NetResults Newsletter
Volume 8, Issue 3 | April 2007
The Latest Innovation from NetIQ: Introducing NetIQ AppManager® 7
A message from Chris Pick
NetIQ Vice President of Products & Marketing
In the last edition of NetResults, I discussed NetIQ's focus on customer advocacy. I'm pleased to report that with the recent launch of NetIQ AppManager 7, NetIQ has achieved another milestone in delivering the most-requested features from our enterprise customers.
NetIQ AppManager 7 provides enterprise IT managers with the level of IT productivity and visibility they require from systems management solutions so that IT is trusted within their organization. It is a no-cost upgrade for all customers current with maintenance and I highly encourage you to take full advantage of the new features, such as:
- "Zero-touch" remote deployment of agents and Knowledge Scripts®, eliminating manual installation and upgrade.
- Automated detection of platforms & applications within dynamic and virtualized heterogeneous environments to ensure accurate monitoring in accordance with policy.
- Policy-exception management capabilities to override job parameters and easily accommodate unique requirements.
- Enhanced service mapping and native business service management (BSM) capabilities for cost-effective modeling of IT services.
- Permissions delegation of Management Group and View administration functions to non-administrator users in order to reduce the cost of ongoing maintenance.
Systems management is a mature market with numerous competitors. We are often asked what is unique about AppManager and where it fits into the competitive landscape. The answer today is: right where we've been for quite some time—in the sweet spot between Microsoft, with their focus on ease of installation but lack of heterogeneous support and customization challenges, and the Big 4 (IBM, CA, HP and BMC), with their high-cost and complex implementation requirements. While Microsoft and other competitors continue to pave where the path is worn, NetIQ continues to innovate and anticipate future IT demands for adopting next-generation technologies such as virtualization and unified communications.
AppManager is leading the industry with current support for products such as ESX Server, Exchange 2007, Cisco Interactive Voice Response and Nortel Business Communication Manager—all in a single platform that is simple to implement yet flexible enough to meet the unique demands of diverse groups commonly found across large enterprises.
AppManager 7 is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of planned product releases this year. By the time of NetConnect 2007 in October, you will have seen the release of several brand-new products that innovatively address current challenges that you have expressed to us. You will also see new versions of other products that you depend on in our security and change control product lines. NetIQ's investment in new technologies is critical for us to remain the trusted partner for systems and security management with our enterprise customers.
- Don't forget to Save the Date for this year's NetConnect and check out the exclusive, new location for the event. You won't want to miss it.
On March 27, 2007 NetIQ announced worldwide release of AppManager 7, the core technology for the NetIQ AppManager Suite, at the Microsoft Management Summit. This latest version of AppManager empowers enterprises with greater levels of IT management productivity and visibility while serving as the critical foundation needed for safely exploiting next-generation technologies. Examples include: VMware ESX Server, Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server 2007, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Oracle Grid Computing, and Cisco or Nortel IP Telephony (VoIP) solutions.
AppManager Suite 7.0
Be sure to check out the new AppManager 7 web site for more information on how AppManager 7 provides enhanced productivity, visibility and trust.
NetIQ AppManager 7 Named Best Management Product at MMS 2007
Core Systems Management Technology Heralded as Most Innovative Enterprise IT Management Product
NetIQ AppManager 7 recently received top recognition at Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2007 in San Diego. Selected from a pool of over 40 products by the editors of Windows IT Pro and SQL Server Magazine, the Best of MMS Award is granted based on a product's strategic importance to the market, competitive advantages and overall value to the customer. While officially launching at MMS, AppManager 7 surpassed all competitors and proved itself as the Best Management Product by a Microsoft Partner.
New Release of NetIQ Security Manager – Coming Soon!
The mission of NetIQ Security Manager™ is to help customers efficiently manage security in dynamic environments through automation, adaptive intelligence and business alignment. To this end, the next release of Security Manager (version 6.0) will reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and improve scalability as it's deployed across large enterprises.
In this upcoming release, Security Manager will utilize a new technology for long-term retrieval and storage of collected log information. This new format will result in greater compression ratios for log data and more efficient log data management overall. In addition, the log events will be digitally signed from the point of collection, with the signature stored in the consolidated log file. This will serve to further ensure the integrity of the log data.
Below are a few of the benefits customers will be seeing in Security Manager 6.0:
- Reduced storage requirements for log data
- Increased performance of large log data repositories
- Higher levels of log file integrity to meet regulatory compliance requirements
- Enhanced monitoring for UNIX and iSeries systems
- Expanded support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 repositories
The benefit of this release will be to reduce the cost of security management through lowered log storage requirements, simplified reporting and agent deployment. Be sure to stay tuned for more details on the release of Security Manager 6.0—coming this summer!
We know that you are seeking continually to meet Service Level Agreements while maximizing IT staff efficiency. We invite you to check out the following resources to discover the latest enhancements in AppManager 7.
New NetIQ AppManager 7 Datasheet
The latest release of AppManager brings new features and functionality for greater efficiency and productivity.
New AppManager 7 Autodemo
View this informative new automated demo to learn more about NetIQ AppManager 7.
This flash-based demonstration provides an overview of new features such as auto-deployment, flexible policies and self-maintaining service maps. Learn how NetIQ AppManager 7 enables productivity, visibility and trust.
AppManager in Action
Expect More from Enterprise Management Software. Expect AppManager 7
AppManager 7 boosts administrator productivity and increases management visibility to ensure the end to end performance and trusted availability of IT systems and services. Tune in to the replay to learn how AppManager 7 can manage your complex environment.
Question:
What's the best approach to mapping services in AppManager Control Center?
Answer:
AppManager Control Center has always been able to assist you in troubleshooting with its Service Mapping capabilities. Now in AppManager 7, you get more flexible, dynamic service mapping, while making it much easier to create and maintain service maps. Administrators, Network Operations Centers, Management, even end users (really, end users!) can benefit from seeing a map of all service components to understand the technical pieces involved in monitoring something like email services.
While the more technical-minded might tend to think Exchange or Domino, the reality is there are a lot of moving pieces that make up a service map for an email service. Certainly there is the core technology, but also consider server hardware, networks and associated products like BlackBerry, backup products and anti-virus software, to name a few. Any of these can have a negative impact on the service you are providing. Knowing where to go is almost as important as understanding the user perception of the service responsiveness.
This is where AppManager shines: we give you the capability to see not just the technical bits and pieces of what makes up a complete service, but we also embed true, location-based information for end-user experience, so you proactively know whether your users are satisfied with the services they are receiving. The capability to combine technical and service experience in one map is unique to AppManager; this can end up saving you time trying to determine the who, what and where of service impact.
AppManager 7 introduces the ability to embed filtered events and server groups directly into services maps. For server groups, you can define rules that keep a group's membership up-to-date with the most current information in your enterprise. If an administrator adds or removes components that mean an object either joins or no longer belongs to a particular group or service, AppManager will add or remove the server from the group automatically. You can even create views of filtered events that mean you only see events that are affecting your particular area of focus. This level of flexibility is unparalleled and allows you to remain focused on service delivery.
Finally, AppManager 7's rich delegation model and structured design mean that you can reuse service maps created by your technical professionals to create a much broader view of your enterprise. Embedding service maps within other service maps makes your high-level service maps drill-down-capable and allows you to abstract up to the highest levels. Services such as email can be made of technical and user experience maps from all the moving pieces we mentioned above (network maps, server hardware maps, BlackBerry service maps)—so drilling down to find a root cause is a simple matter and you can direct technical resources quickly and easily, with the most up to date information.
Overall, service maps in AppManager 7 provide a rich monitoring experience without additional administration overhead.
How can I deploy AppManager agents to my computers in the DMZ?
Answer:
AppManager 7 introduces a new feature and back-end technology that enables you to create configurable rules to deploy and maintain your agents. One of the options you select as you progress through the Rule Creation wizard is to select a Deployment Service, a simple Web Service that can exist inside your DMZ. These Deployment Services are connected over a user-configurable TCP port and use HTTP or HTTPS protocols. The wizardry here is that once configured with your settings and options, the rules make agent installation and configuration a true "set it and forget it" technology—with workflow and notification to ensure it never gets out of hand.
Deployment Service supports a wide variety of scanning options that can accommodate scenarios experienced in our eleven years of deployment in the enterprise. There are methods you'd expect, like AD queries, text based machine lists and IP address scanning, but also WMI-based checks, NMAP and other methodologies to work in a simple, yet flexible manner.
The AppManager Agent has also been updated to support this feature; once the AppManager 7 agent is installed on Windows-based machines, "AppDetection", a local scan of registry, services, etc., will keep your deployment up-to-date in a dynamic enterprise. It will interact with the deployment service to keep your enterprise in sync with your monitoring.
"NetIQ continues to impress me with how they improve and extend NetIQ AppManager Suite so that we truly maximize our investment in IT. I don't have the luxury of overhauling my IT management software each time a vendor decides to launch a new product. We must leverage past investments and scale to manage new applications in a distributed, heterogeneous and virtualized environment. I expect that AppManager 7's new automation functionality, including the auto-deployment capability, will ensure that we not only improve our ability to deliver IT services, but do so without adding additional burden to our team."
- — Louis Oliver, senior technical engineer, Mary Kay, Inc.
NetIQ Security Compliance Suite Captures Top Honors in Redmond Magazine Readers' Choice Awards
We want to thank you, our valued customers, for your participation in the Redmond Magazine Readers' Choice Awards. As a result of your ongoing support, NetIQ Security Compliance Suite was recently named Best Compliance Tool by Redmond Magazine readers. Additionally, AppManager earned the title of Preferred Product in the Best Performance Manager category, as did Group Policy Administrator in the Group Policy Management category.
The Redmond Magazine Readers' Choice Awards were announced in the April 1st issue of the publication. We have you to thank for this tremendous win, and we hope to bring more good news your way next quarter!
Gaining Full Advantage of Deployment Automation in NetIQ AppManager 7
Find out how AppManager 7's deployment automation feature can help you manage your complex enterprise in the next AppManager in Action.
Reduce the Headaches of Managing Active Directory
April 19, 11AM CT
Overwhelmed with managing Active Directory? Are your auditors demanding to see how you administrate your environment? Join Redmond Magazine and NetIQ for a web seminar to discover an improved approach to the management and monitoring of Active Directory and Group Policy.
Visit us at TechED
NetIQ is a bronze sponsor of TechEd 2007, which is taking place June 4-8 in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center.
Be sure to stop by our booth to receive personal demos of our latest windows administration, change monitoring and systems management solutions, including, Change Guardian for Windows, Security Manager 6.0, and AppManager 7.0.
We'll also feature a book signing in the booth with Group Policy guru Jeremy Moskowitz. The first 100 people to show up for this book signing will receive an autographed copy of Jeremy's new book, "Group Policy: Management, Troubleshooting and Security".
Visit NetIQ at Gartner Security Summit
NetIQ is a platinum sponsor of Gartner Security Summit 2007 taking place June 4-6 in Washington DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
Be sure to see NetIQ's booth to receive personal demos of our industry leading security management and configuration control solutions, and see all the new features of Security Manager 6.0.
You'll also be able to hear from a NetIQ customer and get the inside scoop on how they use NetIQ solutions to manage risk and secure their enterprise.
Visit our corporate events page to view all NetIQ events.
