Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Putting machines to work to enhance our everyday lives has been well-ingrained in our society for at least a couple of centuries now. IT workers use machine learning (ML) in their daily work routines, even if they don’t consciously realize it. Automated email alerts, issue escalations, and security patching are just a few examples of how ML has put the systems we rely on to work for us.

When a disaster occurs, the ability to successfully restore SQL Server databases is fundamental for avoiding data loss. It’s not enough to rely on hardware and software technologies to replicate data because these technologies can go wrong or there can be multiple failures during a disaster, meaning you have to rely on backups to recover. SQL Server allows multiple types of backups, and a multitude of options to use with those backups.

Storage is one of the most critical components for any relational database management system, and getting the right storage configuration affects reliability, availability, and performance. When it comes to SQL Server storage best practices, choosing between storage hardware options has changed significantly over the last decade, but that doesn’t necessarily make choosing the correct storage options for SQL Server any easier.

WordPress is the most dominant content management system (CMS) in the enterprise website market today. Its open-source nature, thousands of plugins, and wide adoption by commercial hosting providers have bolstered its success. In addition, it’s highly compatible with other website technologies like web servers, database servers, or middleware.

Software providers everywhere are under attack by cyber threat actors. Whether it’s a ransomware, the latest zero-day exploit, or a highly sophisticated, well-resourced, and persistent supply chain like SUNBURST, our entire industry faces an increasingly treacherous threat landscape, and nearly every news day brings with it another wave of announcements and urgent system updates to be made.

When considering whether to add more applications or monitoring components to your IT system, the answer should always be quality over quantity. Agencies often fall into the trap of application sprawl by adding more and more to their systems—more applications, more tools—without realizing this actually has the potential to reduce system effectiveness. Instead of simply adding more apps, consider instead interoperable ones, or ones you can plug into a common platform.

Tired of monolithic WordPress? Are your front-end developers frustrated with the limitations of monolithic WordPress and constrained by PHP templates? Headless WordPress could be the answer you’re looking for.

Every network has a specific collection of nodes and links that connect them. The arrangement of those nodes and links, or the network topology, informs performance, maintenance costs, and more. You should know the network topology models in use today when designing or managing a network, including the ring, mesh, bus, star, and tree topologies.

Collecting and archiving logs is an essential practice for any organization looking to maintain the performance and security of their network. Logs are like a diary for your devices. They record every message sent from any of your network systems. This information can prove essential for everything from understanding the daily activities of your infrastructure, to improving functionality across your platforms, to identifying and troubleshooting issues.

IT Pro Day is here, and it feels like the new year in IT! It’s a time to reflect on lessons from the past year and celebrate your achievements while setting goals for the season ahead. The theme for this year, Bring IT On, feels especially appropriate as we’ve been in the Year of the Ox. According to the Chinese zodiac, the ox is known as the “good helper” symbolizing strength, diligence, and persistence. I can’t think of a better sign that embodies IT pros.