Systems

Latest Posts in Systems

How DevOps Changes Monitoring

One of the most interesting changes that I have observed in my career is Microsoft shifting from just being a development organization to truly becoming a DevOps team, in the…

This is a Disaster! Knowing When to Call It

Disasters come in many forms. I’ve walked in on my daughters when they were younger and doing craft things in their bedroom and said “this is a disaster!” When it…

The Software Arms Race: Do You Even Upgrade?

After you’ve installed your new storage systems and migrated your data onto them, life slows down a bit. Freshly installed systems shouldn’t throw any hardware errors in the first stages…

Cognitive Bias in IT Decision Making

Logic and objective thinking are hallmarks of any engineering field. IT design and troubleshooting are no exceptions. Computers and networks are systems of logic so we, as humans, have to…

Out Of Office: Monitoring

One of the biggest complaints you’ll likely hear after moving to Office 365 will be about its speed, or lack thereof. Now that data isn’t sitting on your LAN, there…

The Impact Of Coupling On System Design

In system design, every technical decision can be seen as a series of trade-offs. If I choose to implement Technology A it will provide a positive outcome in one way,…

Out of Office: Identifying & Managing Risk

Risk Management is an important part of IT. Being able to identify risks and remediation options can make a huge difference if or when disaster strikes. If you’ve moved part…

Knowing Which Services Are Critical to a Business Service

In the age of exploration, cartographers used to navigate around the world and map the coastlines of unexplored continents. The coastline of IT, and moreover the inner landscapes and features,…

Disaster Recovery Testing – Learning to Walk the Walk

With the influx of natural disasters, hacks, and increasingly more common ransomware, being able to recover from a disaster is quickly moving up the priority list for IT departments across…

Disaster Recovery – Time To Create Our Plan!

Thus far, we have gone over how to classify our disasters and how to have some of those difficult conversations with our organization regarding Disaster Recovery (DR). We’ve also briefly…