Data provides an essential basis for reports and analytics, with the databases storing the data now driving and informing most custom and line-of-business applications. Thus, anything organizations can do to speed up troubleshooting for database problems is pure gold. In fact, time saved on troubleshooting turns into time organizations can invest in being more productive and profitable.

Indexes play a critical role in SQL Server query performance. SQL Sentry Fragmentation Manager helps you make intelligent decisions about index management based on the table and index information collected. In this blog post, I’m going to discuss index fragmentation, several ways you can identify it, and why a more granular approach to index maintenance can save time and allow you to focus on other tasks during maintenance windows.

Monitoring methodologies evaluate application reachability, availability, performance, and reliability to measure digital experience accurately. Only measuring one or the other will offer a skewed view of the end-user experience. For example, higher availability is not the sole indicator of a good end-user experience. At the same time, reliability is a critical performance indicator for service providers.

Be aware that we’re not saying that you are in cloud nine, but that you may most likely be using the cloud. That is, if you use Google mail, Microsoft Office 365 office suite or you take a photo with your cell phone and then it gets automatically uploaded to iCloud or something similar, you are using the cloud.

When it comes to malware attacks, one of the more common techniques is “living off the land” (LOtL). Utilizing standard tools or features that already exist in the target environment allows these attacks to blend into the environment and avoid detection. While these techniques can appear normal in isolation, they start looking suspicious when observed in the parent-child context. This is where the ProblemChild framework can help.

There’s a point in every IT professionals’ career where they inevitably ask themselves,“do I want to stay technical, or get into management networking jobs?” Sometimes this point occurs when they find themselves already are in management, either by design, or as I like to say, “by accident”.

One of the great things about SaaS applications is that users in the platform automatically have access to any available software updates. Yet, having a beta program requires a separate environment, creating a potential challenge for users and development teams. In this context, having a tool where you can control features and flag certain users is important because sometimes features are too early or not relevant for all users.

One of the best things about working at InfluxData is getting to know the worldwide InfluxDB community. It’s always fun getting to meet new users through our Community Slack, social media, team members and virtual/in-person events. I recently met David Ko, a DevOps engineer at Index Exchange. Index Exchange is a global marketplace for digital media advertising; I recently chatted with David over Zoom to discuss how they use InfluxDB at Index Exchange.

Nearly all security experts agree that event log data gives you visibility into and documentation over threats facing your environment. Even knowing this, many security professionals don’t have the time to collect, manage, and correlate log data because they don’t have the right solution. The key to security log management is to collect the correct data so your security team can get better alerts to detect, investigate, and respond to threats faster.

LogDNA Alerts are an important vehicle for relaying critical real-time pieces of log data within developer and SRE workflows. From Slack to PagerDuty, these Alert integrations help users understand if something unexpected is happening or simply if their logs need attention. This allows for shorter MTTD (mean time to detection) and improved productivity.