Hot dogs are tasty, as long as you don't know what's in them. But when a product like ProactiveNet starts hot dogging--saying it can determine the root cause of a problem, yammering about secret ingredients like "intelligent thresholds" and "smart filters," and promising you don't have to set up a bunch of performance thresholds--you have to see it with your own eyes. We looked, and we'll still bite.
To gather data, ProactiveNet uses Web transactions and a polling engine the vendor calls an agent, though it's actually a server-side process. The polling engine collects, analyzes and reports on a wide array of performance metrics over time.
To some degree, all the products do this. But ProactiveNet automatically creates performance thresholds and correlates devices into groups. As a device is added to ProactiveNet, it's categorized as an application server, Web server, mail server, router or switch, and then monitored based on further definitions, that could, for example, include MIB II, Host MIB, Enterprise MIB or Oracle SQL query data. The list of monitors is extensive. These thresholds determine what is normal or average over time and can be changed, though ProactiveNet recommends waiting until you've collected data for a few months and know how the thresholds are affected. We left them as is. The software also filters out unrelated data. Using the groupings and time-based correlation, ProactiveNet lists root-cause suggestions in order of decreasing likelihood.
ProactiveNet's second, separate set of static thresholds generate user-defined alarms. All the products we tested can set these types of alarms. Crossing a static threshold's value creates an event (such as "Threshold has been violated") and an alarm. We easily changed this product's canned thresholds to fit our testing environment.
We collected Web transaction data and ran it across a simulated WAN connection while we periodically overloaded a Web server. ProactiveNet accurately pointed to the slowdown on the server as the most likely problem, and then pointed to the increased utilization on a shared switch prior to the server. Without an agent on the server, ProactiveNet incorrectly identified the switch link's utilization as the problem. If you can't implement the server-side agents, be skeptical of the root-cause diagnosis.
At the top level, ProactiveNet reports on alarms and performance health. The alarm display clearly indicates problems without overwhelming users with excess data. The initial page shows a matrix of devices and monitored services. A green dot indicates the device is fine with the service listed; if something is amiss, a yellow or red icon appears and links to specifics, such as graphs and checks.
ProactiveNet lacks flexible client-side scripting, offering just two flavors. Both support Web transactions and network service checking of UDP and TCP ports. The first version, a standalone agent, runs the port checks and transactions and reports to the ProactiveNet server. The second acts as a proxy, gathering statistics like a midlevel distributed manager, focusing the data collection and reducing the upstream reporting to the ProactiveNet server. Ideal for gathering statistics on the other side of a constricted WAN circuit, this proxy function decreases the ProactiveNet server's traffic and reduces the bandwidth needed to support several distributed agents.
ProactiveNet's administrative console let you create simple Web page downloads or in-depth, multipage transactions. Client 32 and other non-Web transactions are not supported. The process records key strokes and screens to a script. Once the agents are installed on remote machines, you can add, delete and manage the transactions from a single interface. ProactiveNet's process is much simpler than the hoops Compuware Vantage's agents make you jump through.
ProactiveNet charges for training, professional services and 24/7 support; however, the product is easy enough to learn without training, and we found the phone support during business hours more than adequate.
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Hot dogs are tasty, as long as you don't know what's in them. But when a product like ProactiveNet starts hot dogging--saying it can determine the root cause of a problem, yammering about secret ingredients like "intelligent thresholds" and "smart filters," and promising you don't have to set up a bunch of performance thresholds--you have to see it with your own eyes. We looked, and we'll still bite. 
ProactiveNet's second, separate set of static thresholds generate user-defined alarms. All the products we tested can set these types of alarms. Crossing a static threshold's value creates an event (such as "Threshold has been violated") and an alarm. We easily changed this product's canned thresholds to fit our testing environment. 
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