Networking Posts

I have a friend who is in the VOIP business providing call savings for their clients.

From my discussion with him, I found out that most VOIP service providers have capabilities to direct calls to their VOIP servers thus providing call savings to end users.

Recently he has complained about frequent downtime affecting his business. The problem is this, whenever a service or the entire VOIP server goes down, end users who are trying to make a call would not be able to do so. Imagine a customer trying to make an important call but not able to. Surely, they would be frustrated. Photo by marcalandavis.

So my next question to him would be, does your server / network administrators know about the health of your server?

Huh? Health of the server? He thought that only human beings and cars need to be checked for its health.

I explained further to him.

Servers and networks can be checked for its health by looking at some of the following vital points:

• Network bandwidth
• Network bottlenecks (e.g. when congestions occur)
• Server CPU utilization (e.g if the CPU hits 100% most of the time)
• Server memory utilization (e.g if the memory is low)
• Server hard disk space capacity ( e.g. if the HDD is running out of disk space)

All the above components need to be actively monitored to ensure some sort of preventive maintenance is in place. One way would be to implement an application and Network Monitoring Software (NMS).

For example, by utilizing a network monitoring software, the administrator can easily see that a server’s hard disk space is running low and take preventive measure by either adding more disk space or clearing space such as backing up and deleting log files.

An IT business which has servers, systems and a network without utilizing an IT and Network Monitoring Software is like someone driving in the dark without head lights turned on (while wearing sunglasses)! Continue Reading »
How to choose an effective Network Monitoring software

Networks have become a very important part of our lives as people try to make communication much easier in a bid to save the time and costs for the purpose of exchanging information. Image by dcmorton.

With the use of networks, people have managed to run businesses from distant places without necessarily having to make physical appearances to conduct administrative duties.

In today’s post, let’s have a glance into the basics of networking in order to comprehend what is actually happening in within a network.

Networks are meant to link more than one computer together either over the internet, virtual private networks or within the office without an internet link.

For an organization with many employees working in different rooms within the company’s compound, communication between two employees may consume too much man hours if they have to walk to and from each other’s offices every time.

As such their computers can be networked and authorized to communicate by creating a network group within the company’s computers.

Let us now have a look at the basic requirements for networks to operate. Continue Reading »
The basics to setting up an office or home network

Every organization has a network in place. It’s only a matter of how big or small the office network is. Image by chrismeller.

A small firm with fewer than 15 staffs may have a simple wireless router which connects to the Internet service provider as well as hooking up one or two servers to the ethernet ports from the router.

Large organizations may have several wide area networks connected to one another for networking and data transfer purposes.

No matter how big or small your organization’s network is, it’s good to have an updated network plan / diagram documented for the following purposes:

• For new support staffs or external consultants to easily view the entire network architecture at a glance
• Easily identify the person in charge of the entire network – usually the person who created the network diagram!
• View how many switches, routers, server racks, servers, printers are available within the organization.
• Distinguish the devices which are placed in within the demilitarized / secured zone (DMZ)

There are many ways to create a network diagram for your current network. One common way would be to use Microsoft Visio or Powerpoint to draw up the entire network. But if you have neither of these tools, then you can consider using Creately to assist in creating a network diagram. Continue Reading »
How to draw a network diagram with online template

Do you sometimes wonder why the Internet Connection in your office is occasionally slow? Image by Arria Belli.

And the Internet slowdown only occurs especially when the bosses are back in the office. Really makes everyone wonder what the bosses are using the Internet for.

These are several reason why accessing the Internet could be slow:

1. A problem with the Internet Service Provider
2. A problem with the office network due to faulty routers, splitters, etc
3. A few office mates could be downloading some big files taking up lots of bandwidth

If you’re someone who has been given the responsibility to ensure the office network and Internet connection is running perfectly, then you’ll need some web usage monitoring tools to assist you. Continue Reading »
How to monitor web usage real time for free