FTU installation and configuration tasks
The first time user (FTU) configuration tasks are designed to get the monitoring system into real production use as quickly as possible. Some of the FTU tasks along the road to a full production implementation may not seem to be exactly what you think your site needs. But by the time that you finish all of the FTU tasks, you’ll have modified the initial configuration into the perfect advanced configuration for your site. What’s more, you’ll see the monitoring system running as soon as the fourth task is completed. Just follow the tasks in the order they are presented.
About this task
By getting monitoring running quickly, you’ll be able to verify that it’s still running after every subsequent task. That way, any problems you encounter can be assumed to be related to the changes that you just completed, which makes it easier to fix any issues that might arise before you make further changes.
Sometimes this staged configuration methodology is referred to as “Crawl-Walk-Run” and that fits in this case. By teaching you what you need to know along the way, you get “crawling” with the monitoring system nearly immediately, and before you know it, you are “walking” along and then “running” with advanced concepts like a true expert. FTU Tasks 1–5 complete the “crawl” phase; FTU Tasks 6–8 complete the “walk” phase; and you begin to “run” with FTU Task 9.
You can skip the optional tasks if they don’t apply to your site, but you must complete the tasks you do perform in the order they are presented. If you aren’t sure if you need the optional steps, just read the brief description at the beginning of each task.
The FTU process isn’t just about seeing value quickly although it accomplishes that. It’s also about getting your monitoring system fully operational and in production.
Let’s get started with some basic concepts and terminology.