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NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NEAL WEINBERG
on PRODUCT REVIEWS 10/23/01 - Today's focus: NetScout's nGenius Dear Wincenty Kaminski, In this issue: * NetScout's nGenius admin toolset is comprehensive, but slow and expensive * Links related to Network World product reviews * Featured reader resource _________________________________________________________ More with Less Budgets are either stagnant or shrinking this year, and net executives are being forced to do more with less money - and often fewer people. We've compiled a series of Network World articles, newsletters and columns you can use to make the most of your budget and resources. http://nww1.com/go/ad169.html _____________________________________________________________ Today's focus: NetScout's nGenius By Neal Weinberg The Reviewmeister is all for any tool that can automate repetitive network administrative tasks, so we checked out nGenius by NetScout Systems. The nGenius suite, which NetScout obtained when it acquired NextPoint Networks last year, contains Real Time Monitor Plus 1.2, Application Service Level Manager 3.0 and Capacity Planner 3.0. To the NextPoint software, NetScout added a number of enhancements and additions, including its WebCast technology for rendering reports using a Web-based newspaper publishing metaphor. We found nGenius' network monitoring to be accurate and comprehensive, the reports thoughtfully designed and the documentation especially clear and comprehensive. However, we found the Java-based nGenius software slow and cumbersome. We would have liked a greater degree of integration among the nGenius components, and we feel the $150,000 price tag for the three tools makes the software far too expensive. Real Time Monitor Plus impressed us with its accurate monitoring, analyzing and reporting of network traffic. In particular, its troubleshooting features helped us isolate the causes of the network problems we gave it to handle. Real Time Monitor Plus consists of nGenius Server, Traffic Monitor, Performance Monitor and Packet Analyzer. The nGenius Server sorts, stores and analyzes packets from NetScout probes, routers and switches, and it has a user interface for managing network devices and identifying people authorized to access nGenius. Traffic Monitor displays real-time network activity at configurable intervals (from 15 seconds to 15 minutes), while Performance Monitor and Packet Analyzer examine network activity to pinpoint bandwidth bottlenecks and categorize the kinds of traffic causing network problems. Application Service Level Manager ferrets out application traffic jams by studying an application's Open Database Connectivity packets, TCP socket usage or HTML emissions. Once we defined our test application's minimum service levels in these terms, Application Service Level Manager alerted us to service-level exceptions by paging us, sending e-mail and transmitting SNMP traps. We used Capacity Planner to discover our network's devices, collect network utilization data from those devices and report the results. It gave us useful browser-based reports showing historical data, baseline data and trends in an easy-to- understand newspaper-like format. We found customizing the various Capacity Planner reports via the NewsEditor module to be straightforward. Similarly, setting up threshold filters to define exceptions we wanted nGenius to monitor was an easy task. The Java and database run-time environment NetScout ships with the nGenius suite which consists of JRun 3.01, from Allaire (now part of Macromedia), and an Oracle database, Version 8.0.4.4. JRun is a Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) application server. The nGenius suite runs on Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Solaris, and its three-tier architecture makes it possible to distribute nGenius components across multiple computers. Unfortunately, even when spread across different computers, the nGenius server, Traffic Monitor and Capacity Planner components weren't as responsive in our tests as we would have liked. Installing the nGenius components takes several steps, with server reboots required between steps. The tedious installation is further complicated by the software's exacting platform requirements. Windows NT, for instance, must be version 4.0 with Service Pack 6a, have Internet Explorer 5.0 with Java Virtual Machine 5.0.0.3190 and run on at least a dual-processor 750-MHz Intel computer with 1G byte of memory, a 1,024-by-768- pixel color monitor set for 32,768 colors and 26G bytes of disk storage. NGenius excels at monitoring, analyzing and reporting on network utilization in an enterprise setting. Still, we'll hold off on recommending nGenius until it gets a bit faster and carries a smaller price tag. For the full report, go to http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2001/1008rev2.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact Neal Weinberg: Neal Weinberg is features editor at Network World, in charge of product reviews, Buyer's Guides, technology primers, how-tos, issue-oriented feature stories and the Technology Insider series. You can reach him at mailto:nweinber@nww.com. _______________________________________________________________ RELATED LINKS Network management tools for next to nothing Network World, 07/02/01 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/0702specialfocus.html Aprisma expands Spectrum Network World, 10/01/01 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/1001apps.html The archive for Reviews is: http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/index.html ______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE Network World Fusion's Net.Worker site Whether your company is growing larger or scaling back, corporate managers are looking for ways to cut costs while retaining and recruiting star employees. One smart solution - at least on paper - is to let some employees work from home. Network World's Net.Worker Web site bridges the gap between the telework concept and the hardware, software and services needed to make it happen. We bring you news and reviews, sound advice and keen insight into the technologies and solutions you need to manage a remote and mobile workforce. Visit http://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/index.html _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply today at http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/nl ______________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail newsletters, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/notprinteditnews.asp To unsubscribe from promotional e-mail go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ep To change your e-mail address, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/changeemail.asp Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to this message. Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor, at: mailto:jcaruso@nww.com For advertising information, write Jamie Kalbach, Fusion Sales Manager, at: mailto:jkalbach@nww.com Copyright Network World, Inc., 2001 ------------------------ This message was sent to: vkamins@enron.com
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