Web-Based Management: 9 Products to Help Simplify Your Network
By Dan Backman
The latest war cry of network management vendors--Web-based network management for the masses!--echoes across trade show floors and Web sites throughout the land. Nearly every infrastructure vendor and network management software vendor has gone to great lengths to hawk its version of a revolutionary Web-based management
interface. From routers and Ethernet switches with embedded Web servers to complex Java-based management consoles, the trend is to add some sort of Web functionality to every possible networking product. Two common threads weave through this initiative: users' desire for a single, ubiquitous management interface and vendors' des
ire for a certain level of freedom from developing management applications for multiple platforms.
After all, how many times have you had to boot up a copy of Windows 3.x to run
a particular management utility? Have you ever needed a high-powered workstation and a copy of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView just to manage a small set of network devices or to run a vendor-specific point product manager? These solutions come at a crippling cost ($20,000 or more for the workstation, and nearly as much
for the software), and are complex enough to require specialized training and implementation. A full-fledged network management solution goes far beyond breaking shrink-wrap and running the install script.
Not only is network management expensive and difficult to implement, it can be quite inconvenient. Network Computing's lab at Syracuse University is full of infrastructure devices and remote-access servers--nearly every one of which has its own proprietary management application. Sooner or later, it become
s easier to mirror every utility on your trusty laptop than to hunt for the right workstation with the corresponding configuration utility. Of course, it may just be easier to use a character-based interface. The rallying war cry has appeal: A fully functional and easily accessible Web interface to every network device certainly would make life easier.
However, to be successful, a Web-based management application must not only provide a user interface that is comparable to or better than existing interfaces (whether character-based or graphical), it must also duplicate all the functionality of existing applications. Making a management application available throughout the network is valuable, but the limitations of a Web browser shouldn't get in the way. Java applets offer a much richer interface than standard HTML, but they are slow and lack advanced, standardized interface classes. Are Web-based network manag
ement applications ready for prime time?
Over the course of four months, we accumulated a variety of Web-based network management applications in our Syracuse University network management lab. Our goal: to live with
the products to get a better idea of how they fare, what's useful and how the industry hype applies to managing our real world network. We chose a variety of products to illustrate how different technologies add Web-based functionalities: Acacia Networks' NovaWeb, which offers embedded Web configuration tools, Newbridge Networks' NetDirector@Web, which includes both an embedded Web configuration and a Web-enabled HP OpenView plug-in, Shiva Corp.'s Access Viewer, a Web-based reporting tool for remote-access servers and U.S. Robotics' TOTALswitch, which also offers embedded Web configuration tools. We also tested Web-based administrative interfaces to software products, such as Microsoft Corp.'s Web Administration for Windows NT Server and Netscape Communications Corp.'s Administration Server (
an integral part of all Netscape SuiteSpot products like Enterprise Server 3.0). In addition, we tested Asantý Technologies' IntraSpection and NetBrowser Communications' CyberSentry, two Web-based network management tools with Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) capabilities, as well as 3Com Corp.'s Transcend dRMON Edge Monitor System Version 1.0, a Web-based distributed RMON application.
To download an Adobe Acrobat .pdf format version of Web-Based Management Applications, click here.
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