What do you do if you have a hierarchical, Simple Network Management Protocol network management system and you want to turn it into a distributed, SNMP system? Answer: pop an SNMP agent in the management stations so that they show up on network maps and can manage each other. At least, that is the approach Ungermann-Bass has taken with its Adaptive Internetwork Management architecture, exhibited for the first time last week. The Internetwork Management architecture will be implemented in the next software release of NetDirector station, which means that it, in turn, can be managed by other management stations. The company argues that most large networks are partitioned into locally administered domains and that the strength of the new architecture is that it enables domain managers to be monitored from a central point and at the same time, enabling them to act autonomously. Under the architecture, domain NetDirectors appear on the global NetDirector’s map as icons along with other managed devices. Domain NetDirectors are polled for status, enabling the administrator to determine fault activity without polling individual network devices. Also, administrators can move down to a detailed view of a domain by initiating a client connection to any distributed NetDirector server. To implement distributed domain management, a Simple Network Management Protocol domain agent is added to the NetDirector server, enabling NetDirector to act as an SNMP agent as well as an SNMP manager. The company reckons that third party SNMP-based network management stations will be able to go into NetDirectors. The other element of Ungermann’s architecture is the object modelling technology launched in January. It attempts to simplify things by providing user customisable models containing only those characteristics relevant to managing the device. NetDirector with AIM capabilities will be available in the second quarter costing from $8,000 to $19,500 depending on the number of nodes. The company has also announced an agreement with Santa Clara-based Protools Inc which boosts the Ungermann Bass network management family. Ungermann will resell Protools’ Cornerstone Agent, which permits remote monitoring, and the more advanced Foundation Manager, which combines network management functions with fancier modelling and analysis functions. No figures, but both describe the deal as a multimillion dollar agreement.
