The primary objective of fault management and performance management for MSPs (managed service providers) and enterprise-class businesses is to reduce downtime, so the quicker a network manager can identify a network error, the better. In this blog, we’ll provide a comprehensive overview of how you can optimise your performance and fault management services.
Packaging performance and fault monitoring as a service
In network management services, it’s vital to be proactive in order to maintain user satisfaction, so it’s a good idea to have separate requirements for your remote management, such as patching and remote desktop services.
When you’re offering your services to clients, it’s important to clearly define the assistance you provide in your service-level agreement. Place your focus on how your services can improve reaction times and reduce the amount of time it takes to predict outages and come to a resolution. The pricing of your services should be tied to their value, so ask your customers what the cost of 1 hour of lost network time will be and explain how you can amend it. In order to make sure that your services are always evolving and improving, ensure you review the results of your automated network monitoring services and the actions taken on a weekly then monthly basis.
Handling overlapping IP addresses and multi-tenancy
A case of overlapping IP addresses may be out of your control, but it’s critical for you to prepare for them, both between new and existing clients. Segmenting client data into separate tenants to ensure that your logical firewalls will prevent the exposure of confidential information to your other tenants.
Putting the control back in your hands Opmantek’s NMIS system handles overlapping IP addresses and multitenancy by providing support in the form of Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN), IP addresses for devices, metadata tags (such as department and customer) and tables. Opmantek’s system also provides network scalability by using opHA to deploy multiple polling services.
Leveraging trending data to intelligently adjust fault management
IT equipment requirements and functionalities can fall short in the ‘real world’ in comparison to a vendor’s best-case lab; which is why Dynamic Trending has now replaced static thresholds for alerting customers. This has been achieved by understanding what’s normal for each device. Opmantek’s opTrend has the ability to replace static thresholds with what’s normal, creating focused, purpose-driven dashboards by client and task through automation.
Customer portal with customized dashboards
Self-service dashboards reduce client interruptions while providing them with the feeling of control and transparency; for billable customers, it can be an up-sell or a service differentiator. An implementation of opCharts is exposed to the internet via a reversed proxy. Client accounts are then created within them, which can be scripted. Custom dashboards, maps, charts and business services are then assigned to that user, but they can only see the elements you give them access to.
Here at Opmantek, we have seen many IT departments transformed through the implementation of our automate network performance and fault management tools. To start making data-lead decisions book a demo here. and speak to one of our engineers about your next performance and fault management projects.
To hear more about how our automated solutions to help optimise your performance and fault management services, check out Senior System Engineer Mark Henry’s full webinar for further insights and downtime reductions.
