Research Paper - Eye on the Industry

Submitted By:
Jaquan Thompson Brent Wager Matt Zinn

Table of Contents

Submitted By:.............................................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents......................................................................................................................... Te!hnology " # Manage$ngine %pManager..................................................................................& Te!hnology "" # '(T)...................................................................................................................* Te!hnology """ # ipMonitor by Solar+inds......................................................................................,

Technology I - ManageEngine OpManager

"n this se!tion of the paper +e +ill be dis!ussing %pManager +hi!h is a produ!t of Manage$ngine. Manage$ngine is a di-ision of Zoho Corporation produ!t .formerly /d-ent0et1 2

and in!ludes proprietary soft+are solutions for "T management in small and medium#si2ed !ompanies. "n addition to ti!3eting soft+are 4 des3top management and "T se!urity the ma5ority of the more than 2* produ!ts fo!used on the net+or3 management and monitoring. The Zoho Corporation +as founded in 677, by Sridhar 8embu and business de-eloping frame+or3s for net+or3 management soft+are. Sin!e 299 4 the manufa!turer uses these frame+or3s as a basis for Manage$ngine produ!ts. "n addition4 sin!e 299* there is the Zoho %ffi!e Suite as a Web#based and soft+are#as#a#Ser-i!e .SaaS1#based alternati-e to des3top offi!e appli!ations. Manage$ngine %pManager is a net+or3 management platform that helps large enterprises4 ser-i!e pro-iders and SM$s manage their data !enters and "T infrastru!ture effi!iently and !ost effe!ti-ely. /utomated +or3flo+s4 intelligent alerting engines4 !onfigurable dis!o-ery rules4 and e:tendable templates enable "T teams to setup a 2&:; monitoring system +ithin hours of installation. <o#it#yourself plug#ins e:tend the s!ope of management to in!lude net+or3 !hange and !onfiguration management and "' address management as +ell as monitoring of net+or3s4 appli!ations4 databases4 -irtuali2ation and 0et=lo+#based band+idth. =urther the net+or3 monitoring soft+are4 !ombines an easy#to#use interfa!e that lets you qui!3ly deploy the produ!t for produ!tion and also apply your organi2ation>s monitoring poli!ies a!ross multiple de-i!es qui!3ly. %pManager offers many different -ersions that !an be !hosen depending on needs and resour!es. "n the figure belo+ you !an see the different -ersion and the features asso!iated +ith ea!h. %pManager has the essential -arious +hi!h is for small and medium enterprises. This option has a ma:imum of *99 de-i!es4 69 thousand interfa!es4 and starts at ?677* for *9 de-i!es. /nother option is the enterprise -ersion +hi!h is for large enterprises. This option has a ma:imum of *999 de-i!es4 699 thousand interfa!es and starts at ?6,4&7* for *99 de-i!es. Then there is the large enterprise option4 +hi!h is for -ery large enterprises and ser-i!e pro-iders. This option has a ma:imum of *9 thousand de-i!es4 699 million interfa!es and you +ill ha-e to !onta!t Manage$ngine personally to get a pri!e quote. $a!h options has built in features that other option may not ha-e so you +ill need to 3no+ +hat you a!tually are planning to do before pur!hasing a pa!3age. More in depth details about ea!h !an be found on the Manage$ngine +ebsite.

The installation pro!ess for %pManager +as pretty straightfor+ard after do+nloading %pManger from the parent site http:@@+++.manageengine.!om@. /fter installing %pManager and sele!ting the 9 day free trial4 " +as promoted to set up the dire!tory +here %pManager +ill be sa-ed. /fter installing e-erything " entered the de-i!es that " +anted to monitor +hi!h in!luded the printer and four routers +hi!h are all installed in the <ataComm Aab. /fter getting familiar +ith the soft+are " +as able to na-igate through and ma3e sure e-erything +as able to +or3 as promised by the soft+are. /fter using the soft+are " +as able to see +hen !ertain routers +ere do+n or if the printer +as do+n. " +as able to ping and tra!eroute ea!h of the routers -ia %pManager. /nother !ool feature that " set up +hile using %pManager +as the ability to Telnet into any of the routers -ia putty through %pManager to fi: any issues or run any !ommands that "Bd li3e. /!ti-e net+or3 monitoring is a must to gain a!!urate and real#time -isibility of the health of your net+or3. Co+e-er frequent monitoring !an be!ome a huge strain on your net+or3 resour!es as it generates a lot of traffi! on the net+or34 espe!ially in large net+or3s. Manage$ngine re!ommends monitoring only the !riti!al de-i!es on the net+or3. This is a best pra!ti!e adopted by the net+or3 administrators +orld+ide.

=ollo+ing are the !omponents of net+or3s that are !onsidered !riti!al: D W/0 "nfrastru!ture: (outers4 W/0 S+it!hes4 =ire+all4 et!. D A/0 "nfrastru!ture: S+it!hes4 Cubs4 and 'rinters. D Ser-ers4 Ser-i!es4 and /ppli!ations: /ppli!ation Ser-ers4 <atabase ser-ers4 /!ti-e <ire!tory4 $:!hange Ser-ers4 Web ser-ers4 Mail ser-ers4 C(M /ppli!ations4 et!. D Cost (esour!es: C'E4 Memory4 and <is3 Etili2ation of !riti!al de-i!es. D Criti!al <es3tops and Wor3stations.

Technology II - P T!
'(T) is a net+or3 monitoring soft+are that !an be implemented in a net+or3 of any si2e. '(T) !an monitor W/04 A/04 8A/04 and 8'0 net+or3s. '(T) offers many different -ersions that !an be !hosen depending on needs and resour!es. '(T) has a free+are -ersion that is limited to 69 sensors that !an be used at a time4 a spe!ial edition that has a limited li!ense that allo+s 9 sensors4 a trial edition of the full -ersion +ith a fe+ limitation su!h as refresh rate4 and a full -ersion that !an support unlimited sensor that !an be refreshed ea!h se!ond. /ll -ersions allo+ for a failo-er !luster to be !reated and !ome +ith all sensors pre# installed4 allo+ing users one install and not ha-ing to find any third#party add#ons for standard sensors. '(T) +as built to be able to run on almost any re!ent te!hnology .299; and later14 though some hard+are !onfigurations !ould affe!t the quality and a-ailability of the ser-i!es. The installation of '(T) +as fairly simple as e-erything +as +rapped into one e:e!utable that +as do+nloaded from the parent +ebsite http:@@+++.paessler.!om@prtg@. /fter a qui!3 install +ith a fe+ questions a !onfiguration guru +as started to simplify the setup of all sensors. /fter as3ing the questions that +ere in!luded in the !onfiguration guru '(T) began to automati!ally sense all ma!hines +ithin the spe!ified range. /s ea!h ma!hine +as found '(T) began to automati!ally dete!t items that !ould be monitored su!h as system health and setup a ping !onne!tion +ith e-ery ma!hine to ensure that the ma!hines +ere still online./fter the initial setup of the sensors the ne:t line of setup +as to set up the alert system so that +hen an e-ent o!!urred on one of the sensors the admin or someone else +ould be notified. The installation pro!ess too3 around 9 minutes. /fter the setup of found sensors and setting up that alerting system i tested the feasibility of setting up an additional sensor on a probe .ma!hine1. Setting up ne+ sensors +as as easy as sele!ting a probe and sele!ting a ne+ sensor button. "n the ne+ sensor +indo+ there +ere 67F pre#installed sensors that +ere there to be setup on de-i!es. The ne+ sensor !ould be used to monitor different system a!!esses su!h as (<'4 80C4 and many other !ommon proto!ols. '(T) in!luded probes to monitor the amount that people +ere a!!essing +ebsites4 if that +as +hat someone +anted to monitor to ma3e sure people +erenBt +asting too mu!h time. " de!ided to try out different features of the system for around hours. '(T) in!luded a fe+ e:tra resour!es that help ma3e this a quality system. '(T) in!luded a lin3 to the online /'" so that the system !ould be used e:ternally to !reate e-ents or other user defined a!tions. '(T) in!luded lin3s to both of the mobile appli!ations that ha-e been built to support '(T). /ndroid and "%S both ha-e appli!ations that ha-e limited !ontrol of the system but allo+ an admin to a!!ess and -ie+ the net+or3 mobily. To fully understand '(T) i de!ided to loo3 through the o+nerBs manual for around an hour before i started the install and !onfiguration of '(T). &

Technology III - ipMonitor by Solar"inds

The soft+are pa!3age ipMonitor is a net+or3 utility@solution !reated by the !ompany Solarwinds for ".T. net+or3 professionals4 to assist them in monitoring their !orporate net+or3.s1. 0ot only !an this solution assist in monitoring a !orporate net+or34 but it !an also assist ".T. professionals in alerting4 re!o-ering4 and reporting on a !orporateBs net+or3 resour!es and infrastru!ture4 +hi!h +ill be dis!ussed further on in this se!tion. /fter !oming to the de!ision to test out this solution4 " na-igated o-er to the ipMonitor do+nload site4 to obtain the e:e!utable needed to install the appli!ation4 +hi!h +as lo!ated at: http://www.solarwinds.com/register/registrationB.aspx?program=568&c=70150000000D !c. /fter !ompleting the do+nload4 " pro!eeded through the installation pro!ess. This in!luded a!!epting all the agreements4 entering my name and organi2ation .that the produ!t is li!ensed to1 and then sele!ting a dire!tory to sa-e all ne!essary files to. =or the purposes of this assignment and !lass4 " obtained a free thirty . 91 day trial li!ense so that " !ould test the produ!t out in the <ata Communi!ations Aab4 on a -irtual ma!hine running Windo+s ;. /fter !ompleting the installation of the ipMonitor appli!ation4 it +as then time to !ondu!t some one# time !onfigurationsG +hi!h in!luded setting up an administrator a!!ount4 setting up monitors for lo!al system resour!es4 setting up notifi!ation settings -ia phone and e#mail4 and utili2ing an Express Discovery feature to populate all of the resour!es and de-i!es that are on the !orporate net+or3. =or the purposes of this assignment4 " !hose to utili2e this feature and put it to use to dis!o-er the routers lo!ated in the <ata Communi!ation Aab. When using ipMonitorBs $:press <is!o-ery feature4 " +as prompted to enter a range of "' addresses that the soft+are solution +ould s!an through. The feature +ould then populate any s+it!h4 router4 or ser-er that the <is!o-ery feature finds into the ipMonitor appli!ation. "n this !ase4 +hen " +as as3ed4 " had the feature s!an through the "' address range of 6&F.,6.662.9 through 6&F.,6.662.2**. %n!e the dis!o-ery feature !ompleted its sear!h of de-i!es on the parti!ular net+or34 it +as time to !ondu!t some testing on the soft+are to get a better understanding of ho+ it +or3s. %-er the !ourse of my testing4 my goals +ere to determine ho+ +ell the notifi!ation system +or3s for reporting the status of a parti!ular de-i!e4 and gain a better understanding of the loo3 and feel of the user interfa!e for ipMonitor. /fter setting up the administrator a!!ount4 " +as as3ing to submit an e#mail a!!ount that " +ould li3e to utili2e to re!ei-e any status notifi!ations in regards to any net+or3 resour!es4 +hi!h in this !ase +ould be !ategori2ed as being the routers that are on in the <ata Communi!ations Aab. " set#up my personal e#mail a!!ount to re!ei-e su!h notifi!ations if the status !hanges to either up or do+n. /s of Tuesday night4 " had re!ei-ed o-er t+o hundred .2991 e#mail notifi!ation messages into my e#mail inbo: as a result of de-i!es going up and do+n. The other goal of my testing +as to see and learn ho+ the user interfa!e is set#up4 and +hether or not it is easy to understand. /fter spending !lose to fi-e .*1 hours re-ie+ing the do!umentation that +as pro-ided +ith the soft+are4 and doing some short and simple na-igations4 " +as able to gain a basi! understanding of ho+ the +eb interfa!e for ipMonitor +or3s. /fter spending a good amount time learning about ho+ the ipMonitor solution fun!tions4 "Bm definitely happy " too3 the time to loo3 into it further. While my trial li!ense only has another t+enty or so days left4 " +ill definitely ta3e some additional time to try and learn more about this *

soft+are pa!3age4 as " feel " ha-e only s!rat!hed the surfa!e in terms of +hat this solution has to offer to 0et+or3 $ngineers.