Mercury, NetIQ expand apps mgmt. lines

Mercury Interactive and NetIQ are separately introducing software they say will help companies automate more of the application management process.

Mercury Interactive and NetIQ are separately introducing software they say will help companies automate more of the application management process.

Mercury, known best for its pre-production application-testing tools, has packed its new Resolution Center suite with programs for real-time application performance monitoring. The software includes tools for troubleshooting problems, finding the root cause of application errors and automating corrective actions.

The suite, which runs on a centralized server, uses industry standard APIs to pull application performance data such as response time from servers and other systems that support applications. Mercury also has forged partnerships with vendors such as BEA Systems and Siebel Systems to develop custom APIs for their software. Using the collected data, Mercury says its software can correlate performance data to pre-defined service levels.

Resolution Center features pre-defined “run books” of problem fixes for popular applications such as those from PeopleSoft and SAP. Run books also can be customized so that senior-level application and network administrators can put their own processes for fixing applications into the hands of lower-level staffers.

Currently in beta, Resolution Center is scheduled to be available in the third quarter. Pricing starts at about $300,000 depending on the applications managed and how the network is configured.

For its part, NetIQ upgraded its AppManager package to include more automated scripts and introduced a new management console called Control Center 1.0 that can be used to show how systems performance relates to application uptime.

A new knowledgebase in AppManager will include 2,000 pre-written scripts and monitoring policies, which can be used out of the box or customized.

“NetIQ is extending the visibility of their systems management products up to the application layer and giving more granular details and coverage across more applications,” says Stephen Elliot, a senior analyst in IDC’s network and service management program.

The core AppManager technology runs on Windows, while Unix and Linux boxes are monitored through agents. NetIQ monitors many components in the application infrastructure, including Web servers, application servers, load balancers and e-mail systems.

Scheduled for general availability in three months, AppManager 6.0 costs $2,500 for the operator console, $600 for base Windows agents and $750 for base Unix agents. Control Center 1.0 is included with the AppManager 6.0 Operator Console