Budget-Priced Network Management Systems:
Series Wrap-Up

by Lisa Phifer VP Core Competence, Inc. [October 5, 2000]

Just about every device can be monitored today using SNMP, the Simple Network Management Protocol. Network management systems range from six-figure carrier-class suites to $5,000 enterprise managers. But many ISPs seek less inexpensive alternatives. This summer, ISP-Planet evaluated six SNMP network managers priced under $1,000. One by one, we examined each product in our lab, considering discovery, browse, query, configuration, monitoring, and reporting features. Here, in our series closer, we take one last comparative look at participating products and their usefulness for smaller ISPs and enterprises.

What We Tested
We invited six vendors to submit products suitable for network monitoring or management. Our only firm requirement: each must speak SNMP and retail for less than $1000. Several participants also sell enterprise versions or companions products that we chose not to evaluate in order to stay under our price cap. We installed each product (one at a time) on the same PIII 500 running Windows NT4 SP5. We attempted to perform similar management and monitoring tasks using the same test network and simulated device and service failures. Product reviews were published for each, listed below with vendor name, product, and version tested.

Vendor	ACE*COMM	MediaHouse	SNMP ToolChest Company	MG-SOFT	Ipswitch	Castle Rock Computing
Product	NetPlus AutoManage	ipMonitor	SNMP ToolChest	MIB Browser NetInspector LITE	WhatsUp Gold	SNMPc
Version	2.32	6.05	Silver Edition	MIB 6.0, NI 1.5	5.0	5.0.9d Workgroup Ed.
URL	www.winsnmp.com	www.mediahouse.com	www.snmptoolchest.com	www.mg-soft.si	www.ipswitch.com	www.castlerock.com
Price (as tested)	$149	$695	$399	MIB $349, NI $499	$695	$895
Our Review	automanage	ipmonitor	tchest	mgsoft	whatsupg	c-rock
Operating systems	Any Win32	NT	NT	95, 98, NT	95, 98, NT, 2000	98, NT, 2000
Related products (not evaluated)		LiveStats	Gold Edition	NI Client/Server, TrapRingerPro	WS_Ping ProPack	Enterprise EditionRemote Access Extension
API	WinSNMP SDK ($)		Tcl Scripting	WinSNMP SDK ($) Agent SDK ($)	Custom Services COM API	SNMPc SDK, HubView Scripts
User interface	Console	Browser	Console	Console	Console & Browser	Console
Remote pollers	No	Yes	No	Upgrade	No	Upgrade
Remote clients	No	Yes	No	Upgrade	Yes	Upgrade

This month, updates were published for two products. MediaHouse included a half-dozen fixes in ipMonitor v6.06, and MG-SOFT released MIB Browser Professional v6.1. However, NetInspector LITE v2.0, previewed by installing a beta Internet plug-in, has not yet been released. All other products in this series were evaluated using current-release software.

We had not expected entry-level products to be very extensible, but were pleasantly surprised. All but ipMonitor support a programmatic interface for custom agent or application development. ACE*COMM and MG-SOFT SDKs are available for purchase; others are included with the NMS. SNMP ToolChest is the easiest to customize—most administrators can write Tcl scripts. MG-SOFT's plug-in architecture accommodates odd protocols needed by cranky old devices that will never speak SNMP or even TCP.

Three are pared-down versions of more fully-featured products. SNMP ToolChest Silver Edition lacks the *NIX support of the Gold Edition ($1,498). NetInspector LITE and SNMPc Workgroup Edition are single-system solutions that combine poller and client functions distributed by NetInspector Client/Server (from $998) or SNMPc Enterprise Edition ($2,655) with Remote Access Extension ($1,350). Distributing management functions can increase scalability by gathering data close to devices (remote pollers). Distribution can also enable access from anywhere, by more than one user (remote clients). ipMonitor is the only entry-level product to provide turn-key support for both. In larger networks, upgrade to NetInspector Client/Server or SNMPc Enterprise Edition.

Pt. 1: Introduction / What We Tested	Pt. 5: Device Control
> Pt. 2: Installation & Setup	Pt. 6: Network Montoring & Alerts
Pt. 3: Network Discovery	Pt. 7: Reporting
Pt. 4: SNMP Browse and Query	Pt. 8: Product Support / Overall Evaluation