Nextron Internet Team GmbH in Switzerland Powered by Paessler

Management Summary

The Web agency Nextron Internet Team GmbH was founded in 1996 and is based in Basel, Switzerland. International companies like the British mobile operator Orange, Novartis and Nikon Switzerland, rely on the experience of Nextron when it comes to Web design and application development. But the Web agency’s offerings also includes internet services such as website hosting. Therefore, Nextron has subdivided its IT infrastructure into two data centers. One section operates at the principle office, the other devices are located at a provider´s site, operated by Nextron itself. In order to guarantee their customers with the utmost possible security and performance, Nextron uses Paessler PRTG Traffic Grapher, No Spam Today! and IPCheck Server Monitor since 2003.

Customer Benefit

Thanks to Paessler software products, Nextron technicians can rely on properly operating servers and are notified by SMS (short message service) if there are any issues. This avoids time consuming regular checkups and helps the technicians focus on other priorities. Due to the products’ flexibility, collected data can be used for other activities as an internal homepage for technicians is provided, showing not only the IPCheck status but also the actual CPU processor load in personally defined images.  SMTP and Web transaction sensors also enable users to run tests that check the server against defined functions.  IPCheck increases the time to react to issues considerably. Using the integrated self-healing scripting, IT can have the software fix bugs itself, e.g. with restart services, saving the user lots of trouble. The combination of IPCheck with the PRTG Traffic Grapher leads to a close monitoring of the server CPU and the network bandwidth load. The software No Spam Today also prevents the agency and its customers from spam and thereby reducing performance problems with the mail server.

Challenge

IT infrastructure

Part of the IT environment – including five file, development and test servers as well as customer owned Web servers that are hosted by Nextron – is being operated and maintained by the agency in their captive data center. The servers are protected by a firewall and connected to the provider Magnet.ch AG via a 2Mbit line. At Magnet.ch AG there are 18 further Nextron devices being operated that run diverse web servers (Apache and IIS), SQL servers, mail servers, DNS and statistic servers. Those devices are also protected by a firewall and directly linked to the backbone of Magnet.ch AG. There are more than 100 Mio. pageviews and about 15 Mio. emails per year running via these devices. A server breakdown would have serious consequences for Nextron´s accounts. Nextron guarantees its customers capacity, stability and support. That´s why a 24x7 service is an absolute must for Nextron´s technicians. As a result, monitoring the centralized IT systems is very important. Nextron must rely on a steady alerting and monitoring solution  in order to assure server availability and to keep the service level agreements for their customers.

Solution Requirements:

• Saving of time and costs through uncomplicated administration
• Easy installation
• Flexible extension

Product Related Requirements PRTG:

• Windows-based software
• Clear management tools
• Flexible report presentation

Product Related Requirements IPCheck

• Clear interface
• Web-based administration
• High quantity and flexibility of sensors
• Low effort on configuration
• Scheduling
• Self-healing scripting

Product Related Requirements NoSpamToday

• Windows-based Spam Assassin technology
• Low-priced inspite of unlimited email accounts

Solution

90 percent of the servers – without exception all Web servers – are being monitored by IPCheck Server Monitor. Nextron GmbH customers expect a response rate of 30 minutes maximum around-the-clock. Using PRTG Traffic Grapher, Nextron monitors the backbone and CPU load of the most important devices. The combination of PRTG Traffic Grapher and IPCheck Server Monitor provides fast bug analysis. Through PRTG ,most load problems can be recognized and fixed before they affect the server and IPCheck steps in.

No Spam Today 2 is running on the e-mail servers and prevents harvesting attacks by locking the remote hosts in due time.

“Beside the high functionality and quality of the Paessler products, it´s particularly the great support that convinced me. Questions and problems are being dealt with instantly, sometimes even with optimized new product releases – and all this free of charge” says Lukas Frei, co-founder and IT person in charge of Nextron Internet Team GmbH.