As the networks organizations depend on every day to do business become more complex and advanced, they also have a tendency to become more geographically diverse. Where a network administrator’s entire jurisdiction may have once been limited to one physical location, an ever increasing culture of employees who remain connected to the network at all times often results in networks that exist over vast distances. The job of a network administrator is harder than ever, and the task of monitoring nodes and rolling out changes across the entire network has become increasingly time-consuming.
The most obvious solution is to resort to the sneakernet, i.e., physically visiting each individual location and working hands-on with every piece of hardware. In practice, this could mean an administrator traveling the globe to rename some files, or perhaps resorting to mailing unsecure data transfer devices such as CD and DVD storage or USB devices. Neither of these is good for security or good for the workload of the average IT administrator. To help organizations of all sizes avoid sneakernet, Digital Scepter provides the latest in systems management tools: Tanium.
In this article, we discuss sneakernet and the potential impact on an organization if a network is managed using such slow methods. We also explore Tanium and the stunning features that make this software the leading choice in systems management. Finally, the major benefits of choosing Tanium from Digital Scepter are illustrated by some of the most frequently encountered use case examples.
What is the problem with sneakernet?
A term which describes all kinds of physical data transfer methods, sneakernet uses the biggest network in the world: people, moving around. Before modern computers and long before the Internet, this was the only form of network available – data was on paper, or in books, and sent using the good old-fashioned postal service. Despite now having been superseded by far more advanced networks, sneakernet remains a significant tool for transferring large amounts of data over short distances. If, for example, you mailed your friend a package of 20 Blu-Ray discs, the equivalent throughput rate of the data would be far above most other transfer methods.
However, throughput (data transfer speed) alone does not accurately represent the efficiency of a network. What if you wanted to send your friend only a few documents on a USB stick? The process of transferring data would take just as long.
In instances of network monitoring and application security, large files rarely need to be moved around the network. Instead, network administration depends on low latency – common activities such as renaming files or deleting suspected malware may not involve the transfer of large file sizes, but performing these tasks quickly is vitally important.
Resorting to sneakernet for administration and monitoring leaves IT network administrators with hundreds of hours of repetitive tasks, wasting time and money that could be spent on other areas of the network. In addition, if a network administrator must monitor every node on the network and modify settings as necessary, there is a dangerous delay between the identification of a security threat and the rolling out of a solution to every user.
Digital Scepter understands the need for every organization to avoid sneakernet and, wherever possible, to monitor and manage its security from a centralized location.
Avoiding sneakernet with Tanium systems management tools
In order to avoid sneakernet and maintain high efficiency for network monitoring and security monitoring, a network administrator should be able to query information on any hardware device and roll out changes without being forced to manually visit each machine. Tanium is a robust and reliable systems management tool that makes this possible, saving time and effort for IT departments. The software is highly flexible, allowing you to not only investigate how computers are being used, but also to run a command on every single machine in mere moments.
Using Tanium works in three key stages:
1. Identify machines using fast search criteria
Although Tanium can be used to carry out actions on as many as 400,000 computers at once, in most cases, you will want to target a specific subset of your network or check for devices that meet certain criteria. Tanium accepts queries as questions – finding all of the computers that are running Internet Explorer is as simple as asking Tanium: ”Which computers are running Internet Explorer?”
Some other common queries include: “Which services are using more than 10% of the CPU?”; “Which computers have USB drives attached?”; and “What are the Required Microsoft Patches from all computers?” Whatever the nature of your query, Tanium makes it possible to identify all correlating computers at once so that you don’t have to manually investigate every single device on your network.
2. Define Tanium Actions to roll out changes in seconds
Next, just about any task that could be achieved with direct access to your selected computers can be achieved remotely using Tanium’s powerful deployment functionality. By simply entering a command prompt instruction, you can delete, rename, or move files, or modify settings and configurations as necessary. Every computer can follow your instructions in as little as 20 seconds.
3. Set up network monitoring and automated actions for the future
By allowing you to find the right machines to target and then running a range of commands, Tanium could save you hundreds of hours a year. However, you can save even more time by using your queries and previously used commands to automate the process for the future.
Imagine that you need to check which computers need application updates. After running through the process just once, Tanium can automatically check periodically for outdated applications, notify you, and update them as necessary – without any direct administrative input.
Examples of Tanium usage for security monitoring and network security
The implications of powerful systems management software like Tanium extend across all facets of network management. At Digital Scepter, we believe that a low latency, sneakernet-free system like Tanium leads to better standards of security as well as being an essential time-saver for any IT department.
One customer runs a network that spans 17 distinct geographic locations and hundreds of individual machines. In this case, the goal is simple – to rename folders on every machine, bringing them in line with new naming methodologies for the organization. Using sneakernet, the customer would be required to visit each individual machine and run a batch rename from the command prompt. Using Tanium, the customer can automate the entire process, renaming every single folder in seconds.
In another case, a customer is concerned about what would happen if a worm managed to infiltrate the network. Let’s say that the worm is an application named AppX. Eradicating AppX completely would be a two-stage process: identifying all the machines where the worm was present, and then manually deleting the worm on each machine. With sneakernet, this would be a painstaking process, taking time away from other areas of network administration. With Tanium, a simple “What are the computer names of computers running AppX?” query will immediately identify the targets, and one single command line instruction can be rolled out to each machine, instantaneously.
Sneakernet and the distributed nature of modern networks is a bad match. With Tanium, processes that could potentially take hours to complete can be completed in seconds.
Contact Digital Scepter to avoid sneakernet in your organization
With a proven track record in helping organizations streamline their network processes and improve their network security, Digital Scepter understands the best steps for a business to take in order to avoid sneakernet and wasted hours.
We currently offer an end-to-end network monitoring and network security service range, beginning with diagnostic services including an Application Visibility Report and penetration testing. Digital Scepter can help to identify your most pressing needs, brief you fully on the best hardware and software implementations to save you time and money, and source products across next-generation firewalls and other perimeter protection devices. As well as having a close relationship with Tanium, Digital Scepter also works with a number of other leading suppliers, including Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, Aruba, and Trend Micro.
To find out more about network monitoring and network security services from Digital Scepter, visit digitalscepter.com or call 1-888-299-3718 today.
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