What’s Hot, May 2006

Customized Network Management
Configuresoft Enterprise Configuration Manager

Before purchasing Configuresoft Enterprise Configuration Manager (ECM), Jon Saultz of Colorado Springs, Colorado, didn’t have control of his IT infrastructure. “The solution to my lack of control was simple,” says Saultz, “I needed a systems management solution. With ECM, I have a complete systems management solution that provides everything from patch management to maintaining regulatory compliance. ECM’s Web-based console lets me know exactly what is on my network and is fully customizable. ECM also provides very granular distributed management, letting me give other users the appropriate tools to access parts of the network. ECM is a complete solution and a central place to go for information about my network.”

ECM’s Configuration Management Database (CMDB) stores information about the security, configuration, and assets of your IT infrastructure. The CMDB drives ECM’s Web-based console, which lets you leverage information about your network and make the appropriate changes when necessary. For pricing information, contact Configuresoft.

Network Monitoring
Argent Software's Argent Guardian

Sylvie Nuzzolilo of Fort Worth, Texas, was looking for a scalable monitoring and alerting solution for her servers and found it with Argent Software's flagship product, Argent Guardian. Argent Guardian has an agent-optional architecture that lets you choose whether to install agents to monitor your entire network infrastructure. Predefined Rule Sets proactively monitor your network infrastructure from a single console, identifying and correcting problems before your users become aware of them. When problems arise in your servers, Argent Guardian can send alerts through email, Short Message Service (SMS), or a pager.

Since purchasing Guardian, Nuzzolilo has streamlined the monitoring of her servers. She explains, "We are now more proactive in our approach and much more efficient, using only one person to schedule events and to take action on our network infrastructure issues. Guardian also lets us remediate issues before alerting, thus providing less dependency on human interaction and enabling quicker response times to network problems."