Start-up to simplify mgmt. of thin-client nets

Chicago - Start-up Lakeside Software, Inc. this week will introduce badly needed software for managing thin-client networks based on Microsoft Corp.'s multiuser version of Windows NT.

The software, called SysTrack, will enable MIS groups to track which applications are being accessed by terminal users who are tied into servers running Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition (TSE).

In addition, companies will be able to use Lakeside's software to monitor how frequently applications are being used and to see which end users are accessing the programs.

Companies rolling out Microsoft's thin-client technology, which enables terminal users to access applications on a central NT server, can use the information collected by SysTrack to determine how big their multiuser NT servers should be. SysTrack can also be used to measure how much memory and disk storage is needed and how many terminal users each server can handle.

"Our support manager said that if we sell a WinFrame [or TSE] server without including SysTrack, he'll kill us," said William Botti, president of Computer Networks, Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif., systems integrator. Computer Networks, which has been testing SysTrack since last November, has found the software to be reliable.

The Lakeside product, which will be announced at Comdex/ Spring '98 here, can also manage servers running Citrix Systems, Inc.'s WinFrame software, which is the technology at the heart of TSE. Additionally, SysTrack can be used to manage standard NT Server machines.

Whats inside SysTrack

SysTrack has three components: the Data Collection Agent, a database and analysis/ reporting tools.

The Data Collection Agent runs as an NT Service on a TSE server and collects data about CPU and memory use, and user and disk activities, according to Michael Schumacher, president of Lakeside, which is based in Waterford, Mich. The agent then stores the data in an Open Database Connectivity-compliant database. Network administrators can then access this data using analysis/reporting tools from a Windows PC or terminal.

SysTrack provides users with an activity history that's almost impossible to create with existing NT tools, Botti said.

"Today, you can't tell what happened unless you're looking at [network activity as it happens]," he said. By contrast, SysTrack collects data that Botti can use to see why a server was so slow at 8 p.m. the night before, or whether lack of memory was the primary limitation during peak usage.

Companies can use SysTrack to set up alert thresholds and warn administrators via a pager or e-mail that a TSE server may be about to run out of memory or that CPU use is near maximum.

SysTrack, when released May 10, will cost $1,495 per monitored server.

Lakeside: (800) 969-7717

SysTrack overview
From Lakeside.

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