Before you know it, Sysadmin Day will be here again! As we all know, sysadmins (sometimes written SysAdmins) play a critical behind-the-scenes role in keeping technology up and running smoothly. However, they often go unappreciated until something goes wrong. That’s why System Administrator Appreciation Day serves as the perfect opportunity to recognize the sysadmins that work tirelessly day in and day out to support your organization.

If you’re new to IT, the “what is syslog?” question can get confusing fast because when someone says syslog, they might mean: And, frankly, it’s fair to use the word syslog for all of those. By the end of this article, you’ll understand why. This article will explain the syslog protocol in detail, including its definition, formats, best practices, and challenges.

As networking environments grow increasingly complex, keeping pace presents an ongoing challenge for network managers. With more devices, users, and applications to account for, it’s now more critical than ever to have comprehensive visibility and understanding. The 2023 Network IT Management Report shows some progress in this area. Of IT professionals surveyed, 45% don’t have full knowledge of their network configurations, down from a whopping 57% in 2022.

On some of the best and worst days of our lives, we rely on the people, processes, and technology of the healthcare system to take care of us at our most vulnerable. This is why healthcare IT is unlike IT in any other industry. From data privacy regulations to digital transformation, healthcare IT pros must continuously navigate new challenges and technologies to deliver better patient care. In our 2024 IT Trends Report, we identified the healthcare IT trends shaping these shifts.

RMM—meaning Remote Monitoring and Management—has been a challenge for networks and IT departments since the very first ethernet cable sent a bunch of 1s and 0s in 1973. The challenge, of course, is that no administrator, either network or IT, can be everything everywhere all at once. Although if you’ve ever accidentally rebooted a device you weren’t supposed to, it certainly seems like they are.

“My computer’s not working!” “I can’t connect to the internet!” “My emails aren’t sending!” You’re probably used to hearing common requests and complaints like these from end users. It’s our job to take these issues, troubleshoot them, bring them to root cause, and get the user back up and running as quickly as possible.

Having access to all kinds of digital resources, no matter where you are or what sort of network connection you have, is a necessity in today’s connected world. Businesses need to share data with other businesses, and travelers need to stay in touch at all times. VPN protocols make secure, stable digital connections possible. While applications hosted in the public cloud go a long way towards making location a non-issue, many resources are hosted privately for security and privacy.

Understanding emerging networking trends is increasingly important for IT professionals and companies of all sizes to stay competitive. The global network infrastructure market is expected to reach $197.8 billion by the end of 2024 and increase to $256 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.67%. This is a projected $58.2 billion increase in just four years. Staying current with developments in the industry, as well as anticipating where these trends may lead, is vital.

Before I go into the well-worn reasons why nobody cares about IPv6, I’ll tell you the one absolutely compelling reason why you should care: IPv6 comes pre-enabled on a lot of devices you have on your network right now. When services are enabled without your knowledge, that’s just dangerous.

Troubleshooting is more art than science. When diagnosing a problem, the most important tool is an intimate understanding of your network: what connects to what, and where everything is both logically and physically. You almost need to visualize the packets going from one device to the next. That includes verifying physical connectivity. That’s where network diagrams, topology mapping, and cabling spreadsheets become extremely important.

Advanced technologies are reshaping how businesses operate, from facilitating remote work to enhancing employee productivity. By understanding today’s trends, businesses can better prepare for the future of work, optimize their operations, and stay competitive in an increasingly digital world.

Computer networks have become integral to our modern digital world. From browsing the web to sending emails and transferring files, network connectivity enables countless applications and services. However, this would not be possible without network protocols, which provide a common language for devices to exchange information reliably. This article will explore some of the most common network protocols that drive communication and connectivity in networks and the Internet.

Link aggregation is a way of bundling a bunch of individual (Ethernet) links together so they act as a single logical link. A fundamental for effective switch management, if you have a switch with a whole lot of Gigabit Ethernet ports, you can connect all of them to another device that also has a bunch of ports and balance the traffic among these links to improve performance.

If you’ve ever been in charge of IP address assignment, you’ve come across the terms classful and classless addressing. If you haven’t, the main difference between classful and classless addressing is in the subnet length: classful addressing uses fixed-length subnet masks, but classless uses variable length subnet masks (VLSM).

The TCP/IP protocol sometimes shows its age. It was invented in an era when networks were very slow and packet loss was high. So one of the main considerations in early protocol design was reliability. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) has built-in mechanisms for reliability that include validating a checksum on every packet, as well as detection and retransmission of dropped or out-of-order packets.

Is that a bird’s nest or is it spaghetti? Have you ever asked that question when looking into a IT wiring closet? At some point in your tenure as a network manager, you’ve likely been asked to inventory a network and create a network topology diagram.

For new networkers, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) can be an intimidating topic. Many old-timers speak of spanning-tree in ominous tones, recounting the time when a “spanning-tree loop” brought down the network. Some managers strictly forbid anyone from changing anything related to the spanning tree, fearing a resulting service interruption. Some of the fear surrounding spanning trees is likely based on bad experiences, but some are based on ignorance—at least partly.

Let me start by saying that spanning tree is a Good Thing. It saves you from loops, which will completely shut down a network. But it has to be configured properly to work properly. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a client call me, desperate with a terribly broken network, and I’ve responded, “Sounds like a spanning tree problem.” There are many ways things can go wrong with spanning tree. In this article, I’ve collected six of the recurring themes.

With numerous options available for network monitoring, finding the right fit for your business can be a daunting task. It’s essential to sift through the noise and focus on what truly matters: a solution that meets your organization’s specific needs. PeerSpot, an enterprise buying intelligence platform, offers valuable insights into how various solutions, including Auvik Network Monitoring, perform in the real world.