Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Beyond ping: How OpManager redefines network discovery for modern IT

Today’s networks aren’t just growing, they’re evolving. Hybrid architectures, cloud-native services, and a never-ending stream of connected devices have made it impossible to keep track of what’s on your network manually. This is exactly where a next-gen network discovery tool becomes a game-changer. ManageEngine OpManager is more than a monitoring solution.

Proactive Network Protection with Progress WhatsUp Gold 2025: SSL Certificate Monitoring That Helps Prevent Outages

A single expired SSL certificate can disrupt critical services, erode customer trust, and trigger a series of avoidable issues. That’s why we’re excited to introduce a powerful new feature in Progress WhatsUp Gold 2025.0: Certificate Discovery and Monitoring. This enhancement is more than just a checkbox on a release note; it’s a proactive safeguard designed to help you spot certificate issues before they escalate into business problems.

NAT Management Made Easy: See Every Translation

Network Address Translation (NAT) is foundational in today’s enterprise and cloud networks, yet NAT documentation often remains an afterthought, managed in spreadsheets or skipped entirely. This creates unnecessary complexity, security blind spots, and wasted IP resources. At LightMesh, we believe IP address management (IPAM) should include intuitive tools to track NAT configurations just as easily as subnets and IP assignments.

Monitoring Behind the Great Firewall

As Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) managing global infrastructure, we face unique challenges when serving users in mainland China. The Great Firewall of China creates a complex web of technical obstacles that can render even the most robust international websites slow, unreliable, or completely inaccessible to Chinese users.

CPU monitoring for network admins: Why it matters more than ever

In your role as a network administrator, maintaining smooth, uninterrupted system performance isn’t just a one-time task; it’s your daily mission. Whether you're managing hundreds of endpoints, virtual machines, or hybrid cloud environments, CPU monitoring is one of the most critical tools in your toolkit. Without it, diagnosing performance slowdowns, service lags, or outages becomes reactive guesswork.

What's New in Flowmon ADS 12.5?

In this webinar, we’ll introduce the new features, including: AI-Powered Threat Briefings – A new dashboard that correlates global threat intelligence with your network’s current and historical data. Enhanced Event Visualization – Dive into a redesigned event detail streamlining user experience Expert-level recommendations - Guided next steps for each detection, helping analysts of all skill levels validate and resolve incidents with confidence.

F5 Monitoring on Microsoft SCOM

As part of a recent customer project, we developed a custom F5 Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). This bespoke solution enables IT operations teams to monitor the performance, availability, and health of F5 infrastructure directly within the SCOM environment. It provides deep visibility into key metrics, helping ensure application delivery remains stable, secure, and efficient.

Next Level - Infrastructure Monitoring and Load Balancing

Next Level - Infrastructure Monitoring and Load Balancing; Are you getting the most out of these solutions? Modern network infrastructures are complex and yours is no different. As such, a load balancing solution is required to keep the servers up-and-running for both your customers and employees. The same goes for network traffic monitoring and analysis to understand and comprehend user behavior.

What a VPN Really Does for Business Protection

The business landscape never sleeps. It always thinks of different strategies that will not only help them thrive but also stay safe, as well. Safety, in general, should be something that every company, regardless of its size, must prioritize. There are lots of tools that entrepreneurs can leverage to secure their network, and one of the most effective ones, that's been widely spread across different industries, is a VPN. This is especially the case with remote settings.

What to Consider When Choosing a Router for Your Home or Office

Let's be honest, nobody gets excited about router shopping. It's a box with blinking lights that we'd rather set up and forget. But that little box is the gatekeeper to your entire digital world. When it works well, everything is smooth. When it doesn't, you're stuck staring at a buffering wheel during a movie finale or dropping out of an important video call.

See more, solve more with end-to-end network path tracing

Few things hold IT teams back more than a lack of visibility. It’s exponentially harder to solve issues when they originate in parts of the environment you can’t see. That’s one of the big limitations of native tools for monitoring and managing Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Call Quality Dashboard, Admin Center and Service Dashboard, and Meeting Room Pro Dashboard are all constrained to the aspects of Teams that Microsoft controls directly.

Inside Vulnerability Management: Live Demo & Roadmap

Explore what’s new — and what’s coming next — in Vulnerability Management for N-central and N-sight. Hosted by Product Manager Geoff Green, this session covers current capabilities, recent enhancements, and a look at the roadmap. Watch the live demo, hear how your feedback is shaping development, and get answers to top questions in the live Q&A. Now included in both N-central and N-sight RMM platforms.

Introducing Cause Analysis: Instant Triage for Traffic Changes with Kentik AI

Introducing Cause Analysis from Kentik, designed to simplify network traffic analysis and rapidly identify the root cause of issues. Learn how this exciting new feature streamlines troubleshooting, makes complex insights accessible, and boosts team efficiency for all users.

GPU Powerhouse: Scaling an AI Cloud in the Heart of Europe

The AI revolution needs more than models - it needs massive infrastructure. And Julien Gauthier is building it. In this episode of Uplink, Julien, CEO of Arkane Cloud, joins host Michael Reid to unpack how his company scaled from 3D rendering and gaming to delivering GPU cloud services for AI workloads across the globe. We explore how Arkane built a 1,000-GPU cluster in Paris (with capacity for 6,000), the rise of inference workloads in Europe, and the real-world engineering and business challenges of deploying high-density infrastructure - including cutting-edge liquid cooling handling 135kW per cabinet.

Top 10 Network Monitoring Tools to Boost Your IT Performance

In today's digital scene, a strong and secure network forms the foundation of any organization. When networks go down, face performance issues, or encounter security risks, companies can suffer big money losses and damage to their reputation. IT teams need network monitoring tools to stay on top of performance, spot problems, and keep things running. As AI, cloud-based answers, and automation get better, 2025 brings a bunch of powerful tools to make your IT setup work better.

A Guide to Effective Network Load Testing & Load Balancing

When it comes to network management, there are two challenges that are ever-present; ensuring optimal network performance and maintaining uninterrupted network connectivity. Network admins are the unsung heroes, diligently managing the digital highways that connect the modern world. To maintain the delicate balance between seamless user experience and network reliability, two crucial practices come to the forefront: Network Load Testing and Load Balancing.

Future-Proofing Government IT: Balancing Innovation, Security, and Sovereignty in a Changing World

Get a practical look at how Australian government IT leaders can future-proof infrastructure with flexible, sovereign-aligned connectivity. This blog was originally published on PublicSectorNetwork.com.au on 11th June 2025 and republished with permission. As digital transformation accelerates across the public sector, Australian government agencies face a complex challenge: how to modernize IT infrastructure while safeguarding sovereignty, strengthening security, and maintaining compliance.

How to fix high CPU temperature: A network admin's checklist

It’s 2 AM. Your phone buzzes. A critical server’s CPU is maxing out again. But this time, the issue isn’t just high usage. It’s heat. As a network admin, you’re trained to monitor traffic patterns, patch vulnerabilities, and respond to performance slowdowns. But high CPU temperature? That’s the silent system killer many still underestimate. Without a proactive plan, it can knock out performance, rack up hardware costs, and shorten the lifespan of your infrastructure.

Interacting With Log Data in Security Event Manager

SolarWinds Security Event Manager is designed to give users a centralized view of logs and events occurring across their network, and quickly and easily recall specific logs and identify suspicious patterns and behaviors in that data. This video gives a quick overview of the features in SEM, making it easy for users to view and interact with their log data.

The Benefits of Using Juniper's Network Monitoring Tools for IT Operations

More data means more complexities in IT networks. Hence, the right solution is needed to monitor such networks. Many companies struggle without the right tools, and they often lose great business opportunities because they are unable to identify performance-related issues upfront. Network monitoring is thus essential for business success. It helps build healthy network performance, saving companies money in the long run.

Watch RITA (Resolve IT Agent) fix VPN issues in seconds! #itautomation #ai #agenticai

Say goodbye to ticket chaos. Meet RITA. RITA (Resolve IT Agent) is your intelligent frontline assistant—built to deflect L1 tickets, resolve routine requests instantly, and slash MTTR across the board. In this live demo clip, watch Derek Pascarella, our Global Director of Sales Engineering, show how RITA fixes VPN issues in seconds—no human handoff, no ticket backlog. Ready to fast-track your journey to Zero Ticket IT? This is where it starts.

Harnessing Network Observability to Speed the Telco-to-Techco Transition

For telecommunications firms (telcos), the race is on. If these organizations are to rise to meet their top challenges and growth objectives, transformation is a must. Those who make this move most rapidly will be best positioned for sustained success. Today, telcos face several significant challenges, which are creating fundamental disruption: Telcos need to transform to contend with these shifts.

Farewell, Cherwell: Celebrations, Migrations, and Considerations

As Cherwell approaches end of life, IT service management (ITSM) teams are facing major decisions about what’s next. In this episode, SolarWinds host Sean Sebring sits down with Matt Neigh, a former Cherwell executive, and Michael Clark, a SolarWinds Solutions Engineer and former Cherwell admin, to reflect on Cherwell’s legacy, explore migration best practices, and discuss what to look for in a modern ITSM platform.

The Difference Between VPN and Proxies

Curious about securing your online presence? Understanding the difference between VPNs and proxies is crucial for protecting your data and maintaining privacy while browsing. Both offer solutions, but they work differently. VPNs encrypt your connection, while proxies mask your IP-each has unique benefits and limitations. For enhanced anonymity, consider using rotating residential proxies. They provide dynamic IP addresses, ensuring your online activities remain untraceable and secure.

Optimizing Data Center Networking: Best Practices for Choosing and Configuring Server NICs

In today's data-driven world, where cloud services, big data analytics, and high-performance computing are commonplace, the network interface card (NIC) plays a pivotal role in ensuring that your server can effectively communicate within the data center or with external clients. The rise of high-density computing environments and virtualized infrastructures has increased the demand for high-performance, scalable, and reliable NIC solutions.

In Case You Missed it: DX NetOps Active Experience Launched

There’s no doubt that managing networks today is a whole different ballgame than it used to be. Complexity is growing, environments are more fragmented, and user expectations have never been higher. One of the biggest challenges for network operations teams? Visibility—or the lack of it. Network operations used to be much simpler. Traffic flowed through your own data center, and you had the visibility and control needed to manage performance and troubleshoot issues.

What is Internet Jitter & How to Test It

If you’ve ever had a user complain that their video call was choppy or their VoIP call had weird delays, even though the Internet speed looked fine, you’ve probably run into Internet jitter. It’s one of those issues that doesn’t always show up on a speed test, but it can absolutely wreck real-time communication. And if you’re managing networks across remote offices, home setups, or hybrid work environments, you’ll want to keep an eye on it.

Getting Started with Traceroute

“Traceroute? You mean the thing I can type at the command line? Why would I even want to set up a test for that?” This is, believe it or not, a comment we hear a lot at Catchpoint. At least from folks who are either new to tech, new to monitoring, or new to Catchpoint (or all three). It’s a common misconception. It’s also something I’m not going to spend a ton of time addressing here. This blog is not meant to convince you why traceroute is super useful (even though it is).

7 Critical Insider Threat Indicators and How to Detect Them

Cybersecurity threats don’t come solely from external attackers. Insider threats also require your attention. Insider risk originates from employees, contractors or business partners who possess legitimate access to IT systems for their work tasks. They can access valuable data and systems that, if exposed or have some data stolen, could harm an organization’s reputation.

Telstra Programmable Network Is Being Discontinued. Here's How to Migrate

Learn how you can use Megaport to successfully migrate from TPN. Telstra has announced that its Telstra Programmable Network (TPN) service will be fully retired by January 2026, with key service milestones beginning as early as July 2025. But for teams that rely on TPN, this change doesn’t have to disrupt operations.

The Hidden Role of VLANs in Hybrid Cloud Security

Cloud security gets most of the attention these days, but what protects the connections underneath? Hybrid environments often rely on virtual bridges that go unnoticed. These hidden structures shape everything from access control to lateral movement. Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs), while often overlooked, play a key role in securing communication across on-prem and cloud networks.

How Network Configuration Automation Improves Security and Efficiency

Let’s face it: the modern enterprise network is a leviathan. No longer just a collection of routers and switches, today’s networks span multiple clouds, hundreds of SaaS applications, and countless IoT devices—supporting a workforce that could be anywhere.

The DigitalBridge Blueprint: Marc Ganzi on Power, Capital, and the AI Revolution | Uplink | Ep.10

What fuels the AI revolution, cloud expansion, and always-on connectivity? Infrastructure. In this episode of Uplink, host Michael Reid sits down with Marc Ganzi, CEO of DigitalBridge, to explore the rise of the digital infrastructure economy. With $100B+ in assets under management, Marc and his team are building the physical foundations of the internet—from hyperscale data centers to mobile towers and subsea cables.

Webinar Snippet: Internet Troubleshooting with Obkio's "Sandwich Method"

This is a snippet from our full webinar: “Troubleshooting Internet Issues: For Dummies & IT Pros” In this clip, we dive into Obkio’s Sandwich Method, a simple yet powerful approach to monitoring and identifying Internet issues. By placing Monitoring Agents: Inside your LAN At your firewall or in the DMZ And over the Internet…you can break your network into clear segments and pinpoint exactly where performance problems are happening — whether it’s local, at the network edge, or in the hands of your ISP.

Best Network Traffic Generator and Simulator Stress Test Tools

Benchmarking the environment of a new network is a crucial part of ensuring its success when it goes live. This includes stress testing and generating traffic on existing networks, both of which help you to identify any potentially flawed or vulnerable areas—for example, drops in connection and packet loss. As we know, network traffic is critical to the success of a business, as it determines how data flows and how effectively your applications interact.

AutoCon3: Network Automation's Premier Conference

AutoCon3 in Prague offered important takeaways on network automation’s evolution, from hands-on learning and design principles to the impact of AI and the power of community. Read Justin Ryburn’s recap to learn about key insights from the event, showing why network automation is now a core competency you’ll want to understand.

The role of network automation in AI-driven businesses

AI adoption is accelerating across nearly every industry. According to McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI report, 78% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, up from just 55% the year prior. From real-time analytics to generative tools and process automation, AI is becoming a fundamental part of how modern businesses operate and compete.

Monitor Your Kubernetes Cluster: Get Started in Four Minutes

For enterprises embracing Kubernetes, managing these intricate environments can pose significant challenges. Thankfully, monitoring of Kubernetes clusters is readily achievable using the Universal Monitoring Agent (UMA) in conjunction with DX Operational Observability (DX O2).

Verizon Discusses Network Transformation at Ribbon Insights

In a recent presentation, Verizon’s Steve Ownes discussed their strategic initiative to accelerate the decomissioning (decom) of TDM switches, underlining the significance of repurposing legacy infrastructures in favor of modern architectures. Ribbon’s guest Steve Owens kicks things off with a light-hearted reference to "Sanford and Son” showing how relics can be transformed into gold through effective management and innovation.

Could your Palo Alto firewall do more to protect you against Shadow AI?

In recent months, my conversations with fellow technology leaders have consistently revolved around two key themes: how we leverage AI to drive innovation and efficiency, and how we mitigate the inherent risks associated with AI. However, I’ve noticed a concerning gap – while enterprises are busy strategizing the adoption of AI to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and outpace competitors, very few are addressing how AI is being actively used today by their own teams.
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The Network-First Advantage: How Fabrix.ai Redefines Observability from the Ground Up

Modern enterprises today often find themselves in a peculiar predicament: they are drowning in a deluge of telemetry data—including logs, metrics, and traces—yet paradoxically remain blind to what truly matters. Despite making substantial investments in observability tools, teams frequently find themselves reacting to incidents rather than proactively preventing them, with alerts flooding dashboards often devoid of critical context.

Sustaining the demand for AI in Asia with investment in subsea cable infrastructure

Across the Asia Pacific region significant investment is going into new subsea cable infrastructure that will help sustain the long-term demand for AI. We’ve written a lot on this blog about the impact of AI on networks and how AI workloads require low latency, high-capacity data transfer. This in turn puts more pressure on existing network infrastructure and in particular subsea cable systems - which provide the global backbone for cloud platforms and data centres.

Achieving Comprehensive Network Observability for VMware Cloud Foundation

Private cloud infrastructure adoption is accelerating rapidly. This move is driven by the ongoing “cloud reset” as leaders rethink their hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, seeking greater control, security, and flexibility for their IT workloads. As a matter of fact, leaders in 69% of organizations are considering repatriating workloads, and one-third already have.

The Future of WAN Design Depends on Network as a Service (NaaS)

Megaport and AWS explore how Network as a Service (NaaS) transforms WAN design with cloud-native agility, on-demand provisioning, and GenAI-ready flexibility. Co-authored by: Rishi Katdare, Leader – AWS Core Networking & GTM, AWS Mokshith Kumar, Sr. GTM Specialist Solutions Architect – AWS Core Networking, AWS As enterprise architectures grow more distributed and cloud-native, traditional methods of building and managing Wide Area Networks (WANs) are reaching their limits.

Accelerate Network Automation with No-Code/Low-Code Tools

Discover how no-code/low-code platforms are transforming network automation. In this webinar, industry experts show how “citizen developers” can automate workflows without complex software projects. Live demo of no-code/low-code tools in action Real-world examples across the network operations lifecycle How AI supports smarter, faster automation Learn how to cut costs, streamline operations, and accelerate your automation journey—starting today.

Is it the network... or the CDN?

When performance issues strike, the finger pointing begins. But here's the catch: CDNs aren't just "someone else's responsibility." They directly impact the user experience, and if they're misbehaving, your network team will be the first to get the call. That’s why CDN monitoring is essential. CDNs are dynamic and performance can vary dramatically across regions, ISPs, or even end users. When something goes wrong, it looks like a network issue, unless you have visibility into CDN behavior.

The Mindset Shift: IT Operations to Security - SolarWinds TechPod 099

In this episode, hosts Sean Sebring and Chrystal Taylor engage with actual rock star Chris Greer, a Security Engineering Manager at SolarWinds, to explore the multifaceted world of cybersecurity. Chris shares his unconventional journey from being a musician to entering the IT field, emphasizing the importance of certifications and the mindset shift required when transitioning from IT operations to security.

How To: SLA Monitoring & Reporting: Are You Getting What You Paid For?

Are you tired of feeling like you're in the dark about the services you're paying for? Are you getting what you paid for? Many businesses are in the same boat when it comes to Service Level Agreement (SLA) monitoring and reporting. It’s great having an SLA (or Service-Level Agreement) for the provision of a service, but you need to go further to really understand if the standards specified in the SLA are actually being met. That’s where SLA monitoring and reporting comes in.

Understanding Bandwidth Requirements for Different Streaming Qualities

Have you ever eagerly anticipated watching a new episode of your favorite show, only to be met with the frustrating sight of a buffering icon? The key to smooth playback lies in one crucial element: streaming video bandwidth. Whether you're using a phone, tablet, or a 4K TV, understanding the bandwidth required for video streaming each second can mean the difference between enjoying crystal-clear action and enduring a stalled screen.

How Console Connect enhances AWS Direct Connect for global cloud connectivity

In today’s always-on, cloud-first world, it’s no surprise that enterprises are demanding greater reliability, stronger security, and faster performance from their network infrastructure. AWS meets these needs with AWS Direct Connect, offering a dedicated, private connection to AWS that bypasses the public internet.

Cisco Webex Edge Connect Launches on Megaport Voice and Video Exchange

Get superior performance for your business collaboration with Cisco Webex Edge Connect, now available on Megaport Voice and Video Exchange (VVx). In distributed workplaces, the difference between productive collaboration and frustrating delays comes down to one critical factor: connection quality. When meetings matter, whether they’re daily standups or critical client presentations, the underlying network performance directly determines success.

Steve Owens of Verizon Discusses TDM Switch Decommissioning at Ribbon Insights 2024

The video discusses Verizon’s strategic approach to accelerating the decommissioning (decom) of legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) switches. The speaker emphasizes the importance of TDM switch decom in reducing power consumption, cutting expenses, complying with regional climate regulations, and reclaiming valuable technical space. A key driver for Verizon is the steep costs associated with maintaining aging infrastructure under increasingly stringent local carbon emission laws, particularly in the Northeast Corridor.

Sovereignty, Liquid Cooling, and the New Infrastructure Hierarchy with Gavin Dudley

The AI revolution is here, and data centers are its beating heart! Gone are the days of data centers being just overlooked IT infrastructure; they are now the "cool kids on the block," essential for powering the most significant technological shift of our generation.

DX Operational Observability: Five New, Powerful Capabilities

DX Operational Observability (DX O2), our next-gen AIOps and Observability product, continues to provide new features and enhancements for practitioners across IT. DX O2 delivers a host of enhancements designed to empower IT operations, DevOps, and SRE teams. In this post, I introduce five powerful enhancements, outline steps to get started, and describe some of the benefits, which include deeper insights, improved efficiencies, and a more unified observability experience. Here are the five enhancements.

Why Does Your Network Get Blamed When Trouble Lies Beyond the Firewall?

The familiar scene unfolds: Critical applications are sluggish, user complaints are mounting, and the IT war room is buzzing. Eyes quickly dart towards the network team. It’s an almost instinctual reaction. But what happens when the problem isn't within the corporate LAN or even the data center? What if the real culprit lurks somewhere in the vast, untamed wilderness of the internet, a cloud provider's backbone, or a third-party SaaS application’s infrastructure?

Comparison of the Best and Most Popular NoSQL Databases

Traditional databases store data in structured tables, whereas NoSQL (non-SQL) databases use more flexible, non-tabular storage methods. NoSQL databases can store a wider range of data types, including document stores, wide columns, key-value stores, and graphs. These databases first emerged in the late 2000s to support massive horizontal scaling and high-throughput workloads for web applications.

How LoRaWAN Sensors Support Businesses of All Sizes

In an era where digital transformation is reshaping the business landscape, companies are seeking innovative solutions to enhance efficiency and decision-making. LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) sensors have emerged as a powerful tool for organizations of all sizes, providing a cost-effective way to collect and utilize data. These sensors can monitor everything from environmental conditions to asset status, offering insightful analytics that can drive informed decisions and operational improvements.

How to Fix Latency Spikes in WAN and LAN Networks

Even a few seconds of delay in your network can be the difference between closing a deal on a video call, or watching it buffer into oblivion. These delays, known as latency spikes, are unpredictable surges in the time it takes for data to travel across your network. Whether you're running a cloud-based CRM, managing VoIP calls across offices, or supporting remote teams on Microsoft Teams or Zoom, latency spikes can disrupt productivity, hinder performance, and lead to a flood of support tickets.

Identifying Idle Paths in a Data Center Leaf-Spine Fabric

In leaf-spine data center networks, traffic often becomes imbalanced, leaving some uplinks idle and resulting in wasted bandwidth. Kentik helps engineers identify underutilized paths, diagnose the causes, and take corrective action using enriched telemetry, visual topology maps, and intelligent alerts, turning hidden inefficiencies into actionable insights.

Regulation Nation: The what, when, why and how of the new CMMC for MSPs

As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is ramping up efforts to ensure that contractors and their vendors adhere to robust security standards. One of the key initiatives driving this transformation is the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). But what does CMMC mean for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and IT shops, and how can you ensure your business is prepared to meet these new compliance requirements?