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At first glance, the Command Center architecture is similar to that of most hosted services, providing performance monitoring of Internet sites and applications. A single command center communicates with "scouts," located across the country, to retrieve performance statistics for URL monitoring. NOCpulse then moves a step further by installing a "satellite" on-site in your NOC (network operations center) for detailed monitoring of systemwide services. Memory, disk-capacity and system-load monitoring is available for Microsoft Windows NT and 2000, via SNMP for Unix and Linux-based hosts, as well as for standard services such as HTTP, FTP and custom TCP-based applications.

The NOCpulse satellite is a Red Hat Linux-based system in a 2U form factor. The chassis is built and configured such that two satellites can be racked back to back in a single 2U mount. This satellite monitors your hosts locally, then reports collected statistics back to the NOCpulse Command Center via a secure VPN (virtual private network) connection across the Internet. If network connectivity between the satellite and the Command Center is interrupted, the satellite will fail over to a dial-up connection to submit statistics. Physical security is provided via smartcards inside the NOCpulse operations center, and virtual security is provided by requiring the use of SSH (Secure Shell) connections that are locked to specific hosts within the NOCpulse center.

NOCpulse services are expensive. The first eight servers monitored cost a hefty $5,000 per month. Each additional eight servers costs $3,500 more per month. NOCpulse suggests that a single satellite be used to manage 100 to 150 servers. The cost of service for a single month for a large installation could easily exceed the combined cost of subscribing to a hosted monitoring service and buying an internal monitoring system. The Command Center advantages are in maintenance and the ability to use a single system for monitoring rather than trying to integrate data from disparate sources.

Hands Off!

NOCpulse installed a satellite in my home office with relative ease. Because of security measures implemented by NOCpulse, the configuration of the satellite is performed by NOCpulse representatives in their offices before an installation. The satellite uses SSH for communication with the monitored host and Command Center, and requires that SSH keys be generated and secured with the IP addresses of the systems involved. The only IP address that is allowed access to the satellite resides within the NOCpulse operations center. Console access is available, but without a login, gaining access to the satellite this way would be difficult.

All support of the satellite and software upgrades are performed remotely by NOCpulse. While I understand NOCpulse's desire to maintain control over the satellite and, therefore, the integrity of the box, I'm uneasy with the idea of being unable to manage this area of my network on my own.

Once the satellite was installed and could communicate with the Command Center, the installation was complete. Configuration of specific monitoring options is accomplished via an online command center -- a robust Web-based administration and reporting system.

More Than Just URL Monitoring

As expected, NOCpulse provides performance monitoring of URLs as well as content-aware health checks for Web servers and TCP-based applications. The performance statistics are provided by querying URLs from five different scouts. The statistics are broken up into connect time, DNS time, total time, total throughput and network latency. I created a URL to monitor, generated a few reports from it and found the information useful.

Access to the Command Center is provided via user-based authentication. The administration portion of the site provides a mechanism for managing user access to your services.

The performance monitoring, which is limited to URLs, offers the ability to get and post content to specific pages, as well as perform link verification and content checks. Thresholds for performance can be designated for each portion of a request -- connect time, DNS time and so forth. HTTP authorization and setting of cookies are also provided.

Because the satellite is on the user's LAN, it is able to monitor many aspects of a system, including memory, hard-disk space, system load (CPU utilization), Samba status, dig and DNS resolution. This is accomplished by distributing agents on each monitored system. Agents are available for Linux, Solaris, and Windows NT 4.0 and 2000 systems. I monitored both load and memory on a single Linux host and correlated the checks by running "top" on the host. The data was accurate as well as timely.

Also interesting is the inclusion of an asset management system. Basic information about a host can be used to track as well as monitor inventory. The system is rudimentary, comprised simply of lease IDs, asset tags and host location.

Notification

NOCpulse offers e-mail and pager notification of events, as well as alerts by phone, via an IVR (interactive voice response) system. Alerts can be delivered with various parameters -- once every five minutes, for example -- until the problem is corrected.

If a problem will not be corrected for a known period, a feature is available that allows the user to stop alerts from being delivered until a specific time. This feature is extremely handy when a system crashes and replacement parts are not immediately available.

Another nifty feature of NOCpulse's notification is the ability to designate escalation procedures. A list of contacts can be created, and notification will continue down the list until the alert is acknowledged. You can select a rotating schedule for each alert so the first person does not always receive the initial notification.