In This Edition:
We all know that good things come in threes, so we've taken the liberty to gather up some of our favorite triplets for 2008. No year in review here, just some cool threesomes to help you power through the holiday season, complete your wish list for Santa, overcome those irritating holiday email chains, and survive Aunt Myrtle's fruitcake. And if you find yourself stuck in the holiday doldrums at the office, never fear... we'll be here for you. 
Your holiday wish list won't be complete without these three must-have networking products, all of which are on sale for less than $1000* (but only for a limited time... so hurry, the credit crunch won't last forever).
- Engineer's Toolset offers 49 powerful desktop tools for monitoring and troubleshooting your network, including favorites like Switch Port Mapper, IP Address Management, Bandwidth Gauges, Cisco® Config Tools, and more.
Try It Free >
Save $395 Today >
- LANsurveyor automatically discovers your network and creates comprehensive, easy-to-read network maps in literally minutes. Plus, the maps can be exported to Visio® for sharing.
Try It Free >
Save $1000 Today >
- ipMonitor 100 delivers entry-level monitoring for your favorite network devices, servers, and applications. In 2008, this turnkey solution took home awards from Network World, WindowsNetworking.com, and SearchNetworking.com.
Try It Free >
Save 40% Today > 
In case you missed it, SolarWinds released three new free tools in 2008. Thousands of your fellow IT pros are using these tools to manage their mission critical apps and monitor their networks... so what are you waiting for?
- Free Real-time NetFlow Analyzer - perform real-time capture and analysis of Cisco® NetFlow data to gain in-depth visibility into network traffic and bandwidth utilization.
Download Now >
- Free Exchange Monitor - continuously monitor Microsoft® Exchange for real-time insight into Exchange services, mail queue sizes, and host server health.
Download Now >
- Free VM Monitor - continuously monitor a VMware® ESX Server and the performance of its virtual machines with at-a-glance health statistics and real-time visual alerts.
Download Now > 
It was hard to narrow this list down to three, plus we came up with a separate list just for getting through the holiday office party (which didn't make it through the appropriateness filter, unfortunately).
- Keep your cell phone nearby at all times. You can always make a quick getaway, claiming that you've received an urgent message that your IT systems have cratered and you're the only one who can fix the problem.
- Offer to setup your aunt's universal remote. Given your expertise in home entertainment networking, this will only take you five minutes, but can buy you hours of quiet time.
- Unearth your iPod® radio remote and don't forget the earphones. Tune into your favorite AM sports channel and embrace the dual benefits of subtly drowning out family drama and keeping up with the play-by-play action for your favorite team.
Our Head Geek, Josh Stephens, has been hard at work filming a series of how-to videos on a bunch of networking topics. Pick up some quick tips to improve the performance of your network and applications, then go impress your boss.
- The Power of NetFlow: learn how to turn on NetFlow and identify who is consuming the most bandwidth on your network by leveraging several easy-to-use software solutions.
Watch It Now >
- Switch Port Mapping using SNMP: get helpful tips for mapping users to switch ports without needing to check the cable or having to manually telnet to the switches.
Watch It Now >
- Monitor Any Statistic on Your SNMP-Enabled Devices: see how to collect any SNMP statistic from any network device or server using the new Orion NPM Universal Device Poller.
Watch It Now > 
Our network engineers had a busy year developing new products and adding new features based on your feedback. In case you missed some of the year's releases, we've picked a few that you'll want to brush up on in-between online holiday shopping ventures.
- Orion Network Configuration Manager (formerly Cirrus) delivers next-generation network config and change management in an affordable, easy-to-use package. The new version can be used standalone or integrated with Orion Network Performance Monitor.
Try It Free >
See the New Features >
- Orion Network Performance Monitor added a new Universal Device Poller and virtualization monitoring, got some slick updates to the UI and administration features, and saw dramatic improvements in the ease with which new devices can be added to the monitoring database.
Try It Free >
See the New Features >
- ipMonitor surged ahead as the leading entry-level monitoring product on the market. The latest version boasts an updated user interface and new network monitoring features, like SmartMonitors, network mapping, wizard-driven setup, improved dashboard views, and enhanced device grouping.
Try It Free >
See the New Features > 
If you haven't been to Thwack, SolarWinds online community, you are missing out on a wealth of information and free downloads contributed by your colleagues. Cruise on over to check out the Content Exchange and see how hundreds of engineers have already saved themselves some keystrokes with these favorite downloads.
- Our Top Universal Device Poller for Orion NPM: MIB PowerPack. This useful resource includes MIBS for APC® Smart-UPS and PDUs, Avocent® KVMs, Dell® servers, EqualLogic® SANS, Hewlett Packard® printers and switches, Juniper Networks® VPNs and firewalls, NetBotz equipment, Powerware™ UPSs, and Supermicro® servers.
Download It >
- Our Top Custom Script for Orion NCM: TACACS+Config. This script enables TACACS support on most Catalyst switches, including the 2950, 2960, 2970, 3560 and 3750 models.
Download It >
- Our Top Application Monitoring Template: Citrix® MetaFrame® Presentation Server. An application monitoring template that is already created for you - install it and start monitoring Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Servers in minutes!
Download It >
For those of you who own licensed SolarWinds products, we are pleased to announce that we've updated the SolarWinds Customer Portal. You asked and we listened! Here are just a few of the improvements you'll find in the new portal:
- Access downloads of your licensed products from multiple FTP locations in the "License Management" area
- Review your maintenance renewal dates and then renew your maintenance online in three quick-and-easy e-commerce steps
- See index information for your licensed products, including registered user, date registered, and computer name
- Register new products online or reset your licenses with a few mouse clicks
- Download the most recent updates and service packs for your purchased products
Please note: you will need your customer ID and password to login to the portal. For assistance, please contact customerservice@solarwinds.com.
Visit the Customer Portal >
Product Tip: Setting Up Alerts for Website Visits
Our product tips come from all corners of the SolarWinds universe. This month's tip is courtesy of one of our sales engineers, who helped a new customer set up alerts when users on his network visit one of those websites that keep you on Santa's naughty list. Here's how you can do it, too.
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First, you'll need to purchase or download a free trial of the Orion Power Pack, which bundles Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM), Orion Application Performance Monitor (APM), and Orion NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA). |
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Next, follow these easy steps; if you need more help with the first three, check out our online documentation.
- Create a view in Orion NTA that displays the top 100 domains.
- Configure an HTTP monitor from Orion APM to monitor the Orion NTA top 100 domains webpage.
- Create an email alert for the Orion APM HTTP monitor that searches for a keyword including the naughty website's name on the Orion NTA webpage.
- Sit back and wait for Orion to email you a link to the Orion NTA view the next time someone visits a website on your hot list; then see who those violators are and let them know who's boss.
Try the Power Pack Today >
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A number of service packs are now available for download from the support area of the SolarWinds website. Download them today!
