Extract from a white paper prepared for Statseeker (Capturing and
Managing the Details) by Enterprise Management Associates Inc, 2004.
Statseeker has taken an unusual approach to addressing the data volume,
transit, threshold, and analytic issues of "less is more". By focusing
on specific statistical values (OIDs), Statseeker reduces the data volume
while increasing the value of that data and the engineering that is
applied to it.
Since the collected data is limited, statistics can be collected on the
entire network infrastructure and done so more frequently without
impacting the network with the normal volume of over-polled data. This
more extensive visibility into the network and higher frequency also
increases the value of the data by highlighting more relevant trends
and more quickly reflecting sudden changes in the monitored systems and
network. Given this focus on relevance, the result can show a more
"actionable" management perspective on the infrastructure.
This simplicity in data collection has also made Statseeker distinctive
in being able to monitor the entire network and all its components.
This virtually eliminates the need for guessing which devices are
critical, and which are not - which will in any case vary by application
and service environment, as well as by normative changes within
increasingly dynamic IT systems. Statseeker's "blanket monitoring" has
historically extended to environments with as many as 200,000 nodes.
By design, Statseeker's software can scale much larger; however, there
are few networks extensive enough to take the software to its limits.
The visualization of the data is also a vital link in the chain of
management requirements. Statseeker uses real-time data sorting to
present the most likely issues at the top of the view. Typically,
Statseeker has found that even in a very large network there are a
relatively small number of links or nodes that are showing irregular
statistics at any given time. Also, typical behavioral characteristics
of potential problem areas in contrast with other elements or networked
areas that are operating well within tolerance is obvious and dramatic.
Given this characteristic of these complex infrastructures, simple
sorting of the results provides a simple visual segregation of
information that needs attention.
The combination of limited data collection and simple but effective
visualization techniques allows Statseeker to focus engineering effort
on understanding the implications of the statistics that are at the
core of the Statseeker system. Because Statseeker has developed a
focused collection of information, Statseeker analytics can be more
efficient, turning virtually all of the data into useful information
for understanding the characteristics, trends, and trouble spots in
the network.
Since the data is collected more frequently than is typical - usually
every minute, the reports and graphs are effectively real-time views
of the network, providing rapid access to emerging issues and quick
visualization of reported problems. Statseeker historical reports,
available as the archived version of real-time reports, serve as a
backdrop for those real-time reports, providing information about the
typical trends of the network by hour, day, week, or any other time
period. Equally important, the limited amount of data collected means
that the details for those historical reports are maintained without
loss, thus providing the ability to drill into data from many months
ago to understand the differences between now and then.
This baseline information from the reports becomes a key characteristic
in the computation of normative thresholds and provides a backdrop
against which to measure current performance.
Statseeker deployment is analogous in its simplicity to the Network
Monitor's core design. With Statseeker's bootable CD, any system
conforming to Statseeker's requirements quickly becomes a Statseeker
server and begins to collect data from the network. The system also
acts as a LAN analyzer to dig into activity on a LAN and understand
the possible sources of problems.