SNMP make work for you

Just because you are small doesn't mean you don't need to know about your servers, switches and key desktops. You do!

That's why years and years ago someone wrote SNMP or Simple Network Management Protocol. For who and when ... go Google it. Or go here: Net-SNMP

I just wanted to tell you how I use it on small networks to monitor key stuff. There are two basic parts. One is the part that runs on the client machines. That's your servers, switches and stuff. The other part is a monitor software that will grab all this snmp info and tell you about it. Here is a list of clients I use:

Windows

• built-in. Go to add/remove Programs, then Add/Remove Windows components then Management and Monitoring tools and then SNMP.
• For great Windows instructions go here: Windows Link

Linux

• really depends on the flavour. Most likely you have snmp already and just have to turn it on

Mac

• Ahh. I forgot

Hardware Devices

• You'll have to mess around with your device to see, but basically look for a box to check by snmp. You might have to define the community, default will be public (more later).
• In general good managed routers and switches will do snmp. Cheap non-managed ones will not.
  

Then the fun begins. There are a ridiculus number of network monitoring tools out there. All are free. Here are a few I've tried and like

• OpManager (runs on either Linux or Windows)
• Cacti (runs under Linux)
• Good setup instructions
  
• MRTG (runs on either Linux or Windows)
• setup instructions
  
• Zenoss (runs in it's own vmplayer)
• Setup instructions
  

Wildpackets - free net tools for windows

So if you've ever been forced to switch from linux or mac to pc one of the first things you'll miss are all the network tools. Where's the ping scan stuff? Where's the trace route stuff?

Ok, MS does provide much of that if you dig around but I still was not satisfied. Hit Google and search and you're likely to find lots of spyware and crap. So .... check out WildPackts.

They offer a collection of free network tools to scan and even test through-put. Check them out. They are at: http://www.wildpackets.com/products/free_utilities/overview

Gmail goes IMAP

Ok, so that's like a month or two old, yet I somehow missed it. Turns out gmail now has imap support. This rocks. Now all my computers and handhelds see the same mail and folders.

The way it works is gmail uses labels in their interface, but they show up as folders in outlook or other email clients. Finally, my email life has grown up! Thanks Google is there anything you can't do ...

(actually I'm getting scared of Google. They're too big now.)

Sync everything

So I live in too many places and have too much technology. It is at the point where I can hardly keep everything straight. To that end I decided to find a way to get everything syncing with everything else. So far this is the place to go:

http://www.scheduleworld.com


This let's me have my cell, Outlook, and Google Calendar in sync. A change anywhere is reflected everywhere. Too cool.

I did have some Vista headaches, but I've finally put those to rest (actually had to install and configure on an XP box, then export and import funambol's registry values!).

If you are a road warrior you should try this!