Peregrine Systems Inc, a Carlsbad, California-based developer of network management software for mainframe-based corporate networks, has announced a software product that automates the administration of network problem management for IBM-based systems. Peregrine says that the NetView Interface reduces staffing and costs, while improving productivity and accuracy by allocating scarce technical resources. PNMS3/NetView Interface automatically captures NetView alerts and status in-formation, applies user-defined, rule-based alert filtering, and opens problem records in PNMS3’s Problem Management application. Once the problem ticket is opened, it follows a problem management process that includes issuing escalating alerts and compiling availability statistics. The process is completely automatic, requiring no manual intervention by either a NMS3 or NetView user. Peregrine claims that by using the NetView Interface, users enhance operational effectiveness by linking to the administrative aspects of PNMS3 network management software with no loss of NetView functionality. Because the NetView component of the interface is comprised of IBM-sanctioned Data Service Tasks and uses published NetView program exits to gain access to the NetView alerts, it is compatible with future NetView releases. PNMS3 can be customised and users can choose to open problem records based on each occurrence of an alert, on reaching a threshold number of occurrences, or upon reaching a threshold number of occurrences within a specified time interval. PNMS3 incorporates a relational database and data dictionary, table-driven field editor, a fill-in-the-blanks report writer, and a screen painter. It offers several on-line software tools, including problem, change, inventory/configuration, and financial management applications. Developed for IBM mainframe-based networks, PNMS3 integrates with the DB2 database, and the company says that it is collaborating with customers to integrate it with other operating environments, including Unix workstations and personal computers.
