4 tips for automated network monitoring
Here's how to get the most out of network monitoring in Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007.
With the July release of Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007, IT staff at midsize companies benefit from more simplified and automated network monitoring and management capabilities. Here are four tips to use the network monitoring in the new application to its best advantage.
1. Take a test drive. There are two ways to check out System Center Essentials prior to purchasing it. You can download a preconfigured version that you can test, or you can visit the System Center Essentials Virtual Lab, where you can experiment with the product without installing it.
2. Discover clients and servers on your network. To run the Computer and Device Management wizard, click Configure computers and devices to manage on the Overview page.
| • | On the Introduction page, click Next, then keep the default selection of Automatic computer discovery. |
| • | On the Administrator Account page, keep the default selection and click Discover. Once discovery is complete, choose the computers you want to manage, click Next, and then click Finish (this might take a few minutes). |
| • | Check to see if the agent (which monitors the desktop and reports on status, needed updates, and compliance) installation task is successful. If not, click the Administration button in System Center Essentials 2007 to open the Administration space (the gold cog icon below the Reporting space), then click Pending Management. This view provides troubleshooting steps, as well as allows you to reinstall the agent on to computers where the installation did not succeed. |
3. Deploy the latest update to a third-party application. You can ensure that the most recent version of a third-party application is running on your end users' computers, whether you want to update the application or install it initially.
| • | Download the update file and save it to your desktop. |
| • | Navigate to the Updates space and click New Update. |
| • | In the Update Setup File section, click Browse… and choose the update file you just downloaded. |
| • | Uncheck Include all files… and give the update a name and description. |
| • | Continue with the instructions within the Wizard, select the new update, and click Approve. |
4. View update reports. To confirm that your environment is fully updated, you can view interactive reports that allow you to measure your update compliance. Twenty-four hours after an update has been deployed, you should be able to view each computer's status. If installation failed on a particular PC, or if the installation is still in progress, you can easily diagnose the failure through the Deployment Status Report.
| • | Select your update in the All Updates view. |
| • | Click Deployment Status Report in the Actions pane. |
| • | View which computers have installations in progress by clicking the In progress section of the report. |
| • | Click an individual computer to see its update status. |
Anyone who has been responsible for network monitoring for a long time has their own techniques and knowledge for troubleshooting and solving problems. With System Center Essentials 2007, Microsoft has tried to incorporate as many elements of that institutional knowledge as possible to bring answers quickly to the fingertips of the harried IT employees.
 | Silicon Valley-based freelancer Howard Baldwin writes regularly for the Microsoft Midsize Business Center. His work has also appeared on AllBusiness.com and in CIO. |
