According to the Healthcare IT News article, the technical problems stemmed from a storage area network (SAN) failure, the hardware which stored agency records.  This hardware failure has been remidied, but they are still in the process of recovering electronic data. 

The article further stated that no data was compromised or lost, and KDHE is fortunately on the road to recovery, but with a $700,000 price tag for a full system fix

Hearing reports like these inevitably leads me to wonder about the root cause of the failure.  Was it related to temperature fluctuations in the data center?  Was there a voltage surge?  A water leak?  Did humidity levels affect the equipment?  Did someone spill coffee on it?

Although sympathetic to KDHE’s data retrieval struggles and incident expense, I can’t help but feel comforted knowing our own data center is protected with Ravica equipment which will alert us at the first sign of an environmental hazard.  Should the temperature fluctuate beyond our customized minimum and maximum parameters, notifications are sent immediately.  Ravica’s environmental monitoring devices are customizable for various business and residential needs.  Give us a call today to find out how we can help protect your infrastructure, before catastrophic system failures occur.

~Angela
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Albeit gorgeous, the home features glass exterior walls, allowing the occupant to be “one with nature.”  But it also seems to allow the occupant to be “one with everyone else who is standing outside the house.”

This takes the concept of “neighborhood watch” to a new level. 

But it did get me thinking…  Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to allow your neighbors direct views into your home.  For example, if neighbors should see smoke in the home, they could alert the fire department.  Should neighbors notice a water leak, they could contact the proper resources.  Should they observe an intruder, police could be summoned.  So, for the minuscule price of $35 million, you could have a home with these security features.

Out of your price range?  Then I’d like to suggest a simpler and more cost effective solution to monitoring your home or business.  A Ravica environmental monitoring device is a multipurpose solution to notify you of environmental hazards in your home, data center, or business.  Get instant alerts about smoke, humidity, power outages, and so much more.  Protect your assets and infrastructure against total damage.   Our sensorProbe unit is fully SNMP enabled, allowing for easy integration into many existing monitoring systems.

If you want to keep your surroundings safe from humidity damage, smoke, or temperature fluctuations, give us a call.  We are here to help.  And we won’t charge $35 million.

~Angela
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Fortunately, we can have that sense of trust with a Ravica environmental sensor.  Ravica security monitors placed in your property can alert you to the presence of property hazards like smoke and water.  While you are away, you can still feel secure knowing you will be alerted to hazards as soon as they happen.

A Ravica team member just received an alert at work this past week from his home’s system.  He was notified of unauthorized access to the house.  Fortunately, the culprit was his extremely mischievous Dachshund.  But what if it hadn’t been?  Wouldn’t you want to know immediately if someone is in your home?

First alerts are extremely important to prevent serious damage.  An early alert from a smoke detector can make the difference between very minor damage and total destruction.  If caught early enough, proper authorities can be notified and damages can be minimized.

But what good is a smoke detector if you can’t hear its alarm?  What happens when your home is in Boca Raton, but you are on vacation in Venice?  Ravica’s devises are extremely versatile and can use various mediums to send alert notifications.  Just imagine having the freedom to travel knowing you will receive an instant alert about any power outages, smoke, or water leaks.  These alerts can be sent through email, mobile phone text, or Skype.

During the work day and during extended absences and vacations, you can feel confident that your property is protected, even without the Mayberry police force.

~Angela
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Last week I noted a discussion with an associate who lost data due to a water leak in a data center.  Not long after that discussion, I had a conversation with an IT Manager regarding business structure.  During our conversation, he mentioned that his building’s security officers recently called him with complaints of slow internet connectivity.  He used his company’s NetFlow monitoring tool to find the source of tremendous internet bandwidth streaming.  Through the NetFlow Analyzer, he narrowed the focus to one specific security camera and realized the camera was constantly streaming images of an empty hallway.  This streaming was pumping pictures to the network server and causing huge delays.

He further used his Scrutinizer Analyzer to locate all cameras that were also continually streaming images of hallways, stairwells, and other non-vital locations.  Armed with this new information, the Security Department reconfigured the cameras to prevent this from happening.  This simple change reduced the video traffic by over 25%, improved Internet connectivity speed, and decreased the amount of required storage on their servers.

Cameras from Ravica can be set to record only motion, thus preventing clogging the network with unnecessary stream.  Had my associate’s company initially set up Ravica cameras, they could have saved massive amounts of time, energy, money, and frustration.

Once a Ravica Universal Mount Camera is linked to a SecurityProbe, images can be stored in the integrated picture log.  Images can also be  sent via e-mail, FTP, MMS, or streamed directly to a mobile phone.   Security cameras just make sense, but only when they are working for you.  Cameras are only of benefit if they are recording what you want to see:  not empty hallways, but things like security breaches from the NetFlow Ninja.

~Angela
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Sadly, this type of water damage is fairly common.  Not as common as the Old Spice Guy videos on YouTube, but common nonetheless.  

This type of accident can severely cripple a business and shouldn’t be expected or taken lightly.  My associate’s story serves as a glowing example of the importance of environmental sensors.  A Ravica SensorProbe would have notified him immediately of the situation.  He could have received notifications through email, Skype, Twitter, or texts on his cell phone, and the damage could have been dramatically reduced or potentially totally eliminated.

The SensorProbe is a versatile device to alert on the presence of water, temperature fluctuations, and smoke before the damage is crippling to a business.  The sensors can be placed virtually anywhere and aren’t limited to just data centers or offices. 

Environmental monitoring sensors are more than just fancy smoke detectors.  Devices from Ravica can prevent the need to repair damaged facilties and recreate lost data, saving you tremendous amounts of money.  They are versatile devices designed to keep you in control. 

Contact us today for more information.  At the very least, contact the Old Spice Guy.  He seems to have all the answers.

~Angela
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Aside from recently being blasted with swirling vortexes of terror in the form of tornoados (in New England?!), things here are going well.  We recently mentioned that we have entered the NetFlow probe arena by offering nProbes and nBoxes for your business needs.

But it did occur to me that we should at least offer a brief overview of what NetFlow is.

To put it in perspective, IT administrators could see how much traffic was on a network prior to NetFlow creation, but they couldn’t see what kind of traffic it was.  Cisco Systems created NetFlow and changed the world of technology.  NetFlow allows extremely detailed collection and measurements of network traffic.  This depth of data collection provides near limitless opportunities for business and network management, including the ability to monitor source and destination IP addresses, troubleshoot performance errors, and detect security threats.

In order to access NetFlow, you must have NetFlow capable routers or switches, or you can simply obtain Ravica’s nProbe or nBox to export the data you need.  You can add them to your existing network without the requirement of migrating data or traffic to new devices.  They are very easy to install directly to your existing setup, and they easily capture the network information and put it into a usable format.  You’ll be managing your network traffic in no time.

Some NetFlow collectors and reporting tools have even turned into virtual technological art forms, like Plixer International’s Scrutinizer tool which offers incredibly in-depth traffic reporting and presents it in clear, concise graphical formats.

If you have more questions about NetFlow, there are some network monitoring blogs available on Systrax.com.  You are also welcome to contact us with any questions about NetFlow, nProbes, or our environmental monitor probes.  Just like NetFlow, and unlike swirling vortexes of terror, we are here to help your business.

~Angela
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To support this business need, we recently expanded the Ravica product line to include new hardware and software.

The foundation of this new line is the software called nProbe.  Once installed, nProbe is ready to use without additional configuration required.  It is placed on a PC from which one can capture the desired traffic and send it to the specified collector.  nProbe is a high-performance probe designed for running on environments with limited resources.  The nProbe can support both flow and packet sampling.

For some users, however, running a network probe on a PC is not always the best choice.  A PC may require more physical space than is available.  PCs also require operating systems and maintenance, and multiple PCs would be required if a user needs multiple probes.  As a result, Ravica also offers nBox, a hardware device preloaded with nProbe.  nBox can be effectively used as a probe and collector at the same time.  It is easy to set up, immediately available with little configuration effort, and easy to administer using intuitive embedded web interface.  It is generally placed on a mirrored port or next to the border gateway.  Due to its low cost, web interface, and remote maintenance, nBox is the ideal choice for adding NetFlow support to your existing network without the need to purchase or replace your existing router/switch.

To further assist businesses by providing detailed views of network traffic, Plixer International developed Scrutinizer, an alternative flow capture tool with extensive reporting capabilities.  Scrutinizer is able to retrieve traffic details and present them in a dynamic, intuitive, and detailed graphical view.

With expansive varieties in network analyzing requirements, Ravica is pleased to offer you a variety of IT solutions.  If you have any questions about how we can help with your specific network, please contact us.

~Angela

That last statement was hitting below the belt.  I apologize.  There is no “I” in “team,” so I won’t make this all about me.

I’m taking it one game at a time at Ravica, but it’s already been apparent that the crew here is a great team.  We are all willing to go the distance to show you how we can help protect your home and business with environmental monitoring.  Please contact us if you have any questions about the SensorProbes or Intelligent Sensors or about customizing your equipment.

Also…You can also get a ringside seat and see our online demo to learn how the sensors can monitor your world.  The user password is “Ravica.”

Ravica offers great products and great service, and we are in your corner.  We welcome your feedback.  Leave it all on the field and tell us how we’re doing.  Also, let us know if you would like more information about any environmental system topics.

Thanks for letting me introduce myself.  I look forward to sharing Ravica news with you even more as the game goes on.  And I promise to throw in the towel on the sports clichés in the future.

Phew.  I’m saved by the bell.

~Angela
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NetFlow is a network protocol that was developed by Cisco Systems to collect IP traffic information and it has become the standard in network traffic monitoring by IT professionals.  For more information on NetFlow, check out this blog on NetFlow basics at Systrax.com.  For those without NetFlow capable routers or switches, fully utilizing NetFlow requires a probe which is generally attached to a PC and a software tool to capture the network information and put it into a usable form.

Many software NetFlow solutions (such as nProbe) users, realized that running a probe on a PC (or any other common hardware) is not always the best choice for several reasons:

1. PCs have moving parts that can break making the probe unavailable.
2. PCs are large, need monitors and keyboards, whereas probes often need to be deployed on places where there is not much space available.
3. Administering PCs is not cheap and they require the purchase of an OS, its installation and maintenance.
4. In large networks divided in several trunks it is necessary to have several probes each analyzing a trunk. This requires that multiple hosts running nProbe are deployed across the network.
5. The cost (for both hardware and maintenance) is not neglectable in particular if several probes need to be deployed.

The nBox provides users with a non-PC, scalable, hardware-based solution.  There are 5 models to choose from, so there is an option for any size network.  Check them out at Ravica.com or give us a call at 207.324.8173, to find out more about how we can help you with your NetFlow Monitoring needs.

Check back for more information on our our NetFlow solutions, the nTap and nProbe.

I’ve wrote a lot lately about the expandability of the SecurityProbe line of products and getting the most out of your environmental monitoring system, but with the  idea of virtually unlimited expandability comes the problem of keeping track of the hundreds of dry contacts and sensors that are integrated into your monitoring system.  When you get a critical alert on temperature sensor 018, do you know where that is located?  This can be a be an especially big problem for larger facilities, like college campuses, where the sensors are gathering information from multiple buildings spread out over a large area.  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see at a quick glance where individual sensors are located and if there is a problem.  That is exactly what the mapping feature on the SecurityProbe is designed to do.

The Maps Tab allows you to upload site plans, building floor plans, or diagrams and then locate your sensors on the map.  That way, you can instantly see that the critical problem being reported on Temp 018 is in the Math Lab and not in the cafeteria.  Below is a screen shot of what this looks like to the user.  Note that the sensor statuses are color coded, green=good, red=problem so you can pinpoint issues and their location at a glance.

The map feature is helpful if you are using sensors in more localized applications as well.  For example, if you are monitoring a data center you could upload a diagram of your server cabinet  layout and then locate the  sensors graphically.  This would be helpful especially if the responsibility for addressing certain issues falls to maintenance staff that might not be as familiar with IT equipment.   Below is a screen shot of the diagram we use for the sensors in the Ravica server room.

There is no limit to the number of maps that you can load into you web interface, so you can use whatever formats work best for your application.