Tips

Tips

• 7 techniques for better Agile requirements gathering

  Avoid headaches when you gather software requirements. Learn these seven Agile techniques to understand requirements without reverting to Waterfall.  Continue Reading

• Perform a NSX-V to NSX-T migration with Migration Coordinator

  Learn how you can migrate from NSX-V, VMware's NSX for vSphere, to NSX-T, the primary version of NSX. An automated move or greenfield migration depends on your current setup.  Continue Reading

• How to work with custom low-code application components

  No- and low-code development platforms meet more enterprise app needs when they're customized. However, custom work can mean just as much programming as before you bought the tool.  Continue Reading

• Craft an application integration strategy and pick the best tool

  Application integration is easier said than done. Learn how to navigate this challenging process -- particularly, if you're integrating legacy applications with new applications.  Continue Reading

• How to use PowerShell in CI/CD pipelines

  PowerShell has many uses in CI/CD pipelines. Before DevOps teams dive in, they need to grasp the automation tool's scope, from cloud management to infrastructure testing.  Continue Reading

• VMware vCenter, vSphere pricing and licensing guide

  VMware licenses and prices both vSphere and vCenter in various ways depending on the desired support, the size of the environment and the required functionality.  Continue Reading

• What VMware's Nyansa acquisition means for SD-WAN

  VMware's Nyansa acquisition brings new AI and machine learning capabilities to its networking suite. However, it could apply what Nyansa brings to the table to other areas.  Continue Reading

• Compare on-premises migration to cloud server migration

  A cloud migration is not too different from an on-premises server-to-server migration. Compare the two processes before you organize and implement your plan.  Continue Reading

• 4 disadvantages of hyper-converged infrastructure systems

  Problems with scalability and cloud compatibility can create major issues for organizations that want to deploy hyper-converged infrastructure systems.  Continue Reading

• NVMe Zoned Namespace lowers costs and improves performance

  The new zoned storage interface capitalizes on NAND flash capabilities to let host software communicate with NAND storage to better align workloads with SSD storage.  Continue Reading

• An intro to Nutanix Flow software-defined networking for HCI

  Learn how Flow SDN brings network policy and management services to Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure through the automation and streamlining of common networking operations.  Continue Reading

• GitKraken vs. Sourcetree: Pick a Git GUI that fits dev needs

  Git GUIs give developers a visual means to manipulate source code repositories. Learn why GitKraken and Sourcetree are popular options among developers, and where each stands out.  Continue Reading

• Get the most out of cloud caching appliances and gateways

  Cloud storage caching can reduce performance-sapping latency. See how these appliances work, alternative approaches, in-demand features and the various products available.  Continue Reading

• A comparison of 6 top programming languages

  Choosing the right programming language can be tough. We place six popular languages head to head: Python vs. Ruby, Kotlin vs. Swift and Erlang vs. Elixir.  Continue Reading

• How persistent container storage works -- and why it matters

  Persistent storage retains data when a device is shut off. And for containers -- inherently stateless and ephemeral -- this type of storage is critical for deployments.  Continue Reading

• Learn how to deploy the Bottlerocket container OS in EKS

  Bottlerocket is an open source, Linux-based container OS. Explore its role in AWS containerization and how it fits alongside EKS.  Continue Reading

• Follow this Dockerfile tutorial to create a dev environment

  Containers can help establish consistent dev environments. In this step-by-step tutorial, learn how to write a Dockerfile and run containerized applications.  Continue Reading

• Compare hybrid clouds: AWS Outposts vs. Azure Stack vs. Google Anthos

  Azure Stack, AWS Outposts and Google Anthos all have similar objectives but operate in different ways. Find out which hybrid cloud platform offers the right model for your company.  Continue Reading

• How to secure a home network for remote workforces

  Remote workers rarely achieve the same network security at home that offices provide. Yet, with the right tools, remote workers can efficiently learn how to secure a home network.  Continue Reading

• How to prevent accidental complexity in software development

  Software products contain both essential and accidental complexity. To fight accidental complexity, avoid overambitious designs, coding flaws and other common problem areas.  Continue Reading

• The basics and benefits of lights-out management

  For remote IT capabilities, lights-out management tools enable admins to power servers off and on, monitor temperatures and remediate potential operational issues.  Continue Reading

• Essential serverless concepts to master before deployment

  Serverless computing can be incredibly beneficial -- but easily misunderstood. Before adoption, have a clear understanding of proper use cases and app design principles.  Continue Reading

• IT asset retirement in the data center

  Is your data center equipment starting to show signs of aging? These performance metrics can evaluate hardware health and help you decide if assets should be maintained or retired.  Continue Reading

• Work-from-home infrastructure HCI tips for VDI, remote desktops

  Best practices, tips for designing a hyper-converged infrastructure to support virtual desktops for remote workers in today's coronavirus-accentuated, work-from-home environment.  Continue Reading

• Troubleshoot Linux kernel panic with the kdump crash tool

  Kernel panic renders your system useless. With an NFS server and kdump crash tool, you can easily perform a root cause analysis and figure out how to bring a system back online.  Continue Reading

• An overview of Knative use cases, benefits and challenges

  Knative might be more complex than a serverless platform in the public cloud, but for IT shops already committed to Kubernetes and microservices, it could be worth the leap.  Continue Reading

• Enable AMD-V in BIOS to remediate error codes

  If admins are experiencing error codes due to AMD-V being disabled, they can easily remediate this issue by entering BIOS and reenabling the virtualization extension.  Continue Reading

• Effective QA practices for RPA bot maintenance

  Effective RPA QA ensures your bots don't go haywire. Learn how RPA bots fail, effective QA workflows to fix them, and how, when and where human testers should get involved.  Continue Reading

• Pay-as-you-go storage consumption and its challenges

  Consumption-based storage has benefits, but it also has challenges, including what it is, unknowns about its future, and control and cost issues. Here's what you need to know.  Continue Reading

• Top 5 benefits of Jenkins for CI/CD pipelines

  Many software teams continue to use open source Jenkins for CI/CD, despite other platforms on the market. Here's how Jenkins fits what teams look for in CI/CD tools.  Continue Reading

• How to set up a new business network

  Building a new network can be complicated, but IT teams can ease the design process and future management by choosing the right architecture and documenting each decision.  Continue Reading

• Active Directory replication troubleshooting tips and tools

  When replication between domain controllers breaks down, just about everything else will grind to a halt. These utilities can help pinpoint the Active Directory issues.  Continue Reading

• Choose the best programming language for DevOps workflows

  DevOps is a rapidly evolving set of technologies and practices; choosing the right programming language -- or languages -- makes a big difference in terms of functionality, efficiency and speed.  Continue Reading

• Top software documentation tools and how to use them

  The best software documentation helps frame development projects and improve existing offerings. Learn the ins and outs of popular software documentation types and tools.  Continue Reading

• How to choose a long-term data archiving services vendor

  When evaluating archiving services, you must determine what you need to archive, requirements around that data and how to make the most cost-effective selection.  Continue Reading

• What's behind cloud providers' push for custom hardware?

  The nature of the cloud market demands innovation, and custom hardware might be the next move for the major vendors in this space. Experts weigh in on the key drivers of this shift.  Continue Reading

• Explore common machine learning use cases in IT operations

  Machine learning is a hot topic with use cases that span IT and the business. Learn how IT operations teams most commonly apply the technology -- from help desk response to gauging end-user satisfaction.  Continue Reading

• Learn to configure Office 365 alerts and other security features

  More users are working from home, which makes them tempting targets for malicious actors. Take the time to fortify your environment by deploying Office 365 protections.  Continue Reading

• How to test mobile applications using a game emulator

  We could all use a little wiggle room in software testing budgets. Sometimes you've got to be creative to find it. Learn how a video game emulator can test mobile apps.  Continue Reading

• 4 common software maintenance models and when to use them

  Should you use a quick-fix or closed-loop maintenance model for the software project on your development team's plate? What about iterative? Learn the benefits, use cases and limits of four common models.  Continue Reading

• Why Linux containers on Windows is a big deal

  Microsoft introduced support for Docker Linux containers in its latest versions of the Windows client and server operating systems, so why should it matter to you?  Continue Reading

• Why COBOL modernization matters, and how devs can react

  With COBOL expertise in high demand and low supply, it may be time for devs to think about how much they really know about this language. We explore why COBOL skills still matter.  Continue Reading

• 5 critical help desk KPIs to track and manage

  IT operations teams shouldn't view help desk KPIs in isolation, but rather as a set of closely related metrics that work together to track the user experience and costs.  Continue Reading

• CPU vs. microprocessor: What are the differences?

  CPUs and microprocessors can execute many of the same tasks, such as arithmetic and I/O processing. However, there are some tasks CPUs can't execute effectively.  Continue Reading

• Is SCCM in Azure right for your organization?

  System Center Configuration Manager still has a long life, which was further underscored by Microsoft supporting deployments of the endpoint management tool to Azure.  Continue Reading

• 6 steps to prep your organization for ISO 9001 certification

  ISO 9001 is a quality management standard. Before your team decides to become certified with an official audit, you should have all the gap analyses, documentation and fixes in place.  Continue Reading

• 4 FAQs to better understand a paravirtualization interface

  Admins are using paravirtualization because of its ability to improve system performance and reduce virtualization overhead, but its challenges can cause issues for some.  Continue Reading

• Evaluate 3 IT ops use cases for the Aternity monitoring tool

  Operations teams can use data from an IT environment to detect, prevent and remediate issues. With Aternity, they can specifically track metrics and manage tasks related to user experience.  Continue Reading

• Gain SD-branch benefits through automation, orchestration

  SD-branch technology is evolving, but don't put off learning about what this tool can do now and the advantages it will deliver in the near future.  Continue Reading

• Establish S3 bucket security with proper access control

  Misconfigured S3 buckets can put your sensitive data at risk. Learn to configure secure S3 buckets and block public access with this guide.  Continue Reading

• Cloud onboarding best practices for users and applications

  There are a number of ways organizations can prepare both users and applications for the cloud. Use these onboarding best practices to ensure a smooth transition -- even during uncertain times.  Continue Reading

• How to perform effective code reviews -- in less time

  Waiting for code reviews can feel like watching paint dry. Break the bad habit of slow code reviews with these organizational changes -- just remember it takes time to save time.  Continue Reading

• Microsoft Defender ATP taps into cloud for added protection

  Enterprises that want to wrap up their systems in an extra layer of security have the option for more enhanced protection that integrates with other Microsoft products.  Continue Reading

• What should be on your cloud audit checklist?

  Although strenuous, audits are a critical part of a cloud compliance strategy. Learn about the different types of cloud audits to better prepare for your next review.  Continue Reading

• AWS Savings Plans vs. Reserved Instances, explained

  AWS Savings Plans offer discounted EC2 rates to help reduce your AWS bill and compute costs. Learn why Savings Plans are a good alternative to Reserved Instances.  Continue Reading

• What to know about VPN termination

  Network teams make several decisions when designing a secure VPN. One of those is where in the network, logically, they will terminate the VPN tunnels.  Continue Reading

• Network traffic pattern shifts reflect COVID-19 changes

  The novel coronavirus pandemic spurred initial changes in network traffic patterns, but other trends are playing important roles in perpetuating permanent traffic shifts.  Continue Reading

• 5 major reasons to adopt an API management platform

  Why adopt an API management platform? Examine when it makes sense to adopt a platform, and five major ways they can actually assist your DevOps teams.  Continue Reading

• Get the right SLA for enterprise liquid cooling services

  If you're interested in data center liquid cooling, investigate the technology types, available service providers and outline an effective agreement for successful system use.  Continue Reading

• An enterprise architect's guide to the data modeling process

  As volumes of both business and application data grow, organizations need a strict, three-phase data modeling process that keeps that data contained and manageable.  Continue Reading

• Take control of Hyper-V power management for cost efficiency

  Organizations can better manage Hyper-V power consumption through various means, such as using Hyper-V power plans, server cores and SCVMM capabilities.  Continue Reading

• 5 common server issues and their effects on operations

  Server problems can spring from inside and outside hardware. Delve into these common issues and learn about the policies to have in place for regular maintenance and prevention.  Continue Reading

• How to take advantage of Teams-Exchange integration

  The apps in Office 365 sometimes need a few tweaks to interact in a more seamless fashion. Learn how to combine the functionality of Exchange and Microsoft Teams.  Continue Reading

• Prepare for the rise of the IT automation architect

  As IT infrastructures become more complex, and development cycles more rapid, organizations increasingly lean on automation -- and those with the skills to oversee it.  Continue Reading

• How to hold effective Agile sprint planning meetings

  Successful Agile sprints aren't about 10x developers or all-night testing sessions. It all comes down to how you plan. Here's how to plan sprints that run in an effective way.  Continue Reading

• Controlling IBM licensing agreement narrative key to success

  Take control of the information narrative and unify your messaging strategy through a cross-functional negotiation team for best-in-class enterprise license agreement renewals.  Continue Reading

• Storage class memory could benefit VDI storage, remote work

  SCM has the potential to meet IOPS and latency requirements of VDI workloads, but it isn't clear if it's worth the extra cost. We look at some possible ways this could happen.  Continue Reading

• How to apply serverless in front-end cloud computing

  As application front ends move to the cloud, it's important for app designers and cloud users to understand how serverless and other models affect performance and cost.  Continue Reading

• An in-depth look at calculating server hardware costs for SMBs

  Servers can be expensive, but there's more to the purchase than just the price of the hardware. Learn what additional items an SMB must factor into the overall cost.  Continue Reading

• From coding to automation, SRE skills reach far and wide

  A site reliability engineer wears many hats. In addition to development and IT troubleshooting responsibilities, this role requires top-notch communication skills.  Continue Reading

• How to start using a BDD framework

  Why bother with behavior-driven development? Learn how this Agile-focused development framework can help bolster application quality, and explore tooling that can help.  Continue Reading

• How to prevent and recover from server failure

  Hardware, software and facility issues can lead to server failure. With the right protocol and preventive maintenance, you can reduce failure amount and troubleshoot time.  Continue Reading

• What's new in vCloud Director 10

  Version 10 of vCloud Director, aims to make cloud configuration easier for tenants and providers. Read about its HTML5 UI, sizing policies and NSX-T integration.  Continue Reading

• Pick a data center layout: Raised floors vs. overhead cabling

  There's no definitive design when it comes to data center infrastructure. Cost, manageability and cooling effectiveness are all factors during the selection process.  Continue Reading

• Get started with API versioning and URIs

  Applications change, and the APIs they depend on need to be updated and upgraded accordingly. Developers who know the value of versioning and the basics of numbering improve APIs.  Continue Reading

• Fix spaghetti code and other pasta-theory antipatterns

  Developers must try to write maintainable, reusable code. That's easier said than done. Learn about programming antipatterns espoused in the pasta theory, and don't forget a napkin.  Continue Reading

• Assess risk, forecast for IBM software licensing agreement success

  When it's license renewal time, ClearEdge Partners recommends taking stock of the licenses you already have and determining how to allocate spending across your IBM ELA.  Continue Reading

• Why automated user provisioning still demands a human touch

  IT teams can automate away many -- but not all -- of the tedious tasks associated with user provisioning. A human operator is still essential to ensure accurate account details.  Continue Reading

• Step-by-step guide to develop an AWS runbook

  Runbooks enable anyone on the team to execute a task and jump in when things go wrong. Learn how to create one to handle repetitive tasks like monitoring and incident response.  Continue Reading

• It's time to dismiss these 7 DevOps collaboration myths

  DevOps is taking root in IT organizations across the globe -- but that doesn't mean it's well understood. Misconceptions persist, but they can be conquered.  Continue Reading

• 3 common challenges of mobile application testing

  Testers often struggle with these three aspects of mobile app testing. Luckily, these QA challenges aren't insurmountable. Learn how to mitigate these mobile app testing problems.  Continue Reading

• VMs vs. containers: What Windows admins need to know

  VMs have high resource overhead, but they're dependable. Containers can scale dramatically, but they require a different mode of management. Which is right for your workloads?  Continue Reading

• Computational storage may ease edge storage efforts

  Before diving into storage at the edge, ensure your organization can meet the technology's lofty space and resource requirements. Computational storage can help.  Continue Reading

• Proxmox VE 6 and later offers container features, better security

  Proxmox VE, an open source virtualization management product, provides admins with several features, such as VM live migration, backup abilities and high availability.  Continue Reading

• How declarative DevOps enables self-service, flexible delivery

  DevOps teams can achieve automated delivery via a lot of custom code, or they can implement declarative tools and templates. Declarative DevOps has many advantages to offer.  Continue Reading

• Get started with threshold monitoring

  IT monitoring doesn't have to be difficult to set up and use. Learn how to set thresholds and dashboards, know when and how to escalate responses, and keep IT systems humming along.  Continue Reading

• DBmaestro vs. Liquibase: Database DevOps tools square off

  DevOps has reached databases, which means yet another option to consider in your toolchain. Learn what matters in a database DevOps tool, and what sets apart Liquibase and DBmaestro.  Continue Reading

• Insight into Big Blue key to better IBM ELA renewals

  Before negotiating a renewal of your IBM enterprise license agreement, get to know Big Blue's sales strategy and which factors influence its deal-making process.  Continue Reading

• Steer clear of trouble while following the Office 365 roadmap

  There are literally hundreds of changes coming to the collaboration platform that affect email and other services. Here's what IT can do to help ease the transition for end users.  Continue Reading

• Successful IBM ELA renewal negotiations require preparation

  Start planning early, follow a realistic timeline and know your enterprise license agreement options inside and out as you gear up for ELA negotiations with IBM.  Continue Reading

• How to deploy Terraform code in an Azure DevOps pipeline

  Automation in the cloud will not only make you move faster, it will do so in an efficient way. Learn how to create an Azure DevOps pipeline with Terraform code.  Continue Reading

• 3 lessons microservices developers can learn from SOA

  Microservices developers can learn from past SOA mistakes to build more resilient and high-performance applications today. Take a look at three major lessons for microservices projects.  Continue Reading

• Container auditing best practices for large-scale deployments

  Container auditing and reporting are essential security and compliance measures in a production environment. Apply these practices to uncover abnormalities, control user access and choose the right tool.  Continue Reading

• Considerations for SIEM logging software and storage

  SIEM systems aggregate a lot of data across all types of infrastructure. For regular audits, admins should address notification settings, analysis protocols and storage locations.  Continue Reading

• How to build a network monitoring business case

  As network teams construct a business case for a new network monitoring tool, they should include a cost comparison of alternative tools and a strong defense for the selected tool.  Continue Reading

• How -- and why -- to add SolarWinds modules

  SolarWinds is known for its capabilities in network monitoring, but flexible modules give IT operations staff the ability to monitor systems far and wide.  Continue Reading

• 3 options to use Kubernetes and containers for edge computing

  While every deployment is unique, these general guidelines can help IT teams determine whether -- and how -- to incorporate Kubernetes and containers into an edge computing strategy.  Continue Reading

• Windows Server 2019 RDS updates a boon for remote work needs

  Enhanced security, improved end-user experience and cloud integration are just a few of the perks for organizations that move to Windows Server 2019 RDS.  Continue Reading

• Use a zero-trust model for container security in the cloud

  Traditional firewalls just won't cut it when it comes to container security in the public cloud. Zero-trust models are a better approach, but they demand some careful upfront work.  Continue Reading

• How to fuse domain-driven design and microservices

  Domain-driven design helps organizations create business capabilities with the architecture that microservices need. Here's how to merge DDD into your development process.  Continue Reading