your customers regardless of their preferred channel or platform. 

ITM allows you to pre-route contact center calls through your carriers’ intelligent networks so you can better monitor and adjust to accommodate your resource availability and activity levels. Then, you can use the data to compile a comprehensive profile for each customer and further segment and target those customers.

Meraki

Meraki is part of Cisco’s networking services. It simplifies securing locations and optimizing IT experiences so you can more quickly and easily connect IoT. Cisco Meraki is the leader in cloud-controlled Wi-Fi, routing, and security. 

What is it?

You can manage all of Cisco’s Meraki network devices with the Meraki cloud solution. Meraki supports centralized management. The Meraki cloud solution offers a simple and secure way to manage all Meraki network devices.  

What does it do?

Cloud computing is the core of Meraki management solutions. Cisco’s Meraki devices support highly reliable multi-tenant servers. These servers are strategically distributed worldwide at Meraki data centers. Those data center servers consist of powerful computers which host dozens of separate user accounts.

Multi-tenant servers offer shared computing resources, making it easy to share equally among users. Meraki is committed to ensuring the security of your data through robust apps and insights. To ensure heightened security, Meraki restricts access based on account authentication.

More info on Cisco Meraki:

Nexus

Originating in 2008, Cisco’s Nexus switches connect your servers to storage and network resources in support of your hybrid cloud network. Additionally, they eliminated the need for parallel storage or computational networks. Here’s what Nexus products are and what they do.

What is it?

Cisco’s Nexus products include enterprise mobility management (EMM) security and offers security cameras, switching, and wireless solutions. You can manage all of the Cisco Nexus products from across the cloud and data centers in one place.

What does it do?

Cisco’s Nexus switches provide software-defined networking (SDN) solutions. With the Nexus switches, you can connect and manage data center resources. 

UC (Unified Communications)

Cloud-based and on-premises UC solutions are available. Unified communication (UC) apps for businesses do not compromise security. UC supports the seamless integration of collaboration and communication tools.

What is it?

UC collaboration tools are used to support working together. Use IP telephony, videoconferencing, voice mail, or mobile collaboration with UC. You could also use desktop sharing and instant messaging.

What does it do?

You and your team can collaborate more effectively with Cisco’s unified communications solutions. That also means you can collaborate and access the UCS anywhere from any device. They use APIs to integrate messaging and chat with your phone system and conferencing solutions so you can better support real-time business communication.

More info on Cisco UC:

UCS (Unified Computing System)

Since 2009, Cisco Systems has been manufacturing its Unified Computing System (UCS). This consists of management software, server hardware, switching fabrics, and virtualization support. A Cisco UCS combines computing, networking, virtualization, and data storage components. 

What is it?

Unified Computing System (UCS) by Cisco Systems is a collection of products:

Using these products, you can integrate a data center’s components into one scalable system.

What does it do?

You can create a more cost-effective and efficient solution to help enterprises monitor devices and automate operations, all while managing data. UCS supports a centrally managed data center architecture for your company. Cisco’s new UCS C-Series rack servers have set many world records in industry-standard benchmarks for integer and java server performance. With Cisco UCS servers, your workloads should run faster. Cisco boasts an 86% reduction in cabling, faster provisioning, and a 40% cost reduction.

More info on Cisco UCS:

UC Virtual Machines

Cisco’s UC Virtual Machines allow you to create new network services. You can also deploy them anywhere at any time. It’s fast and reliable, taking minutes instead of days. You can also scale your network services up or down quickly to match the demand of your customers and internal requirements. Let’s further consider what the UC virtual machines are and what they do. 

What is it?

A virtualized server (or virtualization host) shares network and storage hardware. They’re shareable between multiple application virtual machines (VMs). You run several operating systems with UC virtual machines on a single physical computer so you can save physical space, time, and money.

You can easily migrate to a new operating system while supporting legacy applications. The most critical advantage of  Cisco’s UC Virtual Machines is that you can better support disaster recovery.

What does it do?

A virtual network function (VNF) is a service that can be created and deployed automatically. You can then manage your infrastructure remotely. With UC virtual machines, you can scale and manage your resources to better accommodate your company’s changing needs both now and in the future.

Umbrella

More than 24,000 global organizations rely on Cisco Umbrella. It’s at the core of Cisco’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture. Here’s what it is and what it does. 

What is it?

With Cisco Umbrella, you can connect cloud access security brokers (CASBs) with firewalls. You can also access threat intelligence and web gateways to protect your organization.

Umbrella enables these connected solutions through a single, cloud-delivered service and dashboard. Doing so can significantly reduce the cost of deployment, configuration, and integration.

What does it do?

Cisco Umbrella protects your mobile users. You’re also able to improve incident response and expose Shadow IT. With Cisco Umbrella, you can deploy threat enforcement to protect your users no matter where they’re located.

Next step: select the right Cisco solutions

This guide to on-prem and cloud-based Cisco networks offer an overview of the tools you need to succeed. Cisco Networking portfolio offers all the solutions that will support your security, communications, and storage requirements. Explore these options and determine which will best sync with your business requirements. 


At LogicMonitor, we’re constantly expanding the breadth and depth of our monitoring coverage. As we pack our bags for Cisco Live, we thought now would be a good time to highlight some of the Cisco-specific monitoring we updated this year.

We recently broadened our monitoring capabilities for Cisco Nexus, adding some additional metrics for this popular line of data center switches, including:

• Supervisor card status and redundancy states
• Ejector and line card status
• FRU status and power draw
• VDC status
• Fans and temperature sensors

In addition to Nexus switches, we extended our monitoring for Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) and track:

• Alerts on Active faults
• Consumed power, input current, and voltage for components
• Service Profile Server status
• Service Profile Binding status
• Ethernet Interface throughput and packet rate
• Fan speeds
• Virtual NIC throughput, dropped packets, errors
• Status of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces
• Virtual SAN member health status

We also created new DataSources for ASA firewalls, and now monitor ASA Cluster Status, IPsec tunnels, temperature, and fan status.

To round out our Cisco monitoring, we developed two new ConfigSources for Cisco networking components running IOS and NX-OS. ConfigSources are templates that allow LogicMonitor to provide configuration monitoring, in this case for any Cisco devices running either of these two widely-used operating systems.

Be sure to check out LogicMonitor’s release notes for regular updates on new metrics and DataSources. Also, if you’re headed to Cisco Live, stop by Booth 919 to see these new datapoints live!

As the new hire here at LogicMonitor brought in to support the operations of the organization, I had two immediate tasks: Learn how LogicMonitor’s SaaS-based monitoring works to monitor our customer’s servers, and at the same time, learn our own infrastructure.

I’ve been a SysA for a longer than I care to admit, and when you start a new job in a complex environment, there can be a humbling period of time while you spin-up before you can provide some value to the company. There’s often a steep and sometimes painful learning curve to adopting an organization’s technologies and architecture philosophies and make them your own before you can claim to be an asset to the firm.

But this time was different. With LogicMonitor’s  founder, Steve Francis, sitting to my right, and its Chief Architect to my left, I was encouraged to dive into our own LogicMonitor portal to see our infrastructure health.   A portal, by the way, is an individualized web site where our customers go to see their assets. From your portal, you get a fantastic view of all your datacenter resources from servers, storage and switches to applications, power, and load balancers just to name a few.  And YES, we use remote instances of LogicMonitor to watch our own infrastructure.  In SysA speak, we call this ‘eating our own dog food’.

As soon as I was given a login, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and familiarize myself with our infrastructure and see how our software worked. Starting at the top, I started looking at our Cisco switches to see what was hooked up to what. LogicMonitor has already done the leg-work of getting hooks into the APIs on datacenter hardware, so one has only to point a collector at a device with an IP or hostname, tell it what it is, ( linux or windows host, Cisco or HP switch, etc) provide some credentials and ‘Voila!’ out comes stats and pretty graphs.  Before me on our portal was all the monitoring information one could wish for from a Cisco switch.

On the first switch I looked at, I noticed that its internal temperature sensor had been reading erratic temperatures. The temperatures were still within Cisco’s spec, and they hadn’t triggered an alert yet, but they certainly weren’t as steady as they had been for months leading up to that time. For a sanity check, I looked at the same sensor in switch right next to it. The temperature was just as erratic. Checking the same sensors in another pair of switches in a different datacenter showed steady temperature readings for months.

Using the nifty ‘smart-graph’ function of LogicMonitor, I was able to switch the graph around to look at just the data range I wanted. I even added the temperature sensor’s output to a new dashboard view.  With with my new-found data, I shared a graph with Jeff and Steve, and asked, “Hey, guys, I’m seeing these erratic temperature’s on our switches in Virginia. Is this normal?”

Jeff took a 3 second glance, scowled, and said, “No, that’s not right!  Open a ticket with our datacenter ticket and have them look at that!”

That task was a little harder.  Convincing a datacenter operator they have a problem with their HVAC when all their systems are showing normal takes a little persistence. Armed with my graphs, I worked my way up the food-chain with our DC provider support staff. He checked the input and output air temperature of our cabinet, and verified there was no foreign objects disturbing air flow.  All good there.  We double-checked here that we hadn’t made any changes that would affect load on our systems and cause the temperature fluctuation.  No changes here.  But on a hunch, he changed a floor tile for one that allowed more air through to our cabinet. And behold, the result:

Looking at our graph, you’ll notice the temperature was largely stable before Sept. 13.  I was poking around in LogicMonitor for the first time on Sept. 18th. (Literally, the FIRST TIME )  and created the ticket which got resolved on Friday Sept. 21. You can see the moment when the temps drop and go stable again after the new ventilation tile was fitted.  ( In case you’re wondering, you can click on the data sources on the bottom of the graph, and that will toggle their appearance on the graph. I  ‘turned off’ the sw-core1&2.lax6 switches since they were in another data center )

Steve’s response to all this was, “Excellent! You’re providing value-add!  Maybe we’ll keep you. Now write a blog post about it!”

And I’ll leave you with this: Monitoring can be an onerous task for SysAs. We usually have to build it and support it ourselves, and then we’re the only ones who can understand it enough to actually use it. Monitoring frequently doesn’t get the time it deserves until it’s too late and there’s an outage. LogicMonitor makes infrastructure monitoring easy and effective in a short period of time. We’ve built it, we support it, and we’ve made it easy to understand so your SysA can work on their infrastructure.

Or blogging.