Anaheim, Calif. - Cisco Systems, Inc. next month will ship a suite of Web-based device management applications that, for the first time, will let users administer networks of Cisco routers and switches from a Web browser.
Called Cisco Resource Manager (CRM), the suite includes applications that will let users track everything from device inventory to software configurations.
CRM also will analyze Internetwork Operating System (IOS) event messages generated by network devices, said John McCormack, senior software engineer at Cisco. McCormack previewed CRM at last week's OpenView Forum user group meeting here.
CRM will share data with Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView management platform, letting OpenView administrators have full view of the Cisco environment, McCormack said. CRM is also Cisco's first server-based product that is entirely Web-based, McCormack said, alluding to future Web-based management tools. Other de-tails on that architecture were not forthcoming.
CRM's Web-based management capabilities are promising because they let users manage complex router environments from a simple, inexpensive, easy-to-use Web browser. Web browsers also run on multiple plat- forms, so users would no longer have to depend on Unix-based workstations as they do in the OpenView environment and other industry-leading management platforms.
As a founding member of the Web-based Enterprise Management consortium, Cisco is a vocal proponent of using Internet technologies for network management. Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., BMC Software, Inc. and Compaq Computer Corp. are all part of the consortium that is developing standard ways of deploying Web-based management products.
CRM resides on Solaris and Windows NT-based Web servers. From a Web browser, a user can invoke CRM by typing in a URL to load the product's HTML page.
From there, hotlinked commands allow the user to access inventory, software and availability data from IOS agents that support HTTP on Cisco routers and switches.
CRM also can launch Java applets for more real-time interaction with Cisco devices and enhanced graphical representation.
The inventory application within CRM keeps tabs on the type and configuration of Cisco devices in the network. The software image manager allows users to determine the version of IOS running on the devices and load or update a version.
"If it is a browser-based tool that lets you see what's up and what's down in the network, that would be great. That's our No. 1 priority," said Cisco user Roy Hegge, senior network engineer at ADC Telecommunications, Inc. in Minneapolis. I'd love something like that."
Hegge said he has held off installing Cisco's existing Cisco-Works device management tools because they seemed to be a conglomeration of packages with limited functionality. Also, the Unix-based CiscoWorks re-quired X Window access, Hegge said, which can drain performance.
Web-based access is a much cleaner way to get at things, Hegge said.
Though CRM is most complementary with CiscoWorks, Cisco will offer CiscoWorks users an upgrade path to the Web-based suite, McCormack said.
Cisco also will promote use of CRM through coupons for CiscoWorks users and 60-day evaluations of the product that can be downloaded from the Web, he said.
"They're extending beyond the scope of [existing] Web tools that just report network usage metrics," said John McConnell, president of McConnell Consulting, Inc. in Boulder, Colo. "Adding things like inventory and software image management is a good next step. And as long as they've got Java, they're going in the right direction."
CRM is currently undergoing beta testing.
