Managing Message Mayhem By Nancy Cox   As that inimitable fictional proponent of chaos theory, Ian Malcolm, states in Michael Crichton's The Lost World: "Only at the edge of chaos can complex systems flourish." No system could be more complex--and more chaotic--than enterprisewide electronic messaging. Messaging is the most highly charged distributed client/server application in the enterprise. The flow of messages is the lifeblood of vital business applications--it enables a corporation not only to survive but also to thrive. The speed, reliability and integrity of message delivery is both expected and demanded. But burgeoning numb ers of users, multiple platforms and protocols, exponential growth in traffic and a host of new interfaces are enough to bring any administrator to the brink of chaos. To view the Report card. How do you conquer the chaos? How do you reduce the complexity? How do you enable the messaging system to flourish in this environment? The only way to provide a high level of service to users and applications is to implement a simple, scalable and feature-rich messaging management system. There are several approaches to this: You can use the tools that are built into your messaging application--we examined messaging management tools on Microsoft Corp. Exchange, Lotus Development Corp. Notes and Novell GroupWise platforms. You can use the tools built into the message switch or hub that connects your disparate e-mail systems--we'll discuss SoftSw itch's release 2.0 of Mail Monitor as an example. You can use a platform-independent product, such as the two we lab-tested--Bear Mountain Software's TOPPER for Messaging Management and Baranof Software's MailCheck. You can roll your own. Or you can create a hybrid that combines two or more of these tools, such as the blend of Novell's ManageWise and MailCheck. We'll delve into the advantages and limitations of these approaches, citing the tools available. But first, let's look at the big picture. Holistic View A complex organization must consider traditional messaging system components and the underlying network facilities and communications paths. Useful enterprise messaging management systems provide tools that monitor the health of possible control points in the messaging environment and feed information to other management systems. The standard approach today is the integration of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) into the messaging management system. SNMP lets an administrato r establish rules for various application errors. These rules generate event messages or alerts that are transmitted as traps to SNMP-compliant systems. The traps are exported to a management system such as Hewlett-Packard Co.'s HP OpenView, IBM Corp.'s NetView 6000, Novell's ManageWise or SunSoft's SunNet Manager. The benefit is all information on both messaging and the underlying network resources can be viewed in one place. The SNMP Mail and Directory Management (MADMAN) management information base is gaining support from messaging vendors. Extensions to MADMAN for message tracking and mail monitoring have been developed by the Electronic Messaging Association (EMA), and vendors are beginning to support them as well. MADMAN and the EMA's extensions help with the problem of fragmented management systems by providing a common, platform-independent specification. Another approach is to install a messaging management system at the helpdesk. This creates an effective triage system for intercepting call s that can be handled without involving the message support staff. Most users just want to know whether a problem exists and, if so, that someone knows about it and something is being done to fix it. A helpdesk with a top-level view into the messaging management system can quickly address many of these anxious callers. Emerging also is a trend toward returning the enterprise messaging system to the data center, where it can be managed around-the-clock with centralized tools and by skilled personnel. The decision to move the messaging system into the data center is a practical response to the problem wrought by the distributed nature of e-mail.

Into Orbit by Anthony Frey Updated February 21, 1997