Manage

Manage

Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.

• How many Hyper-V virtual processors should I configure per VM?

  There isn't a set number of virtual processors you should configure for a Hyper-V VM, but there are steps you can take to ensure your workloads receive enough processor resources. Continue Reading

• Kubernetes books put container deployments on the right track

  Whether you're tasked to set up and manage or deploy applications with Kubernetes, these books offer guidance and support. Co-author Brendan Burns shares insights from the texts. Continue Reading

• Data center monitoring best practices simplify software choice

  Metrics are essential to keep any data center operating smoothly. With monitoring software and best practices, admins can simplify their workflows and get usable data. Continue Reading

• Thorough Exchange Server testing regimen eliminates doubt

  Don't assume your Exchange 2016 implementation will work because you bought the right gear. Follow these pointers to execute a successful Exchange 2016 migration project. Continue Reading

• Organize Active Directory with these strategies

  Administrators tasked with cleaning up the Active Directory user group structure need not search any further. Use these tips to avoid Active Directory maintenance headaches. Continue Reading

• Manage Switch Embedded Teaming in Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V

  You can create and manage a Switch Embedded Team in Hyper-V using just a few PowerShell commands, but there are specific requirements and limitations you should be aware of.Continue Reading

• How to adapt API management for serverless architecture

  It's critical to understand what will happen to legacy APIs when you transition to a serverless architecture. Discover how to properly adapt API management for this new paradigm.Continue Reading

• Map hybrid cloud applications to your VPN address spaces

  Enterprise networks can easily become your Achilles' heel in hybrid cloud. Follow this advice to effectively manage your VPN, as well as scale and redeploy hybrid cloud apps.Continue Reading

• Who needs a multi-cloud environment and how best to deploy one

  Multi-cloud deployments let IT pick and choose among services from a variety of cloud providers to meet the storage and workload requirements of specific business units.Continue Reading

• Use Sysprep to generalize Hyper-V VMs for rapid deployment

  Microsoft's Sysprep tool enables rapid Hyper-V VM configuration and deployment through image generalization. Use commands to speed up configuration and disaster recovery.Continue Reading

• Small-scale infrastructure testing requires transparency

  Use small-scale tests for a cheaper alternative to expensive, duplicate test environments, but be wary of limitations, such as hardware functionality and performance.Continue Reading

• Container applications need backup: Who knew?

  The concept of containers, ephemeral applications running across private and public clouds, has grown in popularity over the last few years. It has quickly become clear that the transient nature of containers and container applications isn't ...Continue Reading

• Build an AWS incident response plan in 4 key steps

  Enterprises should develop and test an incident response plan for an AWS deployment -- before a hack ever occurs. Follow these four steps to get started.Continue Reading

• Unpacking the event-driven microservices approach

  Event-driven applications can be beneficially combined with microservices architectures, and finding the best method to merge them relies on analyzing orchestration options.Continue Reading

• Think practically about software modernization

  Does your software modernization project have the wrong goals? This blog post takes a look at common drivers for modernization and how software teams should deal with legacy apps.Continue Reading

• How to get the most out of automation in the cloud

  Getting the most out of a cloud deployment will almost certainly require some automation and orchestration. And that will require some specific actions on your part.Continue Reading

• Let cloud orchestration tools do the hard work

  A smart cloud strategy requires a smart automation strategy. These steps will help position your cloud to benefit from automation and orchestration technologies.Continue Reading

• Security in open source software isn't automatic

  Just how much time and effort should you commit to securing all that open source code your organization makes use of? Probably more than you are now.Continue Reading

• OSS security requires DIY scrutiny, not trusting 'many eyes'

  How many ways can hackers exploit the security flaws in open source? Cybersecurity experts count the ways and the approaches that can prevent costly security breaches.Continue Reading

• Enable rapid provisioning of VMs with SCVMM SAN copy

  Achieve VM rapid provisioning with SCVMM by creating a SAN copy template from either an existing or new VM. Then select the required options when deploying the template to the host.Continue Reading

• Easily read a log file in Linux with command-line tools

  Depending on the specific Linux distribution you use, there is a variety of commands to help you locate, read and search log files within related program components.Continue Reading

• Build a CI/CD pipeline to simplify multi-cloud deployment

  While some cloud providers support simple app deployment processes and tools, they could hinder a multi-cloud model. Fortunately, there are some workarounds.Continue Reading

• An OpenStack management guide for the enterprise

  The OpenStack platform brings unique management challenges for IT teams. Use this essential guide to break down the key do's and don'ts of OpenStack management in the enterprise.Continue Reading

• To secure AWS, a human touch goes a long way

  Even with recent advancements around cloud automation, security and resiliency still require a human touch. Sharpen your skills to keep AWS disruption-free.Continue Reading

• Mind the feature gaps in the PowerShell open source project

  Administrators who switch to the cross-platform version of PowerShell might find it challenging to use, but there are several ways to cope with a transition from Windows PowerShell.Continue Reading

• Run code complexity tools and Java coverage tests with Maven

  No software should go into production without complete test coverage. Here, we look at how to install Maven and use it to run code complexity tools and ensure full Java code coverage.Continue Reading

• Build a virtualized development environment with these guidelines

  Save time and stress by designing virtualized test environments that include migration preparation and sandbox testing, and that, in certain cases, mix test and production hardware.Continue Reading

• Use load tests to balance IT capacity management and QoE

  Simply throwing more resources at an application won't solve scaling issues. IT ops pros must take the time to chart the relationship between IT capacity and software performance.Continue Reading

• Mastering PowerShell commands for Exchange by the book

  This book works through common scenarios administrators face when managing Exchange Server 2016 and explains how to tackle them with PowerShell scripts.Continue Reading

• The storage administrator skills you need to keep up today

  To meet changing enterprise IT needs, storage admins must acquire a new set of skills. If not, they risk being bogged down in an outmoded, outdated career rut.Continue Reading

• Container cluster management tools ease cloud operations

  Container ops is full of hurdles, even in the cloud. Managed Kubernetes services from the major providers offer a wealth of services to float a process along more easily.Continue Reading

• Three AWS budget challenges that plague enterprises

  Based on their size, companies face unique challenges around budget management in the cloud. Follow this expert advice to keep your costs in check.Continue Reading

• Network engineering skills should include software fluency

  Network engineers need to rethink their network engineering skills and embrace software fluency training to meet business needs for modern network infrastructure.Continue Reading

• Don't let scalability ruin a cloud cost management strategy

  Scalability is one of the cloud's biggest advantages, but misuse of the feature can cost you. Pay special attention to these three rules to avoid unwanted billing surprises.Continue Reading

• Hadoop cluster configuration best practices streamline workflows

  Organizations that deal with a variety of Hadoop configurations can streamline workflows through baseline configuration, tests and site-specific configuration files.Continue Reading

• Implement AWS billing alerts to stay on budget

  AWS offers compute power at your fingertips, but cloud resources can quickly drive up costs if users aren't careful. Stay within your budget with AWS billing alarms and metrics.Continue Reading

• How do I convert VMDK to VHDX using PowerShell commands?

  Download and install Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter to gain access to several PowerShell commands that enable VMware VMDK to Hyper-V VHDX conversions.Continue Reading

• Self-service automation gives WLA maximum power

  Users don't want to wait for an admin to run a report. Admins don't want to drop their work to do it. Set parameters on self-service options and let workers help themselves.Continue Reading

• Learn how to install Jenkins CI to enhance your DevOps skills

  In this video tutorial, we demonstrate how to install Jenkins CI, and subsequently run a simple build job. It's a first step to acquire key DevOps skills.Continue Reading

• Managing storage for IoT data at the enterprise edge

  Edge computing, the cloud and internet of things data are changing the way businesses store, analyze and manage all the information generated at the perimeter of the enterprise.Continue Reading

• A brain teaser to plan for, design and manage APIs

  As organizations shift toward the use of distributed architectures, an increased use of APIs is bound to follow. Take this quiz and test your knowledge on how to plan, design and manage APIs.Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of serverless architecture

  The serverless trend may hold advantages for developers, but consider the trade-offs. There are many aspects of serverless computing that developers should understand.Continue Reading

• Improve the rapid application development model for deployment readiness

  Get a better understanding of the top three areas in IT to improve a rapid application development model. Expert Tom Nolle discusses the future of RAD and DevOps.Continue Reading

• SIEM benefits include automated monitoring, malware mitigation

  SIEM tools deliver automated alert actions, normalize log data and provide intelligent filtering, all of which can help IT administrators lighten their workloads.Continue Reading

• Expedite Ansible KVM provisioning with automation

  Creating KVM virtual machines with virsh and virt-install can be onerous. Use Ansible to automate deployment with templates and modules or to extend to functions like cloning.Continue Reading

• Hadoop cluster capacity planning best practices

  Trying to calculate Hadoop cluster capacities isn't always straightforward. It's important for organizations to include IOPS and compression rates in their predictions.Continue Reading

• Navigate the AWS Lambda lifecycle to give functions a tuneup

  Concurrency limits and cold starts affect the performance of Lambda functions. Gain a deeper understanding of how the service really works to cut down on unnecessary delays.Continue Reading

• How a SaaS provider made microservices deployment safely chaotic

  Remind was blindsided by performance issues with its microservices-based SaaS, until the company decided to sabotage its own product -- at scheduled times, in staging -- with a different kind of test.Continue Reading

• Manage KVM at scale with these best practices

  KVM management is easy when VM density is low, but managing hundreds or thousands of VMs can present a challenge. Plan ahead, configure the right drivers and optimize for scale.Continue Reading

• The ops team's role in securing IT infrastructure and apps

  Organizations prioritize security, even as they deploy workloads to the cloud and adopt new dev methods. How do these trends change the IT ops team's security responsibilities?Continue Reading

• Failover cluster quorum considerations for Windows admins

  Microsoft introduced Cloud Witness in Windows Server 2016, which adds a new wrinkle to its quorum model for failover clusters, but it might not be a good fit for some enterprises.Continue Reading

• Which IT security roles fall to the ops team?

  To help secure data and applications, an IT ops team needs to do much more than put up firewalls and apply other traditional security measures. Here's where to begin.Continue Reading

• Blue/green deployment on the cloud makes updates easier

  App deployment in the cloud operates differently than it does on physical infrastructure. The blue/green deployment model has a couple variations, each of which can save on time and errors.Continue Reading

• The importance of staying up to date with Wi-Fi training

  Wireless networking is changing at breakneck speeds, but Wi-Fi training isn't keeping up. Find out why firms must pay more attention to ensuring engineers are properly trained.Continue Reading

• Rotate AWS access keys to boost cloud security

  Access key rotation helps an enterprise avoid security lapses, and you can do it without disrupting your cloud environment. Follow these five steps to secure cloud access.Continue Reading

• Composable architecture keeps hardware flexibility

  With composable systems, an IT admin can get more choice from the devices on the back end and more choice on the devices it delivers the virtualized resources to.Continue Reading

• Data center operations best practices checklist

  Independent experts guide you to better data center operations with tips and advice on best practices and the right management tools.Continue Reading

• AFA storage tackles big data analytics challenges

  The latest generation of all-flash array storage is delivering the high performance and low latency required to support petabyte-scale big data analytics workloads.Continue Reading

• A proper DevOps feedback loop includes business leaders

  What the modern IT organization needs isn't DevOps -- it's BizDevOps. IT exists to serve the business, but that relationship must be fully reciprocal.Continue Reading

• Salary snapshot: What is a lead DevOps engineer paid today?

  Our monthly salary snapshot looks at lead DevOps engineer salaries, which are high and getting higher due to the worsening developer shortage. Here's how the paychecks stack up.Continue Reading

• Is IT workload management easier on software-defined infrastructure?

  Our IT organization uses deployment automation, monitoring tools and virtualized resources. What do we need to do to manage IT workloads?Continue Reading

• Three multi-cloud deployment tactics that work

  Use standardization, as well as a centralized management tool and independent monitoring tool, to deploy a multi-cloud environment that's easy and efficient to manage.Continue Reading

• What are the options for log management in Linux?

  Linux administrators should use syslog and systemd-journald together for smart log analysis. But there are also open source log management tools to consider.Continue Reading

• How data center interconnect technologies shape WAN performance

  Latency, congestion and sluggish TCP stacks can plague application performance, but understanding data center interconnect technologies is key.Continue Reading

• Who put the AI in software?

  With artificial intelligence, anything seems possible. And that leaves a whole lot of room for the imagination to wonder about how the use of AI in software tools can change how the work gets done -- and who does it.

  The anxiety is ...Continue Reading

• Master application scalability in cloud computing alongside devs

  Just because cloud scales endlessly doesn't mean every component in an application should, too. Teams throw money away and degrade app performance when ops isn't involved in design and test.Continue Reading

• How proper networking supports microservices security

  Security shouldn't be an afterthought when it comes to microservices. Learn about the challenges of microservices security and how strong network management can help.Continue Reading

• Resolve issues between Python and Linux with virtualenv

  While Linux OSes favor Python 2, Python 3 is the widely preferred version. Install virtualenv to isolate Python 2 and 3 and prevent IT issues.Continue Reading

• Compare management options for Google Kubernetes Engine

  Google supports various management options for its Kubernetes Engine service, and while each has its pros and cons, you should base your decision largely on experience.Continue Reading

• What's new in private cloud management?

  To have a successful private cloud deployment, consider your goals, address security and scalability needs, and incorporate private cloud management tools.Continue Reading

• Monitoring thresholds determine IT performance alerts

  An IT monitoring strategy depends on the applications and systems it governs. Static and dynamic thresholds each have benefits and drawbacks, but it's possible to find a balance.Continue Reading

• Azure PowerShell cmdlets monitor, manage VMs

  PowerShell gives administrators a way to customize reports that hone in on the details that matter to the business, such as the configuration of production VMs.Continue Reading

• Enable resource metering in Hyper-V to collect usage data

  Easily monitor resource utilization for your Hyper-V VMs by first enabling the resource metering feature and then collecting data with a few PowerShell commands.Continue Reading

• Accounting for cloud computing costs requires a new approach

  As cloud waste takes a big bite out of IT budgets, cloud administrators must shift their spending mindsets and consider management tools to help avoid unnecessary costs.Continue Reading

• Moving data from a monolith to microservices architecture

  Monolithic apps may contain a wealth of data within them. Moving to microservices means you need a plan for storing, accessing and backing up in a microservice database.Continue Reading

• Try these Salt commands to master the config management tool

  The command line is an IT administrator's best friend. Salt users should try these commands to understand how the configuration management tool works.Continue Reading

• Migrate virtual machines from development to production

  Administrators must prepare carefully before moving test or development VMs to production. Check connectivity, security, compliance and licensing before beginning a migration.Continue Reading

• Become an infrastructure developer to get code to production faster

  Wondering where to take your IT career in a future that is increasingly software-defined? Learn the role of an infrastructure developer from one expert with experience in the field.Continue Reading

• Hunt zombie VMs and control virtualization sprawl

  VM tagging is an effective tactic for discovering and eliminating zombie VMs. Cut useless VMs, redundant data and confusing configurations to enable efficient resource consumption and limit VM sprawl.Continue Reading

• Early adopters face AWS Lambda cost management challenges

  Serverless computing abstracts away infrastructure management responsibilities, but some customers find that this convenience comes with a price that's not easy to estimate or manage.Continue Reading

• IT's application support model depends on everyone outside IT

  IT wants to reduce application outages, boost performance and make users more productive. The best way to achieve these goals is to welcome outsiders onto the app support team.Continue Reading

• Migrating public folders requires extensive planning

  Do your homework to find the right option for public folders when making a move to Exchange Online. Here are guidelines to help you navigate the requirements and limitations.Continue Reading

• Seven ways to unlock the power of all types of unstructured data

  New storage services have emerged to help IT pros maintain and deliver access to ever-larger and more valuable data sets, particularly all types of unstructured data. These include data sets for big data analysis, DevOps, storage self-service and ...Continue Reading

• How to get the full benefits from NVMe flash storage

  Consolidate and increase the density of your organization's workloads in a flash storage system to take full advantage of NVMe's parallelism and reduced latency.Continue Reading

• Learn storage techniques for managing unstructured data use

  Rearchitect storage to maximize unstructured data use at the global scale for larger data sets coming from big data analytics and other applications.Continue Reading

• SaltStack Enterprise GUI features outreach Salt Open territory

  For enterprise IT shops that require a mix of reports on systems, and audit compliance, SaltStack Enterprise offers more than the pure open source version of Salt.Continue Reading

• The end of Moore's law for SSD performance

  SSDs are seeing diminishing returns as Moore's law ends and quantum effects set in. Multilayers and more bits per cell are temporary fixes, but both have drawbacks.Continue Reading

• Network data analysis driving business intelligence

  According to a study from Enterprise Management Associates, network data analysis tools are now being used by enterprises to deliver valuable information to business units.Continue Reading

• How to secure a multi-cloud architecture

  If they don't already, most organizations will soon have resources deployed to more than one cloud. That requires an aggressive strategy and multiple levels of security.Continue Reading

• How to list the Hyper-V virtual processors configured for VMs

  To see virtual processors configured for VMs on the local host, execute a simple PowerShell command. For vCPUs configured for VMs on remote servers, a script is needed.Continue Reading

• Build the Kubernetes home lab that's right for your job

  Kubernetes and the growing number of commercial container management tools based on it require specialized skills and experience from the application to the infrastructure.Continue Reading

• Follow this Minikube tutorial to brew up a Kubernetes home lab

  Set up a Minikube home lab, and begin exploring Kubernetes container orchestration before the coffee in your mug turns cold.Continue Reading

• Learn Kubernetes infrastructure in a personal lab

  Live servers are not the place to build up Kubernetes skills. Instead, set up a Kubernetes cluster, and start experimenting with it on a laptop in a lab.Continue Reading

• Use the Hyper-V QoS feature to manage storage IOPS

  Quality of service addresses storage IOPS limitations by enabling administrators to stipulate a minimum and maximum IOPS value for a virtual hard disk.Continue Reading

• Enable and disable vTPM on Hyper-V VMs with PowerShell cmdlets

  If you don't have Guarded Fabric or Shielded VMs, which have the Trusted Platform Module feature built-in, you need to manually enable virtual TPM for your Hyper-V VMs using PowerShell.Continue Reading

• Automated continuous deployment tools produce successful code

  Continuous deployment skips the operations oversight step in software production. So, automated tools must ensure code success in administrators' stead -- before mistakes go live.Continue Reading

• Manually initiate the Hyper-V replication failover process

  Hyper-V replication failover only requires two steps. But before you initiate failover, perform some tests to ensure the recovery point has consistent data.Continue Reading

• Five tips for testing with mobile app developer tools

  Mobile app developer tools can alleviate the confusion of mobile test projects. Here are five strategies to consider if you're in the midst of testing complications.Continue Reading

• Three steps to plan a self-service IT portal that actually works

  There's no point to a self-service IT portal if the offerings are out of touch with how its users conduct business or the instant builds are on hold while additional capacity spins up.Continue Reading

• Get the most out of continuous testing with Jenkins

  With dev cycles shrinking all the time, Jenkins' compatibility continues to evolve. Set up Jenkins for effective CI/CD with quality plug-ins that enable continuous testing.Continue Reading