ch11.htm

this describes managing multivendor networks

<H3><A NAME="Heading8"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">Cabletron Systems' SPECTRUM</FONT></H3>
<P>Cabletron is positioning its SPECTRUM product as an alternative to products like
HP Open-View or IBM SystemView. SPECTRUM 3.1 runs on several operating systems, including
HP-UX (it is the only other network management system other than OpenView to run
on that platform). OpenView does not have a distributed architecture, which might
make SPECTRUM a better alternative for some sites. Cabletron is attempting to extend
SPECTRUM into the enterprise client/server arena with new systems management applications
that facilitate policy-based management. Besides Cabletron, several third-party companies
offer products that enhance the functionality of SPECTRUM with extra features such
as performance and capacity measurement and configuration management.</P>
<P><I>SPECTRUM</I> is protocol-independent and uses an artificial intelligence technology
Cabletron calls <I>Inductive Modeling Technology (IMT).</I> Through IMT, SPECTRUM
can find solutions and solve problems on its own, with no human intervention. SPECTRUM
creates a model that pictures every single entity in the network, including cabling,
devices, topologies, and applications. The objects not only have intelligence about
themselves, but also about their relationships to other objects. Version 4.0 of SPECTRUM
gives the administrator the ability to manage not only the local domain, but any
network that has been configured by SPECTRUM--giving SPECTRUM enterprisewide capabilities.
<H3><A NAME="Heading9"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">HP OpenView</FONT></H3>
<P>HP OpenView, like SystemView, is an integrated network and systems management
environment consisting of several related products. It is capable of managing NetWare
and Windows NT servers and PCs, and a large variety of server platforms. There are
a wide variety of third-party management solutions written for OpenView available
on several platforms, including HP 9000 systems, Sun Solaris workstations, and Windows
NT-based systems.</P>
<P>The HP OpenView Network Node Manager is at the center of OpenView. Network Node
Manager, a network management platform, provides a full view of the network through
TCP/IP and SNMP management. The utility runs the OpenView OSF/Motif interface, and
permits many tasks to be carried out with little or no programming. The Network Node
Manager includes the following subsystems:

<UL>
	<LI><I>Event Browser.</I> This subsystem permits event filtering and prioritization,
	and enables the administrator to set and customize alarms and configure events on
	a per-node basis.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>Discovery.</I> This subsystem will automatically generate a map of a TCP/IP
	network, monitor the status of network nodes, and discover devices across WANs.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>MIB Application Builder.</I> This enables the administrator to create MIB
	applications for MIB objects with no programming.
</UL>

<P>For larger networks, tasks can be distributed among several operators to reduce
the processing load on the management station. This is accomplished with the OperationsCenter
application, which offers manager-to-manager communications and hot-backup facilities,
two important steps towards increasing OpenView's overall scalability. By distributing
these tasks to up to 15 other operators, it becomes possible to manage a much larger
network through cooperative management of multiple domains. This application will
also offload much of the GUI processing from the server to operator consoles, thereby
freeing up the server for more management tasks.</P>
<P>The AdminCenter portion of OpenView provides configuration change management functions
for the enterprise. AdminCenter graphically displays the entire administration domain.
All network objects are discovered automatically, and their status is represented
with a color-coded schema.</P>
<P>HP entered into an alliance with Novell in 1996 to integrate its HP OpenView systems
management platform with Novell ManageWise. The alliance further opens up OpenView,
giving users of OpenView the ability to manage NetWare environments from the OpenView
framework.</P>
<P>HP is also making available its long-awaited Windows NT-based agents, extending
its reach further to the Windows world. The combination of NT and NetWare support
significantly expands the reach of OpenView and provides for a much more comprehensive
view of a multi-vendor enterprise. The Windows NT agent will also facilitate integration
between OpenView and Microsoft Systems Management Server.</P>
<P>HP is planning a number of enhancements to the OpenView for Windows platform to
enhance its PC management capabilities and bring the Windows version closer to the
UNIX implementation in terms of functionality. HP plans to add support for the DMTF's
<I>Desktop Management Interface (DMI),</I> thus enabling users to monitor the configuration
and inventory of desktop workstations. The DMI Browser facility will also permit
users to perform remote locking and booting. However, users will need two browsers:
one for monitoring SNMP MIBs and another for DMI MIFs.
<H3><A NAME="Heading10"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">Sun Microsystems Solstice SunNet
Manager</FONT></H3>
<P>Sun Microsystems is following the same path as HP and IBM, and merging systems
and network management. In the past, a major complaint about Sun's management platform
was that it could not scale to very large networks. Sun has significantly expanded
its SunNet Manager over the past year with new implementations, including the Solstice
Site Manager for smaller networks and the Solstice Domain Manager for large or multiple
sites.


<BLOCKQUOTE>
	<P>
<HR>
<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>Solstice Enterprise Manager</B></FONT><BR>
	The high-end version, Solstice Enterprise Manager, is still in the works--but will
	be capable of managing in excess of 10,000 nodes. Sun Microsystems' recent alliance
	with Computer Associates will ultimately produce a single product, meant to control
	an entire enterprise network. The new product will combine CA's Unicenter systems
	management and OpenIngres database, with Sun's Solstice SunNet manager network management
	platform. 
<HR>


</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>Site Manager can support a LAN of up to 100 nodes, and can report to Domain Manager,
which can handle up to 3,000 nodes. Site Manager and Domain Manager offer a consistent
interface and feature set, which makes it much easier to run both systems. Domain
Manager can be configured to receive information from multiple Site Managers, and
can also send and receive information to other Domain Managers. Site Manager can
access Novell's NetWare Management Agent (NMA) agent, which permits Site Manager
to access the NetWare server's file system and print queues, and other key attributes.
Domain Manager is available in one of three configurations: a standalone platform,
as a central manager where multiple Site Managers are connected to one or more Domain
Managers, and where multiple Domain Managers are interconnected as a cooperative
management platform. The ability to enable multiple Domain Managers to share information
gives the system a great deal of power and scalability; the Domain consoles can be
connected in a peer-to-peer fashion, thus permitting multiple administrators to share
the administration of the network.</P>
<P>By distributing the management processing load throughout the network, Solstice
Domain Manager is capable of handling a very large network. This is done through
one of two different types of agent technologies. The first agent directly accesses
managed objects, and the second is a <I>proxy agent,</I> which works as a middle
manager. The proxy agents communicate with the management platform through ONC/RPC,
translating the RPC protocol into a protocol that the managed element can understand.
This mechanism permits Domain Manager to control a large range of resources.</P>
<P>Three application program interfaces (APIs) are provided for building tools to
complement Domain Manager's functionality. These include the following:

<UL>
	<LI><I>Manager Services API.</I> This API provides ONC/RPC-based communication services
	as an alternative to SNMP or OSI. These services permit both Domain Manager and Site
	Manager to extend to other protocols, and scale well to large networks. This API
	also provides access to Solaris' access control and authentication mechanisms.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>Agent Services API.</I> This API is used to manage multiprotocol environments
	through an intermediary protocol. A proxy agent can be written to this API, effectively
	extending Domain Manager's reach even more.<BR>
	<BR>
	
	<LI><I>Database/Topology Map Services API.</I> This API gives managers the means
	to modify the management database and customize the topology display.
</UL>

<H3><A NAME="Heading11"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">LAN Alternatives</FONT></H3>
<P>While IBM's NetView is very effective in centralized networks and WANs, its applicability
to a LAN environment is less than ideal. In a LAN environment, all network activity
flows through the common LAN, and this LAN can be tapped and monitored, whereas in
central and WAN environments, there is no single common thread for communications.</P>
<P>In this LAN environment, multivendor equipment can operate multiple protocols
in the same physical network. At the lowest possible level, they all share the same
(or very similar) data link and physical interfaces. Thus, in a single network, the
Digital LAT protocol might run alongside HP's NS protocol, Digital's DECnet protocol,
TCP/IP, and Novell IPX, but they all use either the 802.2/802.3 frame definition
or the Ethernet frame definition. By focusing in on this lowest common denominator,
a LAN monitor can track all of these protocols and more.</P>
<P>This is the approach taken by Digital, HP, and Sun. All three provide products
to monitor the LAN operation at this low level. Thus, nonresponding addresses can
be detected, along with excessive retries or rejections. In addition to these low-level
functions, they also provide products to monitor their own specific protocols--so
Digital products monitor DECnet and LAT, HP products monitor NS, and Sun products
monitor TCP/IP.</P>
<P>Unfortunately, when a LAN extends into a WAN, these monitoring tools do not also
reach out into the wide area. Thus, in a WAN composed of multivendor equipment, multiple
products from multiple companies must be employed to track the network beyond the
LAN. Fortunately, as the use of WANs has begun to spread, so has the development
of comprehensive network management tools like SystemView. This remains a fast-paced
area of growth.</P>
<P>Centralized consoles, such as HP's OpenView and IBM's SystemView, are used in
the management of complex networks. However, these central consoles have not been
as useful as they could be for enterprise networks. The root of their problem is
scalability; the console gets bogged down when it reaches a certain number of devices.
Typically, after this threshold has been reached, an additional management console
must be added. Unfortunately, information is not shared between consoles. <I>Intelligent
management agents (IMAs)</I> and <I>mid-level managers (MLMs)</I> address this problem.
The IMA is able to act as an intelligent manager, diagnosing and repairing problems
as they occur. The MLM is similar, but is able to manage other agents. The IMA typically
resides in a managed device, while the MLM resides in the workstation and oversees
a certain domain within the network. The enterprise console then manages a group
of MLMs. The MLM sends summary reports to the enterprise console, so the console
is less likely to become overloaded. Cabletron Systems' SPECTRUM network manager
offers a good example of MLM features.</P>
<P>There are many obstacles to efficiently managing a network, particularly in a
multivendor environment. Hubs, routers, NICs, workstations, and servers might all
come from different companies.</P>
<P>Traditionally, network management products have come to run on UNIX platforms.
However, Microsoft's Windows NT is gaining recognition as an acceptable platform
for these critical applications. Several products, including SPECTRUM and Digital's
PolyCenter NetView, now support Windows NT.


<BLOCKQUOTE>
	<P>
<HR>
<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>Cabletron Focuses on Integration</B></FONT><BR>
	Cabletron is also planning integration with Microsoft's System Management Server
	(SMS). This integration will enable a SPECTRUM console to issue SMS commands; in
	a future release of SPECTRUM, data sharing between the two will be permitted. Cabletron
	has focused on ease of access in SPECTRUM 4.0, which will be able to send network