Installing Server Manager took just seconds. The client software is set up to install the server-side software on the server as needed, to start the two server agent NLMs, and to offer to modify the server's startup files to automatically load the server agents upon system restarts. Everything worked as planned, and the only rough spot I encountered was when I attempted to use older NetWare client software (Client32 release 2.2.0) to access our NetWare servers. When I upgraded to Client32 3.1, any problems went away. AdRem's staff told me that any client beyond 2.5 will work correctly. Server Manager will work with any version of NetWare from version 3.12 on, but version 4.1 or later is required to get the full functionality of the package. AdRem says it expects to change Server Manager so that it will work with older 3.x and 4.0 NetWare servers.

All in One, One in All
Once installed, Server Manager works like a fully equipped Swiss Army knife. The left window of its display shows a three-graph utilization summary of the current server. Each graph can be individually selected, but by default the graphs show the system processor utilization, system requests per second and packets sent and received by the server. Other options include displays of memory utilization, a count of open files, several connection counts, graphs of individual volume statistics and six different graphs of cache performance. The three-panel display can be deactivated, leaving more room for the rest of the display.

The right side of the display gives a detailed view of six basic areas, labeled Server, Active, Opened, NLM, Disk and Tools. The Server area lets you look at general server information, memory statistics, and network information down to the number of packets received by each NIC and for each protocol. This level of detail continues into the server configuration area, where I examined server setup parameters, edited server configuration files and looked at the server's search path. When I examined the settings, an explanation of each setting popped up, and I could change all the parameters except those few that can be set only when the server is booted. I also viewed all the system log files. Almost all these functions are available in the Novell Monitor program or other console-based programs, but they have to be run from the server's console or through a remote-console program. And they are not as convenient--or intuitive--as Server Manager.

The Active screen lets you see the connections, users and tasks that are logged in to the server. I looked deeper and found the files the user or task had opened. The screen showed connection utilization and connection activity levels. The Opened screen focuses on the files that are open and who is using them. I could also see what sort of locks each user had put in place.

The NLM screen gave me a similar view of the NLMs loaded on the server. I could see the version number, vendor information, resource tags, memory utilization, type of NLM and more. While this information is available from the console-based Monitor and modules programs, it can be found only with great effort. I also could load and unload the NLMs from within Service Manager with just a few mouse clicks. Again, this can be done from the console, but it involves changing screens and typing the command names.

Exploring the Drives
The Disk screen let me explore our servers' disk drives. The first time I used it, I discovered that practically all the space on our SYS volume consisted of salvageable deleted files. This information caused me to investigate our automatic purge utility and find out why it wasn't working. It was easy to see, and change, file and directory ownership, attributes, space quotas and so on. This information can be found in Filer or NWAdmin, but it's easier to stay in a single program and get the job done there.

I often found myself doing things within Server Manager that otherwise would have required the use of several other packages, such as NWAdmin or console programs. The richness of the package and its ease of use make it a joy. Any time I wanted to do something, the option was there. I didn't have to go to a different module or screen to do it. I was able to track system utilization by connection on one screen. And I could track directory space utilization and adjust disk space limits easily.

AdRem-specific tools extend the system manager's options, adding an antivirus package, a console extender and an event scheduler, which let me set up recurring tasks and have them start automatically. However, the integrated scheduler doesn't offer much functionality beyond CRON.

Server Manager also offers a remote-console package, called ARCON. It uses encrypted communications, eliminating the potential exposure of console password or other sensitive information over the network. Server Manager let me select ARCON, Novell's RConsole, or a Java-based remote-console option. Our server wasn't configured to use the last option. Once we had upgraded our PCs to the latest version of the

NetWare client, ARCON was a smooth performer. It handled screen-to-screen transitions much more smoothly than RConsole does.

Mike Avery is the founder of Golden Triangle Network Consultants, a firm specializing in network design, management and administration. Send comments on this article to him at mavery@mail.otherwhen.com.