PLEASANTON, CALIF. - AdventNet last week announced a new version of its management software aimed at helping users monitor Java application servers, along with the applications they host and back-end databases.
ManageEngine 5.0, due for release this month, will let customers build management features into their software as it is being written, the company says. The software then can send continuous updates of its health and status, as well as alerts about specific problems, to the ManageEngine administrative console or, via the SNMP, to high-end management applications such as Tivoli and Hewlett-Packard's OpenView.
The new release is based on the company's Agent Toolkit 4.2. The release includes an array of automated features to reduce coding, support for key Java management APIs, and a redesigned graphical user interface (GUI).
In 5.0, AdventNet has automated the work of building SNMP management information bases (MIB). MIBs basically hold information about specific parts of devices, such as a router, or in this case, software applications. That information could be everything from the number of concurrent users accessing a Java servlet, or the performance characteristics of a Java method, to the number of exceptions being generated by a software component.
Besides creating the SNMP interfaces, ManageEngine builds interfaces based on the Java Management eXtensions (JMX), which are a set of standard, open APIs for monitoring and controlling an array of Java objects and applications. Using JMX, developers can, in effect, open their applications, and their components, to management tools. JMX specifies services such as monitoring, event notification and the like, all of which give developers control over actions such as loading an application, initializing it, changing it and tracking its statistical data.
ManageEngine is among the first products to use JMX and one of the first to be certified by Sun as doing so correctly.
A ManageEngine user works with his GUI to select a range of Java objects, such as Enterprise JavaBeans and servlets. Administrators select what parts of each object they want to monitor. ManageEngine then builds a number of components: JMX-specific beans, which are called Mbeans, the appropriate SNMP MIBs, and agents, which are small programs that run on each Java application, and on third-party middleware products.
ManageEngine is equipped with programs that let it communicate via SNMP, HTTP or Simple Object Access Protocol to an array of front-end management consoles and applications. On the back end, it can access third-party messaging platforms, and through them, enterprise applications such as CRM and enterprise resource planning. ManageEngine also can access database management logs.
Pricing includes a development and run-time license, and varies based on what, and how many, objects are being managed. Total price can range from $100,000 to nearly $1 million for large-scale enterprise deployments.
|
RELATED LINKS
