P |
ageManager
comes from Atlantis Software, based in Fremont, California. It is a 32-bit snap-in
application for Novell's |
|
|
PageManager Pro w/ManageWise Adapter
|
|
|
first-class event log that shows what alarms occurred and
at what time. It indicates who was notified and by what means the notification was
delivered. |
ManageWise console that runs on Windows 95. PageManager
provides ManageWise with a low-cost alarm monitoring and notification utility.
It automatically notifies the appropriate person by e-mail, pager or
SMS - the Short Message Service supported by most digital mobile phones when pre-defined
alarm conditions occur. PageManager runs on the |
|
already been sent within a set number of minutes. You can
also configure it to send an alarm if a certain threshold number of duplicate alarms have
been reached. There is a 'Test Alarm Message' button in one of the dialogue boxes, so you
don't actually have to generate a real alarm to confirm that PageManager is working and
has been configured correctly. You can export alarm schedule assignments in standard
delimited |
|
A
thin, but excellent, 26-page manual is supplied and we could not fault the documentation.
PageManager implements the UCP and the TAP protocol, which are in use by most paging and
cellular phone companies. System requirements are: Novell's ManageWise 2.1 or later, a
Windows 95 workstation supporting at least 800 x 600 display resolution, Novell's
IntranetWare client for Windows 95 and an Internet connection |
Windows 95 workstation that is running the ManageWise
console. When not configuring it, PageManager can be minimised to run in the background.
PageManager setup is relatively easy. First, you must configure the
interface to the email or the paging service, or both if you intend to use the two methods
of notification. The e-mail interface requires an e-mail system that supports SMTP. Then
you can configure the personnel to be notified according to the method of notification
(e-mail, pager or SMS) and set up rosters of duty for who's on call and when. Finally, you
need to |
|
|
|
for e-mail notification - or a TAPI-compliant modem for
SMS or pager notifications. TAPI-compliant digital connections via leased line or ISDN are
also supported. Memory and disk usage are insignificant, each being about 2MBytes.
Verdict
PageManager is a very costeffective snap-in for
ManageWise. It will pay for itself over and over again by reducing network downtime
through notifying the right people at the right time when remedial action is
needed for your mission- |
|
assign the various ManageWise alarms, possibly to notify
different personnel according to the nature of the alarm.
Any combination of alarm name, alarm severity, alarm time, node, etc,
can be used to determine which personnel are to be notified. Alarms are grouped into
'families', according to the name of the MIB, to make the alarm hierarchy easy to manage.
To speed up administration chores, you can 'clone assignments' when
setting up a new person - effectively copying an existing recipient's alarm assignments
which can then be modified, if necessary. Atlantis seems to have thought this system
through very thoroughly. For example, you can set up filters to prevent multiple alarms
being sent. The way this works is that you can filter out any alarms that have |
|
formats for import in to external databases or report
generators.
The alarms sent to e-mail, SMS or alphanumeric paging devices can be
very informative, according to the messages you pre-define.
Examples of the type of message it might be configured to send are:
'Server disk space reached high watermark of 80%'; or 'Server CPU utilisation exceeded
threshold of 50% for a 5 second interval'; or 'Virus found in file on workstation DEVI';
or 'UPS for file server NETWCOMP running on battery -- server shutdown pending in 10
minutes'; or it could be as simple as 'User GEOFF has logged into server NETWCOMP'.
Any ManageWise event can be set to trigger a notification. This
includes all SNMP traps and supported MlBs. There is a |
|
critical network resources. Where systems run unattended
overnight, for example, it could avoid the need for a nightshift systems manager to
be present on site. Even physical (as opposed to hacker) intruder alarms can be linked to
SNMP traps to notify personnel on call.
Product Overview |
Product:
PageManager Pro with ManageWise Adapter |
|