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If you currently work at a company with more than 1000 employees, this short survey is for you.

Help us understand how you define “enterprise software” and earn 250 THWACK points for a few minutes of your time.

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What's a SWUG^™?  The short answer is it's an extension of this online community, delivering over 14 hours  of technical, hands-on education for free.  We started this program in 2015 and in 2020, we're back and—literally—bigger  than ever with two full days in cities across the globe. SWUG connects you with  SolarWinds executives, product managers, user experience researchers, technical  advisors, engineers, Head Geeks^™,  and other end users like you. It's a great place to get the answers to the hard  questions perplexing you, get details from behind the curtain at SolarWinds,  take a pulse to see what other industry professionals are doing, and where  they're going. Our goal is to help you be the best IT pro you can be. But don't  take our word for it. Here's what attendees at recent SWUGs have to say:

As a first-time attendee, I have to say this was my favorite work event I was able to attend this year. As mentioned, it was an event actually dedicated to us, for us.

— Paige Barnes (medleyp812), Chicago SWUG 2019 Attendee

I've been to events like this before only to be bombarded with what I can purchase from either the host or their partners. I got the feeling that the employees representing SolarWinds genuinely care about their customers.

— Ashley Warren (abby.warren), Chicago SWUG 2019 attendee

This was my first SWUG. I found value in the information provided as well as the personal contacts made during the conference. I will definitely plan on attending next year and I also look forward to THWACKcamp.

— Jim Yocum (jpyocum), New York SWUG 2019 attendee

Fantastic conference. Instead of sitting there listening to a marketing presentation like many conferences, the attendees were able to engage SolarWinds employees and address concerns and speak to their own environments.

— Steven Dean (chezbrgrs), Atlanta SWUG 2019 attendee

As my first SWUG, this was an excellent event. I felt overall it was very informative, and really highlighted the amazing user community around the SolarWinds products.

— Benjamin White (bwhite23) Seattle SWUG 2019 attendee

Join us and more than a hundred other IT pros ranging from monitoring engineers, help desk techs, MSPs, DevOps to the "I do it all"-folks in building bridges and tearing down silos. Remember, the goal is to get the information you need so when your workweek’s done, you can enjoy your weekends.  If you would like to be notified as soon as registration is available, please complete the pre-registration form for the SWUG(s) of your choice below. Be sure to watch the SolarWinds User Group space for the most up-to-date information.

All locations and dates are subject to change. We would advise to not book any travel until formal registration is available.

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It's no exaggeration to say it's been a whirlwind year for the SolarWinds User Group (SWUG^™) program. Like I said when announcing the 2019 SWUG list, we completely rethought the program and made drastic changes between last year and this year. The biggest (and IMHO best) change was moving to a multi-day schedule.

It all boiled down to one concept: time. Until we get backwards time travel working, time is our only 100% non-renewable resource. When it's gone, it's gone, so making the most of it should be your top priority. For me, that means leaving on time and enjoying my evenings and weekends, getting the most out of my business day by decreasing "unplanned work," and having stimulating conversations that enrich me as a human being. The SWUG program has provided the latter for me all year long. And the conversations we've had this year? Just amazing. It doesn't matter if, like me, you're a long-timer with SolarWinds solutions, or a relative newcomer. The conversations drive me.

We asked on day one how everyone would gauge their personal level of knowledge. In a room of over 140 people, 11% said they were SolarWinds Certified Professionals, 15% said they were experts, 55% called themselves intermediate, and only 20% were beginners. I felt like this was a great mix for a user group, but we'd like to provide everyone with the tools they need to level up their careers. As part of leveling up, we made sure we spoke about SolarWinds Smart Start, the open office hours, and our certification prep guides. All of these are great ways to unlock further professional achievements.

Like the other events this year, it was my pleasure to act as the Master of Ceremonies for the Chicago SWUG. I got to give a few presentations, provide the introductions, hand out the raffle prizes, and hang out with over 140 of my fellow THWACK members. I had the privilege of opening day one with a keynote and closing the event with some warnings and recommendations about alerts. Leon Adato was again in rare form talking about the discipline of monitoring, how to be empathetic to your users, and how to use some of the lesser-known tools to do some critical monitoring. Craig McDonald gave an excellent overview of how SolarWinds has been providing visual representations of data as our environments become more complex. Ashelena did a recap of what we learned over the year and how to leverage SolarWinds resources for the career growth and monitoring glory. Mike Driskell provided his expert opinion on when it's time to upgrade, migrate, scale up, or scale out. We heard from Kellie Mecham about how SolarWinds relies on our users at every stage of the SolarWinds Development Lifecycle. Jim Hansen took to time to explain why it's important to quantify data from the outside and the inside when troubleshooting system or user issues. Kathleen Walker reminded us all that security was part of our job with tips and tricks on having the necessary conversations as well as scaring us a little straight with some of current trends in ransomware.

This trip, we brought three THWACK^® MVPs to the stage. New MVP Dave Lando talked about his story of inheriting the Orion^® Platform, what he did to claim control, and how he got the organization behind monitoring. Nick Zourdos couldn't let it go and had to tell you all why your dashboards are still bad. Thankfully, he provided tips and tricks on how they could be made better, including some examples and what he's done for his organization. And finally, Zack Mutchler demystified the Orion SDK by providing clear examples of how to dip your toes into working with the SolarWinds Orion API.

Since returning to Texas, I've been trying to wrap my head around the best way to encompass what I've learned over the last year at the SWUGs. After a few hours of wracking my brain, staring at a blank screen, I was inspired by a question from a friend.

Today, my friend and colleague Leon Adato asked me the question, "If you were given a salary of $1,000,000, but you still had to have a career, what would it be?" When I stopped to think about it, my answer would be talking to IT professionals, helping them break down their challenges, guiding them in their own careers, sharing my experiences, working with them to provide solutions, and basically everything the SolarWinds User Group program has provided over the last few years. This trip to Chicago, really cemented that for me—I love my job because of the people.

Now, we've traveled to the Chicagoland area before for two previous SWUGs, but 64% of this event's attendees said they'd never joined us and that made my heart sing. Putting faces to usernames is always a pleasure and some of the best questions are the ones for which we don't have an immediate answer. Those questions make us pause and have a real conversation. At a SolarWinds User Group, you might get "I don't know" as an answer, and that's awesome! It means we get to learn as well. Those conversations are still happening today.

We tried something different in Chicago this time with a "Community Pick" session. On the first day, you could submit an idea for a half-hour topic for day two. At the beginning of day two, we tallied those requests and held the session. Yes, you read that correctly. We put together a session in approximately 2-1/2 hours to present just before lunch on day two. It was one of the most stressful, exciting, exhilarating, and exhausting sessions we've ever produced. If you were there, I hope you enjoyed it.

Another new session—but not new as a concept—was BYOQ: Bring Your Own Questions. We basically stole a conference room, grabbed a whiteboard, plugged in to a television on the wall, and were there to answer questions. That's it. I know it doesn't sound extraordinary, but it was a revelation. You had a question about Patch Manager? Great. You wanted to know what happens during Orion database maintenance? Cool. You needed help writing a port inventory report? Excellent. No question was too big or too small. Even when we weren't answering questions ourselves, we heard other attendees answering each other's questions. This is the THWACK community at its finest.

Throughout the event, we had hundreds of people ask questions in person and online. There were questions we didn't get a chance to answer while we were on the ground, so we're trying to answer them as quickly as possible. Many of them we have collapsed into a single question based around a theme, but if you don't see your question answered at the bottom, let us know by commenting below. We'll be happy to continue the conversation.

It seems every single event I find myself saying, "we tried something different for this SWUG." Personally, I think that's wonderful. As each group of attendees provides feedback we try to adjust and make sure we're providing the content in a way that's both educational and entertaining. We're doing what SolarWinds has done for years: listening to the community. SolarWinds and THWACK wouldn't be who and what they are without you, the community members who make coming to the job delightful.

To say I'm excited for what 2020 holds would be a gross understatement. There's so many (figurative) places technology is going and so many (physical) places we're planning to take the program. Keep your eyes peeled for the official announcement of dates and places sometime in the new year.

If you've gotten this far, you hear ad nauseum how much I love these events, but I'm not the only one. A few of our attendees took the time to say nice things about Chicago SWUG.

"One of the most valuable vendor events I've ever attended in nearly 20 years of IT experience."
     —ckonz

"This was a great User Group that focused on the product rather than trying to push third-party software and vendors for prizes. The presenters were amazing and the interaction during breaks and after hours was terrific."
     —bbishop

"This event was way better than I expected it to be. It was recommended by the vendor we went through, and I was very happy I could attend. I am hoping that after applying what I've learned I can make a yearly SWUG attendance part of the company budget"
     —rhuprich

"I appreciate that the focus was primarily on how to utilize [the] Orion [Platform]. I've been to events like this before only to be bombarded with what I can purchase from either the host or their partners. I got the feeling that the employees representing SolarWinds genuinely care about their customers."
     —abby.warren

"I always get a lot out of these meetings, and I REALLY liked the 2-day event. It works out GREAT! I am not gone too long from work and I feel like I got A LOT more than last year."
     —nnettrouer

"I have already told my boss about it and he would like to go next year too. You guys are truly amazing to care as much as you do for being a big company with areas all over the place. It shows you all love your jobs and value the community."
     —medleyp812

SolarWinds is looking for your opinion on IT monitoring purchasing preferences (perpetual vs. subscription).

In return for your participation in this survey, we will drop 500 Thwack points into your account.

Click here to take the survey!

Let us know what you think!

Thanks in advance.

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

It’s time to say goodbye to spooky season and welcome the season of shopping deals. Forget haunted houses and scary movies—you won’t be running anywhere but towards the checkout button!

We've all had a wishlist just waiting for the sales, and what better way to make those wishes a reality than from the comfort of your home this Cyber Monday (Dec. 2)? In the spirit of shopping season we want to know what you have your eye on this year. Maybe you’re looking for a new video doorbell, router, or feature/functionality for a product? Whatever it is, we want to know!

Tell us what new technology, products, updates, and functionalities you’re most excited for by November 12 and we’ll give you 250 THWACK points in exchange.

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

Do you monitor the experience your users receive in the applications they access over the network?  If you don't today, would you be interested in doing that in the future?  Do your users frequently complain of performance problems with teleconference tools like Webex and Zoom or SaaS websites?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, we'd like to talk to you! We have a tool we're working on in the lab to help you out, and we want your input.

If you're interested, please fill out this survey.  The first 100 to complete the survey by Friday, November 8th will receive 1,000 THWACK points.

Happy monitoring.

We want to hear about your experience!

We recently updated our SolarWinds Online Demo and, with your help, we can make it even better. Take 5 – 10 minutes to share your experience with the SolarWinds Online Demo and receive 250 THWACK® points.

It’s just three easy steps:

Click HERE to complete the survey (Hurry! You only have until November 8).

Don't forget to insert your THWACK username at the end of the survey.

As a thank you, we’ll deposit 250 THWACK® points into your account after the survey has closed on November 8.

TAKE SURVEY

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

While you’re at Microsoft Ignite, come visit us at booth 935 and learn how SolarWinds is making it easier to manage your systems and applications.

See how SolarWinds continues to improve our best-in-class Microsoft management solutions running on-premises in IaaS environments or how the Orion Platform suite of products now can be deployed in Microsoft Azure through the Azure Marketplace. From managing and monitoring your applications and servers to optimizing your virtual and storage infrastructure, SolarWinds has you covered.

COME LEARN ABOUT:

Fundamental control of Azure: Setting up and auditing access controls for Azure subscriptions can be extremely challenging. See how we can help set the correct levels of access to your Azure-hosted applications and data.

Prepare to migrate to Azure: Overprovisioned resources will consume more compute and storage resources than they need. See how you can prepare and rightsize workloads before migrating them.

Monitor Azure workloads: Azure provides component-level monitors, but you have to drill down in the Azure portal to view them. See how you can have a single pane of glass to view all Azure metrics.

Hybrid IT operations management: With SolarWinds products now available on the Azure Marketplace, deploying products and monitoring workloads regardless of where they reside has never been easier. 

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

Telling tales of data center horrors this Halloween

October 31 is coming up soon, so it’s time for costume parties, haunted houses, and your favorite scary movies. Halloween stories are frighteningly fun during parties or wrapped up in a blanket at home—we all love a good Dracula or Frankenstein tale!

In the spirit of Halloween, we may tell stories of things going “bump” in the night, but nothing’s as terrifying to tech pros as things that go bump in the data center.

To celebrate Halloween this year, we want to know your scariest, most goosebump-inducing data center fears and anecdotes that not only scare you this season, but year-round. Did you have a mishap with a chiller, HVAC, generator, or branch circuit? Or did something outside the data center affect your ability to conduct business as usual?

Tell us your scary stories and how you fought against these spooky tales by Friday, October 11 and we’ll put 250 THWACK points in your account.

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Over the years, I’ve had a chance to help staff the SolarWinds booth and represent the gamut of IT needs in nearly 100 trade shows. From networks to applications, from storage to security, and most recently hybrid and cloud, it’s been a pleasure to meet thousands of sharp admins from the THWACK community. In all of those conferences, and in all the interesting technical questions you’ve asked about the expanding product line, there’s only been one question I didn’t have a great answer for:

Does SolarWinds offer advanced support?

But if you see me at GITEX in Dubai or MS Ignite in Orlando this year, I’ll be able to answer differently. Because SolarWinds now offers three support options: Professional Support, Premier Support, and Premier Enterprise. That’s right, advanced support, direct from SolarWinds.

The offering formerly known as Premier Support is now called Premier Enterprise. We listened to your feedback and Premier Enterprise now offers even faster Service Level Guidelines and top-of-the-queue preference. We’ll provide you with a named contact familiar with your specific setup—and system quirks—to help you take a proactive view of your ecosystem with full health checks. It’s designed for the largest and most complex environments, with more urgent support needs.

Premier Support is a new support tier providing decreased wait times, upgrade guidance, and additional health checks to help meet the needs of our customers with setups needing a little extra love.

I’ve recommended many SolarWinds Partners over the years—and will continue to do so. If you’re looking for on-site training, customization, integration with third-party systems, tune-ups, and other services, one of our authorized Partners is a great choice. Customers who work with resellers (especially outside the U.S.) have enjoyed great local support for years. The new Premium Support option doesn’t replace these services—it extends the options available to help customers ensure they’re getting full use of their SolarWinds tools.

When customers ask about additional support, it’s usually after they’ve been using our products for a few years and they’ve gotten the monitoring spirit. They’ve seen happier users, easier operations, and more efficient use of their IT investment. They’ve built out comprehensive dashboards, integrated with other systems, and have shared access to their performance data well outside the monitoring team. In other words, they’ve realized monitoring is a tier 1, business-critical system they depend on day in and day out. They’re using SolarWinds not just to help keep IT running, but to become proactive.

Premier Support is designed specifically to help you do this. Very large customers—those with hundreds of thousands of elements and remote pollers scattered around the world—have had an enterprise support option to help with upgrades and planning, provide named support contacts, offer Service Level Guidelines, include system checkups, and more. And now, SolarWinds is offering a similar level of expert support to all customers, including those who aren’t multi-national in scale.

Check out this link for details. Premier Support helps keep your SolarWinds system running as designed. You get system checks, upgrade planning, accelerated issue resolution, access to advanced product experts, SLGs, and more. If you think you might be missing a host of new features, but haven’t upgraded in a while, Premium Support can be an extra hand. And if you inherited a heavily used SolarWinds platform, Premier Support is a great way to start becoming an expert admin for the system your team depends on every day.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming conferences this year for a lot of reasons, but especially because after a decade I have a new answer to a great customer question.

“Does SolarWinds offer Premier Support?”

“Yes, we most certainly do.”

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If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

We’re looking for customers who are interested in participating in our next round of Release Candidate Dev-Assisted Upgrades.

Here’s what you need to know:

• If accepted, you and your team will be upgrading to available Release Candidates with a team of SolarWinds experts watching closely and ready to step in if anything goes wrong.
• It’s FREE (for active maintenance customers)
• We have a team of people ready to assist with any questions before or after the upgrade.
• You get THWACK points!

This is a limited time offer, with first come, first serve slots. If you aren’t able to participate this time, don’t worry! There’s always next round.

Want to see if you qualify to get a SolarWinds Orion Dev-Assisted Upgrade?

Fill out this quick survey.

Thanks!!

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

For other videos, be sure to check out the Triple-T Hub.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment below!

Once again, it’s an honor to help celebrate IT Pro Day—a recognition of the women and men of IT, who do so much more than simply keep the blinkenlights on. If you follow SolarWinds even casually, you’ll notice among all the tortured taxonomies technology vendors transmogrify, “IT pro” seems to be unique to us. And this year, I’d like to offer my theory of why, here on THWACK, where so many IT pros connect every day.

You don’t have to go far in the world outside technology to see “pro” used in ads to suggest an association with power and capability. No [Heavy|Super] Duty 4x4 pickup ad is complete without mud-bog slow-mo, and diamond plate “PRO GRADE” bolted, welded, or riveted to the screen. “Pro strength” cleaners promise to get out stains amateur detergents apparently leave behind. The retail world is overstuffed with “prosumer” product lines, and the third column of many good/better/best product comparison charts is labeled “pro.” It would seem everyone, even technology civilians, knows what “pro” means.

Or do they?

Consumers aren’t supposed to stash more gear in a “pro” tacklebox—it just has chunkier corners. $100 of “pro” access points are usually better than a single router/AP stashed in a corner, but they’re no brace of Meraki. And worksite pickups are one-ton 350s or bigger, not ¾-ton 250s. In consumer land at least, “pro” seems not to be an actual rating, qualification, or demonstrated suitability to task, but used to evoke an essence. It’s “of the pros,” suggesting something a professional would use while professional-ing. So, the real question is, who is this mythical professional? This legend, who simply improves things?

In technology, you know a pro when you see one. Like a pro athlete, they make everything look easy, or at least for IT, easier. They’re dependable, tenacious, and see problems all the way through to resolution. They share their expertise and eagerly teach others how to succeed. Better, they always seem specially crafted to handle any situation. A pro is someone who walks into the room and says, “I’ve got this,” and everyone is confident they do.

So, when you hear me talking about IT pros, this is what I mean. They don’t “play with technology” on the businesses’ dime—they use technology to achieve business goals. They don’t “spend time in IT” while they look for greener grass—they build rewarding careers keeping evolving tech hype and promise in check. And most of all, they don’t run from Ops—instead, they dive in, company after company, seeking to understand the nuances of system performance from the bottom of infrastructure all the way up to end users.

Perhaps the real IT meaning of “pro” is the same as its Latin roots in late Middle English, meaning literally “for, on behalf of.” Only with IT pros, the “for” is related to users, not just to craft. IT pros—the THWACK community—are working on behalf of end users. They work tirelessly, with a smile, on behalf of everyone who counts on them. IT pros are a skillful lot, but more than that, they woke up one day to decide helpfulness would be their profession, and technology merely their tool of choice.

So, here’s to all of you on IT Pro Day 2019. Thanks for deciding to not only be a part of IT, but making IT a profession, not just an occupation. It’s always a pleasure to work with you.

Happy IT Pro Day,

Patrick