Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Agent-based and agentless monitoring are the two main approaches network monitoring tools use to capture and report data from network devices. As the names suggest, the difference between the two is pretty simple: someone has to install extra software(the agent) for agent-based monitoring to work. But, that doesn’t explain why an IT team or an MSP would choose agent-based or agentless monitoring.

I’ve written extensively about the technical aspects to consider when expanding your horizons and embracing the Mac platform. What I haven’t covered much up to now is why. Why bother learning an entirely new skillset, targeted at supporting a minority platform, when you’ve got your hands full just keeping up with Windows?

In today’s Geo Economics and a truly globalized world, it has become easier for products and services to reach consumers and industry alike. To reach the customers and consumers directly can be expensive and an operational challenge as it would require a large workforce to sell, deploy, and service the products/ services. For a growing organization, the initial focus is towards acquiring customers, expanding market reach, providing a good customer experience, and containing costs at the same time.

A while back, we wrote about the differences between backup and data protection. While the points made there are still valid, the industry’s definitions of these terms have continued to evolve, as has our thinking on the topic. At N-able, we’ve settled on a definition shared by analyst firm William Blair in a recent report: data protection solutions should include backup, disaster recovery, and archiving/retention of backups.

Microsoft’s OneDrive has proven itself a reliable platform to store and share files, and considering its ubiquity among Windows users, it’s often a small business owner’s first foray into leveraging the cloud for their operational needs. That familiarity leads many end users to wonder if OneDrive can be more than a file storage and sharing app -- could OneDrive also help me backup and protect my files?

The help desk can be both a vital part of a user’s experience and help to increase revenue, especially if it operates efficiently. Sitecore reports that you can triple a return on investment if you invest in help desks. Help desk reporting is an excellent tool used to identify ways to improve your help desk.

You’ve been waiting and planning all year. The sunscreen is packed, the neighbors have a spare key to water the plants while you are away, you made sure to set your out-of-office notifications, and emergency contact information has been updated. It is time for vacation season!

If you have been following the financial news lately, you have surely become all too familiar with the challenging economic conditions that have emerged in 2022. As rising inflationary concerns put pressure on the bottom line, decision makers within businesses of all sizes are suddenly having to re-evaluate strategies, forecasts, and expenses. This pivot to a more conservative outlook is not unlike the approach adopted by businesses at the onset of COVID-19.

There is no escape from the need for patch management and updates. It is true that operating systems and software vendors are getting better, faster, and more efficient about how they make and deploy patches. However, for businesses, patch management remains a time-consuming necessity that has big impacts on security, compliance, and day-to-day operations for IT teams and the businesses they serve.