RE: [hobbit] Wanna show off.

["Everett, Vernon" <Vernon.Everett (at) woodside.com.au>]

Unfortunately, I agree with Buchan on this.

You need to remember, the purpose of IT is to provide solutions, not run preferred software. 
And this cuts both ways.
You can't run Hobbit just because you like it.
But by the same token, your PHB can't run his commercial stuff, just because he likes it.
It needs to provide a solution to a business need.

One of the things you might find yourself up against, is that Hobbit doesn't have "Golf days" with free booze, and fancy cocktail parties and product launches with open bar tabs, goodie-bags and other junkets that the big vendors can provide.
And, for the morally elastic PHB, this is the clincher, not the quality of the solution.

Good luck.

Regards
    V



-----Original Message-----
From: Buchan Milne [mailto:bgmilne (at) staff.telkomsa.net] 
Sent: Monday, 29 June 2009 5:12 PM
To: hobbit (at) hswn.dk
Cc: Neil Franken
Subject: Re: [hobbit] Wanna show off.

On Monday 29 June 2009 08:32:00 Neil Franken wrote:

> Where can I find the Hobbit User list? Our company is being monitored 
> by Xymon but we have a new manager here that suffers from MS mania.  
> He now wants to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a new monitoring system.
> I am not going to back down without a fight so if I can show him this 
> list maybe he will realize the error of his ways.

From a business perspective, there may not be an error in his ways.

Frankly, a business needs to ensure that their requirements are met in a cost effective manner.

So, I would start out from the standpoint that your monitoring tools may not necessarily satisfy the business requirements, and that you are happy to work with him to document the monitoring requirements. Once they are documented, show that you can satisfy all the monitoring requirements with a lower cost, and no businessman will decide against you.

Don't fight, cooperate to show that you take the business needs into account, and have actually satisfied them.

If there are any monitoring requirements you don't meet yet ... identify them and let's see if we can provide options, before you have to report.

I can however note that at least two ISPs in South Africa run Hobbit/Xymon (and Devmon). A recent sporting event in South Africa used Hobbit for monitoring components of the network ...

I can give you some more examples off-list.

Regards,
Buchan

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