Understand both what your challenges are, as well as what the solution(s) you have licensed can do for you.
Welcome
So, if you're here you've either decided to look into obtaining a new network monitoring solution (NMS) or have already licensed Opmantek's solutions and you're looking for where to start. This is as good a place as any to begin.
If you have not yet selected an NMS solution, please see our online guide: How To Select a Network Monitoring Solution
Why are you looking for a new NMS?
Start by asking yourself why you, or your organization, if looking for a new NMS. The more honest and detailed you are in your answer the more satisfying the outcome.
Here are some answers we often hear -
- Tool/vendor consolidation
- Improved product support and/or vendor response
- Access to updates more often
- Support for a wider range of equipment/technologies
- Reduced cost, or cost control as you scale your business
- Single pane of glass (SPOG)
- Integration with 3rd party components
Now, why is answering this question important? Because the answers you give here help drive where you place your emphasis during the first round of implementation. Yes, I said the first round of implementation. Implementing a new NMS, even one for a relatively small network, is not a "one and done" thing. Your NMS is a living, breathing solution that grows and improves with time and usage. As a result, you'll need to adjust how it works, and how your team uses it, in order to get the most from it.
You'll learn more about what we refer to as "Crawl->WalkâRun" in the Planning section of this guide.
Prioritize
Take the list you just made and prioritize it; top to bottom, everything in order and in its own place. Now, take everything below the top three items and sweep them into a drawer. We'll come back to them in a minute, but for now, set them aside. You don't even want them where you can see them.
Whatever these are, these three answers to "why are you looking for a new NMS?" are your immediate focus.
If you're still in the selection process make sure you discuss these requirements/concerns with your account executive or presales engineer.
Create Goals
Build Use Cases
Next Up
Plan - Architect your solution, determine initial configuration/setup, create processes for deployment and rollback.