RubikTek IT operations management is a well-defined process aimed at helping IT admins get the most out
of their IT infrastructure. Some of the key components of the IT operations management process are:
Network monitoring
Firewall analysis
Configuration management
Bandwidth and traffic management
IP address and switch port management
Application monitoring
Storage monitoring
While each process of IT operations management has separate tools available in the market that can be
used to ensure their efficient implementation, there is a growing need among IT admins to implement a
unified network management approach to IT operations, primarily due to the following challenges an IT
admin faces while using separate tools for each of these processes.
1. Toggling between multiple applications
IT operations management is not a single process. It is a combination of multiple processes. This means, in
order to implement end-to-end IT infrastructure management, an IT admin has to constantly switch
between the various tools used for each of these processes.
While this process provides the IT admin the required perspective into the functioning of the IT
infrastructure, it prevents them from seeing the larger picture. It also requires extra effort and time, and
occasionally results in IT admins missing out on key updates on one tool while focusing on the other.
2. Ensuring consistent updates in the network
When an update is performed in a device, the IT admin has to ensure that this update is reflected across
multiple IT operation management tools. This process raises two important challenges:
The problem of manual effort: IT admins have to manually update information in each and every tool that is
involved in IT operations management. This activity is not scalable if changes are made across multiple
devices.
The problem of change inconsistency: Since the efficiency of IT operations management relies on the IT
admins capability to consolidate the data from multiple tools and arrive at the bigger picture, if changes are
inconsistent across multiple tools, the monitoring/management information provided by the various tools
will also be inconsistent.
This will create inconsistencies in the IT operations management process cycle and render the organization
incapable of getting the best results out of its IT operations management process.
3. Gaining the right amount of visibility
The visibility admins gain when using different IT operations management tools is moderate at best.
Gathering the data and insights provided by various IT operations management tools to gain a deeper
visibility into the overall efficiency of the IT infrastructure is a tedious and challenging process.
4. Setting up and managing alerts and notifications
The primary goal of an IT operations management process is to identify faults so that the IT admins can fix
them before they cause business losses. This is done primarily by triggering alerts and notifications
whenever something goes wrong.
The problem with having multiple tools for various IT operations management processes is that each of
these tools has its own notification structure and technology.
This leads to:
Manually adding notification profiles in each tool. The IT admin has to manually create notifications for
devices/use cases in each of the tools. This requires manual effort and management.
Maintaining an inventory of notification profiles. The notification profiles created for scenarios/devices
have to be consistent. The IT admin also has to maintain a separate inventory of the notification
configurations in order to be able to efficiently assess the problem that has occurred in the IT
infrastructure.
5. Handling complex fault management challenges
Not managing your notification profiles leads to ineffective fault management. With different tools having
different notification profiles, the IT admin is tasked with the challenge of correlating the notifications from
various tools, finding the impacted devices, going back to the necessary tools, and carrying out the required
fault management operations.
Example: Assume a server goes down and it has to be brought back up online by restoring the backup. For
this, the admin needs to implement a configuration and restore the servers directly.
Normally, the IT admin gets a "server down" notification from the network management tool, goes to the
configuration management tool, and pushes the backup server configuration details to revert the server
settings. After all this, the server finally gets restored.
6. Tackling multi-licensing complexities
One important aspect of working with the various tools in implementing the IT operations management
process is managing the licenses of the various tools involved.
The problem with having multiple tools for IT operations management is that:
IT admins have to track the licensing details for each of the tools individually. This again brings in the
problem of consistency, as IT admins have to ensure that all the essential devices, monitors, and
parameters are licensed to each of the required tools.
Failing to ensure this will result in some essential devices not being monitored/managed by a tool due to
non-availability of a license. This can disrupt the visibility the IT admin has on the particular device/monitor.
If each of these tools has different licensing models, to maintain an inventory and track each of the licenses
separately can be a huge hassle. Of course, organizations always have the option of investing in a license
management tool, but that will only increase costs for IT operations management.
7. Dealing with heterogeneous integration capabilities of various tools
The goal of a carefully crafted IT operations management strategy is to combine key insights from the
individual processes (network monitoring, application monitoring, firewall analysis, bandwidth
management, etc.) to arrive at a holistic view of the IT infrastructure performance. This will help IT admins
isolate and troubleshoot faults and get the most out of every penny invested in their IT infrastructure.
To accomplish this, integration is a key aspect. Integration in itself can be classified into two sections:
Intra-functional integration: Integrating with IT operational management components such as network
monitoring, firewall analysis, configuration management, bandwidth and traffic management, IP address
and switch port management, network management, application monitoring, and storage management.
External integration: Integrating with other ITSM, communication, and other external tools such as
ServiceNow, Slack, AlarmsOne, etc. to convert the monitoring data obtained from the IT operations
management tool into actionable items and resolve IT faults.
When using multiple tools for IT operations management, each tool might have its own set of
intra/external integrations. The concept of intra-integration between various processes gets thrown out of
the window in most cases, except when multiple tools are purchased from the same vendor.