Best Practices

Host Files: The Last Line of Defense When DNS Fails Article

Host Files: The Last Line of Defense When DNS Fails

Phil Dalrymple June 12, 2026

DNS is more reliable than ever — and it still fails. When it does, a properly maintained host file is often the difference between continued operations and a complete standstill. The 2025 AWS outage proved it.

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Agent vs. Agentless: Why the Easy Choice Isn’t Always the Right One Article

Agent vs. Agentless: Why the Easy Choice Isn’t Always the Right One

Phil Dalrymple June 02, 2026

Agentless IT management is genuinely simpler to start — until your managed devices are behind NAT, at a remote site, or on a client network. This is the architectural problem agents solve, and why the upfront deployment cost pays for itself.

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The Hidden Costs of Managing DNS Manually Article

The Hidden Costs of Managing DNS Manually

Gary Gillespie May 12, 2026

DNS management through provider portals is free in the same way that Notepad is free for writing a screenplay. The tool costs nothing. The inefficiency costs plenty.

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What Is ‘Change Management’? Three Very Different Answers Article

What Is ‘Change Management’? Three Very Different Answers

Phil Dalrymple April 14, 2026

If you have heard “change management” in a meeting and nodded along without being sure which kind was meant, you are not alone. The phrase means three completely different things to three different audiences. Here is how to tell them apart.

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SAML vs. OIDC: Choosing the Right SSO Protocol for Your Organization Article

SAML vs. OIDC: Choosing the Right SSO Protocol for Your Organization

Phil Dalrymple April 06, 2026

SAML and OIDC both provide single sign-on, but they were built for different eras and different problems. Understanding the differences helps you make the right choice for your organization.

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5 DNS Mistakes That Are Silently Killing Your Email Campaigns Article

5 DNS Mistakes That Are Silently Killing Your Email Campaigns

Gary Gillespie March 13, 2026

Your email platform tells you about delivery. It cannot tell you about the DNS configuration errors that happen before a single message is evaluated. Here are the five mistakes that silently send campaigns to spam.

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