Novell beefs up cross-platform auditing tool

Novell has always been early to the table with security and identity tools and technologies, so it’s no surprise that its Identity Manager add-on, Novell Audit, is now in Release 2.0 – before some of its competitors have even launched a 1.0 product.

Novell Audit is described as “a set of tools for customers to monitor and audit user access and other network events across the enterprise.” Why is this important? Complying with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and Basel II requires not only that data be protected and security be tightened but also that airtight auditing takes place so you can demonstrate that only those people with a need to access data are the ones doing the accessing. Beyond that, you need to be able to show that only those people had the ability to access the data and that those without a need had no ability to access it.

Novell Audit 2 enables you to do cross-platform auditing, centralized on a single platform of your choice. The client component can be installed on any of these platforms:

* Open Enterprise Server.

* Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server.

* SuSE Enterprise Linux Server 9.

* Red Hat AS and ES (3 and 4).

* Solaris 8, 9, and 10.

Note that it must be installed on any platform you need to audit. But you also get a lot for your effort. Among the features:

* Secure data logging that meets legal criteria for admissible evidence.

* Real-time monitoring of network events.

* Real-time notifications by e-mail, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), Storage, SYSLOG, Java and Critical Value Reset (CVR).

* Event grouping and report correlation.

* Event structure normalization.

* Reporting that includes several pre-written Crystal Reports from Crystal Decisions – without requiring a license.

* Extensible architecture that enables virtually any system or application to report events to Novell Audit.

* Native storage driver for MS SQL server.

* Flexible log parser for integrating Syslog and other text-based log files.

* Windows Event Instrumentation for collecting events from Windows servers.

* iManager-based monitoring tools.

Novell Audit 2 – in combination with eDirectory and Novell Identity Manager – can be a major tool that you can use to demonstrate your regulatory compliance.