REVIEWS

accounting department is in the branch office across town and it's payday. The phone rings again; this time it's the vice president of accounting. Pop quiz: What should you do? Go to lunch? Unfortunately, that won't solve your problem.

For a network manager, the secret to success is discovering a problem before anyone else--and solving it before they notice. To do this, you need information. By the time Peggy calls, you should know that the router went down, as well as what's wrong with it and when it will be fixed. Fixing the router is up to you, but you have to know about problems before that call comes in.

Network-management software is designed to gather performance data, spot network problems and set off alarms when trouble is detected. It's also a platform for remotely managing network components, allowing detailed inspection and control of manageable nodes. These applications rely primarily on the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to gather "smart" network devices. SNMP agents are server processes that run on a hub, router, server or other network component running TCP/IP or IPX protocol stacks.

Testing We tested four network-management applicat ions at our Syracuse University lab. The lab environment consists of more than 20 SNMP-managed devices, including Bay and Hewlett-Packard Co. hubs; Cisco Systems routers; Microsoft Windows NT, Sun Microsystems Solaris, IBM AIX and Novell servers; and a plethora of remote-access devices. To test the limits of these departmental managers in the obstacle course of a real network, we unleashed them on Syracuse University's campuswide network--a diverse collection of approximately 6,000 centrally and privately managed nodes that includes devices from most major vendors.

Two of those tested, Castle Rock Computing's SNMPc and HP's OpenView Workgroup Node Manager for Windows 7.2, are designed to run on Windows, while Novell's ManageWise 2.0 and SunSoft's Solstice Site Manager 2.3 require NetWare and Solaris operating sy stems, respectively. These products are billed as equals, but we found that each fits into a slightly different management paradigm. Before deciding on a product, take a closer look at the needs of your network.

Of the four products, SNMPc offers the most bang for the buck. Instead of relying on add-on applications for features and vendor support, SNMPc delivers a powerful selection of management utilities out of the box. On the other hand, if third-party support is key, HP OpenView provides the industry-standard network-management application programming interface. You'll be hard-pressed to find a management platform that is supported more widely. We recommend investing in ManageWise if your network is a Novell shop. No other network manager offers the kind of suppo rt for NetWare networks that ManageWise includes out of the box.

Castle Rock Computing SNMPc Network Manager 4.1
As the first company to ship a Windows-based SNMP manager, Castle Rock is a veteran of the network-management ma rket. Instead of focusing its efforts on providing an open API for third-party applications, Castle Rock targets networks with a full-featured management application at a remarkably low price. SNMPc's low cost and broad feature set make it an excellent choice for managing a small-to-medium-sized network.

It's easy to assume that SNMPc--priced at half the cost of its nearest competitor--is a crippled, entry-level product. But this fully stocked network manager is no lightweight. Its biggest limitations, lack of third-party support and the fact that it isn't part of a larger enterprise management paradigm, are mitigated by the product's low cost and broad feature set.