Features

Features

• Exploring SOA patterns and design pattern language

  This excerpt from "Principles of Service Design" defines the terms "design pattern" and "design pattern language" and explains how these two concepts can provide solutions for common design problems.  Continue Reading

• Tips for a vendor-neutral SOA platform and service implementation

  This excerpt from "SOA: Principles of Service Design" defines the the phrase "increased vendor diversification options" and discusses how and when they're beneficial.  Continue Reading

• Service-Oriented Architecture

  This excerpt from "SOA: Principles of Service Design" explains the purpose of SOA and defines associated terms: service orientation, services and services-oriented solution logic.  Continue Reading

• What is the purpose of the network being designed?

  Before beginning any network infrastructure design project for a client, the first question to ask is what the purpose of the network is. Knowing the answer to this question is vital as you scope out the project.  Continue Reading

• What is the client's IT budget for the network design project?

  While all clients have expectations for their network design projects, not all have allocated the money needed to accomplish their objectives. Learn why asking about IT budget will help you and your customers get more clarity about what can and ...  Continue Reading

• How to stay profitable in the reseller business

  For many small and medium-sized reseller businesses, expanding your line of business takes time and money, and it's important to know both your up-front capital expenses and ongoing costs so that you can calculate your return on investment (ROI). ...  Continue Reading

• How to prepare for network penetration testing services

  Value-added resellers venturing into services may consider offering network penetration testing. Here are five steps to take before you begin hacking your customer's network to ensure a successful pen test.  Continue Reading

• What upstream/downstream services are in use?

  Learn why you should ask your customers about their upstream and downstream services for blade server virtualization projects.  Continue Reading

• How do you connect storage to a virtual blade server?

  Learn how to connect storage to a client's virtual blade servers.  Continue Reading

• What are your system availability goals?

  Learn why you should ask your clients about their system availability goals before launching blade server virtualization projects. This is especially important when considering disaster recovery and fault tolerance issues.  Continue Reading

• How to install a wireless LAN for businesses

  Installing a WLAN for business clients requires careful planning, as explained in this second installment of our Hot Spot Tutorial on WLAN installation services.  Continue Reading

• Introduction to network centralization and decentralization

  Network centralization is an attempt to improve efficiency by taking advantage of potential economies of scale. Decentralization is an attempt to improve speed and flexibility by reorganizing networks to increase local control and execution of a ...  Continue Reading

• Network penetration tools

  Network penetration tools can be used for good -- or evil. Learn how to improve the security of your clients' networks with the same tools used to do them harm.  Continue Reading

• Guiding principles of network centralization and decentralization

  You don't have to guess whether it makes sense to opt for network centralization or network decentralization for your clients. Using these best practices, such as listening to the needs of your clients and tapping your professional experience, ...  Continue Reading

• Conclusions about network centralization and decentralization

  Network centralization and network decentralization are about making changes. When making such pervasive changes, experts recommend that you consider these guiding principles: know what specific problem you are solving; understand your motivation ...  Continue Reading

• Case studies in network centralization and decentralization

  Network centralization and decentralization projects promise to save companies money, improve network performance and help everyone to do their job more efficiently. But sometimes such projects fail to deliver on some of those promises. By looking ...  Continue Reading

• Encryption software vendors

  Use our Partner Program Directory to choose an encryption software vendor partner. Whether you are looking for a new partner program or want to see what your competition's partner programs are like, our easy-to-read checklists will help you weigh ...  Continue Reading

• McAfee Partner Program Checklist

  McAfee makes intrusion prevention and security risk management software to help secure systems and networks. Learn the benefits of becoming a McAfee reseller partner with our Partner Program Checklist.  Continue Reading

• Symantec Partner Program Checklist

  Service providers looking for a security vendor partner can get a quick look at Symantec's reseller partner program. Symantec sells antivirus, antispyware, endpoint security, backup, storage and compliance products to SMBs and enterprises through ...  Continue Reading

• Becoming familiar with the Hyper-V administrative console

  This excerpt from "Windows Server 2008 Unleashed" provides a quick guide on navigating the Hyper-V administrative console and the virtual server settings available to be configured.  Continue Reading

• Installing a guest operating system session

  This excerpt from "Windows Server 2008 Unleashed" provides a step-by-step guide to installation of a guest operating system session on Windows Server 2008.  Continue Reading

• Check Point Partner Program Checklist

  Value-added resellers, service providers and systems integrators seeking an encryption vendor partner can get a snapshot of Check Point's reseller partner program.  Continue Reading

• How should snapshot overhead be determined?

  When calculating overhead, you should keep storage snapshots in mind. Learn how to account for snapshots.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: BIA for small business

  Read this example of business impact analysis (BIA) for a small business from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" to make the process more tangible.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Preparing the BIA report

  This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" outlines some crucial features to be included in a BIA report.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis data points

  Take a focused approach to determining the number and type of data points you collect in your business impact analysis (BIA) and find a balance between information overload and superficial data. This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster ...  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Understanding IT impact

  The information gathered in this business impact analysis (BIA) phase will highlight new priorities, new gaps and new challenges to be addressed through the IT department. This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT ...  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Data collection methodologies

  For business impact analysis (BIA) collect data through interviews and questionnaires. This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" discusses various data collection methodologies and how to carry them out.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Gathering data

  Gathering data for business impact analysis (BIA) can be daunting. This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals " will help you get started and provides the initial questions to ask.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Determining the impact

  This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" lists some specific impacts disasters have on business.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Recovery time requirements

  Use business impact analysis (BIA) to define recovery time requirement terms and looks at how those elements interact.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Upstream and downstream losses

  Learn to mitigate indirect impacts that disasters can have on businesses. In this excerpt from "Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals," the author discusses upstream and downstream losses.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Understanding impact criticality

  When it comes to business functions, develop a rating scale to identify your customers' mission-critical functions. This excerpt from "Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" outlines a business function rating system with ...  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Identifying business functions

  This excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" walks you through common business functions and encourages you to assess those functionalities that are not covered and include them in your BIA.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Introduction

  This chapter excerpt from "Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals" walks you through the process of conducting a business impact analysis.  Continue Reading

• Business impact analysis for business continuity: Overview

  This chapter excerpt from Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery for IT Professionals provides the steps you can take to develop a mitigation strategy in cases of business interruption.  Continue Reading

• How to choose a vendor partner program

  VAR-vendor partnerships can be fraught with tension -- but they don't have to be. You can have healthy, mutually beneficial relationships by choosing the right partners in the first place. Consider these seven criteria when evaluating potential ...  Continue Reading

• Implementing NAC products

  Network access control (NAC) products can be implemented as infrastructure-based solutions, drop-in appliances or endpoint software. Learn how to determine the best implementation based on your customer's needs.  Continue Reading

• What role do vendors play in your lead generation strategies?

  Learn what role hardware and software vendors can play in a channel reseller's lead generation strategies. Partnering with the right vendors can make all the difference in getting more clients for your services.  Continue Reading

• How to make money from SaaS

  Unlike traditional software, which has big up-front costs, SaaS is usually sold on a subscription model, where users pay a smaller amount on a regular basis. Learn the steps to profiting from the SaaS revolution.  Continue Reading

• What is the difference between Snort and Bro?

  While Bro and Snort and both open source intrusion detection systems, they use different methods to detect intrusions and can complement one another on the network.  Continue Reading

• How can the operator test Snort?

  There are various ways to test Snort's intrusion detection capabilities, including setting rules and running tools such as IDSWakeup.  Continue Reading

• How does Snort's flavor of intrusion detection work?

  Snort is a powerful intrusion detection tool. Learn how it leverages traffic patterns to detect security risks.  Continue Reading

• Business cases for server virtualization: Introduction

  Use server virtualization to solve business problems. This chapter from "Advanced Server Virtualization" describes how server virtualization can be implemented in key areas, such as Disaster Recovery (DR) and high availability, to help reduce costs...  Continue Reading

• Limitations of server virtualization

  Server virtualization has many perks but keep its limitations in mind. This excerpt from "Advanced Server Virtualization" gives examples of when server virtualization is not the best practice.  Continue Reading

• Legacy server and application support

  Use server virtualization to solve legacy server and application support challenges. This excerpt from "Advanced Server Virtualization" tells you how.  Continue Reading

• IBM Partner Program Checklist

  Value-added resellers (VARs) and service providers looking for a storage vendor partner can get a quick look at IBM's reseller partner program, IBM PartnerWorld.  Continue Reading

• Aruba Networks Partner Program Checklist

  Value-added resellers and service providers interested in reselling Aruba networking hardware and software can learn the benefits of becoming an Aruba Networks partner with this standardized checklist. Compare Aruba's reseller partner program with ...  Continue Reading

• Evaluating vulnerability management tools

  When it comes to vulnerability assessments, you must make sure that you are using the right management tool. Learn how to evaluate and select the right tool, depending on your customer's needs.  Continue Reading

• Commercial and open source vulnerability management tools

  Selecting the right commercial or open source vulnerability management tool is not easy. Now that you know how to evaluate the tools, learn how to choose the right one.  Continue Reading

• How many different types or levels of vendor certification are there?

  Learn about the different types and levels of vendor certification.  Continue Reading

• How long does vendor certification take? What's involved?

  Learn how to balance the need for employee IT certification with one's business requirements.  Continue Reading

• Cisco Systems Partner Program Checklist

  Value-added resellers and service providers interested in reselling Cisco networking hardware and software can learn the benefits of becoming a Cisco Systems partner with this standardized checklist. Compare Cisco's reseller partner program with ...  Continue Reading

• How to develop an effective IT consulting marketing campaign

  Learn five key steps to marketing your IT consulting services -- target your audience, develop a message, start mailing, establish yourself as an expert and form partnerships.  Continue Reading

• HP Partner Program Checklist

  Value-added resellers (VARs) and service providers interested in becoming an HP partner can learn about the features of HP PartnerONE, the company's reseller partner program, with this standardized checklist.  Continue Reading

• What kind of incentives and partner programs does VMware offer to its resellers?

  Learn about VMware's three reseller partner levels: Professional, Enterprise and Premier. These levels increase in both the commitment expected from the reseller and benefits offered by VMware.  Continue Reading

• Hardware as a Service (HaaS)

  You may have heard the term Hardware as a Service (HaaS) before, but do you know what it means? In this IT Channel Explained article, we clarify the term's different meanings within managed services and grid computing.  Continue Reading

• How to provide VoIP services and generate new leads

  If you provide VoIP services, your business has the potential to add new features to your clients' communications systems, as compared to providing traditional TDM-based systems. Learn how providing VoIP services could be a great way to increase ...  Continue Reading

• Should I use a large central network firewall at the core or smaller distributed firewalls?

  Learn when to recommend a large distributed network to a client as opposed to smaller distributed firewalls.  Continue Reading

• When should orgnizations use ASIC-based network firewalls?

  Even though ASIC-based network firewalls are often much faster than their software-only counterparts, learn why deploying them within some network environments is a bad idea.  Continue Reading

• Is it possible to measure network firewall throughput?

  Learn why rating firewalls by network throughput is a challenge and can lead to a large disparity between the vendor rating and the firewall's actual performance. The problem is compounded because few organizations know how many packets per second ...  Continue Reading

• What are the benefits of seperating network firewall and VPN services?

  Learn the two cases where separating a client's network firewall and VPN functions can be a significant benefit to an organization.  Continue Reading

• What does data lifecycle management mean?

  IT lifecycle management is a policy-based approach to managing data that automates processes and organizes data into tiers. This excerpt from "Data Lifecycles: Managing Data for Strategic Advantage" provides a comprehensive description of the ...  Continue Reading

• Why is IT lifecycle management important?

  This chapter excerpt from "Data Lifecycles: Managing Data for Strategic Advantage" makes a case for why ILM/DLM should be implemented, for reasons ranging from security to smart business practice to compliance. It also projects storage trends ...  Continue Reading

• Introducing Utility Computing

  Utility computing enables a service provider to make computing resources and infrastructure management available to customers as needed. This excerpt from "Data Lifecycles: Managing Data for Strategic Advantages," discusses how to use utility ...  Continue Reading

• Data lifecycle management: What are the things organizations need to consider?

  This excerpt from "Data Lifecycles: Managing Data for Strategic Advantage" outlines the storage problems that organizations face today and considerations businesses need to make when assessing solutions.  Continue Reading

• What are some of the risks associated with iSCSI?

  There are two risks VARs need to make customers aware about when using iSCSI. Since the technology is so easy to deploy, it is also easy to loose track of all the details. Customers also need to be aware that iSCSI can hog bandwidth on a network.  Continue Reading

• What are the disadvantages of iSCSI?

  Deploying iSCSI in mission-critical situations isn't a risk-free proposition. Customers may have to cope with higher latency and performance issues in mixed networks after an iSCSI implementation.  Continue Reading

• What are some of the advantages of iSCSI over traditional Fibre Channel SANs?

  iSCSI SANs allow for much cheaper connectivity than a Fibre Channel SAN. The initial sticker shock Fibre Channel gives customers may turn them away, while iSCSI allows customers to build on their networking experience, negate the problem of distance...  Continue Reading

• Top five Snort tips

  Snort can be immensely helpful as an intrusion detection system on your clients' networks. Check out our most useful tips on basics such configuration and troubleshooting, and advanced topics, such as upgrading, compiled from the Snort Report.  Continue Reading

• Bot and botnet 101

  Bots can be controlled by attackers and used simultaneously with other bots under a botnet. Learn the basics of bots and botnets and how they can be used as spyware.  Continue Reading

• Generating revenue with open source software

  Many companies are looking to open source software to lower IT costs. We've outlined opportunities and tips within the open source world in a Channel Hot Spot Tutorial. This introductory chapter will give you an overview.  Continue Reading

• IT distribution channel (distributors)

  Distributors are wholesalers that act as intermediaries between vendors and value-added resellers (VARs) or system integrators (SIs). Learn more about the role of distributors in the channel -- and how it's changing.  Continue Reading

• Top five network security concerns

  Securing a computer network requires mastery of many skills and concepts -- network design, device configuration, protocols, etc. As an expert on sister site SearchSecurity.com, Mike Chapple, CISSP, answers end users questions on these topics and ...  Continue Reading

• Understanding security risk management: Recovery time requirements

  After you help your clients see the need for security risk analysis and establish a methodology and priorities for security risk mitigation, the next step is to assess recovery time. This will able you to help your clients understand the operational...  Continue Reading

• Understanding security risk management: Criticality categories

  Security risk management involves a sober assessment of your client's business operations and the relative security risks of each. Once the need for security risk analysis has been recognized by your client, the next step is to establish catageories...  Continue Reading

• Refining your criteria for prospective networking partners

  As you continue the iterative process of choosing a networking partner, it's important to revise your selection criteria after discussing it with colleagues. Learn how to do so by using this tip.  Continue Reading

• How to design and implement a business VoIP network

  Once you've established that a customer's hardware and network connection can support business VoIP services, the next step is to design and the implement those services. Learn the basics of designing and implementing a simple end-to-end VoIP ...  Continue Reading

• Storage network backup: Next generation

  Storage network backup offers new possibilities for getting around performance bottlenecks. This excerpt from Storage Networks Explained describes your options and what to consider when deciding which one best suits your clients' system.  Continue Reading

• Storage network backup of file servers

  Storage network backup of file servers is crucial since all applications store their data in file systems. This excerpt from Network Backup Explained discusses fundamental requirements and problems, as well as examining the functionality of modern ...  Continue Reading

• Examining unified Snort output

  Take a look at Snort's unified output.  Continue Reading

• Barnyard processing logs for Snort

  How Barnyard processes Snort IDS logs.  Continue Reading

• Getting Barnyard working with Snort databases

  Having Snort write output to the hard drive and letting a tool like Barnyard handle database inserts, as explored here, considerably improves Snort performance.  Continue Reading

• Storage network backup: Server components

  Storage network backup servers are comprised of a range of component parts. This excerpt from "Storage Networks Explained" discusses the main components. Learn what they do and how they work.  Continue Reading

• Verify the IP routing table

  Verifying the Cisco IP routing table is a key part of troubleshooting Cisco Express Forwarding's network switching. Learn the necessary steps for identifying and remediating problems.  Continue Reading

• Verify the Address Resolution Protocol table

  Learn how to verify the ARP table as part of troubleshooting networking issues with Cisco Express Forwarding. The first step in troubleshooting IP connectivity issues and Cisco Express Forwarding from a Layer 3 perspective is to consult the ARP ...  Continue Reading

• Conduct hardware-specific troubleshooting

  If you are troubleshooting a Cisco Express Forwarding platform that supports dCEF or hardware switching, the final step is looking for potential hardware-specific problems.  Continue Reading

• Scope the network topology

  Learn how to scope a network's topology to troubleshooting IP connectivity problems involving Cisco Express Forwarding. A sample physical topology is included to illustrate the discussion.  Continue Reading

• Verify the adjacency table

  Once the FIB table has been checked, the next step in troubleshooting Cisco Express Forwarding lies with the rewrite information in the adjacency table.  Continue Reading

• Verify the CEF Forwarding Information Base table

  Learn how to take a stepwise approach to troubleshooting the Cisco Express Forwarding FIB table, a critical part of any methodology for resolving Cisco IP connectivity issues.  Continue Reading

• Managed services, your business plan and you

  Learn why a business plan is an essential part of any reseller's successful managed services business. Discover how to use a business plan as the impetus for refining your marketing strategy, locating sources of revenue and sizing up the competition.  Continue Reading

• Managed IT services provider business plan

  A business plan is an essential part of success as a managed IT services provider. Here is a sample business plan that takes into account the special concerns of a value-added reseller (VAR) changing their business model to offer managed IT services.  Continue Reading

• Snort command line output modes

  Snort command line output modes, as described here, are usually selected for testing purposes or demonstrations.  Continue Reading

• Snort.conf output options

  Snort offers functional equivalents for FAST, FULL and SYSLOG command line output modes, as shown here.  Continue Reading

• Oracle RAC: Member voting

  Use Oracle RAC's member voting to check member validity in Oracle database 10g. Learn how in this excerpt from "Oracle Database 10g: Real Application Clusters Handbook."  Continue Reading

• Oracle RAC: Log directory structure in Oracle RDBMS

  Oracle 10g RAC installations include log files that provide diagnostic and bug-repairing tools. Learn more in this excerpt from "Oracle Database 10g: Real Application Clusters Handbook."  Continue Reading

• Oracle RAC and the Lamport algorithm

  In Oracle's RAC, the Lamport algorithm works with system change numbers (SCN) and the distributed lock manager (DLM) to control and lock management and conflict resolution; read more in this excerpt from "Oracle Database 10g: Real Application ...  Continue Reading

• Oracle RAC: Cluster reconfiguration steps

  Oracle RACs cluster reconfiguration process entails seven steps. Learn what they are in this excerpt from "Oracle Database 10g: Real Application Clusters Handbook."  Continue Reading

• Oracle RAC: Debugging node eviction issues

  Oracle RAC's node eviction root cause analysis (RCA) is common and complex. This excerpt from "Oracle Database 10g: Real Applications Clusters Handbook" shows you how to recover from a communication failure in Oracle 10g.  Continue Reading

• Oracle RAC troubleshooting

  Oracle RAC shared disk method of clustering databases increases scalability and lowers costs. However, it can be challenging to find and fix bugs in Oracle 10g. This chapter excerpt from "Oracle Database 10g: Real Application Clusters Handbook" ...  Continue Reading