October 18, 2021

Back in the day, implementing new servers meant a hefty investment in data centers, hardware and additional technical management efforts. In the ever-evolving cloud-based enterprise computing ecosystem, the tech companies can access additional servers to reduce overhead costs. A multitude of cloud-based service providers such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) enable businesses to expand their networking, storage and servers with maximized cost efficiency. 

With the transformation from legacy practices to cloud-focused enterprise computing systems, security is a pressing concern and each additional network or cloud-based application sparks a potential cyber threat. In order to maintain the security of the data on cloud-based applications, additional networks and servers, proper monitoring practices require to be in place. It is also important that organizations continuously monitor the performance of servers, ensure availability of servers and maintain high-security. Reducing unplanned downtime can play a vital role in giving customers an optimized user experience and enhance customer retention rates.

Tech organizations that purely depend on cloud-based solutions should continuously track servers to stabilize performance and maintain security of the cloud-servers and as such, it is important to implement server monitoring solutions that enable accurate maintenance. Although server monitoring can be utilized to track different aspects of a cloud-based company or solution based on the type of server, the key objective of server monitoring is to protect the server from potential threats, failures and technical discrepancies that may result in interrupted services. 

Server monitoring depends on the software solutions and  the cloud-based servers which need to be monitored. A server monitoring tool should ideally be scalable and should have the capability to regularly collect data from multiple cloud-based servers. 

Implementation and workflow of server monitoring

Workflows of server monitoring tools differ from one to another so, an organization must firstly identify the most important data points on each server that needs to be tracked. For example, the most crucial data point which needs to be tracked on an application server is it’s responsiveness, the latency and data loss of a data storage server and the speed on a web server just to name a few. Once these data points are identified depending on the server, it is important to set baseline values and thresholds to measure the performance of each server. In most cases, the first or the initial value of performance is considered the baseline performance value which the performance of the server will be measured against in future. Next, an organization must take necessary measures to configure data collection and analysis by ensuring the selected server monitoring tool is configured to pull data from the cloud-based servers. A server auto-generates event logs otherwise referred to as log files, which contain logs about user activity, application errors or failures, events related to security and other events which take place on the server. A powerful and well engineered log server monitoring tool should have the ability to swiftly stream the log files, track operating system details such as disk drives and performance, CPU memory availability, network connectivity, CPU usage, traffic and uptime on websites, and events. Unusual event logs can mean that a system is at a security risk or a discrepancy in the network or infrastructure exists. In order to detect such unusual events, a server monitoring tool should be set up in a way that it triggers an alert to notify the responsible team as soon as the performance drops below the set baseline values or detects any discrepancy related to the defined data points. In such events, the team should be readily available to respond to the alerts by investigating, analyzing the cause of each alert and finding solutions to the issues ensuring minimal downtime. They can also have backup solutions or workarounds to get the servers up and running temporarily until the issue has a permanent fix.

Once a company implements an orderly workflow during and after the implementation of a powerful server monitoring tool, they can reap the benefits of their investment by keeping the network and infrastructure stable and secure, responding to operational issues promptly and reducing downtime. 

Nagios Log Server

Powerful log monitoring tools and management applications such as Nagios LS enables organizations to quickly view, sort and configure logs from any source, on any given network. The Nagios Log Server enables users to gain a performance snapshot of their network’s infrastructure by allowing them to analyze, collect and store log data. This powerful server monitoring tool is configured to receive Windows event logs, Linux syslogs, network device syslogs and other log information from any Windows and Linux machine. 

Benefits of Nagios Log Server

User-friendly

  • Simplifies the overall process of searching log data. 
  • Rapid alerting and notification systems 
  • Quick configuration through easy source wizards

Adaptable and Scalable 

  • Easily integrate with third-party solutions on existing infrastructure
  • Fully accessible API enabling complete integration of external applications
  • Easy addition of Nagios Log Server instances to monitoring cluster
  • Quick addition of power, speed and storage to overall log analysis platform
  • Adapt with a click of a button

Real-time data

  • Correlate log events within a matter of clicks
  • View log data in real time, investigate, analyze issues and provide solutions immediately

Network Security

  • Define key thresholds and get notified through the web-interface
  • Notify users via Nagios XI/Nagios Core, email, SNMP traps or execute a script for rapid problem resolution
  • Retain historical archives of all events and comply with security requirements

Multiple User Management

  • Advanced multi-user capabilities enable IT teams to work efficiently
  • Modify, add, remove users and set access permissions
  • Grant authorized access to the external API via an access key

Custom Dashboards

  • Create a custom dashboard in the web-interface to gain a quick snapshot of important data.
  • Share dashboards with a custom URL 
  • Powerful GUI that facilitates customization of layout, design and preferences on a per-user basis

Network Insights

  • Provides users with advanced awareness of their infrastructure
  • Detailed reports on network events, logs and security
  • Minimize security threats with a sensitive alerting system
  • Quick resolution of network related issues

Nagios Log Server is licensed based on the number of cluster Instances you implement in your environment. A Nagios Log Server system consists of any number of cluster server Instances and Instance communicates with other instances to both replicate/backup data as well as load-balance a system to maintain an efficient log monitoring system. We guide organizations to swiftly implement Nagios Log Server system to ensure a smooth transition to a powerful server monitoring tool which enhances overall business potential by increasing customer satisfaction with minimal downtime. 

September 16, 2021

Surviving the storm

Do you know how most businesses are surviving the recent storm? Just like how a yacht sailing in the rough seas trying to keep from the dangerous semicircle, businesses need a “storm strategy”. In reality, a storm is often an unforeseen situation and even as you drift away from the shore, the chances of getting caught in the raging waves increase and heading towards the shore seems like the best choice. However, being caught in the storm close to the shore is just as dangerous as being caught in the storm deep sea because you’d have no room to avoid the storm, just like how businesses will find themselves unable to maneuver away from the competition and challenges that emerged after the pandemic. 

The “storm strategy”

The best strategy to keep away from the risks and stay ahead of the competition is by avoiding being blown up on shore and sailing away from the storm’s path. You may be wondering how this can be done but, it’s nothing new. The answer is one that’s always been around, it’s the catalyst for change in the ever-evolving digital space – Agility. Prior to the pandemic, being ‘Agile’ was where everyone’s focus was at but the changing demands and rapid growth of market conditions created a dire urgency to implement Agile processes and adapt fast. Businesses that have already been practicing agile continue to survive the storm while the late boomers are still struggling to steer away from the storm and the shore. 

That being said, it’s not too late to survive the storm that’s been around for awhile. Businesses need to find a suitable approach to adapt to change and deliver excellence with maximum agility by switching to an agile mindset. This requires a business to steer away from legacy processes and re-invent their future with new methodologies that can accelerate business change by introducing agile practices to siloed functions of the business. Cross-functional teams, flexible resource models, adaptive processes and streamlined workflows can enhance the potential of the business and enable a business to swiftly respond to heightening market demands. The point is that businesses need to grow and deliver simultaneously even if it means to change its fully functional policies and practices if they want to stay ahead of the competition. 

What can help you sail in the safer waters?

Attributes of an agile model could help a business seamlessly adapt to the ever-evolving demands of the virtual-first approach. There are a few key attributes of the agile framework that play a key role in helping a business sustain and support the demands of future work environments.

  1. Human centric – all processes take a human-centered approach with a simple and intuitive UI which is always built around the pain points and preferences of the end user for exceptional user experience. 
  2. Cross-functional – all members of a team are equally equipped and capable of performing all or multiple roles within the team and thereby, increasing efficiency. 
  3. Purpose driven – focused on value and quality of the outcomes. 
  4. Dynamic – has the potential to seamlessly adapt to changing markets and business priorities. 
  5. Future-centric – forward focused and facilitates continuous improvement of internal processes, workflows and deliveries. 

What should you prioritise for a smooth sail?

It’s true that all these factors put together make a successful operating model but organisations also need to prioritise a couple of things to ensure an agile operation model is implemented successfully. A few things businesses need to prioritise are: 

  1. Virtual-first approach – enabling employees to work from anywhere and reducing the requirement for a physical workspace. 
  2. Processes and workflows – processes and workflows should be customer-centric and fully focused on exceptional service delivery, seamless customer experience and an unforgettable user journey. 
  3. People – in order to create full-stack cross-functional teams, individuals and professionals with skills should be recruited to improve overall business performance. 
  4. Technology – utilise trending technologies to expand beyond the scope of the organisation. 
  5. Data and insights – make data-driven decisions across the business by utilising key insights and data. 

Tangible benefits of implementing a “storm strategy”

When a company transforms into an agile setting and implements it across all layers of its operating model, the ultimate outcome is always a tangible benefit. 

A few benefits of agile implementation are:

  1. Increased customer satisfaction 
  2. Enhanced business value 
  3. High efficiency 
  4. Increased productivity 
  5. Optimized service delivery 
  6. Improved responsiveness and speed 
  7. Increased collaboration within teams 
  8. Increased automation 

Even as businesses struggle to adapt to the new normal, they need to reimagine ways of working to effectively unleash their potential, stay ahead of the competition and steer away from the storms in the years to come. Let us help you be more agile with custom built software solutions.

September 10, 2021

The exposure to cyber risk has significantly increased due to virtual-first work models. Organizations all over the world are switching to work-from-home models escalating the focus on cybersecurity. Studies have shown that 47% of individuals working from home have admitted to have clicked on a phishing email at work. It is quite evident that cyber-attackers see this as an opportunity to leverage the pandemic and exploit the vulnerability of employees working from home. In most cases, they attempt to deceive the public to click on Covid-19 related news which then directs users to malicious sites. 

You may have heard of credential stuffing, it is one of the most popular techniques used by hackers to use previously stolen login credentials from organizations and attempt to break into accounts on other services because most users tend to use the same credentials across multiple accounts. This is how uninvited members gain access to private video conferences hosted by organizations and obtain confidential information which is then sold to another group. Although cybersecurity was a constant buzzword throughout the years, the pandemic and remote-working caused a dramatic increase in breaches affecting more than half a million people who used video conferencing services. The personal data such as names, passwords and email addresses which were entered to login to meetings were stolen and sold on the dark web – the hub of cybersecurity criminals. 

The cybersecurity landscape is threatened by diversified clusters of criminals

  • Employees working under minimal supervision and having plenty of time to explore new fields of interest during their free time may be tempted to carry out a fraud.
  • Hackers sweep the web to detect any organizations with insufficient data security measures or any malfunctions in security systems.
  • Groups or individuals with cyber attacking capabilities break into computer systems for politically or socially motivated purposes. These cyber criminals are also known as “hacktivists”.
  • “Skiddies” or “script kiddies” who are relatively unskilled junior hackers utilize cyberattack packages on organizations to improve their skills. 

The Covid-19 outbreak gave rise to opportunities that boost cyber attacks and threats.

Amongst a plethora of reasons for the recent spike in cybercrimes, the two main causes for organizations to be susceptible to these is because of personal device usage and human error. 

Usage of personal devices 

Almost all the small to medium sized businesses have switched to a “BYOD” or “BYOT” approach where employees can “bring your own device”. This trend enables employees to connect their personal phones, tablets and laptops and access networks or systems consisting of potentially sensitive data causing the organization to be exposed to cyberattacks. Virtual-first models do not guarantee the same standards of cybersecurity provided in a well-equipped environment with sophisticated enterprise prevention and detection measures unlike home Wi-Fi networks which have higher risks of attacks. 

Environmental changes and human fault

Employees would carelessly give access to the wrong people, submit personal data unknowingly to malicious sites, or expect rewards and awards in exchange of personal data. In addition to this, employees are prone to be distracted by visitors, family members or even quick errands to the store before a lockdown, making them even more careless and increases the rate of human error resulting in a leakage of sensitive and confidential information. 

With the increased risk of cyber threats, IT systems and security measures are required to protect systems against cyberattacks. Having said that, a tool that has been built to monitor applications, devices, services, operating systems, network protocols and systems metrics is Nagios Xl. It enables users to make smarter and swift responses by alerting them of incidents and has the capability to monitor database monitoring applications, server monitoring applications and web monitoring applications providing maximized visibility and awareness. 

Nagios Xl is flexible and extensible enabling users to comply with any advanced security requirements on any network. It’s unique architecture makes it compatible with any programming language and is utilized in research facilities, multinational corporations and government offices.

Here are a few reasons why Nagios Xl is the best player for cybersecurity: 

  1. Linux based 

Nagios is built on a Linux OS as opposed to other IT infrastructure monitoring solutions enabling development teams and QA teams to determine if the product is in line with security needs. 

  1. Flexible deployment 

At no extra cost, Nagios Xl is compatible with multiple offline environments which provide an enhanced level of protection from external cyber attacks. Regardless of whether it requires to operate in a private cloud, public cloud, hybrid scenario or an on-premise cloud, Nagios Xl has its unique strategy for flexibility, security and deployment enabling a user to know where the data is stored. 

  1. Scalable  

Businesses are mostly at risk when they expand, on-board new tech vendors, add or change platforms. However, Nagios Xl can monitor any vendor, any device, on any network. In addition to this it notifies the respective individuals of their roles during any incident enabling them to focus on the data that matters thereby, decreasing downtime. 

Introducing a powerful solution to keep up with the ever-evolving trends of the digital space due to the pandemic, is essential. We build custom software tools and integrate any product of the Nagios product suite to convert ideas into reality. 

September 1, 2021

As the whole world looks forward to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, the transformation in workplace culture, processes and operational activity have left us in awe. The pandemic demanded brands to eliminate a multitude of roadblocks that were faced during their digital adoption journey and enabled employees to work remotely. Many companies around the globe have taken initiatives to enhance their digital security and have taken measures to transition to technology stacks that allow employees to work from home. These changes made in response to the pandemic are likely here to stay, helping employees strike a great balance between work and life. 

The digital mandate is not a new kid on the block, it is just brought under the spotlight. The continuous challenges imposed by the pandemic caused an accelerated paradigm shift towards digitisation which was already underway. This, opened up a plethora of digital opportunities in every industry accelerating the growth of digital technology which enabled a lot of businesses to stay ahead of their competition and understand the true potential of digitalisation and innovation. Not only has it shaped the business world, it has completely transformed the education sector enabling students to attend school, face online examinations, adapt virtual lesson plans and sparked opportunities for children who struggled to attend schools due to distance and time. Businesses across industries which were otherwise operating locally, gained the potential to reach, engage and interact with a global clientele with the use of modern technology. Not only was it the clientele, the incredible potential offered by technology to work remotely enabled highly skilled professionals to work for multinational companies, startups and SMEs operating across regions and countries. 

Prior to the pandemic, most businesses saw digital transformation as a strategy to cut down on costs. However, businesses have stated that enhancing their capabilities, gaining a competitive advantage and workplace transformation with technology have outweighed the initial reason of it being just cost reduction. 

Amongst the above and numerous other benefits, here are three key benefits of digital transformation: 

Improved Efficiency: Businesses were able to harness digital technologies to swiftly carry out operations, streamline workflows and automate manual processes increasing higher speed, reduced waste and in-turn transferred more focus on revenue generation.

Increased Agility: Businesses were handed the ability to execute plans faster as they had access to enough data and analytics to make data-driven decisions. 

High Productivity: Employees were working remotely and did not have to travel to work and as a result, reduced employee idle times, reduced the span of meetings and team collaborations. This saved time and enabled employees to focus on leveraging tools and technologies to maximise productivity and produce optimal outcomes.

If utilised properly, digital adoption can offer business owners a wide variety of opportunities to innovate, mature in their ability to engage with customers, understand customers, deliver to suit customer needs and also find innovative ways to keep their customers thriving. The pandemic helped accelerate digital transformation and created a landscape that will continue to invigorate innovation where brands will continue to adopt the digital mentality and embrace the power of technology even after the pandemic is over. 

In the coming months, businesses will better understand the capabilities of modern technologies and realise the opportunities that lie before them. If you have an idea that can keep you ahead of the competition but you have trouble developing it, we build top-tier custom solutions for anyone around the globe. 

May 24, 2018

M obile apps have already penetrated every sphere of our lives and every imaginable business niche. Naturally, the appeal of mobile apps for its market potential cannot fade away anytime soon, at least until another great technology can replace mobile apps. But surprisingly, only a handful of apps in every niche really become successful and only a handful of apps across all niches really make it a phenomenal success. So, what about the failure of other apps? What are the key factors responsible for the failure of millions of apps? Well, apart from the ill-conceived app idea and development and design flaws many apps simply fail because of their pre-launch and post-launch shortcomings.

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure. It is: Try to please everybody.
– Herbert Bayard Swope

Since most of us spend a considerable portion of our daily time on mobile apps and since they have a plethora of options for every app niche, knowing their specific needs, priorities, preferences, and expectations become very crucial for app marketers. This is why every app must conduct elaborate market research before starting with an app project. Even while the app is ready for launch, you need to make a launch plan based upon the most suitable channels and marketing message for your target audience.

Missing On A Pre-Launch Campaign

A vast majority of the app marketers mainly concentrate on the post-launch app marketing techniques and measures while completely missing on the pre-launch campaign. This prevents the app to create buzz and hype just around the time when the app is launched. As and when you launch the app, already a considerable number of people should expectantly look forward to your app and this requires long-drawn marketing efforts leading up to the app launch event. To create pre-launch buzz and hype about the app a mobile app development company has an array of marketing options like social media campaign, search engine ads, video ads, email campaigns, etc. Apart from online options, you can also reach out to the wider audience with traditional marketing options like outdoor ads, print ads, media ads, and promotional events.

Just as a retail business in real life is remembered not just for its product offerings but also because of its services, support, and customer-friendliness, an app that offers a helpful customer support system for its valued users enjoy more traction and engagement than other apps. Great brands all over the globe enjoy appreciation and popularity because of their customer-friendly support and services.

April 11, 2017

M obile apps have already penetrated every sphere of our lives and every imaginable business niche. Naturally, the appeal of mobile apps for its market potential cannot fade away anytime soon, at least until another great technology can replace mobile apps. But surprisingly, only a handful of apps in every niche really become successful and only a handful of apps across all niches really make it a phenomenal success. So, what about the failure of other apps? What are the key factors responsible for the failure of millions of apps? Well, apart from the ill-conceived app idea and development and design flaws many apps simply fail because of their pre-launch and post-launch shortcomings.

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure. It is: Try to please everybody.
– Herbert Bayard Swope

Since most of us spend a considerable portion of our daily time on mobile apps and since they have a plethora of options for every app niche, knowing their specific needs, priorities, preferences, and expectations become very crucial for app marketers. This is why every app must conduct elaborate market research before starting with an app project. Even while the app is ready for launch, you need to make a launch plan based upon the most suitable channels and marketing message for your target audience.

Missing On A Pre-Launch Campaign

A vast majority of the app marketers mainly concentrate on the post-launch app marketing techniques and measures while completely missing on the pre-launch campaign. This prevents the app to create buzz and hype just around the time when the app is launched. As and when you launch the app, already a considerable number of people should expectantly look forward to your app and this requires long-drawn marketing efforts leading up to the app launch event. To create pre-launch buzz and hype about the app a mobile app development company has an array of marketing options like social media campaign, search engine ads, video ads, email campaigns, etc. Apart from online options, you can also reach out to the wider audience with traditional marketing options like outdoor ads, print ads, media ads, and promotional events.

Just as a retail business in real life is remembered not just for its product offerings but also because of its services, support, and customer-friendliness, an app that offers a helpful customer support system for its valued users enjoy more traction and engagement than other apps. Great brands all over the globe enjoy appreciation and popularity because of their customer-friendly support and services.

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