Opmantek Appoints Experienced IT Director Ross Tanner as Head of Customer Success

Opmantek Appoints Experienced IT Director Ross Tanner as Head of Customer Success

by | Dec 16, 2021 | Press Releases

SAN FRANCISCO-Opmantek Software, one of the world’s leading providers of automated network management software, has appointed Ross Tanner as Head of Customer Success, joining the company in December 2021.

Tanner is an Army veteran who brings extensive IT knowledge to the company. In his most recent role at Nextlink Internet, an internet service provider delivering high-speed internet and voice services throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois, he managed all information technology and systems from on-premises to the cloud for both internal and external customers.

“Opmantek’s growth has continued into the fourth quarter with our recent acquisition,” said CEO Craig Nelson. “We’re excited to welcome Ross to the team as his experience as an Opmantek customer will help us accommodate this growth and prove valuable in providing outstanding customer support while driving renewals and expansion.”

Opmantek recently received an acquisition offer from FirstWave Cloud Technology, a global cybersecurity company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:FCT). Additionally, the company signed contracts to supply their market-leading network management and automation software to Microsoft and NASA. Opmantek is at the forefront of delivering Operational Process Automation to enterprise, telecommunications, and MSP organizations globally.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Opmantek at a pivotal moment in the company’s history,” said Tanner. “I look forward to successfully onboarding customers to the company’s end-to-end solution for network discovery, management and cybersecurity that is globally unique.”

How to stabilise & audit using network configuration and compliance monitoring

How to stabilise & audit using network configuration and compliance monitoring

by | Nov 17, 2021 | Automation, Blog Post, opConfig

What is Network Configuration and Compliance Monitoring

Network Configuration and Compliance Monitoring (or NCCM) is a system that works closely with all devices in a set network, transmitting and receiving data from a wide range of devices to ensure that everything is acting in a compliant manner. In addition to this, NCCM can ensure that your devices are configured correctly, and in the case that they are not, can schedule reconfigurations at a time that is convenient to the user.

Automating NCCM processes is often required because companies often have thousands of devices that cannot be handled manually, making the entire process far simpler and more accurate through automation. One example of an NCCM is Opmantek’s “NMIS”, a network management system designed to offer comprehensive information to network engineers to assist in the diagnosis and resolution of network problems.

Change detection and rectification

When dealing with a device configuration, there are relatively few commands that you need to be aware of to know exactly how it is set up. In theory, by remembering these and applying them to a new device, it should act identically to the previous one. When these configurations change and nobody is informed, however, it can become incredibly difficult to replace the device should it become faulty.

By implementing effective change detection, which discovers any configuration adjustments in a device, you can stay on top of all of your device configurations and replace them with ease. Additionally, you can receive alerts to let you know of every configuration change, and how many times the configuration has changed. This change detection can be used with products such as “opConfig”, which processes and records configuration changes across entire networks.

Device configuration changes

The configuration backups are all saved without restriction, so reverting to any previous configuration is incredibly simple. Your NCCM can keep hourly backups of your configuration settings, allowing you to revert a previous device, router or switch to a previous version when the device was working as intended. This will either resolve the issue or inform you that the issue is likely with the hardware in use (in which case you can simply install new hardware with the successful configuration in place).

Servers and network scanning

In addition to tracking the configuration of your devices, it’s also possible to use an NCCM as a performance tracking tool. By performing automated network management, the system is also taking in significant amounts of data, including the levels of packet loss within servers over a set period of time. This can help you in an audit to establish whether the performance of a particular server is degrading. If the performance declines, you can compare this data with configuration changes to ensure that your network is using the optimal settings, and resolve the issue without having to go through a more thorough investigation of your network. The data is already collected and ready to be analysed.

Try Opmantek’s products

If you’re interested in Opmantek’s range of products and would like to learn more, listen to Packet Pushers’ episode with Keith Sinclair, or contact us today. We are proud to offer effective solutions to IT departments, providing meaningful and actionable data to assist in the troubleshooting process.

How SMEs can manage their Network Faults using Event Actions

How SMEs can manage their Network Faults using Event Actions

by | Sep 7, 2021 | Automation, Blog Post, opEvents

Fault management is the process of detecting, analysing and responding to faults in a system. It is an essential part of any IT infrastructure because it helps maintain availability and quality of service for applications.   Event actions, inside opEvents, provides your organisation with fault management visibility at the time of the event, while proactively remediating events, before they become major faults. Its ability to provide early warning detection of potential problems is more than an asset to businesses. By identifying potential hazards before they happen, signifying steps that need to be addressed or escalated before they become significant is highly desirable. You’ll be able to always see happening on your network, including; when events occur on a network, what events occur before faults, what steps were taken to remedy the faults. The combination of these factors will allow you to automatically close events and stop them from escalating to future faults. This performance management tool will help you save time, money, resources and reputation when dealing with unexpected situations that may arise and allow you to better plan for IT emergencies.  

Why Fault Tool Management is so important

The Fault Configuration Accounting Performance Security (FCAPS) framework for managing information security was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to provide a structured approach to Network Management. It provides an overview of the capabilities required to manage networks effectively, and the F in FCAPS stands for Fault Management, including monitoring, detection and diagnosis. This framework aims to improve the quality of service that users receive from their networks while also reducing costs associated with faults, outages, and maintenance.  

How is your network performing?

Opmantek’s opEvents platform provides an automated network management solution for IT events and faults, making it easy for SMEs to monitor their networks with minimal effort. With our software, you can identify where problems are happening in real-time; without affecting your business operations and customer experience. We offer an integrated suite of products that can be tailored to meet any business’ needs, from small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) up to large corporations. In addition, our solutions are designed to provide maximum visibility into your networks so you can identify and resolve problems before they cause downtime or financial loss. Network management system’s like NMIS (Network Management Information System) will send fault and performance events. Increasing the breadth and depth of event management, Opmantek senior engineer Mark Henry explains this in our recent webinar ‘opEvents: All about Event Actions’. “NMIS has a foundation escalation system that handles events singularly, however by employing opEvents you have the ability of automated event correlation”. You can install opEvents easily as a standalone product at our downloads page, or it is available as part of our Opmantek virtual appliance package.  

Why log analysis tools are essential for all businesses

Pro-consumer cyber security and privacy comparison website Comparitech has ranked opEvents in its list of 12 Best Log Analysis Tools, stating that it ranks highly because: “This centralised log and event manager reduces the impact of network faults and failures using proactive event management.” In the article, Comparitech network administration expert Tim Keary wrote that: “Poor performance can emerge unexpectedly at any time. Network monitoring platforms like log analysis tools allow you to spot performance issues before they arise.” Keary outlined that strong log analysers like opEvents provided users with data they wouldn’t otherwise have that included:
  • The ability to quantify the number of log messages that arrive in a given period by using statistics to understand and improve performance-related issues and optimise security measures.
  • Filtering and sorting tools that are capable of identifying and separating sources and events.
  • Correlation systems enable log messages generated in different formats to be analysed together to make sense of fragmented data.
  • A system of highlighting to make patterns in data more accessible to identify visually.
  • The ability to interpret a wide range of raw data and then present it to you through charts that make sense.
  Here at Opmantek, we have seen many IT departments transformed by implementing our suite of tools to automate network Fault Management. To start making decisions through meaningful and actionable data to automatically troubleshoot your events book a demo today.

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Why Configuration & Compliance Management Is Crucial

Why Configuration & Compliance Management Is Crucial

by | Sep 7, 2021 | Automation, Blog Post, opConfig

Network security is of paramount concern for all businesses in 2021 and beyond, one facet of network security that should be at the forefront of most organizations is Configuration and Compliance Management.

Creating and enforcing configuration and compliance management ensures that all your network devices are configured to meet your organisation’s standards and requirements. It also encapsulates all connected devices and helps identify potential risks.

The average cost of a cybercrime attack on an Australian business is $276,323. It then takes a company an average of 23 days to recover from an attack, this stresses the importance of having configuration and compliance in place. Simple processes for opConfig involve backing up all configuration data of your network devices, comparing configuration between your devices, and creating events when configuration changes. When it comes to recuperating from an attack or fixing the problem caused by a breach, heavy losses of time and money are a continual variable amongst many businesses, these are reduced by using opConfig if they occur at all.

Unauthorised devices, installing non-compliant software, or user errors are just a few ways of how systems can be compromised. From Open-AudIT to monitor new devices on a network or non-authorised software installation to using opConfig to monitor default passwords enabled, these risks can be reduced.

 

Early warnings are paramount to network security

Early warnings are essential for network security. If you can detect a security or compliance breach early, it’s easier to stop and prevent damage. But most companies don’t have the tools they need to do this effectively. Despite this, Opmantek senior engineer Mark Henry said many IT systems were running with low-scale early warning solutions.

“Generally speaking, a lot of the customers that we talked to, who haven’t adopted NMIS (Network Management Information System) as their network monitoring solution, are sitting down around the level zero or level one area (Gartner’s IT Service Management Maturity Model). That’s also the same for many kinds of low end, off-the-shelf, free or open-source monitoring solutions,” he said.

The truth is that most companies don’t have the time or resources to monitor their networks 24/7. Using NMIS, a reliable and robust monitoring system, means you don’t have to.

 

The benefits of an integrated network management information system

Network Management Information System (NMIS) is an open-source network management system that provides real-time monitoring, configuration, and troubleshooting capabilities. It’s used by many companies worldwide who are looking for ways to manage their networks efficiently, integrating this with other modules that Opmantek offer will help build an efficient and effective strategy to help mitigate network security risk.

Open-AudIT can be installed onto Linux, Windows, or Virtual machines and once installed, needs only credentials and a subnet to discover all the devices attached to that network. Integrating Open-AudIT and NMIS is incredibly easy, Open-AudIT will discover all the devices on your network and with a click of a button, they will all be managed by NMIS, read more here. Integrating opConfig into this is a matter of importing the nodes from NMIS and then creating/applying a credential set for that node, detailed here. From here, we have a system in place that will discover any devices on your network, monitor all software installations, monitor the status/availability of devices, and report on any configuration changes.

 

To test this out on a lab network, download Opmantek’s virtual machine, with everyone installed and ready to go, and see how easy it is to get ahead of network issues.

What have we Learnt through Navigating in an Economic Downturn & Pandemic?

What have we Learnt through Navigating in an Economic Downturn & Pandemic?

by | Aug 20, 2021 | Automation, Blog Post, Open-AudIT, opEvents

Between suffering from uncertainty to naturally flourishing, the ability to adapt out of dead market space will have made all the difference for your business in the past year. Whether you are in a country that is on track for normality or being hit by a new wave of infections – All businesses have needed to evolve.

 

For those of us operating in the tech industry, we have experienced several significant economic events – especially the .com crash of 2000 and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. We know what happens during an economic slowdown while there are some unique factors at play in relation to COVID-19; here is what we have learned.

 

Innovation should not be put off

Undergoing a 3-year change progression in a mere month was and continues to be a reality for many businesses across the globe. On countless occasions funds have been pulled from investments, particularly those in technology; deemed as a costly non-essential to cut in order to keep the boat floating. However, innovation needs to be cultivated and fed, without businesses prioritising technology their future fitness will remain grim. Opmantek’s automated network management tools were built on the premise of empowering companies. These tools give users the flexibility to operate in diverse environments with speed and scale at a fraction of the cost so you can keep innovating.

 

Having healthy finances is necessary

In the IT industry, an error caused by a triggered event in your network could cost a wave of rippling expenses. During periods of economic uncertainty what you don’t know can hurt you. Utilising technology such as one of Opmantek’s opEvents will reduce the impact of network faults and failures using proactive event management. Adding tools such as these to your arsenal allows you to gleam intelligent insights to make educated data and cost-effective driven decisions.

 

Optimising your data is the way forward

Your market no matter which side of it you are on has changed, so your business needs to change with it. More data, more data, more data, let’s face it cultivating and finding quality data is a superpower. So how is it possible to see it all? How can it be automatically configured and how can you keep up with it when it changes? Most organizations cannot give accurate location data of their assets, Open-AudIT gives you this information in seconds. Reduce the degree of uncertainty and make data-driven decisions, simply by running tools such as Open-AudIT to develop meaningful reports and resources. Optimising your data is the way forward, to learn how you can audit everything on your network with Open-AudIT book a demo session with our experts here.

 

Continual agility across all facets of business will be imperative to navigate through the next phase of this economic climate. Those that are familiar with nimble project management within the software development world – use similar methods in your financials too –be very conscious that your ability to plan twelve months is now a lot lower than it used to be and you need to undertake agile planning and forecasting. This will be a time of continual change however by; continually pushing innovation and utilising tools that give you the best possible view of your data to drive decision-making process, the path forward will be a lot clearer to navigate.