So that’s one area where Solarwinds falls down in my opinion … there may be workarounds but it’s not ideal for that kind of situation …
Some NMS solutions have that capability and I hope Solarwinds will develop it at some point as could really use it for some areas of the network as well > On Nov 11, 2016, at 10:10 AM, Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > > How well does it accommodate remote probes? My network isn’t a nice central > NOC with backhaul links radiating out, and I need the ability to monitor > things like packet loss and latency from multiple points in the network. > Also to always have monitoring even if a part of the network gets isolated by > multiple failures like during a storm or DDoS. > > <> > From: Af [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>] On > Behalf Of Josh Baird > Sent: Friday, November 11, 2016 8:48 AM > To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] solar winds network bandwidth analyzer pack > > We use both the Solarwinds suite and Zenoss Enterprise at $realjob (and a few > others). > > $30k is cheap for large shops/enterprises. Enterprise monitoring can get > super expensive. Zenoss Enterprise is usually $100+ per device per year. > > On Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 9:38 AM, Paul Stewart <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> LOL … ah yes, Remedy etc …. >> >> I’m one of the few that actually really likes Remedy …. but with the caveat >> that I’m not paying for the system and the team of people to actually run it >> ;) >> >> >>> On Nov 11, 2016, at 9:36 AM, Josh Reynolds <[email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>> >>> Yes, monitoring can get quite expensive. We have some Solarwinds at >>> $day_job along with HP OpenView, but we're about to roll out a full BMC >>> solution. (TrueSight, etc). We also run Remedy, so you know we are gluttons >>> for punishment. >>> >>> We will end up paying more for monitoring this year alone than the average >>> house price in California. >>> >>> >>> On Nov 11, 2016 8:32 AM, "Paul Stewart" <[email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>> Well the answer to that question is “it depends” …. I’m a big believer >>>> that business is critical on good monitoring (along with good staff, >>>> proper procedures etc etc). Putting a dollar value on Solarwinds specific >>>> to your business and it’s needs is difficult as everyone is different …. >>>> >>>> For some people, buying the Windows licenses and a MS SQL backend is a >>>> deal breaker right off the bat … for others it’s the actual application >>>> costs itself >>>> >>>> SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor SL100 (up to 100 elements) - >>>> License with 1st-year Maintenance >>>> $2895 >>>> SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor SL250 (up to 250 elements) - >>>> License with 1st-year Maintenance >>>> $6495 >>>> SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor SL500 (up to 500 elements) - >>>> License with 1st-year Maintenance >>>> $9995 >>>> SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor SL2000 (up to 2000 elements) - >>>> License with 1st-year Maintenance >>>> $18295 >>>> SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor SLX (unlimited elements-Standard >>>> Polling Throughput) - License with 1st-year Maintenance >>>> $30395 >>>> >>>> List price and they always have some “special” on the go .. but that will >>>> typically be 10-30% levels on average. >>>> >>>> One might argue that alternative system X, perhaps open source, is “free”. >>>> It has no licensing …. but then you have the time factor and possibly >>>> support elements of who to call for help should you need it. >>>> >>>> I’m a big fan of open source and Linux solutions ….. not a fan of Windows. >>>> But in general, there’s different tools for different needs for different >>>> businesses. For our business needs, Solarwinds was a great fit and we >>>> found it friendly on budget - we have SLX version of Network Performance >>>> Monitor, additional SLX pollers, SQL Enterprise cluster backend, APM SLX >>>> monitors and soon will be deploying NCM SLX for configuration stuff. >>>> >>>> Paul >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> On Nov 11, 2016, at 9:11 AM, Ken Hohhof <[email protected] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> You say price isn’t that bad. Whenever I’ve looked at anything from >>>>> Solarwinds, the price has been way out of reach – serious, serious >>>>> sticker shock. Did I evaluate incorrectly, or am I just cheap? >>>>> >>>>> <> >>>>> From: Af [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>] On >>>>> Behalf Of Paul Stewart >>>>> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2016 4:59 AM >>>>> To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >>>>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] solar winds network bandwidth analyzer pack >>>>> >>>>> Solarwinds is interesting software… >>>>> >>>>> I’m now on week #4 of “renovating” our Solarwinds deployment…. updating, >>>>> cleaning stuff up, better automation, better alerting etc etc >>>>> >>>>> i’m a Linux guy … really like open source. But for network monitoring I >>>>> have yet to find an NMS (even commercial) that I actually liked in Linux. >>>>> it seems strange just saying that as there’s a lot of great TOOLS in >>>>> Linux but for a full blown NMS that’s where I have my issue. >>>>> >>>>> Right now, we run multiple tools on Linux such as Nagios, Cacti, >>>>> Observium, Collectd, Munin to name a few …. and then we have Solarwinds. >>>>> All of these systems are disconnected from one another, so a conscious >>>>> effort has been underway to “standardize’ everything under one platform - >>>>> and this is Solarwinds. >>>>> >>>>> I have been a long time user of their platform - and generally like it >>>>> quite a bit. I wish it didn’t run under Windows and I wish the >>>>> performance of the system was better …. also wish they would integrate >>>>> some of their other products into the “common platform” that they have >>>>> acquired. >>>>> >>>>> Also, the price isn’t that bad (that will vary with company size, >>>>> importance of use etc) and it’s a good system that doesn’t take a huge >>>>> amount of time to manage/maintain once it’s operational. >>>>> >>>>> For their net flow product in particular, depending on number of >>>>> interfaces and flows, make sure you size the database accordingly…. it’s >>>>> very hungry for resources in that regard. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> On Nov 10, 2016, at 11:31 PM, That One Guy /sarcasm >>>>>> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> We are running a demo of this. It started out as an eyeballing a netflow >>>>>> collector and analyzer I dont have to poke all the time. we started >>>>>> scrutinizer, liked it, but found out the price scale killed any chance >>>>>> of getting it approved >>>>>> >>>>>> the pricing for this wasnt as bad, and the sales guy has some >>>>>> incentives, but the whole package was alot, and I didnt intend on even >>>>>> looking at the monitoring side because port based pricing models can >>>>>> quickly get out of hand >>>>>> >>>>>> as part of the initial configuration i seeded the auto discovery just to >>>>>> get through the setup. in the mean time, some other stuff came up and i >>>>>> i got busy, this was friday or thursday >>>>>> >>>>>> we have been having some intermittent issues with periodic slowness to >>>>>> some customers, the symptoms were that of a bottleneck. We had to throw >>>>>> some static routes into our OSPF network defeating dynamics to force >>>>>> traffic out one connection, thinking maybe it was a saturated lower >>>>>> quality upstream, no noteable relief. so we thought maybe we were >>>>>> saturating a backhaul that was getting to high percentage utilization, >>>>>> we added a redundancy and further split traffic up with static routes. >>>>>> no joy. it was at a point where the next step was just going site by >>>>>> site auditing every device...fun since the issue was intermittent, that >>>>>> means multiple times >>>>>> >>>>>> the sales guy wanted me to commit to getting this thing up and running >>>>>> by this weekend so next week we could list out what we want from it and >>>>>> how we achieve it, or if we cant do it. >>>>>> >>>>>> so yesterday i go to turn on the flows and send them to the server, the >>>>>> weird slowness is going on so its irritating me. >>>>>> >>>>>> i decided to clear out the alarms from installation and low and behold >>>>>> theres an alarm on a named interface of one of the routers i tossed in >>>>>> on discovery saying 90 percent or more usage. this is a 366mb licensed >>>>>> link on a gigabit interface, so im quite curious. I drill into the >>>>>> detail, the port is running at 100mb and saturating, i flap the port and >>>>>> its back to gigabit. >>>>>> >>>>>> we only monitor with powercode currently, we have snmpc but its old and >>>>>> shut off. Ive toyed with a whole bunch of other opensource and low cost >>>>>> systems but never had enough time to actually drill down and learn them, >>>>>> i did just get a book on nagios because it was cheap on ebay. >>>>>> >>>>>> powercode is worthless for any amount of invasive alerting or monitoring >>>>>> at any detail, if i want ports identified other than by port number it >>>>>> requires an individual probe. pita. its good for long term static >>>>>> monitoring and some real time tools, but its not an NMS. >>>>>> >>>>>> the point here, is the solarwinds tool is sweet, and for the 100 >>>>>> interface package with a promotion the cost is doable if one takes into >>>>>> account the time investment of the other opensource platforms, >>>>>> installation, learning curve, back end configuration, and plethora of >>>>>> gotchas. >>>>>> >>>>>> this particular issue could have cost us a good deal in man hours >>>>>> tracing it, refunds to customers for service impacts, and potential long >>>>>> term loss of customers. >>>>>> >>>>>> now, once i knew where the issue was, i knew exactly where to look in >>>>>> our existing data to verify it. 20/20 hindsight doesnt mean those are >>>>>> the toolsets that would have been picked out first. if this tool had >>>>>> been in production use, we would have known the first time the link >>>>>> negotiated down, and addressed it before there was any noteable service >>>>>> impact. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> If you are very frugal in your interface selection, this can be a good >>>>>> choice for an nms (i havent played with the atlas map other than >>>>>> dropping some stuff on it) if you dont want to dick around with a diy >>>>>> solution. its cheaper if you dont add the netflow analyzer package. Its >>>>>> solar winds so its pretty, and user friendly. the flow analyzer does >>>>>> route monitoring too, i havent looked at that, but the salesguy says he >>>>>> thinks we can visualize our ospf with the network atlas component, if >>>>>> thats the case the boss will likely drop cash. licensing is perpetual >>>>>> with 20% yearly for maintenance if you want it >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> http://www.solarwinds.com/network-bandwidth-analyzer-pack >>>>>> <http://www.solarwinds.com/network-bandwidth-analyzer-pack> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> If you only see yourself as part of the team but you don't see your team >>>>>> as part of yourself you have already failed as part of the team.
