Both Intel Corp, Santa Clara and XTree Co, San Luis Obispo, California have launched products intended to fill the local network network management gap. The two systems – LANDesk Manager from Intel, and XTree’s Tools for Networks, Novell Edition – are designed to do essentially the same job, although the companies have chosen to implement particular features in different ways. The management end of Intel’s LANDesk Manager is Windows-based, and incorporates the single agent technology originally developed for its LANSight Support software: this enables management applications which require an agent to use a standard terminate and stay resident program for all node management functions.
LANDesk Manager
LANDesk Manager is centred around the LANDesk Control Panel, which provides a window of menu and application icons, used to access the system’s other features. One such is the Desktop Access module, which handles workstation and server selection, interrogation, diagnosis, and configuration management, along with workstation mouse and keyboard control, file moving and copying, program execute or system reboot. Through another module, Traffic Monitor, the system provides a real-time summary of packet-level traffic including number of packets per second, utilisation, error rates and protocol statistics. This tool can also monitor specific addresses, for example electronic mail gateways, or traffic types such as IPX. Similarly, the Application Monitor module – for which Intel is claiming a first – monitors application usage, and identifies which applications run on which servers, how often they run, and which users access them. Inventory management of on-line network resources is provided through another module, which builds a hardware and software database on network-based workstations based on the company’s iAPX-86 architecture, while as its name suggests, the Remote Access module gives network adminisrators the option of controlling the system from a remote location. LANDesk Manager also includes virus protection. Meanwhile, over at XTree, Tools for Networks carries out many of the same functions (bar virus detection) but lays them out differently. XTree has followed the path chosen by Novell Inc with some of its modules, replacing utilities bundled with NetWare.
By Chris Rose
The Configuration Manager, for example, controls and documents server configuration, enabling modification of users, groups, queues and file server information (including system files and log-in scripts), and is intended effectively to replace NetWare’s Syscon utility. XTree also claims that the Configuration Manager contains features not found in Syscon such as Supervisor Eqivalents (which locates all users with supervisor privileges in a window), and an Info Box showing information about any object on the network including cryptic user names or unfamiliar group definitions. A Simplified Edit feature enables the local network manager to see and change trustee directory assignments and rights while scrolling through group/user lists, DiskSummary monitors disk space usage, and Copy/Paste cuts and pastes information to single or multiple destinations. Claimed to give standard Fconsole functionality, the Server Monitor includes a built-in reporting feature providing a view of the network. XTree has also chosen – unlike Intel – to provide server performance statistics through a NetWare Loadable Module which is also claimed to provide command capabilities previously available only through Rconsole. Intel, on the other hand, does not replace Syscon and Rconsole, but provides a NetWare Utilities Folder claimed to give fast acess to such NetWare utilities. Tools for Networks’ Workstation Monitor includes static information (such as Shell, Driver and IPX/SPX versions), as well as graphic, real-time analysis enabling network administrators to analyse dynamic packet information. With a terminate and stay resident program loaded into a connected workstation, information on computer type, BIOS, video type and memory map can be displayed, enabling the Manager t
o control remote workstatirons, and edit those files remotely. The Configuration Backup and Restore module enables the local network manager to save the NetWare bindery and other network information to a floppy disk, hard drive, or the network drive, while QuikStat provides a list of over 100 tests for NetWare 2.X and 3.X, and is intended to help in testing network performance. It gives snapshot views of the local network’s performance, while a command line option enables it to be run from a batch file or the MS-DOS prompt.
WatchLAN and NetTrack
The final two modules – WatchLAN and NetTrack – are respectively a runtime testing and event notification program, and a utility that collects and processes file server performance related statistics. The former provides continuous monitoring of user-defined thresholds, and is claimed to activate a variety of notification functions (including MHS, cc:Mail, digital paging, 25th line messaging, execute program and execute batch file). WatchLAN is claimed to include over 100 tests for both NetWare 2.X and 3.X, enabling the local network manager to set unique thresholds for each network monitored. Also incorporated is a node testing capability which enables checks for a specific node address (such as an SNA gateway or print server), while baseline results from NetTrack can also be imported. Both products are available immediately; XTree’s Tools for Networks is to cost UKP600 for the first server and UKP340 for additional servers, while LANDesk Manager lists for UKP715 per server.
