We found more than 40 canned reports covering devices, tasks, sessions, compliance, workflow and overall stats. We e-mailed a few reports to ourselves on a daily basis. Reports came as HTML, with links back to specific device events on the NA System server. Sweet!
NA System's architecture claims support for many third-party management vendors, including BMC Remedy, Computer Associates Unicenter, Hewlett-Packard OpenView NNM and Service Desk, IBM TEC/NetView, Micromuse NetCool, Nortel Networks Optivity and Smarts inCharge. This support included bidirectional traps and bidirectional service desk integration. Support for authentication services was the widest of the products tested and included TACACS+, LDAP, Active Directory and RSA SecurID.
We were most impressed with the monitoring and management of system functions, including HTTP, LDAP, memory, SMTP, syslog and TFTP services. The admin and user interfaces are one in NA System, with access restricted by user role. Administrative control over system services includes a view of each service's most recent status, and we could rerun the status check interactively. Finally, we could configure warning and error thresholds for available disk space; available RAM; and millisecond delay for TFTP, SSH andsyslog messages on the NA System.
Opsware Network Automation System 4.0. Opsware, (408) 744-7300. www.opsware.com
DeviceAuthority should be on your shortlist thanks to its strong features, even though it trailed NA System in production control and reporting. DeviceAuthority has all the basic configuration-management bells and then some. We were impressed with the well-laid-out hardware and software inventory--device parts, like interfaces, CPU, flash storage and software images, along with running and start-up configs, are displayed in an Explorer-like hierarchal tree with right-screen details, easing navigation. Tasks will run basic CLI commands or Perl, TCL and Java.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
