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Building a Fail-Proof Alerting Mechanism for your NMS

Introduction

As an IT Manager you know that the most frustrating network outage happens only when you are least prepared for it with all your key resources away from desk. Making people react to failure in the shortest possible time is key to minimizing downtimes. In this paper we will discuss about building a fail-proof alerting mechanism for your network management software. We will also see how OpManager implements these best practices.

Building Redundancy into Mail Servers / Network Links

The first step towards implementing a fail-proof alerting mechanism is to implement redundancy into your network links and email servers. Most of the network-monitoring-software available in the market today supports email-based alerts. But this functionality will be crippled when the email server itself goes down or if the Internet link is down.

Table 1: E-mail Based Alerts

Event Rule Action
Free space in file server drops below 20% If it happens between Mon-Fri 8AM-2PM Send E-mail to +919259656361@sprint.com
If it happens between Mon-Fri 2PM-8PM Send E-mail to
alan@acme.com

Given the importance of connectivity, most organizations build redundancy into network links by default. Hence we need not focus much on that subject. But having a secondary email server is not so common across small and mid sized organizations. If you are implementing a network monitoring software for your organization and if you deem alerts are critical, then it is better you have a secondary email server in place.

OpManager allows operators to configure the primary and secondary email server credentials into the system. This enables OpManager to automatically switch to the secondary server and continue sending the alert if it detects the primary server has failed.

Sending Alerts Directly Over the GSM/CDMA Network

The second step in ensuring fail-proof alerting is to send the alerts directly over the GSM/CDMA networks using a SMS server. In simple terms, an SMS Server is a hardware plus software component that forwards text messages from your network monitoring software to the corresponding mobile number directly over GSM/CDMA networks. The SMS Server needs a regular SIM card just the same way your mobile phone does. It connects to the LAN and collaborates with network monitoring software to send SMS alerts as depicted below:

Sending SMS Alerts
Sending SMS Alerts using sendQuick SMS Server

An SMS server includes an email server on its own, an SMS gateway, and a database to log the messages sent. It comes in many forms such as a rack mountable appliance as shown in the diagram above.

Table 2: SMS Alerts

Event Rule Action
Free space in file server drops below 20% If it happens between Mon-Fri 8AM-2PM Send SMS to
9259656361
If it happens between Mon-Fri 2PM-8PM Send SMS to
9259656362

OpManager supports sendQuick SMS Servers. This combination helps IT Managers to send SMS alerts over GSM 900/1800/1900 and CDMA 850 networks. If you are an existing OpManager customer please email sales@manageengine.com to place an order for these Servers at a promotionally discounted price.

Conclusion

Alerting right people at the right time is critical in reducing downtimes. If you are looking out for a network monitoring software or already have one in place, consider the practices mentioned above to build a fail-proof alerting mechanism.

OpManager is a simple network monitoring software with thousands of users across the globe. It helps to proactively manage the network, servers, and applications. sendQuick SMS servers are produced and marketed by Talariax. sendQuick seamlessly integrates OpManager and is a great value-add if you are serious about SMS alerts.

For more details on ManageEngine OpManager visit http://www.opmanager.com and to understand more on SMS server, please contactsales@manageengine.com For comments on this article contact devanand@manageengine.com

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