Once departments were billed for IT services, they wanted to know what they were paying for, says Paul Bresten, a system administrator and network manager for Sun. Bresten s group couldn t tell them. The company selected a reporting tool with a format that would help executives easily understand how components are functioning. The tool also gives technicians sufficient data to zero in on problem spots. Since deploying the tool, Sun has made some interesting discoveries.
Users are quick to point a finger at the network.
But we usually find that performance problems come from other issues, such as the fact that users are loading too much software on their machines, explains Bresten. Another discovery involved Sun s move to Oracle s Financial Applications. The applications placed information in small packets that flooded the network, says Bresten. To eliminate the problem, we had to go in and tune the database. While the emerging application-performance tools offer many benefits, few companies have adopted them.