The initial setup can be complex. The installation process is unique, based on a container-like environment. While we offer it as a service, some customers choose to deploy it on-premises. In those cases, we replicate the container environment at the customer's site, which requires a thorough installation process. This process may involve configuring the server and potentially programming it.

Back then, the setup was really straightforward. There was not much configuration to be done on our side and then data just magically appeared in the portal.

Our deployment took about a day. We only had a few routers and a few POPs back then. We did the setup in three or four locations, so it was fairly small. Today, everything is completely automated on our side. When we set up new locations, we make sure that all the configuration is done automatically. The only thing we need to do is to go in and add the site in Kentik. Pretty much everything else happens automatically on our end. So there really isn't anyone involved in deploying it, per se.

We didn't really have an implementation strategy.

Given that it's a SaaS solution, it also doesn't really require anybody to work to maintain it or administrate it. We push data in and it goes away after 30 days. On an ad hoc basis, where we need a dashboard or something specific, someone may spend an hour creating that in the tool. That's not really maintenance, it's more our using the product.

At my previous location the solution was on-prem and I helped with the entire process of getting it into the network. I helped them do the proof of concept, I helped do the executive briefing, I helped do the modeling of the entire implementation, and I also helped and worked on the implementation itself.

Because it was an on-prem setup I found it pretty straightforward. We had to do a whole bunch of work on the network to get it working properly because you have to change all of your configurations to make sure it's sending to the right locations, but otherwise, it went very smoothly. They told us we had one of the fastest implementations ever. From the time that we actually started the implementation, it was only about a month, and we actually got all the routers in there too. And that was with a huge, massive, on-prem installation. Probably one of their biggest ever.

For the servers, Kentik worked with our IT department, but for the network stuff, for anything that was on the routers, we deployed it ourselves.

At my current company, they have the cloud solution, and I was not a part of the installation. I'm not sure why they decided to go with cloud versus on-prem. I don't understand it. I know why my other company went on-prem but I don't know why they did cloud versus on-prem here.

I was involved in the installation. The setup was easy. Exporting NetFlow records is all that is needed. I also setup a BGP session with Kentik. This allows Kentik to see the AS path and to record it with each record as well.

It took us about a day-and-a-half to fully deploy. It wasn't that big a deal.

We had to roll out the device-level config that would start exporting the data to Kentik, but that was incredibly straightforward. There was no impact to doing so. We automated that and were able to push it out to our entire network in about that day-and-a-half, and we were fully up and going without any kind of hitch.

On our side, it was just me who was involved. It was super-simple. I wrote a script, it deployed, and we were up and going.

And there is no overhead when it comes to maintenance.

The initial setup was straightforward. We had the on-prem deployment, so they sent us a list of the stuff. I wasn't involved in the setup of the hardware, but our data center guy said it was straightforward. You put this rack here and plug this in. And as far as the computer equipment goes, the great thing about NetFlow is that it is a very standard industry protocol. It is what it is and it's pretty much done. 

In terms of how to best utilize the information you have and what you know about your network, and to give it to the platform in a way that that is good, that is still very easy for a network like we have. But for someone who is a lot less rigorous about their internal typography or typology or descriptions or other meta-information, they may find it harder. You don't need to be doing best practices, just reasonable practices. If you're already doing reasonable stuff, it'll be okay. But if you don't have very good standards for your network in terms of descriptions and the like, you're going to have a bad day. But you were already going to have a bad day. It's not fair to knock the platform for that. There needs to be some way to get that meta-information into the platform, to be able to say: What's a customer? What's a peer? What's a core link? If you can't do that, then you have other problems. 

We signed with Kentik at the end of 2017. There were a couple of months where we were spinning up the hardware, where we didn't really do any setup. They sent us a list and we did some due diligence to make sure that we had the right buys, etc. It's going to be different for an on-premise versus a cloud solution. But once we got up and running, things went very very quickly. 

If you practice good practices in your network, it's very easy. If you have a very sloppy network with bad descriptions, where you can't write a rule that says a description and starts with "customer" is a customer, and a description that starts with "core" is a core, but they're all just "port to go" you're going to have a bad time. That's really work that needs to already be there in a good network. Our network was already designed with a standards base. So our setup was very fast. It took weeks if not days. Once we put the first few routers into the platform to make sure how the API was going, we were able to run all the rest through.

It took one to one-and-a-half people for the setup, excluding the on-prem hardware installation, which I wasn't a part of at all. I'm not a developer, so we had a developer who did the API work to add them into the platform. I guided that API work. It's really not that complex.

Initial setup was relatively straightforward. We had to evaluate which method of flow export/ingestion to use, implement the samplicator instance and then send Kentik the flows. We also had to exchange some information for BGP and SNMP settings.

I wasn't involved in the initial setup, but there is time involved for us to set up the checks for the flow data and to set up the reports. Depending on what someone is setting up, it could take five minutes or it could take a couple of days. It just depends on what they're implementing with it.

Initial setup was very straightforward. Nothing I needed too much help with.

It was set up before I joined this organization.