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Bank Spots Network Problems Before They Happen: Page 3 of 4

GSB decided on the second approach. "We realized that with the manpower we had in place, if we wanted to be proactive, this solution would help us centralize the monitoring of our servers," Lloyd says. Officials of the company considered Vancouver, Wash.-based TNT's ELM Enterprise Manager and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (Palo Alto, Calif.)HP OpenView software, but opted against the latter largely because of its relatively high price. The TNT software "gave us a similar solution in a smaller package with a better price," he says.

So in 2001 the company did a beta-test of TNT's ELM Enterprise Manager, installing the software on a sub-network of three servers "just to get accustomed to the way it works," Lloyd says. After about six months, he says, Glenview State Bank officials felt comfortable with the software and began using it systemwide.

CUSTOMIZED MONITORING

The software is "very customizable," Lloyd says, so Glenview State Bank officials had to decide on the parameters for it to notify them of a potential problem: what events would qualify for notification, how often those events must occur for notification to happen, who would be notified, and the methods and timing for notification. Setting the parameters and monitoring them for possible adjustment "was and still remains the most complex piece of the puzzle," Lloyd says.

"The biggest issue is determining what is important to us," Lloyd says. "I could say 'Show me everything,' but then we are back at square one," with IT staffers responding to every single network hiccup.