Zabbix Summit 2024 is almost here, and we’re giving you a sneak peek into what you can expect to see on our main stage this year via a series of short interviews with a few of the eminent speakers who will grace us with their presence. First up is Birol Yildiz, the CEO and Co-founder of ilert GmbH and a man who is deeply passionate about keeping alert noise and fatigue to a minimum.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and the journey that led you to ilert GmbH.
My journey in the tech industry began with a deep passion for creating solutions that simplify and improve the lives of IT professionals. Before co-founding ilert GmbH, I spent over a decade working in various IT roles, ranging from software development to operations. I noticed that while monitoring systems were becoming increasingly sophisticated, the process of alert management and incident response was lagging behind.
This gap inspired me to create ilert, a platform focused on bridging that divide by optimizing alerting processes and reducing response times. Our goal at ilert has always been to empower teams with the tools they need to stay ahead of incidents, ensuring that their systems run smoothly and efficiently.
How long have you been using Zabbix? What kind of Zabbix-related tasks are you involved in on a daily basis?
Zabbix has been an integral part of ilert since 2018, when we first developed one of our early integrations with the platform. Recognizing its popularity among our customer base, we enhanced this integration in 2020, transforming it into a native integration and solidifying our partnership with Zabbix as a technology partner. Since then, Zabbix has become one of the most popular integrations within ilert.
On a daily basis, my involvement with Zabbix includes overseeing the continued optimization of our integration, ensuring that it meets the evolving needs of our users. I work closely with our development and support teams to identify and implement improvements based on user feedback and the latest developments from Zabbix.
Can you give us a few clues about what we can expect to hear during your Zabbix Summit presentation?
Alert fatigue has long been a significant challenge for the DevOps community, often leading to decreased efficiency and increased stress among professionals. In my presentation, we will explore innovative strategies that leverage AI to mitigate alert noise.
I’ll be discussing how to maximize the efficiency of your incident response process by leveraging Zabbix with advanced alerting and on-call management tools like ilert. I’ll share insights on reducing alert fatigue, improving incident response times, and ensuring that critical alerts reach the right people at the right time.
This talk will be particularly valuable for DevOps engineers looking to optimize their alert management systems and reduce the cognitive load caused by alert fatigue. Zabbix administrators will find it insightful, especially if they are interested in integrating advanced AI techniques into their monitoring workflows to achieve better performance and reliability.
Moreover, AI and machine learning enthusiasts will gain practical knowledge about applying AI in IT monitoring and alerting, making this session a comprehensive resource for anyone looking to advance their alert management strategies.
Reducing alert noise is something that’s on almost everyone’s wish list, but was there any particular incident or aspect of your professional life that made you want to focus on this topic?
Absolutely. There was a specific incident early in my career that left a lasting impact on me. We were using a monitoring system that generated a significant number of alerts, most of which were non-critical. One weekend, a critical issue was buried in a flood of low-priority alerts, leading to a delayed response and significant downtime for the business.
This incident underscored the importance of not just having a monitoring system in place but ensuring that it was configured to minimize noise and prioritize what truly matters. That experience drove me to focus on creating solutions that help teams filter out the noise and respond quickly to what’s really important, which is a core principle behind ilert’s offerings.
Are there any other similar issues that you can envision tackling with Zabbix?
Yes, beyond reducing alert noise, there’s a lot of potential in enhancing the collaboration between teams during incidents. For example, automating incident communication and resolution processes is an area where I see great value. By integrating Zabbix with incident management platforms like ilert, teams can not only reduce noise but also streamline communication, ensuring that the right people are involved at the right time and that resolution steps are clear and actionable.
Another area is optimizing the way multiple on-call teams work together using Zabbix and incident response platforms like ilert. In many organizations, different teams are responsible for specific sets of host groups in Zabbix, and it’s crucial that each team only receives alerts for the services they are directly responsible for. These are just a few examples of how we can continue to evolve our approach to incident management in conjunction with Zabbix.