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4 Benefits of Using A Professional Consultant When Getting Started With Nagios XI

Modern networks have become so advanced over the years that it’s almost impossible to keep track of issues without software.
It’s mind-boggling how many different types of devices now make up contemporary networks.
However, when it comes to open-source network monitoring tools, companies worldwide turn to Nagios.
Nagios keeps an eye on network issues while also helping you gain extensive insight with enterprise-class network monitoring, alerts, and analysis.
But did you know that you can make your life much easier by hiring a professional Nagios consultant?
Curious to know how? Then keep reading to find out the benefits of hiring one to get started with Nagios XI!

1. Save Money with a Nagios Consultant

If you want to look at the big picture and save valuable money, consider getting in touch with a professional who knows what they are doing.
But how does that work?
Well, the math is simple.
Hiring an expert Nagios consultant will reduce the number of man-hours and ultimately cost you less.
So, rather than watching your current IT department—which may not have much experience with network monitoring software—go around in circles, reach out to a professional.  Experts can work on the project with precision without wasting time.

2. Ensure Precision

Your organization needs to ensure it is following the best practices when setting up network monitoring to make software maintenance as efficient as possible.
Aspects such as notifications, accessing dashboards, and adding and removing hosts and services should be set up properly, so network monitoring is carried out without any issues.
For instance, timely and accurate notification delivery is crucial to preventing system failures.
Therefore, hiring a professional will guarantee that your Nagios XI installation is done accurately and following best practices the first time.

3. Get Quality Training & Management

A professional Nagios consultant will provide training to your staff, ensuring they are well-equipped to deal with issues.
This way, you will have the surety of documentation and training to hand off the project to your team – regardless of whether the consultants build your organization’s whole monitoring infrastructure from scratch or collaborates with your current IT department.

4. Get Up & Running Without Wasting Time & Energy

Setting up Nagios IX in your organization is a fairly complicated task, and hiring a Nagios consultant to perform it is always a good idea to ensure it is done right.
So, if you need to start your project off on the right foot, reach out to experts who will install Nagios and work with your team to set up the foundation needed for a successful Nagios implementation.

The Gist

Nagios is renowned as the best tool for various server monitoring tasks.
If your company is looking for a professional Nagios Core or XI consultant when starting Nagios XI deployment, feel free to reach out to MCS.
Our competent experts will work with you and your team to install, implement, and manage Nagios products.

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Internet Explorer End of Life

Internet Explorer End of Life is Finally Here

While some may be sad to see the Internet Explorer End of Life, fortunately, there are alternatives to Internet Explorer, so most users needn’t worry about losing access to Microsoft’s online services. There are many benefits to using a new browser instead. The latest version is called Microsoft Edge, and its Chromium-based architecture aims to rival Google Chrome and offer a friendlier user interface on touch-supporting PCs. Luckily, there’s a way to accommodate those users who still need to use Internet Explorer.

Microsoft Edge

The usage share of Internet Explorer is quite small, with less than 5.5 percent of the market. Microsoft doesn’t publish official numbers, but third-party stats put it at 5.21 percent. In addition to this, Edge is already the default browser for Windows 11, and most home users have already switched to it.

Microsoft is phasing out Internet Explorer, with its last major version ending on June 15, 2022. Users of the browser should migrate to the latest version of Microsoft Edge, which has been optimized for security and speed. In addition to speed and security, Microsoft Edge also works with legacy applications.

While Internet Explorer End of Life is here now, Microsoft will still support its browser in Edge until 2029. Users of the IE11 desktop application will continue to be redirected to Microsoft Edge. To make the transition to the new browser easier, Microsoft is keeping a legacy browser mode available for Edge.

Built-in Internet Explorer Mode

Considering moving to Microsoft Edge after internet explorer end of life? If so, you’ll be moving to a new, improved browser that supports legacy web browsers. Microsoft Edge is much faster than IE and more secure but still supports legacy browsers. It even has an IE mode that allows you to use older IE websites.
When it is retired by its creators, Internet Explorer will be redirected to Microsoft’s Edge browser, and it will no longer be available on newer versions of Windows. Microsoft Edge comes with IE mode, which you can manually enable or disable, so you can continue to access legacy Internet Explorer sites and apps. You can set it up in the Getting Started guide, and consumers can enable it themselves.

What Does Microsoft Say about Internet Explorer End of Life?

“The good news: you probably already have it on your device. Search for “Microsoft Edge” using the Windows 10 search box or look for the icon (see the top of this article). If you don’t have it, you can easily download it here. We’ve also aimed to simplify the upgrade to Microsoft Edge; once you’ve opted to move to Microsoft Edge, it’s easy to bring over your passwords, favorites, and other browsing data from Internet Explorer in a few clicks. And if you run into a site that needs Internet Explorer to open, Microsoft Edge has Internet Explorer mode built-in so you can still access it,”

Bottom Line

While IE11 is being phased out, developers and users should prepare now for the transition to Microsoft Edge. Although the transition from IE11 to Edge may seem daunting, it will be done gradually and according to industry best practices. And because Microsoft has said it will end support for Internet Explorer in 2022, it’s worth preparing for it. After all, it is faster, safer, and compatible with legacy apps and sites.

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Duo Logo

Using Duo MFA to Harden Security

Single factor authentication to business systems is no longer enough to protect company data access. We live in a world of ever evolving threats and data breaches that can leave your private data exposed to hackers. Duo MFA is the simple, secure answer.

A Password is Not Enough

A password as a form of identity verification has always been a poor tool for the job. Any person, or bot, can use a known password to gain access to a system not meant for them to access. With massive data breaches becoming the norm, there is a better chance than ever that an old password is know by bad actors. It all comes down to trust. A password is essentially anonymous. While complex passwords and regularly changing them is still important, you can add another line of defense in case a password has been compromised.

Duo MFA Adds Another Layer

Duo is a widely used multi factor authentication solution trusted by smart organizations that take security seriously. Everyone with an online bank account has had to verify their identity with an emailed or texted code at one point or another. Ever wondered why you have to do this for your bank and not for your work systems? Think about what an attacker would have access to if they were to access your work computer under your login. They would instantly have access to your files, saved web passwords, and if services are set to trust your computer, they have access to them as well. Traditionally, corporate networks have been behind the times when it comes to authentication.

Duo MFA provides an affordable solution to the problem of 2 factor compliance. Their authentication software can be automatically installed  on all company computers with ease. Once installed, users can be setup automatically, and enroll with Duo quickly. Then, they can pick push authentication on their smartphone, text, email, or even a phone call to verify they are who they say they are. These options can be set by the organization depending on need.

Pay as You Go

Organizations can purchase licenses directly from MCS and will be billed as little as $3 / user / month. There are no contracts either. Check with your insurance carrier for possible discounts offered by using Duo MFA. MCS has the experience to deploy Duo on your systems so only authorized employees can access your data.

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Network Monitoring

5 Reasons Organizations of any size need Network Monitoring

Today, many organizations face the tedious challenge of 24/7 availability and productivity. Undoubtedly, technology is rapidly changing with the evolution of business IT requirements, and the cybersecurity threats to your organization’s data have the potential to disarm your operation. However, Network monitoring solutions play a crucial part in organizations because they rely on their internal network to be productive.

Generally, there are various serious threats to your business, including Network failures and irregularities, server downtime, and service or application crashes. These threats can cost thousands of dollars in revenue and productivity. Network monitoring solutions are important because they deliver better services and reduce costs. In this article, we will discuss the various reasons to choose network monitoring solutions. The following information is quite beneficial whether you are a CEO, executive, IT manager, or IT Administrator.

What is Network Monitoring?

It is crucial to know that Network monitoring plays a significant role in any size of an organization. The network is a significant factor for any modern corporation, and if it slows down, its failure is quite costly. Usually, Network monitoring is a system to view the health of an organization, including devices, traffic, and servers. It can help to identify potential problems and prevent any network issues. In simple words, Network monitoring systems are just tools that can help administrators monitor their networks more effectively. MCS uses and recommends Nagios XI for most customers but there are many solutions.

Do you want to know why your organization requires Network Monitoring? Let’s take a deep look at 5 different reasons to choose Network monitoring for your organization.

1. Key insights of organization infrastructure

Network monitoring allows you to keep historic reports about how your internal infrastructure has performed. Generally, historic data analysis can be very beneficial to determine whether your current system landscape can meet business requirements or if you need to invest in new technology. For instance, a network administrator is trying to convince their management that it is crucial to upgrade the current infrastructure because it’s not sufficient to meet the current organization’s requirements. In that case, a historic report is made to evaluate the overall past few months’ performances with the most reliable predictions for the future.

2. Fix issues and identify security threats

If you’re in a situation dealing with a configuration error or an abnormal traffic fluctuation, network monitoring software can help you to get to the bottom of your issues. Network monitoring tools can provide excellent security to your organization. The obvious benefit you can commonly get is a high-level performance for your organization. You can spot any unusual threats including a spike in traffic levels or a harmful device that’s connected to your network. So, Network monitoring can figure out when and on what device an event occurred. Then, you will be able to take a proactive approach to solve any network security issue.

3. Increased Return on Investment (ROI)

Monitoring IT infrastructure is considerably helpful for many organizations financially because it is cost-savings. However, it can also increase the return on investment. Primarily, you must have an IT budget for your organization to spend on software and network infrastructure, IT labor, maintenance costs, and hardware costs. Unfortunately, the outdated network system can harm the return on investment. In that case, if you consider efficient Network monitoring for your organization, it provides the flexibility and scalability to grow your business, and you can easily save most of your IT expenses every month with far better improvements. No doubt, Network Monitoring plays a crucial part in cost saving and return on investment.

4. Prevention from Cyber Attacks

Network monitoring is significant for fighting against cyber-attacks. Cybercriminals are more advanced these days. Knowing the difference between a cyber-attack and normal-behavior, your team can react proactively. Recently, network monitoring prevented the Anthem medical data breach in 2015 by noticing user behavior. These attackers submitted database queries to obtain PII records, a costly type of cyber-attack. The database contained up to 80 million customer records in this attack.

5. Optimized performance, Minimized risk, and Maintained Compliance

Network monitoring systems provide optimize a network’s performance, solve attacking problems, and prevent you from developing problems by identifying slowdowns and collecting performance data. One of the apparent benefits of a network monitoring system is its potential to identify malicious network behavior. Undoubtedly, Network monitoring systems can track network security threats ranging from unauthorized downloads to password changes and flag any abnormal behavior. Further, it ensures that breaches can be identified and mitigated immediately. Most of the compliance with regulatory entities like HIPAA, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS is significant for many organizations. These regulations need network monitoring for best practices and security measures.

Future of Network Monitoring

With the advancement of technology, many devices have become network-based. This obviously increases the stress on network teams. On top of that, IoT devices have changed the way organizations think about networks. However, there is needed to improve the organization’s infrastructure because multiple DDoS attacks have been seen due to unsafe IoT devices.
No doubt, IoT changes our way of our thinking about networks. Monitoring networks is becoming more challenging with that addition of so may different types of devices.  Monitoring solutions certainly will allow you to discover future problems with your network and provide efficient and reliable services to your users.

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3-in-1 Nagios XI License

Your Nagios XI License is Actually 3-in-1

As a Nagios featured reseller for North America we have helped organizations large and small procure Nagios XI licenses. The thing about license agreements and usage is that they can be tricky to understand. While the core components of the Enterprise ready Nagios XI are open source, the parts that make XI beautiful to use, and easy to manage are not open source. You can run as many Open Source Nagios Core servers monitoring as many nodes as you desire for free. If you want want support, a more polished UI, and Enterprise grade features it makes sense to use the Nagios XI version made for business.

Costs

Buying an Enterprise grade monitoring solution does come with a cost. Depending on the edition and number of nodes (or hosts) being monitored, Nagios XI list price scales to fit the needs of any organization. List price runs anywhere from $1,295 to over $20k for an Unlimited Enterprise edition. We know that for an IT department and management to know the health of their network and services at a glace is well worth the cost. But did you know that when you make a purchase of a Nagios XI license it includes 3 servers in 1?

3 Instances in 1 License

Once you own your license, Nagios allows 3 instances to be installed in your organization. An instance is just a server or VM running a full copy of XI. Here are the 3 allowed uses:

  1. Production – This is your main license that you use day to day and rely on.
  2. Test – Used for testing / lab only. It is recommended that you run this instance to test software upgrades, try new plugins, and proof of concept any new additions or changes before you use them on your production XI.
  3. DR – This instance can possibly be setup in a redundant data center and can monitor everything that production does. Just make sure you are not using it to monitor new nodes that are not covered by your production instance. That would require another license.

Just use your license key on each of the 3 instances. If you have activation problems, make sure you are only using 3 instances and if so, contact Nagios and they will make sure you are activated.

We’ll help you find the right Nagios product at the right price.  Contact MCS to get a quote.

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Nagios Chicago Meetup

Join our Nagios Meetup Group for Chicago

MCS has started the official Nagios Community Meetup Group for the Chicago region. This is the official Nagios Meetup Chicago group part of a network Nagios Community Meetup Groups worldwide. We will hold events and have discussions about Nagios and monitoring in general.

Nagios Meetup Chicago

Chicago, IL
18 Members

This is a new group we created because there are so many Nagios users in Chicago and surrounding areas. It’s always great to hear the unique use-cases people have with Nagios….

Next Meetup

How to monitor virtually anything / Beyond the server room

Tuesday, Oct 27, 2020, 5:00 PM
2 Attending

Check out this Meetup Group →

Virtual Nagios Meetup Chicago Through the End of 2020

Originally, these meetup events were meant to be held in person but obviously, that is no longer possible to do safely. We hope to hold live Nagios meetup events in late 2021. For now, our venue will be Zoom and they will be free to attend. Our goal is to hold casual presentations to bring together Nagios users of all backgrounds. Everyone from a home lab to an enterprise will be able to get useful information and insights.

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office-365

Office 365 Available Directly Through MCS

Cloud services are more important than ever and represent a critical segment in the marketplace. In the past MCS was not able to directly turn up services for Office 365 for our customers. We would recommend a plan, then customers would create their own account and pay Microsoft directly for services. Now, new and existing Microsoft Office 365 users can let MCS manage, support, and bill their services directly. The cost is the same but billing is handled through MCS.

Switching Office 365 to MCS is Easy

If you are an existing customer using Office 365 directly with Microsoft, MCS can take over servicing and billing on your account in a simple, zero-downtime change. We will take care of everything. Your data will continue to reside on the Microsoft 365 cloud infrastructure and switching can usually complete same-day.

Why Using MCS for Office 365 is a Great Idea

MCS has always been customer focused. If you have an issue with billing or service, you can get through to a rep at MCS right away. If you already have an account with us, having your cloud services billed through us just makes sense. Also, we know our clients well and can recommend a more cost effective plan or trim away unneeded services.

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covid-19

Working Remotely to Reduce the Spread of COVID-19 Coronavirus

The novel Coronavirus COVID-19 has been on all of our minds in the recent weeks. Our first priority during this time is the health of our employees and customers. At MCS we have the luxury of being able to work remotely for most of our projects. Through the aid of VPNs, VoIP, and other collaboration tools, most employees can complete their work from home if needed.

Working Remotely is Offered to ALL MCS Employees

Our employees have all been given the option to work from home if they desire for the next several weeks regardless of whether they feel ill or not. This is a precaution due to our currently limited knowledge of exactly how the COVID-19 virus is transmitted. If an MCS employee feels ill or has a fever of 100°F or more they are required to stay home until 48 hours after they are symptom free.

For our office locations in Springfield and Chicago, access is now limited to employees only. This means no visitors including customers, family, and friends. This will remain in effect until further notice.

For our IT service department, we are strongly encouraging our customers and system engineers to avoid on site service calls if at all possible. We appreciate the understanding of our customers during this time. Luckily, MCS offers remote support that, in most cases, will completely resolve the majority of issues presented. If an on site service call is required please only request this service if absolutely necessary.

COVID-19 Outlook

We believe that through smart precautions, we can protect the health of our employees and customers while still providing reliable service.The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has excellent information specific to the COVID-19 outbreak. To decrease contact through the mail we encourage customers to signup for E-Bill for invoice delivery as well. The future is never set in stone but as long as we all make healthy and cautions choices, we can make a difference in the spread of this new threat. Remember:

  • Wash your hands often
  • Avoid close contact (6 feet)
  • Avoid large groups
  • Stay home if you’re sick
  • Clean and disinfect touched surfaces daily
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