Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Fifteen years ago, the Internet was a very different place. It operated on a very different scale, had different market leaders and it faced different technical challenges. What has not changed, however, is the need for the best – indeed ever higher - performance and resilience. We founded Catchpoint in September 2008 (amid terrible economic conditions) with the desire to make the Internet better. Not exactly the greatest year to launch a startup.

In the intricate realm of information technology, where the foundations of modern business are securely anchored, the Local Area Network (LAN) is a cornerstone of connectivity. It's the backbone that supports your organization's daily operations, ensuring data flows seamlessly and without interruption. As seasoned experts in your field, you are well aware of the indispensable role that LAN networks play.

As IT infrastructures become increasingly complex to monitor and manage –with new compelling technologies such as virtual machines, software-defined networks and containers overlaid onto existing technology stacks– IT operations teams face the additional challenge of nearly unmanageable ticket volumes. Ticket prioritization, correlation, redundancies and sheer speed of ticket generation become problems in and of themselves.

In this blog post, we describe how one backbone service provider uses Kentik to identify and root out spoofed traffic used to launch DDoS attacks. It’s a “moral responsibility,” says their chief architect.

VPNs (virtual private networks) have rapidly become essential for remote workers and organizations. VPNs provide enhanced privacy, security, and access to restricted resources by creating an encrypted tunnel for internet traffic. However, many IT professionals grapple with the tradeoffs inherent in routing all traffic through a VPN tunnel. VPN split tunneling offers a versatile solution by allowing you to intelligently segment VPN and non-VPN traffic.

FIPS compliant cipher suites hold the U.S. government's seal of approval, guaranteeing their suitability for federal systems. On the other hand, non-FIPS compliant cipher suites may present security vulnerabilities due to outdated cryptographic algorithms and potential lack of perfect forward secrecy. As a result, it becomes paramount to monitor TLS network traffic for non-FIPS compliant cipher suites.

IT professionals are always presented with myriad solutions when seeking additional software for their network infrastructure. When it comes to server monitoring solutions, there are multiple options available. After all, every organization has its own needs, individual infrastructure and software requirements. With that in mind, the following list is a guide to help IT professionals select what they believe may be the best possible server monitoring solution for their organization.