News

NetIQ Ties Its System Management and Security Tools

• By Stuart J. Johnston
• November 18, 2004

In the same timeframe, the San Jose, Calif.-based company will also ship an upgraded add-on module for the AppManager Suite – with another updated module set to ship next month.

The AppManager Connector for NetIQ Security Manager (AM-SM Connector) enables NetIQ AppManager data and alerts to be displayed on the same console as information from NetIQ Security Manager. With the connector, rather than having to view network system and application information on one console while dealing with network security-related events on a different console, administrators can now view both on one. The intent is to simplify, and thus speed up, identifying and fixing network problems.

A network application service malfunction, for instance, may be related to a network security incident that occurred days earlier. But that might not be identified quickly as a cause of, or a contributor to, the service outage if the security and system event data are displayed on different consoles.

“[The connector] will let you bring a service back up quicker [because] you can now get to the root cause quicker,” says David Pann, NetIQ’s vice president of product management and marketing for systems management products.

Both types of software – network application management and security information management products – generate “silos of information,” says Pann, and for good reason: the vast amount of information needed to diagnose and track both network conditions and security events. “Now you’re able to store and leverage common information and common correlations,” Pann adds.

NetIQ also debuted updated versions of two add-on modules in the AppManager Suite.

AppManager Analysis Center 2.0, an enterprise reporting and analysis tool, adds a new, interactive user interface, as well as new reporting and analysis capabilities, including aggregation, comparison, correlation and trend analysis and prediction reports. The upgraded version also provides richer report publishing and customization, as well as integration with Microsoft's SQL Server Reporting Services.

Meanwhile, AppManager Control Center 6.0 adds new list filtering and grouping capabilities, as well as Service Map Views that let users create visual representations of the IT environment so that they can see, literally, how network and application components relate to each other.

The AM-SM Connector and AppManager Analysis Center 2.0 are set to ship this month, while AppManager Control Center 6.0 will ship in December. All applications are priced on a per server basis. The AM-SM Connector is free to AppManager and Security Manager customers. Analysis Center 2.0 starts at $150 per server.

AppManager Control Center 6.0 will be licensed with the AppManager Operator Console, which starts at $2,500. Customers will receive one license for Control Center for each AppManager Operator Console license purchased.