Web-Based Management: 9 Products to Help Simplify Your Network
On The Bleeding Edge
Though new and exciting, Web-based network management is hardly the panacea promised by the marketing community. It's simply a new user interface. It doesn't add any particular value other than allowing convenient access to existing network management products. However, even this accessibility can be fleeting. Most of the products we tested are very early in their life cycle. While they are certainly accessible via the Web, few offer the rich user interfaces you would expect from native Windows or X Windows applications. For this reason,
we found the most useful products to be those that enriched existing interfaces by moving them to the Web--for example, Acacia NovaWeb, which is embedded in NovaSwitch 2400ex, and U.S. Robotics TOTALswitch, which would otherwise be limited to a character-based interface--or those that took advantage of the Web to make up for a
lack in accessibility, such as Netscape's Administration Server and Microsoft's Web Administration for Windows NT. On the other hand, products that tried to duplicate existing applications with a Web interface suffered, since they sacrificed the richness of a dedicated windows interface for the accessibility of a Web-browser front end.
At this point, Web-based management is most useful for one-to-one management relationships, such as individual device or service configuration and monitoring. However, as enterprise-scale network management systems continue to add and improve Web functionality, we hope to move powerful network management workstations into the server role soon. Inst
ead of relying on an X Windows interface, we foresee more mature Java applets taking on the task of manipulating network topologies and event handling. A central network management solution is not meant to sit on a desk, tied to a single screen or restricted to X clients. This, in addition to embedded Web technologies (to replace telnet-based configuration routines), is where Web-based network management can truly add value.
The Foundation Behind The Interface
Network management encompasses many things. Normally, the first types of products that come to mind are SNMP-based network management platforms like HP's OpenView, Cabletron Corp.'s SPECTRUM, Tivoli Systems TME 10 or Computer Associates' CA-Unicenter. These monolithic network management platforms act as clearinghouses for network topology and status information, actively polling critical nodes and alerting operators of possible problems. They also integrate vendor-specific configuration applications--making
device configuration a matter of locating a device on the network map--and automatically launch a detailed configuration application. Implemented either as a central management console or as an engine for configuration applications (also called point product managers), these network management platforms are expensive and complex. But t
hey possess one clear advantage: their functionality. No other off-the-shelf solution for network management can match them at the enterprise scale. They are also quite specialized toward network management, as opposed to systems (desktop and server) management, satisfying the tendency among large organizations to separate these management functions.
The disadvantage of these systems is their bulk and complexity. Using such a product means either sitting in front of the workstation itself, or relying on X Windows to access the application remotely. This leaves little latitude for a network manager to access the management application from outside the network control center
.
In contrast, Web-based management can be extremely valuable, providing access to powerful network resources. However, a fully functional Web interface requires extensive programming. Such interfaces must deliver complex network topology maps, device controls and real-time monitoring capabilities. Network management platform vendors like HP are already working on Web interfaces of this type, but if you can't wait, there are other options. For instance, Unix-based products can take advantage of X Windows for remote-application access. In addition, as more network management platforms become available on the Windows NT platform, remote-control products like Symantec Corp.'s pcANYWHERE and Microcom's Carbon Copy allow for similar remote-display access. On a Web-related side note, remote-control products, too, have jumped on the Web bandwagon. Stac's ReachOut now offers Passport, a plug-in that allows remote-screen access through a Web browser.
Point product managers also are adding Web capabilities. A
lthough it operates as a Web plug-in, Bay Networks' Optivity now includes a Web front-end. Network topologies are shown in HTML frames and forms, but it's possible to drill down through several levels into a list of network devices. Omniview, an included Java applet, provides dynamic tables for displaying network statistics. On the other ha
nd, the majority of Web-based network management products can handle device configuration and monitoring on a one-to-one basis.
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