Paessler PRTG hits the right note at Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam
About Het Concertgebouw
Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is world famous for the unparalleled acoustics of the Grote Zaal (1974 seats) and the Kleine Zaal (437 seats). This unique building has welcomed many illustrious names in classical, jazz and world music, such as Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Bernard Haitink, Yehudi Menuhin, Jessye Norman, Vladimir Horowitz, Cecilia Bartoli, Louis Armstrong, Sting and many more. With more than 900 activities and more than 700,000 visitors per year, Het Concertgebouw is one of the most visited concert halls in the world.
Since 2017, Suzanne Verweij has been leading the ICT team of Het Concertgebouw, which consists of five internal employees. Except for the website, all ICT runs in-house. Suzanne works together with Rudy Hendriks of ITpros for the technical system and network management.
Rudy has been involved as an IT partner at Het Concertgebouw for 23 years and implemented Paessler PRTG Network Monitor in 2012. He explains why he chose PRTG at the time: “It was set up within half an hour and it was easy to understand and manage. You are very flexible with PRTG because you can determine which sensors you want to use and you can also enter the value for when a sensor has failed or when an alert should be sent. ”
Photographer: Hans Roggen
“We regularly do a power failure test and I immediately see in PRTG what goes down and no longer comes up. Technical Support is jealous of this. They still have to walk through the building and check everything manually. PRTG will provide them with a lot of time and overview.”
Suzanne Verweij, ICT Coordinator at Het Concertgebouw
Monitoring critical infrastructure
Photographer: Hans Roggen
With 4 million visits per year, the website is the most important point of sale for Het Concertgebouw, the world-famous royal concert hall in Amsterdam. ICT Coordinator Suzanne Verweij is responsible for the infrastructure, application management and further development of software: “It is crucial for me and my team that the website and the linked ticketing system work day and night. I have a controlling function and want to know immediately if the website has been down for more than 60 seconds.”
ITpros keeps an eye on all parts of the infrastructure, operating systems and applications. They have set up PRTG in such a way that Suzanne sees the most critical servers and applications on her dashboard. She explains: “At my workplace I can see on a screen whether everything is working. Has an update expired? Then my dashboard turns red. Does the system behave differently than usual? Then I see that immediately. And does the website, ticketing system or network connection not work? Then I will not only receive a warning on my dashboard, but also a text message, so that we can take immediate action. Ticket sales via the website are our main source of income, so it has to work 24/7.”
A feeling of security
PRTG is also a solution for the less critical infrastructure. The ICT team can quickly see when something is not going well. “PRTG gives us security. If an update slows down the website, or if the temperature in the server room is too high, we can proactively do something about it. Last year we replaced all firewalls. Previously we had to test them manually, but now we could see in PRTG if they all worked properly. In the event of an emergency, we now ask: is that not possible with PRTG? It is often possible, so that we are almost never faced with surprises again,” says Suzanne.
Extension to Technical Support
Het Concertgebouw will be expanding its PRTG license in the near future, because the Technical Support Department will also be using PRTG. They are responsible for, among other things, the control of light in the halls, the sound installations, video and the temperature in the halls and the building. Just like Suzanne, they get a separate dashboard on which they can see at a glance whether everything is working.
And that will save her a lot of time, according to Suzanne: “We regularly do a power failure test and I immediately see in PRTG what goes down and no longer comes up. Technical Support is jealous of this. They still have to walk through the building and check everything manually. PRTG will provide them with a lot of time and overview. ”
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