When your network has a problem, you simply navigate to the node and use
NNM's diagnostic tools to analyze the problem. You can also use NNM as a
monitoring tool to view statistics for nodes or network segments, and you can
set up traps to alert you when certain conditions arise. For example, NNM can
tell you when you exceed a threshold of network errors or reach a specific level
of network utilization.
The information you can monitor on a per-node basis depends on the SNMP
agent you've installed and the Management Information Base (MIB) available to
the agent. The basic SNMP agent included with NT supports only a limited amount
of information. As I mentioned, NNM's SNMP agent supports more information;
however, to get detailed information out of a node, you must install one or more
MIBs on that node.
A MIB is a database that tells an SNMP agent what statistical information
and management options are available for a specific type of node or service. For
example, MIBs are available for Internet Information Server (IIS) and SQL Server
for detailed statistics about their performance. NNM includes several MIBs, and
you can get additional MIBs from other vendors, including Microsoft. MIBs are
the key to getting detailed, service-specific information via NNM.
Tried-and-True
NNM is reliable and easy to use, and you can integrate it into any size of
network. You can easily combine NNM with other system and network management
products, including Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) and CA/Unicenter.
If you need a rock-solid, SMNP-based network management product, look at NNM.