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Archives for February 2015

SolarWinds Automates Key Network Monitoring Tasks

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From IT World Canada

SolarWinds has added new features to its Network Performance Monitor (NPM) tool to help IT administrators better manage the increasing number of mobile devices connecting to the corporate network.

The ramp up in mobile adoption and the bring-your-own-device trend has added considerable complexity to the enterprise network. However many IT departments are still monitoring networks the way they did about a decade ago. It is not uncommon to see some IT outfit employing a collection of different solutions to keep track of different devices and conduct various monitoring tasks manually.

SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) said its updated NPM now has wireless heat mapping that allows IT pros to maintain automatic, real-time maps of wireless network signal strengths. The tool also enables continuous wireless coverage and speeds up troubleshooting.

A new forecasting feature also automatically monitors critical network resources to help administrators predict future needs and prevent outages.

With NPM’s new wireless network heat maps, IT pros can automatically map their wireless networks to show signal strength according to their floor plans – whether in a small doctor’s office or a 40,000/sf campus – with a visual display of critical status and performance metrics,” said Chris LaPoint, vice-president, product management, SolarWinds.

With the heat maps, IT departments can now:

  • Troubleshoot client connectivity issues, keeping mobile end-users working with minimal disruption to their productivity
  • Generate user-sourced wireless signal strength surveys for coverage in all network locations, including remote sites
  • Prioritize wireless signal strength where it is most needed and proactively make adjustments such as adding wireless access points,modifying the environment, etc.
  • Use client location tracking to find any wireless-connected device within the network, helping IT keep track of end-users and rogue or  misplaced devices

The new capacity forecasting capability automates planning for bandwith, wide area network, circuits and other network needs. IT departments can now:

  •  Use historical data from NPM on CPU, memory, volumes,connected wireless clients, node, and interface traffic utilization to provide automated assessments of average and peak use
  • Answer the question, “How many days before I run out of disk space /CPU/bandwidth, etc. and it impacts a user’s network connectivity?”
  • Set customizable alerts to proactively secure the necessary network resources to get ahead of those situations

 

SolarWinds Continues to Simplify SIEM

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SolarWinds Helps Budget-Conscious Organizations Address Core Security Challenges With Enhancements to SolarWinds Log & Event Manager for Faster SIEM Deployment, Simplified Correlation Rules Setup, and Quick Detection of Advanced Persistent Threats and Insider Abuse

AUSTIN, TX, Feb 04, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) — SolarWinds SWI, +0.68% a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT performance management software, today announced enhancements to SolarWinds(R) Log & Event Manager (LEM), an all-in-one security information and event management (SIEM) product designed for resource-constrained IT organizations. Continuing to separate itself from traditional SIEM products in simplicity, functionality and affordability, SolarWinds LEM now features new Configuration and Rules Wizards for faster deployment and simplified setup of correlation rules.

In a recent survey of IT Pros by SolarWinds and Enterprise Management Associates, usability ranked as the most important factor when evaluating security tools, followed closely by total cost of ownership and implementation cost and time. Additionally, a majority of the survey respondents who did not feel their IT departments had sufficient resources said their primary need is additional security tools, rather than people.

“As IT departments experience ever-increasing pressure to secure their environments, they also face new threats and an uphill battle to acquire the resources necessary to mitigate them,” said Chris LaPoint, group vice president of product management, SolarWinds. “Most IT Pros don’t have the time to manually configure security monitoring or become experts in specific systems before implementation, so they need quick access to accurate, actionable data to better protect their environments and prevent security incidents. With enhanced usability that makes SIEM implementation, configuration and threat notification quick and seamless, SolarWinds LEM helps take some of the security weight off IT Pros’ shoulders.”

NEW Configuration Wizard The new Configuration Wizard guides IT Pros through the implementation of SolarWinds LEM and provides simple steps that ensure correct configuration, allowing them to quickly address their security needs. The Configuration Wizard includes:

--  Guidance on basic settings including email configuration and access to
    Active Directory
--  Integration with Add Node Wizard, which simplifies adding devices and
    collecting data by walking IT Pros through all the necessary steps to
    collect log and event data from systems, applications and devices

NEW Rules Wizard With its new Rules Wizard, SolarWinds LEM takes the guesswork out of creating correlation rules by offering IT Pros an out-of-the-box list of categories and subcategories of rules that can be enabled en masse, including security, compliance, change management, operations, endpoint monitoring and more. The Rules Wizard also provides best practice information to ensure IT Pros can immediately identify and remediate threats based on an organization’s needs.

File Integrity Monitoring SolarWinds LEM also features file integrity monitoring (FIM), helping IT Pros actively detect advanced persistent threats and insider abuse, and comply with numerous regulations such as PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA. Additional FIM benefits include visibility into server and application change management and increased security with detection of zero-day malware.

SolarWinds LEM delivers comprehensive SIEM capabilities in a highly affordable, easy-to-deploy virtual appliance. It combines log management, event correlation, visualization, reporting, FIM, USB defense, SQL database monitoring and active response, providing IT Pros with increased security visibility and actionable intelligence to help to ensure threats are identified and remediated before critical systems or data are exploited.

Pricing and Availability SolarWinds Log & Event Manager pricing starts at $4,495 USD and includes the first year of maintenance. For more information, including a downloadable, free 30-day evaluation, visit the SolarWinds website or call 866.530.8100.