Availability monitoring Performance management Configuration management Service management Knowledge management Asset management & CMDB Identity management Backup & Data security Questions? Contact us

Open Source Systems Management

As IT systems grow in complexity, better monitoring and greater automation are essential. There are powerful open source tools which offer both flexibility and cost-efficiency. With over 12 years of open source consulting experience we can support you in monitoring, ticketing, asset and configuration management, back up and data security.

Availability monitoring

Monitor both the quantitative and qualitative availability of your operating systems, applications and hardware. Detect the problems before they occur and see all areas in one central console for a clean overview. Troubleshooting is simplified as all problems can be seen in one place- eliminating the need to manually identify problem chains. Even better, all monitoring is automated and availability reporting can be easily accessed from archives and trends analysed. Thus, future problems can be foreseen and avoided.

We offer:     >Consulting on tools     >Conception     >Workshops & Training     >Remote Monitoring Support     > Support models

Technologies:     >Nagios Monitoring     >Nagios Plugins     >Zabbix     >Hyperic

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Performance management

Ensure critical applications run continuously at peak performance despite the increasing users, global interdependence and interferences by spam, viruses and worms. Performance management is the cyclical process of: Parse – Evaluate – Optimise

First, network elements and applications are inventoried, their influence on the overall performance analysed and primed for performance metrics. Results are archived, consolidated and charted, cumulating in statistics which offer a clear overview of supply and yet detail problems in real time drill-down for analysis. From this data, emerging problems and trends can be detected and extrapolated to the future, allowing better forecasting and realistic IT budget planning. Performance can be improved even through optimising existing resources, through better caching, traffic rerouting or reprioritisation.

We offer:     >Consulting on tools     >Implementation    >Software Development     >Reporting

Technologies:     >rrdtool     >NagiosGrapher     >PNP     >Jasper     >Pentahoo

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Automatically manage configurations in large networks and applications spanning from hundreds to thousands of devices for speed, improved quality and cost-efficiency. Professional configuration management includes:

>Inventory & CMDB – manage network information     >Version management – manage software and configurations versions     >Configuration distribution – deploy changes automatically

We offer:     >Consulting on tools     >Solutions implementation     >Tailored extensions programming     >Consulting on configuration management processes

Technologies:     >Puppet     >cfengine     >SVN     >CVS

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Service management

Efficiently coordinate and track tasks between team members through a central interface ticketing system – the service desk.

We offer:     >Workflow conception     >Tailored extensions programming     >Onsite deployment workshops     >Individual support      >SaaS Operating systems

Technologies:     >Request Tracker     >OTRS

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Knowledge management

Manage documentation with the user friendly Wiki system and work with the most up-to-date information direct off the website. Integrated versioning means all changes are recorded by editor IDs and timestamps, ensuring old versions can be reconstructed. Furthermore, you can configure access restrictions via TWiki and generate PDFs instantly in a CI compliant submission.
You can create templates for recurring document and assign documents to a workflow to ensure for example, that reviews are made after writing. Wiki is easily integrated into other applications and is usually used with CMDB or Monitoring applications. Documents from these applications and ticket systems are transferred directly across to Wiki and displayed there for ease of use.

We offer:     >Workflow conception     >Integration     >Tailored extensions programming     >Onsite deployment workshops     >Wiki systems hosting

Technologies:     >MediaWiki     >TWiki     >RT FAQ Manager

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Asset management & CMDB

The first step to automated network management is the introduction of an inventory system or Configuration Management Database (CMDB). All important elements of the network and its main attributes are documented in the CMDB and agents on the servers may also automatically read hardware features.
Thus a current overview of the existing network components and their equipment is always available. For example, you can see if a RAM installation or hard disk replacement has been successful.
As many inventory systems use a central database and offer a Web interface, this centralised view allows for quick discovery of any faulty components when troubleshooting.

We offer:     >Consulting on tools     >Individualised extensions programming     >Integration with monitoring systems     >ERP intergration     >Reporting     >Implementation

Technologies:     >GLPI     >I Do It     >OCS Inventory     >H Inventory

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Identity management

Manage usernames, passwords and rights through one central authority. By creating individual digital identities, users remember only one password and policies are easily enforced, requiring less documentation while offering higher security. Many established systems such as Microsoft Active Directory, Novell eDirectory or OpenLDAP are available which can support their own directories out-of-the-box. However we also connect Linux and other open source softwares or external systems to your company directories.

We offer:     >Systems Directory design & implementation     >Integration

Technologies:     >Kerberos     >OpenLDAP     >Active Directory

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Backup & Data security

Data is today the most valuable asset. If you lost all the previous year’s data, what would the consequences be? How much money would you spend to reconstruct everything? Despite all the technological advances, your data remains vulnerable. No cluster, RAID or expensive SAN could protect you data from accidental deletion or the error of an administrator. The best solution is to send important data regularly to an alternative, remote location to safeguard against even physical threats.
Open source data security tools offer the cheapest and most flexible solutions. No licensing fees and the ability to tailor a system to your exact needs, whether by tapping into the multitude of additional features and plug-ins programmed by the open source community, or hiring the services of a programmer. As open source software does away with proprietary formats you have greater security in knowing all your data is retrievable. An open format such as tar.gz means you have hundreds of tools compatible to you data format.

We offer:     >Bacula implementation workshops     >Tapes and Autoload connection     >Conception & development of backup systems     >Monitoring systems integration

Technologies:     >Bacula Backup     >DRBD     >LVM

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