Real-time security alerts for NDS
 
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If you have any worries about the security of Novell's eDirectory (a.k.a. Novell Directory Services), you want real-time notification. And now you can have it.
Until now, discovering security problems in NDS hasn't exactly been a real-time process. True, NetWare has built-in auditing features that allow you to track changes made to NDS. But to identify security problems, the designated auditor needs to run the AUDITCON utility and scan the audit logs for questionable activity.
As one manager said, that's like being able to say, "Hey! The bank was robbed yesterday!"
For those who need to know if the bank is being robbed today, NetVision -- whose Synchronicity product line helps keep multiple directories in sync -- has just released Version 2.5 of DirectoryAlert (DA). This version adds SNMP support so that alerts can be instantly flashed to your SNMP console, such as Hewlett-Packard's OpenView or Sun Solstice. Additionally, alerts can be sent via e-mail, to a pager, to a text file, to an ODBC-compliant database and to an LDIF file. This last type -- the LDIF file -- is important, because you can use it to immediately rollback changes to a previous state.
DA is highly granular in the events it monitors, and it will monitor an unlimited number of events. These events can be defined by NDS context (to watch particular directory containers), classes (that is, types of objects), attributes (specific attributes such as password or last login time), or specific objects. Filtering can be either inclusive (watch only these things) or exclusive (watch everything except these things). Each event also carries its own list of alert methods.
DirectoryAlert is not an add-on to Synchronicity, although it does use the same Global Event Services (GES) engine. This is a good thing, since GES has been proven efficient in a network. It also requires a Windows NT 4/Windows 2000 Professional management station running NetWare's NWADMIN for NT.
Currently, DirectoryAlert only supports NDS/eDirectory, but planning is going on for versions supporting Active Directory, Netscape Directory Server and other major directory services.
You can download DirectoryAlert and use it for 30 days at no charge, or (using PCAnywhere) get a live demo of the product from NetVision's Web site.
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Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. His most recent book is "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks" published by SAMS. Dave's company, Virtual Quill, provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more at Virtual Quill or by e-mail at info@vquill.com
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