September 25, 2007

Here at Heroix headquarters we rely on a multiplatform network of servers supporting the critical applications required to run our business and development operations. And of course to ensure that everything is functioning as it should be, we use Longitude to monitor it all. Last week we received an alert from Longitude warning us that we were running low on disk space on our Exchange server. Like any business, we rely on email for everything from internal communication to sales inquiries to customer support. So in a case of “eating our own dog food” we experienced what it was like to have our own product save us from having any problems with business as usual.

The alert read:

The free space is critically low on disk C: on <<our Exchange server name>> at 1679 MB, or 9.82%.

If all disk space has been used, new files will not be able to be created which may result in critical applications failing. This disk should be reviewed to see if there are files which can be archived or removed in order to free up some space in the file system.

Using the Event Monitor and built-in dashboards and reports, we were able to determine that while our overall disk usage on Exchange was relatively stable (or only growing slightly), a recent software update on that machine had put us just over the desired threshold. By getting an early warning, we were able to work proactively before we ran out of disk space. A reminder to users to clear out or archive old messages was all that was necessary to avoid a potentially crippling interruption in email.

This situation confirms how important it is to be proactive in monitoring practices. The early warning we received about potentially running out of disk space on our Exchange server prevented a potentially disastrous, time-consuming issue for IT at our company headquarters. And because Longitude’s Event Monitor makes it so easy to find and fix the problem, none of our critical business processes were disrupted.

What’s more, this situation helps us appreciate what our customers experience when using our product in production situations. The more we understand our users’ point-of-view, the more able we are to help them tailor the product to their own business needs. And understanding just what happens in our customers’ business practices is what allows us to deliver the best products and service possible.

Posted by Dick Levin, VP for Development